memeorandum: AP Exclusive: New intelligence on Iran nuke work (George Jahn/Associated Press)

4:45 PM ET, September 11, 2012

Top Items:

Zeke Miller / BuzzFeed:

How Mitt Romney Is Losing The Debate Expectations Game — He's practicing hard, his aides say! Obama's camp pretends to panic. — Romney with Senator Rob Portman, who is playing President Barack Obama in debate prep, earlier this month. — Image by Brian Snyder / Reuters

Discussion: GOP 12, The American Conservative and Mediaite

Reuters:

The Kerry-ization of Mitt Romney — Mitt Romney is getting the full John Kerry treatment on national security — and some top Republicans are alarmed by what they see as his ham-handed response to it. — Romney — whose convention speech didn't include a salute to the troops or a reference to Afghanistan …

Discussion: Weekly Standard and The Daily Caller

Jim VandeHei / Reuters:

GOP to Mitt Romney: You're so vague — Leading conservatives are offering blunt advice to Mitt Romney: Quit ducking details, start engaging in a real and specific war of ideas with President Barack Obama — or lose. — Here's just a sampling of the past 24 hours:

Discussion: The Next Web and Daily Kos

CNN:
Romney praises veterans in 9/11 remarks

Discussion: Politico and AEIdeas

BuzzFeed:
Obama's Plan To Use National Security To Beat Romney

Discussion: The Maddow Blog, Wonkette, Daily Kos, Marbury and Taylor Marsh

Brent Budowsky / Pundits Blog:
Romney's Osama bin Laden problem

Discussion: Politico and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:
Conservatives: Romney's Policy Secrecy Will Be His Downfall

Discussion: Washington Post, American Prospect, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, The Hinterland Gazette, Paul Krugman, Slate and Associated Press

Washington Post:

Among likely voters, Obama-Romney close — Last week's Democratic National Convention helped President Obama improve his standing against Republican Mitt Romney, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, but did little to reduce voter concern about his handling of the economy.

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

Obama Gets Three-Point Convention Bounce — Now leads Romney by six percentage points, 50% to 44% — PRINCETON, NJ — President Barack Obama got a modest bump in support immediately after last week's Democratic National Convention, with 50% of registered voters now saying they would vote …

Discussion: Ballot Box, The Hinterland Gazette, Firedoglake, Examiner, Election 2012, The Caucus and Ross Douthat

Rasmussen Reports:
Job Creation? 47% Trust Obama, 45% Romney

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Outside the Beltway, Althouse and Taylor Marsh

Brad Plumer / Washington Post:
Ten takeaways from the new Post/ABC poll

Discussion: New York Magazine, Examiner and The Reality-Based Community

tipponline:
Race Tightens As Obama Advantage Narrows To 2 Points

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, Commentary Magazine, Washington Monthly, Jammie Wearing Fools, Wake up America, Examiner, Weasel Zippers, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Daily Caller, Prairie Weather, The Fix, Israel Matzav, americanthinker.com and GOP 12

Evan Vucci / ABCNEWS:
Obama Gains a Convention Boost - But Not Among Likely Voters

Discussion: Washington Post, The Caucus and Mother Jones

Dean Chambers / Examiner:
Mitt Romney would lead eight in unskewed data from newest CNN/ORC poll

Discussion: The Lonely Conservative, his vorpal sword, Questions and Observations, Scared Monkeys, Hot Air, iOwnTheWorld.com, The Gateway Pundit and CNN

Gregory J. Krieg / ABCNEWS:
Poll: Americans Pick President Obama Over Mitt Romney for Dinner Date

Discussion: Taking Note, Mediaite, Fire Andrea Mitchell!, Politico and Jammie Wearing Fools

Kurt Eichenwald / New York Times:

Op-Ed Contributor: The Bush White House Was Deaf to 9/11 Warnings — IT was perhaps the most famous presidential briefing in history. — On Aug. 6, 2001, President George W. Bush received a classified review of the threats posed by Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network, Al Qaeda.

Jamie Weinstein / The Daily Caller:

Cheney responds to Obama's reportedly poor intelligence briefings attendance — Former Vice President Dick Cheney took a shot at President Barack Obama late Monday night after it was reported that the president has attended fewer than half of his daily intelligence briefings.

Zack Beauchamp / ThinkProgress:
Cheney Smears Obama On 9/11, Claims He Took ‘Sole Credit’ For Bin Laden's Death

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Maddow Blog and Politico

Kara Spak / Chicago Sun Times:

Poll: 47% of Chicago registered voters support teachers in strike — Just under half of Chicago's registered voters support the Chicago Public Teachers strike in a 500 person poll taken Monday, and nearly three-quarters of those polled say Mayor Rahm Emanuel is doing an average, below average or poor job in handing the labor dispute.

Discussion: Taylor Marsh and Progressive Change …

ABCNEWS:

Paul Ryan on Chicago Teachers' Strike: ‘We Stand with Mayor Rahm Emanuel’ — PORTLAND, Ore. — Paul Ryan crossed party lines and voiced support for one of President Obama's biggest backers today, saying, “We stand with Mayor Rahm Emanuel” in his fight with Chicago's teachers …

Discussion: Progressive Change …, Chicago Tribune, Guardian, Firedoglake, The Raw Story, The Moderate Voice, Politico, naked capitalism, The Hinterland Gazette, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Lynn Sweet, Washington Post, The Hill and CNN

Rick Perlstein / Salon:
Stand against Rahm!

Discussion: Washington Post, Taylor Marsh, The Daily Dish, The Daily Beast, Yahoo! News, Chicago Sun Times and Outside the Beltway

Steven Greenhouse / New York Times:
In Standoff, Latest Sign of Unions Under Siege

Discussion: Economix, CBS Chicago, Taylor Marsh, Jared Bernstein, ABCNEWS and Via Meadia

Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:
Disgusting... Chicago Teachers Union Protests Outside 9-11 Memorial

Discussion: EAGnews.org, The Jawa Report and Fire Andrea Mitchell!

egypt.usembassy.gov:

U.S. Embassy Condemns Religious Incitement — The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims - as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. Today, the 11th anniversary of the September 11 …

Discussion: National Review, Weekly Standard, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, American Spectator, Weasel Zippers, Blazing Cat Fur, Tablet Magazine and This Just In

Tamim Elyan / Reuters:

Egyptians angry at film scale U.S. embassy walls — (Reuters) - Egyptian protesters scaled the walls of the U.S. embassy on Tuesday, tore down the American flag and burned it during a protest over what they said was a film being produced in the United States that insulted Prophet Mohammad.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Washington Free Beacon, The PJ Tatler and Israel Matzav

Margot Roosevelt / Reuters:

Southern whites troubled by Romney's wealth, religion — (Reuters) - Sheryl Harris, a voluble 52-year-old with a Virginia drawl, voted twice for George W. Bush. Raised Baptist, she is convinced — despite all evidence to the contrary — that President Barack Obama, a practicing Christian, is Muslim.

Discussion: The Hinterland Gazette, The Political Carnival and New York Magazine

Raphael Ahren / The Times of Israel:

In harsh rebuttal to Clinton, PM says those who don't set red lines for Iran have no right to keep Israel from attacking — Two days after secretary rules out Iran deadline, Netanyahu says: ‘The world tells Israel to wait because there is still time. And I ask: Wait for what? Until when?’

Discussion: The Right Scoop, Israel Matzav and The PJ Tatler

George Jahn / Associated Press:
AP Exclusive: New intelligence on Iran nuke work

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, Hot Air, emptywheel and The Daily Beast

Barak Ravid / Associated Press:
Netanyahu: Those that refuse to set red lines for Iran can't give Israel red light

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, The Daily Beast, Weasel Zippers, Washington Free Beacon, Mondoweiss and Atlas Shrugs

Jennifer Epstein / Politico:

Biden recalls own loss while marking ‘bittersweet’ 9/11 anniversary — Vice President Joe Biden drew on the sorrow of his own personal losses as he addressed the memorial marking 11 years since United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into a Pennsylvania field. — “It is a bittersweet moment …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Jammie Wearing Fools

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Biden enjoys colorful barbecue with Shanksville firefighters

Discussion: Politico and CNN

Peter Schroeder / The Hill:

Moody's: Congress must reach fiscal deal to avert downgrade — Moody's Investors Service warned Tuesday that Congress will need to strike a deal on the “fiscal cliff” to avoid a second downgrade to the nation's credit rating. — The rating agency said that budget negotiations in 2013 …

Discussion: CNN and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Economy Watch:
Moody's warns it will cut US bond rating if budget talks fail

Discussion: Firedoglake, Business Insider and mikeroweWORKS

Jeremy Peters / The Caucus:

A Journalist With Rare Access to Obama Had to Play by Quote Rule — Michael Lewis, the best-selling author of “Moneyball” and “The Big Short,” was granted extraordinary access to President Obama for his latest article in Vanity Fair. — But with that access came one major condition.

Discussion: Politico, New York Magazine, Weekly Standard, New York Times, NewsBusters.org blogs, Media Decoder, Poynter and The PJ Tatler, more at Mediagazer »

Marc Caputo / Naked Politics:

Dolphins-dissing President Obama chats Pitbull, Medicare with ‘Pimp with the Limp’ DJ Laz — President Obama continues reaching out to non-traditional media to spread the campaign word, appearing in a pre-recorded interview that aired this morning on 106.7 FM with DJ Laz AKA “the pimp with the limp …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, The PJ Tatler, Washington Free Beacon and Jammie Wearing Fools

Alyssa Rosenberg / ThinkProgress:

Chris Brown Tattoos An Image of a Battered Woman On His Neck — Chris Brown, having graduated from tossing chairs at windows after interviewers have the temerity to ask him about his battering of then-girlfriend Rihanna, has apparently decided that violence against women will be his new hallmark.

Discussion: Balloon Juice, The Hinterland Gazette, Angry Black Lady Chronicles and Feministing

Fox News:

EXCLUSIVE: Parents of SEAL Team Six member say unit endangered by Obama administration statements — Identifying the Special Operations Force behind the Usama bin Laden raid amounted to placing a target on the back of the team members as well as their families, according to the parents of Aaron Vaughn …

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Politico, The PJ Tatler, The Right Scoop and The Gateway Pundit

Nate Cohn / The New Republic:

Why Romney's Money Advantage is No Game-Changer — With the memory of the conventions fading and initial signs pointing toward an Obama bounce, attention is already turning to Romney's ability to mount a comeback. In the minds of many, Team Romney's financial advantage tops the list of reasons for Republican optimism.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, GOP 12 and The Daily Dish