memeorandum: Race Tightens As Obama Advantage Narrows To 2 Points (tipponline)

3:15 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 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

BuzzFeed:

Obama's Plan To Use National Security To Beat Romney — Obama's decision to play offense on foreign policy marks a “real, significant shift” in our politics, says an Obama advisor. Just another “shiny object,” a Romneyite fires back. — One of the most aggressive parts …

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

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

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

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

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

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.

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, Firedoglake, The Hinterland Gazette, Election 2012, Examiner, The Huffington Post and The Caucus

Dean Chambers / Examiner:

Mitt Romney would lead eight in unskewed data from newest CNN/ORC poll — Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney shakes hands with a NASCAR fan during a rain delay before the start of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway on September 8, 2012.

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

Jonathan S. Tobin / Commentary Magazine:
Poll Shows Obama Getting Lowest Jewish Support Since Carter

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Wake up America, Israel Matzav and americanthinker.com

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

Rick Perlstein / Salon:
Stand against Rahm!

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Yahoo! News, Outside the Beltway and Washington Post

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

Charles Lane / Washington Post:
Students are victims in Chicago fight over clout

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Best of the Ed Blogs, EAGnews.org, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Illinois Review

Dylan Matthews / Washington Post:
Everything you need to know about the Chicago teachers' strike, in one post

Discussion: The Daily Beast, The American Conservative, The Daily Dish, Chicago Sun Times, Hot Air, Daily Kos, newsfeed.time.com and Belmont Club

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.

Discussion: Wonkette, PoliticusUSA, The Hill, Rumproast, Mediaite, Scared Monkeys, The Raw Story, AEIdeas, Weasel Zippers, Government Accountability …, The Lonely Conservative, National Review, Doug Ross, “The Lid”, Politico and Israel Matzav

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

Byron Tau / Politico:
Cheney knocks Obama on bin Laden, intel briefings

Discussion: Little Green Footballs and The Daily Caller

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 PJ Tatler, The Right Scoop and Israel Matzav

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

Discussion: Mondoweiss, The Atlantic Online and Atlas Shrugs

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

Discussion: emptywheel and The Daily Beast

Evan Vucci / ABCNEWS:

Obama Gains a Convention Boost - But Not Among Likely Voters — Barack Obama has emerged from the nominating conventions in his best position against Mitt Romney since spring, a 50-44 percent race among registered voters in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll.

Discussion: Washington Post, The Caucus and Mother Jones

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

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

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

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 Political Carnival and New York Magazine

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

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

Alex Weprin / TVNewser:

NBC's ‘Today’ Skips 9/11 Moment Of Silence For Kardashian Interview — At 8:46 AM, in New York City and at the White House in Washington DC, there was a moment of silence to remember when the first plane hit the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. In New York, the NYPD, FDNY …

Discussion: FishbowlDC, New York Magazine, The Daily Caller, Weasel Zippers, BuzzFeed, Gawker and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

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