memeorandum: NEWSPAPER AD REVENUES COLLAPSE TO 1950 LEVELS (John Nolte/BREITBART.COM)

8:55 PM ET, September 18, 2012

Top Items:

WATCH: Full Secret Video of Private Romney Fundraiser — Mitt Romney wanted the full tape. Here it is. — On Monday and Tuesday Mother Jones published exclusive video that captured Mitt Romney speaking to donors at a May 17 fundraiser, which was held at the home of private equity mogul Mark Leder.

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:

A Note on Romney's Arrogant and Stupid Remarks — So we have in 2012 two presidential candidates who—when they thought they were speaking privately to their fellow 1 percenters—have shown contempt for fellow Americans. — Here's Barack Obama, on April 6, 2008, in San Francisco:

David Corn / MoJo Articles:

SECRET VIDEO: On Israel, Romney Trashes Two-State Solution — At a private fundraiser, the GOP candidate calls Middle East peace “almost unthinkable” and says he would “kick the ball down the field.” — At the private fundraiser held May 17 where Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney candidly spoke …

Alexandra Jaffe / Ballot Box:

Sen. Brown denounces Romney comments — Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) came out in opposition to Mitt Romney's controversial remarks on the “47 percent.” — Brown, who has been distancing himself from elements of the Republican Party, joins GOP Senate candidate in Connecticut Linda McMahon in coming out against the statements.

Discussion: CNN, Linda McMahon for Senate 2012, Politico, Business Insider, The Hill, The Hill, Mother Jones, Mediaite, Guardian and The Maddow Blog

James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:

47 Skidoo — Uh-oh, Romney's lost the election again. — “What is 47?” asks the FAQ page at the website of the 47 Society. Answer: “In short, 47 appears to be the quintessential random number of the universe. In other words, when a number appears randomly, more often than not, that number is 47.”

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Scared Monkeys, Mother Jones and Althouse

Rush Limbaugh:

A Golden Opportunity for Mitt Romney — RUSH: I tell you, I really hope that Mother Jones pulls down that Romney video pretty fast. Well, what he said about the Palestinians not wanting peace, that's got the media as riled up as anything. The Palestinians are sacred to some people …

Discussion: Washington Post, Washington Monthly, The Gateway Pundit and Althouse

CNN:

Eastwood: If they were ‘dumb enough to ask me...’ — (CNN) - Clint Eastwood isn't taking much time to reflect on his unique endorsement of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney at last month's Republican National Convention, after all he says if they're “dumb enough” to ask him, they'll take what they get.

Discussion: Politico, ExtraTV.com, The Hill, ABCNEWS and TMZ.com

Michael Warren / Weekly Standard:
Conservatives Agree: Romney's Wrong

Discussion: Economix, The Week, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, The New Republic, National Review, Hit & Run, Power Line and Plunderbund

David Frum / The Daily Beast:
The Sinister Message Behind Romney's “Gaffe”

Discussion: Mother Jones, No More Mister Nice Blog and Hullabaloo

CNN:
Romney sticks by his ‘47%’ remarks, hits back

Discussion: Washington Wire, Talking Points Memo, Politico, ABCNEWS and Examiner

Seema Mehta / Los Angeles Times:
Romney advisor predicts ‘victims’ remark will blow over

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Washington Wire, The Hill, Washington Post and Hullabaloo

David Brooks / New York Times:
Thurston Howell Romney

Erick Erickson / RedState:
Conservatives Agree: Romney's Right

Discussion: Hot Air, Mediaite, The Mental Recession, American Prospect, Guardian, Townhall.com, Talking Points Memo and The Daily Beast

Ramesh Ponnuru / Bloomberg:
The Right Is Wrong to Pin Obama's Edge on Welfare State

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Washington Post, Hit & Run, National Review, Power Line, Spectator, The Daily Beast and AEIdeas

John Whitesides / Reuters:
Romney struggles to steady campaign after secret videos

Discussion: Examiner, NewsBusters.org blogs, The PJ Tatler, Hot Air and NewsBusters.org

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Foreshadowing Libya? — In the newly released full Mojo/Romney tapes …

Discussion: BuzzFeed and Crooks and Liars

NBC's Michael Isikoff / First Read:
How the Romney video leaked: For Carters, it was personal

Discussion: New York Magazine, emptywheel, Election 2012 and Pat Dollard

Michael Walsh / National Review:
Mitt's Gettysburg Moment

Discussion: Slate, Guardian, The Raw Story, Daily Kos, Washington Wire, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog and Washington Monthly

Jim Treacher / The Daily Caller:
OMG, you guys, it's all over! … I can see why Democrats are so offended.

Discussion: Guardian and UrbanGrounds

Mark Murray / First Read:

NBC/WSJ poll: Obama leads Romney nationally by 5 points — Fueled by increased optimism about the economy and nation's direction, President Barack Obama leads Mitt Romney by 5 points among likely voters and now sees his job-approval rating reaching the 50 percent threshold for the first time since March …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Talking Points Memo, Hot Air, Ballot Box, Taegan Goddard's … and Taylor Marsh

Washington Post:

Post Poll: Obama up 8 points over Romney in Virginia — President Obama continues to hold a clear lead over Mitt Romney in Virginia, a new Washington Post poll shows, buoyed by enthusiastic support rivaling what he marshaled in 2008 to snap the Democrats' four-decade losing streak in the state.

Discussion: CNN, Outside the Beltway, GOP 12, Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, Daily Kos, Politico and Ballot Box

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Massachusetts Miscellany —PPP's newest Massachusetts poll …

Discussion: Politico and Weekly Standard

Mark Murray / First Read:
NBC/WSJ poll: Obama's approval on foreign policy drops

Discussion: Politico

Jonathan Easley / Ballot Box:

Gallup poll: Obama's convention bump gone, lead down to 1 point — President Obama's small bounce in the polls following the Democratic National Convention has all but vanished in Tuesday's Gallup daily tracking poll. — Obama takes 47 percent support among registered voters over Romney's 46, according to the poll.

Discussion: CNN, Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit, Ricochet Conversations Feed, Politico and The Daily Dish

Frank Newport / Gallup:
Romney Has Support Among Lowest Income Voters

Discussion: Politico, New York Magazine and The Hinterland Gazette

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

FiveThirtyEight Forecast: G.O.P. Senate Hopes Slipping — Democrats are now favored to retain control of the Senate when the new Congress convenes in January, according to the FiveThirtyEight forecast, breaking a summer stalemate during which control of the chamber appeared about equally likely to go either way.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Tony Romm / Reuters:

Mitt Romney ‘47 percent’ recording may have been illegal — The secretly recorded video of Mitt Romney decrying the “47 percent” of Americans who won't vote for him might run afoul of state law that bars eavesdropping. — The rules in Florida — where Romney spoke at a private fundraiser …

Discussion: Politico and NewsBusters.org blogs, more at Mediagazer »

Ben Smith / BuzzFeed:
The Long Strange Leak Of Mitt Romney's 47% Video

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, more at Mediagazer »

Richard C. Dujardin / The Providence Journal:

Cranston bans ‘father-daughter’ dances as violation of state law — CRANSTON, R.I. — In a move that has taken some parents by surprise, the school department has announced that it is banning traditional “father-daughter” and “mother-son” activities, saying they violate state law. — Supt.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:

BREAKING: Pennsylvania Supreme Court Puts Voter ID Law In Jeopardy — Last month, a Pennsylvania trial judge upheld that state's Voter ID law, in an opinion that relied at least in part on Nineteenth Century precedent which claimed that vote suppressing laws may be permissible to protect against 'rogues …

Discussion: emptywheel and Firedoglake

Ryan J. Reilly / Talking Points Memo:
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Casts Doubt On Voter ID Law

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Laurie Goodstein / New York Times:

A Faded Piece of Papyrus Refers to Jesus' Wife — CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A historian of early Christianity at Harvard Divinity School has identified a scrap of papyrus that she says was written in Coptic in the fourth century and contains a phrase never seen in any piece of Scripture: “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife ...’”

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, The Confluence, The Daily Caller and CNN

Rich Lowry / National Review:

Romney's Comment — There are many problems with it starting with the fact, as has already been pointed out in here, that he jumbled together three different groups (the almost half of the country that's going to support Obama no matter what; the roughly half of households that get government benefits …

Discussion: American Prospect and The Atlantic Online

Sarah Chayes / Los Angeles Times:

‘Innocence of Muslims’ doesn't meet free-speech test — U.S. 1st Amendment rights distinguish between speech that is simply offensive and speech deliberately tailored to put lives and property at immediate risk. — A scene from the 14-minute video trailer for the film “Innocence of Muslims …

Discussion: BBC, L.A. NOW, Hot Air, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Hit & Run, Washington Monthly, Mediaite and Ricochet Conversations Feed, more at Mediagazer »

BuzzFeed:

Romney Defends Leaked Comments, Hits Obama For 1998 “Redistribution” Line — On Fox News Tuesday, the Republican presidential nominee hit the president for a recently uncovered clip in which he says he “actually likes redistribution.” Romney also defended his comments about 47% of Americans who he says will vote for Obama.

Discussion: Washington Post, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Business Insider, New York Magazine and The Lonely Conservative