memeorandum: Obama on Letterman: President avoids debt number (Erik Wemple/Washington Post)

1:45 PM ET, September 19, 2012

Top Items:

Time for an Intervention — What should Mitt Romney do now? He should peer deep into the abyss. He should look straight into the heart of darkness where lies a Republican defeat in a year the Republican presidential candidate almost couldn't lose. He should imagine what it will mean for the country …

Michael Barbaro / The Caucus:

A Mood of Gloom Afflicts the Romney Campaign — SALT LAKE CITY - Mitt Romney's traveling press secretary walked to the back of the candidate's plane midflight on Tuesday and teasingly asked a pair of journalists in an exit row if they were “willing and able to assist in case of an emergency.”

Discussion: New York Magazine, New York Times, Politico, The Lonely Conservative, Hit & Run, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Connecting.the.Dots, ABCNEWS, Daily Kos, Reuters, Wonkette, Ballot Box and Balloon Juice, more at Mediagazer »

Michael Falcone / ABCNEWS:

Romney Tapes Give Way To The Not-So-Calm After The Storm (The Note) — NOTABLES: — ROMNEY TAPES GET THE SUPER PAC TREATMENT: That didn't take long. The pro-Obama super PAC, Priorities USA Action, is quick out of the starting gate this morning with a new television ad featuring footage …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Caucus, USA Today, Talking Points Memo, American Spectator, Althouse and The Daily Caller

Mitt Romney / USA Today:

I'll deliver recovery, not dependency — Since our founding, America has promoted personal responsibility, the dignity of work and the value of education. Those values made our nation the hope of the earth and our economy the envy of the world. — Efforts that promote hard work …

Discussion: ABCNEWS, CNN, Talking Points Memo, Politico, Washington Post, Political Watch, Sister Toldjah, Wake up America, The Daily Beast, The Future of Capitalism, Mediaite, The Hill, Daily Kos and Election 2012

John McCormack / Weekly Standard:
Mitt Romney's ‘Severe Conservatism’

Discussion: First Read, The Maddow Blog, emptywheel, The Reaction, No More Mister Nice Blog, Washington Post, The Daily Dish, The Week and The Huffington Post

The Onion:
Romney Apologizes To Nation's 150 Million ‘Starving, Filthy Beggars’

Discussion: The Raw Story, Shakesville and US Politics

Mitt Romney for President of the United States …:
MEMORANDUM

Discussion: Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, The Daily Beast and Daily Kos

Benny Johnson / TheBlaze.com:

IS THE SECRET VIDEO OF ROMNEY AT FUNDRAISER REALLY UNEDITED? WE MAY HAVE PROOF OTHERWISE — Tuesday afternoon, the site Mother Jones released what was described as the “full,” “raw and uncut” video of Mitt Romney's comments at a private campaign fundraiser, which has drawn immense criticism from both sides.

William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:

Critical audio gap in “complete” Romney tape released by Mother Jones (Update - Corn responds, 1-2 minutes missing) — David Corn of Mother Jones released the “complete” audio and video of the secretly recorded Mitt Romney speech at a private fundraiser. — Yet the complete audio and video is not complete.

Discussion: Examiner, emptywheel, The Lonely Conservative, Wizbang, The Spectacle Blog, Mediaite, Patterico's Pontifications, Conservatives4Palin, NewsBusters.org blogs, JOSHUAPUNDIT, ABCNEWS, Washington Post, Washington Wire, Dave Winer, Wonkette, Mashable!, Taylor Marsh and Red Alert Politics

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Romney video missing ‘one to two minutes’ — The videos of Mitt Romney's remarks at a May fundraiser, released in full by Mother Jones yesterday, omit “one to two minutes” of the candidates remarks, the journalist who obtained the video told POLITICO. — The omission comes between parts …

Discussion: Naked DC, The Hill and First Read

Dick Durbin / CNN:
Partisan field day: Reid, Durbin on Romney remarks

Discussion: Politico

James Monteleone / Albuquerque Journal:
Gov. Martinez critical of Romney's ‘47 percent’

Discussion: The Hill and ABCNEWS

Mark McKinnon / The Daily Beast:
Mark McKinnon on Why Time Is Running Out for Mitt Romney

Discussion: Mario Piperni dot Com, Boston Globe and The Hill

Michelle Malkin:
Romney's “secret video” and the Dem politics of “Squirrel!”

Discussion: Associated Press, his vorpal sword, THEROOT.COM, Truthdig and Twitchy

Quinnipiac University:

Obama Hits 50% In Wisconsin, Virginia; Colorado Is Close, Quinnipiac University/New York Times/CBS News Swing State Poll Finds — Watch Video: Assistant Director Tim Malloy discusses poll results — Clip Information and Download: — FLV File - For Website (1920x1080 / 189.1MB)

Discussion: CNN, GOP 12, ABCNEWS, Firedoglake, The Fix, Washington Post, Ballot Box and The Hinterland Gazette

Susan Page / USA Today:

Poll: In 2-point presidential race, Romney trips over 47% — The good news for Republican challenger Mitt Romney: After three rocky weeks, he remains within striking distance of President Obama in the battleground states that matter most. The bad news: His latest misstep could upend that.

Discussion: CBS News, The Daily Caller, National Review, First Read and The Daily Dish

Associated Press:
AP-GfK poll reveals demographic divides driving close contest for the presidency

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Outside the Beltway and Hot Air

Associated Press:
POLL: OBAMA JOB APPROVAL RISING, RACE STILL TIGHT

Discussion: The Fix, First Read and Sweetness & Light

Christian Heinze / GOP 12:
AP: Obama 47% Romney 46%

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Obama 48%, Romney 46% in Swing States

Discussion: AEIdeas, Washington Examiner, Politico, americanthinker.com, Ballot Box and CNN

Jesse Helfrich / The Hill:

Romney's missteps could cost party the Senate, strategists say — Republicans believe Mitt Romney's mistakes could prevent them from winning back the Senate. — Romney's failure to close the gap with President Obama less than 50 days before the election, as well as a variety of high-profile gaffes …

Discussion: Politico and Prairie Weather

Reuters:
Romney woes jangle GOP nerves

Discussion: The Maddow Blog, Politico, Daily Kos and TheBlaze.com

FRANCE 24:

France to close embassies in fear of cartoon backlash — France announced Wednesday it will close 20 embassies across the Muslim world on Friday after French weekly Charlie Hebdo published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed naked, amid growing unrest over an anti-Islamic film that has left dozens dead.

Discussion: Babalú Blog, The Gateway Pundit, Gawker, The Lonely Conservative and Althouse, more at Mediagazer »

Nicola Clark / New York Times:
French Magazine Runs Cartoons That Mock Muhammad

Discussion: BBC, Hit & Run, Blazing Cat Fur and The Hinterland Gazette

Philip Klein / Washington Examiner:

CRS report: number of able-bodied adults on food stamps doubled after Obama suspended work requirement … Obama administration officials have insisted that their decision to grant states waivers to redefine work requirements for welfare recipients would not “gut” the landmark 1996 welfare reform law.

Discussion: Moonbattery, UrbanGrounds, The Lonely Conservative, The Heritage Foundation and Washington Free Beacon

BuzzFeed:

Ann Romney: Mitt Doesn't Disdain The Poor — The saddest rapid response... The Romney campaign just uploaded a video with the title “Ann Romney to FOX31: Mitt Doesn't Disdain the Poor.” UPDATE: Apparently the campaign has removed the video from their official account. — Zeke Miller — an hour ago

Discussion: The Hinterland Gazette, Swampland, Mediaite, Crooks and Liars and US Politics

Scott Keyes / ThinkProgress:

GOP Congressional Candidate Says Mideast Turmoil Is Because Of ‘Girly Men’ In The White House — A Republican congressional nominee laid the blame for turmoil in the Middle East on “girly men” in the White House. — North Carolina State Sen. David Rouzer (R), the GOP nominee …

Discussion: Mediaite and The Raw Story

the MoJo / MoJo Articles:

Full Transcript of the Mitt Romney Secret Video — Additional highlights include Romney mocking immigration and pondering how he'd exploit a pre-election hostage crisis. — Below is a complete transcript, produced by Mother Jones, of the entire unedited Romney videos that we published on Tuesday.

Discussion: Questions and Observations, BillMoyers.com, Mediaite, World, Althouse, Mother Jones and JOSHUAPUNDIT

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:

Obama on Letterman: President avoids debt number — David Letterman professes at one point in his discussion with President Obama to be “completely ignorant about politics.” Such a shortcoming, you might suppose, would disqualify the “Late Show” host from quizzing the president on the issues of the day.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, Wake up America, The PJ Tatler and Ricochet Conversations Feed

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Sept. 18: Obama's Bounce Erodes in Two Tracking Polls — President Obama has been on the decline in the FiveThirtyEight forecast. On Tuesday, his chance of winning the Electoral College dropped to 72.9 percent, from 74.8 percent on Monday. Mr. Obama is now well off his peak in the forecast …

Discussion: The New Republic and ABCNEWS

Joan Walsh / Salon:

Does Paul Ryan regret his choice? — Calling Mitt's 47 percent comments “obviously inarticulate,” the would-be VP sounds resentful — Paul Ryan didn't sound like Mr. Loyalty when commenting on Mitt Romney's cruel comments about the 47 percent of Americans who pay no taxes Tuesday to a Reno television station.

Discussion: The Maddow Blog

Katie Pavlich / Townhall.com:

CNBC Poll: 75% Agree With Romney's 47% Comments — UPDATE: The number of people who have taken the CNBC poll has doubled, bringing those who agree with Romney's comments to 76 percent. — As the faux outrage over Mitt Romney's “47%” comments continue to barrel through the airwaves of the old media …

Discussion: Hit & Run and UrbanGrounds

Esquire:

(Plus: Americans Trust Obama Over Romney in War) — There is a strong and pervasive sense among critics, pundits, and all-purposed commentators right now that Mitt Romney is on his way to losing this thing. That he is taking a highly winnable situation — an incumbent president …

Discussion: The Hill and Weasel Zippers

Geoff Earle / New York Post:

Beyoncé & Jay-Z host NY Bam ba$h — WASHINGTON — Nix the flags and the podium. Cue the opulent 18-foot tower of gold-bottled French champagne. — When President Obama addresses an elite roster of hipsters and multimillionaires, including hosts Beyoncé and Jay-Z …