memeorandum: Strike May Be Over, but Teachers' Pension Is Still a Big Issue for Chicago (Mary Williams Walsh/New York Times)

4:05 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 …

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, KDVR.com, Washington Post, Political Watch, Wake up America, Sister Toldjah, Mediaite, The Hill, Politico, The Future of Capitalism, The Daily Beast, Daily Kos and Election 2012

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: Michelle Malkin, GOP 12, Associated Press, The Spectacle Blog, Wonkette, Examiner, Wizbang, emptywheel, The Lonely Conservative, Mediaite, Twitchy, Patterico's Pontifications, Conservatives4Palin, NewsBusters.org blogs and Los Angeles Times

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.

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

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: The Daily Beast, Naked DC and The Hill

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: Swampland, ABCNEWS, New York Magazine, Politico, The Maddow Blog, Hit & Run, The Lonely Conservative, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Connecting.the.Dots, Daily Kos, New York Times, Wonkette, Reuters, Balloon Juice and Patterico's Pontifications

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

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Politico, The Hill and The Hinterland Gazette

William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:
Maybe Romney answer was “inelegant” only because Mother Jones didn't disclose that part of tape was missing

Discussion: Poynter, Guardian, 24Ahead, FishbowlDC, Swampland, JOSHUAPUNDIT and BBC, more at Mediagazer »

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

Discussion: The Raw Story, Shakesville and US Politics

Joan Walsh / Salon:
Does Paul Ryan regret his choice?

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Maddow Blog and The Raw Story

Mitt Romney for President of the United States …:
MEMORANDUM

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

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

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

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

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

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
“Complete” video of Romney missing 1-2 minutes of remarks on the 47%

Discussion: BREITBART.COM and AEIdeas

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

Discussion: Politico

Joel B. Pollak / BREITBART.COM:
SELECTIVE EDIT? MOTHER JONES ADMITS ROMNEY TAPE MISSING ‘ONE TO TWO MINUTES’

Discussion: American Power and First Read

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press:

Obama Ahead with Stronger Support, Better Image and Lead on Most Issues — Democrats Narrow Engagement Gap — OVERVIEW — At this stage in the campaign, Barack Obama is in a strong position compared with past victorious presidential candidates. With an eight-point lead …

Discussion: CNN, Ballot Box, Little Green Footballs, Talking Points Memo, Weekly Standard, Political Watch and Business Insider

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: Washington Wire, Washington Post, CNN, GOP 12, ABCNEWS, Election 2012, The Fix, National Review, First Read, Firedoglake, Ballot Box and The Hinterland Gazette

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: CNN, Politico and Prairie Weather

Cameron Joseph / Ballot Box:

Scott Brown won't say if he still supports Romney for president — Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) refused to say whether he still supports Mitt Romney for president on Wednesday, a day after he distanced himself from Romney's now famous “47 percent” remarks in comments first made to The Hill.

Discussion: BuzzFeed, The Reaction, CNN and FishbowlDC

Scott Wong / Politico:

Heller knocks Romney over ‘47 percent’ — Make that three Republican Senate candidates who are taking Mitt Romney to task for his “47 percent” remarks. — Incumbent Sen. Dean Heller, who is in a tight race with Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley, played up his blue-collar background …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and The Maddow Blog

Katie Pavlich / Townhall.com:
CNBC Poll: 75% Agree With Romney's 47% Comments

Discussion: Ed Driscoll and Hit & Run

ABCNEWS:
Reid Suggests Romney Could Be Part of 47 Percent

Discussion: The Raw Story

Toby Harnden / Daily Mail:

Speaking to the 47%: The $105,000 champagne tower featured at Obama fundraiser hosted by Jay-Z and Beyonce — President Barack Obama attended a fundraiser at Jay-Z's 40/40 Club in Manhattan that featured a champagne tower of 350 bottles worth $105,000 - more than twice the median household income of an American family.

Discussion: The Lonely Conservative, HillBuzz.org, National Review and Washington Examiner

Geoff Earle / New York Post:
Beyoncé & Jay-Z host NY Bam ba$h

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, The PJ Tatler, Red Alert Politics, Jammie Wearing Fools, The Right Scoop, The Jawa Report, Weekly Standard, Moonbattery, Pirate's Cove and Vodkapundit

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: Guardian, Swampland, Mediaite, The Hinterland Gazette and US Politics

Eli Stokols / KDVR.com:
Ann Romney to FOX31: Mitt doesn't disdain the poor

Discussion: The Hill, Politico, The Raw Story and New York Magazine

Fox News:

Major report released on Fast and Furious, DOJ official resigns — A major report released Wednesday on the Operation Fast and Furious scandal faulted a range of federal agencies for the failed anti-gunrunning program — and has resulted in the resignation of one Justice Department official.

Discussion: Washington Times, The Right Scoop, The PJ Tatler, Michelle Malkin and Pat Dollard

Josh Rogin / Foreign Policy:

Obama official: Benghazi was a terrorist attack — The Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was in fact “a terrorist attack” and the U.S. government has indications that members of al Qaeda were directly involved, a top Obama administration official said Wednesday morning.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, The Rightnewz, Taylor Marsh, Speak With Authority and Jammie Wearing Fools

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: iOwnTheWorld.com, The Heritage Foundation, Moonbattery, Washington Free Beacon, The Lonely Conservative and UrbanGrounds

Chicago Tribune:

It's back to school again for Chicago students — It was back to school — again — for hundreds of thousands of Chicago Public Schools students this morning, including Carter and McClaran Shirley who were excited to get back with their friends. — Carter, a sixth grader …

Discussion: Hot Air

Mary Williams Walsh / New York Times:
Strike May Be Over, but Teachers' Pension Is Still a Big Issue for Chicago

Discussion: Hit & Run and The Lonely Conservative

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, Samizdata.net and The Hinterland Gazette

ABCNEWS:

Sen. Coburn Says He Can't Face Cowardly Congress — Amid the gridlock and election-year partisan politics, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., declared today that he's too frustrated to even come to work anymore. — “On Monday mornings when I get up, I get up about 4:30 to catch a flight to come back up here.