memeorandum: France set to ban the words ‘mother’ and ‘father’ from official documents (Vladimir Putin/Telegraph)

3:30 AM ET, September 26, 2012

Top Items:

Joel B. Pollak / BREITBART.COM:

OBAMA TO UN: IT'S NOT MY FAULT STEVENS IS DEAD — Passing the buck in dramatic fashion on the world stage, President Barack Obama told the UN General Assembly this morning that the U.S. government was not responsible for the anti-Islam video that he once again blamed for recent attacks on U.S. embassies in the Middle East.

Discussion: MRCTV, Washington Post, Macsmind, The Lonely Conservative, Nice Deb, Hot Air and First Draft

Kevin Cirilli / Politico:

Allen West to U.N.: U.S. ‘Angel of Death’ — Florida Rep. Allen West ripped President Barack Obama's United Nations speech Tuesday, saying he would have told the U.N. that America would be an “Angel of Death” that wreaks “havoc and destruction” on anyone who attacks the U.S.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Dependable Renegade, Mediaite and Reuters

Congressman Allen West / Facebook:

The President continues to offer up apologies....When tolerance becomes a one way street it leads to cultural suicide... In his speech today to the United Nations, President Obama stated six times that the attacks across the Islamic world are attributed to a silly video.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Doug Ross, Daily Kos, BuzzFeed, Business Insider, The Daily Caller and Influence Alley

CNN:
What we learned from our interview with Mitt Romney

Discussion: Hot Air

BuzzFeed:
Romney Campaign Challenges The Polls

Discussion: The New Republic, Washington Post, The Fix, The Gateway Pundit, The Stranger …, Outside the Beltway, The Hinterland Gazette, Election 2012, Business Insider, The Other McCain and AEIdeas

Reuters:
U.S. will “do what we must” on Iran, U.N.'s Ban opposes threats

Discussion: The Raw Story

New York Times:
Obama's Speech to the United Nations General Assembly — Text

Discussion: americanthinker.com, Slate, CBS New York, The Lede, Democracy in America, Opinionator, Victory Girls Blog, Weekly Standard, ABCNEWS, Weasel Zippers, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Crawdad Hole, Wired, The Week, National Review, The Agonist and The Daily Dish

Alexander Burns / Politico:
Romney's problem: Ohio, Ohio, Ohio

Discussion: CNN, First Read, American Prospect, Daily Kos, The New Republic, Outside the Beltway, The Other McCain and Washington Post

Joe Gandelman / The Moderate Voice:

Report: Paul Ryan Goes Rogue and Refers to “Stench” Romney — Are we now witnessing the second Vice President on a Republican ticket in four years “go rogue”? Is Paul Ryan fed up with what some see as his Romneyization by the Romney camp? Is he following 2008 Vice Presidential nominee's advice to “go rogue”?

Roger Simon / Politico:

Paul Ryan vs. The Stench — Paul Ryan has gone rogue. He is unleashed, unchained, off the hook. — “I hate to say this, but if Ryan wants to run for national office again, he'll probably have to wash the stench of Romney off of him,” Craig Robinson, a former political director …

Discussion: The Hinterland Gazette and Balloon Juice

Roger Simon / Politico:

Paul Ryan vs. The Stench — He did a PowerPoint presentation for the crowd. According to the National Journal, be began thusly: " 'I'm kind of a PowerPoint guy, so I hope you'll bear with me,' Ryan told the audience as he began clicking through four slides, which showed graphs depicting U.S. debt held …

David Weigel / Slate:

Defining Wonkishness Down — I'm noticing a pattern in coverage of Paul Ryan. Yesterday's NYT and WaPo gripe-collecters on how conservatives wanted to “unleash” the candidate were a taster. The next wave of Ryan story is the “the wonk is loosed” piece. When you see just how the “wonkishness” is being defined, it's fairly amusing.

Discussion: CNN, Paul Krugman, Mother Jones, A plain blog about politics, Balloon Juice, Washington Monthly and Connecting.the.Dots

WCVB.com:

Sen. Scott Brown staffers caught on video chanting Indian war whoops, making tomahawk chops — Rally video surfaces after campaigns release ads about Warren's heritage — Brown staffers caught chanting Indian war whoops — Staffers for Sen. Scott Brown chanted Indian “war whoops” …

Katharine Q. Seelye / New York Times:
In Massachusetts, Brown Attacks Warren's Character

Discussion: Hot Air, Daily Kos and The Daily Caller

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Really, Scott Brown? — I've been wondering about this for a few days.

Discussion: The BRAD BLOG and Blue Mass Group

Eric Kleefeld / Talking Points Memo: Warren Ad: Scott Brown ‘Attacking My Family’ On Native American Claims

Ann Althouse / Althouse:
Did Scott Brown staffers make anti-Indian gestures at a rally?

Discussion: Politico, Mediaite, Ballot Box, Rumproast and The Raw Story

Boston Herald:
Miner: Elizabeth Warren's biz ‘hypocritical’

Discussion: National Review, Jammie Wearing Fools and Boston Globe

New York Post:

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Woman defaces ‘anti-jihad’ ad in Times Square station — Cops busted a lone protester — angry with subway ads equating enemies of Israel as “savages” — as she spray-painted over one of the controversial signs today. — A Post camera crew captured the bizarre conflict …

Discussion: Atlas Shrugs, New York Magazine, Jihad Watch, Belmont Club and Jammie Wearing Fools

Philip Weiss / Mondoweiss:
‘Savage’ NY subway ads get a make-over- revealing their true character

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Gawker, Jihad Watch, Colorlines, Mediaite, Feministing and The New Republic

Travis Waldron / ThinkProgress:

Paul Ryan Demands Return Of Unionized NFL Referees: ‘It Is Time To Get The Real Refs’ — The Green Bay Packers lost on a controversial last-second play that was ruled incorrectly by scab officials Monday night, leading Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan (also from Wisconsin) …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The Stranger …, The Daily Caller, American Power, Mediaite, The Raw Story, Lawyers, Guns & Money and alicublog, more at Mediagazer »

Scott Bauer / Associated Press:
Union-buster Walker calls for return of union refs

Discussion: New York Times, Weekly Standard, Washington Wire, Associated Press, Hot Air, NFL.com, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Booman Tribune

Jennifer Jacobs / Des Moines Register:
Obama to NFL: “Get the permanent refs back”

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, New York Times and National Review

Emily Goodin / The Hill:

Madonna strips for Obama, offers profanity-laced endorsement — Madonna offered a profanity-laced endorsement of President Obama at her concert Monday night, which involved the singer stripping down to her underwear to reveal the president's name written on her body.

Discussion: NewsBusters.org blogs, The PJ Tatler, The Daily Caller and The Lonely Conservative

Kia Makarechi / The Huffington Post:
Madonna: Obama Is ‘A Black Muslim In The White House,’ Deserves Votes (VIDEO)

Discussion: The Raw Story

Neetzan Zimmerman / Gawker:

Mitt Romney Stops Supporters from Chanting ‘Ryan’ to Ensure They Say His Name Too — In Vandalia, Ohio, today, after Mitt Romney thanked running mate Paul Ryan for his stump speech, rally attendees instinctively began chanting “Ryan, Ryan,” as rally attendees are wont to do.

Discussion: Towleroad News #gay, Daily Kos and Wonkette

Richard Cohen / Washington Post:

The Republican brain drain — In 1980 Ronald Reagan won the Republican nomination. He beat a future president, George H.W. Bush; two future Senate majority leaders, Howard Baker and Bob Dole; and two lesser-known congressmen. This year Mitt Romney won the GOP nomination.

Patrick Gavin / Politico:
Ralph Nader: Obama's a ‘war criminal’

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Mediaite and Green Festival

Howard Fineman / The Huffington Post:

Barack Obama Floating Like A Butterfly: Countdown Day 43 … Barack Obama 2012 , Elections 2012 , 2012 Countdown , Barack Obama Floating Like a Butterfly , Obama Cassius Clay , Obama Floats Like a Butterfly , Obama Floats Like a Butterfly Stings Like a Bee , Obama Muhammad Ali , Obama Sting Like a Bee , Politics News

Discussion: Campaign Stops and The Daily Caller

Alex Pareene / Salon:

The website where Mitt Romney's winning in a landslide — At UnSkewed Polls, “liberal media bias” is removed from every survey that shows Obama ahead. Guess who wins? — I present UnSkewedPolls.com, the best new website on the political Internet. UnSkewed Polls finally removes the …

Discussion: Examiner, Rumproast, Middle Earth Journal, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Mock, Paper, Scissors and Business Insider

Laura Vozzella / Washington Post:

Va. GOP orders affiliate to remove offensive Obama photos — RICHMOND — Virginia Republican Party officials on Tuesday ordered their Mecklenburg County affiliate to remove photos portraying President Obama as a witch doctor, a caveman and a thug from its Facebook page.

Discussion: The Hinterland Gazette

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Sept. 24: Deep Red Polling Mystery — The FiveThirtyEight forecast was essentially unchanged on Monday, with Barack Obama holding a 77.7 percent chance of winning the Electoral College. — Mr. Obama received a number of strong-looking state polls on Monday, including some from firms that had him with mixed numbers before.

Discussion: Booman Tribune and The Raw Story

Chris Ziegler / The Verge:

Apple had over a year left on Google Maps contract, Google scrambling to build iOS app — Apple's decision to ship its own mapping system in the iPhone 5 and iOS 6 was made over a year before the company's agreement to use Google Maps expired, according to two independent sources familiar with the matter.

Discussion: New York Times, Mashable! and TechCrunch

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

Romney Says Obama Did Not Raise Taxes ‘In His First Four Years’ — Mitt Romney has argued for months that President Obama raised taxes on middle class Americans and small businesses during his first term. But during a rally in Ohio on Tuesday, the GOP presidential candidate inadvertently undermined …

Discussion: Election 2012 and Mediaite

Julie Hirschfeld Davis / Bloomberg:

Romney Negativity Muddies Message as Obama Leads in Poll — Republican Mitt Romney's negative ratings are preventing him from capitalizing on President Barack Obama's vulnerabilities in the race for the White House, according to a new poll that gives the incumbent a lead heading into the first of three presidential debates.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Noel Sheppard / NewsBusters.org:

CNN's Acosta to Romney: ‘If You Somehow Win,’ How Would You 'Assure Blacks You'd Be Their President Also?' — CNN's Jim Acosta on Tuesday's Situation Room asked what many will think was a truly offensive question. — “If you were to somehow beat the first African-American president …

Discussion: Instapundit and The Gateway Pundit

Lee Bergquist / JSOnline:

News and Opinion Blogs — Video: Thompson would “do away” with Medicare; instead, wants to reform it — By Lee Bergquist of the Journal Sentinel — Republican Senate candidate Tommy G. Thompson told a tea party group in June that he wants to “do away with the Medicare and Medicaid” …

Discussion: BuzzFeed and Taylor Marsh