memeorandum: Rep. Griffin: Obama running a ‘lockout’ on foreign leaders (Alicia M. Cohn/The Hill)

9:00 AM ET, September 26, 2012

Top Items:

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: New York Times, Taylor Marsh, The Maddow Blog, The Hinterland Gazette, The Iowa Republican, Paul Krugman, Balloon Juice and The Hill

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 — 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, The Mahablog, A plain blog about politics, Mother Jones, Balloon Juice and Washington Monthly

New York Times:

Polls Show Obama Is Widening His Lead in Ohio and Florida — COLUMBUS, Ohio — For weeks, Republicans in Ohio have been watching with worry that the state's vital 18 electoral votes were trending away from Mitt Romney. The anxiety has been similar in Florida, where Republicans are concerned …

Discussion: Quinnipiac University, The Moderate Voice, Jammie Wearing Fools, ABCNEWS, Macsmind, Prairie Weather, Taegan Goddard's …, Marbury and Election 2012

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

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

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

Investor's Business Daily:

Democrat Senate Hopeful Warren Exposed As Complete Fraud — Politics: Democrat Elizabeth Warren has framed her race in Massachusetts against Sen. Scott Brown around integrity and intellect, as if she's a cut above other pols. In fact, she's beneath even the sleaziest.

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

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

WCVB.com:
Sen. Scott Brown staffers caught on video chanting Indian war whoops, making tomahawk chops

Robert Gehrke / Salt Lake Tribune:

Love Claims The Lead — Well, this is an interesting turn of events. — Mia Love's campaign released internal polling numbers that show the race for Utah's 4th District seat have taken a dramatic swing, giving her a big lead over Democrat Jim Matheson. — Love's polling firm …

Discussion: Washington Examiner and The Gateway Pundit

Dennis Romboy / Deseret News:
Police investigating racist pictures sent to Mia Love

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, The Lonely Conservative and Mother Jones

Associated Press:

Romney, Obama Descend on Battleground Ohio — President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney are pitching to college students and working-class voters in Ohio less than a week before early voting kicks off in this critical Midwestern state. — Fresh off a high-stakes address …

CNN:
What we learned from our interview with Mitt Romney

Discussion: Hot Air and Politico

BuzzFeed:
Romney Campaign Challenges The Polls

Discussion: Ballot Box, Washington Post, The New Republic, ABCNEWS, The Gateway Pundit, The Fix, The Stranger …, Election 2012, The Hinterland Gazette, The Other McCain and AEIdeas

Eric Posner / Slate:

The World Doesn't Love the First Amendment — The vile anti-Muslim video shows that the U.S. overvalues free speech. — The universal response in the United States to the uproar over the anti-Muslim video is that the Muslim world will just have to get used to freedom of expression.

Discussion: Questions and Observations, Pirate's Cove, Hit & Run, New York Times, Hot Air, Opinionator, The Crawdad Hole, National Review, The Other McCain, The Agonist and The Daily Dish

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, Mediaite, Dependable Renegade, Business Insider 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...

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

Noel Sheppard / NewsBusters.org blogs:

CNN's Acosta to Romney: ‘If You Somehow Beat Obama,’ 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: Scared Monkeys, The Gateway Pundit and Instapundit

Gary Langer / ABCNEWS:

Criticism of Romney's Campaign Grows; Six in 10 Rate His Efforts Negatively — Public criticism of Mitt Romney's race for the White House has risen sharply, with six in 10 Americans expressing a negative opinion of how he's handling his campaign and a majority responding unfavorably to his comments on people who don't pay income taxes.

Discussion: Political Capital and Rising Hegemon

Alicia M. Cohn / The Hill:

Rep. Griffin: Obama running a ‘lockout’ on foreign leaders — Republicans on Tuesday tweaked the president over his appearance on “The View” and concern over the NFL lockout. — Republicans on Tuesday charged President Obama with paying more attention to anything but foreign policy during …

Discussion: Political Capital

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: Daily Kos, Towleroad News #gay and Wonkette

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: Los Angeles Times and The Moderate Voice

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 Lonely Conservative and The Daily Caller

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

Discussion: The Raw Story

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

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

MiamiHerald.com:

Rivera ran secret campaign, Sternad tells FBI — Justin Lamar Sternad told federal law enforcement authorities that U.S. Rep. David Rivera was behind his failed Democratic primary campaign. — MCAPUTO@MIAMIHERALD.COM — Justin Lamar Sternad, whose failed congressional campaign became …

Discussion: Riptide 2.0

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, Nice Deb, First Draft, The Lonely Conservative and Hot Air

Jay Cost / Weekly Standard:

Morning Jay: Are the Polls Tilted Toward Obama? — Republicans, by and large, are frustrated with recent polls of the presidential election because they think Democrats are being oversampled. Many pollsters respond by saying that “weighing” the polls for partisan identification creates …

Discussion: National Review and Gallup

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: The Daily Caller and Campaign Stops

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) …