memeorandum: M.T.A. Chief Challenges Board Member to ‘Be a Man’ (Matt Flegenheimer/City Room)

5:40 PM ET, September 27, 2012

Top Items:

From video to terrorist attack: a definitive timeline of administration statements on the Libya attack — “We are still doing an investigation.” — In any kind of confused overseas event, initial reports are often wrong. But the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi …

Wall Street Journal:

The Libya Debacle — The more we learn, the more Benghazi looks like a gross security failure. — In his United Nations speech on Tuesday, President Obama talked about the September 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya and declared that “there should be no doubt that we will be relentless …

Discussion: CNN, Mediaite, Hot Air, Washington Examiner, Politico, The Gateway Pundit and Weekly Standard

Fox News:
US officials knew Libya attack was terrorism within 24 hours, sources confirm

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Macsmind, Power Line, The PJ Tatler, Weasel Zippers, Sister Toldjah, Michelle Malkin, Hot Air, Blazing Cat Fur and Los Angeles Times

First Read:
First Thoughts: Obama's closing ad (with 40 days to go)

Discussion: Battleground Watch, National Review, The Fix, The Daily Caller, Weekly Standard, Taylor Marsh and Connecting.the.Dots

Katie Pavlich / Townhall.com:
Carney: We Didn't Lie About Libya, We Just Had Different Facts At the Time

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Mediaite and Weasel Zippers

Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:
Bombshell: Obama Administration Deleted State Dept. Memo From Internet After Discovering Al-Qaeda …

Discussion: Victory Girls Blog

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Did Obama lie about the embassy attacks?

Discussion: iOwnTheWorld.com, The Heritage Foundation, americanthinker.com, Right Wing News and American Power

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Brutal new Obama ad features Mitt Romney and the 47 percenters — The Obama campaign has not sent this ad to national reporters, but I'm told it will air in the seven key swing states. It is a brutal shot at Mitt Romney's videotaped remarks about the freeloading 47 percent …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Politico, The Moderate Voice, Daily Kos, Gothamist, Ballot Box, Business Insider and The Hinterland Gazette

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Sept. 26: Could 2012 Be Like 2008? — There's no point in putting it gently: Mitt Romney had one of his worst polling days of the year on Wednesday. — It began with a series of polls from The New York Times, CBS News and Quinnipiac University, released early Wednesday morning …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online and New York Times

Kevin Robillard / Politico:

Mitt Romney to ‘fact check’ Obama in debate — Mitt Romney plans to turn himself into a one-man truth squad during the first presidential debate next week, casting President Barack Obama as someone who can't be trusted to stick to the facts or keep his promises.

Discussion: Rumproast, Wonkette and Daily Kos

Alexander Burns / Politico:
Obama's two-minute, direct-to-camera ad

Discussion: CNN, The Impolitic, Taylor Marsh and Israel Matzav

Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:
Obama's Biggest Opponent Is the Truth

Discussion: his vorpal sword, Hot Air and The Lonely Conservative

David Corn / Mother Jones:

NEW ROMNEY VIDEO: In 1985, He Said Bain Would “Harvest” Companies for Profits — This clip shows the young CEO focusing on businesses as targets for his investors, not as job creators or community stakeholders. — Campaigning for the presidency, Mitt Romney has pointed to his stint …

Discussion: The Daily Dish, The Moderate Voice, Hullabaloo, ABCNEWS, Addicting Info, Mediaite, The Impolitic, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Taylor Marsh and Mother Jones

Jesse Drucker / Bloomberg:

Romney ‘I Dig It’ Trust Gives Heirs Triple Benefit — In January 1999, a trust set up by Mitt Romney for his children and grandchildren reaped a 1,000 percent return on the sale of shares in Internet advertising firm DoubleClick Inc. — If Romney had given the cash directly …

Discussion: Mother Jones, CANNONFIRE and Brad DeLong

Jason Hancock / Midwest Democracy:

Todd Akin says Claire McCaskill is not as ‘ladylike’ as 2006 — JEFFERSON CITY - More than a month after his comments about “legitimate rape” nearly derailed his campaign for U.S. Senate, Republican Todd Akin said Thursday that it has become clear to him that he will triumph over Democratic incumbent Sen. Claire McCaskill this fall.

Discussion: CNN, Talking Points Memo, BuzzFeed, Politico, Taylor Marsh, Daily Kos, Mediaite, The Maddow Blog, Hotline On Call, The Raw Story, Election 2012 and The Fix

Annie-Rose Strasser / ThinkProgress:
Todd Akin Says McCaskill Is Not ‘Ladylike’

Discussion: Ballot Box

Nicholas Confessore / The Caucus:

Soros Gives $1 Million to Democratic ‘Super PAC’ — The billionaire George Soros is committing $1 million to Priorities USA Action, the “super PAC” supporting President Obama, two people with knowledge of the decision said Thursday, a significant donation that could help spur further contributions …

Discussion: CNN, Ballot Box, New York Times, New York Magazine, Business Insider, Washington Free Beacon, The PJ Tatler and Washington Examiner

Travis Waldron / ThinkProgress:

Phoenix Mayor Attempts To Live On A Food Stamp Budget: 'I'm Tired, And It's Hard To Focus' — When local activist groups challenged Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton to live on a food stamp budget for a week to mark Hunger Awareness Month, he took them up on the offer and found out just how hard it was.

Discussion: Shakesville, Hullabaloo, The Huffington Post and Feministing

Bureau of Labor Statistics:

CES Preliminary Benchmark Announcement — In accordance with usual practice, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is announcing the preliminary estimate of the upcoming annual benchmark revision to the establishment survey employment series. The final benchmark revision will be issued on February 1 …

Discussion: Calculated Risk, Firedoglake, ThinkProgress, Los Angeles Times, Washington Examiner, Economix, The Daily Beast, Wonkblog, Business Insider, New York Magazine, The Maddow Blog, Oregon Office …, Daily Kos and Mother Jones

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:
New Jobs Numbers Put Obama In Net Job Growth Territory

Discussion: The Stranger …

CNN:

TRENDING: Samuel L. Jackson: ‘Wake the F*** up’ for Obama — (CNN) - Actor Samuel L. Jackson entered the political fray this week, starring in a new web video that parodies his own audio recording of the mock children's book, “Go the F*** to Sleep.” — This time, however …

Discussion: The Hill, Politico and Washington Wire

Tara Palmeri / New York Post:
WATCH: Samuel L. Jackson debuts profanity-laced pro-Obama ad

Discussion: Hot Air, Jammie Wearing Fools, iOwnTheWorld.com, The Hinterland Gazette and Washington Examiner

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:

Shock Photos of Netanyahu at U.N. from AP, Reuters — Two shocking photos coming off the wire of Benjamin Netanyahu addressing the United Nations moments ago. — The first is from the Associated Press: — Associated PressAssociated Press — The second is from Reuters: — ReutersReuters

Toby Harnden / Daily Mail: Obama WILL speak to Netanyahu but only on the phone and a day AFTER Hillary Clinton meets him in New York

Washington Post:

Medicare working to boost Obama in swing states, poll finds — Voters in three critical swing states broadly oppose the sweeping changes to Medicare proposed by Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan and, by big margins, favor President Obama over Mitt Romney on the issue …

Discussion: Mother Jones, Orlando Sentinel and Election 2012

The Fix:
Why Mitt Romney isn't going to get blown out

Discussion: Gallup, The Daily Caller, Hotline On Call, National Review, AEIdeas, Ballot Box and The Hill

ACLU:

New Justice Department Documents Show Huge Increase in Warrantless Electronic Surveillance — Justice Department documents released today by the ACLU reveal that federal law enforcement agencies are increasingly monitoring Americans' electronic communications, and doing so without warrants …

Discussion: Electronic Frontier Foundation, Firedoglake, Hit & Run, Outside the Beltway, emptywheel, Forbes, The Verge and Law Blog

Molly Ball / The Atlantic Online:

Obama's Brutal New ‘47 Percent’ Ad — In a new commercial airing heavily in swing states, the entire script is Romney's leaked comments about “entitled,” government-dependent “victims.” — CANTON, Ohio — The Obama campaign didn't put out a press release announcing this new TV ad Thursday …

Discussion: GOP 12, New York Magazine, Taylor Marsh and The Caucus

NY Daily News:

While Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad soaks up Manhattan high life, his underlings go on shopping spree at discount chains Payless, Costco, Walgreens and Duane Reade — Visiting delegation rack up on shampoo, soap and vitamins. One visitor debated dropping $40 for kids' shoes at Fifth Ave.

Discussion: The Lede, Gothamist, Algemeiner.com, Fausta's Blog, New York Magazine and Althouse

Hotline On Call:

The Politics of Beer: Stay Nonpartisan, My Friends — Americans who most often drink Dos Equis are in the middle-of-the-road while drinkers of Heineken's flagship brand are strongly Democratic. Samuel Adams drinkers are strongly Republican, and more likely to vote.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Hit & Run and Washington Examiner

BuzzFeed:

Romney's Supporters Reject His Soft Line On Obama — A failed golfer-president, not Che Guevera Lite? Shouts of “No!” in Toledo. — Image by Brian Snyder / Reuters — TOLEDO, Ohio — Mitt Romney covered a lot of territory Wednesday — rhetorically and geographically …

Discussion: The Impolitic, Outside the Beltway and GOP 12

William J. Bennett / CNN:

Why you shouldn't vote for Obama — The latest from the campaign trail … (CNN) — It has been said that a democratic republic such as ours is a do-it-yourself enterprise. People change the course of this country through conversation, debate and, eventually, consensus.

Discussion: National Review

BuzzFeed:

Bibi And Bomb — The Israeli Prime Minister goes viral. A “red line” on Iran. — Zeke Miller — a half hour ago — 8 responses

Discussion: New York Times, FP Passport, New York Magazine and Taylor Marsh

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press:

In Changing News Landscape, Even Television is Vulnerable — Trends in News Consumption: 1991-2012 — OVERVIEW — The transformation of the nation's news landscape has already taken a heavy toll on print news sources, particularly print newspapers. But there are now signs that television news …

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »

Michael Putney / WPLG-TV:

Justin Lamar Sternad's wife douses Michael Putney — FBI investigates Sternad's relationship to US Congressman David Rivera — CUTLER BAY, Fla. - — When I knocked on Justin Lamar Sternad's door Wednesday, I noticed a sign warning, “Trespassers leave — or get wet.” I didn't leave and got wet.

Discussion: Riptide 2.0