memeorandum: Romney Says White House Botched Response to Benghazi Attack (Trip Gabriel/The Caucus)

2:10 PM ET, October 8, 2012

Top Items:

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

Romney Narrows Vote Gap After Historic Debate Win — By record-high margin, debate watchers say Romney did better — PRINCETON, NJ — Registered voters' preferences for president are evenly split in the first three days of Gallup tracking since last Wednesday's presidential debate.

James Hohmann / Politico:

Battleground Tracking Poll: Dems less enthusiastic — ORLANDO, Fla. — President Barack Obama has a worsening enthusiasm problem. — A new POLITICO/George Washington University Battleground Tracking Poll of likely voters shows ahead of Mitt Romney 49 percent to 48 percent nationally …

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Hot Air, The Other McCain, GOP 12, Vodkapundit, Scared Monkeys, The Strata-Sphere, Taylor Marsh, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, GayPatriot, Jammie Wearing Fools and National Review

New York Times:

With Biden Up Next to Debate, Obama's Aides Plot Comeback — WASHINGTON — President Obama's campaign is working feverishly to restore its momentum after a lackluster debate performance last week, an effort that began with a conference call 10 minutes before the debate even ended and led …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Hot Air, The Daily Caller, Taylor Marsh, Sweetness & Light, Washington Wire, NewsBusters.org blogs, The Lonely Conservative, ABCNEWS, Weasel Zippers, Real-Time News from Mobile, Marbury, Wall Street Journal, The Daily Beast, American Power, Election 2012 and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Oct. 7: National Polls Show Signs of Settling — Mitt Romney remains in a considerably stronger polling position than he was before last Wednesday's debate in Denver. But the polls released on Sunday did not tell quite as optimistic a story for him as those in the debate's immediate aftermath.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The New Republic, Booman Tribune and Vox Popoli

Ta-Nehisi Coates / The Atlantic Online:
A Limited and Self-Serving Defense of Political Punditry

Discussion: The Daily Beast

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
The First Debate Was Obama's Best Chance

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, Business Insider and National Review

Laura Washington / Chicago Sun Times:

Reporter Lara Logan brings ominous news from Middle East — CBS correspondent Lara Logan covers the reaction in Cairo's Tahrir Square the day Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down in February 2011. CBS News photo — This was no ordinary rubber chicken affair.

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, Riehl World News and The Hinterland Gazette

David E. Sanger / New York Times:

Romney Remains Vague on Foreign Policy Details — WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney is intensifying his efforts to draw a sharp contrast with President Obama on national security in the presidential campaign's closing stages, portraying Mr. Obama as having mishandled the tumult in the Arab world …

Discussion: Daniel W. Drezner, New York Magazine, Washington Post, The Week, Wired, Mother Jones, Taylor Marsh, National Review, The Maddow Blog, Taegan Goddard's …, PoliticusUSA, The Caucus, Daily Kos, The Hinterland Gazette, Plunderbund, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Towleroad News #gay

Washington Wire:
Text of Romney Speech on Foreign Policy at VMI

Discussion: National Review and Wall Street Journal

Trip Gabriel / The Caucus: Romney Says White House Botched Response to Benghazi Attack

Washington Post:
Mitt Romney's speech on foreign policy at the Virginia Military Institute: Prepared remarks

Discussion: Booman Tribune, Riehl World News and The Fix

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Romney goes on offense on foreign policy; Update: Live video embed added

Discussion: Politico, Fox News Insider and CNN

Pema Levy / Talking Points Memo:
Romney Advisers: Romney Will Return To Foreign Policy Of Truman And Reagan

Discussion: New York Times, Dependable Renegade and The Mahablog

Zeke Miller / BuzzFeed: Romney Could Send Troops To Libya

Kevin Robillard / Politico:
Dan Senor: Al Qaeda gaining strength

Discussion: CNN and Pirate's Cove

Buzz Bissinger / The Daily Beast:

Why I'm Voting for Mitt Romney — After the president's debate performance in Denver, this lifelong Democrat has made a difficult decision: he's given up on Barack Obama. Even if his own wife doesn't approve. — When I told my wife Lisa that I was writing a column supporting Mitt Romney for president …

Discussion: Slate, The Atlantic Wire, Washington Monthly, Hot Air, p m carpenter's commentary, Riehl World News, AMERICAblog, No More Mister Nice Blog, Balloon Juice, neo-neocon, New York Magazine, Pressing Issues and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Zeke Miller / BuzzFeed:
Obama And Romney Reverse Roles

Discussion: Riehl World News and New York Magazine

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Obama leads by 3 in Virginia

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and Politico

Katie Pavlich / Townhall.com:

Corruption: Exposing Barack Obama's Illegal Foreign Campaign Money Loophole — A new report obtained by Townhall from the non-partisan Government Accountability Institute [GAI] shows the Obama campaign has potentially violated federal election law by failing to prevent the use of fraudulent …

Discussion: BREITBART.COM, The Moderate Voice, Patterico's Pontifications, Weasel Zippers, Michelle Malkin, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and The Lonely Conservative

Wynton Hall / BREITBART.COM:

BOMBSHELL: OBAMA.COM OWNED BY BUNDLER IN SHANGHAI WITH BUSINESS TIES TO CHINESE GOVERNMENT — In an explosive report set to send shockwaves through official Washington, the Government Accountability Institute (GAI) released a 108-page GAI investigation into the threat of foreign …

Discussion: Wizbang, Instapundit, neo-neocon, The PJ Tatler and Vodkapundit

Scott Johnson / Power Line:
Dubious donations: Peter Schweizer speaks

Discussion: National Review and Election Law Blog

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Obama bundler tied to Chinese government?

Discussion: The Hill, White House Dossier, National Review and Patterico's Pontifications

Matthew Boyle / The Daily Caller:
Claim: Obama campaign illegally solicited foreign donors via social media website

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Political Carnival, americanthinker.com and Jammie Wearing Fools

Jake Tapper / ABCNEWS:

Security Team Commander Says Ambassador Stevens Wanted His Team to Stay in Libya Past August — U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens wanted a Security Support Team, made up of 16 special operations soldiers, to stay with him in Libya after their deployment was scheduled to end in August …

Discussion: CBS News, Sister Toldjah, The Hill, BBC, The PJ Tatler, Washington Examiner and Atlas Shrugs

John McCormack / Weekly Standard:

Princeton Economist: Obama Campaign Is Misrepresenting My Study on Romney's Tax Plan — Last night, the Obama campaign blasted out another email claiming that Mitt Romney's tax plan would either require raising taxes on the middle class or blowing a hole in the deficit.

Discussion: Power Line and The Lonely Conservative

Charles C. Johnson / The Daily Caller:

At Harvard Law School in 1991, Obama approved of restricting speech to protect minorities — At the height of early-1990s conservative backlash over political correctness and “speech codes” on U.S. college campuses, Barack Obama participated in a panel event geared toward denying that restrictions …

Discussion: Politico, Instapundit and Patterico's Pontifications

Katherine Fung / The Huffington Post:

New York Times Staffers To Walk Out Over Contract Negotiations … REACT: — FOLLOW: — The New York Times, New York Times Protest, New York Times Walk Out, New York Times Walk Out Contract, New York Times Walk Out Employes, New York Times Walkout, New York Times Walkout Contract, New York Times Walkout Employees, Media News

Discussion: The Raw Story, Working In These Times and Riehl World News, more at Mediagazer »

Contactmusic.com:

Madonna backs down from wearing Muslim bridal dress — Madonna has decided against wearing a Muslim bridal dress, a combination of a traditional Iraqi bridal veil and a US soldier's uniform, in her new music video after being convinced by her advisers to give the outfit a miss for her own safety.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Weasel Zippers and The Gateway Pundit