memeorandum: Taliban says its attack on Pakistani schoolgirl justified (Reuters)

12:50 PM ET, October 17, 2012

Top Items:

CNN:

CNN Poll: Split decision on debate — Hempstead, New York (CNN) - Give a slight edge to President Barack Obama. — Forty-six percent of voters who watched Tuesday night's presidential debate said that the president won the showdown, according to a CNN/ORC International nationwide poll conducted right …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Mediaite, National Review, Guardian, American Power, New York Times, The Fix, Washington Post, American Spectator, Althouse, AMERICAblog, White House Dossier, Washington Wire, Politico, ABCNEWS, Hit & Run, Sense of Events and Weekly Standard

Ace / Ace of Spades HQ:

CBS Poll: Romney Wins 65-34 on Economy; CNN Poll: Romney Wins 54-40 on Economy, — 49-46 on Health Care, 51-44 on Taxes, 59-36 on Deficit, 49-46 on Leadership, — All in Favor of Romney — You now, as far as “Debate Winner” it's pretty close with those registered voters.

Discussion: Hot Air, National Review, Ricochet Conversations Feed, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog and Wizbang

Josh Rogin / Foreign Policy:

Obama did call Benghazi attack an ‘act of terror’ - in Colorado — President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney sparred over whether Obama called the Sept. 11 murder of four Americans in Benghazi a “terrorist” attack. In fact, Obama did refer to the attack as “an act of terror,” …

Joseph Curl / Washington Times:

Crowley skews hard for Obama in disastrous debate — ANALYSIS/OPINION: — HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — Another debate, another debacle for America's media. — In the runup to the second presidential debate, CNN's Candy Crowley declared that she would not just be a “fly on the wall” …

Discussion: Samizdata.net, The Lonely Conservative, Riehl World News and Israpundit

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Instant Reaction Polls Show Narrow Obama Advantage in Second Debate — Polling data is often very noisy — so it makes my job easier on those rare occasions when there is some agreement. Scientific polls conducted after Tuesday night's presidential debate in New York give a modest edge to President Obama.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Puma P.A.C., Business Insider, Election 2012, The Volokh Conspiracy and The Hinterland Gazette

John Nolte / BREITBART.COM:

CROWLEY'S FALSE FACT CHECK SAVES PRESIDENT, DERAILS DEBATE - UPDATE: CROWLEY BACKTRACKS — ***UPDATE 4: Politico's Dylan Byers: “After the debate, even Crowley seemed to acknowledge that she had erred.” — ***UPDATE 2: Even Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler says Crowley got it wrong: Obama “did not say terrorism.”

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Guardian, Mediaite, Weasel Zippers, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit and Israel Matzav

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Crowley challenges Romney on Libya — Debate moderator Candy Crowley challenged Gov. Mitt Romney's assertion about President Barack Obama's handling of the security situation in Libya — an unexpected move that elicited a rare moment of applause from the town hall audience.

Discussion: NewsBusters.org blogs, Twitchy, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Moderate Voice, Connecting.the.Dots, The Daily Caller and Taylor Marsh

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

Hoisted on Their Own Petard — Through the lengthy and squalid effort of the Republican party and its press allies to exploit the attack last month in Libya, the centerpiece has been the alleged magical powers of the words ‘terror’ and ‘terrorist’. It's reminiscent of Rudy Giuliani's endless yakking …

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

Live-Blogging The “Strangers With Candy” Debate — 10.40 pm. To my mind, Obama dominated Romney tonight in every single way: in substance, manner, style, and personal appeal. He came back like a lethal, but restrained predator. He was able to defend his own record, think swiftly on his feet, and his Benghazi answer was superb.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Outside the Beltway, Talking Points Memo, Swampland, The Daily Beast, Ballot Box, American Spectator, The Moderate Voice, Daily Kos, Prairie Weather, Weasel Zippers, Balloon Juice, Jammie Wearing Fools, The Atlantic Online and Poynter

RealClearPolitics Video Log:

Michelle Obama Broke Agreed Upon Rules, Clapped At Debate — At the second presidential debate on Tuesday night, a camera caught first lady Michelle Obama clapping after moderator Candy Crowley told Republican presidential candidate Gov. Mitt Romney that President Obama called the Benghazi attack an …

Discussion: Gretawire, Weekly Standard, Weasel Zippers and The Daily Caller

Byron Tau / Politico:

Obama gets more time — Amid persistent complaints and interruptions from both candidates, President Obama ultimately got more than three extra minutes of speaking time than Mitt Romney during Tuesday's debate.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Pundit & Pundette, The Heritage Foundation and Scared Monkeys

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:
Hofstra Debate Conclusions

Discussion: Mother Jones

William Bigelow / BREITBART.COM:
CROWLEY INTERRUPTS ROMNEY 28 TIMES, OBAMA JUST 9

Discussion: National Review, The Gateway Pundit, Examiner, Conservatives4Palin, AEIdeas, Weasel Zippers, Villainous Company and Instapundit

CBS News:
Poll: Obama edges Romney in second debate

Discussion: Firedoglake, News Desk, Los Angeles Times, Conservatives4Palin, Examiner, Taegan Goddard's …, Mediaite and Da Tech Guy's Blog

Washington Free Beacon:
Candy Crowley: He Was Right

Discussion: RedState, The Heritage Foundation, Weekly Standard, JOSHUAPUNDIT, Ricochet Conversations Feed, JustOneMinute, Hit & Run, iOwnTheWorld.com and BizzyBlog

Andrew Rosenthal / Taking Note:
Romney's Rose Garden Moment

Discussion: Politico, The Mahablog, The Maddow Blog, Paul Krugman, New York Times, NationalJournal.com, blogs.telegraph.co.uk and Newsy

CNN:
Transcript: Second presidential debate

Discussion: Balloon Juice, The Volokh Conspiracy, The Moderate Voice and Althouse

Howie Carr / Boston Herald: Obama running on fumes

Alicia M. Cohn / The Hill:
Ryan presses Obama on ‘act of terror’ remark

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Hot Air, New York Magazine, blogs.telegraph.co.uk and The Gateway Pundit

Matthew Sheffield / NewsBusters.org:
Candy Crowley Disgraces Herself With Outrageous Tagteam Hit on Romney Over Libya

Discussion: NewsBusters.org blogs, American Spectator, Sister Toldjah, Twitchy, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, The Daily Beast and Blazing Cat Fur

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Obama turns it around

Discussion: National Review, NationalJournal.com, Taegan Goddard's …, Washington Examiner, New York Post, The New Republic, American Prospect, The PJ Tatler and The Mahablog

Patrick Brennan / National Review:
‘An Act of Terror’? — President Obama claimed tonight …

Discussion: American Power, Washington Post, Althouse, Outside the Beltway, No More Mister Nice Blog, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, The Huffington Post, Washington Examiner, New York Times, The PJ Tatler, The Lonely Conservative, Power Line, Newsy, Scared Monkeys and Instapundit

Mickey Kaus / The Daily Caller:
Here's why Candy Crowley was out of line. What Obama said in the Rose Garden was:

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, thump whip, Election 2012, emptywheel, Politico, Hillary Is 44 and Vodkapundit

Matthew Sheffield / NewsBusters.org blogs:
Video: Candy Crowley Admits Romney Was Correct About Libya Attack But Simply Couldn't Stop Herself

Discussion: American Thinker and Wake up America

New York Times:
Obama and Romney Turn Up the Temperature at Their Second Debate

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Guardian, Washington Wire, Outside the Beltway, USA Today, NY Daily News, Reuters, Talking Points Memo, The Reaction, theGrio, BuzzFeed, Liberal Values, American Power and Newsy

Ross Douthat / Campaign Stops:
Obama's Narrow Victory

Discussion: Media Decoder, Ricochet Conversations Feed and The Atlantic Online

Talking Points Memo:
Candy Crowley Factchecks: Obama ‘Did In Fact’ Say Libya Attack Was Terrorism

Discussion: Pirate's Cove, The American Conservative, Instapundit, Slate, Reuters, theGrio and The Daily Beast

Sarah Kliff / Wonkblog:
Full transcript of the second presidential debate

Discussion: Firedoglake, BuzzFeed, The Daily Beast, Wake up America, Patterico's Pontifications, Daily Dot, FP Passport, Mother Jones and Ricochet Conversations Feed

Tom Cohen / CNN:
Finger-pointing, interruptions define contentious debate

Discussion: BuzzFeed, the-reaction.blogspot.ca, NationalJournal.com, NY Daily News, The Daily Caller and Time

Rebecca Kaplan / NationalJournal.com:
Obama Ekes Out a Win in 2 Post-Debate Polls

Discussion: Hot Air and Questions and Observations

David S. Bernstein / Talking Politics:

Mind The Binder — Hey, I know about that binder! And guess what — Mitt Romney was lying about it. — From the rush transcript: … Not a true story. — What actually happened was that in 2002 — prior to the election, not even knowing yet whether it would be a Republican …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Atlantic Online, Slate, Mother Jones, Guardian, Daily Kos, Wonkette, The Maddow Blog, CNN, Towleroad News #gay, Shakesville, Sky Dancing, Gawker, The Raw Story, AMERICAblog, Balloon Juice, Boston Globe and Election 2012

Emma G Keller / Guardian:

Mitt Romney's binders full of women just don't stack up — GOP candidate fumbles when asked about fair hiring practices for women, and the internet seizes its newest sensation — In the second presidential debate, women's issues finally came up. And Mitt Romney had an opportunity to show female voters he cared.

Discussion: Villainous Company, Marbury and TechCrunch

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
Mitt Romney Adviser On Lilly Ledbetter Act: ‘He Was Opposed To It At The Time’

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Talking Points Memo, The Maddow Blog, Mediaite and Forbes

Abby Phillip / ABCNEWS:
Internet Takes Off With Mitt Romney's ‘Binders Full of Women’

Discussion: Washington Wire, CNN, newsfeed.time.com, TechPresident and The Hinterland Gazette

Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:

Reporters applaud Obama's slam on Romney's wealth — HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — The room set aside for reporters to watch Tuesday night's debate erupted into applause after President Obama ridiculed the size of Mitt Romney's personal wealth. — Mr. Romney was trying to make the point …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, NewsBusters.org blogs, The Lonely Conservative, Jammie Wearing Fools and NewsBusters.org

Kevin Robillard / Politico:

Debate questioner voting for Obama — The presidential debate on Tuesday helped one undecided questioner from the audience make up her mind. — Susan Katz, who asked GOP nominee Mitt Romney how he would operate differently than former President George W. Bush, said Wednesday she is going to vote for President Barack Obama.