memeorandum: Liberals, the Fiscal Thingy, and Message Discipline (Ryan Cooper/Washington Monthly)

7:20 PM ET, December 6, 2012

Top Items:

Sen. Jim DeMint to Head Heritage Foundation — South Carolina U.S. Senator Jim DeMint will replace Ed Feulner as president of the Heritage Foundation. Mr. DeMint will leave his post as South Carolina's junior senator in early January to take control of the Washington think tank, which has an annual budget of about $80 million.

Jennifer Rubin / Right Turn:

Good riddance, Mr. DeMint — Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) is leaving the Senate to take over the Heritage Foundation. He will replace Ed Feulner as the conservative think tank's president. He expressed no qualms about leaving the Senate before his term is up, nor did he reflect on his legislative achievements, of which none come to mind.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Wonkette, Democracy in America, Weasel Zippers, Riehl World News and Politico

Scott Keyes / ThinkProgress:

11 Reasons You're Glad Jim DeMint Is Leaving The Senate — In an unexpected move, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), an arch-conservative and leader of the Tea Party movement, is resigning his seat in order to head up the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington DC.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Esquire, The Plum Line, Talking Points Memo, The National Memo, The Impolitic, BuzzFeed and Hullabaloo

Cameron Joseph / The Hill:

Sources: DeMint wants Rep. Tim Scott to take his place in Senate — Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) has made it known in South Carolina that he wants Rep. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) to replace him in the Senate, two state Republican sources tell The Hill. — The sources, requesting anonymity to speak candidly …

Discussion: Ballot Box, The Hill, The Atlantic Online, theGrio, Weasel Zippers, Washington Monthly, Ricochet Conversations Feed and The PJ Tatler

Valerie Bauerlein / Washington Wire:
Mark Sanford Mulls Second Act in South Carolina

Discussion: Ballot Box

Mike Lillis / The Hill:
Pelosi jabs DeMint on his way out

Discussion: Mediaite

Katie Pavlich / Townhall.com:
Who Will Replace Jim DeMint?

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Ballot Box and The Fix

Erick Erickson / RedState:
Two Roads Diverged: Jim DeMint Leaves U.S. Senate for Heritage Foundation Presidency

Discussion: Commentary Magazine, BuzzFeed, Talking Points Memo, FreedomWorks blogs, The Week, msnbc.com, The Daily Dish, Red Alert Politics, Wall Street Journal, American Prospect, Business Insider, Washington Wire and The Daily Caller

Aaron Blake / The Fix:
Gov. Nikki Haley to fill DeMint's seat by appointment

Discussion: Post Politics, Ballot Box and Sister Toldjah

Tarini Parti / Politico:
Think tank jobs a lucrative landing spot

Discussion: LewRockwell.com Blog

The State:
Video from around the world

Discussion: The Hill, Political Capital, Guardian and Mother Jones

Michael McAuliff / The Huffington Post:

Debt Ceiling Bluff Called By Harry Reid, Leaving Mitch McConnell To Filibuster Himself … REACT: — FOLLOW: — Debt Ceiling, Harry Reid , Mitch McConnell, U.S. Senate, Video, Barack Obama Debt Ceiling, Fiscal Cliff, Mitch Mcconnell Filibuster, Politics News

Discussion: The Raw Story, Firedoglake, The Plum Line and Booman Tribune

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:

McConnell Filibusters His Own Bill To Lift Debt Ceiling — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) wanted to prove on Thursday that Democrats don't have the votes to weaken Congress' authority on the debt limit. Instead they called his bluff, and he ended up filibustering his own bill.

Discussion: The Impolitic, The Plum Line, Mediaite and Wonkette

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:
How Democrats' Main Filibuster Reform Would Work

Discussion: A plain blog about politics, American Prospect, Daily Kos and ACS Blog

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

Republicans wave the white flag — Speaker John Boehner emerged from his weekly huddle with House Republicans on Wednesday morning to take his place behind a mahogany lectern in front of a brown backdrop. The dark tones provided ideal camouflage for the deeply tanned speaker — as though he were trying to vanish into the background.

Discussion: The Plum Line, The Week, The New Republic, The Moderate Voice and Washington Monthly

Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:

Boehner Gains Strong Backing of House G.O.P. — WASHINGTON — With a daunting fiscal crisis looming and conservatives outside the House torching him at every turn, Speaker John A. Boehner might be assumed to have a shaky hold on his gavel. Instead, it appears he is enjoying the broadest support …

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post, Politico, The New Republic, No More Mister Nice Blog, Booman Tribune, The Caucus, Wake up America, The Fix, Daily Kos, The Democratic Daily, Prairie Weather and ABCNEWS

Ned Ryun / RedState:
Fire Boehner: We Only Need 16 Votes to Depose Boehner

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, American Majority Action, msnbc.com, iOwnTheWorld.com, AMERICAblog, Doug Ross, Twitchy, Wonkette, Business Insider, BREITBART.COM and The Hill

Josh Tyrangiel / Business Week:

Tim Cook's Freshman Year: The Apple CEO Speaks — Prior to his death on Oct. 5, 2011, Steve Jobs made sure that the elevation of Tim Cook—his longtime head of operations and trusted deputy—to Apple chief executive officer would be drama-free. “He goes, ‘I never want you to ask what I would have done,’” recalls Cook.

Discussion: New York Times, Quartz, AllThingsD, Fortune, Daily Mail, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, The Verge, The Week, New York Magazine, The Tell, Guardian, The Consumerist, Engadget, GigaOM and Mashable!, more at Mediagazer »

Ronnie Polidoro / Rock Center with Brian Williams:
Apple CEO Tim Cook announces plans to manufacture Mac computers in USA

Discussion: Politico, Bloomberg, Mercury News, Towleroad News #gay, The Atlantic Online, Guardian, The Verge, Daily Download, VentureBeat, GigaOM, Via Meadia, Engadget, emptywheel, The Daily Caller and BBC

ABCNEWS:

Police Arrest, Spray Protesters at Mich. Capitol — Michigan State Police say they have used chemical spray on right-to-work protesters who to tried rush into the Senate chamber at the state Capitol, and minority Democrats in the Legislature accuse Republican leaders of taking a “shameful step” to undermine free speech.

Detroit Free Press:
LANSING — There was chaos and high emotion at the Capitol today after Gov. Rick Snyder …

Discussion: WILX-TV, Firedoglake, Lansing State Journal and Balloon Juice

Dave Levinthal / Politico:

Sheldon Adelson gave another $10 million to pro-Romney super PAC — Billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson kept giving and giving to the bitter end of Republican Mitt Romney's doomed presidential campaign. — Adelson, along with wife, Miriam, poured $10 million into the account …

Discussion: CNN

Brody Mullins / Washington Wire:
Adelsons Gave $33 Million in Final Weeks of Campaign

Discussion: Ballot Box

Rick Ungar / Forbes:

Papa John's, Applebee's And Others Pay Huge Price For Anti-Obamacare Politicking — (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife) — It turns out that being a good corporate citizen is as important to selling pizzas as the thinness of the crust or the quality of the cheese.

Discussion: Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes' and Hot Air

Ryan Cooper / Washington Monthly:

Liberals, the Fiscal Thingy, and Message Discipline — The last several weeks of negotiations have have provided a good example of one of the left's biggest weaknesses: message discipline. Ben Bernanke came up with the phrase “fiscal cliff,” and it stuck.

Discussion: Mother Jones, A plain blog about politics, The Impolitic and Slate

Associated Press:

Christie Reunites With Obama at White House — New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie reunited with President Barack Obama on Thursday for the first time since the pair teamed up in response to Superstorm Sandy. — Christie made an unannounced visit to the White House …

Discussion: CNN

Mariecar Mendoza / L.A. Daily News:

Seniors decry ban on Christmas tree in their complex in Newhall — Residents in a Newhall senior apartment complex are protesting an order from management to remove their beloved Christmas tree from the community room because, they were told, it's a religious symbol.

Discussion: Rush Limbaugh, Weasel Zippers, Questions and Observations, Wake up America, The Daily Caller and The PJ Tatler

Andrew J. Hawkins / mycrains.crainsnewyork.com:

MSNBC's Hayes isn't through with Cuomo — For the past two weeks, MSNBC host Chris Hayes has made his disdain of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's decision to abandon the state Senate Democrats a prominent feature of his widely watched weekend morning political talk show. — And there's more to come.

Discussion: Politico, Business Insider, Daily Kos and The Observation Deck

David Bauder / Associated Press:

FOX'S CORRESPONDENT ON FRONT LINES WITH OBAMA — NEW YORK (AP) — Ed Henry's assignment covering the White House would be a challenge for any journalist, no matter his employer. — Yet Henry works at Fox News Channel, home base for viewers who longed for President Barack Obama's defeat.

Discussion: Mediaite and Politico

Keach Hagey / Wall Street Journal:

Washington Post Plans a Paywall — The Washington Post, one of the last holdouts against the trend of charging readers for online access to newspaper articles, is likely to reverse that decision in 2013, according to people familiar with the matter. — While details are being finished …

Discussion: Politico and Boing Boing, more at Mediagazer »

Judy Kurtz / The Hill:

Lawmaker chews out staffer for riding on members-only elevator — Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) chewed out a House staffer after catching her riding on a “members only” elevator, according to an ITK tipster who was on the scene. — But Foxx's office is calling our lookout's description of events in the elevator an “exaggeration.”

Discussion: The Impolitic, Daily Kos and Gawker

Patrick Gavin / Reuters:

Clint Eastwood's act was ‘bad’, Stuart Stevens says — “To the degree that it was a distraction, it was bad.” — That's the review by former Mitt Romney campaign adviser Stuart Stevens about actor Clint Eastwood's controversial performance at this summer's Republican National Convention.

Discussion: CNN

George F. Will / Washington Post:

Bewitched by Obama — Even Jonathan Swift, who said that promises and pie crusts are made to be broken, might have marveled at the limited shelf life of Barack Obama's promise of a “balanced” deficit-reduction plan — substantial spending cuts to accompany revenue increases.

Discussion: Hot Air, Stinque, Vodkapundit and Betsy's Page

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Looking ahead to 2016 — PPP's newest national poll finds Marco Rubio as the early choice of Republicans for 2016. 18% would like him to be their nominee to 14% for Chris Christie, 12% for Jeb Bush and Paul Ryan, 11% for Mike Huckabee, 8% for Condoleezza Rice, 7% each for Sarah Palin and Rand Paul, and 4% for Rick Santorum.

Discussion: New York Magazine, Business Insider and The Hill

Zack Ford / ThinkProgress:

Same-Sex Couples In Washington State Begin Obtaining Marriage Licenses — Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) certified the state's election results Wednesday afternoon, and this morning at 12:01, same-sex couples began legally obtaining marriage licenses.

Discussion: AMERICAblog, Salon and seattlepi.com