memeorandum: ABC defends editing Michelle Obama's ‘automatic weapon’ claim (Michal Conger/Washington Examiner)

10:40 PM ET, February 26, 2013

Top Items:

Rosie Gray / BuzzFeed:

Rand Paul Explains His Surprise Vote For Chuck Hagel — “The president gets to choose political appointees,” Paul says. — Image by Gary Cameron / Reuters — WASHINGTON — Kentucky Senator Rand Paul said his support for a filibuster against Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel never meant that he would vote against Hagel's confirmation.

Discussion: Hit & Run, Politico and The American Conservative

Tim Mak / Politico:

Chuck Hagel clears Senate hurdle toward confirmation — The Senate voted 71-27 on Tuesday to end debate on Chuck Hagel's nomination to become secretary of Defense, ending a Republican campaign that forced Democrats to fight for every step toward confirmation, which is expected later in the day.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Booman Tribune, Red Alert Politics, Outside the Beltway, Lynn Sweet, National Review and The Democratic Daily

Talking Points Memo:

Senate Confirms Chuck Hagel As Defense Secretary — The Senate confirmed former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel (R) as the next U.S. Secretary of Defense on Tuesday, ending a long and contentious nomination process marked by an unprecedented GOP filibuster of a presidential cabinet level nominee.

Tom Vanden Brook / Associated Press:

Senate approves Hagel to lead Defense Department — The vote to confirm Chuck Hagel as Defense secretary came after debate was stopped. — WASHINGTON — The Senate voted 58-41 Tuesday to confirm Chuck Hagel as the new Defense secretary to succeed Leon Panetta, thus ending a contentious battle over his nomination.

Discussion: The Fix, Advocate, Joe. My. God., The Gateway Pundit and No More Mister Nice Blog

Fox News:
Senate approves Hagel for Defense secretary after historic nomination fight

Discussion: National Review and The Moderate Voice

Paul Kane / Washington Post:
Hagel wins confirmation to lead Pentagon

Discussion: A plain blog about politics, The Moderate Voice, New York Times, Outside the Beltway and American Forces Press Service

Peter Brookes / Boston Herald:
Prez should pull Hagel's nomination

Discussion: Little Green Footballs and BREITBART.COM

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:
Hagel Prevails in Senate After Bruising Bout With G.O.P.

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, Taylor Marsh, The Week, Addicting Info and American Prospect

Halimah Abdullah / CNN:
Hagel confirmed as U.S. defense secretary, bruised after political fight

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Sara Murray / Wall Street Journal:
Hagel Is Confirmed as Defense Secretary

Discussion: Lawfare and Algemeiner.com

Phillip M. Bailey / WFPL:

Liberal Super PAC Goes After Mitch McConnell's ‘Chinese’ Wife — A Democratic group is under sharp criticism for controversial online messages about Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell's wife. — For months, the liberal super PAC Progress Kentucky has attacked McConnell and held demonstrations at his offices and home.

Discussion: Ballot Box, Politico, Mediaite, The Other McCain, The Hill, Roll Call, Wonkette, Talking Points Memo, Taking Note, Weasel Zippers, The Daily Caller, The PJ Tatler and National Review

Scott Keyes / ThinkProgress:

Liberal Super PAC Sends Racist Tweet About Mitch McConnell's Chinese Wife — A liberal super PAC in Kentucky is on the defensive after recently sending a racist tweet attacking Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-KY) wife for being Chinese. — McConnell, running for reelection in 2014 …

Discussion: Post Politics

James Hohmann / Politico:
Tweets on Mitch McConnell's wife's race condemned

Discussion: CNN

John Stanton / BuzzFeed:
Liberals Accuse McConnell Of Favoring China Because Of Wife's Race

Discussion: TheBlaze.com, The Daily Caller and WFPL

Eliana Johnson / National Review:

No CPAC Invite for Christie Because of ‘Limited Future’ in Republican Party — New Jersey governor Chris Christie was not invited to address the Conservative Political Action Conference because of his position on gun control, according to a source familiar with CPAC's internal deliberations who requested anonymity to speak freely.

Discussion: New Jersey Online, New York Times, Hot Air, Mediaite, Red Alert Politics, Daily Kos and Balloon Juice

Jeffrey Young / The Huffington Post:
Chris Christie Medicaid Plan To Offer Coverage To Poor New Jersey Residents

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, American Prospect, ABCNEWS and The Plum Line

Virginia / CNN:
Obama: Cuts are a ‘self-inflicted wound’

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Politico and The Democratic Daily

CNN:
Christie's advice for Washington

Discussion: Politico

Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Chris Christie takes Obamacare Medicaid expansion

Discussion: CNN and Mediaite

Russell Berman / The Hill:

Boehner tells Senate to ‘get off their ass;’ Reid says GOP ‘sitting on their posterior’ — A salty Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Tuesday told members of the Senate to “get off their ass” and pass a bill to replace $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts, setting off an exchange with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

Discussion: Politico, The Moderate Voice, Associated Press, The Impolitic, Crooks and Liars, Examiner, ABCNEWS, The Democratic Daily, Taegan Goddard's …, The Spectacle Blog and The Hill

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:

WaPo/Pew sequestration poll question oddly missing an option — Let's see if you can figure out what Pew and the Washington Post left out of this poll question about blame for the sequester. I won't even give you a hint, even if Rovin had to tip me to this by e-mail: — Say, where is the option for Senate Democrats?

Discussion: The PJ Tatler and NewsBusters blogs

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:

Kelly wins primary; see full results — A multimillion-dollar ad blitz by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to stop a NRA-backed House candidate in Illinois paid off Tuesday night, as local official Robin Kelly crushed more than a dozen Democratic candidates vying to replace disgraced former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.

Discussion: CNN

Kirk Semple / New York Times:

Wave of Immigrants Released Ahead of Automatic Budget Cuts — In a highly unusual move, federal immigration officials have released a wave of detainees from immigration detention centers around the country in an effort to save money as automatic budget cuts loom in Washington, officials said.

Discussion: Addicting Info, Hot Air and Prairie Weather

Franco Ordonez / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
In face of coming budget cuts, U.S. frees illegal immigrants from custody

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Weasel Zippers, TheBlaze.com, The Daily Caller, The Raw Story and Post Politics

Elise Foley / The Huffington Post:
Immigration and Customs Enforcement Frees Detainees As Sequester Looms

Discussion: Arizona Daily Star, Wonkblog, Talking Points Memo, Washington Times and The Daily Caller

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

The Republican Sequestration Plan — Whether or not you agree with it, and whether or not it will work, President Obama's strategy on sequestration is perfectly obvious. His goal is to end the automatic budget cuts, which he regards as stupidly constructed and likely to harm the economy …

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, Washington Monthly, Marginal Revolution, Eschaton and The Reaction

Ezra Klein / Wonkblog:
I don't understand the Republican position on the sequester

Discussion: The Week, Prairie Weather, Washington Examiner, Daily Kos and Mother Jones

Greg Stohr / Bloomberg:

Apple Joins Morgan Stanley to Back Gay Marriage at Supreme Court — Dozens of companies, including Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Morgan Stanley (MS), are planning to urge the U.S. Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide, saying bans in 41 states harm workplace morale and undermine recruiting.

Discussion: Towleroad News #gay and Little Green Footballs

Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:
Meet The Republicans Telling The Supreme Court To Let Gay People Marry

Discussion: ABCNEWS and Equality On Trial

Alex Seitz-Wald / Salon:

Bachmann: 'I didn't get anything wrong' — The Congresswoman touts her flawless run for the presidency and love of Beyonce — Tea Party Rep. Michele Bachmann has been laying low since last November's election when she came dangerously close to losing her House seat, possibly in preparation …

Discussion: The Raw Story

Numbers / Pew Research Center for the People …:

GOP Seen as Principled, But Out of Touch and Too Extreme — Images of the Parties: A Closer Look — OVERVIEW — At a time when the Republican Party's image is at a historic low, 62% of the public says the GOP is out of touch with the American people, 56% think it is not open to change and 52% say the party is too extreme.

Discussion: CNN, Politico, The Plum Line, Daily Kos, The Impolitic, Business Insider, Liberal Values, The Moderate Voice, American Prospect, The Fix and Taegan Goddard's …

Arshad Mohammed / Reuters:

Kerry defends liberties, says Americans have “right to be stupid” — (Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry offered a defense of freedom of speech, religion and thought in the United States on Tuesday telling German students that in America “you have a right to be stupid if you want to be.”

Discussion: Connecting.the.Dots, Mediaite, Weasel Zippers and The Hill

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

9th Circuit judges split over anti-Bush protest — Over an impassioned dissent signed by eight judges, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday rejected the Obama Administration's request that the court reconsider a ruling favoring demonstrators who sued the Secret Service …

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

Why Everything Republicans Are Saying About The Sequester Is Wrong — Barring a last minute Congressional compromise, $85 billion in automatic across-the-board cuts will go into effect in the next 72 hours as a result of the sequester mechanism included in the 2011 Budget Control Act.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and Addicting Info

Michael Doyle / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Who should pay to defend Larry Craig's bathroom antics? — WASHINGTON — A federal judge this week will confront the surprisingly important fallout from former Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig's 2007 bathroom arrest. — Craig's own money may be on the line Wednesday, but that's not all.

Discussion: Joe. My. God., Advocate, The Raw Story, Juanita Jean's and Towleroad News #gay

Andrew Stiles / National Review:

GAO Report: Obamacare Adds $6.2 Trillion to Long-Term Deficit — Obamacare will increase the long-term federal deficit by $6.2 trillion, according to a Government Accountability Office report that will be released today. — Senator Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.), who requested the report …

Discussion: Rush Limbaugh, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers and Watchdog.org

Michal Conger / Washington Examiner:

ABC defends editing Michelle Obama's ‘automatic weapon’ claim … ABC is defending its decision to edit out an apparently erroneous claim by Michelle Obama in its broadcast of the first lady's interview on Good Morning America today, saying it made the changes “solely” for the sake of time.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Mediaite, JustOneMinute and Weasel Zippers