memeorandum: China is happy with John Kerry because it thinks he'll drop the ‘pivot to Asia’ (Max Fisher/Washington Post)

9:00 PM ET, February 28, 2013

Top Items:

Exclusive: The Woodward, Sperling emails revealed — POLITICO's “Behind the Curtain” column last night quoted Bob Woodward as saying that a senior White House official has told him in an email he would “regret” questioning White House statements on the origins of sequestration.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Fox News, Twitchy, BuzzFeed, Talking Points Memo, Crooks and Liars, Washington Wire, First Read, Democracy in America, BREITBART.COM, Guardian, Washington Free Beacon, Liberal Values, Daily Kos, News Desk, CNN, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Impolitic, Prairie Weather, The Daily Caller, Hullabaloo, his vorpal sword, Mediaite, New Republic, The Atlantic Online, Reuters, FishbowlDC, Angry Bear, Daily Download, The PJ Tatler, Gawker, The Dish, NewsBusters blogs, NO QUARTER USA NET, The Fix, TechCrunch, msnbc.com, Mother Jones, The Moderate Voice, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Riehl World News, driftglass, Little Green Footballs, Booman Tribune, The Hinterland Gazette, The Week, Firedoglake, New York Magazine, Business Insider, The Plum Line, The Raw Story, National Review, Rule of Law, American Prospect, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Huffington Post, Power Line, The Mahablog, Washington Monthly, Right Turn, Paul Krugman, The Gateway Pundit, The Other McCain, Althouse, Taylor Marsh, Hot Air, Patterico's Pontifications, Ed Driscoll, Balloon Juice and NewsBusters, more at Mediagazer »

Ron Fournier / NationalJournal.com:

Why Bob Woodward's Fight With The White House Matters to You — And why I iced a senior Obama White House official. — The fight between the White House and journalistic legend Bob Woodward is a silly distraction to a major problem: The failure of President Obama and House Republicans to lead the country under a budget deadline.

WMAL:

WMAL EXCLUSIVE: Woodward's Not Alone - Fmr. Clinton Aide Davis Says He Received White House Threat — WASHINGTON — Bob Woodward isn't the only person who's received threats for airing the Obama administration's dirty laundry. It seems anyone is a potential target of the White House these days …

Discussion: CNN, BREITBART.COM, The Daily Caller, Twitchy, Hot Air, Michelle Malkin and The Spectacle Blog

Ian Swanson / The Hill:
Obama adviser didn't threaten Woodward, says White House

Discussion: Politico and Weasel Zippers

Mike Riggs / Hit & Run:
The Most Openly and Transparently Thin-Skinned Administration in History

Discussion: Vodkapundit, The PJ Tatler, Ed Driscoll and The Daily Caller

Investor's Business Daily:
Is Obama Losing His Media Allies Over The Sequester?

Discussion: NewsBusters, Hot Air, JustOneMinute and Betsy's Page

David Jackson / USA Today:
New sequester battle: Woodward vs. White House

Discussion: Power Line, Hot Air, msnbc.com and Connecting.the.Dots, more at Mediagazer »

Lyle Denniston / SCOTUSblog:

U.S. endorses limited gay marriage right — The Obama administration on Thursday urged the Supreme Court to rule in the case of California's Proposition 8 that same-sex marriage should be required in eight more states, beyond the nine that already permit it, although it stopped short …

Discussion: Associated Press, ACS Blog, Mediaite, AMERICAblog, Joe. My. God. and Towleroad News #gay

Pete Williams / First Read:

Obama administration to express support for gay marriage before Supreme Court — Administration officials say the Justice Department will urge the U.S. Supreme Court to allow same-sex marriage to resume in California, wading into the protracted legal battle over Proposition 8 and giving gay-rights advocates a new court ally.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Towleroad News #gay, Washington Blade, emptywheel, ABCNEWS, SCOTUSblog, Taylor Marsh, Poliglot, Good As You, Gawker, AMERICAblog, Daily Kos and American Foundation …

Mike Flynn / BREITBART.COM:
EXCLUSIVE: CLINT EASTWOOD SIGNS BRIEF SUPPORTING SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

Discussion: Associated Press, The Daily Caller and Joe. My. God.

Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:
Obama Administration Urges Supreme Court To Strike Down California Anti-Gay Marriage Ban

Discussion: Firedoglake, Washington Blade, Equality On Trial, CNN and Hot Air

Miranda Leitsinger / NBCNews.com:
Clint Eastwood to Supreme Court: Drop California's ban on same-sex marriage

Discussion: ABCNEWS, L.A. NOW, Equality On Trial, First Read, The Raw Story, Advocate, PinkNews.co.uk and Addicting Info

New York Times: Justices Should End California Gay Marriage Ban, U.S. Urges

Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:
Obama Urges Supreme Court To Strike Down California's Marriage Ban

Discussion: Weekly Standard and Towleroad News #gay

Wendy Kaminer / The Atlantic Online: Is Campaign Spending Regulated Too Much, or Not Enough?

Matthew Yglesias / Slate:

Businessweek Warns That Minorities May Be Buying Houses Again — Bloomberg Businessweek is a genuinely great magazine that does an amazing job of making business and economics news accessible and interesting, but this way of illustrating a cover story about the return of aggressive mortgage lending products is really something else.

Discussion: Media Decoder, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Daily Kos

Ryan Chittum / Columbia Journalism Review:

A BusinessWeek cover crosses a line — Minorities as greedy grotesqueries fueling a new housing bubble — Bloomberg BusinessWeek is a lot edgier than its predecessor, at least where design is concerned. Sometimes it's too edgy, like when it takes two minutes to read some headline intentionally designed to be barely legible.

Discussion: Mediaite and The Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »

Dylan Byers / Politico:
Bloomberg Businessweek apologizes

Discussion: The Hinterland Gazette and msnbc.com

Katrina Trinko / National Review:

In Closed-Door Meeting, Cantor Warned of ‘Civil War’ — House majority leader Eric Cantor is increasingly frustrated with a group of House Republicans who are working against the leadership, and he's not afraid of voicing his dismay. — In a closed-door conference meeting on Wednesday …

Discussion: protein wisdom, The Maddow Blog, The Gateway Pundit, The National Memo, Mother Jones, Guardian, Atlas Shrugs and New York Times

Kate Nocera / Politico:

House passes Violence Against Women Act — The Violence Against Women Act is finally headed to President Barack Obama's desk for his signature. — The House voted Thursday to accept the bipartisan Senate bill, 286-138. Eighty-seven Republicans joined 199 Democrats to support the bill.

Discussion: Hot Air, Mediaite, The Democratic Daily, The Moderate Voice, BuzzFeed and Taylor Marsh

Chris Good / ABCNEWS:
Eric Holder's Contempt for Contempt

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, ABCNEWS, The Jawa Report, The PJ Tatler and Red Alert Politics

Josh Israel / ThinkProgress:
The Nine Republican Men Who Won't Consider Any Version Of The Violence Against Women Act

Discussion: The Raw Story

Tom Cohen / CNN:
House passes Violence Against Women Act after GOP version defeated

Discussion: LightBox, AL.com and Shakesville

Ramsey Cox / The Hill:
Reid, McConnell exchange fire ahead of dueling sequester votes in Senate

Discussion: Politico and The Democratic Daily

Amanda Marcotte / Slate:
Congress Finally Passes the Violence Against Women Act

Discussion: New York Times, The Plum Line, Booman Tribune, The Week, American Prospect and WFPL

Josh Israel / ThinkProgress:

Minnesota Republican Legislator: Homosexuality Is A ‘Sexual Addiction’ And An ‘Unscientific Lie’ … After a bipartisan group in Minnesota's state legislature introduced marriage equality legislation Wednesday, Republican State Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen is already on the warpath to prevent equality.

Discussion: Bluestem Prairie

Baird Helgeson / Minneapolis Star Tribune:
Gay marriage fight begins in Minnesota Legislature

Discussion: Advocate and Gawker

Baird Helgeson / Hot Dish Politics:
Gruenhagen: Homosexuality is a ‘sexual addiction’

Discussion: The Raw Story, Addicting Info, Talking Points Memo and PinkNews.co.uk

Colin Campbell / Politicker:

Pete King Can't Believe Rubio Has the ‘Balls’ to Fundraise in New York — Congressman Pete King was not pleased with his fellow Republicans who opposed the federal Hurricane Sandy relief package. Accordingly, Mr. King told us he was shocked to learn that Florida Senator Marco Rubio …

Discussion: CNN, Politico, Post Politics, Mediaite, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Peggy Noonan's Blog

Michael Falcone / ABCNEWS:

Has Ted Cruz Hit The Tipping Point? — Chris Maddaloni/CQ Roll Call/Getty Images — ABC's Michael Falcone reports: — The Ted Cruz headlines just won't stop. — “Sen. Ted Cruz says Obama wants immigration bill to fail to hurt GOP,” wrote the Dallas Morning News last week.

Discussion: National Review, FishbowlDC, The Reaction, The Texas Tribune and The Hill

Max Fisher / Washington Post:

China is happy with John Kerry because it thinks he'll drop the ‘pivot to Asia’ — John Kerry's first weeks as secretary of state, and even the weeks before he took the job, certainly gave the impression that he would focus on the Middle East- on restarting Israeli-Palestinian peace talks …

Discussion: Via Meadia and thomaspmbarnett.com

Raphael Ahren / The Times of Israel:

Erdogan calls Zionism a ‘crime against humanity’ — Turkish PM slammed for juxtaposing Jewish self-determination with anti-Semitism, Islamophobia; UN chief called out for remaining silent — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday described Zionism as a “crime against humanity” on par with anti-Semitism and fascism.

Discussion: View from Geneva, The Heritage Foundation, Israel Matzav, Washington Free Beacon, The Lede, No More Mister Nice Blog, Atlas Shrugs, Jihad Watch and National Review

Jim Avila / ABCNEWS:

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano Regrets Surprise Announcement of Immigrant Release — Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano had no part in a decision by underlings to release low-risk illegal immigrant detainees as a way to save money before the sequestration …

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Brian Beutler http / Talking Points Memo:

Senate Republicans Kill Sequestration Alternative — Senate Republicans have filibustered a Democratic bill that would pay down sequestration's indiscriminate spending cuts for a year. — Though the vote outcome was never in doubt, the legislation's demise assures that Congress …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Politico and The Maddow Blog

Gretchen Reynolds / Well:

What Housework Has to Do With Waistlines — One reason so many American women are overweight may be that we are vacuuming and doing laundry less often, according to a new study that, while scrupulously even-handed, is likely to stir controversy and emotions.

Discussion: ABCNEWS and Shakesville