memeorandum: Senate Republicans Kill Sequestration Alternative (Brian Beutler http/Talking Points Memo)

6:15 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.

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, Michelle Malkin, The Daily Caller, Hot Air, Twitchy and The Spectacle Blog

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

Discussion: Power Line, Hot Air and msnbc.com

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

Discussion: JustOneMinute, NewsBusters and Hot Air

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

Discussion: Politico and Weasel Zippers

BREITBART.COM:
LANNY DAVIS: OBAMA WHITE HOUSE THREATENED WASHINGTON TIMES OVER MY COLUMN

Discussion: Politico, The Daily Caller, Right Turn, Rule of Law and Business Insider

Politico:
Woodward at war — Bob Woodward called a senior White House official …

Ben Smith / BuzzFeed:
Economic Official Sperling Warned Woodward

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

Discussion: Ed Driscoll and Vodkapundit

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

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Bloomberg Businessweek apologizes — Bloomberg Businessweek is apologizing for the cover of last week's issue, which has been criticized for its depiction of minorities. — “Our cover illustration last week got strong reactions, which we regret,” Josh Tyrangiel, the magazine's editor, wrote in a statement sent to POLITICO.

Discussion: msnbc.com and The Hinterland Gazette

Ryan Chittum / Columbia Journalism Review:
A BusinessWeek cover crosses a line

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

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: The Maddow Blog, The Gateway Pundit, Guardian, The National Memo, Mother Jones, 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: The Moderate Voice, The Democratic Daily, Mediaite, Hot Air, BuzzFeed and Taylor Marsh

Ramsey Cox / The Hill:

Reid, McConnell exchange fire ahead of dueling sequester votes in Senate — Senate leaders exchanged fire on Thursday morning ahead of dueling votes on plans to alter the looming $85 billion cut from sequestration. — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) compared the GOP sequestration plan …

Discussion: Politico and The Democratic Daily

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

Discussion: LightBox, AL.com and Shakesville

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

Discussion: The Raw Story

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

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

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, ABCNEWS, Gawker, Taylor Marsh, Poliglot, AMERICAblog, Good As You, Daily Kos and American Foundation …

Mike Flynn / BREITBART.COM:

EXCLUSIVE: CLINT EASTWOOD SIGNS BRIEF SUPPORTING SAME-SEX MARRIAGE — Breitbart News has learned exclusively that Clint Eastwood has signed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, supporting the right of same-sex couples to marry. The brief, which will be released later this evening …

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

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

Discussion: Weekly Standard and Towleroad News #gay

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, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Mediaite and Peggy Noonan's Blog

Associated Press:

Dennis Rodman tells Kim Jong Un: ‘You have a friend for life’ — SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - Ex-NBA star Dennis Rodman met North Korea's Kim Jong Un on Thursday on the third day of his improbable journey to Pyongyang, telling the leader “You have a friend for life,” a delegation spokesman said.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Jean H. Lee / bigstory.ap.org:
Rodman tells Kim Jong Un he has ‘friend for life’

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Daily Download, Esquire and Mediaite

Michelle Obama / Wall Street Journal:

The Business Case for Healthier Food Options — In recent years, they have generated more than 70% of the growth in sales for packaged-goods companies. — For years, America's childhood obesity crisis was viewed as an insurmountable problem, one that was too complicated and too entrenched to ever really solve.

Discussion: Shakesville, Weasel Zippers, Taylor Marsh, Washington Examiner and TheBlaze.com

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

Kathryn Smith / Politico:

Arkansas legislature passes 12-week abortion ban — The Arkansas Legislature has approved the earliest abortion ban in the nation. — And it's now up to Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe to decide what to do next. If he vetoes the bill, his veto could be overridden by a simple majority …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:
“Medicaid Expansion” Via the Exchanges

Discussion: Forbes, Politico and Mother Jones

Andrew Sullivan / The Dish:

Two Popes, One Secretary — The damage Benedict XVI has done to the Catholic church and the papacy may be far from over. All I can say about yesterday's developments is that they seem potentially disastrous and also indicative to me of something truly weird going on underneath all of this.

Discussion: Gawker, New York Times, The Week, Towleroad News #gay, NewsBusters blogs, PinkNews.co.uk, Daily Download, Joe. My. God., Mediaite and Washington Post

Baird Helgeson / Hot Dish Politics:

Gruenhagen: Homosexuality is a ‘sexual addiction’ — One of the Legislature's most vocal opponents of same-sex marriage says homosexuality is a choice and form of sexual addiction. — “It's an unhealthy, sexual addiction,” state Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen said Wednesday.

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

Evan McMorris-Santoro / Talking Points Memo:

GOP Rep Ducks Transvaginal Ultrasound Question With: 'I Haven't Had One' — Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) declined to take a position last week during a town hall meeting on whether transvaginal ultrasounds should be mandatory for women seeking abortions, saying he has never heard of the practice …

Discussion: The Raw Story

Keith Koffler / Politico:

Republicans need to go negative — What a sad state Republicans are in. Leaderless and rudderless, they flail about, trying to figure out who they are and which of various political Pied Pipers onstage today will lead them from the wilderness. — What they fail to see is that there will …

Discussion: Right Wing News

Ross Douthat:

Rand Paul, Realism and Republican Reform — A few weeks ago, during Chuck Hagel's confirmation hearings, the American Conservative's Daniel McCarthy wrote a post arguing that Hagel's treatment at the hands of various Republican senators demonstrates that the space for a less bellicose foreign policy …