memeorandum: Tax bills for rich families approach 30-year high (Stephen Ohlemacher/Associated Press)

6:10 PM ET, March 3, 2013

Top Items:

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:

Romney: I Lost Because Minorities Love Obamacare — Earlier today, Fox News Sunday broadcast former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney first post-campaign interview. In it, he blamed his loss on his poor performance among minorities, who he claimed were seduced by the President's promise …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Gawker

Reid J. Epstein / Politico:

Mitt Romney: ‘It kills me’ not to be president — Four months after he lost to President Barack Obama, Mitt Romney says “it kills me” not to be in the White House finding solutions to the nation's problems. — In his first television interview since the election, the former Massachusetts governor …

Discussion: CNN

bigstory.ap.org:

Romney: Heart told him he'd win, until he saw Fla. — You are here — Home » Mitt Romney » Romney: Heart told him he'd win, until he saw Fla. — WASHINGTON (AP) — Mitt Romney says his heart said he was going to win the presidency, but when early results came in on election night, he knew it was not to be.

Discussion: The Reaction and Taegan Goddard's …

Talking Points Memo:

Romney: ‘Obamacare’ Was Attractive To Minority, Low-Income Voters — Mitt Romney stood by his belief that President Obama was aided in his re-election by giving gifts to minority voters, during an interview that aired on “Fox News Sunday.” — “The president had the power of incumbency …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs

Elise Viebeck / Ballot Box:
Ann Romney: GOP never approached me about Kerry's seat

Discussion: CNN, Politico and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:

Sperling Admits Obama Misled in Debate: The President Did Propose the Sequester — White House economic adviser Gene Sperling admits that, yes, in fact, the sequestration was President Obama's plan: — “We put forth the design of” the sequestration, Sperling finally admits after a long back-and-forth.

Discussion: The PJ Tatler and Weasel Zippers

Maureen Callahan / New York Post:

Beat the press — Reporters reveal how the Obama administration threatens and controls the media — As coverage of last week's flare-up between Bob Woodward and the White House devolved into the granular parsing of words and implications and extrapolations and possible intent …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Ed Driscoll, Jammie Wearing Fools and Riehl World News

Reid J. Epstein / Politico:
John Boehner: No government shutdown

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and CNN

Kevin Robillard / Politico: Sperling: I 'can't explain' Woodward's reaction

NBC News:
March 3: John Boehner, Gene Sperling, Raul Labrador, Kathleen Parker, Joy Reid, Chuck Todd and Tom Brokaw

Discussion: Politico, NBCNews.com, Washington Examiner and Right Turn

Vicki Needham / The Hill:
McConnell: GOP standing firm against using ‘taxes to turn off the sequester’

Discussion: CNN and Politico

Ashley Killough / CNN:
Sperling on Woodward: 'I think he's a legend'

Discussion: Politico

Matt Grant / Local News:

Cypress HS students suspended for disarming gunman? — Student gets 3 day suspension after wrestling away gun — FORT MYERS, Fla. - A 16-year-old Cypress Lake High School student, who wrestled a loaded revolver away from a teen threatening to shoot, is being punished.

Discussion: Joanne Jacobs, americanthinker.com and Clayton Cramer's Blog

Madeleine Morgenstern / TheBlaze.com:

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT DISARMS GUNMAN...GETS SUSPENDED? … A Florida high school student wrestled a loaded gun away from another teen on the bus ride home this week and was slapped with a suspension in return. — The 16-year-old Cypress Lake High student in Fort Myers, Fla. told WFTX-TV there was …

Discussion: americanthinker.com, The Jawa Report, The Gateway Pundit and GUN WATCH

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

GOP's Largest Campaign Contributor Admits To Bribing Foreign Officials — Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, who spent as much as $150 million on independent expenditures to bolster Republicans in the 2012 election, has informed the Securities and Exchange Commission that his Las Vegas Sands Corporation …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs

Adam Nossiter / Associated Press:
In Filing, Casino Operator Admits Likely Violation of an Antibribery Law

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Taegan Goddard's … and The Raw Story

Garrett Quinn / Mediaite:

Dennis Rodman 'Won't Apologize' For ‘My Friend’ Kim Jong Un's Murderous Regime: ‘We Do The Same Thing Here’ — Former NBA start Dennis Rodman stood by his controversial trip to North Korea and remarks about its dictator Kim Jong-Un on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos.

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, The Gateway Pundit, Weekly Standard, The Moderate Voice and Israel Matzav

Kari Rea / ABCNEWS:
Dennis Rodman: Kim Jong Un Wants President Obama to ‘Call Him’

Discussion: Red Alert Politics, Washington Examiner, Boing Boing and Gawker

Ezra Klein / Wonkblog:

This is why Obama can't make a deal with Republicans — File this under “Jonathan Chait is right.” — My column this weekend is about the almost comically poor lines of communication between the White House and the Hill. The opening anecdote was drawn from a background briefing I attended …

Discussion: Paul Krugman, Hullabaloo, The Mahablog, Booman Tribune, Balloon Juice, The Impolitic, New York Magazine and Prairie Weather

Vanessa Gera / Associated Press:

Lech Walesa Shocks Poland With Anti-Gay Words — Lech Walesa, the Polish democracy icon and Nobel peace prize winner, has sparked outrage in Poland by saying that gays have no right to a prominent role in politics and that as a minority they need to “adjust to smaller things.”

Discussion: Guardian, AMERICAblog, Advocate, Towleroad News #gay and Joe. My. God.

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:

The Scary Hidden Stressor — IN her introduction to a compelling new study, “The Arab Spring and Climate Change,” released Thursday, the Princeton scholar Anne-Marie Slaughter notes that crime shows often rely on the concept of a “stressor.” A stressor, she explains, is a …

Discussion: Hullabaloo