memeorandum: ‘Jeopardy’ looking at Lauer as next host (Michael Shain/New York Post)

7:45 PM ET, March 15, 2013

Top Items:

Rob Portman commentary: Gay couples also deserve chance to get married — I have come to believe that if two people are prepared to make a lifetime commitment to love and care for each other in good times and in bad, the government shouldn't deny them the opportunity to get married.

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Rob Portman, Gay Marriage, and Selfishness — Rob Portman's dual revelations that his son is gay and that he has decided to support gay marriage are both a touching story of familial love and another signpost in the astonishingly rapid success of the gay-rights revolution.

Discussion: CNN, The Week, Daily Kos, Business Insider and Towleroad News #gay

Matthew Yglesias / Slate:

Rob Portman and the Politics of Narcissism — I'm glad that Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio has reconsidered his view on gay marriage upon realization that his son is gay, but I also find this particular window into moderation—memorably dubbed Miss America conservatism by Mark Schmitt—to be the most annoying form.

Discussion: Sky Dancing, EconLog and Paul Krugman

Dana Bash / CNN:
CNN Exclusive: One conservative's dramatic reversal on gay marriage

Jack Torry / The Columbus Dispatch:
Rob Portman reverses stance on gay marriage, says son is gay

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, Joe. My. God., New York Times, The Impolitic, Slate, BuzzFeed, msnbc.com, PostPartisan, The Caucus, Roll Call, No More Mister Nice Blog and Ricochet Conversations Feed

Sabrina Eaton / Plain Dealer:
Sen. Rob Portman comes out in favor of gay marriage after son comes out as gay

Discussion: BuzzFeed, The Week, The Hinterland Gazette, ABCNEWS, The Maddow Blog, PostPartisan, Washington Blade, Advocate, Wonkette, LGBTQ Nation and Eschaton

ThinkProgress:

CPAC Participant Defends Slavery At Minority Outreach Panel: It Gave ‘Food And Shelter’ To Blacks — NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland — A panel at the Conservative Political Action Committee on Republican minority outreach exploded into controversy on Friday afternoon, after an audience member defended slavery as good for African-Americans.

Discussion: The Atlantic Wire, Little Green Footballs, Hullabaloo, New Republic, Gawker, Wonkette, The Raw Story and The Dish

Benjy Sarlin / Talking Points Memo:

CPAC Event On Racial Tolerance Turns To Chaos As ‘Disenfranchised’ Whites Arrive — A CPAC session sponsored by Tea Party Patriots and billed as a primer on teaching activists how to court black voters devolved into a shouting match Friday as some attendees demanded justice for white voters …

Discussion: The BRAD BLOG, Balloon Juice and Business Insider

Alexandra Jaffe / Ballot Box:

Romney urges GOP to ‘learn from’ mistakes he made in 2012 campaign — GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney appealed for the Republican Party to learn from the mistakes of his losing 2012 presidential campaign and — as conservatives chart their future — to look to GOP governors for a path to future electoral wins.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, CNN, Politico and American Power

Alexandra Jaffe / Ballot Box:

Santorum delivers emotional CPAC speech inspired by nephew's death — Former Republican presidential contender Rick Santorum on Friday delivered an emotional address at the Conservative Political Action Conference, inspired by the death of his nephew the night before, that indicated …

Discussion: Politico and CNN

Michael Patrick Leahy / BREITBART.COM:

CADDELL UNLOADS ON ‘RACKETEERING’ GOP CONSULTANTS — Pat Caddell, the Fox News Contributor and Democrat pollster who engineered Jimmy Carter's 1976 Presidential victory, blew the lid off CPAC on Thursday with a blistering attack on “racketeering” Republican consultants who play wealthy donors like “marks.”

Discussion: Rush Limbaugh and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

James Hohmann / Politico:
Mitt Romney gets B-list treatment at CPAC

Discussion: Washington Times, CNN, New York Times, The Caucus, The Impolitic, Scared Monkeys, The Week and Hullabaloo

Elise Foley / The Huffington Post:
Marco Rubio CPAC Speech: GOP Senator Addresses Beliefs On Same-Sex Marriage, Abortion Rights

Discussion: The Plum Line and CNN

Michael O'Brien / NBCNews.com:
Mitt Romney makes curious re-emergence at CPAC

Discussion: Washington Post, The Week, First Read, NBCNews.com and msnbc.com

Mitt Romney / Facebook:
2013 Address to CPAC

Discussion: Guardian, BuzzFeed, National Review, Hot Air and Weekly Standard

Kim Zetter / Wired:

Federal Judge Finds National Security Letters Unconstitutional, Bans Them — Ultra-secret national security letters that come with a gag order on the recipient are an unconstitutional impingement on free speech, a federal judge in California ruled Friday. — U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ordered …

Discussion: Hit & Run, The Raw Story and Lawfare

Rebecca Jeschke / Electronic Frontier Foundation:
National Security Letters Are Unconstitutional, Federal Judge Rules

Discussion: Guardian and People's Blog …

Charlie Cook / NationalJournal.com:

The GOP Keeps Getting Whiter — While the country is becoming more racially diverse, Republican congressional districts are becoming less. — After Republicans won only 48 percent of all votes cast for the House in 2012 but 54 percent of the seats, it's no secret that the party enjoys …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Washington Monthly and Booman Tribune

Talking Points Memo:

House Republicans Unanimously Vote Down Minimum Wage Hike — House Republicans unanimously voted down a measure Friday that would have raised the federal minimum wage, from its current $7.25 per hour to $10.10 by 2015. — Six Democrats joined 227 Republicans in voting it down; 184 Democrats voted yes.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and DCCC

Brian Beutler / Talking Points Memo:

Sequestration NIMBYism Grips GOP — A strange sickness is afflicting congressional Republicans. — Unwilling to team up with Democrats to replace sequestration with a mix of spending cuts and tax increases, and unable to pass a cuts-only sequestration measure on their own …

Discussion: Daily Kos, Hullabaloo and The Maddow Blog

New York Post:

NYPD cops ordered to run criminal checks on domestic-abuse victims — Women who report domestic violence are exposing themselves to arrest under a new NYPD directive that orders cops to run criminal checks on the accused and the accuser, The Post has learned.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Chicago Tribune, PIX 11, The Hinterland Gazette, Hit & Run, Gothamist and The Raw Story

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:

The Anti-Choice Olympics — Ever since the 2010 elections, Republican legislators and governors have been in a competition to see who can enact the most blatantly unconstitutional—at least according to existing precedents—laws on abortion in the country. The first batch …

Discussion: Bloomberg and Not the Singularity

James MacPherson / Associated Press: North Dakota Senate approves 6-week abortion ban

Sarah Kliff / Wonkblog:

Want to debate Medicare costs? You need to see this chart first. — It's taken as an article of faith inside the beltway: Policy makers need to do something to tamp down on out-of-control health-care costs. — If we don't get our Medicare and Medicaid spending under control …

Discussion: The Plum Line, Hullabaloo and Business Insider

Rolling Stone:

Live-Blogging Senate Hearing Tomorrow, When J.P. Morgan Chase Will Be Torn a New One — Beginning at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow, I'm going to be live-blogging a hearing held by Senator Carl Levin's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations - the best crew of high-end detectives this side of The Wire …

Discussion: Reuters, Crooks and Liars, Firedoglake, susiemadrak.com and Balloon Juice

Danielle Douglas / Washington Post:
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is accused of hiding information about big losses

Discussion: Rolling Stone, Bloomberg, The Week, American Prospect, Taylor Marsh, Campaign for America's Future and DealBook

Howard Gleckman / TaxVox:

House GOP Would Need $5.7 Trillion in Tax Hikes to Offset Ryan Rate Cuts — House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan's (R-WI) fiscal plan promises to balance the federal budget in 10 years, make major cuts in income tax rates for both individuals and corporations, and raise the same amount of revenue as current law.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Atlantic Online, Mediaite, The Plum Line, Wonkblog, Business Insider and The Maddow Blog

Mark Drajem / Bloomberg:

Obama Will Use Nixon-Era Law to Fight Climate Change — President Barack Obama is preparing to tell all federal agencies for the first time that they have to consider the impact on global warming before approving major projects, from pipelines to highways. — The result could be significant delays …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and protein wisdom

Steve Anderson / The Independent:

Want to join the 62-mile-high club? Not so quick, sex in outer space could be bad for your health, say scientists — With commercial space flights in the pipeline and financiers appealing for a couple to volunteer for a manned (and womanned) mission to Mars, it's only going to be a matter …

Michael Shain / New York Post:

‘Jeopardy’ looking at Lauer as next host — 'I'll take Soft Landings for a thousand, Alex' — The answer to the “Jeopardy” clue “Alex Trebrek's replacement” has a new and surprising question: — “Who is Matt Lauer?” — The beleaguered host of the “Today” show is at the top of the list …

Discussion: Ricochet Conversations Feed, Gawker, Deadline.com, The Daily Caller and The Week

Idaho Statesman:

Dan Popkey: Top Idaho lawmaker botches civil rights history — ‘We need to have our Rosa Parks moment,’ says Rep. Crane during debate. — The No. 3 Republican leader in the Idaho House says he made a “slight mistake” when he described Rosa Parks as a champion of states' rights.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Wonkette

Nicholas Ballasy / The Daily Caller:

Obama couldn't eat at Hill meeting without food ‘taster’ [AUDIO] — WASHINGTON — Following President Obama's lunch meeting with Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill, Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins described the food served and the president's reaction to what was on menu.

Discussion: Wonkette, Clayton Cramer's Blog, The Gateway Pundit and Weasel Zippers

New York Times:

Vatican Rejects Argentine Accusations Against Pope Francis — By DANIEL J. WAKIN, ALAN COWELL and GAIA PIANIGIANI — VATICAN CITY — For the first time since the election of Pope Francis two days ago, the Vatican on Friday formally defended him from accusations that, decades ago …

Discussion: Gawker, blog.sfgate.com, The Lede, WorldViews and New Republic