memeorandum: Emotions flow during immigrant tuition hearing (Andy Marso/Topeka Capital-Journal)

2:45 PM ET, March 21, 2013

Top Items:

Manu Raju / Politico:

Saxby Chambliss: 'I'm not gay. So I'm not going to marry one' — Support for gay marriage is picking up steam all over the country — except on Capitol Hill. — Take Sen. Saxby Chambliss. When asked if his views had changed on gay marriage, the Georgia Republican quipped: “I'm not gay.

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Raw Story, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Taegan Goddard's …, Guardian, Ajc Blogs: &lsquo, Post Politics, The Maddow Blog, Mediaite, Towleroad News #gay and Daily Kos

Catherine Saint Louis / New York Times:
Pediatrics Group Backs Gay Marriage, Saying It Helps Children

Discussion: John M. Becker, ThinkProgress and The Raw Story

Ashley Parker / New York Times:
Young Opponents of Same-Sex Marriage Undaunted

Discussion: The Heritage Foundation, Good As You, NOM Blog, Opinionator and Business Insider

Manu Raju / Politico:
Saxby Chambliss: 'I'm not gay. So I'm not going to marry one'

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Politico:
Politicians and gay marriage: Profiles in calculation

Discussion: msnbc.com and TheBlaze.com

Herb Keinon / Jerusalem Post:

Analysis: Obama, he had us at ‘Shalom’ — We so want to be accepted, so want to be understood. — He had us at the word “Shalom,” did President Barack Obama, on the tarmac at Ben-Gurion Airport. — Or if not at “Shalom,” then 33 words later when he said in Hebrew, “Tov lihiyot shuv ba'aretz” (It's good to be back in Israel).

Discussion: Haaretz, Washington Free Beacon and Washington Wire

Mark Landler / New York Times:

Obama Appears to Move Closer to Israeli Position on Peace Talks — RAMALLAH, West Bank — President Obama, visiting the Israeli-occupied West Bank, appeared to move closer to the Israeli position on Thursday regarding resumption of long-stalled peace talks with the Palestinians …

Discussion: BBC, Reuters, The Hinterland Gazette, Foreign Policy, Althouse and Mediaite

James S. Robbins / Associated Press:
Obama's Middle East policy in tatters: Column

Discussion: Questions and Observations, Pew Global Attitudes Project, Instapundit and This Just In

Reuters:
Palestinians protest Obama visit: We want RPGs, not CIA collaboration

Discussion: Haaretz, Weasel Zippers and The Gateway Pundit

James Nye / Daily Mail:
Thanks but no thanks: Tree gifted by President Obama to Israel this morning is dug up hours later for ‘pest’ testing

Discussion: Betsy's Page and Guardian

Guardian:
Barack Obama's speech in Jerusalem - full text

Discussion: Right Turn, Algemeiner.com, Politico, CNN and normblog

Politico:
Netanyahu on Obama: This guy, I need

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, The Week, The Dish, CNN and The Hill

Peter Hamby / CNN:

Romney campaign chief to lead new GOP research group — (CNN) - Post-mortems written after the 2012 campaign focused on a variety of Republican shortcomings: underwhelming television ads, an outdated voter contact model, and a message that was out-of-step with the changing face of America.

Thomas B. Edsall / Opinionator:

The Republican Autopsy Report — On Monday a Republican task force released a remarkably hard-headed diagnosis of the party's many liabilities: its ideological rigidity, its preference for the rich over workers, its alienation of minorities, its reactionary social policies and its institutionalized repression of dissent and innovation.

Discussion: The Dish, Outside the Beltway, Poliglot, GOP.com and Prairie Weather

Stuart Rothenberg / Roll Call:
The GOP: A Party Increasingly at Odds With Itself

Discussion: Booman Tribune

Jesse Helfrich / The Hill:

Unified House Republicans poised to pass Ryan budget blueprint — Republican leaders are poised to pass Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) budget on Thursday, having convinced centrists and conservatives to back the blueprint that Democrats believe is their road map back to the House majority.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, msnbc.com and Daily Kos

Nancy Cook / NationalJournal.com:
The GOP Disconnect on Economic Policy

Discussion: The Plum Line, First Read and Reuters

Alan Silverleib / CNN:
House passes Ryan budget

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, neo-neocon, Weasel Zippers and The Hill

Philip Klein / Washington Examiner:

Iraq War made Obamacare possible … This week brought two milestones: It has been 10 years since the United States invaded Iraq, and three years since President Obama's health care legislation became law. It's fitting that the two events coincided, because it was the Iraq War that made the passage of Obamacare possible.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Hit & Run

Conor Friedersdorf / The Atlantic Online:
What Needless, Xenophobic Panic Looks Like

Discussion: Eschaton

Ruby Cramer / BuzzFeed:

Biden, Bloomberg Present United Front On Assault Weapons Ban — Reid has dropped it from the Senate bill, but Bloomberg calls for an amendment vote. “I'm not going to rest, and neither is the president, until we do all of these things,” Biden says. — Image by Ruby Cramer/Buzzfeed

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and NPR

NPR:
Interview With Vice President Joe Biden

Discussion: Hawkings Here, msnbc.com, The Fix, Hot Air, Post Politics, Mother Jones, Hit & Run and The Hill

Charles P. Pierce / Esquire:

THE SILENT MAJORITIES — There's a lot of buzz at and around the Cool Kidz table today because, glorioski, there's actually another budget proposal out there, the one put together by the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and it not only seems to make more sense to more people than, for example …

Discussion: The Reaction, Balloon Juice, Daily Kos and Gallup

Ezra Klein / Wonkblog:

Why I was hoping for a government shutdown — I'll be honest. I was sort of hoping for a government shutdown. — Congress, you're terrible at your job. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomber) — It's not that I like government shutdowns. I'm as big a fan of national parks as the next guy.

Discussion: Daily Kos, Balloon Juice, The Week, The Maddow Blog and Politico

Quinnipiac News + Events:

Release Detail — March 21, 2013 - Clinton Tops Florida Favorite Sons In 2016 Race, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; 91% Back Universal Gun Background Checks — Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has double-digit leads over either of Florida's favorite sons, former Gov. Jeb Bush …

Discussion: CNN, msnbc.com, Politico, Naked Politics, Ballot Box and First Read

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

Michele Bachmann: Obamacare Will ‘Literally’ Kill People — As the country prepares to celebrate the third anniversary of health care reform, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) insisted on Thursday that the Affordable Care Act will “kill” vulnerable women and children during a speech on the floor of the House.

Discussion: Mediaite

Greg Miller / Washington Post:

Secret report raises alarms on intelligence blind spots because of AQ focus — A panel of White House advisers warned President Obama in a secret report that U.S. spy agencies were paying inadequate attention to China, the Middle East and other national security flash points because they had become …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, AEIdeas, ThinkProgress, Lawfare, emptywheel and Reuters

Daily Mail:

Dark Knight killer James Holmes ‘is now a Muslim who prays five times a day’ — James Holmes, the gunman behind the Dark Knight massacre in Colorado last July, has reportedly turned Muslim and prays five times a day. — The killer showed off a lengthy, thick beard during a court appearance earlier …

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Jihad Watch, Weasel Zippers and Atlas Shrugs

Thomas Kaplan / New York Times:

Cuomo Seeks to Ease a Newly Passed Gun Restriction — ALBANY — In the wake of the elementary school massacre in Newtown, Conn., Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York pushed through the State Legislature gun control measures that included not only a tougher assault weapons ban but also a tighter restriction …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Hit & Run, Capital New York, Hot Air, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and The PJ Tatler

Public Religion Research Institute:

Survey | Citizenship, Values, and Cultural Concerns: What Americans Want from Immigration Reform — ▶ Read the full report here. — ▶ Read the news release here. — ▶ Read a Spanish translation of the news release here. — ▶ Read the topline questionnaire, including the survey methodology, here.

Discussion: Right Turn, New York Times and Washington Wire

David Rogers / Politico:

Congress avoids government shutdown — Congress approved and sent to the White House on Thursday a stopgap spending bill to avert any threat of a government shutdown next week and keep agencies funded through September in the wake of automatic cuts ordered under sequestration.

USA Today:

Want to change college athletics? Financially punish coaches … March Madness is underway, but the 2011 champion, the University of Connecticut, is conspicuously absent. The Huskies men's team isn't competing this year because it failed to meet the minimal academic requirements set by the NCAA for postseason play.

Discussion: The Hill and Politico