memeorandum: Biden not giving back pay, at least for now (Jennifer Epstein/Politico)

5:50 PM ET, April 5, 2013

Top Items:

Jackie Calmes / New York Times:

In Obama Budget, Social Programs Face a Cutback — WASHINGTON — President Obama next week will take the political risk of formally proposing cuts to Social Security and Medicare in his annual budget in an effort to demonstrate his willingness to compromise with Republicans and revive prospects …

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:

Left Furious With Obama For Backing Social Security Cuts — Liberals are mounting strong criticisms of President Obama amid news that his budget will include a Social Security benefit cut — an official endorsement of a policy compromise he's offered Republicans for years …

Politico:

Boehner rejects Obama cuts-revenue proposal — House Speaker John Boehner immediately dismissed President Barack Obama's package of significant new entitlement cuts tied to new tax revenues, calling them “no way to lead and move the country forward.” — The White House had portrayed the proposal …

Discussion: CNN, Firedoglake, First Read and CBS News

Paul Krugman:
Desperately Seeking “Serious” Approval

Discussion: Hullabaloo, The Week and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Brian Beutler / Talking Points Memo:
Bad News Friday

Discussion: A plain blog about politics and Washington Monthly

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
Obama Budget: Administration Explains Why It Started With A ‘Compromise Proposal’

Discussion: New York Times, Hot Air and Yahoo! News

Associated Press:
Obama Budget Proposes Social Security Cuts

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Associated Press, Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, The Hinterland Gazette, CANNONFIRE, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Balloon Juice

Zachary A. Goldfarb / Washington Post:
Obama budget would cut entitlements in exchange for tax increases

Discussion: Yahoo! News, Reuters, The Plum Line, Post Politics, Washington Monthly, Hot Air, ThinkProgress, National Review, Daily Kos, Crooks and Liars, susiemadrak.com and Prairie Weather

CEPR:
President Obama Proposes a Bigger Hit to Seniors Than to the Rich

Discussion: Firedoglake and msnbc.com

Garance Franke-Ruta / The Atlantic Online:

Why Obama's ‘Best-Looking Attorney General’ Comment Was a Gaffe — The system of beauty, the system of power, and Kamala Harris — President Obama's biggest gaffe yesterday when speaking of California Attorney General Kamala Harris was not in flirtatiously complimenting her as …

Discussion: Yahoo! News, Mediaite, PostPartisan and Post Politics

Irin Carmon / Salon:

How to talk about a woman's looks — The president of the United States fails the test — again — There were, perhaps, stupider things said recently than “How did it become so difficult to call a woman good-looking in public?” but I didn't happen to hear them. So congratulations, Dylan Byers of Politico.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, New York Magazine, PostPartisan, CNN, Washington Free Beacon and The Week

Justin Sink / The Hill: Obama apologizes to ‘best-looking’ attorney general, Kamala Harris

Scott Wilson / Washington Post:
Obama rekindles talk about boys club after comment about California attorney general

Discussion: Yahoo! News, The Caucus, Taylor Marsh, All Things Democrat, Washington Times, The Fix, NewsBusters blogs, White House Dossier, Shakesville and BuzzFeed

Jennifer Epstein / Politico:
Obama apologizes to Kamala Harris

Discussion: Mediaite, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and CNN

Alan B. Krueger / White House.gov Blog:

The Employment Situation in March — While more work remains to be done, today's employment report provides further evidence that the U.S. economy is continuing to recover from the worst downturn since the Great Depression. It is critical that we continue the policies that are helping …

Discussion: Hot Air, Real Time Economics, PJ Media, The Week, Weasel Zippers, Weekly Standard, The Hinterland Gazette, Twitchy, Michelle Malkin, White House Dossier and Post Politics

Tyler Durden / Zero Hedge:
People Not In Labor Force Soar By 663,000 To 90 Million, Labor Force Participation Rate At 1979 Levels

Discussion: National Review, TheBlaze.com, The Gateway Pundit and Power Line

James Pethokoukis / AEIdeas:
Heading backward: The miserable March jobs report

Discussion: Hot Air and protein wisdom

Alexander Burns / Politico:

Ben Carson apologizes to Johns Hopkins — Maryland neurosurgeon Ben Carson, the nationally celebrated physician who has become a political lightning rod in recent weeks after his criticism of President Barack Obama and gay marriage, sent an apologetic email Friday to the Johns Hopkins …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Hinterland Gazette and Mediaite

Evan McMorris-Santoro / BuzzFeed:

Conservative Democrats Take Joint Plunge On Gay Marriage — North Dakota's Heitkamp and Indiana's Donnelly decided to support marriage equality together. — Image by Will Kincaid, File / AP — WASHINGTON — While America was talking about the latest unemployment numbers Friday …

Discussion: msnbc.com, Taylor Marsh and The Dish

Kevin Robillard / Politico:
Two more Democratic senators endorse gay marriage

Discussion: The National Memo and Tampa Bay Times

Jethro Mullen / CNN:

Embassies face decisions as tensions rise in North Korea — South Korean soldiers stand guard at a sentry post at the border with North Korea in the Demilitarized Zone near Imjingak, South Korea, on April 5, , as tensions have mounted on the Korean Peninsula. — HIDE CAPTION

Discussion: World News, AEIdeas, BBC, The Week, Weasel Zippers, NO QUARTER USA NET and Piers Morgan

Pam Belluck / New York Times:

Judge Orders Morning-After Pill Available for All Ages — A federal judge has ruled that the Unites States government must make the most common morning-after pill available over the counter for all ages, instead of requiring a prescription for girls 16 and under.

Discussion: CNN, LifeNews.com, RH Reality Check, The Week, Outside the Beltway, The Other McCain, Joe. My. God., Taylor Marsh, The Raw Story, Daily Kos, americanthinker.com, Gawker, The Volokh Conspiracy, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Feministing

CBN.com:

The Brody File: At Home With Rand Paul - April 4, 2013 — The Brody File show this week takes a closer look at Senator Rand Paul. We spent a couple days with him down in Kentucky. What makes him tick? We'll give you an in-depth look at his views on faith, war, marriage, abortion and much more.

Discussion: Business Insider, Roll Call and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Alexandra Jaffe / Ballot Box: Rand Paul: Defenders of DOMA are going to ‘lose that battle’

Kevin Cirilli / Politico:

Condom scientist hits Hannity comment — The lead scientist of a federally funded condom research study is firing back at Fox News commentator Sean Hannity and other conservatives after they charged that the $423,000 project was wasteful spending. — “I would tell Sean …

Discussion: The Raw Story and Weekly Standard

Allen Reed / The Eagle:

Texas A&M student body president to veto ‘Religious Funding Exemption Bill’ — Texas A&M student body president John Claybrook has vetoed legislation from the student senate aimed at letting students opt out of funding the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Resource Center …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, ThinkProgress, Towleroad News #gay, The Raw Story and Joe. My. God.

Judge Andrew P. Napolitano / Fox News:

FoxNews.com's Jana Winter should be praised, not threatened with jail time — While the press in Colorado is consumed with its coverage of the capital murder prosecution of James Holmes for the slaughter he perpetrated in a movie theater in the town of Aurora on July 20, 2012 …

Discussion: CNN, Fox News Insider, Hit & Run, The Jawa Report and TVNewser

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

The Urge to Purge — When the Great Depression struck, many influential people argued that the government shouldn't even try to limit the damage. According to Herbert Hoover, Andrew Mellon, his Treasury secretary, urged him to “Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers. ...

Discussion: Prairie Weather, The Week, Paul Krugman, Vox Popoli, EconLog, Hot Air and LewRockwell.com Blog

Brian Hughes / Washington Examiner:

Democrats have doubts about Obamacare too … President Obama is eager to build public support for his health care overhaul in the few months remaining before its implementation, but waning enthusiasm from Democrats threatens his effort right out of the gate.

Discussion: Questions and Observations and americanthinker.com

David Skolnick / Vindicator:

Worry about government secrecy, Woodward tells Youngstown crowd — After four decades of being one of the nation's best known and widely respected journalists, you'd think Bob Woodward has seen it all. — “But I wake up every morning haunted by what we don't know,” he said Thursday …

Discussion: Politico, Weasel Zippers, The Daily Caller, Mediaite and Taegan Goddard's …

Steven Nelson / US News:

The Associated Press Revises Another Politically Charged Term — Stylebook entry for ‘Islamist’ revised two days after ‘illegal immigrant’ dropped — Following on the heels of the Tuesday decision by The Associated Press to discontinue use of the term “illegal immigrant,” …

Discussion: BizPac Review, The PJ Tatler, Weasel Zippers and National Review

Om Malik / GigaOM:

Why Facebook Home bothers me: It destroys any notion of privacy — One of the great things about attending Facebook's events is that one gets to see Mark Zuckerberg mature as a chief executive and hone his presentation skills. And today, he didn't disappoint in his ability to spin the media corps.

Discussion: TechCrunch, Yahoo! News, The Verge and BBC