memeorandum: Ben Carson apologizes to Johns Hopkins (Alexander Burns/Politico)

10:10 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 …

Discussion: Power Line, Viking Pundit, The Moderate Voice and The Reaction

Politico:
Boehner rejects Obama cuts-revenue proposal

Discussion: Reuters, Firedoglake, The Fix, Post Politics, CNN, First Read and CBS News

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard: Obama's Budget Includes $800 Billion Tax Hike, $7.3 Trillion in New Debt

Brian Beutler / Talking Points Memo:
Bad News Friday

Discussion: Washington Monthly and A plain blog about politics

Associated Press:
Obama Budget Proposes Social Security Cuts

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

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

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

Alexandra Jaffe / Ballot Box:
Lawmakers, progressives blast Obama's expected proposal to cut entitlements

Discussion: Politico, The Plum Line, msnbc.com, Weasel Zippers and Reuters

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: Althouse, Yahoo! News, Mediaite and PostPartisan

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: Slate, Washington Free Beacon, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, New York Magazine, Gawker, CNN, PostPartisan, Washington Monthly, The Week, Yahoo! News and JustOneMinute

Justin Sink / The Hill:

Obama apologizes to ‘best-looking’ attorney general, Kamala Harris — President Obama called California Attorney General Kamala Harris to apologize after referring to her as “the best-looking attorney general” during a Democratic fundraiser on Thursday. — “The president did speak …

Discussion: Politico

Jennifer Epstein / Politico:
Obama apologizes to Kamala Harris

Discussion: Mediaite, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and CNN

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

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

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: Daily Kos, CNN, Mediaite, ThinkProgress, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Hinterland Gazette

James Pethokoukis / AEIdeas:

Heading backward: The miserable March jobs report — It would take superspin powers to portray the March jobs report as anything other than a huge step in the wrong direction. The US economy added just 88,000 jobs last month, 95,000 in the private sector as public payrolls fell by 7,000.

Discussion: Rush Limbaugh, Hot Air, protein wisdom and Conservatives4Palin

Alan B. Krueger / White House.gov Blog:
The Employment Situation in March

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

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, CNN, Roger L. Simon, TheBlaze.com, Power Line, The Gateway Pundit and Maggie's Farm

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, Balloon Juice and Weekly Standard

Alexandra Jaffe / Ballot Box:

Rand Paul: Defense of Marriage Act defenders are going to ‘lose that battle’ — Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said that conservatives fighting to uphold the federal definition of marriage as between one man and one woman are going to “lose that battle.” — Paul suggested in an interview …

CBN.com:
The Brody File: At Home With Rand Paul - April 4, 2013

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Business Insider and Roll Call

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, BBC, The Week, Yahoo! News, Weasel Zippers, NO QUARTER USA NET, AEIdeas and Piers Morgan

Reuters:
North Korea asks embassies to consider moving diplomats out

Discussion: Reuters, The Week and KUOW

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: The Huffington Post, Facebook, msnbc.com, Taylor Marsh, ThinkProgress, Towleroad News #gay, Daily Kos and The Dish

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

Discussion: The National Memo and msnbc.com

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

Alex Weprin / TVNewser:

CNN Looking To Revive ‘Crossfire’ — CNN is looking to bring back “Crossfire,” TVNewser hears. The long-running political debate show was canceled in 2005. — It isn't entirely clear what time the program would air, though we hear it would likely be a 30-minute format.

Discussion: Politico and Outside the Beltway, more at Mediagazer »

Henry Hitchings / Opinionator:

The Dark Side of Verbs-as-Nouns — In my previous essay, I wrote about nominalization — the deployment as nouns of words we mostly expect to encounter as verbs or adjectives. Aware of many people's tendency to vilify this kind of usage, I speculated about the psychology behind it.

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

Katie Glueck / Politico:

Hill staff rages as LegiStorm gets personal — LegiStorm editor Garrett Snedeker said on Thursday that the service has long compiled all kinds of data, including travel and finances, about staffers and members of Congress. — “Probably the biggest thing I'd like to stress is LegiStorm publishes …

Discussion: Firedoglake

BBC:

Pope Francis calls for action on clerical sex abuse — The remarks were made in the new Pope's first public statement on the clerical sex abuse issue — Pope Francis has called for “decisive action” in the fight against sex abuse of minors by priests. — He told Bishop Gerhard Mueller …

Discussion: KUOW and Outside the Beltway

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

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: FP Passport, The PJ Tatler, Hot Air, BizPac Review, Weasel Zippers and National Review

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