memeorandum: Margaret Thatcher vs. Pop Culture (David Weigel/Slate)

1:05 PM ET, April 8, 2013

Top Items:

‘Tramp the dirt down’: George Galloway's extraordinarily crass tweet leads the Left's sickening ‘celebration’ just minutes after Baroness Thatcher's death — George Galloway has provoked criticism after writing a ‘distasteful’ comment following the death of former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Twitchy, Telegraph, Business Insider, National Review, The Other McCain and American Power

BBC:

Margaret Thatcher dies — Former Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher has died “peacefully” at the age of 87 after suffering a stroke, her family has announced. — David Cameron called her a “great Briton” and the Queen spoke of her sadness at the death. — Lady Thatcher was Conservative prime minister from 1979 to 1990.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Mental Recession, Shakesville, BizPac Review, Mediaite and FP Passport

Andrew Sparrow / Guardian:

Margaret Thatcher dies: live reaction and updates — Sort by: — 5.51pm BST — Earlier I mentioned Charles Moore, who is writing the authorised biography of Lady Thatcher. (See 3.19pm.) I've just had this news release from Allen Lane, who says the first volume will be published straight after the funeral.

Discussion: The Week, Towleroad News #gay, Scared Monkeys, Joe. My. God., The Hinterland Gazette, NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth and Jammie Wearing Fools

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:

Three Who Saved the West — And now the last of them is gone. Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, and Pope John Paul II—three who won the Cold War and, it isn't too much to say, saved the West (at least for a while!)—are no longer with us. Their examples remain.

Discussion: Power Line and Washington Monthly

Jamelle Bouie / American Prospect:

No, Margaret Thatcher Wouldn't Have Been a Liberal Now — Margaret Thatcher bids farewell after a visit to the United States. — Since Obama entered office, liberals have developed a rhetorical trick meant to highlight the extremism of his opponents. When Mitch McConnell or John Boehner …

Discussion: Hit & Run and Eschaton

David Weigel / Slate:

Margaret Thatcher vs. Pop Culture — She was the longest-serving post-WWII prime minister of Great Britain, and that leads people to forget when she governed. It's hilariously wrong to say that U.K. punk was a “response” to Margaret Thatcher's Hayekian policies, as one obiturary writer claimed upon …

Discussion: msnbc.com and Hullabaloo

Annie-Rose Strasser / ThinkProgress:

Why The Modern Republican Party Would Reject Margaret Thatcher — Margaret Thatcher, the first female prime minister of the United Kingdom, died on Monday, leaving behind her a legacy of conservative values that American politicians still cite to this day. Upon learning of her death …

Discussion: Wonkblog, david-frum and Applesauce

Joseph R. Gregory / New York Times:

Margaret Thatcher, Who Remade Britain, Dies at 87 — Margaret Thatcher, the “Iron Lady” of British politics who pulled her country back from 35 years of socialism, led it to victory in the Falklands war and helped guide the United States and the Soviet Union through the cold war's difficult last years, died Monday.

Discussion: The Caucus, BuzzFeed, The Week and The Hugh Hewitt Show

Richard Allen Greene / CNN:
Margaret Thatcher, Britain's first female PM, dead at 87

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Moderate Voice, ABCNEWS, Feministing, Applesauce, Associated Press and Hot Air

Congressman Steve Stockman:
Stockman: Thatcher would want us to ‘fight on, fight to win’ and crush liberalism

Discussion: Business Insider and msnbc.com

Sky News:
Margaret Thatcher Dies After Stroke

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, americanthinker.com, The PJ Tatler and Vox Popoli

Michael White / Guardian:
Margaret Thatcher dead at 87 following stroke

Discussion: Telegraph, The Jawa Report, Washington Monthly, Mashable and The Monkey Cage

Glenn Greenwald / Guardian:
Margaret Thatcher and misapplied death etiquette

Discussion: Spectator, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Gawker, more at Mediagazer »

Guardian: Margaret Thatcher: a life in quotes

Associated Press:
Margaret Thatcher, Iron Lady, dead at 87

Discussion: Politico, Reuters, The Hill, Hot Air and Weasel Zippers

Fred Barbash / Washington Post:
Margaret Thatcher, former British prime minister, dead at 87

Discussion: The Fix, Outside the Beltway and Booman Tribune

Jonathan Allen / Politico:

Hill holds Obama's legacy in its hands — It's now or never for the White House. — President Barack Obama's second-term agenda is in doubt as Congress returns to Washington this week for a spring and summer stretch that could go a long way to define the scope of Obama's legacy.

Discussion: Capital New York, msnbc.com and The Hill

Washington Post:
Gun legislation's prospects improve

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Hill and Prairie Weather

Politico:
Immigration debate: 5 things to watch

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Roll Call and Washington Post

Jackie Calmes / New York Times:
Obama Must Walk Fine Line as Congress Weighs Agenda

Discussion: American Prospect, The Fix and Prairie Weather

Evan McMorris-Santoro / BuzzFeed: Obama Takes Control In The Second Term

Politico:
Obama's make-or-break week on guns

Discussion: Washington Post, Roll Call, Daily Kos, Hartford Courant and msnbc.com

Kevin Robillard / Politico:

Chelsea Clinton opens door to run — Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton said Monday she would consider running for office if she could make a “meaningful” impact on the country. — “Right now, I'm grateful to live in a city and a state and a country where I strongly support my mayor …

Discussion: The Hinterland Gazette and Ballot Box

Eun Kyung Kim / TODAY.com Blogs:
Chelsea Clinton: I may run for public office one day

Discussion: Washington Wire, Taegan Goddard's …, msnbc.com and Post Politics

Ashley Killough / CNN:
Chelsea Clinton doesn't shoot down talk of political office

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Shakesville

Hollywood Reporter:

Westboro Baptist Church to Picket Roger Ebert's Funeral — The anti-gay group says it will protest outside the movie critic's memorial service Monday in Chicago. — Leaders of Kansas' Westboro Baptist Church, notorious for picketing at the funerals of soldiers and gay teenagers …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, The Daily Caller, Scared Monkeys, The Raw Story, NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, Guardian and Mashable, more at Mediagazer »

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

Public Sector Unions Reeling In Wisconsin — Sean Higgins of the Washington Examiner had this story on Friday, but for some reason I haven't seen it widely reported or commented on. Since Wisconsin stopped forcing public employees to pay union dues against their will, union membership in that state has plummeted:

Discussion: UrbanGrounds

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Insurance and Freedom — President Obama will soon release a new budget, and the commentary is already flowing fast and furious. Progressives are angry (with good reason) over proposed cuts to Social Security; conservatives are denouncing the call for more revenues. But it's all Kabuki.

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Lydia Saad / Gallup:

Americans' Concerns About Global Warming on the Rise — Majority believe global warming is happening, but many still say it's exaggerated — PRINCETON, NJ — U.S. worry about global warming is heading back up after several years of expanded public skepticism.

Discussion: Firedoglake, E2-Wire, Post Politics and Politico