memeorandum: Congress Returns, With Focus on Guns and Immigration Legislation (New York Times)

5:25 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: Twitchy, Rush Limbaugh, Telegraph, National Review, The Gateway Pundit, Taylor Marsh, Business Insider, The Other McCain, American Power, The Impolitic and The Moderate Voice

Glenn Greenwald / Guardian:

Margaret Thatcher and misapplied death etiquette — The dictate that one ‘not speak ill of the dead’ is (at best) appropriate for private individuals, not influential public figures — News of Margaret Thatcher's death this morning instantly and predictably gave rise to righteous sermons on the evils of speaking ill of her.

Discussion: FishbowlDC, The PJ Tatler, Spectator, Gawker, WDSU-TV and Lawyers, Guns & Money, more at Mediagazer »

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: Blighty, CNN, The Moderate Voice, Feministing, msnbc.com, Telegraph, National Review, The National Memo and Applesauce

Charles P. Pierce / Esquire:

MARGARET THATCHER, RIP — Margaret Thatcher in 1987. — I am going to leave the encomiums to the late Margaret Thatcher to the people who loved her best, of whom I am decidedly not one. What I remember best about her is that she pretty much invented the modern concept …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, WorldViews and Guardian

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: Telegraph, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Guardian, NEWS.com.au, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Shakesville, The Moderate Voice, TalkLeft, BizPac Review, Washington Monthly, The Mental Recession, Mediaite and FP Passport

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: The Week, Washington Monthly and Power Line

David Frum / david-frum:
Margaret Thatcher Sounded the Alarm on Climate Change

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Mother Jones and Taylor Marsh

Jamelle Bouie / American Prospect:
No, Margaret Thatcher Wouldn't Have Been a Liberal Now

Discussion: Guardian, Hit & Run and Eschaton

Business Insider:
Margaret Thatcher Was Freakishly Correct About Why The Euro Would Be Such A Big Disaster

Discussion: WorldViews, Wonkblog, BBC and Twitchy

The White House:
Statement from the President on the Passing of Baroness Margaret Thatcher

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Washington Wire, Weasel Zippers, BizPac Review and Fox News Insider

Joseph R. Gregory / New York Times:
Margaret Thatcher, Conservative Who Reforged Britain, Dies

Discussion: Yahoo! News, Slate, Guardian, david-frum, City Room, BuzzFeed, ArtsBeat, BBC, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, The Week, New Republic, The Caucus, Spectator, Towleroad News #gay and The Hugh Hewitt Show

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

Discussion: Blighty, ABCNEWS, The Week, Global Public Square, Applesauce, Hot Air, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Feministing, Piers Morgan, The Moderate Voice and Associated Press

Sky News:
Margaret Thatcher Dies After Stroke

Discussion: CNN, msnbc.com, The Spectacle Blog, Taylor Marsh, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, americanthinker.com, Scared Monkeys, The PJ Tatler, Vox Popoli and Jammie Wearing Fools

The Review:
Associated Press: Praise Chavez, Grouse About Thatcher

Discussion: National Review, Associated Press, NewsBusters blogs, AEIdeas, NewsBusters, Hot Air, Babalú Blog, Mediaite and Ed Driscoll

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

Discussion: Business Insider, Mother Jones, Roll Call and msnbc.com

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:

Reid Threatens Filibuster Reform With Nuclear Option — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) threatened in his most explicit terms yet to use the so-called nuclear option to weaken the filibuster if Republicans keep blocking judicial and other nominees from coming to a vote.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Daily Kos and The Plum Line

Jonathan Allen / Politico:
Hill holds Obama's legacy in its hands

Discussion: The Huffington Post, CNN, New York Times, The Week, Freedom's Lighthouse, Daily Kos, Capital New York, msnbc.com, Prairie Weather and The Hill

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Sen. Enzi joins GOP group threatening to filibuster gun control

Discussion: Politico

Washington Post:
Gun legislation's prospects improve

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Hill and Prairie Weather

Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:

Sen. Tim Johnson Endorses Gay Marriage — Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD), one of the last remaining Democratic holdouts to oppose same-sex marriage, announced Monday that he now supports gay nuptials. — “After lengthy consideration, my views have evolved sufficiently to support marriage equality legislation,” Johnson said in a statement.

Discussion: Joe. My. God. and Outside the Beltway

Aaron Blake / Post Politics: Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson backs gay marriage

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:
Sen. Tim Johnson becomes latest Dem to endorse same-sex marriage

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Alex Seitz-Wald / Salon:

A Republican website without “Republicans” — The buzzy new website from House Republicans doesn't mention its party affiliation. The brand has seen better days — The new website for the National Republican Congressional Committee, the campaign arm of House Republicans …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Daily Kos and Taegan Goddard's …

CNN: First on CNN: Santorum to focus on GOP's future in Iowa

Paul Steinhauser / CNN:

CNN Poll: Obama at 51% approval but lower on key issues — Washington (CNN) - As President Barack Obama begins what could be a pivotal week, with gun control, immigration reform and border security, and the budget all in the spotlight, a new national survey indicates the president's approval rating has inched above the 50% mark.

Discussion: The Hill

Peter Orszag / Bloomberg:
Chained CPI's Diminishing Returns for U.S. Budget

Discussion: The Dish

Michael Tackett / Bloomberg:

Texas Turns Battleground as Cowboy Boots Win Hispanics — Alex Steele begins his pitch on how to turn Texas into a Democratic state like any good politician, with the story of how he got to this place. — It begins in California's Central Valley, where he grew up: his father working …

Discussion: Booman Tribune and ABCNEWS

Glenn Harlan Reynolds / New York Post:

We need an IQ test for politicians — While politicians talk about expanding background checks for gun owners, I'm starting to think that what we really need are IQ tests for political officeholders. The only problem is, that might leave us with a lot of vacancies in Congress and America's statehouses.

Discussion: Ed Driscoll, Hit & Run, Clayton Cramer's Blog and UrbanGrounds

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 Raw Story, The Daily Caller, Guardian, NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, Scared Monkeys and Mashable

DAYLIGHT DISINFECTANT:

COMMUNISM SURVIVOR BLASTS SALEM GUN GRABBERS: “YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT FREEDOM IS!” — “You don't know what freedom is because you never lost it!” With a pointed finger Manuel Martinez called out Anti-Gun Committee Leader Floyd Prozansky during heated testimony on Friday. You can bet Prozansky got the message.

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Hot Air, BizPac Review and Weasel Zippers

Wall Street Journal:

Workers Stuck in Disability Stunt Economic Recovery — Former truck driver James Ottesen, of Mason, Ohio, said being on disability “kind of reminds me of welfare.' — The unexpectedly large number of American workers who piled into the Social Security Administration's disability program during …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Firedoglake, White House Dossier, Mother Jones and AEIdeas

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: CNN, The Hinterland Gazette and Ballot Box

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: msnbc.com, Politico, Post Politics, E2-Wire and Firedoglake