memeorandum: Gun Control Package Gets Some Rare Good News (Sam Stein/The Huffington Post)

6:40 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: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Twitchy, Telegraph, National Review, Rush Limbaugh, BBC, The Gateway Pundit, Taylor Marsh, The Other McCain, Business Insider, American Power, The Moderate Voice and The Impolitic

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: Telegraph, 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, Telegraph, Feministing, msnbc.com, 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: Guardian, WorldViews and Washington Monthly

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

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:
Three Who Saved the West

Discussion: The Week, Power Line and Washington Monthly

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

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

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

Mark Steyn / National Review:
The Anti-Declinist — Mrs Thatcher's predecessor as Prime Minister …

Discussion: NewsBusters blogs and Ed Driscoll

Joseph R. Gregory / New York Times:
Margaret Thatcher, Conservative Who Reforged Britain, Dies at 87

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

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

Discussion: Associated Press, AEIdeas, NewsBusters, Hot Air, Babalú Blog, Mediaite, Weasel Zippers and Twitchy

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

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

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

Sky News:
Margaret Thatcher Dies After Stroke

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

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

Discussion: Guardian, Hawkings Here, Hit & Run and Eschaton

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

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:

Gun Control Package Gets Some Rare Good News — WASHINGTON — Gun legislation is still hanging by a few political threads. But prospects of passing something of substance began to improve, albeit gradually, over the weekend. — The most important of those developments were reports that Sen. Pat Toomey …

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

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

Discussion: Politico

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

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

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 and Daily Kos

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

Discussion: Washington Monthly

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

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, Clayton Cramer's Blog, Hit & Run and UrbanGrounds

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

Zack Ford / ThinkProgress:

Rand Paul's Same-Sex Marriage Plan: Continue The Debate ‘For Another Couple Of Decades’ — Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) opposes same-sex marriage, but his tactics for doing so are unique. For example, last month he offered a completely unfeasible suggestion to simply erase any mention of marriage …

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

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

Darryl Fears / Washington Post:

Crabs, supersized by carbon pollution, may upset Chesapeake's balance — It is the dawn of the super crab. — Crabs are bulking up on carbon pollution that pours out of power plants, factories and vehicles and settles in the oceans, turning the tough crustaceans into even more fearsome predators.

Discussion: Watts Up With That? and PostPartisan

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

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: Post Politics, Taylor Marsh, Joe. My. God. and Outside the Beltway