memeorandum: Grassley Proposes Eliminating 3 Seats On Powerful Court To Keep Obama From Filling Them (Ian Millhiser/ThinkProgress)

7:45 PM ET, April 10, 2013

Top Items:

Top Republican Blasts Obama Budget As ‘Shocking Attack On Seniors’ — Remember those warnings about how instead of welcoming President Obama's adoption of Chained CPI, Republicans would continue to deny him a budget deal and attack him for proposing to cut Social Security?

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Plum Line, The National Memo and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Lori Montgomery / Washington Post:

Obama to unveil $3.77 trillion spending plan — President Obama plans Wednesday to unveil a $3.77 trillion spending plan that proposes modest new investments in infrastructure and education, major new taxes for the wealthy and significant reforms aimed at reducing the cost of Social Security and Medicare.

Arthur Delaney / The Huffington Post:

Grover Norquist: Chained CPI Violates Taxpayer Protection Pledge — WASHINGTON — Members of Congress who have pledged never to raise taxes will be breaking their promise if they support changing how the government measures inflation for Social Security and tax purposes.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Hullabaloo

John Kartch / Americans for Tax Reform RSS:
White House confirms: Obama Budget Contains Middle Class Income Tax Hike

Discussion: Firedoglake, NewsBusters blogs, Americans for Tax Reform … and National Review

Erik Wasson / Ballot Box:
House GOP campaign chief: Obama budget is ‘shocking attack’ on seniors

Discussion: Politico

CNN:
CNN NEWSROOM — President Obama Speaks Regarding the Budget …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Campaign for America's Future and Daily Kos

Politico:
President Obama's risky ‘goodwill’ gambit

Discussion: Daily Kos and Hullabaloo

Politico:
President Obama's budget targets smokers, wealthy

Discussion: CNN, The Daily Beast, The Other McCain, Taylor Marsh and The Huffington Post

Jackie Calmes / New York Times:
Obama Seeks Compromise in Mix of Cuts and Spending

Discussion: Politico, The Week, New Republic, Firedoglake, Hawkings Here, Business Insider, Hit & Run, Economix, Yahoo! News, ThinkProgress, The White House, Reuters, The Reaction, Campaign for America's Future, msnbc.com and GOP.com

Adam Serwer / Mother Jones:

At Howard University, Rand Paul Falsely Claims He Never Opposed 1964 Civil Rights Act — Following an awkward, earnest speech to an audience at Howard University, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) insisted several times that he did not oppose the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Discussion: Reason, THEROOT.COM, alicublog, Washington Monthly and Rumproast

Rosie Gray / BuzzFeed:

Howard Students Didn't Totally Hate Rand Paul — Paul's speech at the historically black college didn't get a lot of converts, but the students were glad to listen. — Image by Aron Heller, FILE / AP — WASHINGTON — Senator Rand Paul's speech at Howard University certainly didn't recruit a lot of new Republicans.

Discussion: The Hinterland Gazette

Ashley Killough / CNN:

Rand Paul: GOP must reconnect with African Americans — (CNN) - Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who's considering a 2016 presidential bid, made a pitch for his party Wednesday at the historically black Howard University, arguing why the GOP and African Americans should fall in the same column.

Discussion: Politico

Benjy Sarlin / Talking Points Memo:

Rand Paul Ducks Record On Race In Awkward Howard Speech — As Rand Paul told it, the biggest problem keeping African Americans from voting Republican is that they didn't know Republicans have long been leaders on abolition and civil rights. As students at Howard University heard it …

Discussion: Mediaite and Little Green Footballs

Talking Points Memo:

Rand Paul: 'I've Never Been Against The Civil Rights Act. Ever.' — Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), a proponent of civil liberties, told a professor on Wednesday that he never opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. — “I've never been against the Civil Rights Act.

Discussion: Esquire, The National Memo and ThinkProgress

Alexandra Jaffe / Ballot Box: Paul: 'I've never wavered in my support for civil rights or the Civil Rights Act'

Washington Wire: Rand Paul Delivers Speech at Howard University

Jonathan Van Meter / New York Times:

Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin's Post-Scandal Playbook — One day in early February, I met Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin for breakfast at the Gramercy Park Hotel, one of their regular joints, just a few blocks from their apartment on Park Avenue South. The first thing Weiner said when I sat …

Mike Allen / Politico:
GUN, IMMIGRATION DEALS IMMINENT — OBAMA BUDGET, 11:15 …

Discussion: Mediaite, The Daily Caller, CNN and msnbc.com

Politico:

Senators unveil deal on background checks — Sens. Joe Manchin and Pat Toomey unveiled a bipartisan deal to expand background checks for commercial gun purchases — including those at gun shows and online — Wednesday morning, opening a pathway for the biggest change in U.S. gun laws in nearly two decades.

Discussion: CNN, Democracy in America, ABCNEWS, Hit & Run, Taylor Marsh, The Spectacle Blog, JustOneMinute, New Republic and The Huffington Post

Ruby Cramer / BuzzFeed:
NRA Says Background Check Compromise Won't Work

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, Weasel Zippers and The Hinterland Gazette

Meredith Shiner / Roll Call:
Toomey Refused to Have Schumer at Gun Deal Presser

Discussion: Yahoo! News, The Plum Line, Hot Air and Prairie Weather

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:
In Blow To NRA, Senators Reach Bipartisan Agreement Expanding Background Checks

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and p m carpenter's commentary

Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:
Senators Reach Bipartisan Deal on Checks of Gun Buyers

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Above the Law, The Hill and Addicting Info

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
NRA rejects deal on background checks

Discussion: Daily Kos and protein wisdom

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:

Republican Congressman Cites Biblical Great Flood To Say Climate Change Isn't Man-Made — “If you believe in the Bible, one would have to say the Great Flood is an example of climate change. That certainly wasn't because man had overdeveloped hydrocarbon energy.” — View Video ›

Discussion: ThinkProgress, JustOneMinute, Little Green Footballs, The Raw Story, ABCNEWS, AMERICAblog, Liberal Values, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Booman Tribune, Taegan Goddard's …, The BRAD BLOG and p m carpenter's commentary

Wall Street Journal:

The GOP's Gun Control Misfire — The filibuster threat is giving political cover to Senate Democrats. — 'This is about these families and families all across the country who are saying, 'Let's make it a little harder for our kids to get gunned down,'" President Obama declared Monday …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Hot Air, The Hill, RedState, The Daily Caller, CNN, Mediaite, The Moderate Voice, The Raw Story, National Review, The Huffington Post, Roll Call, Betsy's Page, msnbc.com and TheBlaze.com

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Who likes taxes? Democrats, and no one else.

Discussion: Reuters, The Hill, Weekly Standard, USA Today, Business Insider and Ballot Box

Glen Stubbe Updated / Hot Dish Politics:

Photos: Bachmann aides hustle her out of Medicaid press conference — Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and State Senator Sean Nienow (R-Cambridge) held a joing news conference to discuss problems with Medicaid reimbursement rates paid to doctors in Minnesota. Both are introducing legislation increasing accountability and transparency.

Discussion: The Raw Story

Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:
Bachmann Hustled Out Of Press Conference When Asked About Ethics Problems

Discussion: FishbowlDC and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Emily Goodin / The Hill:

First lady chokes up during speech on gun violence in Chicago — Michelle Obama on Wednesday choked up as she delivered an impassioned speech about gun violence in her hometown of Chicago. — The first lady became emotional as she talked about addressing the classmates of Hadiya Pendleton …

Discussion: CNN

Jennifer Epstein / Politico:
Michelle Obama: ‘Hadiya Pendleton was me, and I was her’

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:

Grassley Proposes Eliminating 3 Seats On Powerful Court To Keep Obama From Filling Them — As ThinkProgress has previously explained, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is the second most powerful court in the country. It's also a bastion …

Discussion: Senator Chuck Grassley and The Plum Line

Joel Connelly / Strange Bedfellows:

AG sues florist who refused flowers to gay wedding — State Attorney General Bob Ferguson on Tuesday filed a consumer protection lawsuit against Arlene's Flowers & Gifts, a Richland florist that refused to supply flowers to the same-sex marriage of a longtime customer.

Discussion: NOM Blog, Los Angeles Times, Gawker, Weasel Zippers, The Raw Story and Towleroad News #gay

Lornet Turnbull / The Seattle Times:
State sues florist over refusing service for gay wedding

Discussion: Rush Limbaugh, Advocate and Fox News

Nathan Freed Wessler / ACLU:

New Documents Suggest IRS Reads Emails Without a Warrant — Everyone knows the IRS is our nation's tax collector, but it is also a law enforcement organization tasked with investigating criminal violations of the tax laws. New documents released to the ACLU under the Freedom of Information Act reveal …

Discussion: VentureBeat, TechCrunch, The Raw Story, The Hill and emptywheel

Tina Rosenberg / Opinionator:

The Power of Talking to Your Baby — By the time a poor child is one year old, she has most likely already fallen behind middle-class children in her ability to talk, understand and learn. The gap between poor children and wealthier ones widens each year, and by high school it has become a chasm.

Kevin Cirilli / Politico:

Mitch McConnell aide: ‘Gestapo’ tactics — Sen. Mitch McConnell's campaign manager charged Wednesday that whoever obtained audio of the Kentucky Republican's strategists discussing opposition research on Ashley Judd was engaging in “Gestapo kind of scare tactics.”

Discussion: First Read, CNN, Post Politics, Daily Kos and Mediaite