memeorandum: Mood of the nation: Six-year high in optimism, CNN poll shows (CNN)

2:35 PM ET, April 12, 2013

Top Items:

Justin Sink / Ballot Box:

Family Research Council says 'don't send a dime' to GOP — Tony Perkins says religious conservatives should stop donating to the Republican Party until it clarifies its position on social issues. — The president of the Family Research Council, a top religious political group …

Discussion: Yahoo! News, Daily Kos and CNN

James Hohmann / Politico:

RNC's celeb plan falls flat in Hollywood — HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — The Republican National Committee is meeting this week in the most touristy part of Tinseltown, but it's apparent the “Celebrity Task Force” recommended by last month's “autopsy” report isn't going to happen.

Discussion: Daily Kos

National Review:

Against the RNC's Gay-Marriage Resolution — Tomorrow, members of the Republican National Committee will consider a resolution opposing same-sex marriage. As former RNC operatives, we feel strongly that passage of this resolution would risk further marginalization of the Republican party …

Kevin Robillard / Politico: FRC's Tony Perkins: Stop giving to GOP

Tony Perkins / CNN:
Prominent social conservative urges activists to withhold GOP donations

Discussion: The Week, Right Wing Watch, Mediaite and Towleroad News #gay

frc.org:
The Obama Budget: Better Never Than Late

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Advocate

Mollie / GetReligion:

WPost reporter explains her personal Gosnell blackout — I've been writing about media coverage of abortion for many years. And so have many others. If you haven't read David Shaw's “Abortion Bias Seeps Into The News,” published in the Los Angeles Times back in 1990, you should.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, LifeNews.com, NewsBusters blogs, Hot Air, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Lonely Conservative, American Spectator, National Review, americanthinker.com, Blazing Cat Fur and USA Today

Conor Friedersdorf / The Atlantic Online:

Why Dr. Kermit Gosnell's Trial Should Be a Front-Page Story — The dead babies. The exploited women. The racism. The numerous governmental failures. It just is insanely newsworthy. — A procedure room at the Women's Medical Society. / Philadelphia District Attorney's Office

Discussion: Slate, Politico, The Dish, BizPac Review, No More Mister Nice Blog, National Review, Mediaite, Commentary Magazine, The Daily Caller, GetReligion, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and LifeNews.com, more at Mediagazer »

Joseph A. Slobodzian / Philly.com:
Gosnell Witness: I assisted in abortions while in high school

Discussion: NY Daily News, The Heritage Foundation, Weasel Zippers and National Review

John Nolte / BREITBART.COM:
PHOTO: EMPTY ‘RESERVED MEDIA SEATING’ AT ABORTION DOC GOSNELL'S MURDER TRIAL

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, GetReligion and Moonbattery

Reuters:

U.S. will never accept a nuclear-armed North Korea: Kerry — (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry dismissed as “unacceptable by any standard” weeks of bellicose warnings of impending nuclear war by North Korea and said Washington would never accept the reclusive state becoming a nuclear power.

Discussion: New York Times, The Week, The Hill and Shakesville

Chris Good / ABCNEWS:

President Obama's Weirdest New Taxes — President Obama has plenty of big taxes in his budget proposal. — To achieve $1.8 trillion in new revenue, the president suggested a few of the policies he's raised while battling Republicans over the past four years: taxing higher incomes …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and National Republican …

David Brooks / New York Times:

Bold on Both Ends — It's time to entertain the possibility that President Obama is a right-wing extremist. After all, look at where he's taking the country over his second term. — We're living in a country where 53 percent of children born to women under 30 are born out of wedlock, according to government data.

Discussion: American Prospect, Washington Post, msnbc.com and Marginal Revolution

Senator Christopher Murphy:

Press Release of Senator Murphy … WASHINGTON—U.S. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) today sent a letter to Rupert Murdoch, chairman and CEO of News Corporation, urging him not to broadcast the NASCAR NRA 500 race on Fox Sports. Fox Sports, which is owned by News Corporation, plans to air …

Discussion: msnbc.com and The Hill

Dylan Byers / Politico:
Connecticut Sen. pleads with Murdoch: Don't air ‘NRA 500’ race

Discussion: Riehl World News

Kevin Liptak / CNN:
Don't air NRA race, senator asks Rupert Murdoch

Discussion: Hot Air and Mediaite

Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:

Jenny Sanford Not Endorsing Anyone In South Carolina Special Election — Jenny Sanford has no intention to endorse anyone in the special election scheduled to be held next month in South Carolina's First Congressional District. — Sanford's ex-husband, former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford …

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Abby Livingston / Roll Call:

South Carolina: Jenny Sanford Has No Plans to Endorse in Special Election — Former South Carolina first lady Jenny Sanford has no plans to endorse in the 1st District special election that includes her ex-husband, former Gov. Mark Sanford. — Democrats plugged into Palmetto State politics …

Aviva Shen / ThinkProgress:

GOP Congressman Warns Background Checks Will Lead To A Genocide Like In Rwanda — Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) took the fearmongering over gun reform to new levels in a Facebook post on Thursday that compared expanding background checks to the Rwandan genocide. — Gun advocates and Republican lawmakers …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Facebook:
Congressman Jeff Duncan · 8,251 like this

Discussion: Mediaite, Right Wing News, The Reaction, Washington Monthly, Politico, Daily Kos, The Raw Story, Mother Jones, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Hill

Evan McMorris-Santoro / BuzzFeed:

The Disastrous Collapse Of Kentucky's Least Effective Liberal Group — Whatever Progress Kentucky is trying to do, it should probably stop right now. — Via: Win McNamee / Getty Images — WASHINGTON — It's probably possible for a political group to be worse at accomplishing its core mission …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Washington Monthly, Hot Air, Mother Jones, Taylor Marsh, Fox News Insider and The Week

Alex Seitz-Wald / Salon:
Progress Kentucky: Worst super PAC ever?

Discussion: Guardian, Scared Monkeys, The Week, Page One, The Daily Caller, Fox News, Addicting Info and Ballot Box

Howard Kurtz / The Daily Beast:

Congressman Pretended to Be ‘Hot’ for Cyndi Lauper — Lawmaker who tweeted to long-lost daughter tried to fool the press—and it worked — Steve Cohen, a Tennessee congressman, called Cyndi Lauper “hot” in a tweet and then abruptly deleted it. — Which, it turns out, was part of his secret plan.

Discussion: The Hill

The Reliable Source:
Rep. Steve Cohen thinks Cyndi Lauper is ‘hot,’ but deletes tweet saying so

Discussion: Mediaite, Post Politics, Taegan Goddard's …, Gawker, Yahoo! News, Politico and Red Alert Politics

Zack Ford / ThinkProgress:

What Actually Happened To That Same-Sex Couple In The Missouri Hospital — There has been a lot of speculation as to what actually transpired when Roger Gorley was arrested away from his husband Allen's bedside in a Missouri hospital earlier this week. Despite the fact Roger and Allen …

Discussion: fox4kc.com, We Are Atheism and The Raw Story

Russell Berman / The Hill:

House GOP shows little appetite for Senate gun control measure — Growing momentum in the Senate for new gun-control legislation has failed to flow down to the House, where just a handful of House Republicans have embraced a deal to expand background checks for firearm purchases.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and BizPac Review

Katie Glueck / Politico:
Peter King: House gun bill ready Monday

Discussion: Yahoo! News, Hot Air, The Hill and Heritage Action for America

Manu Raju / Politico:

Marco Rubio goes all-in on immigration bill — Marco Rubio is preparing to go all in to support sweeping immigration legislation, offering himself up as the public face of a bill that will split the Republican Party — but that his allies hope will propel him to the front of the GOP presidential sweepstakes.

Discussion: Power Line, The Week, Hot Air, Washington Examiner, ThinkProgress, Freedom's Lighthouse and The Daily Caller

Andreas Tuerk / Google Public Policy Blog:

Plan your digital afterlife with Inactive Account Manager — Not many of us like thinking about death — especially our own. But making plans for what happens after you're gone is really important for the people you leave behind. So today, we're launching a new feature that makes it easy …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Week, Daily Mail, Business Insider, Wired, BBC and TechCrunch

Politico:

Newtown families: Victims turn lobbyists — When a lobbyist for families of Newtown shooting victims called the office of Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) to set up a meeting, the first response was a standard D.C. offer. They could get a meeting with her staff, and a quick and simple “hello” from Collins herself, they were told.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, TheBlaze.com, Weasel Zippers and CNN

Kimberley A. Strassel / Wall Street Journal:

Strassel: Terry McAuliffe's Solyndra — Running for governor of Virginia, the Democrat's main business credential is fast turning into a crony-capitalist embarrassment. — Turn over any green-energy rock, and wiggling underneath will be the usual creepy mix of political favoritism and taxpayer-funded handouts.

Discussion: americanthinker.com

CNN:

Mood of the nation: Six-year high in optimism, CNN poll shows — (CNN) - As the stock market continues to show record highs, the number of Americans who say things are going well in the country has reached 50% for the first time in more than six years, according to a new national survey.

Discussion: Politico