memeorandum: New Benghazi probe evidence puts spotlight back on Clinton (Julian Pecquet/The Hill)

9:30 PM ET, May 8, 2013

Top Items:

Julian Pecquet / The Hill:

New Benghazi probe evidence puts spotlight back on Clinton — New revelations about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, are pulling Hillary Clinton back into a political firestorm that the presumptive 2016 candidate had so far managed to escape unscathed.

Discussion: New York Times, CNN, Politico, The Hugh Hewitt Show, Washington Post, No More Mister Nice Blog, Washington Monthly, Firedoglake, Wake up America, Hot Air, Rush Limbaugh and Taylor Marsh

Talking Points Memo:

Top Republican ‘Fairly Satisfied’ With White House's Account Of Benghazi — Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Bob Corker (R-TN) said Wednesday that he's “fairly satisfied” with the Obama administration's account of events that led to the deaths of American diplomats in Benghazi last year.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Washington Monthly and PoliticusUSA

Michael Hirsh / NationalJournal.com:

Benghazi: Incompetence, But No Cover-up — The hearings deepen the tragedy, but not the scandal. — There was tragic incompetence, plainly, in the Obama administration's handling of the Benghazi attacks, and even possibly some political calculation. It is a record that may well come …

Discussion: protein wisdom, The Moderate Voice, Speaker.gov, National Review and The PJ Tatler

Fox News:

Whistle-blower: Botched talking points hurt FBI probe of Benghazi attack — A key Benghazi whistle-blower, responding to Democratic claims that the prolonged scrutiny over the administration's botched talking points is unwarranted, testified Wednesday that the early mischaracterization …

Discussion: Mediaite, Atlas Shrugs, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air and New York Times

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:

Benghazi Witness Says State Dept. Told Him Not To Meet With Congressional Investigators — Deputy chief of mission for the U.S. in Libya Gregory Hicks testified Wednesday that he was told not to meet with a congressman sent to investigate the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi.

Discussion: Mother Jones, Weasel Zippers, Washington Free Beacon and Wake up America

TIME:

Benghazi Again — The Republicans, apparently with nothing better to do, are still chasing their tails over the tragic events in Benghazi on September 11. — Actually, no. That's not true. They're chasing their tails over what happened after the tragic events of September 11.

Discussion: American Power, ThinkProgress, NewsBusters, Applesauce, Conservatives4Palin and Most Recent

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Hicks: Higher-ups at State told me not to talk to GOP congressman about Benghazi; Update: “Effectively demoted”

Discussion: Politico, CNN, JustOneMinute and The Daily Caller

Lindsey Boerma / CBS News:
Benghazi “whistleblowers” head to House committee

Discussion: NewsBusters, ThinkProgress, Mediaite, The Impolitic, Mashable, Taylor Marsh, FP Passport, Yahoo! News, The Lonely Conservative, American Spectator and ViralRead

Washington Post:
As red ink recedes, pressure fades for budget deal

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Wonkblog, Mother Jones, The Hill, American Prospect and The Plum Line

Joel Gehrke / Washington Examiner:
Benghazi whistleblower: 'I've been demoted' for challenging Susan Rice's claims

Discussion: Jihad Watch and Weasel Zippers

Carlo Muñoz / The Hill:
GOP chairman denied Benghazi files

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon

CNN:
Administration blasted at Benghazi hearing

Discussion: The Public Editor's Journal, Wired, The Lead with Jake Tapper, The Week, Gawker and TheBlaze.com

Agoldberg / The Smoking Gun:

Cleveland Hero Was A Repeat Domestic Abuser — Charles Ramsey battered his wife, did prison time for three attacks — The Cleveland man credited with helping free female captives from a house of horrors is a convicted felon whose rap sheet includes three separate domestic violence convictions …

Discussion: AMERICAblog, Mediaite, Gawker and The Raw Story

Aisha Harris / Slate:
The Troubling Viral Trend of the “Hilarious” Black Neighbor

Discussion: Race, New Republic, Capital New York, ThinkProgress, Gawker, The Week, The Raw Story, CNN and The Dish

Harriet Sherwood / Guardian:

Stephen Hawking joins academic boycott of Israel — Physicist pulls out of conference hosted by president Shimon Peres in protest at treatment of Palestinians — Professor Stephen Hawking is backing the academic boycott of Israel by pulling out of a conference hosted by Israeli president Shimon Peres …

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, New York Times, Sky Dancing, Algemeiner.com, Israel Matzav, The Reaction, The Dish, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Daily Caller

The Commentator:
Prof. Hawking trip NOT cancelled due to Israel boycott

Discussion: BBC, Algemeiner.com, Israel Matzav and Guardian

The Commentator:
An Open Letter to Stephen Hawking

Discussion: Algemeiner.com, Israel Matzav, Israpundit, Guardian and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Dylan Matthews / Wonkblog:

Heritage study co-author opposed letting in immigrants with low IQs — Robert Rector (center), one of the study's co-authors. (Heritage) — The Heritage Foundation made something of a splash with its study suggesting that immigration reform will cost the public trillions.

Discussion: Washington Wire, The Caucus, American Prospect, Right Turn, The Fix, The Hill, Political Capital, The Maddow Blog, Yahoo! News, Daily Kos, BuzzFeed, ThinkProgress, The League of Ordinary …, msnbc.com, New York Times, Hit & Run and The Heritage Foundation

Mike Gonzalez / The Heritage Foundation:
Heritage Statement on the Cost of Amnesty Study

Discussion: First Read

Steve Benen / The Maddow Blog:

A classic Cheney modifier — Dick Cheney won't let a little thing like the absence of credibility stand in the way of cheap shots, as he hopes to exploit the deaths of Americans abroad for partisan gain. … Actually, “North Africa” is a pretty big place, as Cheney may recall.

Discussion: Applesauce

Daily Mail:

Dick Cheney slams Obama administration's Benghazi performance as 'a failure of leadership ... I cannot understand why they weren't ready' — Former Vice President Dick Cheney criticized the Obama administration on Tuesday for its handling of the September 11, 2012 terror attack on the U.S. Consulate …

Discussion: Balloon Juice, The Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit and The Dish

Numbers / Pew Research Center for the People …:

Obama Maintains Approval Advantage, but GOP Runs Even on Key Issues — Two-Thirds Say Obama ‘Fights Hard’ for His Policies — OVERVIEW — President Obama continues to hold a substantial advantage over congressional Republicans in public regard. Obama's job approval is back in positive territory …

Discussion: msnbc.com, Political Capital, The Fix, Hullabaloo, Washington Free Beacon and Pew Social & …

Brian Skoloff / Associated Press:

Jury Reaches Verdict in Jodi Arias Trial in Ariz. — Jurors reached a verdict Wednesday in the trial of Jodi Arias after deliberating about 15 hours over four days on whether the former waitress should be convicted of murder in the 2008 fatal stabbing and shooting of her one-time boyfriend.

Discussion: Scared Monkeys and Taylor Marsh

Catherine E. Shoichet / CNN:
Jury finds Jodi Arias guilty of first-degree murder

Discussion: The Daily Caller, No More Mister Nice Blog, Wake up America and Taylor Marsh

Hunter / Daily Kos:

We are governed by outright morons: … You gigantic dumbass. Sorry; there's just no other way to put it. The entire purpose of “sequestration” was to be cuts enforced without choice. The mechanism was meant to be so abominable that not even the human clusterf—ks that are our current Congress …

Discussion: The Huffington Post and Eschaton

Cameron Joseph / Ballot Box:

Sanford victory could spell trouble for House GOP leadership — Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) is heading back to Congress — and that may not be good news for House GOP leadership. — Sanford owes party leaders nothing, as they refused to spend money on his campaign …

Discussion: Reuters, The Lonely Conservative, Politico, The Impolitic, The Daily Caller, americanthinker.com, NationalJournal.com, CNN, Jammie Wearing Fools and Power Line

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Sanford and the Electoral Effect of Sex Scandals

Discussion: Salon, Yahoo! News, Firedoglake, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Daily Kos, Hot Air and No More Mister Nice Blog

Ramsey Cox / E2-Wire:

Senate rejects gun amendment to water infrastructure bill — The first GOP amendment voted on for the Senate's water infrastructure bill was about gun rights. — The Senate is considering the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), which would authorize projects related to flood and storm risk reduction …

Discussion: Politico

Ben Geman / E2-Wire:
Republicans to huddle Wednesday to mull options on EPA nominee vote

Discussion: Politico

Dylan Byers / Politico:

The Post's Sharyl Attkisson piece — The Washington Post's Paul Farhi has written a glowing profile of Sharyl Attkisson, the Emmy award-winning CBS correspondent who has been the mainstream media's most persistent investigator of the events surrounding last year's attack in Benghazi, Libya.

Discussion: Washington Post, Ed Driscoll, NewsBusters, Hot Air, The Lonely Conservative, Riehl World News and his vorpal sword

Seung Min Kim / Politico:

Social Security report: Immigration bill would boost economy — The Senate Gang of Eight's immigration legislation is likely to be a net boon to the economy and Social Security, a new government report shows. — The Social Security Administration finds that by 2024, the immigration bill …

Discussion: The Plum Line

Daniel Strauss / The Hill: Analysis: Immigration bill would add millions of US taxpayers

Paul Bond / Hollywood Reporter:

Conservatives Plan Anti-MSNBC Protest at Comcast Shareholders Meeting — A tea-party group has invited 60,000 activists in Philadelphia to express their displeasure with the left-leaning network directly to Comcast CEO Brian Roberts when he meets investors there next week.

Discussion: Mediaite and Inside Cable News

Nathan Freed Wessler / ACLU:

FBI Documents Suggest Feds Read Emails Without a Warrant — New documents from the FBI and U.S. Attorneys' offices paint a troubling picture of the government's email surveillance practices. Not only does the FBI claim it can read emails and other electronic communications without a warrant …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Hit & Run, The Jack Blood Show, The Verge and Mashable