memeorandum: E-Mails Show Jostling Over Talking Points on Libya Attack (New York Times)

12:45 AM ET, May 16, 2013

Top Items:

Holder To Issa: Your Conduct Is ‘Unacceptable’ And ‘Shameful’ (VIDEO) — At a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, Eric Holder and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) clashed as the Attorney General tore into the Republican oversight chairman's conduct as “unacceptable” and “shameful.”

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Political Carnival, Taylor Marsh, The Hugh Hewitt Show and The Gateway Pundit

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:

Louie Gohmert Gets Heated With Eric Holder: “He Has Challenged My Character” — Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert got into a heated discussion with Eric Holder today over a bunch issues, most notably the FBI's interview with deceased Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev in 2011.

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

White House Pushes for Media Shield Law — WASHINGTON — Under fire over the Justice Department's use of a broad subpoena to obtain calling records of Associated Press reporters in connection with a leak investigation, the Obama administration sought on Wednesday to revive legislation …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Washington Free Beacon, msnbc.com, Twitchy, The Lonely Conservative, Mother Jones, Yahoo! News, The Week, CNN, Democracy in America, ThinkProgress, The Caucus, The Plum Line, Politico, The Maddow Blog, Michelle Malkin and The Spectacle Blog, more at Mediagazer »

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

Eric Holder's abdication — As the nation's top law enforcement official, Eric Holder is privy to all kinds of sensitive information. But he seems to be proud of how little he knows. — Why didn't his Justice Department inform the Associated Press, as the law requires, before pawing through reporters' phone records?

Discussion: The Huffington Post and The Fix

CNN:
Holder criticizes longtime foe Issa at committee hearing

Discussion: The Reaction

Politico:
Holder undergoes bipartisan grilling

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Obama, the uninterested president

Wall Street Journal:
The ‘Independent’ Revenue Service

Discussion: FishbowlDC, National Review, Taking Note, The Lonely Conservative and Power Line

Jordy Yager / The Hill:
Republicans go on the offensive in seizure of journalists' records

Discussion: Politico and CNN

Mark Memmott / NPR:
Holder Isn't Sure How Often Reporters' Records Are Seized

Discussion: House Judiciary Committee, The Huffington Post, emptywheel, The Daily Caller, The Strata-Sphere, New Republic, Yahoo! News, The Hill, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, The BLT, ViralRead and Post Politics, more at Mediagazer »

CNN:

Source: Two ‘rogue’ workers principally behind IRS targeting of conservatives — Washington (CNN) - The Internal Revenue Service has identified two “rogue” employees in the agency's Cincinnati office as being principally responsible for “overly aggressive” handling of requests by conservative groups …

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, Wall Street Journal, The Lonely Conservative, Los Angeles Times, Weasel Zippers, ViralRead, msnbc.com and The Volokh Conspiracy

Talking Points Memo:

Obama Administration Sacks IRS Chief After Targeting Scandal — President Barack Obama announced on Wednesday that Treasury Secretary Jack Lew requested and accepted the resignation of the acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, Steven Miller, following the agency's admission …

Discussion: CNN, The Mahablog, The Gateway Pundit and Daily Kos

CNN:

‘Angry’ Obama announces IRS leader's ouster after conservatives targeted — Washington (CNN) — President Barack Obama vowed Wednesday to hold accountable those at the Internal Revenue Service involved in the targeting of conservative groups applying for federal tax-exempt status …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Mediaite, National Review, The Other McCain, Weasel Zippers, Rush Limbaugh, Scared Monkeys, Taylor Marsh, ViralRead, The BRAD BLOG, Liberal Values and WFPL

Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:

Acting Chief of I.R.S. Forced Out Over Tea Party Targeting — WASHINGTON — President Obama announced Wednesday night that the acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service had been ousted after disclosures that the agency gave special scrutiny to conservative groups.

Discussion: Politico, Yahoo! News, Hot Air and Weekly Standard

Jacob Lew / Daily Mail:

Obama fires acting IRS commissioner as pressure grows surrounding political targeting of conservative groups that sought tax-exempt status — Steven Miller is ousted but writes face-saving email announcing departure when his ‘assignment ends in early June.’

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, Riehl World News and Patterico's Pontifications

Jennifer Epstein / Politico: Obama: Acting IRS chief Steven Miller resigns

CBS News:
Acting IRS commissioner steps down, Obama announces

Discussion: American Spectator and AMERICAblog

Guy Benson / Townhall.com:
Reports: IRS Spared Liberal Groups as Tea Party Languished, More Conservative Orgs Targeted Than First Thought

Discussion: The Fix, The Gateway Pundit, The Lonely Conservative, UrbanGrounds, National Review and The Hill

Jake Tapper / The Lead with Jake Tapper:

First on CNN: White House releases 100 pages of Benghazi e-mails — This story has been updated. — By Jake Tapper, CNN Chief Washington Correspondent — WASHINGTON (CNN) - The White House released more than 100 pages of e-mails on Wednesday in a bid to quell critics who say President Barack Obama …

Discussion: Washington Wire, Hot Air, The Hill, Scared Monkeys, Taylor Marsh, The Week, ThinkProgress, CNN, News Desk and The Hinterland Gazette

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

The Benghazi Emails: What Do They Show? — This afternoon the White House released 100 pages of emails that trace the development of the talking points about Benghazi that Susan Rice eventually used on her notorious tour of the Sunday morning news shows, and that formed the basis …

Discussion: The Hugh Hewitt Show

Glenn Thrush / Reuters:
W.H. Benghazi documents point to CIA

Discussion: Politico and Washington Free Beacon

Wall Street Journal:
White House Releases Benghazi Emails

Discussion: The Lonely Conservative and The PJ Tatler

New York Times: E-Mails Show Jostling Over Talking Points on Libya Attack

CNN: Former W.H. spox sets scene for talking points changes

Evan McMorris-Santoro / BuzzFeed:
Obama Tries To Tamp Down Three Controversies At Once

Discussion: First Read and The PJ Tatler

Thomas More Society:

Broadening IRS Victims Include Pro-Life Advocates, As Congress Investigates — Thomas More Society Cases Demonstrate Conservative Bias Only “Tip of Iceberg” — Contact: Tom Ciesielka, 312-422-1333, tc@tcpr.net — The Thomas More Society is speaking out about blatant bias by the supposedly apolitical tax-collection agency.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Sister Toldjah and The Spectacle Blog

Michael Hiltzik / Los Angeles Times:
The real IRS scandal

Discussion: Daily Kos, The Political Carnival, TaxProf Blog, Hit & Run, Overlawyered, CNN and Patterico's Pontifications

Bernie Becker / The Hill:
IRS: Chief counsel didn't learn of Tea Party targeting until 2013

Discussion: Reuters

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

4 way tie for Republicans, Clinton leads Dems — PPP's monthly look at the 2016 Republican field for President finds essentially a 4 way tie at the top- Marco Rubio has 16%, Jeb Bush and Chris Christie 15% each, and Rand Paul 14%. Paul Ryan at 9%, Ted Cruz at 7%, Rick Santorum at 5% …

Discussion: Politico, Washington Monthly, WMUR and The Hinterland Gazette

Ruby Cramer / BuzzFeed:
Top Romney Strategist: Hillary Clinton Will Lose A Democratic Primary

Discussion: Shakesville

Brian Beutler / Talking Points Memo:

Reid: No ‘Precipitous’ Nuclear Option, But Consumer Watchdog Will Get Vote Next Week — If Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wants to change the Senate filibuster rules — either broadly, or more narrowly to fast track presidential nominees — he'll need a strong case.

Discussion: A plain blog about politics, Mother Jones, Taking Note and The Impolitic

Yahoo! News:

Conservative group says IRS approved nonprofit status after applying with ‘liberal-sounding name’ — In May 2011, Drew Ryun, a conservative activist and former Republican National Committee staffer, began filling out the Internal Revenue Service application to achieve nonprofit status for a new conservative watchdog group.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Hot Air and NewsBusters

Pete Kasperowicz / Ballot Box:

Sanford thanks ‘god of second chances’ at House swearing-in ceremony — Newly-elected Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) was officially sworn into office Wednesday evening, and thanked the “god of second chances” for his re-election to Congress. — “I stand here before each one of you more appreciative …

Discussion: Reuters and CNN

Jason Linkins / The Huffington Post:

Media Matters Not Sure The DoJ Did Anything Wrong — By now, you've probably heard that the Department of Justice is taking all manner of slings and arrows ever since it came to light that the agency went out and secretly obtained reporter and editor phone records from journalists at the Associated Press.

Discussion: The Volokh Conspiracy, Media Matters Action Network, Riehl World News, Guardian and ThinkProgress, more at Mediagazer »

New York Times:
Spying on The Associated Press

Duane Patterson / The Greenroom:

Would You Believe The Administration Got Phone Records of The House Of Representatives? — That's the revelation made by California Congressman Devin Nunes, who sits on the House Ways And Means Committee on Hugh Hewitt's Show Wednesday night. Here's the key part of that transcript:

Discussion: Power Line, The Hugh Hewitt Show, The Gateway Pundit and Ed Driscoll

Washington Post:

Virginian's changing views on gay marriage — A clear majority of Virginia voters now support legal same-sex marriage, a sharp reversal from a 2006 vote to amend the state constitution to define marriage as for a man and woman only. Attitudes on guns and immigration depart from positions of conservative leaders in the commonwealth.

Discussion: Good As You and Gay Star News