memeorandum: Are Republicans too divided to have a civil war? (Byron York/Washington Examiner)

2:45 PM ET, July 29, 2013

Top Items:

Fredric U. Dicker / New York Post:

Bill and Hillary Clinton are ‘livid’ at comparisons to Weiner's sexcapades and Huma's forgiveness — Bill and Hillary Clinton are angry with efforts by mayoral hopeful Anthony Weiner and his campaign to compare his Internet sexcapades — and his wife Huma Abedin's incredible forgiveness …

Discussion: New York Times, Yahoo! News, Ballot Box, CBS News, The Fix, No More Mister Nice Blog, Hot Air, PoliticusUSA, The Dish, The Gateway Pundit, Israel Matzav, Scared Monkeys, americanthinker.com, Althouse, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, The PJ Tatler and The Hill

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Time to Hard-Delete Carlos Danger — WASHINGTON — WHEN you puzzle over why the elegant Huma Abedin is propping up the eel-like Anthony Weiner, you must remember one thing: Huma was raised in Saudi Arabia, where women are treated worse by men than anywhere else on the planet.

Discussion: New York Post, ThinkProgress, Right Wing Watch, The Hinterland Gazette, Taylor Marsh, Religion Dispatches, Politicker, First Read, The Raw Story, theGrio and BuzzFeed

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

Are Republicans too divided to have a civil war? — A nasty fight is brewing among Republicans over a proposal to defund Obamacare. Another intra-party fight is flaring over national security and the war on terror. And yet another is well under way over immigration reform.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Booman Tribune, Connecting.the.Dots and The Hill

Associated Press:

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul hits critics for ‘gimme, gimme’ attitude toward federal Sandy relief — FRANKLIN, Tenn. — Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul hit back at New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in the two Republicans' ongoing spat over national security. — Christie last week criticized Paul's opposition …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Andrew Kaczynski, Politicker, TIME, DownWithTyranny!, The Fix, Post Politics, Hot Air, The Mahablog and The Daily Caller

Digby / Crooks and Liars: Blue America Chat: Meet Barbara Buono, Chris Christie's Worst Nightmare

Kevin Liptak / CNN:
After hits from King and Christie, Rand Paul fires back on Sandy aid

Discussion: PoliticusUSA, Politico and The Hinterland Gazette

Evan McMurry / Mediaite:
Rep. Peter King Blasts Rand Paul For ‘Apologizing For America’: ‘Fringes’ Will ‘Destroy’ GOP

Discussion: The Hill and Hit & Run

Howard Dean / Wall Street Journal:

The Affordable Care Act's Rate-Setting Won't Work — Experience tells me the Independent Payment Advisory Board will fail. — Continuing efforts by congressional Republicans to “defund” further implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, even if it takes shutting …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, The Hill, New Republic, Power Line, Brad DeLong, LifeNews.com and Weasel Zippers

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine: Howard Dean, Concerned American and Non-Shill

New York Times:
Detroit Looks to Health Law to Ease Costs

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Weasel Zippers, Weekly Standard, americanthinker.com and VodkaPundit

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Stranded by Sprawl — Detroit is a symbol of the old economy's decline. It's not just the derelict center; the metropolitan area as a whole lost population between 2000 and 2010, the worst performance among major cities. Atlanta, by contrast, epitomizes the rise of the Sun Belt …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Power Line, National Review, The Reality-Based Community, VodkaPundit, Eschaton and Prairie Weather

Nicole Winfield / Associated Press:

Pope Francis Says He Will Not Judge Gay Priests — ABOARD THE PAPAL AIRCRAFT (AP) — Pope Francis reached out to gays on Monday, saying he wouldn't judge priests for their sexual orientation in a remarkably open and wide-ranging news conference as he returned from his first foreign trip.

Discussion: The Hinterland Gazette, Simply Left BehindThe …, Gawker, Guardian, Mediaite and Balloon Juice

Stephen Carter / Bloomberg:

How to Get Obama Out of His Bubble — During Bill Clinton's presidency, I once listened to a senior White House aide complain about the amount of time his boss spent meeting ordinary citizens. There was always a sob story, the aide said, and the president would return to the Oval Office demanding …

Discussion: Hit & Run

John Avlon / The Daily Beast:
Pope Francis's Lessons for the GOP

Discussion: The Week

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Cumulus planning to drop Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity — In a major shakeup for the radio industry, Cumulus Media, the second-biggest broadcaster in the country, is planning to drop both Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity from its stations at the end of the year, an industry source told POLITICO on Sunday.

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:
REPORT: Nation's Second Largest Radio Broadcaster Planning To Drop Rush Limbaugh

Discussion: Politico, Shakesville, Mediaite and Prairie Weather

Ben Jacobs / The Daily Beast:

Cory Booker Visiting Iowa In August — Is Cory Booker already running for President in 2016? … The Newark mayor who is heavily favored in New Jersey's special election to replace Frank Lautenberg in the U.S. Senate has already scheduled a major speaking engagement in Iowa in August.

Discussion: Post Politics, Taegan Goddard's … and The Daily Caller

Matt Friedman / New Jersey Online:
Lautenberg and Booker's tortured history shows up in campaign

Discussion: Ballot Box

ABC News:

Obama: Toughest Work Ahead in Mideast Talks — President Barack Obama says the relaunch of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks is a promising step forward. But he adds that the most difficult work is yet to come. — With senior Israeli and Palestinian negotiators en route to Washington …

Discussion: Politico and Associated Press

William Booth / Washington Post:
Peace talks set to begin after Israel agrees to free 104 Palestinian prisoners

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, New York Times, normblog, Taylor Marsh, Via Meadia, Guardian and The Hugh Hewitt Show

National Review:

Mitch Daniels Was Right — Mitch Daniels, whom some Republicans would like to see president of something more than Purdue University, is under attack because as governor of Indiana he objected to the use of Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States in public-school curricula.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Power Line

Lydia Saad / Gallup:

In U.S., 52% Back Law to Legalize Gay Marriage in 50 States — Americans would legalize gay marriage nationwide, favor equal rights for such unions — PRINCETON, NJ — If given the opportunity to vote on a law legalizing gay marriage in all 50 states, the slight majority of Americans …

Discussion: The Hill, The Dish, Real Clear Politics and First Read

Daniel Politi / Slate:

Fox News to Scholar: Why Would a Muslim Write a Book About Jesus? — It's got plenty of competition but this may just be the single most cringe-worthy, embarrassing interview broadcast on Fox News. At least in recent memory. Fox News anchor Lauren Green had religious scholar Reza Aslan …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Atlantic Wire, The Week, TheBlaze.com, Mediaite, msnbc.com, Guardian, The New Republic, CANNONFIRE, The Raw Story, UPROXX, Crooks and Liars and BuzzFeed, more at Mediagazer »

Noel Sheppard / NewsBusters blogs:

Peggy Noonan: Obama Got To Point Where People Stopped Listening To Him Faster Than Most Presidents — “I think every president in the intense media environment we have now, certainly every two-term president, gets to a point where the American people stop listening, stop leaning forward hungrily for information.

Discussion: Sense of Events and americanthinker.com

Kyle Smith / New York Post:

The greatest food in human history — In terms of cost-per-calorie, no locavore, organic veggie can compete with the McDouble — What is “the cheapest, most nutritious and bountiful food that has ever existed in human history” Hint: It has 390 calories. It contains 23g, or half a daily serving …

Discussion: Hit & Run, Ricochet Conversations Feed, Ed Driscoll, AEIdeas and Joanne Jacobs

Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:

Momentum Builds Against N.S.A. Surveillance — WASHINGTON — The movement to crack down on government surveillance started with an odd couple from Michigan, Representatives Justin Amash, a young libertarian Republican known even to his friends as “chief wing nut,” and John Conyers Jr. …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Guardian, Prairie Weather, Mediaite and The Agonist