memeorandum: CORRECTED: GOP CHIEF: Mitt Romney's ‘Self-Deportation’ Quote Was ‘Horrific’ (Brett LoGiurato/Business Insider)

3:15 PM ET, August 16, 2013

Top Items:

Brett LoGiurato / Business Insider:

CORRECTED: GOP CHIEF: Mitt Romney's ‘Self-Deportation’ Quote Was ‘Horrific’ — Correction, 12:26 p.m. ET: An original version of this story said that Reince Priebus referred to Mitt Romney's comments as “racist.” He said it “hurts us.” Business Insider regrets the error.

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Politico, msnbc.com, Washington Monthly, The Stranger …, Immigration Reform, The PJ Tatler, Post Politics, The Gateway Pundit, Hot Air, The Hinterland Gazette, The Right Scoop, ThinkProgress, Daily Kos, Shakesville and The Raw Story

Politico:

Eve of Destruction — It is almost impossible to find an establishment Republican in town who's not downright morose about the 2013 that has been and is about to be. Most dance around it in public, but they see this year as a disaster in the making, even if most elected Republicans don't know it or admit it.

Discussion: CNN, The Plum Line, The Dish, Seeing the Forest, Immigration Reform and WJLA-TV

James Hohmann / Politico:

With Clinton vote, RNC pushes back on debates — BOSTON — The Republican National Committee will pass a resolution Friday to bar NBC and CNN from hosting GOP primary debates in 2016 if the networks move forward with their Hillary Clinton projects. — But the vote is not just about Clinton.

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, The Fix, Booman Tribune, americanthinker.com, TheBlaze.com, No More Mister Nice Blog, CNN, Post Politics and The Moderate Voice

John Fund / National Review:

Taking Back the GOP Debates — The summer meetings of national political parties are usually quiet affairs, but this week's Republican National Committee meeting in Boston is full of controversy about who should moderate and run the 2016 GOP presidential-primary debates.

Discussion: Washington Times, Power Line, American Prospect, msnbc.com and Mother Jones

Dylan Byers / Politico:

RNC's NBC, CNN boycott will extend to Telemundo, CNN Espanol — In a highly anticipated move, the Republican National Committee voted unanimously on Friday to deny NBC and CNN the rights to host or sponsor a Republican primary debate unless they cancel their respective Hillary Clinton film projects.

Discussion: Post Politics, Hot Air and Mediaite

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

Republicans vote to ban NBC, CNN from presidential debates — The Republican National Committee (RNC) voted unanimously Friday to pull the group's partnership with NBC and CNN for the 2016 GOP presidential primary debates unless the networks kill their planned films on Hillary Clinton.

Discussion: The Raw Story and Daily Kos

James Hohmann / Politico: RNC approves skipping NBC/CNN debates

Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:
RNC Unanimously Passes Resolution, No Debates For NBC Or CNN

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Zeke J Miller / TIME:
GOP Votes To Punish Networks Over Clinton Projects

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Mediaite and TheBlaze.com, more at Mediagazer »

Byron York / Washington Examiner:
The key part of the RNC resolution on NBC and CNN debates

Discussion: Pat Dollard and Politico

Barton Gellman / Washington Post:

NSA broke privacy rules thousands of times per year, audit finds — The National Security Agency has broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority thousands of times each year since Congress granted the agency broad new powers in 2008, according to an internal audit and other top-secret documents.

Carol D. Leonnig / Washington Post:

Court: Ability to police U.S. spying program limited — The leader of the secret court that is supposed to provide critical oversight of the government's vast spying programs said that its ability do so is limited and that it must trust the government to report when it improperly spies on Americans.

Discussion: Connecting.the.Dots, The Hinterland Gazette, Hit & Run, The Verge, ThinkProgress, Gizmodo, Techdirt and Gawker, more at Mediagazer »

Marc Tracy / The New Republic:

New Snowden Docs Show We Don't Even Know What We Don't Know — In 2008, the National Security Agency illicitly—if accidentally—intercepted a “large number” of phone calls from Washington, D.C. because an error confused Egypt's country code—"20"—with, yes, “202.”

Discussion: Firedoglake, ABC News, Daily Kos, No More Mister Nice Blog, emptywheel, The Dish, Pat Dollard and The Right Scoop, more at Mediagazer »

Charlie Savage / New York Times:
N.S.A. Often Broke Rules on Privacy, Audit Shows

Discussion: The World's Greatest …, The Fix, The Week, Hillicon Valley, Politico, CNN, Techdirt, Hit & Run, The Hill and Washington Post

Washington Post:
NSA report on privacy violations in the first quarter of 2012

Discussion: Techdirt

Andrea Peterson / The Switch:
Remember when Obama said the NSA wasn't “actually abusing” its powers? He was wrong.

Discussion: Techdirt, Weasel Zippers, Patterico's Pontifications and The PJ Tatler

Jeffrey Goldberg / Bloomberg:

What Obama Misunderstands About Egypt — This morning, President Barack Obama condemned the Egyptian military's slaughter of Muslim Brotherhood members and sympathizers, and canceled joint military exercises scheduled for next month. He said that the violence should stop and that “a process of national reconciliation should begin.”

Discussion: Foreign Policy, National Review, Booman Tribune, Hot Air and Wonkblog

CNN:
More clashes feared as protesters vow ‘Friday of anger’ in Egypt

Discussion: Atlas Shrugs, Jihad Watch, Global Grind and Weasel Zippers

World News:
Dozens reported killed as clashes break out on Islamists' ‘Day of Rage’ in Egypt

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Daily Caller, msnbc.com, The Gateway Pundit, Israel Matzav, Twitchy and Pat Dollard

Elizabeth Chuck / World News:
Egypt may avoid civil war — but bloody conflict could continue for years

Discussion: msnbc.com and Red Alert Politics

Philip Bump / The Atlantic Wire:

Defying Reagan, Obama Returns Solar Panels to the White House — Now that the tedium of the 2012 campaign is over, President Obama is making good on his 2010 pledge to put solar panels on top of the White House. The panels (American-made, of course) will be the second set the building has ever seen.

Discussion: rubber hose, Taegan Goddard's …, ThinkProgress and E2-Wire

Washington Examiner:
Examiner Editorial: The ‘Great Divider’ likes political speech only when it likes him

Discussion: Betsy's Page and Washington Post

Politicker:

Anthony Weiner's Relationship With Former Staffer Raises Questions — Anthon Weiner. (Photo: Getty) — Before he married his wife, former Congressman Anthony Weiner had a previously undisclosed relationship with an on-again-off-again congressional and campaign aide nearly two decades his junior.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Daily Banter and Runnin' Scared

Noah Rothman / Mediaite:

Joe Scarborough: Talkers on Radio, TV Tell Voters 'If You're Not White,' ‘Not Welcome’ in GOP — On Friday morning, MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, host of Morning Joe, blasted Republicans for focusing on the wrong issues in their efforts to reassemble a coalition of voters that can win national elections.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Pat Dollard and The Hinterland Gazette

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Moment of Truthiness — We all know how democracy is supposed to work. Politicians are supposed to campaign on the issues, and an informed public is supposed to cast its votes based on those issues, with some allowance for the politicians' perceived character and competence.

Discussion: JustOneMinute

Lara Seligman / The Hill:

Axelrod: More ObamaCare changes likely on the way — Former Obama campaign advisor David Axelrod suggested Friday that further changes to the president's signature health care law are on the horizon. — Asked on MSNBC's “Morning Joe” if the administration would tweak the law after it is implemented …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Politico and Hot Air

Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:

U.S. Olympic Committee Clarifies: Russian Law Is “Inconsistent With” Olympic Principles — “[R]estricting the right to act and speak in support of the LGBT community are inconsistent with the fundamental principles of the Olympic and Paralympic movements,” U.S. Olympic Committee chief wrote this week.

Discussion: The New Civil Rights Movement, AMERICAblog and National Review

Cameron Joseph / Ballot Box:

Rep. Dave Camp won't run for Senate in 2014 — Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) on Friday announced he won't run for the Senate in 2014, denying the GOP a top recruit for the open-seat race. — “After much thought and careful consideration, I have decided not to run for the United States Senate,” Camp said in a statement.

Discussion: CNN and Politico