memeorandum: John Kerry: Obama Can Bomb Assad Even If Congress Votes No (Howard Fineman/The Huffington Post)

11:05 AM ET, September 7, 2013

Top Items:

Samantha Power Agrees She Is Naive — One of our leading Smart Diplomats, Samantha Power, earned widespread ridicule with this insight from a recent speech: — Samantha Power, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, hoped that a team of UN investigators — many of whom, presumably …

Discussion: Twitchy

Joel Gehrke / Washington Examiner:

Obama team thought Iran would not tolerate Bashar Assad's use of WMDs — BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL BARACK OBAMA SYRIA CHEMICAL WEAPONS BASHAR ASSAD — Iran is enduring economic sanctions designed to slow the country's nuclear weapons program, but President Obama's team thought …

Discussion: The PJ Tatler

Samantha Power / US Department of State:

Remarks by Ambassador Samantha Power, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, on Syria at the Center for American Progress, Washington D.C. — U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations — Good afternoon. I'm very glad to be back in Washington this afternoon …

Discussion: NPR, Mediaite, Weasel Zippers and Guardian

The White House:

Remarks by President Obama in a Press Conference at the G20 — PRESIDENT OBAMA: Good evening. Let me begin by thanking President Putin and the people of St. Petersburg and the people of Russia for hosting this G20. This city has a long and storied history, including its heroic resistance …

Discussion: Power Line, Guardian, New York Times, Techdirt, Hit & Run, White House.gov Blog, Politico, WorldViews, Reuters and Weekly Standard

John Kerry / The Huffington Post:

A Yes Vote of Conscience for the World's Red Line — I'm sometimes asked how, as someone who testified 42 years ago against the Vietnam War in which I had fought, I could testify in favor of action to hold the Assad regime accountable today. — The answer is, I spoke my conscience in 1971 and I'm speaking my conscience now in 2013.

Discussion: Right Wing News and Mediaite

Financial Times:
Obama steadfast on Syria strikes despite G20 opposition

Discussion: JustOneMinute and Via Meadia

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times: Envoy Says Syria Inaction Would Give ‘Green Light to Outrages’

Jeremy Herb / The Hill:

Obama makes his case for action in Syria — President Obama outlined his case for military action in Syria in his weekly address Saturday ahead of a major speech he will deliver on Syria next week. — Obama said in the address that Syria is a serious threat to U.S. national security …

Discussion: CNN

Peter Schroeder / The Hill: House GOP says it will raise debt ceiling by mid-October

Aaron Blake / The Fix:
Majority of House leaning ‘no’ on Syria resolution

Discussion: Washington Post, msnbc.com, Washington Monthly, Hot Air, Post Politics and Capitol Report

Andrew Dugan / Gallup:
U.S. Support for Action in Syria Is Low vs. Past Conflicts

Discussion: Hot Air, jobsanger, Mediaite, Weasel Zippers, Independent Journal Review, The Hill, The Daily Caller and CNN

John Fund / National Review:
House Might Not Vote on Obama's Syria Resolution

Discussion: The Hill, Outside the Beltway and ABC News

John Ekdahl / BuzzFeed:

14 Principled Anti-War Celebrities We Fear May Have Been Kidnapped — Our government is yet again marching us towards a war of choice in the Middle East and our non-partisan, peace-loving celebrities have gone missing since late 2008. We fear the worst. — Sheryl Crow — LAST KNOWN PRE-2009 COMMUNICATION:

Discussion: iOwnTheWorld.com, The PJ Tatler, Doug Ross and Pressing Issues

Paul Bond / Hollywood Reporter:

Ed Asner Explains Hollywood Silence on Obama, Syria: They 'Don't Want to Feel Anti-Black' — Don't look for Iraq War-style protests, says the liberal activist, who — like “M*A*S*H” star Mike Farrell — opposes military action. — In 2003, ahead of a U.S. attack on Iraq …

Discussion: Independent Journal Review and BizPac Review

Joseph E. Stiglitz / Opinionator:

Why Janet Yellen, Not Larry Summers, Should Lead the Fed — The controversy over the choice of the next head of the Federal Reserve has become unusually heated. The country is fortunate to have an enormously qualified candidate: the Fed's current vice chairwoman, Janet L. Yellen.

Discussion: MJ Rosenberg and Prairie Weather

Annalyn Kurtz / CNNMoney.com:

August jobs report: Hiring continues as unemployment falls — Hiring continued at a slow pace in August, and the unemployment rate fell as more Americans dropped out of the labor force. — The U.S. economy added 169,000 jobs in August, the Department of Labor said Friday.

Discussion: McClatchy Washington Bureau, Reuters, Independent Journal Review, The Gateway Pundit and Firedoglake

Bill McBride / Calculated Risk:
Employment Report Comments (more graphs)

Discussion: Brookings Institute, Hot Air, Independent Journal Review, Felix Salmon, Business Insider, The Dish and Balloon Juice

James Pethokoukis / AEIdeas:
Let's face it: The US job market is dead in the water and not getting better

Discussion: Yahoo! News, National Review, Wonkblog and White House.gov Blog

Rich Lowry / National Review:

Obama ‘Imploding’ in the House — I was just talking to a Capitol Hill source who thinks there are maybe two dozen Republican votes for the authorization, no more — and there probably won't be more. It's hard to know because the situation is fluid, and the vote is so sensitive …

Howard Fineman / The Huffington Post:

John Kerry: Obama Can Bomb Assad Even If Congress Votes No — WASHINGTON — Even as he beseeches former colleagues in Congress to vote for President Barack Obama's plan to bomb Syria, Secretary of State John Kerry made it clear in an interview with The Huffington Post that he thinks the president …

Discussion: The Volokh Conspiracy, Via Meadia, Hot Air, American Spectator, Weasel Zippers, Jihad Watch, Mediaite and The Spectacle Blog

Craig Timberg / Washington Post:

Google encrypts data amid backlash against NSA spying — Google is racing to encrypt the torrents of information that flow among its data centers around the world in a bid to thwart snooping by the NSA and the intelligence agencies of foreign governments, company officials said Friday.

Discussion: The Verge, Daily Kos, Prairie Weather and Guardian

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Wall Street Journal Op-Ed Draws Scrutiny Over Writer's Ties To Syrian Rebel Advocacy Group — NEW YORK — A Wall Street Journal op-ed cited this week by both Secretary of State John Kerry and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has drawn scrutiny for not disclosing writer Elizabeth O'Bagy's ties to a Syrian rebel advocacy group.

Discussion: Mondoweiss, FP Passport, Business Insider, understandingwar.org, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, Daily Kos, Hullabaloo, Guardian, Wintery Knight, WorldViews and The Dish, more at Mediagazer »

Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Can U.S. separate the good guys from jihadists in Syria?

Discussion: Hot Air and Dallas Morning News

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:

Republican Congressman: If The House Had An Impeachment Vote It Would Pass — The impeachment drumbeat continues. — youtube.com — Texas Republican Rep. Bill Flores said at a town hall forum Thursday that if the House of Representatives had an impeachment vote, President Obama would be impeached.

Discussion: Daily Kos