memeorandum: Ways and Means chairman: We're picking up the pace on tax reform (Megan Ruyle/The Hill)

2:20 PM ET, September 11, 2013

Top Items:

COLORADO SENATE PRESIDENT JOHN MORSE, STATE SEN. ANGELA GIRON OUSTED — An epic national debate over gun rights in Colorado on Tuesday saw two Democratic state senators ousted for their support for stricter laws, a “ready, aim, fired” message intended to stop other politicians for pushing for firearms restrictions.

Discussion: The Recall Elections Blog, The New Republic, NBCNews, msnbc.com, Crooks and Liars, Taylor Marsh, Sister Toldjah, Roll Call, Yahoo! News, Colorado Peak Politics, TheDenverChannel.com, ABC News, John Lott's Website, Ricochet Conversations Feed, Booman Tribune, First Read, The Reaction and Wall Street Journal

Jack Healy / New York Times:

Colorado Lawmakers Ousted in Recall Vote Over Gun Law — COLORADO SPRINGS — Two Colorado Democrats who provided crucial support for a package of state gun laws were voted out of office on Tuesday in special elections seen as a test of whether swing-state voters would accept gun restrictions …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Denver Post, The Daily Caller, Hit & Run, The Week, Outside the Beltway, Shakesville, The Plum Line, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Gawker, Hot Air, Michelle Malkin, Naked Politics, Joe. My. God., Shot in the Dark, Southern Beale and Politico

David Kopel / The Volokh Conspiracy:

The Colorado Recalls Explained — Yesterday voters in Colorado recalled two State Senators. One result was not a surprise, and the other is a shock. Of course the votes are Second Amendment victories for the right to arms, but more fundamentally, they are Fourteenth Amendment victories for Due Process of Law.

Discussion: Colorado Peak Politics, Twitchy, National Review, The PJ Tatler, American Spectator, Power Line, The Lonely Conservative and Overlawyered

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Reflecting on the Colorado recalls — We did a poll last weekend in Colorado Senate District 3 and found that voters intended to recall Angela Giron by a 12 point margin, 54/42. In a district that Barack Obama won by almost 20 points I figured there was no way that could be right and made a rare decision not to release the poll.

Discussion: Democratic National Committee, Business Insider, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, National Review and The PJ Tatler

Joseph Weber / Fox News:

Colorado state senators recalled over gun control support — FILE: This image shows Colorado Democratic State Senate President John Morse, left, and state Sen. Angela Giron, D-Pueblo.AP — Two Democratic lawmakers in Colorado, including the president of the state senate …

Discussion: Fox News Insider, americanthinker.com and Real Science

Sean Sullivan / The Fix:
The Colorado recalls dealt a serious blow to gun-control advocates. Here's why.

Discussion: Hot Air and The Week

Mark Z. Barabak / Los Angeles Times:
Colorado lawmakers ousted in recall election over strict gun laws

Discussion: Weekly Standard

Denver Post:
COLORADO RECALL ELECTION VOTER TURNOUT MIXED, FIGURES SHOW

Discussion: KDVR.com, BizPac Review and The Recall Elections Blog

John F. Harris / Politico:

Obama's Zig vs. Zag — Two weeks of zig-zag foreign policy by President Barack Obama — marching to war one moment, clinging desperately to diplomacy the next — culminated Tuesday night, appropriately enough, in a zig-zag address to the nation that did little to clarify what will come next …

Discussion: TIME, Guardian, Taegan Goddard's …, americanthinker.com, Hot Air, John Lott's Website, The Plum Line and The Hill

New York Times:
Obama's Remarks on Syria

Reza Kahlili / The Daily Caller:
Iran threatens widespread retaliation against U.S. and allies

Discussion: Jihad Watch

Colum Lynch / Foreign Policy:
Did the World Just Legitimize the Assad Regime It Spent Years Discrediting?

Discussion: NPR, Politico, Business Insider, Weasel Zippers and CNN

Washington Post:
Stumbling toward a solution on Syria

Discussion: The Week, Mediaite and WorldViews

New York Times:
Chemical Disarmament Hard Even in Peacetime

Discussion: Yahoo! News, Los Angeles Times, Hot Air, White House Dossier and ThinkProgress

Washington Post:
Securing Syria's chemical weapons arsenal would be formidable task, experts say

Discussion: Hit & Run, Wall Street Journal, TIME, CNN, emptywheel, WorldViews, Capitol Report, The Fix, Pirate's Cove, Atlas Shrugs, The Hill and National Review

Susannah George / BuzzFeed:

Controversial Syria Researcher Fired Over Doctorate Claim — Elizabeth O'Bagy's ties to the Syrian opposition had become an issue. — A young researcher whose opinions on Syria were cited by both Senator McCain and Secretary of State John Kerry in congressional testimony last week …

Discussion: American Spectator and National Review

Mackenzie Weinger / Politico:

WSJ op-ed writer Elizabeth O'Bagy fired for resume lie — The Syria researcher whose Wall Street Journal op-piece was cited by Secretary of State John Kerry and Sen. John McCain during congressional hearings about the use of force has been fired from the Institute for the Study of War for lying …

Discussion: Real Science and The PJ Tatler

Mara Gay / NY Daily News:

Sydney Leathers, former sexting partner of Anthony Weiner, attempts to crash his election night party — The 23-year-old, clad in a tight red dress and platform heels, said that she wanted to finally meet the man who ‘manipulated’ her into a months-long relationship.

Discussion: CNN, New York Post, Real Clear Politics, Yahoo! News, Gothamist and Althouse

NY Daily News:
Anthony Weiner concedes in Democratic mayoral primary race

Discussion: msnbc.com, Capital New York and Patterico's Pontifications

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Who Do You Trust? — WASHINGTON — Vladimir Putin, who keeps Edward Snowden on a leash and lets members of a riotous girl band rot in jail, has thrown President Obama a lifeline. — The Russian president had coldly brushed back Obama on Snowden and Syria, and only last week called John Kerry a liar.

Discussion: Right Turn, Power Line and Mediaite

Wall Street Journal:
The President lets Putin outmaneuver him on Syrian chemical arms.

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Right Turn, Slate, National Review, Bloomberg, The Hugh Hewitt Show and American Power

James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:
A new error in U.S. foreign policy.

Discussion: Sense of Events, The Gateway Pundit, CNN and American Spectator

New York Times:

De Blasio First in Mayoral Primary; Unclear if He Avoids a Runoff — Bill de Blasio, whose campaign for mayor of New York tapped into a city's deepening unease with income inequality and aggressive police practices, captured far more votes than any of his rivals in the Democratic primary on Tuesday, according to exit poll results.

Discussion: NY Daily News, The Raw Story, Good As You, Taylor Marsh, Gothamist, Capital New York, Hot Air, Towleroad News #gay, msnbc.com, The Week, Gawker, Politicker, Taegan Goddard's …, The Lonely Conservative and Balloon Juice

Kate Taylor / New York Times:
Stringer Defeats Spitzer in Comptroller Primary

Discussion: New York Post

Peter Hamby / CNN:
De Blasio tops NY mayoral primary; Weiner distant fifth

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Guardian, Business Insider and Scared Monkeys

Pete Kasperowicz / The Hill:

GOP bill blocks food stamp users from buying junk food — Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) on Tuesday proposed legislation that would require people using federal food stamps to buy only healthy food. — The Healthy Food Choices Act, H.R. 3073, reflects a long-standing criticism …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, ThinkProgress and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Tom Junod / Esquire:

THE FALLING MAN — Do you remember this photograph? In the United States, people have taken pains to banish it from the record of September 11, 2001. The story behind it, though, and the search for the man pictured in it, are our most intimate connection to the horror of that day. — SPECIAL OFFER

Discussion: Poynter, Mediaite and The Huffington Post

Annie Lowrey / Economix:

The Rich Get Richer Through the Recovery — An updated study by the prominent economists Emmanuel Saez and Thomas Piketty shows that the top 1 percent of earners took more than one-fifth of the country's total income in 2012, one of the highest levels recorded in the century that the government has collected the relevant data.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Slate, NewsBusters, The Week, AEIdeas, Wonkblog and The Raw Story

Matt Krantz / USA Today:
Top 1% take biggest income slice on record

Discussion: Opinionator and Hullabaloo

Guardian:

NSA shares raw intelligence with Israel — • Secret deal places no legal limits on use of data by Israelis — • Only official US government communications protected — • Agency insists it complies with rules governing privacy — • Read the NSA and Israel's ‘memorandum of understanding’

Discussion: Hillicon Valley, National Review, Techdirt, Secrecy News, Gawker, Hot Air, The Verge and Engadget

Paul Steinhauser / CNN:

CNN Instant Poll: Did Obama move the needle on Syria? — Washington (CNN) - A majority of Americans who watched President Barack Obama's prime time address to the nation on Tuesday said they favor the approach to Syria that the president spelled out in his speech, according to an instant poll.

Discussion: Business Insider, Hullabaloo, The PJ Tatler and ABC News

David Kusnet / CNN:
Obama's speech a model of persuasion

Discussion: The Hill, Hot Air and alicublog

Stanley Kurtz / National Review:

This Was a Samantha Power Speech — America still doesn't quite grasp the novelty of what Obama is doing in Syria. This is an intervention driven primarily by humanitarian concerns. There is no chance we'd have reached this point without those chemical attacks.

Discussion: Reuters, Washington Wire and Power Line

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times: Threaten to Threaten — If you're an average American …

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:

Florida Police Chief: Either George Zimmerman Or His Lawyer Is Not Telling The Truth — George Zimmerman on Monday, shortly before being handcuffed — The Florida police chief that is actively investigating a confrontation between George Zimmerman, his wife and his father in law says someone is lying …

Discussion: Washington Post and ABC News