memeorandum: McCain: Obama should weigh bombing Syria without congressional approval (Erik Wasson/The Hill)

4:25 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.

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: The Hill, Taegan Goddard's …, Democratic National Committee, The Fix, Mediaite, Business Insider, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Capitol Report, National Review and The PJ Tatler

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

Alec Macgillis / The New Republic:
Gun Control Loses in a Swing State

Discussion: USA Today, Washington Monthly, msnbc.com, Colorado Peak Politics, National Review, John Lott's Website, The Week and Wall Street Journal

David Kopel / The Volokh Conspiracy:
The Colorado Recalls Explained

Discussion: American Spectator, Colorado Peak Politics, Denver Post, National Review, The PJ Tatler, Twitchy, BizPac Review, Power Line, The Lonely Conservative, Overlawyered and The Recall Elections Blog

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

Discussion: The Week and Hot Air

Joseph Weber / Fox News:
Colorado state senators recalled over gun control support

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

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

Discussion: Weekly Standard

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: Firedoglake, NPR, Real Science and The PJ Tatler

Susannah George / BuzzFeed:

Controversial Syria Researcher Fired Over Doctorate Claim — Elizabeth O'Bagy's ties to the Syrian opposition had become an issue. Think Tank founder says she had “no problem” with O'Bagy's affiliation. — A young researcher whose opinions on Syria were cited by both Senator McCain …

Discussion: National Review, Hot Air, The Raw Story and American Spectator

Rebecca Ballhaus / Wall Street Journal:
McCain Calls Russia's Syria Plan a Stall Tactic

Discussion: Washington Wire and Israpundit

Erik Wasson / The Hill:
McCain: Obama should weigh bombing Syria without congressional approval

Discussion: Hot Air, Weasel Zippers and Right Turn

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

Nile Gardiner / blogs.telegraph.co.uk:

Barack Obama's Syria speech was an incoherent mess - he is outperforming Jimmy Carter as the most feeble US president of modern times — Billed as a game-changer on Syria, the President's White House address landed with a thud that could be heard as far away as Damascus.

Discussion: Hot Air, New York Times, JustOneMinute, Yahoo! News, Telegraph and NewsBusters

John F. Harris / Politico:
Obama's Zig vs. Zag

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

Fred Kaplan / Slate:
Obama's speech may not have sounded novel, but the president may have helped his cause in unexpected ways.

Discussion: The Week, Guardian, NBCNews, The American Conservative and Weekly Standard

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

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

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

Discussion: The Daily Beast, National Review, The Hugh Hewitt Show, Bloomberg, Slate, American Power and blogs.telegraph.co.uk

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

Discussion: Jihad Watch

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

Ruby Cramer / BuzzFeed:
The Scariest Question For Anthony Weiner: What's Next?

Discussion: Michelle Malkin and Business Insider

Dave Jamieson / The Huffington Post:

Trader Joe's To Drop Health Coverage For Part-Time Workers Under Obamacare: Memo — After extending health care coverage to many of its part-time employees for years, Trader Joe's has told workers who log fewer than 30 hours a week that they will need to find insurance on the Obamacare exchanges next year …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, ThinkProgress, The Hill, BREITBART.COM, The PJ Tatler, Sister Toldjah and The Heritage Foundation

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:

Lhota Hopes to Capitalize on Elite Dismay Over a Liberal Tilt — They are startled and unsure how to react. “Terrifying,” is how one banker put it. — Many in New York's business and financial elite, stung by the abrupt ascent of Bill de Blasio, an unapologetic tax-the-rich liberal …

Discussion: The Raw Story, Gawker, No More Mister Nice Blog, NPR, Capital New York, alicublog and National Review

New York Times:
De Blasio First in Mayoral Primary; Unclear if He Avoids a Runoff

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

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

Discussion: New York Post, Scared Monkeys, Gothamist and Patterico's Pontifications

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: Connecting.the.Dots, Poynter, Mediaite and The Huffington Post

Peter Lauria / BuzzFeed:

Exclusive: IAC And Daily Beast Editor Tina Brown To Part Ways — A source with direct knowledge of the situation says IAC does not plan to renew Tina Brown's contract when it expires in January. A decision has not yet been made on the future of The Daily Beast. — Jason Kempin / FilmMagic

Discussion: Capital New York, Erik Wemple, Balloon Juice, Taylor Marsh, Mediaite, The Huffington Post, Ed Driscoll, Gawker, The Daily Caller and Jezebel, more at Mediagazer »

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

Rich Lowry / National Review:

NR v. Booker — Newark mayor Cory Booker has a very active imagination. Eliana Johnson demonstrated that with her report on Booker's moving, highly detailed accounts of his involvement with “T-Bone,” a hard-luck drug dealer who Booker admitted to a friend is a fiction.

Discussion: Politico, Michelle Malkin, Business Insider, Mediaite and TheBlaze.com, more at Mediagazer »

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: Slate, The Dish, National Review, Washington Monthly, AEIdeas, NewsBusters, Wonkblog, The Raw Story, The Week and Real Time Economics

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

Discussion: Opinionator and Hullabaloo

David DesRosiers / Washington Times:

BOOK REVIEW: ‘America 3.0’ — AMERICA 3.0: REBOOTING AMERICAN PROSPERITY IN THE 21ST CENTURY — WHY AMERICA'S GREATEST DAYS ARE YET TO COME — As we return to reality from the lazy, hazy days of summer, we find our nation war-weary, broke and politically fractured. We are a subprime-mortgaged house divided.

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

David Kusnet / CNN:

Obama's speech a model of persuasion — Obama makes his case on Syria … (CNN) — Sixty-one percent of Americans polled, who watched President Obama's prime-time speech, told CNN that they support his policy towards Syria. — Since some surveys showed as much as two-thirds opposition …

Discussion: The Hill, Hot Air and alicublog