memeorandum: SAS hero of the mall massacre: Off duty soldier with a handgun saved 100 lives as terrorists ran amok (Daily Mail)

9:55 AM ET, September 24, 2013

Top Items:

The Cruz Campaign Against ObamaCare — The freshman Texas Senator volunteers House Republicans for duty on his implausible defunding gambit. — So House Republicans have passed and sent to the Senate a budget that includes no funding for the Affordable Care Act, setting up a political showdown …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, New York Times, National Review, Betsy's Page, msnbc.com, The World's Greatest … and Washington Post

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

Republicans' dangerous rationality — It has become fashionable to give a psychiatric diagnosis to those Republicans teeing up a government shutdown. — “They're on a different planet,” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), a member of the Senate Democratic leadership, said last week. “Off the deep end.”

Discussion: American Spectator, msnbc.com, The Week, Balkinization, Washington Monthly and Instapundit

Frank Bruni / New York Times:

Ted Cruz's Flinty Path — The fall television season kicks into gear this week, with tons of new stuff, but before you check out any of it, you owe yourself a bigger treat. Go back and watch Chris Wallace's interview with Ted Cruz on “Fox News Sunday.” — That's entertainment.

Discussion: Power Line, GQ Magazine Online, NPR, Prairie Weather, msnbc.com and The Raw Story

Jeffrey Lord / American Spectator:

Cruz Leads the Reaganite Rebellion — “This has been one of the strangest weeks I've ever had in Washington. As soon as we listed Ted Cruz as our featured guest this week, I got unsolicited research and questions, not from Democrats but from top Republicans, to hammer Cruz.”

Discussion: Politico, americanthinker.com, Wall Street Journal, Joe. My. God. and FreedomWorks blogs

Erick Erickson / RedState: A Cruz Missile Launch, Like a Light, Shows the Cockroaches Scurrying

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:
Harry Reid Shoots Down Ted Cruz On Defunding Obamacare

Discussion: Daily Kos

Niels Lesniewski / The World's Greatest …:
Senate GOP Prepares to Shoot Down Cruz's Obamacare Strategy

Discussion: Wonkblog, Hot Air, The Week and Patterico's Pontifications

Ramsey Cox / The Hill:
Reid, Cruz begin ObamaCare slugfest

Discussion: Politico

Jennifer Bendery / The Huffington Post:
Lindsey Graham Knocks Ted Cruz Strategy For Defunding Obamacare: ‘Not The Best Tactic’

Discussion: The Plum Line and ThinkProgress

Politico:

Obamacare: One blow after another — The Obamacare that consumers will finally be able to sign up for next week is a long way from the health plan President Barack Obama first pitched to the nation. — Millions of low-income Americans won't receive coverage.

Discussion: NPR, WJLA-TV, Washington Post, Wonkblog, Reuters and Firedoglake

Wall Street Journal:

Bennett and Beach: The Hypocrisy Of Congress's Gold-Plated Health Care — Special subsidies for Hill workers trample on the Founders' code of equal application of the law. — As close observers of history and human nature, James Madison and the other Founders of the U.S. Constitution knew …

Discussion: Weekly Standard

Kenneth Thomas / Middle Class Political Economist:
Nauseating Health Care Idiocy from Forbes

Discussion: Brad DeLong

Kelly Kennedy / USA Today:
‘Family glitch’ in health law could be painful

Discussion: National Review and The Daily Caller

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress: Sorry, The Latest Anti-Obamacare Article To Go Viral Is Totally Wrong

Chris Conover / Forbes:
Obamacare Will Increase Health Spending By $7,450 For A Typical Family of Four

Discussion: National Review, Right Wing News, Bookworm Room, Liberal Values and Shakesville

Andy Fox / WAVY-TV:

Boys suspended for airsoft guns in yard — Has zero tolerance gone too far? — (1/7)Andy Fox reports on zero tolerance incident at VB middle school — (2/7)Andy Fox reports on VB 7th grader facing expulsion — (3/7)Andy Fox reports on zero gun tolerance at VB schools

Discussion: Gawker, Independent Journal Review, Mediaite, Weasel Zippers, Hit & Run and National Review

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:

Obama: I Haven't Had A Cigarette In Six Years Because I'm Scared Of My Wife — The president gives a different quit date than the one the first lady has given. — View Video › — President Obama got caught on a hot mic today saying he hasn't smoked in six years because he's afraid of his wife Michelle.

Discussion: Althouse and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Bryan Koenig / CNN:
Who is Obama scared of? — (CNN) - President Barack Obama …

Discussion: Politico

Daily Mail:

SAS hero of the mall massacre: Off duty soldier with a handgun saved 100 lives as terrorists ran amok — An off-duty member of the SAS emerged as a hero of the Nairobi siege yesterday, after he was credited with saving up to 100 lives. — The soldier was having coffee at the Westgate mall …

Discussion: The Hugh Hewitt Show

Michael Laris / Washington Post:

E.W. Jackson says non-Christians are engaged in ‘some sort of false religion’ — At a morning sermon Sunday in Northern Virginia, Republican lieutenant governor candidate E.W. Jackson, a Chesapeake pastor, said people who don't follow Jesus Christ “are engaged in some sort of false religion.”

Discussion: Joe. My. God., Daily Kos, Mediaite, ThinkProgress, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Outside the Beltway

Markus Schmidt / Richmond Times-Dispatch:
Jackson says he differs with pope on gays

Discussion: Towleroad News #gay, Mediaite and Talking Points Memo

Abby D. Phillip / ABC News:

Hillary Clinton ‘In No Hurry’ … Hillary Clinton's first major print interview since leaving the Obama administration seven months ago leaves two inescapable impressions: She is running in 2016, and this campaign won't look anything like her failed 2008 run.

Discussion: ABC News, Politico, CNN, First Read and Taylor Marsh

New York Magazine:
Hillary in Midair — Her former staffers argue that she managed …

Discussion: Daily Kos and Runnin' Scared

Josh Feldman / Mediaite:

Fmr. McCain Strategist Blasts Sarah Palin's ‘Asininity’ on Obamacare — Sarah Palin jumped into the “defund Obamacare” fray this week with a full defense of Ted Cruz's efforts to defund the health care law by any means necessary. On Hardball Monday, former McCain 2008 campaign strategist Steve Schmidt …

Discussion: RealClearPolitics Video Log, FOX News Radio and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Philly.com:

Racist texts ignite Coatesville furor — The recently resigned superintendent and an athletic director in the Coatesville Area School District exchanged numerous racist text messages about staff and students in June on school-issued cellphones, according to a published report.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Daily Local News and Mediaite

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

Former F.B.I. Agent to Plead Guilty in Press Leak — WASHINGTON — A former F.B.I. agent has agreed to plead guilty to leaking classified information to The Associated Press about a foiled bomb plot in Yemen last year, the Justice Department announced Monday.

Discussion: Politico, emptywheel, Instapundit and Gawker, more at Mediagazer »

Sari Horwitz / Washington Post:
Ex-FBI agent to plead guilty in leak to AP

Discussion: Washington Monthly and WJLA-TV

Washington Post:

McAuliffe leads Cuccinelli in Virginia governor's race — Democrat Terry McAuliffe has vaulted into the lead over Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II in a Virginia governor's race that has left many voters sour on both candidates, according to a new Washington Post/Abt SRBI poll.

Discussion: CNN, Washington Wire, Politico, Townhall.com, The Fix, Outside the Beltway, Taegan Goddard's …, WJLA-TV and American Spectator

Joy Wilke / Gallup:

Americans' Belief That Gov't Is Too Powerful at Record Level — Record number of Republicans say the federal government has too much power — PRINCETON, NJ — Six in 10 Americans (60%) believe the federal government has too much power, one percentage point above the previous high recorded in September 2010.

Discussion: americanthinker.com, About.com Conservative …, The PJ Tatler, The Daily Caller, BuzzFeed and ProfessorBainbridge.com

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

Obama Administration Quietly Caves on True the Vote Case — Is this related to the retirement of Lois Lerner? I don't know, but it seems that the Obama administration has decided to cut its losses on the IRS. The Department of Justice told a federal court on Friday that it is conceding …