memeorandum: Race Ratings Change: Arkansas Senate (Stuart Rothenberg/Roll Call)

12:10 AM ET, December 20, 2013

Top Items:

The Robertson Family Offical Statement — We want to thank all of you for your prayers and support. The family has spent much time in prayer since learning of A&E's decision. We want you to know that first and foremost we are a family rooted in our faith in God and our belief that the Bible is His word.

Discussion: Mediaite, CBS Houston, Patterico's Pontifications, Gawker, Deadline.com, The Gateway Pundit, KTLA 5, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and TMZ.com

ThinkProgress:

Why The Racist And Homophobic ‘Duck Dynasty’ Comments Have Nothing To Do With Free Speech — On Wednesday, Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson made comments in a GQ interview condemning homosexuality as sinful and comparable to bestiality, as well as claiming that African Americans were better off under Jim Crow laws.

Discussion: Liberaland, The Daily Caller, NOM Blog, The Moderate Voice and The Week

Dean Obeidallah / The Daily Beast:

The Right's ‘Duck Dynasty’ Hypocrisy — By Dean ObeidallahDecember 19th 201312:00 PM — Conservatives think people should be held responsible for their actions—until one of their own, like Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson, has to pay a price for their hateful views.

Discussion: The Mahablog, Politico, New Orleans Times-Picayune, Reuters, No More Mister Nice Blog, Liberaland and Hollywood Reporter

Erick Erickson / RedState:

Ultimately There Will Be No Option for Silence or the Sidelines. You Will Be Made To Care. — I have told you people again and again. You will be made to care. — Evil preaches tolerance until it is dominant and then it seeks to silence good. Phil Robertson, patriarch of the Duck Dynasty clan …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, CNN, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, Outside the Beltway, Hot Air, Washington Monthly, NOM Blog, Althouse, Right Wing Watch, The Raw Story, Los Angeles Times, GQ Magazine Online and Inside TV

Andrew Sullivan / The Dish:

A&E Cannot Bear Very Much Reality — I have to say I'm befuddled by the firing of Phil Robertson, he of the amazing paterfamilias beard on Duck Dynasty (which I mainly see via The Soup). A&E has a reality show that depends on the hoariest stereotypes - and yet features hilariously captivating human beings - located in the deep South.

Discussion: Rush Limbaugh, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, National Review, Ricochet Conversations Feed, Hollywood Reporter, Twitchy, The Raw Story and The Daily Caller

Ted Cruz / Facebook:
Free Speech Matters — The reason that so many Americans love …

Discussion: Hot Air, Washington Monthly, Washington Post, ABC News, The Heritage Foundation, ABC News, NationalJournal.com, The Raw Story, CNN, Twitchy and ThinkProgress

Governor Bobby Jindal:
Gov. Jindal on Phil Robertson Suspension: I Remember When TV Networks Believed in 1st Amendment

Discussion: Mediaite, Hullabaloo, The Hinterland Gazette, National Review, Back2Stonewall, Real Clear Politics, Inside TV, Talking Points Memo, CNN, Trail Blazers Blog, The Raw Story, KTOO, The Jawa Report and Business Insider

Steve Deace / USA Today:
A&E fowls up ‘Duck’ flap: Column

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Raw Story, Liberal Values, Ed Driscoll, Chicago Tribune, The Democratic Daily, CNN, Deadline.com, The Reaction, Hit & Run, Washington Wire and Instapundit

Mollie Hemingway / The Federalist:
Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson Knew Exactly What He Was Doing

Discussion: Equality Matters

Adam Serwer / msnbc.com:

Conservatives freak out over ‘pajama boy’ — Conservatives are in a tizzy over a seemingly innocuous Obamacare ad from Organizing for Action featuring a young man in pajamas. — He's “a metrosexual hipster in a plaid onesie” scowled National Review's Charles Cooke, a “vaguely androgynous …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, First Read, NewsBusters, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, Althouse, The PJ Tatler, National Review, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Week, Hit & Run, CNN, The Heritage Foundation, Rush Limbaugh and Post Politics

Charlie Spiering / Washington Examiner:

Meet Ethan Krupp: Pajamacare boy and Organizing for Action employee — BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL OPINION OBAMACARE ORGANIZING FOR ACTION — This is the Obamacare Pajama boy in the latest Organizing for Action ad. — Pajamacare boy is Ethan Krupp, an Organizing for Action employee and the subject …

Discussion: Jammie Wearing Fools, Power Line and American Power

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:
“Pajama Boy's” Blog Featured Post Criticizing President Obama

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Rich Lowry / Politico:
Pajama Boy, An Insufferable Man-Child

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, NewsBusters, Gawker, Betsy's Page, Jammie Wearing Fools, Hot Air, National Review, americanthinker.com, alicublog and Twitchy

Amy Goldstein / Washington Post:

Obama administration relaxes rules of health-care law four days before deadline — The Obama administration Thursday night significantly relaxed the rules of the health-care law for millions of consumers whose individual insurance policies have been canceled, saying they could buy bare-bones health plans …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, The Daily Caller, Viking Pundit and Jammie Wearing Fools

Byron Tau / Reuters:
For Obamacare boosters, all memes are good memes

Discussion: CNN, CBS New York and Politico

Sarah Kliff / Wonkblog:
Think your state has Obamacare problems? They're nothing compared to Guam.

Discussion: Hot Air

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

Obama Commutes Sentences for 8 in Crack Cocaine Cases — WASHINGTON — President Obama, expanding his push to curtail severe penalties for drug offenses, on Thursday commuted the sentences of eight federal inmates who were convicted of crack cocaine offenses.

Discussion: Debra J. Saunders, TIME, Hit & Run, Gawker, The Volokh Conspiracy, Occupy DemocratsOccupy …, BBC, BillMoyers.com, Business Insider, The BLT and Mediaite

The White House:
Statement by the President on Clemency

Discussion: TalkLeft, ThinkProgress and Hit & Run

Meredith Shiner / The World's Greatest …:

Senate Deal Sets Up Friday Christmas Exit, Pushes Yellen Confirmation to 2014 (Updated) — Updated 10:25 p.m. | A bit of bipartisan Christmas cheer finally arrived in the Senate around 10 p.m. Thursday. — That's when senators locked-in an agreement that will set up a series …

Discussion: Booman Tribune

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Dems plan big Christmas push on unemployment benefits

Discussion: Post Politics and Hullabaloo

ice.gov:

FY 2013: ICE announces year-end removal numbers — 98 percent of the agency's total removals were convicted criminals, recent border crossers, illegal re-entrants or those previously removed by ICE, in line with agency's enforcement priorities — WASHINGTON — Today …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, New Orleans Times-Picayune, Post Politics, Immigration Impact and Talking Points Memo

Bradley Klapper / Associated Press:
Defying Obama, 26 Senators Push New Iran Sanctions

Discussion: Politico

Stacy Kaper / NationalJournal.com:
Senate Dems Defy Obama on Iran

Discussion: Foreign Policy, The Plum Line, ThinkProgress, Weekly Standard and Politico

First Look / Omidyar Group:

Pierre Omidyar Provides Initial Funding of $50M to Establish First Look Media — Honolulu - Dec. 19, 2013 - The news organization created by Pierre Omidyar (formerly dubbed “NewCo") has taken another step forward with an infusion of $50M in capital to fuel operations being established on both coasts.

Discussion: Politico, Mediaite and Guardian

Jay Rosen / Pressthink:
A First Look at NewCo's structure

Discussion: Capital New York, Gigaom, The Verge and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »

Sam Youngman / Politico:

Take This Town and Shove It — A White House reporter's tale of sex, booze and the briefing room. — If you write about American politics for a living, stop right there. Get back to work, and don't read another damn word. — Sign out of Twitter, say “thanks but no thanks” …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, American Prospect, The Fix, DCist, Lawyers, Guns & Money and FishbowlDC, more at Mediagazer »

Alex Pareene / Salon:

Hack list No. 1: Mike Allen — Our annual list is here! This time, we channeled each hack's unique voice — and let them “write” their own entries — PAYOLA-BOOK: No professional blowback for sponsor-fluffing Mike Allen — LEIBO on ALLEN: ‘enabler’ — Business lobby agenda pushed daily …

Discussion: The Dish and his vorpal sword

Rossmurray / GLAAD:

Bob Newhart bows out of gig with anti-LGBT organization — Bob Newhart, the beloved actor and comedian, quietly announced over social media that he has cancelled his upcoming gig at the Legatus Summit. This follows GLAAD and several LGBT advocates and bloggers, including Lisa Derrick of Firedog Lake …

Discussion: Towleroad News #gay and The Raw Story

Stuart Rothenberg / Roll Call:

Race Ratings Change: Arkansas Senate — The Arkansas Senate race continues to be close and hard-fought. Polling shows the race extremely competitive, and both sides have already spent heavily. Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor has spent almost $900,000 on his re-election bid …

Discussion: Hot Air, Rothenblog and Power Line

Target Pressroom:

Target Confirms Unauthorized Access to Payment Card Data in U.S. Stores — Issue has been identified and resolved — Target today confirmed it is aware of unauthorized access to payment card data that may have impacted certain guests making credit and debit card purchases in its U.S. stores.

Discussion: CBS Boston, Mashable, Lawfare, NBCNews, KTOO, USA Today, New York Times, The Daily Caller and BBC

Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:
Sources: Target Investigating Data Breach

Discussion: Wired, Mashable, Global Grind, NBCNews, The Week, NYT Bits, Gawker, TechCrunch, KFOR-TV, The Verge, Gothamist, New York Times and Taylor Marsh

Christine Brennan / USA Today:

Brian Boitano announces he's gay before trip to Sochi — Brian Boitano, the 1988 Olympic figure skating gold medalist who was named to the official U.S. delegation to the 2014 Sochi Olympics, announced today that he is gay. — “I am many things: a son, a brother, and uncle, a friend …

Discussion: Post Politics, Weasel Zippers, Talking Points Memo, ThinkProgress and NewsBusters