memeorandum: The religious right's 5 most demented persecution fantasies (Salon)

5:45 PM ET, March 7, 2014

Top Items:

CPAC Panelist: It Is ‘A Liberal Lie’ That States Ban Gay Marriage — Conservative radio host Michael Medved said Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference that no state has ever banned gay marriage and any claim to the contrary is “a liberal lie.”

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos and The Raw Story

Laura Vozzella / Washington Post:
Gay rights activists oppose Va. Democrats' party leadership pick

Discussion: NewsBusters, ThinkProgress and LGBT Democrats of Virginia

Katie Glueck / Politico:

Rick Perry brings CPAC crowd to its feet — NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Texas Gov. Rick Perry delivered one of the best-received speeches so far at the Conservative Political Action Conference, bringing the audience to its feet and eliciting loud cheers Friday morning as he outlined …

Discussion: CNN, Mediaite and Washington Monthly

Katie Glueck / Politico:

Rand Paul: A president should love liberty — NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Sen. Rand Paul urged the audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday to “imagine a time when the White House is once again occupied by a friend of liberty” — and signaled that he might fit that bill — in an unabashedly libertarian speech.

Discussion: CNN

Mike Huckabee / CNN:
Perry: ‘Time for a little rebellion’

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Eschaton and Politico

Pew Research Center's Social & …:

Millennials in Adulthood — Detached from Institutions, Networked with Friends — Overview — The Millennial generation is forging a distinctive path into adulthood. Now ranging in age from 18 to 331, they are relatively unattached to organized politics and religion, linked by social media …

Discussion: Politico, Washington Monthly, Hit & Run, Poynter, Wonkblog, Outside the Beltway, Firedoglake and Wall Street Journal

Salon:

The religious right's 5 most demented persecution fantasies — Anti-Christian oppression takes many forms, apparently: Hipsters. Paperwork. Johnny Weir's wardrobe. — AMANDA MARCOTTE, ALTERNET — You could call it chutzpah, except they'd probably claim that word oppresses them …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Balloon Juice and Talking Points Memo

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

Study: ObamaCare not reaching uninsured — ObamaCare isn't achieving its primary goal of extending coverage to the uninsured, according to a new study. — The survey released Thursday by the McKinsey & Co. consulting firm found that only 27 percent of people who have selected a plan …

Discussion: VodkaPundit, MichelleMalkin.com, The Daily Caller and Fox News

McKinsey on Healthcare:
Individual market enrollment: Updated view

Discussion: Democracy in America

Sam Baker / NationalJournal.com:
HHS Doesn't Know How Many Uninsured Are Signing Up for Obamacare

Discussion: The Heritage Foundation, Sister Toldjah, Fox News, The Lonely Conservative and Hot Air

Glenn Kessler / The Fact Checker:

A story too good to check: Paul Ryan and the tale of the brown paper bag — “The left is making a big mistake here. What they're offering people is a full stomach and an empty soul. The American people want more than that. This reminds me of a story I heard from Eloise Anderson.

Discussion: U.S. News, Liberal Values, PoliticusUSA, The Fix, Prosperity PAC, Mediaite, The Federalist, Gawker, The Plum Line, Talking Points Memo, Hullabaloo, The Raw Story, The Moderate Voice and National Review

Rebecca Schoenkopf / Wonkette:
SOMEBODY IS STEALING CHILDREN TO PUT IN PAUL RYAN SPEECHES!

Discussion: U.S. News, Liberaland, The Raw Story, Daily Kos, Hinterland Gazette, New York Times and Talking Points Memo

Laura Barron-Lopez / The Hill:

Activists to Kerry: Keystone a ‘bigger mistake’ than Vietnam — Academy Award-winning actor Jared Leto and 13 other young activists, including the grandson of Robert F. Kennedy, are calling on Secretary of State John Kerry to reject the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

Discussion: National Review and Hot Air

Washington Post:
New Post-ABC News poll: Keystone XL project overwhelmingly favored by Americans

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Politico, Hullabaloo and Watchdog.org

James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:

Democrats filibuster an Obama nominee. — Yesterday marked a first for President Obama, as one of his nominees was deprived of Senate confirmation by a Democratic filibuster. The 47-52 procedural vote that blocked the nomination of Debo Adegbile as assistant attorney general for civil rights …

Discussion: GOP.com and National Review

Adam Serwer / msnbc.com:
The Republican war on civil rights laws

Discussion: Hullabaloo, American Prospect and National Review

NBC News:

Tea Party Still Winning GOP Debate - NBC News — Why the Tea Party is still winning... And why GOP incumbents are going to have to fight tooth and nail to hold on to their jobs... Attitudes about the health-car...

Discussion: Washington Monthly

McClatchy Washington Bureau:

FBI probing alleged removal of documents from CIA by Senate staffers — WASHINGTON — The FBI is investigating the alleged unauthorized removal of classified documents from a secret CIA facility by Senate Intelligence Committee staff who prepared a study of the agency's use …

Discussion: Techdirt, RT, emptywheel and The Raw Story

Massimo Calabresi / TIME:
Justice Considers Probe of Senate Staffers in Dispute Over Torture Report

Discussion: Firedoglake and The Dish

Dylan Byers / Politico:

‘Piers Morgan Live’ to end in 3 weeks — CNN's Piers Morgan will officially end his primetime show at the end of the month and will be temporarily replaced by alternating hosts, including Bill Weir and Jake Tapper, network sources told POLITICO on Friday. — Morgan's departure from primetime sets …

Discussion: Mediaite and The Huffington Post, more at Mediagazer »

Yahoo! News:

Putin rebuffs Obama as Ukraine crisis escalates — MOSCOW/SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin rebuffed a warning from U.S. President Barack Obama over Moscow's military intervention in Crimea, saying on Friday that Russia could not ignore calls for help from Russian speakers in Ukraine.

Discussion: TheBlaze.com and The Gateway Pundit

Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:
The wages of weakness — Vladimir Putin is a lucky man.

Discussion: The Dish, Post Politics and The Monkey Cage

Mike Allen / Politico:

POLITICO Playbook, presented by Chevron — DEMS TO DEPLOY DOZENS OF TRACKERS ON STRIP if GOP picks Vegas for convention — PFEIFFER: ‘The press fires now burn hotter and faster than they did before’ — EXCLUSIVE: Las Vegas is one of the RNC's finalists for the 2016 convention …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Juan Williams / Fox News:

Rutgers rage against Rice — why do liberals have so much hate for black conservatives? — Have you heard the news? — Condoleezza Rice lacks “moral authority.” She fails to meet the standards of “exemplary citizenship” and she does not have what it takes to “inspire” graduating college seniors.

Discussion: Hot Air

Michael R. Crittenden / Wall Street Journal:

U.S. Senators Push FIFA to Ban Russia From World Cup — WASHINGTON- U.S. officials have embraced sanctions and visa restrictions to punish Russia over the crisis in Ukraine. Now, two U.S. senators want to hurt Russian President Vladimir Putin where it could really sting: on the soccer pitch.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Guardian

Igor Bobic / Talking Points Memo:

McCain: Obama Is ‘Near Delusional In Thinking The Cold War Was Over’ — What détente? — Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) ratcheted up his rhetoric against President Barack Obama on Friday, accusing his administration of being “near delusional” in their assessment of Russian President Vladimir Putin …

Molly Ball / The Atlantic Online:

The Republican Party's Pot Dilemma — NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.—Christopher Beach was trying to defend keeping marijuana illegal to a roomful of conservatives, and it was not going well. — When Beach insisted the drug war has not been a complete failure, laughter rippled through the crowd.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Hit & Run