memeorandum: Sorry Democrats, Obamacare is still electoral kryptonite (Marc A. Thiessen/Washington Post)

8:55 PM ET, April 28, 2014

Top Items:

Donald Sterling Is a Registered Republican — Does it really matter whether racist LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling is a registered Democrat? Or a Republican? Or a member of the Pirate Party of Russia? — Well, according to multiple conservative media outlets, yes, it does matter.

Discussion: American Power, PoliticusUSA, BuzzFeed, NewsBusters, Hit & Run, Mediaite, Little Green Footballs, BobCesca.com, Hinterland Gazette, The Week, Liberaland, The Daily Caller, Balloon Juice and Politico

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / TIME:

Welcome to the Finger-Wagging Olympics — It's time to look at ourselves — and our collective moral outrage — in the mirror, says former NBA player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. — Moral outrage is exhausting. And dangerous. The whole country has gotten a severe case of carpal tunnel syndrome …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, USA Today, Taylor Marsh, Hit & Run, Talking Points Memo, Althouse and Sporting News Feed RSS

Eric Lach / Talking Points Memo:

Conservatives Called Him A Democrat, But Sterling Is Registered Republican — Over the weekend, while nation-wide attention was focused on the racist comments reportedly made by Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, some conservative commentators were focused on something else: Sterling's party affiliation.

Discussion: Reuters, The PJ Tatler, Joe For America, Washington Post, BobCesca.com, The Mahablog and The Raw Story

Michael Tomasky / The Daily Beast:

Donald Sterling and the Neverending Fantasy of ‘Democrat’ Racism — Oh, how eager the conservative press is to call Donald Sterling a Democrat! It's all part of their larger fantasy narrative about conservatism and race. — My Twitter feed yesterday was full of clucking conservatives challenging …

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, PoliticusUSA, NewsBusters, Althouse, Politico and Balloon Juice

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Places Blame On Sterling's Girlfriend For ‘Cajoling’ Him Into Racist Comments

Lucy McCalmont / Politico:
Donald Trump on Donald Sterling comments: ‘The girlfriend from hell’

Discussion: PoliticusUSA, Mediaite and CBSSports.com

Dave Zirin / thenation.com/blogs/163256:
Donald Sterling: Slumlord Billionaire

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, ThinkProgress, Washington Post, TMZ.com, Poynter, Guardian, Re/code, CBS DC, The Week, Deadspin, CNN, Los Angeles Times, CBS Chicago, The Daily Banter and The Huffington Post

Rod Dreher / The American Conservative:

The Sacrilegious Sarah Palin — Man, the 12 minute speech Sarah Palin gave to the NRA convention is awful. It's just witless, red-meat blathering, delivered in that nasal whine of hers that makes it sound like she's chewing wads of tinfoil. For people who like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing they like.

Discussion: The Gospel Coalition Blog, The Dish, Hit & Run, National Review, The Federalist, Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, Mediaite, Washington Monthly, The Raw Story, Roger Ailes, The Huffington Post, Joe For America, The Reality-Based Community and The Hill

Patrick Brennan / National Review:

Sarah Palin's Barbarism — It's been no secret for a while that Sarah Palin, erstwhile vice-president candidate, is no longer a serious political contender — for evidence of that transition, note that even among her faithful, at CPAC this year, she got just 2 percent of the vote in the straw poll, tied with Condoleezza Rice.

Discussion: The Dish

Robert Costa / Washington Post:
Sarah Palin soldiers on as a diminished figure in the Republican Party

Discussion: The Week, PoliticusUSA and Taylor Marsh

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:
Palin: ‘Waterboarding Is How We Baptize Terrorists’ (VIDEO)

Discussion: Daily Kos, Daily Mail, The Daily Banter, The Reaction, Balloon Juice, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Dish and CBS News

Josh Rogin / The Daily Beast:

Exclusive: Kerry Warns Israel Could Become ‘An Apartheid State’ — The secretary of state said that if Israel doesn't make peace soon, it could become ‘an apartheid state,’ like the old South Africa. Jewish leaders are fuming over the comparison. — If there's no two-state solution …

Jonathan Topaz / Politico:

Barbara Boxer: John Kerry apartheid critique ‘ridiculous’ — Sen. Barbara Boxer took an apparent swipe at Secretary of State John Kerry, saying on Twitter that any statement comparing Israel to apartheid “is nonsensical and ridiculous.” — While Boxer didn't mention Kerry by name …

Discussion: Hot Air, Washington Free Beacon and The Lonely Conservative

Dylan Byers / Politico:
John Kerry's private remarks allegedly taped by Daily Beast reporter

Discussion: Taylor Marsh and Washington Free Beacon

Michael Wilner / Jerusalem Post:
US State Department does not deny Kerry's Israel ‘apartheid’ warning

Discussion: Politico and Israel Matzav

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

Fox News Tries And Fails To Get Any Details About The GOP's Obamacare Replacement — Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) struggled to articulate a credible GOP alternative to the Affordable Care Act during an appearance on Fox News Monday morning, promising only to replace President Obama's health care reform with …

Discussion: New York Times and Daily Kos

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
Obamacare's Poll Numbers Improve In Republican Districts

Discussion: Daily Kos, Washington Post, Capitol Report and Mediaite

Marc A. Thiessen / Washington Post:
Sorry Democrats, Obamacare is still electoral kryptonite

Discussion: Washington Examiner, AEIdeas, The Heritage Foundation, The Huffington Post and Real Clear Politics

Manu Raju / Politico:

Police investigating Cliven Bundy-related threats to Harry Reid — Federal law enforcement officials are investigating threats made against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in the aftermath of his sharp-edged attacks against Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, sources said Monday.

Discussion: CNN, Talking Points Memo and Mediaite

Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:
Howie Kurtz Turns On His Network Fox News For Its Silence On Bundy's Racist Comments (VIDEO)

Discussion: Mediaite and New York Times

Politico:

Wall Street Republicans' dark secret: Hillary Clinton 2016 — NEW YORK — The biggest parlor game on Wall Street and in corporate boardrooms these days is guessing whether former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will run for president and save the GOP's old establishment base from its rising populist wing.

Discussion: protein wisdom, neo-neocon, PoliticusUSA, TruthRevolt.org, Booman Tribune, Washington Examiner, Liberaland, Taylor Marsh, The Week, Capitol Report and Washington Post

Aaron Katersky / ABC News:

FBI Arrests and Rips Rep. Michael Grimm, an Ex-FBI Agent — The FBI arrested New York Congressman Michael Grimm — a former FBI agent — on fraud and perjury charges today and then ripped into him for dishonoring the FBI code. — Grimm, a Republican from New York City's borough of Staten Island, surrendered to the FBI this morning.

Discussion: Politico

Washington Post:
Rep. Michael Grimm, facing federal charges, surrenders to FBI

Discussion: Staten Island Advance, New York Times, Reuters, Guardian, Gretawire, Hot Air, Gothamist, Hinterland Gazette, Mediaite, NPR and Talking Points Memo

Politico:
Michael Grimm: 'I'm a moral man'

Discussion: Business Insider, Gothamist and The Week

U.S. Department of the Treasury:

Announcement Of Additional Treasury Sanctions On Russian Government Officials And Entities — Sanctions Target Seven Russian Government Officials, Including Members of the Russian Leadership's Inner Circle, and 17 Entities — WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of the Treasury today designated …

Discussion: Real Clear Politics, Taylor Marsh, The Moderate Voice, Hinterland Gazette and Mashable

The White House:
Statement by the Press Secretary on Ukraine

Discussion: Associated Press, Washington Post, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, Bloomberg View, Fox News and The Week

Reuters:
U.S. sanctions more Russians over Ukraine

Discussion: New York Times, Daily Kos, Forbes, VodkaPundit and The Dish

Sasha Issenberg / The New Republic:

How the Democrats Can Avoid Going Down This November — The new science of Democratic survival — Voter data by TargetSmart Communications. — In late February, Barack Obama stood before a room of his party's governors at a Washington fund-raiser and offered a new explanation …

Discussion: Booman Tribune, Washington Post and Washington Monthly

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:
Issenberg on the The Two Electorates and the Democratic Challenge For the Midterms

Discussion: New York Times

The News Star:

32 a.m.: Fifth District U.S. Rep. Vance McAllister won't seek re-election this fall but will complete his term. — As first reported at thenewsstar.com, McAllister, R-Swartz, said he and his wife Kelly made the final decision Monday morning. The couple is flying to Washington, D.C. together today as Congress goes back into session.

Discussion: New Orleans Times-Picayune, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Outside the Beltway, Roll Call, New York Times, Mediaite, Washington Examiner and The Raw Story

Glenn Harlan Reynolds / USA Today:

Politics don't belong in science fiction: Column — A writer shouldn't be punished for his political beliefs. — There was a time when science fiction was a place to explore new ideas, free of the conventional wisdom of staid, “mundane” society, a place where speculation replaced group think …

Discussion: his vorpal sword, Ed Driscoll, Vox Popoli and ProfessorBainbridge.com

Hayley Tsukayama / Washington Post:

Google removes “deceptive” pregnancy center ads — Google is removing Web search ads for some “crisis pregnancy centers,” after an investigation by NARAL Pro-Choice America found evidence that the ads violate Google's policy against deceptive advertising. — “We have no problem …

Discussion: LifeNews.com, TruthRevolt.org, ThinkProgress, Feministing and The Daily Caller