memeorandum: White House: Israel has ‘no stronger defender’ than John Kerry (Rebecca Shabad/The Hill)

8:15 AM ET, July 29, 2014

Top Items:

Rebecca Shabad / The Hill:

White House: Israel has ‘no stronger defender’ than John Kerry — The White House on Monday defended Secretary of State John Kerry, after charges in Israeli media that he was “capitulating” to Hamas in talks to broker a cease-fire in the Mideast. — “Israel has no better friend …

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

Dangerous Game — US officials are “fuming” in the AP's words at the barrage of Israeli criticism of Secretary of States John Kerry. But as Chemi Shalev notes in Haaretz, there's a deeper backstory. Nothing gets the Obama administration's ire up like the perception (very often grounded in reality) …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Jeffrey Goldberg / The Atlantic Online:
Why Is Israel Losing a War It's Winning?

Discussion: The Dish, Politico, Power Line, National Review and Grim's Hall

Ben Jacobs / The Daily Beast:

Exclusive: GOP Senate Candidate Caught Saying States Can Nullify Laws — Joni Ernst, the Republican nominee in Iowa, doesn't want “federal legislators” to pass laws that “states are considering nullifying,” like Obamacare. — Joni Ernst, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Iowa …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Right Wing News, NewsBusters and Talking Points Memo

Eliana Johnson / National Review:

Michelle Nunn's Campaign Plan — Michelle Nunn can come across as a “lightweight,” “too liberal,” not a “real Georgian.” While she served as CEO for the Points of Light Foundation, the organization gave service awards to “inmates” and “terrorists.” And her Senate campaign must feature images …

Discussion: Betsy's Page, Instapundit, RedState, Twitchy, The Daily Caller, Ed Driscoll, Power Line, Politico, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Patterico's Pontifications, NewsBusters, Washington Post, Hot Air, Washington Free Beacon and Political Insider blog

Eliana Johnson / National Review:
Michelle Nunn's Campaign Plan

Discussion: Washington Post, Power Line, Hinterland Gazette, RedState, Political Insider blog, OnPolitics, American Spectator and Talking Points Memo

Toby Harnden / Real Clear Politics:

Laura Ingraham, Tea Party Giant Killer, Eyes Her Next Scalp — SHE has adopted a daughter from Guatemala and was a speechwriter under President Reagan, who introduced an “amnesty” for three million illegal immigrants in the 1980s. — With her striking good looks and her status …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Politico and Mediaite

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:

North Carolina AG: It's Time To Stop Fighting Gay Marriage In Court — North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper said on Monday that his office would stop defending the state's gay marriage ban in court after an appeals court struck down a similar ban on same sex marriage in Virginia.

Discussion: Off the Kuff and Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times

Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:
Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down Virginia Same-Sex Marriage Ban

Discussion: Washington Post, Daily Kos, Gawker and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Robert Barnes / Washington Post:
Appeals court upholds decision overturning Virginia's same-sex marriage ban

Discussion: SCOTUSblog, Outside the Beltway and The Raw Story

Juan Williams / The Hill:

Shame of the GOP on border — Even on Capitol Hill, there is a God. — Last week, the nation's religious leaders stood up to ask their elected officials to look past politics and see that children — not theoretical abstractions but real, young individuals — are suffering because of inaction by Congress.

Michael R. Gordon / New York Times:

U.S. Says Russia Tested Cruise Missile, Violating Treaty — WASHINGTON — The United States has concluded that Russia violated a landmark arms control treaty by testing a prohibited ground-launched cruise missile, according to senior American officials, a finding that was conveyed …

Discussion: Guardian, Business Insider, Gawker and Independent Journal Review

Erick Erickson / RedState:

Maliciousness. Not Incompetence. — For the longest time I have chosen to chalk our President's stumbles, bumbles, and disasters up to incompetence. He is in over his head. He is inexperienced. He is out of his league. It is hard to accept otherwise. — But it is clearer and clearer that is not true.

Discussion: The Democratic Daily, protein wisdom and Washington Post

Michael Cannon / Politico:

The Flip-Flopping Architect of the ACA — Last week, the D.C. Circuit ruled that the Obama administration has been implementing Obamacare illegally. Days later, a video featuring the law's chief architect confirmed the court's ruling and raised questions about whether administration officials knew …

Discussion: Washington Post, American Spectator and AEIdeas

Meredith Shiner / Yahoo! News:

No Labels? No results? No problem. Yahoo News 1 hr ago — In 2010, a group of political veterans who said they were tired of the extreme partisanship paralyzing Washington created an organization to advance their new cause. The founding mission of “No Labels” was …

Discussion: CNN and Balloon Juice

Nate Cohn / New York Times:

New Generic Ballot Surveys Don't Show Signs of Republican Wave — One of the big questions of this election cycle is whether it will turn out to be a “wave” election, like the one in 2010, when an upswell of anti-Democratic sentiment carried Democrats out of the House.

Discussion: Liberal Values, Prairie Weather and Booman Tribune

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

D.C. seeks stay of gun ruling — A federal judge's ruling barring enforcement of a key District of Columbia gun law seems likely to be put on hold, after lawyers for the district asked that the decision be delayed and the plaintiffs in the case signaled they're amenable to a 90-day delay.

Discussion: Josh Blackman's Blog

Washington Post:
D.C. police won't enforce handgun ban; stay of ruling overturning law will be sought

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Reality-Based Litigation, Josh Blackman's Blog, Outside the Beltway, Hot Air and Guardian

Nicholas Confessore / New York Times:

Spending Big to Fight Big Donors in Campaigns — An unlikely alliance of liberal intellectuals, big donors and Republican strategists has hit on a solution to the influence of big money in politics: even more money. — Starting Monday, the recently formed Mayday “super PAC” …

Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:

WATCH: Topless Texans Spar With Open Carry Activists: ‘Boobs For Peace!’ — Two topless women verbally sparred with an open-carry advocacy group over gun rights Saturday in downtown Austin. — Come and Take It Texas, the open carry group, posted two videos of the tense exchange on its Facebook page …

Discussion: The Raw Story and Gawker

Heritage Foundation:

New Obamacare Enrollment Data: Employer-Based Coverage Declines — Abstract … The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a series of monthly reports on exchange performance during the initial open enrollment period (October 1, 2013, through March 31, 2014) …

Discussion: National Review and Daily Signal

Sam Sokol / Jerusalem Post:

‘We are looking at the beginnings of a Holocaust’ — Danish Ambassador Jesper Vahr warns MKs against linking anti-Semitism and Gaza operation. — The situation facing European Jewry is “simply intolerable, unacceptable and inexcusable,” Israeli Jewish Congress president Vladimir Sloutsker told MKs …

Discussion: NO QUARTER USA NET and Vox Popoli

New York Times:

Israeli Leader Sees No Quick End to Gaza War — JERUSALEM — An informal lull between Israel and Hamas timed for the start of a Muslim holiday collapsed into deadly violence on Monday and Israel's prime minister signaled no quick end to the three-week-old Gaza war, advising Israelis that “patience and determination” were needed.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Gawker, Pressing Issues, Little Green Footballs and Haaretz