memeorandum: Public Sees Religion's Influence Waning (Numbers/Pew Research Center's …)

8:05 PM ET, September 22, 2014

Top Items:

Gillibrand's Weight Watcher Revealed, and a Presidential Nominee Is Sunk — Good Monday morning and welcome to the inaugural edition of First Draft, your morning briefing for politics. Today, the White House is reviewing the locks on its doors, 91-year-old Bob Dole hits the campaign trail …

Discussion: CNN, BuzzFeed, Patterico's Pontifications, Talking Points Memo, Politico and Washington Monthly, more at Mediagazer »

Alana Goodman / Washington Free Beacon:

The Hillary Letters — NOTE: READ THE HILLARY CLINTON-SAUL ALINSKY LETTERS HERE. — Previously unpublished correspondence between Hillary Clinton and the late left-wing organizer Saul Alinsky reveals new details about her relationship with the controversial Chicago activist and shed light on her early ideological development.

Discussion: CNN, The Federalist, Bloomberg View, New York Times, The PJ Tatler, Blazing Cat Fur, No More Mister Nice Blog, Raw Story, New Hampshire Journal, Fox News, Weasel Zippers, The Daily Banter, Hot Air, Liberal Values and The Other McCain

Ashley Parker / New York Times:

Alaska Ad Finds a Target in Begich's Support of Gun Rights — Senator Mark Begich of Alaska was one of just five Democratic senators who voted against a bipartisan gun control bill last year, helping to ensure its failure. — But that hasn't prevented Dan Sullivan, Mr. Begich's Republican opponent …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, addictinginfo.org, OnPolitics, Politico, Hot Air, Daily Kos, The PJ Tatler, RedState, Althouse, Fox News, Weekly Standard and Twitchy

Stanley Kurtz / National Review:

Why Hillary's Alinsky Letters Matter — Alana Goodman's revelation at the Washington Free Beacon of previously unknown correspondence between Hillary Clinton and Saul Alinsky shows that Clinton has not been honest about her far-left past. The lost Alinsky letters also remind us of what we ought …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Ed Driscoll, Taylor Marsh and Washington Free Beacon

Rachael Bade / Politico:

Exclusive: Lois Lerner breaks silence — Employers won't hire her. She's been berated with epithets like “dirty Jew.” Federal agents have guarded her house because of death threats. And she's spent hundreds of thousands of dollars defending herself against accusations she orchestrated …

Discussion: Daily Signal, Hot Air, Fox News, Weasel Zippers, The Daily Caller, Scared Monkeys, National Republican …, Wall Street Journal and Instapundit

David Harsanyi / The Federalist:

Sorry, Politico, But Lois Lerner Is Not A Victim — Lois Lerner. Hero. Servant. Brownie-baking puppy lover. Sister of the Blessed State. — This is about all a person reading Politico's new exclusive “interview” with the former head of the I.R.S. division that oversees tax-exempt groups, might take away.

Discussion: Politico, Hit & Run, Daily Signal and Instapundit

Noah Rothman / Hot Air:

Reason Magazine actually asked climate protesters what they want to do, and it's hilarious — Those in politics who spend much of their time railing about the dangers associated with anthropogenic climate change will often assert that the public largely shares their concerns about catastrophic climate shifts.

Discussion: Fox News, American Thinker, his vorpal sword, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Power Line, Hit & Run and New York Times

John Fund / National Review:
The Crumbling Climate-Change Consensus

Discussion: Betsy's Page

Jack Mirkinson / The Huffington Post:
TV News Misses Yet Another Opportunity To Cover Climate Change

Discussion: Business Insider, EcoWatch, Raw Story, The Week, The Stranger …, New York Times, Climate Denial Crock …, skippy the bush kangaroo, Taylor Marsh, New Yorker and New York Magazine

Karoli / Crooks and Liars:
The 300,000-Strong Climate Change March Media Ignored

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Feministing, Firedoglake and United Nations

Reason:
What We Saw at the People's Climate March

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Numbers / Pew Research Center's Religion …:

Public Sees Religion's Influence Waning — Growing Appetite for Religion in Politics — Nearly three-quarters of the public (72%) now thinks religion is losing influence in American life, up 5 percentage points from 2010 to the highest level in Pew Research polling over the past decade.

Discussion: addictinginfo.org, Washington Post, The Daily Caller, CBS DC, Towleroad News #gay, American Prospect and Washington Free Beacon

Associated Press:

Obama Concerned Intruder Got in His Family's Home — President Barack Obama is expressing concern that an intruder carrying a knife was able to get into the White House where his family lives. — Obama press secretary Josh Earnest says Obama is “obviously concerned” that a man got through …

Discussion: Politico

New York Times:
White House Intruder Had Weapons and Ammunition in His Car

Discussion: Liberaland, Washington Post and Guardian

Carol D. Leonnig / Washington Post:
Secret Service considers a larger buffer zone around the White House

Discussion: Bloomberg View, New York Times, Hot Air, The Daily Banter, ABC News, Talking Points Memo, Fox News, Yahoo! News, The Hill and CBS News

Stephen J. Bisciotti / Baltimore Ravens:

Message To Fans Regarding ESPN Story — The Ravens' response to an ESPN story about the team and Ray Rice. — We at the Ravens have promised to be open, candid and transparent with our fans, sponsors, ticket holders, and the general public. — This past Friday, ESPN.com's “Outside the Lines” …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, New York Times, Mashable, Talking Points Memo and SBNation.com

Jonah Bromwich / New York Times:

An Article on Shonda Rhimes Rightly Causes a Furor — The article on the television producer Shonda Rhimes hadn't yet appeared in Sunday's paper, but the virtual world was ablaze in protest over it on Friday after it was published online. — Written by the longtime TV critic, Alessandra Stanley …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Federalist, Talking Points Memo, Guardian, Poynter, Inside TV, Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality and The Huffington Post, more at Mediagazer »

Tim Murphy / Mother Jones:

Will It Take a Keg Stand for Mary Landrieu to Get Reelected? — Tailgating with the most endangered Democrat in the Senate. … It's game day in Baton Rouge, and the bro in the purple shirt wants Mary Landrieu's help doing a keg stand. — Landrieu, elected three times by the narrowest of margins …

Discussion: Business Insider, Fox News Insider, OnPolitics, National Review, The Daily Caller, ABC News and Roll Call

Kyle Trygstad / Roll Call:
Mary Landrieu to Keg-Stand Critics: ‘Get a Life’

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Weasel Zippers

Anchorage Daily News:

KTVA reporter quits on-air, reveals herself as owner of Alaska Cannabis Club — Reporter Charlo Greene quit on-air during KTVA-TV's 10 p.m. newscast Sunday, revealing herself as the owner of the medical marijuana business Alaska Cannabis Club and telling viewers that she would be using …

Discussion: addictinginfo.org, WTVR-TV, Raw Story, Mashable, Hot Air, Shakesville and Twitchy

Dylan Byers / Politico:
Alaska TV reporter quits on-air

Discussion: The Stranger … and Washington Free Beacon

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:

Religious Conservatives Finally Admit What They Really Want Out Of Hobby Lobby — For two and a half years, the Obama Administration has tried to strike a balance between the health needs of workers and the sensibilities of employers who object to contraceptive care on religious grounds.

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:

Wisconsin ‘Militia’ To Confront Dems Who Voted To Recall Walker At Polls — An armed militia group in Wisconsin plans to confront people who signed the petition to recall Gov. Scott Walker (R) at the polls on Nov. 4. — The “Wisconsin Poll Watcher Militia” will check the names …

Discussion: Liberaland, The BRAD BLOG, Raw Story and host.madison.com

Jessica Schulberg / The New Republic:

Guantánamo Bay Is Crumbling Into Ruins — But guards and prisoners aren't leaving any time soon — In 1995, the U.S. military built a small temporary food preparation station on the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base to feed an influx of Haitian and Cuban refugees.

Discussion: The Dish

Marc Morano / Climate Depot:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Wants To Jail His Political Opponents - Accuses Koch Brothers of ‘Treason’ - ‘They ought to be serving time for it’ — Kennedy Jr. on climate skeptics: 'I wish there were a law you could punish them with. I don't think there is a law that you can punish those politicians under'

Discussion: Moonbattery, National Review, Weasel Zippers and Twitchy

Gerald F. Seib / Wall Street Journal:

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence Draws GOP Presidential Attention — He Helped Found the Tea-Party Caucus in Congress, and Now Leads a State With Booming Economy — With Washington's reputation lurking in used-car-salesmen territory, there will be a wide lane in the 2016 presidential campaign …

Tara Culp-Ressler / ThinkProgress:

Rick Perry Claims Texas' New Abortion Restrictions Could Have Saved Joan Rivers' Life — Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) is attempting to draw a connection between late comedian Joan Rivers' death and the harsh new abortion restrictions that he recently approved in Texas, suggesting that Rivers may not have died under that law.

Discussion: Daily Kos, New York Magazine, Guardian and Modern Healthcare

Wall Street Journal:

Obama Administration Issues New Rules to Combat Tax Inversions — Actions Intended to Make Inversions Harder to Accomplish, Less Profitable — The Obama administration went on a regulatory offensive against U.S. companies that move to lower-tax countries, issuing new rules that take away major benefits of the deals.

Discussion: New York Times

Michal Margalit / Ynetnews:

Gay party slammed for ISIS imagery — Gay party organizers publicize party using images inspired by Islamic State group' executions, garnering anger, criticism. — Drek - one of Tel Aviv's most popular gay party organizers - has inspired a massive wave of criticism and anger online …

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

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Those Lazy Jobless — Last week John Boehner, the speaker of the House, explained to an audience at the American Enterprise Institute what's holding back employment in America: laziness. People, he said, have “this idea” that “I really don't have to work. I don't really want to do this.

Discussion: Shakesville, Prairie Weather and Washington Monthly