memeorandum: Sorry, Politico, But Lois Lerner Is Not A Victim (David Harsanyi/The Federalist)

11:10 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, Politico, Patterico's Pontifications, Talking Points Memo 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 — Previously unpublished correspondence between Hillary Clinton and the late left-wing organizer Saul Alinsky reveals new details about her relationship with the controversial Chicago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: alicublog, CANNONFIRE, his vorpal sword, Bloomberg View, Blazing Cat Fur, New York Times, The Federalist, CNN, The PJ Tatler, No More Mister Nice Blog, Raw Story, Weasel Zippers, Fox News, New Hampshire Journal, 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

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

Stanley Kurtz / National Review:
Why Hillary's Alinsky Letters Matter

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

New York Times:

White House Intruder Had Weapons and Ammunition in His Car — WASHINGTON — The man who managed to get in the front door of the White House on Friday had a cache of ammunition and weapons in his car at the time of the incident, and he had been arrested by the Virginia State Police in July …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Washington Post, Liberaland and Guardian

Peter Sullivan / The Hill:
Prosecutors: WH fence jumper had 800 rounds of ammo in car

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Ed Driscoll, Business Insider and Washington Post

ABC News:
White House Fence Jumper Omar Gonzalez Had 800 Rounds of Ammo in Car, Prosecutors Say

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, addictinginfo.org, NBC News and Associated Press

Associated Press:
Obama Concerned Intruder Got in His Family's Home

Discussion: Politico

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

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

Reuters:

US Airstrikes Under Way in Syria … American airstrikes against ISIS targets are under way in Syria, according to a Pentagon official. — “I can confirm that U.S. military and partner nation forces are undertaking military action against ISIL [ISIS] terrorists in Syria using a mix of fighter …

Discussion: USA Today, The Moderate Voice, Hit & Run, The Gateway Pundit, ABC News, Hot Air and Politico

Fox News:

US launches first wave of bombing strikes over Syria — The United States launched its first wave of bombing attacks over Syria early Tuesday against an expected 20 to 25 Islamic State targets, U.S. officials said. — The operation, expected to last several hours, involved planes launched …

Discussion: Belmont Club, Fox News Insider and The PJ Tatler

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, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, his vorpal sword, Moonbattery, Hit & Run and Power Line

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

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

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

Discussion: Betsy's Page

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

David Harsanyi / The Federalist:
Sorry, Politico, But Lois Lerner Is Not A Victim

Discussion: Hot Air, Politico, Hit & Run and Instapundit

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

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

Kyle Trygstad / Roll Call:

Mary Landrieu to Keg-Stand Critics: ‘Get a Life’ — Landrieu, right, answers questions from the local media during her event with Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., left, in Baton Rouge, La. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call) — BATON ROUGE, La. — In the shadow of the state Capitol on Monday …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Talking Points Memo

Tim Murphy / Mother Jones:
Will It Take a Keg Stand for Mary Landrieu to Get Reelected?

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

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

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.

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

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

Marc Morano / Climate Depot:

Video: 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: Power Line, National Review, Weasel Zippers, Moonbattery, Twitchy and Viking Pundit

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

Politico:

Democrats relying on big donors to win — Democrats love to cast Republicans as the party of big money, beholden to the out-of-touch billionaires bankrolling their campaigns. — But new numbers tell a very different story — one in which Democrats are actually raising more big money than their adversaries.

Fiona Harvey / Guardian:

US to put climate change ‘front and center’ of diplomatic efforts, Kerry vows — Suzanne Goldenberg in New York and Fiona Harvey in London — The US secretary of state, John Kerry, promised to put climate change “front and center” of American diplomacy on Monday, raising expectations for this week's United Nations climate summit.