memeorandum: US to put climate change ‘front and center’ of diplomatic efforts, Kerry vows (Fiona Harvey/Guardian)

4:50 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: 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 — Previously unpublished correspondence between Hillary Clinton and the late left-wing organizer Saul Alinsky reveals new details about her relationship with the controversial Chicago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: Washington Monthly, Bloomberg View, The PJ Tatler, Blazing Cat Fur, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Federalist, New York Times, Fox News, Raw Story, Hot Air, The Daily Banter, Weasel Zippers, The Other McCain and Liberal Values

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: Hot Air, Fox News, Daily Kos, Althouse, The PJ Tatler, RedState, Politico, 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: Ed Driscoll and Taylor Marsh

John DiStaso / New Hampshire Journal:
Hillary Clinton to appear at DC reception for long-time friend Lou D'Allesandro

Discussion: CNN and Politico

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: Hot Air, Liberaland, Daily Signal, Fox News, Wall Street Journal, Weasel Zippers, The Daily Caller, National Republican …, Scared Monkeys 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: Hit & Run, Politico and Instapundit

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

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, Hit & Run, Power Line and New York Times

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

Discussion: The Daily Caller

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: Raw Story, WTVR-TV, Mashable, Hot Air, Shakesville and Twitchy

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

Discussion: The Stranger … and Washington Free Beacon

John Fund / National Review:

The Crumbling Climate-Change Consensus — Extremists' rhetoric heats up as their case falls apart. — Protesters at the People's Climate March in New York City, September 21. (Andrew Burton/Getty Images) — The United Nations Climate Summit will begin in New York this Tuesday, but environmental activists didn't wait.

Discussion: Betsy's Page

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

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Feministing, Firedoglake and United Nations

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

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

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

Juan Williams / The Hill:

Obama's October Surprise — Get ready for bombs bursting in air and this election's October Surprise - President Obama's air strikes to “degrade and ultimately destroy” ISIS. — Last week a Fox News poll identified a phenomenon that my friend, pollster Dana Blanton, dubbed “The ISIS effect.”

Discussion: Washington Monthly

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: Prairie Weather, Shakesville and Washington Monthly

Dylan Scott / Talking Points Memo:

If You Listen, Hillary Is Trying To Tell You What Her 2016 Message Will Be — When Hillary Clinton spoke about women's economic issues last week at the Center for American Progress in Washington, the attuned listener might have caught a few phrases that sounded familiar.

Discussion: Hullabaloo

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

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 …

Washington Post:

Sam Brownback's failed ‘experiment’ puts state on path to penury — GOV. SAM BROWNBACK of Kansas says he has come to regret characterizing his policy agenda as a “real live experiment” that would test the efficacy of deep tax cuts to spur jobs and economic growth. In fact, Mr. Brownback's choice of words was apt.

Discussion: CBS News, The Huffington Post, New York Times and Washington Monthly

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: National Review, Weasel Zippers and Twitchy

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: Talking Points Memo, Guardian and Towleroad News #gay

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Willie Nelson Feels Maureen Dowd's Pain — WASHINGTON — WHEN Willie Nelson invites you to get high with him on his bus, you go. — The man is the patron saint of pot, after all, and I'm the poster girl for bad pot trips. — It seemed like a match made in hash heaven.

Discussion: Hit & Run and The Dish

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

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.

Discussion: Reuters

UN Women - Headquarters:

Emma Watson: Gender equality is your issue too — Speech by UN Women Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson at a special event for the HeForShe campaign, United Nations Headquarters, New York, 20 September 2014 — [Check against delivery.] — Today we are launching a campaign called “HeForShe.”