memeorandum: Romney 2016 is for real — BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL 2016 ELECTIONS MITT ROMNEY (Byron York/Washington Examiner)

3:45 PM ET, September 25, 2014

Top Items:

Carrie Johnson / NPR:

Eric Holder To Step Down As Attorney General — Eric Holder Jr., the nation's first black U.S. attorney general, is preparing to announce his resignation Thursday after a tumultuous tenure marked by civil rights advances, national security threats, reforms to the criminal justice system …

Benjamin Goad / The Hill:

Eric Holder to resign — Attorney General Eric Holder, one of president Obama's longest serving lieutenants, will announce his resignation Thursday, according to the Justice Department. — Holder, widely rumored to have been planning his departure before the unrest in Ferguson thrust …

Discussion: ABC News and Hot Air

New York Times:

Attorney General Eric Holder, Prominent Liberal Voice in Obama Administration, Is Resigning — WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is resigning from his post, the Justice Department said Thursday. Mr. Holder will remain in office until a successor is nominated and confirmed.

Discussion: JustOneMinute, The PJ Tatler, Watchdog.org, The Stranger … and Balloon Juice

ABC News:
Attorney General Eric Holder to Resign

Discussion: The Hill, ABC News, Truthdig and PoliticusUSA

Jennifer Epstein / Politico:
Eric Holder to step down

Discussion: ABC News

CNN: Holder to resign after successor is confirmed

Devlin Barrett / Wall Street Journal:
Eric Holder to Step Down as Attorney General

Discussion: Associated Press and American Thinker

John Monk / The State:

VIDEO RELEASED: SC trooper charged with felony in shooting at traffic stop over seat belt violation — COLUMBIA, SC — An S.C. trooper who stopped a man for a seat belt violation outside Columbia and then shot him - apparently without provocation - was arrested Wednesday and charged with assault …

Discussion: Mediaite, Gawker, RT, Hinterland Gazette, PoliticusUSA, addictinginfo.org, The Big Lead and The Daily Caller

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:

Video Shows South Carolina Cop Shooting Black Man Without Any Apparent Provocation — South Carolina state trooper Sean Groubert was arrested on Wednesday and charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature after a video emerged of him shooting a driver named Levar Jones that he pulled over for a seat belt violation.

Discussion: Hit & Run, Daily Kos and Shakesville

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Yep, We Need Dashcams

Discussion: WLTX-TV and Unfogged

Kendall Breitman / Politico:

Cheney rips Obama for ‘Ferguson’ — Dick Cheney says it's “outrageous” that President Barack Obama mentioned the summer's unrest in Ferguson, Mo., while speaking about ISIL during a speech at the United Nations. — “I was stunned,” the former vice president said on Wednesday during an interview on Fox News' “Hannity.”

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Economist:

Mission relaunched — The fight against Islamic State will help define America's role in the world — FOR more than three years, Barack Obama has been trying to avoid getting into a fight in Syria. But this week, with great tracts of the Middle East under the jihadist's knife, he at last faced up to the inevitable.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Obama's exceptional U.N. address

Discussion: Hot Air and John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Richard Grenell / Fox News:
Obama's condemnation of Ferguson, Missouri, during UN talk was a mistake

Discussion: The White House, Bloomberg View, his vorpal sword and Wall Street Journal

Lydia Saad / Gallup:

Colorado's Politics Are as Divided as They Get — Obama no more popular in the Centennial State than elsewhere — PRINCETON, NJ — Of the handful of extremely close U.S. Senate races this year, the battle over the Colorado seat being defended by Democratic Sen. Mark Udall is one of the closest …

Discussion: Washington Post and Politico

Jonathan Martin / New York Times:
Jeb Bush Returns to Fray and Finds Going Rough

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Liberaland and Prairie Weather

Nate Cohn / New York Times:
Kay Hagan's Surprising Strength

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, Roll Call, Politico and Prairie Weather

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

Romney 2016 is for real — BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL 2016 ELECTIONS MITT ROMNEY — Is Mitt Romney, who ran for the Republican presidential nomination and lost in 2008, ran again and won the nomination but lost the general election in 2012, really thinking about running yet again for president in 2016?

Discussion: Mother Jones, Hit & Run, New York Times, Washington Monthly, The Federalist, The Dish, Outside the Beltway and Hot Air

New York Post:

Zoo in coverup after groundhog dropped by de Blasio dies — Mayor Bill de Blasio couldn't hold onto the Staten Island Zoo's squirming groundhog. — Mayor Bill de Blasio has groundhog blood on his hands! — A week after Hizzoner dropped Staten Island Chuck in front of a crowd of spectators on Feb. 2 …

Discussion: New York Times, Mediaite, Politico, Mashable, Gothamist, Gawker, The Daily Caller, Washington Free Beacon and National Review

Mark Mazzetti / New York Times:

A Terror Cell That Avoided the Spotlight — WASHINGTON — Some time last year, a Kuwaiti man in his early 30s who had spent more than a decade hiding from the American government arrived in northwest Syria, where he met up with other members of Al Qaeda who had begun putting down roots in a country torn by two years of death and chaos.

Discussion: Guardian, Informed Comment and The Diplomat

Jack Shafer:
War without end: The U.S. may still be fighting in Syria in 2024, 2034, 2044 . . .

Discussion: Hit & Run, The Dish, UK Blog on The Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times, The PJ Tatler and National Review

Danny Vinik / The New Republic:

One of Romney's “Mad Men” Is Trying to Convince America That “Republicans Have Feelings” — Wednesday's Politico Playbook contained a massive scoop that Mike Allen, uncharacteristically, had buried in the email newsletter: “New effort reminds everyone that Republicans are people, too.”

Discussion: Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, American Prospect, addictinginfo.org, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and The Huffington Post

Steve Benen / msnbc.com:
New GOP ad campaign: ‘Republicans Have Feelings’

Discussion: Daily Signal and Raw Story

Paul A. Offit / Wall Street Journal:

The Anti-Vaccination Epidemic — Whooping cough, mumps and measles are making an alarming comeback, thanks to seriously misguided parents. — Almost 8,000 cases of pertussis, better known as whooping cough, have been reported to California's Public Health Department so far this year.

Discussion: Washington Post

Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:

Fox Hosts Dub Female Fighter Pilot Who Bombed ISIL ‘Boobs On The Ground’ (VIDEO) — Two male co-hosts of Fox News' “The Five” cracked sexist jokes Wednesday about the United Arab Emirates' first female fighter pilot. — Kimberly Guilfoyle took a moment to salute Major Mariam Al Mansouri …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Raw Story and Gawker

Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:

The Clinton team is following reporters to the bathroom. Here's why that matters. — Amy Chozick is the reporter tasked with covering the Clintons — and the runup to the now-almost-inevitable Hillary Clinton presidential bid — for the New York Times. Sounds like a plum gig, right?

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, Hot Air, The Dish, Shakesville, Betsy's Page and Washington Free Beacon, more at Mediagazer »

Karen Tumulty / Washington Post:
Iraq looms large again for Hillary Clinton as she weighs another White House bid

Discussion: CNN and RedState

BuzzFeed:

SD Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Somehow Plagiarized Biographical Sentence — Mary Burke had her own policies plagiarized. — Susan Wismer For South Dakota / Via Facebook: SusanForSD — Democratic gubernatorial South Dakota nominee appears to have plagiarized parts of her issues page …

Rob Davis / Oregonian:

Forest Service says media needs photography permit in wilderness areas, alarming First Amendment advocates — The U.S. Forest Service has tightened restrictions on media coverage in vast swaths of the country's wild lands, requiring reporters to pay for a permit and get permission before shooting …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Outside the Beltway, Fox News, CBS San Francisco, The Daily Caller and Hit & Run

Brian Beutler / The New Republic:

Gabby Giffords's Gun-Control Ads Are Being Criticized Because They're Working — Strange but true: getting shot in the head will make a person want to defeat political candidates who oppose gun control laws. Actually, getting shot in the head is usually fatal.

Discussion: National Review