memeorandum: Anatomy of a Fake Terror Threat To Justify Bombing Syria (Glenn Greenwald/The Intercept)

11:40 AM ET, September 29, 2014

Top Items:

Why Obama Can't Say His Spies Underestimated ISIS — On “60 Minutes,” the president faulted his spies for failing to predict the rise of ISIS. There's one problem with that statement: The intelligence analysts did warn about the group. — Nearly eight months ago, some of President Obama's …

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Weekly Standard, Business Insider, Hit & Run, Power Line, Hot Air, VodkaPundit, Betsy's Page, Washington Free Beacon, National Review, Guardian and CBS News

Steve Kroft / CBS News:

President Obama: What makes us America — In wide-ranging interview, president discusses battle against Islamic extremists, U.S.-Russia relations and the upcoming midterm elections — The following is a script of “President Obama” which aired on Sept. 28, 2014. Steve Kroft is the correspondent.

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, Hot Air, Informed Comment and The Gateway Pundit

Timothy Cama / The Hill:
Obama: Intel officials underestimated ISIS

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, John Hawkins' Right Wing News and Instapundit

New York Times:
Obama Acknowledges U.S. Erred in Assessing ISIS

Discussion: RedState

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Senate Update: When Should Democrats Panic? — The Des Moines Register's Iowa Poll always makes news and with good reason: The pollster that conducts it, Selzer & Company, is among the best in the country, according to FiveThirtyEight's pollster ratings. On Saturday evening …

Discussion: Des Moines Register, Bloomberg, Washington Post, Daily Kos, Business Insider, Taegan Goddard's …, Bloomberg View and Bleeding Heartland

New York Times:

The Tide of the Culture War Shifts — Not long ago, it would have been unusual for a Democratic senatorial candidate in Iowa to run a powerful abortion-rights television ad like the one recently broadcast by Representative Bruce Braley. — The ad lists in detail the anti-abortion positions taken …

Discussion: Washington Post and Prairie Weather

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Party bosses place midterm bets — It's decision time for Republicans and Democrats battling for control of the Senate. — Five weeks before the midterm elections, party leaders are peering into their campaign bank accounts, doing their math and trying to figure out where to put their money — and where to abandon hope.

Juan Williams / The Hill:
Economy could tip election to Dems

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Shane Goldmacher / National Journal:
Democratic House Candidates Are Walloping Republicans in the Small-Money Game

Discussion: Democratic Strategist

Burgess Everett / Politico:
Confirmation battles are back — Prepare for the return of the confirmation fight.

Discussion: The Hill and CNN

Los Angeles Times:

Police use tear gas as thousands of protesters persist in Hong Kong — Police discharged tear gas and fired rubber bullets in the air Sunday in a failed attempt to scatter pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong who appear to pose the greatest test yet for China's “one country, two systems” …

Discussion: New York Times, Outside the Beltway and Hot Air

Patrick Chovanec / Quartz:
“Hands up, don't shoot” comes to Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement

Discussion: Mashable, The Atlantic Online, Mediaite and VodkaPundit

CNN:
Hong Kong says riot police have pulled back as protesters jam city streets

Discussion: Guardian, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Hit & Run

New York Times:
Crackdown on Protests by Hong Kong Police Draws More to the Streets

Discussion: Firedoglake, Vox, Wall Street Journal, Hullabaloo, TIME, The Dish, The Verge, ThinkProgress and The Agonist, more at Mediagazer »

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Our Invisible Rich — Half a century ago, a classic essay in The New Yorker titled “Our Invisible Poor” took on the then-prevalent myth that America was an affluent society with only a few “pockets of poverty.” For many, the facts about poverty came as a revelation, and Dwight Macdonald's article arguably …

Discussion: The Mahablog and No More Mister Nice Blog

Jeffrey Rosen / The New Republic:

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Is an American Hero — She's staying put—and has some choice words for young feminists. An interview. — Ruth Bader Ginsburg was considered a judge's judge when she was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1993, an incrementalist who thought Roe v. Wade might have gone too far.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, The Colorado Independent, ABC News, ACS Blog and New York Times

Ryan Lizza / New Yorker:

The Revenge of Rand Paul — The Senator has fought to go mainstream with the ideology that he shares with his father. How far can that strategy take him? … “You don't need to conduct me so hard—I'm right here.” — BUY OR LICENSE » … “So how does that eightfold path get us back on the Garden State?”

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Hugh Hewitt Show and Washington Post

Kristin Tate / BREITBART.COM:

EXCLUSIVE: JAMES O'KEEFE RELEASES SECOND VIDEO EXPOSÉ ON BATTLEGROUND TEXAS — HOUSTON, Texas — Battleground Texas (BGTX) may have failed to take any action regarding the “admission” of an undercover volunteer with BGTX that she had broken multiple election laws …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:

The Method To Steve King's Madness — The most notorious moment of Representative Steve King's career was cleverly calculated. — The immigration debate had undergone a sea change in favor of reform, with bipartisan Senate passage of a sweeping bill in the months after Hispanics carried President Obama …

Kendall Breitman / Politico:

The stars align for baby Charlotte — Leading astrologers say that Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky is destined for a future working on social justice and will enjoy a strong relationship with her proud grandparents, Hillary and Bill. — After Chelsea Clinton and Mark Mezvinsky's daughter …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Federalist and Mediaite

Nolan Clay / Daily Oklahoman:

Fired Oklahoma City nursing home worker threatened beheading, police say — Jacob Mugambi Muriithi, a native of Kenya, was arrested Friday in Oklahoma City on a terrorism complaint. — In a bizarre coincidence, a fired Oklahoma City nursing home employee was arrested Friday …

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Ed Driscoll and The Gateway Pundit