memeorandum: Our Loud, Proud Left (Ross Douthat/New York Times)

Walker Surging in Iowa Poll as Bush Struggles — Hillary Clinton is running away from the potential Democratic field. — Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is surging, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush is an also-ran and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is dominating in a new poll …

Discussion: Politico, Hot Air, No More Mister Nice Blog, Althouse, The Last Refuge and FOX News Radio

Jennifer Jacobs / Des Moines Register:

Scott Walker leads tight GOP pack in new Iowa Poll — In a new Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics Iowa Poll of likely Republican caucusgoers, Rand Paul is just a point behind. With Mitt Romney out, Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson and Jeb Bush round out the top tier. The Register — CONNECT

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, Joe. My. God., National Review, American Spectator and Political Wire

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Rand Paul slams Bush ‘hypocrisy’ on pot — DALLAS — Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) accused Jeb Bush of hypocrisy after The Boston Globe reported the former Florida governor was a heavy marijuana smoker while at an elite prep school. — Bush opposed a Florida medical marijuana ballot initiative …

Discussion: Hit & Run, Taylor Marsh, Addicting Info, Politico, Mediaite, Booman Tribune, Talking Points Memo and Power Line

Washington Post:

Jeb Bush has become the GOP front-runner for 2016 — so now what? — Mitt Romney's decision to forgo a third try at the White House has settled the question of whether the 2016 GOP presidential field has a front-runner — bestowing a coveted status on former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush that also raises new challenges and perils.

Discussion: Des Moines Register and Hot Air

Ross Douthat / New York Times:

Our Loud, Proud Left — FOR the last week, liberal journalists have been furiously debating whether a new political correctness has swept over the American left. The instigator of this argument was New York magazine's Jonathan Chait, normally a scourge of Republicans, whose essay on what he dubbed …

Discussion: National Review, Booman Tribune and The Daily Caller

Frank Bruni / New York Times:

Disneyland, Measles and Madness — A FEW years back, an acerbic friend of mine who was a recent transplant to Los Angeles told me that she itched to write a satirical novel with the following narrative: — A group of wealthy, educated people in Santa Monica who deliberately didn't vaccinate …

Discussion: Daily Kos

Discussion: Washington Post, Unfogged, ABC News, CNN and Jezebel

Nicole Hensley / NY Daily News:

Texas boy suspended for saying he could make classmate ‘disappear’ with ‘Lord of the Rings’ sorcery — The ring little Aiden brought to school may not have been the true ring of power, but it had enough controversy to get him suspended from a Kermit, Texas, school.

Discussion: Raw Story and BizPac Review

Matt Wilstein / Mediaite:

How Audiences in Iraq Are Reacting to American Sniper — From Michael Moore and Howard Dean to Jesse Ventura and Michelle Obama, we have spent a lot of time discussing the reaction in this country to Clint Eastwood's Oscar-nominated film American Sniper. But now that the movie has actually …

Discussion: FOX News Radio

New York Times:

Retroactively Authorizing War — They went largely unnoticed, four words President Obama ad-libbed during the State of the Union address last month as he asked lawmakers to provide legal cover for America's military intervention in Iraq and Syria. — “We need that authority,” the president said …

Discussion: Hullabaloo

David Streitfeld / New York Times:

Ratings Now Cut Both Ways, So Don't Sass Your Uber Driver — People routinely use the Internet to review services from plumbers to hairdressers. Now the tables are turned. Companies are rating their customers, shunning those who do not make the grade. — Hussein Kanji insists he is not a bad Uber passenger.

Discussion: Althouse

Daily Mail:

Woman says she was pushed to the floor by a GHOST after security cameras filmed her being thrown to the floor when nobody was near her in Chile — A woman claims to have been pushed to the floor by a ghost after cameras caught her being thrown to the floor despite there being no-one around.

Discussion: myfox8.com and FOX News Radio

Heather Saul / The Independent:

Stephen Fry explains what he would say if he was ‘confronted by God’ — Staunch atheist Stephen Fry left a television host stunned when he explained what he would say if he was “confronted by God”. — The actor and author, who recently married his partner Elliot Spencer …