memeorandum: The Media's Embarrassing Scott Walker Spectacle (Charles C. W. Cooke/National Review)

1:35 AM ET, February 24, 2015

Top Items:

Kimberlee Kruesi / Minneapolis Star Tribune:

Idaho lawmaker asks if woman can swallow camera for gynecological exam before medical abortion — BOISE, Idaho — An Idaho lawmaker received a brief lesson on female anatomy after asking if a woman can swallow a small camera for doctors to conduct a remote gynecological exam.

Discussion: Spokesman.com, Boing Boing, No More Mister Nice Blog, ThinkProgress, Raw Story, Mediaite, Associated Press and Shakesville

Kara Brown / Jezebel:

Male Politician Thinks that Your Vagina and Stomach are Connected — Republican State Representative Vito Barbieri from the state of Idaho thinks that a woman's vagina has some sort of direct passageway to her stomach because, I mean, how else does the pee come out?

Discussion: FreakOutNation

The Hill:

McConnell moves to prevent Homeland Security shutdown — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell took steps Monday to prevent a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security by splitting off legislation attacking President Obama's immigration actions from the funding fight.

Discussion: RedState and Politico

Politico:

Congress inches closer to cliff — For the fourth time, Democrats block a bill that seeks to reverse Obama's immigration order. — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to discuss the length of a short-term resolution to fund the Department of Homeland Security with GOP senators in a closed-door lunch Tuesday.

Discussion: Washington Post, ThinkProgress, New York Times, Bloomberg View, CNN and Daily Kos

Ashley Parker / New York Times:
Concerns Mount as Homeland Security Shutdown Looks Likely

Discussion: Firedoglake, NPR and Washington Monthly

Ewen MacAskill / Guardian:

Leaked cables show Netanyahu's Iran bomb claim contradicted by Mossad — Gulf between Israeli secret service and PM revealed in documents shared with the Guardian along with other secrets including CIA bids to contact Hamas — Binyamin Netanyahu's dramatic declaration to world leaders …

Discussion: New York Times, Al Jazeera English, ThinkProgress, Hit & Run and BuzzFeed

Ewen MacAskill / Guardian:
CIA attempted to contact Hamas despite official US ban, spy cables reveal

Discussion: Al Jazeera English and Mashable

Associated Press:
Historic US-Iran nuclear deal could be taking shape

Discussion: Hot Air and Agence France-Presse

Al Jazeera English:
The Spy Cables: A glimpse into the world of espionage

Discussion: Firedoglake, Haaretz, Guardian, Pamela Geller, Atlas Shrugs, ABC News, Common Dreams, Gawker, New York Magazine and Israel Matzav

Will Jordan / Al Jazeera English:
Mossad contradicted Netanyahu on Iran nuclear programme

Discussion: Common Dreams and The Times of Israel

Amanda Marcotte / Slate:

Patricia Arquette's Feminism: Only for White Women — It's easy to laugh at the timid way that celebrities frequently wade into feminism, offering pat statements scripted by a team of public relations experts to be as nonoffensive as possible. But Patricia Arquette's performance …

Discussion: Salon, Truth Revolt, ThinkProgress, The Daily Caller, New York Magazine, Mashable and Bloomberg Business

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:
Fox News Bashes Patricia Arquette For Advocating Wage Equality: ‘I Was Appalled’

Discussion: Salon, Daily Kos and Washington Post

Mollie Hemingway / The Federalist:
We Don't Have A Wage Gap Problem, But Hollywood And The White House Do

Discussion: Daily Signal, Fox News, Slate, Mediaite, Truth Revolt, Hot Air, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, ABC News, US News and The Gateway Pundit

Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig / The New Republic:
The Problem With Patricia Arquette's Oscar Speech

Discussion: Fusion, The Daily Beast, Guardian, Washington Post, The Atlantic Online, Hit & Run and USA Today

David Wood / The Huffington Post:

VA Secretary Robert McDonald Falsely Claimed He Served In Special Forces — WASHINGTON — Robert McDonald, the secretary of veterans affairs, wrongly claimed in a videotaped comment earlier this year that he served in special operations forces, the most elite units in the armed forces …

Discussion: Fox News, Washington Times and The Daily Caller

ABC News:
VA Secretary Robert McDonald Apologizes for Misstating He Served in Special Forces

Discussion: Mediaite and The Gateway Pundit

New York Times:

Bill O'Reilly and Fox News Redouble Defense of His Falklands Reporting — The Fox News host Bill O'Reilly on Monday stepped up his defense against reports that he embellished stories about his war reporting earlier in his career, while some former colleagues continued to say he had exaggerated his experiences.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Gawker, Mediaite, TVNewser, Deadline, Rich Meislin, Washington Post, Bloomberg Business and The Daily Beast, more at Mediagazer »

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Why the Bill O'Reilly charges aren't sticking — Fox News host Bill O'Reilly almost certainly exaggerated his experiences during the Falklands War and its aftermath in 1982, as several CBS News staffers who were with him at the time attest. He wasn't actually in a “war zone” or “combat situation …

Discussion: BillOReilly.com, NPR, Raw Story, The Hugh Hewitt Show, The Last Tradition, Guardian, FAIR Blog, Gawker, TVNewser, The Daily Banter, Talking Points Memo, Mashable and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Charles C. W. Cooke / National Review:

The Media's Embarrassing Scott Walker Spectacle — The farcical game of the one-sided “gotcha” question — On Saturday afternoon, two of the Washington Post's crack political correspondents accosted Governor Scott Walker in the lobby of a JW Marriott hotel and asked him whether he believed that President Obama is “a Christian.”

Discussion: The Federalist, The Huffington Post, BREITBART.COM, Washington Post, If You Only News, PBS NewsHour and Ed Driscoll

Robert Tracinski / The Federalist:
Scott Walker Is a Threat to the Existing Social Order

Discussion: NewsBusters, Rush Limbaugh, Ed Driscoll, BuzzFeed and Politico

Cameron Joseph / The Hill:
Walker fundraises off ‘gotcha’ questions

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Yehuda Remer / Truth Revolt:

James O'Keefe: ‘I Am Afraid For My Life On This One’ — Conservative journalist filmmaker James O'Keefe on Saturday tweeted an ominous message to those who follow him and his influential work. — “We have a story we're going to release this coming week and I've never thought …

Discussion: CANNONFIRE and FOX News Radio

Adam B. Vary / BuzzFeed:

Glenn Greenwald Thought NPH's Snowden Oscars Joke Was “Stupid And Irresponsible” — The journalist had some strong words for the 87th Academy Awards' host, who said, “Edward Snowden couldn't be [there] for some treason.” — Dirk Wilutzky, Laura Poitras, and Glenn Greenwald …

Discussion: PandoDaily, The Daily Banter, The PJ Tatler, Hit & Run, Salon and The Huffington Post, more at Mediagazer »

Amy Davidson / New Yorker:
Why “Citizenfour” Deserved Its Oscar

Discussion: BillMoyers.com, FishbowlDC and Althouse

Steve Schmadeke / Chicago Tribune:

Sex assault charges tied to ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ movie — A University of Illinois at Chicago student leader was charged with sexually assaulting a 19-year-old female student in what Cook County prosecutors said Monday was part of a re-enactment of scenes from the film “Fifty Shades of Grey.”

Discussion: Jezebel, FOX6Now.com and The Gateway Pundit

Erica Demarest / DNAinfo Chicago:
Alleged Rapist Tells Police He Was Acting Out ‘50 Shades of Grey’

Discussion: Clash Daily

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

Comcast, Al Sharpton Hit With $20 Billion Racial Discrimination Lawsuit — The National Association of African-American Owned Media alleges that Sharpton and other advocates have been bought off. — Al Sharpton — Even though the FCC hasn't yet ruled on the proposed merger between Comcast …

Discussion: Atlanta Daily World, Rush Limbaugh, Hinterland Gazette, Hot Air, American Spectator, John Hawkins' Right Wing News and Allen West Republic

Ross Ramsey / The Texas Tribune:

UT/TT Poll: In Texas, Walker Ties Cruz; Clinton Soaring … UT/TT Poll - February 2015 - Summary UT/TT Poll - February 2015 - Methodology — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has erased U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz's strong lead among Texas Republicans in the volatile and still-developing race …

Discussion: Hot Air, Politico, OnPolitics, Talking Points Memo and Fox News

Lydia Saad / Gallup:

Seven in 10 Americans Continue to View Israel Favorably — PRINCETON, N.J. — Even as relations between the leaders of Israel and the United States reportedly deteriorate over disagreement about how to handle Iran's nuclear program, Israel has retained its broadly favorable image in the U.S. over the past year.