memeorandum: George Zimmerman: President Obama amped up racial tension against me (Rene Stutzman/Orlando Sentinel)

10:15 AM ET, March 24, 2015

Top Items:

Matt Wilstein / Mediaite:

Rep. Peter King Threatens to Jump Off a Bridge if Cruz Gets GOP Nomination — Rep. Peter King (R-NY) appeared on CNN's The Situation Room Monday afternoon and when Wolf Blitzer asked him to explain his statement that compared Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) to a “carnival barker,” …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Progress Pond

Danny Vinik / The New Republic:

Ted Cruz Cannot Be Serious — The big news of the day is that Senator Ted Cruz is officially running for president. Not setting up an exploratory committee or any of that perfunctory foreplay, but actually running. “It is a time for truth. It is a time for liberty,” he said in a 30-minute speech at, yeah, Liberty University.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Washington Monthly, Slate and New York Times

Kevin Cirilli / The Hill:

Cruz: I'm a natural born American — Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said Monday that despite being born in Canada he is still a natural born citizen by birth and qualified to run for president. — “I was born in Calgary. My parents — as a legal matter, my mother is an American citizen by birth …

Discussion: Political Wire, Bloomberg Business and Business Insider

Jonathan Martin / New York Times:

What Ted Cruz Would Need to Do to Win — Senator Ted Cruz of Texas on Monday became the first to officially declare his candidacy for the 2016 presidential election. Here is a look at what he will need to do if he hopes to win. — Senator Ted Cruz of Texas on Monday became …

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, Advocate, The Week, Outside the Beltway and The Reaction

Nate Cohn / New York Times:

Why Ted Cruz Is Such a Long Shot — In nearly every presidential primary, a few candidates attract a lot of news media attention even though they have almost no chance to win the nomination. Sometimes they even lead national polls or win states, but invariably their appeal is too narrow …

Niall Stanage / The Hill:
Democrats cheer: Run, Ted, run

Discussion: Politico, John Hawkins' Right Wing News and Vox

Ben Domenech / The Federalist:
3 Reasons Ted Cruz Could Win

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Real Clear Politics, FiveThirtyEight, National Review and New York Times

Jonathan Topaz / Politico:
Rand Paul, reacting to Ted Cruz, talks ‘winnability’

Discussion: Bloomberg Business

Wilson / Glenn Beck:
Ted Cruz called Glenn over the weekend and revealed something Glenn thinks is really important

Discussion: Rush Limbaugh, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Politico and TheBlaze.com

David Knowles / Bloomberg Business:
Donald Trump Goes Birther on Canadian-Born Ted Cruz

Discussion: CBS DC, Latest from Crooks and Liars, Talking Points Memo, The Hinterland Gazette, Business Insider, The Moderate Voice, Dallas Morning News and The Daily Caller

Andrew Harnik / Washington Post:
Transcript: Ted Cruz's speech at Liberty University

Discussion: The Hugh Hewitt Show, The Federalist, BarbWire.com, Bloomberg View, ThinkProgress, Daily Kos, Washington Monthly, Daily Signal, PoliticusUSA, New York Magazine and The Liberty Champion

Jeff Zeleny / CNN:
Could Ted Cruz pull a Barack Obama?

Discussion: Tampa Bay Times, Hot Air, Bloomberg Business and The Federalist

Manu Raju / Politico:
Fellow Texan John Cornyn won't back Ted Cruz in presidential primary

Discussion: ABC News, ABC News, The Verge, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo and The PJ Tatler

Kay Steiger / ThinkProgress:
Ted Cruz Just Laid Out The Most Anti-Woman Agenda Yet

Discussion: New York Times, The Federalist, Althouse, Vox, Firedoglake, Hit & Run, Common Dreams, Politico, Talking Points Memo and The Hill, more at Mediagazer »

Shane Goldmacher / National Journal:
These Students ‘Stand with Rand’ at Ted Cruz's 2016 Announcement

Discussion: BuzzFeed, The Daily Caller, Outside the Beltway, OpenSecrets.org and Daily Signal

Adam Entous / Wall Street Journal:

Israel Spied on Iran Talks — Ally's snooping upset White House because information was used to lobby Congress to try to sink a deal — Soon after the U.S. and other major powers entered negotiations last year to curtail Iran's nuclear program, senior White House officials learned Israel was spying on the closed-door talks.

Bret Stephens / Wall Street Journal:

The Orwellian Obama Presidency — Under Mr. Obama, friends are enemies, denial is wisdom, capitulation is victory. — The humiliating denouement to America's involvement in Yemen came over the weekend, when U.S. Special Forces were forced to evacuate a base from which they had operated against the local branch of al Qaeda.

Discussion: Power Line, Jewish World Review and Washington Free Beacon

New York Times:
Netanyahu Apologizes; White House Is Unmoved

Discussion: Consortiumnews.com, AMERICAblog News, The Huffington Post, Common Dreams, PoliticusUSA, Guardian, NPR, Politico and Naked Politics

Katie Pavlich / The Hill:

America isn't better with ObamaCare — It's been five years since the Affordable Care Act, better known as ObamaCare, was passed and signed into law. This week, the White House is touting the legislation as a huge success and claiming the country is better off.

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

After Cruz pledge to repeal ObamaCare, White House asks: Remember Romney? — The White House on Monday warned Republican presidential hopefuls that promising to repeal President Obama's signature healthcare reform law is a proven political loser. — “There was a presidential candidate …

Edward-Isaac Dovere / Politico:
Hillary Clinton meets Barack Obama at the White House

Discussion: Bloomberg Business and New York Magazine

Edward-Isaac Dovere / Politico:
Barack Obama's top aide says Israeli ‘occupation’ must end

Discussion: Washington Post, Israel Matzav, Associated Press, Mediaite and Jerusalem Post

Angelina Jolie Pitt / New York Times:

Diary of a Surgery — LOS ANGELES — TWO years ago I wrote about my choice to have a preventive double mastectomy. A simple blood test had revealed that I carried a mutation in the BRCA1 gene. It gave me an estimated 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer.

Discussion: KFOR-TV, FOX31 Denver, Althouse, NBC News, Reuters, CBS New York, Mashable, Gawker, WGN-TV, NPR, CBS Los Angeles and abc30.com

Michael Shnayerson / Politico:

He coulda been a contender — The rise and fall of Andrew Cuomo. — Lead image by AP Photo. — Close up, Andrew Cuomo had his flaws. But as a newcomer to the national stage, he looked a big winner—and he was. In just two years, the New York governor had whipped the country's worst-run capital …

Ayo and Iken:

An Interview With George Zimmerman - March 2015 — In an interview conducted in Orlando by Howard Iken, George Zimmerman discusses his viewpoint on events now that the Justice Department has declined to file charges against him — Duplication without prior permission prohibited.

Discussion: Hot Air, The Week, Mediaite, Washington Times, Bloomberg Business, Raw Story and CBS DC

Rene Stutzman / Orlando Sentinel:
George Zimmerman: President Obama amped up racial tension against me

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Talking Points Memo

Jean-Francois Rosnoblet / Reuters:

Germanwings plane crashes in France, up to 150 feared dead — (Reuters) - An Airbus plane operated by Lufthansa's Germanwings budget airline crashed in southern France on Tuesday en route from Barcelona to Duesseldorf, police and aviation officials said. — French Prime Minister Manuel Valls …

Discussion: Associated Press, The Atlantic Online, Scared Monkeys and The Week

Fox News:

No survivors expected after plane carrying 150 crashes in French Alps — DEVELOPING: No survivors are expected among the 150 people aboard a passenger plane that went down in the French Alps Tuesday morning, said the French president, who called the crash “a tragedy that has occurred on our land.”

Discussion: New York Times, Telegraph, Algemeiner.com, The Gateway Pundit and New York Magazine

Juan Williams / The Hill:

Tea Party could burn its own base on Medicare — How much pain will far-right conservatives cause the GOP leadership on Capitol Hill before Congress reaches a deal to fix this year's Medicare funding shortfall? — The Tea Party caucus has a lot more skin in this game than in earlier funding fights.