memeorandum: Coats retirement in Indiana shakes up 2016 battle for Senate (Cameron Joseph/The Hill)

12:20 AM ET, March 25, 2015

Top Items:

Ted Cruz to sign up for government health care — Ted Cruz, one of the loudest critics of Obamacare, will soon be using it for health insurance coverage. — “We will presumably go on the exchange and sign up for health care and we're in the process of transitioning over to do that,” Cruz …

CNN:

Ted Cruz going on Obamacare — Ted Cruz says he will enroll in Obamacare 01:47 — (CNN)Ted Cruz is going on Obamacare. — The newly announced Republican presidential candidate told CNN's Dana Bash on Tuesday that he will sign up for health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act — a law he has been on a crusade to kill.

Discussion: PoliticusUSA, Liberaland, Bloomberg Business, EgbertoWillies.com, Caffeinated Thoughts, ABC News, The Daily Caller, Chicago and New York Magazine

Ben Brody / Bloomberg Business:

On Global Warming, Ted Cruz Says He's Galileo, Not a Flat-Earther — The Texas senator is not a believer in man-made climate change. — The similarities between Texas Senator Ted Cruz and 16th-century astronomer Galileo Galilei are remarkable, according to Cruz.

Discussion: Politico, Guardian, Raw Story and Washington Post

Caleb Bonham / Campus Reform:

Prof: Ted Cruz and Republicans are resurrecting ‘discrimination’ — “Politics of the 1960s to Now” is a class taught by Prof. Chris Hamilton, a two-time Fulbright Scholar at Washburn University. — According to a student, Prof. Hamilton's course claims that Ted Cruz …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and John Hawkins' Right Wing News

John Cassidy / New Yorker:

Can You “Imagine” Ted Cruz as President? — “I'm running for President, and I hope to earn your support!” the forty-four year-old Texas Senator Ted Cruz said on Twitter, shortly after midnight on Monday, accompanying his tweet with a thirty-second campaign commercial that featured footage …

Discussion: Guardian, Common Dreams, Raw Story, BREITBART.COM, Washington Post and First Reading

Wall Street Journal:

The Cruz Candidacy — Ideology aside, the Republican is similar in many ways to Obama. — Can a smart, articulate, 40-something first term Senator trained in constitutional law, who disdains his colleagues and lacks executive experience, make the leap to the White House?

Discussion: Politico, The Week, Salon, Mediaite, Weekly Standard, National Review, Washington Post, Vox, The Hill and New York Times

Charles C. W. Cooke / National Review:
Ted Cruz Should Try Speaking to People Instead of at Them

Discussion: Hot Air, Rush Limbaugh, Talking Points Memo, Washington Monthly and No More Mister Nice Blog

Brendan James / Talking Points Memo:
Ted Cruz: I Started Listening To Country Music Because Of 9/11 (VIDEO)

Discussion: Mediaite, Hit & Run and Slate

Matt Wilstein / Mediaite:
Rep. Peter King Threatens to Jump Off a Bridge if Cruz Gets GOP Nomination

Discussion: Business Insider, Common Dreams, Hot Air, The Reaction, New York Magazine, The Huffington Post, The Texas Observer, US News, Des Moines Register, CNN, American Spectator, Politico, Washington Post, Progress Pond, Bloomberg View, Washington Monthly, FiveThirtyEight and The Week

Fox News Insider:
Megyn to Rand Paul: Why Weren't You First to Announce a 2016 Run?

Discussion: The PJ Tatler and OnPolitics

Catherine Rampell / Washington Post:
Ted Cruz's phenomenally bad idea

Discussion: The Daily Banter, Slate, Talking Points Memo, New York Times, The New Republic, The Federalist, Christian Science Monitor, BarbWire.com and Bloomberg View

George Sells / FOX2now.com:

Man kicked off Southwest flight over language on t-shirt … ST. LOUIS, MO. (KTVI) - A New York college student found himself stranded in St. Louis, Monday after being kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight that wasn't even supposed to land here. The conflict raises a classic first amendment debate …

Discussion: WGN-TV, CBS Dallas, Consumerist, FOX31 Denver, Gothamist and Mediaite

Tracy Walsh / Talking Points Memo:

‘Duck Dynasty’ Star Imagines Vivid Rape And Murder Scenario For Atheist Family — “Duck Dynasty” star and conservative icon Phil Robertson told a gruesome, vivid story on Friday about the hypothetical rape and murder of a family to illustrate the perils of atheism, according to audio surfaced by Right Wing Watch.

Discussion: Right Wing Watch

Brian Tashman / Right Wing Watch:

Phil Robertson Hypothesizes About Atheist Family Getting Raped And Killed — On Friday, “Trunews” host Rick Wiles aired a speech that Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty delivered at the Vero Beach Prayer Breakfast earlier that day, in which Robertson offered gruesome details about how an atheist father …

Discussion: PoliticusUSA, Friendly Atheist and Raw Story

Jason Zengerle / GQ:

What If Sarah Palin Were a Brain Surgeon? — Until two years ago, Ben Carson was a mild-mannered neurosurgeon—a hero to black America, the subject of a tender made-for-TV movie. Then he started raving about Nazis and America's demise. Now he's the Tea Party's great White House hope—and the GOP's worst nightmare.

Discussion: Mediaite, Raw Story, No More Mister Nice Blog, Business Insider, Fox News, OnPolitics and Chicago

Helena Andrews / Washington Post:

The White House head florist is gone and rumors are flying about why — When White House chief pastry chef Bill Yosses left the executive mansion last summer, the president publicly mourned the loss of “the crust master's” mysteriously addictive pies. And when the first family's personal chef and pal …

Discussion: New York Post, Guardian, American Spectator, New York Magazine, Mediaite, Hullabaloo, The Daily Caller, Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo, CBS DC, Business Insider and Politico

Scott Wong / The Hill:

Boehner ‘baffled’ by Israeli spying report — Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Tuesday he was “shocked” and “baffled” by reports the Israeli government had spied on sensitive U.S.-Iran nuclear talks and passed information to members of Congress to whip up opposition to a potential deal.

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post, The Times of Israel, Guardian, Addicting Info, New York Times, Israpundit, Algemeiner.com, Associated Press, Mediaite and Talking Points Memo

Edward-Isaac Dovere / Politico:
James Baker blasts Benjamin Netanyahu

Discussion: Commentary Magazine, Washington Post, Mediaite, Hot Air, RedState and Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Washington Post:
Report: Israel spied on Iran-U.S. talks and shared information with lawmakers

Discussion: New York Times, The Times of Israel, Algemeiner.com, Hot Air, American Spectator, The PJ Tatler and The Gateway Pundit

Richard Cohen / Washington Post:

Ferguson and Benghazi's troubling parallels — Ferguson has become the liberal Benghazi. It is more of a cause than a place, more of an ideological statement than an incident. Ferguson was not the racist murder it was thought to be, and Benghazi was not an incident in which the Obama …

Discussion: Bloomberg Business, Raw Story, Washington Monthly, Mediaite and Booman Tribune

Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:
Washington Post Columnist Declares Ferguson Is The ‘Liberal Benghazi’

Discussion: Progress Pond and Lawyers, Guns & Money

New York Times:

U.S. to Delay Pullout of Troops From Afghanistan to Aid Strikes — WASHINGTON — President Obama's decision to maintain troop levels in Afghanistan through 2015 is partly designed to bolster American counterterrorism efforts in that country, including the Central Intelligence Agency's ability …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Common Dreams, Outside the Beltway and Reuters

Mary Bruce / ABC News:
President Obama Announces Slowdown of Troop Withdrawal From Afghanistan

Discussion: abc7chicago.com

Philip Ewing / Politico:
Obama to keep 9,800 troops in Afghanistan through 2015

Discussion: The PJ Tatler

BREITBART.COM:

Reports: MSM Reporters Give Hillary Clinton Standing Ovation after She Takes No Questions, Jokes about Email Scandal — On Monday evening, mainstream media reporters reportedly gave Hillary Clinton a standing ovation after she joked about her private email scandal and took no questions …

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News, TIME, Politico, FishbowlDC and The Gateway Pundit

Emily Schultheis / National Journal:
Hillary Clinton Offers the Media an Olive Branch—and a Lecture

Discussion: Power Line, Liberal Values, Fox News and Washington Post

Ed O'Keefe / Washington Post:
Dan Balz, Washington Post chief correspondent, wins Toner Prize

Discussion: The Hugh Hewitt Show and NewsBusters

Indianapolis Star:

Gen Con threatens to move convention if Gov. Mike Pence signs religious freedom bill — The organizers of Gen Con, the city's largest convention in attendance and economic impact, are threatening to move the event elsewhere if Gov. Mike Pence signs controversial religious freedom legislation …

Discussion: Polygon, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story and Towleroad News #gay

Rachelle Peterson / The Federalist:

Reporters Explain Why Balance Isn't Needed On Global Warming — Is it morally permissible to allow “climate deniers” to appear in print and televised media? — Columbia University journalism students wrestled with this question recently at a screening of the new documentary, “Merchants of Doubt.”

Discussion: BarbWire.com and Ed Driscoll

Cameron Joseph / The Hill:

Coats retirement in Indiana shakes up 2016 battle for Senate — Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.) on Tuesday announced that he will not run for reelection in 2016. — “Today I am announcing that I will not seek re-election to the United States Senate,” Coats said in a statement. “This was not an easy decision.

Discussion: Associated Press, Washington Post, RedState and Hot Air

Reuters:

Iraq request for U.S.-led Tikrit air strikes ‘imminent’: diplomat — (Reuters) - Iraq's request to the U.S.-led coalition for air strikes in the campaign to retake Tikrit from Islamic State insurgents is “imminent”, a senior diplomat from a Western nation that is part of the coalition told Reuters on Tuesday.

Discussion: NPR