memeorandum: Liberals Are the New McCarthyites—and They're Proud of It (John Fund/National Review)

8:35 AM ET, April 4, 2015

Top Items:

Eric Ham / The Hill:

Clinton has inevitability, but Bush has the Electoral College — As the 2016 presidential field slowly takes shape, the race — even with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) announcing his candidacy — centers on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-Fla.).

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Hugh Hewitt / The Hugh Hewitt Show:

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough On 2016, The Iran “Deal” And Hillary's Glass Jaw — Morning Joe joined me on today's show: — Audio: — 04-03hhs-scarborough — Transcript: — HH: Joined now by MSNBC's Joe Scarborough. Happy Easter weekend to you, Joe, I hope you get the weekend off.

Discussion: Liberaland, TVNewser and Business Insider

Adam C. Smith / Tampa Bay Times:

Florida not a given for Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio — Bad enough that Florida is by far the most populated state never to produce a president. This diverse, mega battleground most resembles America, but we haven't even produced a presidential nominee, despite the underdog campaigns of Reubin Askew in 1984 and Bob Graham in 2004.

Discussion: Associated Press and BuzzFeed

New York Times:

Big Business's Critical Role on Anti-Gay Laws — Big corporations like Walmart, Apple, Salesforce.com and General Electric and their executives have done the right thing by calling on officials in Indiana and Arkansas to reject “religious freedom” laws designed to give businesses …

Discussion: Advocate, Washington Post, Hit & Run and NPR

Yuval Levin / National Review:
The Church of the Left — Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act …

Discussion: Ed Driscoll

Mark Leibovich / New York Times:

Tom Cotton Is Not Mailing It In — Your last name is Cotton, and this interview was arranged by your communications director, Caroline Rabbitt. Who is your chief of staff, Beatrix Potter? If only. No, my chief of staff is Doug Coutts. — You were raised in rural Arkansas …

Discussion: Washington Post, Mediaite, Bloomberg Business, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, NPR and The Week

Judith Miller / Wall Street Journal:

The Iraq War and Stubborn Myths — Officials didn't lie, and I wasn't fed a line, writes Judith Miller — I took America to war in Iraq. It was all me. — OK, I had some help from a duplicitous vice president, Dick Cheney. Then there was George W. Bush, a gullible president …

Discussion: Guardian, Mediaite and Politico

Mike Nowatzki / INFORUM:

ND House kills bill outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation — BISMARCK - For the third time in six years, North Dakota lawmakers have killed legislation that would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation, despite warnings from some Democrats and Republicans that it could tarnish …

Discussion: Mediaite, Raw Story, PoliticusUSA, JIMROMENESKO.COM and Human Rights Campaign Blog

Aaron Burner / WDAY-TV:
ND House strikes down bill outlawing sexual orientation discrimination, supporters will push for bill next session

Discussion: Raw Story and Talking Points Memo

Fars News Agency:

Rouhani Stresses Removal of All Sanctions on 1st Day of Final Deal Implementation — TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran's President Hassan Rouhani underlined on Friday that all the UN and economic, financial and banking sanctions against Iran will be annuled the moment a final nuclear deal between Iran and the six world powers goes into effect.

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Power Line and Lawfare

Max Fisher / Vox:
This is an astonishingly good Iran deal

Discussion: Slate, The Daily Banter, Tommy Xtra, Washington Post, Hot Air, Hullabaloo and Politico

Wall Street Journal:
Concessions Fueled Iran Nuclear Talks

Discussion: Fox News Insider and Fox News

Associated Press:

Judge orders California to pay for inmate's sex change — Photo provided by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shows Michelle-Lael Norsworthy. (AP Photo/California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.) — SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A federal judge …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, John Hawkins' Right Wing News and protein wisdom

Frank Bruni / New York Times:

Bigotry, the Bible and the Lessons of Indiana — THE drama in Indiana last week and the larger debate over so-called “religious freedom” laws in other states portray homosexuality and devout Christianity as forces in fierce collision. — They're not — at least not in several prominent denominations …

Discussion: Public Religion Research …

Washington Post:

These are the racially charged e-mails that got 3 Ferguson police and court officials fired — City officials in Ferguson, Mo., on Thursday evening released the full, unredacted content of racially charged and religiously insensitive e-mails sent by the city's former court clerk …

Discussion: The New Republic, Daily Kos, Guardian, New York Magazine, Talking Points Memo and PoliticusUSA

Ron Ben-Yishai / Ynetnews:

A better deal than we expected — Analysis: Despite glaring shortcomings of ‘framework’ deal with Iran - which allow Tehran ability to resume its nuclear pursuit with haste - Obama now offering Netanyahu an olive branch; the Israeli leader should embrace it and help seal loopholes in final agreement.

Discussion: Politico, New York Times and Al Jazeera English

Abby Phillip / Washington Post:

Alabama inmate free after 30 years on death row. How the case against him unraveled. — Anthony Ray Hinton was one of Alabama's longest-serving death row inmates, having spent more than half his life incarcerated. Now, after three decades of insisting that he is innocent in the 1985 murders of two men …

Discussion: al.com, CNN and Firedoglake

Peggy Noonan / Wall Street Journal:

Misplaying America's Hand With Iran — The president's desperation for a foreign-policy legacy is leading toward a bad nuclear deal—and a dangerous one. — Barack Obama, six years into his presidency, does not have a foreign-policy legacy—or, rather, he does and it's bad.

Discussion: The American Conservative

Ali Meyer / CNSNews:

Americans Not in Labor Force Exceed 93 Million for First Time; 62.7% Labor Force Participation Matches 37-Year Low — (CNSNews.com) - The number of Americans 16 years and older who did not participate in the labor force—meaning they neither had a job nor actively sought one in the last four weeks …