memeorandum: In South Carolina, a Campaign Pitch for Every GOP Preference (Associated Press)

6:10 PM ET, May 9, 2015

Top Items:

Jeff Greenfield / The Daily Beast:

Why Character Attacks on Hillary Won't Work — Why the former first couple has always survived attacks on their character, and probably always will. — If you're Martin O'Malley, or one of the other potential Democrats pondering a race against Hillary Clinton, you've been presented …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, CANNONFIRE and New York Times

Karoli / Crooks and Liars:

National Media Reporter Admits ‘National Media Primed To Take Hillary Clinton Down’ — Dylan Byers over at the Charlie Pierce-dubbed Tiger Beat on the Potomac (aka Politico) spent a nanosecond thinking about how “inevitable” Hillary Clinton is, and then a nanosecond more inventing a couple of possible roadblocks.

Discussion: Politico and Hullabaloo

Sahil Kapur / Bloomberg Business:

King Blames Obama for Inciting Baltimore Riots — The Iowa firebrand takes his hot fire to South Carolina. — Representative Steve King was in his element at the South Carolina Freedom Summit on Saturday, saying after a speech to raucous conservatives that the fault for riots in Baltimore lies with President Barack Obama.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Associated Press:

In South Carolina, a Campaign Pitch for Every GOP Preference — Republicans making their pitch to be the party's 2016 presidential nominee aimed to out-do each other Saturday in arguing that President Barack Obama is a failed leader. — But hitting Obama with the usual critiques …

Discussion: Bloomberg Business and ABC News

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:

Top GOP Pollster Makes Really Weird Joke About Bruce Jenner At 2016 Event — A scene from Diane Sawyer's interview with Bruce Jenner. — CREDIT: YouTube/ABC News — GOP pollster Frank Luntz made an awkward joke about Bruce Jenner during a focus group at the South Carolina Freedom Summit on Saturday afternoon.

Discussion: Raw Story

Sheri Fink / New York Times:

Liberia Is Free of Ebola, World Health Organization Declares — The World Health Organization declared Liberia free of Ebola on Saturday, making it the first of the three hardest-hit West African countries to bring a formal end to the epidemic. — “The outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Liberia is over …

Discussion: The Atlantic, NPR, Outside the Beltway, The Verge and The Agonist

who.int:

Media centre — The Ebola outbreak in Liberia is over — WHO declares Liberia free of Ebola virus transmission. Forty-two days have passed since the last laboratory-confirmed case was buried on 28 March 2015. The outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Liberia is over.

Discussion: NBC News, Common Dreams and Mediaite

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Triumph of the Unthinking — “Words,” wrote John Maynard Keynes, “ought to be a little wild, for they are the assault of thoughts on the unthinking.” I've always loved that quote, and have tried to apply it to my own writing. But I have to admit that in the long slump that followed …

Discussion: Zandar Versus The Stupid and Frankly Curious

Doug Stanglin / USA Today:

North Korea tests submarine ballistic missile — North Korea claims it launched a missile from a submarine. If true, the launch violates U.N. sanctions and makes the country more of a threat. Video provided by Newsy Newslook — Under the watchful eyes of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un …

Discussion: The Week and NPR

The Hill:

GOP slow-plays Benghazi investigation — Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has agreed to testify before the Benghazi committee this month but don't expect Republicans to be satisfied with her appearance. — House Republicans have now spent a full year investigating the 2012 terrorist attacks …

Kyle Mantyla / Right Wing Watch:

'We're Being Set Up': Glenn Beck Warns His Audience To Prepare For The Time When He Is Murdered In The Night — Glenn Beck closed out his radio program yesterday with a 10-minute monologue warning his audience that everything that is happening in Baltimore and Ferguson and elsewhere is all a giant set-up …

Discussion: Booman Tribune, CANNONFIRE, Glenn Beck and Mediaite

Burlington Free Press:

Records outline sex assault case against senator — ST. ALBANS - A Vermont state senator has pleaded not guilty to six felony charges of sexual assault and prohibited acts that arose from what police describe as a sex-for-rent scheme involving several unwilling tenants.

Discussion: Mediaite and Talking Points Memo