memeorandum: The Great Debate Debate Is Unraveling (Ed Kilgore/Washington Monthly)

12:35 PM ET, November 3, 2015

Top Items:

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

Obama mocks GOP hopefuls for CNBC snit — President Obama on Monday mocked Republican presidential candidates as thin-skinned for lashing out at CNBC over the network's handling of last week's primary debate. — “They say, 'when I talk to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin …

Discussion: PoliticusUSA, ABC News and The Week

Tierney Sneed / Talking Points Memo:

How The Debate Debacle Could Backfire On Republicans — A new round of chaos in the 2016 presidential primary has erupted, with a full-on revolt by GOP 2016ers against this cycle's debate structures. — After widespread frustration with the tough questioning candidates faced in last week's CNBC debate …

Discussion: CNN, The Moderate Voice, Naked Politics and Washington Post

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:

The Great Debate Debate Is Unraveling — I realize news outlets (and for that matter, news-cycle blogs) have to go with what they've got, but I hope a few eyes were rolling over the weekend at the Great Debate Debate of 2015, said to be a rallying point for the vast Republican presidential field that was …

Discussion: Mother Jones, PoliticusUSA and Politico

New York Times:

G.O.P.: Save Your Candidates From Themselves — Reeling after Mitt Romney's loss to Barack Obama in 2012, the Republican Party gathered for a soul-searching exercise called the Growth and Opportunity Project. — Project leaders surveyed thousands of Republican voters, technical experts and elected officials.

Discussion: Salon, Washington Post, Democratic Strategist, Poynter. and US News

David A. Graham / The Atlantic:
The Republicans Debate Their Debates

Discussion: Washington Post, Independent Journal, Salon, TVNewser and Daily Kos

Hadas Gold / Politico:
GOP debate talks in disarray as consensus collapses

Discussion: CNNMoney, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, Washington Post, TVNewser, Outside the Beltway, The Federalist, Towleroad and The Week

Robert Costa / Washington Post:
Trump's campaign says he'll negotiate directly with TV networks on debates

Mark Murray / NBC News:

NBC/WSJ Poll: Carson Surges Into Lead of National GOP Race — Ben Carson has surged into the lead of the Republican presidential race, getting support from 29 percent of GOP primary voters, according to a brand-new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. — That's the highest percentage …

Ginger Gibson / Reuters:

Republicans trust Trump on economy, nuclear weapons: Reuters/Ipsos poll — Donald Trump is the Republican candidate most trusted to manage the economy, deal with foreign leaders and serve as commander in chief, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll of Republicans conducted after the party's third debate.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Week and Political Wire

Michael Falcone / ABC News:

The Note: Can Jeb Fix It?

Discussion: The New York Observer and Politico

Niall Stanage / The Hill:
Ninety days until Iowa caucuses: Turmoil in the Republican race

Discussion: Politico

Janet Hook / Wall Street Journal:
Clinton's Explanations on Benghazi Attacks Winning Over Voters — WSJ/NBC Poll

Discussion: FOX News Radio, Washington Post, Fox News and The Week

Patrick O'Connor / Wall Street Journal:
Ben Carson Vaults to Lead in Latest Journal/NBC Poll

Discussion: Washington Post, The Daily Caller, CNN, Fox News Insider, American Spectator, Outside the Beltway, The Week, Political Wire, RedState and Politico

ABC News:
Donald Trump: Ben Carson 'Just Doesn't Have the Experience' to Be President

Discussion: Washington Post and abc7chicago.com

Patrick O'Connor / Wall Street Journal:
Ben Carson Vaults to Lead in Latest Journal/NBC Poll

Discussion: Fox News and Political Wire

John McCormick / Bloomberg Business: Ben Carson Is Taking Iowa One Church at a Time

Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project:

U.S. Public Becoming Less Religious — Modest Drop in Overall Rates of Belief and Practice, but Religiously Affiliated Americans Are as Observant as Before — Is the American public becoming less religious? Yes, at least by some key measures of what it means to be a religious person.

Discussion: Reuters, Truth Revolt, Joe.My.God., Friendly Atheist, The Hugh Hewitt Show, The Week, NPR and Prairie Weather

New York Times:

In Religious Arbitration, Scripture Is the Rule of Law — A few months before he took a toxic mix of drugs and died on a stranger's couch, Nicklaus Ellison wrote a letter to his little sister. — He asked for Jolly Ranchers, Starburst and Silly Bandz bracelets, some of the treats permitted …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Erick on the Radio, AMERICAblog News, Crooked Timber and Friendly Atheist

David Corn / Mother Jones:

Ben Carson on Americans: “Many of Them Are Stupid.” — When retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, the current GOP 2016 front-runner, campaigns, he routinely pitches “common sense solutions from We the People.” But it seems the candidate who celebrates a cheerful and straightforward populism …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Washington Monthly

Alison Elkin / Bloomberg.com news:

Charles Koch Says He, Brother Largely Fail at Influence-Buying — “So far we're largely failures at it, as you can tell,” Republican mega-donor Charles Koch says in interview on MSNBC's “Morning Joe” when asked if he is buying political influence and if that is at odds with his desire to end so-called corporate welfare.

Nick Gass / Politico:
Koch brothers: We're ‘failures’ at changing America

Discussion: EcoWatch and addictinginfo.org

Burgess Everett / Politico:

Franken gets serious about flipping Senate to Democrats — On a recent October afternoon, Democratic Sen. Al Franken mistakenly ambled toward the Mansfield Room, where the party in control — namely Republicans — meets weekly to hash out strategy. — “I keep thinking we're in the majority …

Discussion: NBC News, America Rising and Joe.My.God.

Perry Chiaramonte / Fox News:

Dashcam video undermines Texas prof's claim of racial profiling, says chief — A Texas journalism professor's explosive charge that police hassled her for “walking while black,” a claim lodged in a guest column in the state's biggest newspaper, doesn't square with the videotape, according to the police chief.

Discussion: Daily Mail, mrctv.org/videos, John Hawkins' Right Wing News and The Daily Caller

Mitch Smith / New York Times:

Illinois District Violated Transgender Student's Rights, U.S. Says — CHICAGO — Federal education authorities found on Monday that an Illinois school district had violated anti-discrimination laws when it did not allow a transgender student who identifies as a girl and participates in athletics …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Weekly Standard, National Review, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Gateway Pundit, Chicago Tribune, Hot Air and The American Conservative

Sewell Chan / New York Times:

Ahmad Chalabi, Iraqi Politician Who Pushed for U.S. Invasion, Dies at 71 — Ahmad Chalabi, the Iraqi politician who from exile helped persuade the United States to invade Iraq in 2003, and then unsuccessfully tried to attain power as his country was nearly torn apart by sectarian violence, died at his home in Baghdad on Tuesday.

Discussion: Associated Press, Mother Jones, The Week, Balloon Juice and Lawyers, Guns & Money

CBS Los Angeles:

6 Passengers Kicked Off Plane At LAX Accused Of Being Unruly Claim Discrimination — LOS ANGELES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (CBSLA.com) - Six passengers kicked off a Spirit Airlines plane at Los Angeles International Airport Monday night accused a flight attendant of discrimination.

Discussion: CBS News, The Root, ThinkProgress and Daily Mail

Lisa Belkin / Yahoo:

Being married to Bernie — From the stage at the first Democratic presidential debate, nearly all the candidates opened with talk about their families. — “My wife, Hong, came to this country as a refugee from war-torn Vietnam,” said Jim Webb, who then went on to name his five children …

Eric Roston / Bloomberg Business:

Climate Change Kills the Mood: Economists Warn of Less Sex on a Warmer Planet — And fewer babies would be bad news. — Climate change has been blamed for many things over the years. Never, until now, has anyone thought it was possible to see it as a kind of contraceptive.

Discussion: Daily Mail, John Hawkins' Right Wing News and Watts Up With That?

Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:

Speaker Paul Ryan Moves Fast to ‘Detoxify’ Boehner's Smoky Suite — WASHINGTON — There are many things Americans cannot yet know about Speaker Paul D. Ryan's plans for his fancy new digs on Capitol Hill. Dark curtains or sheers? Memorabilia from the 2012 presidential campaign or his first House race in 1998?

Discussion: The Week, Towleroad and Moe Lane

Sarah Kliff / Vox:

Will cheaper health insurance really raise wages? The evidence is thin. — Economists believe something that on its face sounds absolutely bizarre to a normal human being: Obamacare's tax on expensive health insurance will give Americans a pay raise. — Here's the argument …

Ian M. Smith / The Hill:

Leaked DHS memo shows Obama might circumvent DAPA injunction — A newly leaked internal DHS memorandum produced for an off-the-record agency conclave reveals that the Obama administration is actively planning to circumvent a federal court injunction that suspended part of last November's deferral-based amnesty initiative.

Discussion: Fox News, Algemeiner.com, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, RedState, Immigration Reform Law … and Patterico's Pontifications