memeorandum: Conservatives' biographies show that history can move right (Michael Barone/Washington Examiner)

3:05 AM ET, December 24, 2015

Top Items:

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:

Rand Paul Says He Won't Participate In Undercard Debate — “I'm not gonna let any network or anybody tell me we're not a first-tier campaign.” — w.soundcloud.com — Rand Paul said on Wednesday that he will refuse to participate in a “second-tier” debate if he is relegated to the undercard stage by the Fox Business Network.

Discussion: Fox Business, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Daily Kos, Daily Mail, Outside the Beltway and Politico

Nolan D. McCaskill / Politico:

Rand Paul: I won't do an undercard debate — Rand Paul will not accept being relegated to an undercard debate and is willing to protest, the Republican presidential candidate said Wednesday. — “I won't participate in any kind of second-tier debate,” Paul declared in a radio interview with Fox News host Brian Kilmeade.

Discussion: FOX News Radio, Yahoo Politics, Daily Kos, whorunsGov and Talking Points Memo

Sahil Kapur / Bloomberg Business:
Marco Rubio Dips in the Polls Heading into Christmas

Discussion: Politico

CNN:
Trump dominates GOP field heading into 2016

Associated Press:
Carson Telegraphs Major Campaign Shake-Up: ‘Everything Is On The Table’

Discussion: Politico and The Moderate Voice

Daily Mail:

Facebook page linked to Taliban and Al Qaeda was registered to same address as British Muslim father whose Disneyland trip was blocked by Homeland Security — A British Muslim father whose planned Disneyland trip was ruined when he and his family were barred from boarding a flight to the U.S …

Discussion: ITV, Israel Matzav, The Last Refuge, Pamela Geller and Althouse

CNN:

UK Muslims with Disneyland plans: We were barred from plane due to religion — (CNN)A Muslim man in London says his family was barred because of their religion from boarding a plane bound for Los Angeles, where they planned to visit Disneyland with their children. — On December 15, the extended family waited at the gate.

Discussion: Raw Story and Guardian

Guardian:
US stops British Muslim family from boarding flight to visit Disneyland

Discussion: ITV, Breitbart, Right, Washington Post, addictinginfo.org, ThinkProgress, Hullabaloo, The Week, Talking Points Memo, Common Dreams and Mediaite

Amanda Andrade-Rhoades / Opposing Views:

Kentucky's New Governor Strips Voting Rights For Felons And Lowers Minimum Wage In Sweeping Reforms — Kentucky's newly sworn-in Gov. Matt Bevin has issued a series of executive orders undoing much of his Democratic predecessor's work in one fell swoop. — Not only did Bevin strip …

John Cheves / Lexington Herald-Leader:

Bevin orders marriage license changes; reverses Beshear on felon voting rights, minimum wage — Order removes the names of counties and county clerks from marriage licenses — Critics question whether Bevin has authority to change law requiring clerks' signature

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Common Dreams, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, Morning Consult and Mother Jones

Courier-Journal:
Bevin takes ax to Beshear's executive orders

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Daily Kos, Occupy Democrats, Vox and Joe.My.God.

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Sorry, Conservatives, Obamacare Is Still Working — We will stop correcting you when you stop being wrong. — 1.7k — 1.3k — Two years ago this time, conservatives were giddily predicting that Obamacare would collapse, “a failure of the administrative state on a level unimagined …

Discussion: Mother Jones, bradford-delong.com and The Huffington Post

John Wagner / Washington Post:

Sanders on Trump: ‘He has discovered that women go to the bathroom’ — COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders ratcheted up his criticism Tuesday of Republican front-runner Donald Trump, calling him a “coward billionaire” and mocking him for talking …

Discussion: Vox, addictinginfo.org, Little Green Footballs, The Week and Jezebel

Tony Leys / Des Moines Register:
Clinton says Trump's vulgarity doesn't shock her

Discussion: The Huffington Post, CNN, New York Times, Hot Air, Mediaite, Western Journalism, Slantpoint, NOLA River, Washington Post, Business Insider, Talking Points Memo, Politico and Reuters

Brent Budowsky / The Hill:
In blockbuster poll, Sanders destroys Trump by 13 points

Discussion: Politico, whorunsGov, CANNONFIRE, Liberal Values, Washington Monthly and Common Dreams

Michael Barone / Washington Examiner:

Conservatives' biographies show that history can move right — Share Tweet Reddit Digg Mail Print SMS More — Biography is one way — often the most vivid way — in which people understand history. The beautifully written biographies of Franklin Roosevelt that rolled off the presses …

Tierney Sneed / Talking Points Memo:

Bush: Problem With Confederate Flag Is ‘What It Began To Represent Later’ — GOP 2016er Jeb Bush defended his decision as Florida governor to take down the Confederate battle flag from the state capitol by arguing the controversy around Confederate monuments “isn't the 19th century issue, it's the 20th century issue.”

Discussion: Raw Story, Little Green Footballs and addictinginfo.org

Nick Gillespie / Hit & Run:

UPDATED! That Deleted Ted Cruz Cartoon Wasn't The Worst Thing Wash Post Published This Week — Updated at 10:43 A.M.: Scroll down for cartoonist Ann Telnaes' comments on controversy. — By now, you've probably heard about the early Christmas gift that The Washington Post gave to Ted Cruz …

Discussion: The Fiscal Times, Hot Air, Mediaite, Washington Post, Erick on the Radio, The Federalist, The Week, LiberalAmerica.org, Talking Points Memo, MichelleMalkin.com and Raw Story

Ann Telnaes / Washington Post:
Editor's note from Fred Hiatt: It's generally been the policy …

Discussion: RedState, The Federalist, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, CNN, Associated Press, Breitbart, FishbowlDC, USA Today, twitchy.com, Accuracy in Media and Althouse

New Republic:

Brian Beutler — Hillary Clinton has an amazing plan to close every public school in America. — But she might want to sit in on a better-than-average math class before stating goals like this: “I wouldn't keep any school open that wasn't doing better than average.”

Discussion: Mother Jones, Washington Post, RedState, Weekly Standard and The Federalist

Susanna Kim / ABC News:

Texas Restaurant Chain Touts ‘Politically Incorrect’ Holiday Policy

Discussion: Hot Air, Eater, Western Journalism and Fox News Insider

New York Times:

The Typical American Lives Only 18 Miles From Mom — Families traveling from far-flung places and returning home for the holidays. That image of an American Christmas, retold in song and movies, fits the perception of Americans as rootless, constantly on the move to seek opportunity even if it means leaving family behind.

Discussion: Jezebel, Mother Jones and The Week

Rich Lowry / Politico:

The Right's Post-Constitutional Moment — No one will ever mistake Donald Trump for a student of James Madison. — The real-estate mogul has demonstrated about as much familiarity with the U.S. Constitution as with the Bible, which is to say, none. Trump has captivated a share …

Discussion: Power Line, Mother Jones and National Review

Ali Weinberg / ABC News:

President Obama's Christmas Wish for Christians Persecuted by ISIS — President Obama expressed his wishes during the Christmas season for persecuted Christians around the world, especially those in the Middle East who have experienced “brutal atrocities” at the hands of ISIS.

Discussion: Politico

Andrew Prokop / Vox:

NH reporter: Marco Rubio is like “a computer algorithm designed to cover talking points” — Marco Rubio's relative lack of campaigning in early states like New Hampshire has been getting increasing attention in the national press — a Washington Post article this week asked whether he'd “work hard enough to become president.”