memeorandum: Democrats would be insane to nominate Bernie Sanders (Dana Milbank/Washington Post)

6:50 PM ET, January 27, 2016

Top Items:

Full statement on Trump declining to participate in Fox News/Google Debate — As many of our viewers know, FOX News is hosting a sanctioned debate in Des Moines, Iowa on Thursday night, three days before the first votes of the 2016 election are cast in the Iowa Caucus.

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, TheBlaze.com, The Moderate Voice, Vox, Horizons, The Libertarian Republic, Political Insider blog, Power Line, RedState, Talking Points Memo, Althouse, Mother Jones and BizPac Review

Chris Spargo For / Daily Mail:

Donald Trump feud causes panicking Fox News CEO Roger Ailes to call Ivanka and Melania in attempt to get the frontrunner BACK to the debate - but he'll only speak to Murdoch — The network's CEO has reportedly reached out to both Ivanka and Melania Trump to try and get the Republican front-runner to change his mind

Discussion: New York Magazine, Talking Points Memo, The Gateway Pundit and Rush Limbaugh

Kevin Cirilli / Bloomberg Business:

Trump, Fox News at War After He Decides to Skip Debate — The Republican front-runner says that the cable network treated him “unfairly” at a past debate. — Citing unfair treatment by Fox News, Donald Trump will not participate in the Republican presidential debate on Thursday, his campaign manager told reporters on Tuesday.

Discussion: Politico, New York Times, The Hill, The Gateway Pundit, Shakesville, Althouse and Political Insider blog

Jesse Byrnes / The Hill:
Paul: With Trump gone, GOP will have its ‘best debate’

Discussion: Hot Air, Political Wire, The Week and PoliticusUSA

Gabriel Sherman / New York Magazine:
Trump's Debate Boycott Throws Fox News Into Chaos

Discussion: NBC News, No More Mister Nice Blog and Washington Post

Ben Kamisar / The Hill:
Rand Paul makes main debate stage

Discussion: Hot Air

Brian Flood / The Wrap:
Fox News' Chris Wallace on Trump: ‘The Media Has Treated Him Too Well’

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and Mediaite

JD Rucker / RedState:
Donald Trump is Setting Up Fox News to be the Scapegoat for an ‘Unfair’ Iowa Loss

Discussion: Hot Air and News Watch

Donald J Trump for President:
TRUMP CAMPAIGN STATEMENT ON FOX NEWS DEBATE

Politico:
DonaldDuck: TRUMP WALKS INTO TRAP? …

Discussion: Vox and The Daily Caller

Sam Reisman / Mediaite:
Fox News Responds to Trump's Latest ‘Twitter Poll’ With First-Rate Trolling

Discussion: Breitbart, Business Insider, TheBlaze.com, Mashable, Washington Post, NBC News, Politico, Talking Points Memo, AOL, Outside the Beltway, Israpundit, Mickey Kaus, Daily Kos and The Gateway Pundit

Les Zaitz / Oregonian:

Robert ‘LaVoy’ Finicum shot and killed while charging police, driver says — BURNS - Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, the spokesman of the refuge occupation, was shot and killed after he charged police during a roadside stop north of Burns on Tuesday, according to a man on Facebook who claims …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Daily Kos, Little Green Footballs, Raw Story, The Truth About Guns and American Power

Les Zaitz / Oregonian:

Oregon standoff spokesman Robert ‘LaVoy’ Finicum killed, Bundys in custody after shooting near Burns — BURNS - Oregon standoff spokesman Robert “LaVoy” Finicum was killed and other leaders of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation were arrested Tuesday after the FBI …

Travis Gettys / Raw Story:

Eyewitnesses knock down conspiracy theories about LaVoy Finicum dying with his hands up — DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY! — The Bundy militants and their supporters are trying to turn LaVoy Finicum into a right-wing martyr, but two eyewitnesses deny that he was shot and killed in cold blood by law enforcement officers.

Discussion: Balloon Juice, No More Mister Nice Blog, Des Moines Register, The Jawa Report and The Mahablog

John Sepulvado / OPB:

Occupation To Standoff: FBI Surrounds Militants Still Inside Malheur Refuge — FBI officials have established checkpoints around the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge as a handful of armed militants remain inside. — OPB spoke with the new leaders inside the compound, which include militant Jason Patrick.

Discussion: KOIN-TV, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, WWLP-TV, The Week, Associated Press, The Truth About Guns and The Reality-Based Community

Pacific Patriots Network:
Pacific Patriots Network - Official Statement for Immediate Release

Discussion: Vocativ, Raw Story and Right Wing Watch

Sarah Kaplan / Washington Post:
FBI blockades Oregon wildlife refuge after arrests and urges remaining occupiers to leave

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo, The Week, Raw Story, Mashable, Business Insider and Mediaite

Jordain Carney / The Hill:

Reid: 'I'm kind of pulling' for Trump — Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) backpedaled Wednesday after joking that, among the current Republican presidential field, he's considering backing Donald Trump for the nomination. — “Look we've gotten along fine,” the Democratic leader told reporters.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Salon, Hullabaloo and Politico

Jessica Hopper / ABC News:

Donald Trump Responds to Ted Cruz's Debate Challenge

Discussion: RedState, abc13.com, Politico and Associated Press, more at Mediagazer »

Shane Goldmacher / Politico:
With no Trump, Cruz goes from hunter to hunted

Discussion: Yahoo Politics

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

Sanders says Obama not trying to ‘tip scales’ for Clinton — President Obama isn't trying to tip the scales in favor of Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential race, Bernie Sanders said Wednesday following a meeting at the White House. — It was the Vermont senator's first one-on-one meeting …

Discussion: PoliticusUSA and Joe.My.God.

Yahoo Politics:
Clinton tries to bowl over Iowa as Sanders surges

Discussion: Politico

Ben Kamisar / The Hill:
DNC throws cold water on unsanctioned New Hampshire debate

Discussion: RH Reality Check, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, UnionLeader.com, New York Times, Reuters and The Week

Ryan Korsgard / Click2Houston.com:

DeLoreans to go back to the future and into production — HUMBLE, Texas - The DeLorean is going back to the future and into production. — We first saw the time machine three decades ago in the movie, “Back to the Future.” But the last time a DeLorean was built was about 35 years ago.

Discussion: Screen Rant, The Verge, Q13 FOX News, Mashable, WWLP-TV, KXAN-TV, Engadget, WTKR-TV, WCMH-TV, fox8.com and KFOR-TV

Rush Limbaugh:

Trump Refuses to Play by the Rules — RUSH: You've heard the phrase “the game.” Every business has aspects of it that are considered the game, and that's the routine. And the game is characterized by everybody knowing the rules of the game. People involved in it play by the rules.

Discussion: Politico, BizPac Review, Washington Post, Daily Kos and The Daily Caller

Tom Wheeler / Re/code:

It's Time to Unlock the Set-Top Box Market — Thanks to advances in technology, American consumers enjoy unprecedented choice in how they view entertainment, news and sports programming. You can pretty much watch what you want, where you want, when you want.

Discussion: Engadget, NPR, VentureBeat, Mashable, Deadline and Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, more at Mediagazer »

Camille Paglia / Salon:

Hillary's “blame-men-first” feminism may prove costly in 2016 — Hillary lags among men, again. Is it misogyny, or her brand of feminism? The story too hot for the New York Times — During her two presidential campaigns, Hillary Clinton has consistently drawn greater support from women than men.

Discussion: CANNONFIRE, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Althouse and The Daily Caller

Conor Dinan / Talking Points Memo:

Jeb Bush Rises To Second Place In New Hampshire Poll — Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) surged into second place in a New Hampshire poll released Wednesday by the Emerson College Polling Society, although real-estate billionaire Donald Trump retained a double-digit lead in Granite State.

Discussion: The Week

Candace Smith / ABC News:
Jeb Bush Suggests Donald Trump Is Not a Christian

Discussion: Mediaite, abc13.com and Daily Kos

Darcie Loreno / fox8.com:

George Clooney adopts dog no one wanted from Ohio animal rescue … COLERAIN TONWSHIP, Ohio — A shelter dog from Ohio that no one seemed to want has been rescued by a family of A-listers. — Nate the terrier was originally rescued from his former owner, who was described as a hoarder.

Discussion: WTKR-TV

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

Democrats would be insane to nominate Bernie Sanders — I adore Bernie Sanders. — I agree with his message of fairness and I share his outrage over inequality and corporate abuses. I think his righteous populism has captured the moment perfectly. I respect the uplifting campaign he has run.

Discussion: Liberal Values, Hot Air, Booman Tribune and Instapundit

CNN:

Why I'm voting for Trump — (CNN)They are showing up in droves to see Donald Trump: Men and women, overwhelmingly white, frustrated with the country's first black president, fearful that they are being displaced by minorities and immigrants, and nostalgic for the way America used to be.

Discussion: Washington Post, Balloon Juice and The Week

Chip Reid / CBS News:

Wounded Warrior Project accused of wasting donation money — A CBS News investigation into a charity for wounded veterans, the Wounded Warrior Project, looks into how the charity spends its donation money. — What caught our attention is how the Wounded Warrior Project spends donations compared to other long-respected charities.

Discussion: CBS Boston, WJAX-TV, Fox News, The Daily Caller, RedState, The Week and WKRG-TV

Michael Calderone / Associated Press:

Bloomberg Editor Quits Over Fear The Company Can't Cover Michael Bloomberg Aggressively — “The bottom line is, you can't cover the circus unless you can write about one of the biggest elephants in the room,” said Kathy Kiely. — Can Bloomberg aggressively cover Bloomberg?