memeorandum: Biden walks back 1992 blockade of Supreme Court nominees (Joel Gehrke/Washington Examiner)

10:15 AM ET, February 23, 2016

Top Items:

Ted Cruz tells O'Reilly he would round up and deport all 12 million — updated at 10:30 pm with comment from Cruz spokeswoman. — WASHINGTON -Ted Cruz said tonight that he would use federal immigration officers to round up and deport all 12 million people in the country illegally …

Discussion: Hot Air, New York Times, WSB-TV, Washington Post, Political Wire, The Week, The Daily Caller, Associated Press, Washington Times, Politico and Guardian

Sahil Kapur / Bloomberg Business:

Four Problems With the ‘Winnowing’ Theory of Trump's Downfall — For months, establishment Republicans have envisioned the billionaire losing support as the presidential field narrows. — Jeb Bush's decision to drop out of the presidential race after a dismal fourth-place finish …

Discussion: Washington Post, Raw Story and The Daily Caller

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:

GOP wakes up to Trump nightmare — Establishment Republicans are reckoning with something they thought would never happen: That it might soon be too late to stop Donald Trump. — With the controversial businessman the clear front-runner heading into Nevada and next week's Super Tuesday contests …

Discussion: New York Times and The Hill

James Nash / Bloomberg Business:

Trump Eyes Nevada for Third Consecutive Victory — The Republican front-runner is ahead in the polls in the Silver State, but rivals Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are not ceding the contest. — jmnash — Donald Trump is poised to win his third consecutive Republican presidential nominating contest Tuesday …

Discussion: Yahoo Politics

Ben Domenech / The Daily Beast:

Why Evangelicals Are Born Again for Donald Trump — Why are conservative Christians embracing a vulgar New York secularist? Because the battlefield of the culture war has suddenly and irrevocably changed. — Southern evangelicals are the types of voters that Donald Trump was supposed to find problematic.

Ross Ramsey / The Texas Tribune:
UT/TT Poll: Cruz Leads Trump in Texas; Rubio Lags Behind

Discussion: Political Insider blog and The Right Scoop

Kyle Cheney / Politico:
GOP to Kasich: Get out — FAIRFAX, Va. — The Republican establishment …

Discussion: Political Insider blog, Algemeiner.com, Political Wire, New York Magazine, Washington Post, New York Times, CNN and ABC News

Alexander Burns / New York Times:
At Nevada Caucuses, Donald Trump's Rivals Hope to Break His Streak

Discussion: Politico, Guardian and US News

Numbers / Pew Research Center for the People …:

Majority of Public Wants Senate to Act on Obama's Court Nominee — Most opponents reject hearings no matter whom Obama nominates — In the high-stakes battle over replacing Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court, a majority of Americans (56%) say the Senate should hold hearings …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Talking Points Memo and The Daily Caller

Adan / Infowars:

Video: Obama Cracks Joke About Scalia's Death — President grins after cracking joke at late Supreme Court justice's expense — During his National Governors Association speech Monday, President Obama joked there was a lot to get done during his final days in office, including “appointing judges.”

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Mike DeBonis / Washington Post:
Joe Biden in 1992: No nominations to the Supreme Court in an election year

Discussion: Washington Monthly, CNN, ThinkProgress, National Review, STRICT OBSTRUCTIONISTS, Althouse and Chicago

Joel Gehrke / Washington Examiner: Biden walks back 1992 blockade of Supreme Court nominees

Jordain Carney / The Hill:
Collins backs hearing for Obama SCOTUS nominee

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, Politico and Hot Air

Julie Hirschfeld Davis / New York Times:
Joe Biden Argued for Delaying Supreme Court Picks in 1992

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, ABC News, Hot Air and MichelleMalkin.com

Associated Press:
Q & A About the Fight Over Replacing Scalia

Discussion: Politico and ABC News

Glenn Thrush / Politico:

Ben Carson: Obama was ‘raised white’ — GREENVILLE, S.C. - Ben Carson is the only person in the 2016 presidential field who is vying to become the country's second African-American president. — If truth be told, however, he's not entirely sure he wouldn't actually be the first.

Discussion: NBC News, The Atlantic, The Moderate Voice, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, The Hinterland Gazette, The Week and Independent Journal Review

Politico:
Full transcript: POLITICO's Glenn Thrush interviews Ben Carson

Discussion: Business Insider

Julia Hahn / Breitbart:

EXCLUSIVE: ICE Officer to Rubio: ‘You Lied to American Public on FOX News,’ Challenges Him to Meet — Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Council President Chris Crane is issuing a challenge to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) following Rubio's attack on the officer.

Discussion: Politicus USA

Julia Hahn / Breitbart:
Law Enforcement Sides with Chris Crane After Rubio's Anti-ICE Tirade

Discussion: Scared Monkeys

Caitlin Cruz / Talking Points Memo:

Bernie Sanders Thinks Pope Francis Is A Socialist, Too — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) explained why he thinks Pope Francis is a socialist and why he's quite fond of the pontiff's politics in a Washington Post interview published Monday night. — “Well, what it means to be a socialist …

Discussion: The Week

Sarah Pulliam Bailey / Washington Post:
Exclusive: Watch Bernie Sanders call Pope Francis a socialist

Discussion: New York Magazine

Ashley Parker / New York Times:

Reporter's Notebook: Voters Might Not Miss Jeb Bush, but Campaign Reporters Will — Voters Might Not Miss Jeb Bush, but Campaign Reporters Will — Jeb Bush was like a goofy dad, an awkward uncle. He spoke to children like adults and told jokes that made no sense.

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Why Jeb Bush's Campaign Died While Hillary Clinton's Lived

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog

Fredreka Schouten / USA Today:
Meet the woman funding the effort to stop Trump

Discussion: Washington Times, New York Magazine, Downtrend, The Resurgent, Business Insider, Washington Free Beacon, The Week and twitchy.com

David McCabe / The Hill:

Clinton-Sanders battle stirs passionate Facebook debate — The Democratic primary fight between Hillary Clinton — is spilling over to Facebook, where supporters of both candidates are engaged in a passionate debate over who should be the party's standard-bearer this fall.

Discussion: ABC News, Guardian, The Mahablog and Vox

Nick Gass / Politico:
Spike Lee backs Sanders in radio ad

Discussion: ABC News and The Week

Gallup:

“Dishonest” and “Socialist” Lead U.S. Reactions to Dems — PRINCETON, N.J. — Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have multifaceted images among the American public. But the most common responses Americans give when asked to say what comes to mind when they think of each are “dishonest” …

Discussion: Politico, Common Dreams, The Gateway Pundit, New York Times, Associated Press and Washington Free Beacon

Justin Gillis / New York Times:

Seas Are Rising at Fastest Rate in Last 28 Centuries — The oceans are rising faster than at any point in the last 28 centuries, and human emissions of greenhouse gases are primarily responsible, scientists reported Monday. — They added that the flooding that is starting to make life miserable …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Power Line, Associated Press, EcoWatch, Raw Story, Climate Denial Crock …, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Climate Central, Washington Post, The Week and FT Alphaville

Maajid Nawaz / The Daily Beast:

How Obama Lost the Mideast to Putin — Vision, strategy, and courage might have prevented the disaster we see today in Syria. But those elements were nowhere to be found. — LONDON — The Middle East is in flames. Just as Iraq was President George W. Bush's catastrophic legacy, Syria will be Obama's.

Todd Starnes / Reuters:

Chick-fil-A flap rocks another American university — The war on poultry rages on yet another public university campus - this time at the University of Nebraska - Kearney. — The hullabaloo started last January when students were asked to select a new dining option for the student union.

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News, The Last Tradition and Independent Journal Review

Detroit Free Press:

Ex-Snyder aide: Financial focus led to crisis in Flint … Schornack predicts successful recall vote — LANSING — The drinking water catastrophe in Flint is the result of a failed model of trying to run state government like a business, says a former adviser to Gov. Rick Snyder …

Discussion: Motor City Muckraker and Washingtonian

Devlin Barrett / Wall Street Journal:

Justice Department Seeks to Force Apple to Extract Data From About 12 Other iPhones — The Justice Department is pursuing court orders to force Apple Inc. to help investigators extract data from iPhones in about a dozen undisclosed cases around the country, in disputes similar to the current battle …

Discussion: The Verge, MacRumors, Business Insider and Engadget

Sarah El Sirgany / CNN:

READ: Egypt toddler sentenced — Officials offered different explanations. — An aide to the Interior Minister phoned Ebrashy's show to say it was a case of mistaken identity. — The aide, General Abu Bakr Abdel-Karim, promised that Ahmed and his father would not be jailed.

Discussion: myfox8.com