memeorandum: In Republican Debate, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio Wage Urgent Attacks on Donald Trump (New York Times)

8:55 AM ET, March 4, 2016

Top Items:

CNN:

First on CNN: Team Romney explores blocking Trump at RNC — Washington (CNN)Mitt Romney has instructed his closest advisers to explore the possibility of stopping Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention, a source close to Romney's inner circle says.

Discussion: The Atlantic, Business Insider, Bloomberg Business, Mitt Romney, Hot Air, The Right Scoop, TIME, BuzzFeed and The Daily Caller

Donald Trump / ABC News:

Best Lines of the Republican Debate in Michigan

Discussion: Associated Press, Yahoo Politics, Boing Boing and The Right Scoop

Gregory Krieg / CNN:

Donald Trump defends size of his penis — (CNN)Donald Trump assured American voters Thursday night that despite what Marco Rubio had suggested, there was “no problem” with the size of his hands — or anything else. — “Look at those hands, are they small hands?” the front-runner …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Guardian, Lawyers, Guns & Money and ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES

Tierney Sneed / Talking Points Memo:

Trump Brags About His Penis Size: ‘I Guarantee You There Is No Problem’ — Donald Trump responded to a jab Marcio Rubio has made about the size of Trump's hands — a line widely interpreted to be a reference to Trump's manhood — by promising that when it comes to the size of “something else,” he guarantees “there is no problem.”

Discussion: Mother Jones, NBC News and Washington Free Beacon

Frank Bruni / New York Times:

Five Big Questions After a Vulgar Republican Debate — Does the size of Donald Trump's penis matter? — I'm not being cheeky. I'm not being shocking. I'm noting something that we cannot lose track of, should not shrug our shoulders about and must not gloss over: Trump has succeeded …

Discussion: TIME, The Atlantic, National Review, Moon of Alabama and The Moderate Voice

Eli Stokols / Politico:

GOP freakout goes from bad to worse — DETROIT — The high-speed unraveling of the Republican Party somehow accelerated further on Thursday, as the party's last two presidential nominees joined the chorus of establishment voices warning voters not to allow Donald Trump to become the GOP's standard-bearer.

Discussion: Yahoo Politics, Hot Air and National Review

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:

Rivals pile on Trump in Republican candidates' debate — The GOP debate, in less than 3 minutes — DETROIT — The calamity brought upon the Republican Party by Donald Trump was laid bare Thursday by its two most recent presidential nominees, who delivered unprecedented denunciations …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Politico, New York Times, Talking Points Memo and The Atlantic

Jenna Johnson / Washington Post:

Blistering attacks upend Trump's pivot to statesman mode — First, Donald Trump attacked former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney for being a “failed candidate.” Then he turned to “little” Marco Rubio. He angrily listed his recent wins and poll standings.

Discussion: Politico

Alex Pareene / Gawker:

Donald Trump Was Set Up — The word came in from our best-sourced Fox News Kremlinologists: Fox News had settled for Donald Trump. Roger Ailes had given up on the hapless Marco Rubio. Megyn Kelly was sounding conciliatory, granting that Trump appeared more and more presidential.

Discussion: New York Magazine, The Week and Detroit Free Press

New York Times:

In Republican Debate, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio Wage Urgent Attacks on Donald Trump — Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, fighting for their political lives, relentlessly demeaned and denounced Donald J. Trump at Thursday's debate, all but pleading with Republicans to reconsider nominating …

Discussion: Algemeiner.com, Political Wire, The Moderate Voice, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Beast, RedState and Talking Points Memo

Glenn Thrush / Politico:
5 takeaways from the GOP debate

Discussion: New York Times

Robert F. Bukaty / Los Angeles Times: GOP elites have a new strategy to stop Donald Trump, but it carries a big risk

Alyssa Bereznak / Yahoo Politics:
In sign of apocalypse, Donald Trump defends the size of his... hands

Discussion: Politico, Vox, The Week and Mother Jones

Danny Vinik / Politico:
The Trump platform that Mitt Romney just attacked looks a lot like Mitt Romney's

Discussion: Hinckley Institute

Edward-Isaac Dovere / Politico:
GOP crackup has Democrats in stitches

Discussion: Telegraph

Eliza Collins / Politico: Graham: A brokered convention wouldn't be fair to Trump

Lisa Belkin / Yahoo Politics: John Kasich argues he's the grown-up on the GOP debate stage

Eliza Collins / Politico:
Priebus: There will be no ‘shell games’ with GOP nomination

Discussion: Yahoo Politics

Ryan Grim / The Huffington Post:

Donald Trump Gets AIDS In A New Movie, And That Has Studio Execs In A Panic — Afraid of Trump's reaction, they're “subtly trying to make it disappear,” says an industry source. — Washington bureau chief for The Huffington Post — Audiences at screenings around the world …

Discussion: addictinginfo.org, Refinery29, Mediaite and Jezebel

Dawn Ennis / Advocate:

She Is Cait, and I Am Not: Face to Face with Jenner — Winding my way 'round deadman's curves at unsafe speeds all the way up a Malibu mountaintop to meet Caitlyn Jenner, I asked myself: who would live here except a recluse? Cut off from the rest of the world, high above it all …

Discussion: Fusion, USA Today, ThinkProgressPage Array, The Huffington Post, The Daily Caller, LAist, Mediaite, Towleroad, NBC News, Mashable, The Week, CBS New York and Trail Blazers Blog

Judy Kurtz / The Hill:

Miley Cyrus pledges to leave US if Trump wins — becomes president. — “Honestly f— this s— I am moving if this is my president!” the 23-year-old “We Can't Stop” singer wrote to her more than 38 million Instagram followers on Wednesday. — In a lengthy post that included photos …

Jonathan V. Last / Weekly Standard:

Lion Ted: Cruz Crushes the Detroit Debate — In theory, Ted Cruz's best states are behind him. But at the Detroit debate, Cruz was clearly the class of the field and it's clear that no one should count him out as the delegate race moves into its next phase.

Discussion: Power Line, CNN and ABC News

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Mitt Romney offers scathing indictment of Republican tax policies — Donald Trump, in Maine, just got through unloading on Mitt Romney in response to the speech that Romney gave earlier today, casting the Mittster as a loser who begged for his endorsement — “on his knees” — and choked in 2012 …

Discussion: US News, The Reality-Based Community and Outside the Beltway

Sara Jerde / Talking Points Memo:
Trump Hits Back At Romney: He Would've Dropped To His Knees For Me In '12

Discussion: Balloon Juice and The Bob and Chez Show

Shane Goldmacher / Politico:

Rubio's path to an outright win has vanished — Marco Rubio's path to the Republican nomination short of a contested convention has narrowed to nearly nothing as his campaign and allies reboot their strategy to prepare for months of guerrilla warfare to deny Donald Trump a clean, pre-convention victory.

Discussion: Hot Air, New York Times and Bloomberg Business

Randy Barnett / National Review:
How Ted and Marco Can Save the GOP and the Country

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, Hot Air, Delve In and 2016 Election Central

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Clash of Republican Con Artists — So Republicans are going to nominate a candidate who talks complete nonsense on domestic policy; who believes that foreign policy can be conducted via bullying and belligerence; who cynically exploits racial and ethnic hatred for political gain.

Charlie Nash / Breitbart:

Pitt Students ‘In Tears’ and Feeling ‘Unsafe’ After Milo Yiannopoulos Event — The University of Pittsburgh's Student Government Board held a public meeting on Tuesday to discuss the traumatizing visit the night before from “dangerous” homosexual and Breitbart Tech Editor Milo Yiannopoulos …

Matt Jarzemsky / Wall Street Journal:

Number of Troubled Companies Nears 2009 Peak — Financially strapped companies' ranks are swelling. — A Moody's Investors Service tally of the least-creditworthy companies rose by 10 to 274 this month, pushing it nearer to April 2009's record 291. The list comprises companies rated …

Breitbart:

Mittens: GOP Establishment Chooses Mount Romney as Hill to Die on — After , , , , , and , the Republican establishment is now turning once again to the Adlai Stevenson of the GOP - Willard Mitt Romney. — Perhaps nothing is more symptomatic of the GOP establishment's death drive …

Greg Jaffe / Washington Post:

Sasha Obama's high school classes will keep first family in Washington for a while — MILWAUKEE — President Obama can issue sweeping directives and deploy troops to faraway corners of the world. But it became clear Thursday that the leader of the free world sometimes takes orders from his 14-year-old daughter.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Joseph R. Biden Jr / New York Times:

Joe Biden: The Senate's Duty on a Supreme Court Nominee — IN my 36-year tenure in the United States Senate — nearly half of it as chairman or ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee — I presided or helped preside over nine nominees to the Supreme Court, from both Republican and Democratic presidents.

Discussion: Slantpoint