memeorandum: Dems can't ‘Bork’ Kavanaugh, and have only themselves to blame (Elizabeth Price Foley/The Hill)

8:20 AM ET, September 5, 2018

Top Items:

Josh Feldman / Mediaite:

Trump Unleashes on Woodward, Accuses Him of Making Up Quotes and Being a ‘Dem Operative’ — President Donald Trump is accusing veteran journalist Bob Woodward of running a “con” and being a “Dem operative.” — Earlier tonight, Trump tweeted out the statements from the White House …

Discussion: Townhall, CNN, Axios and Politico

Gabriel Pogrund / Washington Post:

Southern Republican senators reject Trump's criticism of Sessions — Southern Republican senators defended Jeff Sessions after an explosive new book by Bob Woodward recounted how President Trump called his attorney general a “dumb Southerner” and mocked his accent.

Saagar Enjeti / The Daily Caller:

EXCLUSIVE: Trump Says Bob Woodward Has ‘A Lot Of Credibility Problems’ — WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump addressed newly released excerpts from Bob Woodward's book on his administration, denying some specific allegations and accusing the author of credibility issues, in an exclusive Oval Office interview with The Daily Caller.

Discussion: Politico, NBC News, Washington Post, CNBC, New York Times, CNN, Raw Story, Vox, The Daily Beast, The Hill, Mediaite, Mother Jones, Daily Kos, Axios, HuffPost, Roll Call and Political Wire

Axios:

Furious Trump trapped by hundreds of Woodward tapes — President Trump is livid at the betrayal and stunning allegations in Bob Woodward's forthcoming “Fear,” but limited in his ability to fight back because most of the interviews were caught on hundreds of hours of tape, officials tell Axios.

Discussion: Political Wire, Washington Post, The Hill, Deadline, Reuters, CBS Boston, Raw Story and Breitbart

Dwight Garner / New York Times:

In ‘Fear,’ Bob Woodward Pulls Back the Curtain on President Trump's ‘Crazytown’ — Nothing in Bob Woodward's sober and grainy new book, “Fear: Trump in the White House,” is especially surprising. This is a White House that has leaked from Day 1. We knew things were bad.

Washington Post:
Bob Woodward's new book reveals a ‘nervous breakdown’ of Trump's presidency

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, MSNBC, New York Times, Just Security, BloombergQuint, CNN, Washington Examiner, Al Jazeera English, The Hill, TIME, The Guardian, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, CNNMoney, CNBC, ABC News, The Daily Beast, New Book Releases …, Newsweek, Mediaite, Informed Comment, Raw Story, The Moderate Voice, Bloomberg, Deadline, Breitbart, Wall Street Journal, Hot Air, Talking Points Memo, Daily Wire, Foreign Policy, The Root, Sputnik International, Mother Jones, CBS Boston, Above the Law, Roll Call, Splinter, New Republic, Axios, Hollywood Life, The Daily Caller, AOL, IJR, The Atlantic, NY State of Politics, POLITICUSUSA, Task & Purpose, Daily Kos, Law & Crime, CANNONFIRE, One America News Network, Outside the Beltway, Full Feed, The Gateway Pundit, Taylor Marsh, National Review, Lawyers, Guns & Money, NPR, Booman Tribune, Washington Monthly, BuzzFeed News, Balloon Juice, Shareblue Media, Political Wire, Vox, twitchy.com, Politico, HuffPost, Balkinization and NTK Network, more at Mediagazer »

Axios:
In Woodward's book, Trump erupts over Mueller

Discussion: Raw Story and Washington Post

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Transcript: Phone call between President Trump and journalist Bob Woodward

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, CNN, BloombergQuint, Associated Press, HuffPost, CNBC, CBS Miami, Raw Story, Politico, Bloomberg, AOL, New Republic, Wall Street Journal, The Daily Caller, The Atlantic, IJR, Mother Jones, Mediaite, The Root and Townhall

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
Report: Everybody in the White House Considers Trump an Idiot

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post, The Guardian, CNBC and Raw Story

Washington Post:
Trump, White House attack new book from Bob Woodward

Discussion: ABC News, Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, twitchy.com, The Guardian, The Hill, Sputnik International and CNN, more at Mediagazer »

Brian Schwartz / CNBC:
Rudy Giuliani to Trump advisors ripping the president in Bob Woodward's new book: Find another job

Discussion: Washington Post, Bloomberg, CNN, Hullabaloo and BloombergQuint

Kalhan Rosenblatt / NBC News:

Parkland victim's father and Kavanaugh: The handshake that wasn't — “I guess he did not want to deal with the reality of gun violence,” Fred Guttenberg, father of slain Parkland student Jaime Guttenberg, wrote on Twitter. — The father of a student killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas …

Discussion: CBS News, ABC News and Mother Jones

Elizabeth Price Foley / The Hill:

Dems can't ‘Bork’ Kavanaugh, and have only themselves to blame — Senate hearings on Judge Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court begin today. Despite Kavanaugh's potential to replace the court's ideological center, Justice Anthony Kennedy, Senate Democrats are not going to “Bork” Kavanaugh.

Discussion: Politico, The New Neo and Axios

Paul Farrell / Heavy.com:
Zina Bash Is the Woman Sitting Behind Brett Kavanaugh

Discussion: News One, National Review, The Root, Politico, Hollywood Life, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Washington Times, Daily Wire, The Gateway Pundit and Breitbart

Politico:
Schumer, Democrats wrestled over staging mass Kavanaugh walkout

Discussion: Power Line, Breitbart, HuffPost, The Daily Beast, Shareblue Media, ABC News, Political Wire and MSNBC

John Hinderaker / Power Line:
The Democrats Are Crazy — I was working today and couldn't watch …

Discussion: TIME, The American Spectator, CNN and Althouse

Matthew Continetti / The Daily Beast:
The 40-Year Plan That Allowed Trump to Reshape the Courts

Discussion: Politico and Axios

David French / National Review:
Ben Sasse Conducts a Two-Minute Master Class in American Civics

Discussion: RedState and Breitbart

Hot Air:
Today's “Controversy”: Kavanaugh Declines Handshake From Father Of Murdered Parkland Student

Discussion: twitchy.com, New York Times, CNN, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Townhall

Michael Kranish / Washington Post:
The story behind the withheld documents of the Kavanaugh hearing

Discussion: Associated Press, Politico, The Atlantic and Vox

Katharine Q. Seelye / New York Times:

Ayanna Pressley Upsets Capuano in Massachusetts House Race — BOSTON — Ayanna Pressley upended the Massachusetts political order on Tuesday, scoring a stunning upset of 10-term Representative Michael Capuano and positioning herself to become the first African-American woman to represent the state in Congress.

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Outside the Beltway, Washington Post, Vox, Althouse, CBS News, Daily Kos, Axios, Breitbart, New Republic and ThinkProgress

Gideon Resnick / The Daily Beast:

Ayanna Pressley Ousts 20-Year Incumbent Michael Capuano in Massachusetts Primary Shocker — She is the second progressive woman of color to defeat a long-term male white incumbent this cycle. — Another major upset of a Democratic congressman took place in Massachusetts on Tuesday night.

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, ABC News, Politico, Washington Post and HuffPost

Stephanie Akin / Roll Call:
Ayanna Pressley Upsets Rep. Capuano in Massachusetts Democratic Primary

Discussion: CQ.com

New York Times:

Mueller Will Accept Some Written Answers From Trump — The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, will accept written answers from President Trump on questions about whether his campaign conspired with Russia's election interference, Mr. Mueller's office told Mr. Trump's lawyers in a letter, two people briefed on it said on Tuesday.

Discussion: emptywheel, Talking Points Memo, NPR, Washington Post, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, Axios, POLITICUSUSA, CNBC, The Guardian, Washington Times and Mediaite

The Daily Caller:

EXCLUSIVE: Trump Critical, But Says Nike's Kaepernick Deal ‘Is What This Country Is All About’ — WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Nike sent a “terrible message” this week by making former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick one of the faces representing the 30th anniversary of the company's “Just Do It” campaign.

Bret Stephens / New York Times:

Now Twitter Edits The New Yorker — The venerable magazine hands the reins to the digital mob. — A common complaint of liberal journalists about conservative politicians is that the latter lack for courage. As in: Paul Ryan knows that Donald Trump is a bigot and a danger …

Discussion: New Republic, Politico, The American Conservative, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Hill, NBC News, Pitchfork, Economist and Vox, more at Mediagazer »

NBC News:

FBI Director Christopher Wray becomes the latest target for Trump's ire — Wray is the latest in a growing list of Justice Department officials who have angered the president, NBC News has learned. — WASHINGTON — In recent conversations with confidants, President Donald Trump …

Discussion: MSNBC, Raw Story and Talking Points Memo

Byron York / Washington Examiner: On Trump-Russia, too much secrecy keeps public in dark

Salena Zito / New York Post:

The Twitter trolls attacking my work are all wrong — “Dad, it's not true,” I said, fighting to keep my voice steady through tears. — My 81-year-old father had just seen a Huffington Post headline — “Take Salena Zito Neither Seriously Nor Literally On Trump Voters” — with a picture of me next to it.

Discussion: twitchy.com, more at Mediagazer »

Reid J. Epstein / Wall Street Journal:

Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos Gives $10 Million to Super PAC in First Major Political Contribution — Bezos and wife are supporting With Honor, a super PAC aiming to elect military veterans from both parties to Congress — Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife are making their first major foray …

Discussion: Political Wire and Axios

Todd J. Gillman / Dallas Morning News:

Heavily spliced Ted Cruz video falsely depicts Beto O'Rourke saying he's ‘grateful’ for flag burning — WASHINGTON — Sen. Ted Cruz's latest effort to inflame conservatives — a video in which Rep. Beto O'Rourke appears to express enthusiasm for flag burning — hinges on heavy splicing …

France 24:

Amid ‘bloodbath’ fears, US warns Assad against using chemical weapons — With the United Nations warning of a potential “bloodbath” in Syria's Idlib province, the United States warned President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday it would respond “swiftly and appropriately” if he uses chemical weapons against his own people.

Omar Haj Kadour / Agence France-Presse: Erdogan warns of ‘massacre’ in Syria's Idlib

John Carreyrou / Wall Street Journal:

Blood-Testing Firm Theranos to Dissolve — Firm, tarred by scandal, will pay creditors its remaining cash — Theranos Inc., the blood-testing company accused of perpetrating Silicon Valley's biggest fraud, will soon cease to exist. — In the wake of a high-profile scandal …

Discussion: Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Stars & Stripes:

Soldier killed in Afghanistan insider attack was on seventh deployment — KABUL, Afghanistan — A U.S. soldier killed Monday in an apparent insider attack in eastern Afghanistan was identified as Command Sgt. Maj. Timothy Bolyard, according to a Department of Defense statement issued Tuesday.

James LaPorta / Newsweek:
U.S. Soldier Killed in Afghanistan Was Highest Enlisted Soldier Supporting Trump Administration's New Adviser Brigade

Discussion: Task & Purpose

Rosie Gray / The Atlantic:

A Daily Caller Editor Wrote For an ‘Alt-Right’ Website Using a Pseudonym — Former Daily Caller writer and editor Scott Greer has severed all ties with the conservative website after acknowledging that he had written under a pseudonym for the white supremacist Radix Journal.

Discussion: American Greatness

Tom Nichols / Washington Post:

Want to save the GOP, Republicans? Vote for every Democrat on this year's ballot. — If the GOP is going to be a credible, center-right party, Republicans have to treat the 2018 election as a parliamentary-style housecleaning. — Naval War College and Harvard Extension School professor

Jennifer Calfas / TIME:

‘Every Job is Worthwhile.’ Former Cosby Show Actor Speaks Out After Job-Shaming Photo Goes Viral — A former Cosby Show actor is speaking out after a photograph surfaced showing him working at a grocery store in what many perceived as an attempt to shame him for his job.

Discussion: NorthJersey.com

Steven Shepard / Politico:

POLITICO race ratings: 60 GOP House seats in danger — The Senate is a tightrope walk for Democrats. — Roughly 100 of the 240 Republican-controlled House seats are currently within Democratic reach, posing the most serious threat to the GOP majority since the party won control in 2010.

Discussion: Political Wire

Gregory S. Schneider / Washington Post:

A Republican congressman helped a rival collect signatures to get on the ballot. Some of those signatures were fake. — VIRGINIA BEACH — Rep. Scott W. Taylor (R-Va.) sat in the backroom of his campaign office in a strip mall. Mini-blinds closed, a modest “Scott Taylor U.S. Congress” …