memeorandum: POLITICO Playbook PM: The most and least popular leaders in Washington (Politico)

3:10 PM ET, February 24, 2021

Top Items:

My story of working with Governor Cuomo — “Let's play strip poker.” — I should have been shocked by the Governor's crude comment, but I wasn't. — We were flying home from an October 2017 event in Western New York on his taxpayer-funded jet. He was seated facing me, so close our knees almost touched.

Alex Pareene / New Republic:

The Andrew Cuomo Show Has Lost the Plot — Halfway through a recent New York Times story about Governor Andrew Cuomo's long (but perhaps not widely known) history of governance-by-bullying, an ally tried to defend his signature political style. He didn't say that Cuomo's behavior was ethical, or reasonable, or even responsible.

Discussion: Reason, YouGov, Washington Examiner and Sean Hannity

Karen Hinton / New York Daily News:
How to counter penis politics: What it's like to work for Andrew Cuomo and Bill de Blasio

Discussion: Mediaite

Andrea Salcedo / Washington Post:

South Dakota AG pushed by critics to resign over new evidence in fatal car incident: ‘He knew what he hit and he lied’ — Days after South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg fatally struck a man while driving in September, detectives told the Republican official they had found a pair …

Discussion: The Hill, Above the Law, HotAir, Law & Crime, Talking Points Memo, Grand Forks Herald, CBS News and Argus Leader

Argus Leader:
‘His face was in your windshield, Jason.’ Ravnsborg videos provide more details about fatal crash

Discussion: Mercury News

New York Times:

New analyses show Johnson & Johnson's one-dose vaccine works well. — Johnson and Johnson's vaccine has a lower efficacy rate than the vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, which are both around 95 percent. … But in South Africa, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is so far the clear winner.

Discussion: NPR, HotAir, National Review, Mother Jones, Townhall, Virginia Mercury and CBS News

Washington Post:

FDA review confirms safety and efficacy of single-shot Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine, especially against severe cases — A Food and Drug Administration review released Wednesday of the single-shot coronavirus vaccine made by pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson found it was safe …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Townhall, CBS News, The Week, UPI, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Guardian, The Hill, HotAir, Fox News and New York Post

Sarah Owermohle / Politico:
FDA confirms J&J vaccine is safe and effective

Discussion: Vox, Al Jazeera, Rolling Stone, National Review, The Verge, Washington Examiner and ABC News

Alex Marquardt / CNN:

‘Top Secret’ Saudi documents show Khashoggi assassins used company seized by Saudi crown prince — Washington (CNN)The two private jets used by a Saudi Arabian assassination squad that killed and allegedly dismembered journalist Jamal Khashoggi were owned by a company that less than a year prior …

Hans Nichols / Axios:
Scoop: Biden will call Saudi king ahead of damning report

Discussion: The Guardian, Bloomberg, Politico, The Hill, Raw Story, Middle East Monitor, Foreign Policy, The New Arab, Al Jazeera and CNN

Kara Scannell / CNN:

Steve Bannon investigation gains steam as Manhattan prosecutors subpoena financial records — CNN legal analyst explains why the Steve Bannon pardon is problematic — New York (CNN)The Manhattan district attorney's office has subpoenaed financial records related to Steve Bannon's crowd …

Discussion: Daily Kos

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

LGBT Identification Rises to 5.6% in Latest U.S. Estimate — WASHINGTON, D.C. — Gallup's latest update on lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender identification finds 5.6% of U.S. adults identifying as LGBT. The current estimate is up from 4.5% in Gallup's previous update based on 2017 data.

Discussion: NBC News, USA Today, The 19th, HotAir, Reason, Mic, Washington Blade, LGBTQ Nation, PinkNews, Althouse, National Review, The Hill and Washington Examiner

Samantha Schmidt / Washington Post: 1 in 6 Gen Z adults are LGBT. And this number could continue to grow.

Sarah Mucha / Axios:

Scoop: Senate committee postpones hearing for imperiled Tanden — The Senate Homeland Security Committee is postponing a confirmation hearing scheduled Wednesday for Neera Tanden, Axios has learned, a potential death knell for President Biden's nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget.

Discussion: Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, HotAir, Politico, CNN, GovExec.com, USA Today, Raw Story, Breitbart, Talking Points Memo, The Hill, ABC News and Washington Times

Christopher Cadelago / Politico:
A possible Tanden replacement privately touts her own Senate support

Discussion: Washington Post, Washington Times, The 19th, Reuters, Roll Call and GovExec.com

David Dayen / American Prospect:
First 100: Top House Democrat Working With Louis DeJoy on Reform Legislation, For Some Reason

Discussion: Politico, CNN, Forbes and IJR

Holley Ford / NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth:

Sen. Ted Cruz Piñatas Created at Dallas Party Store — First. it was former President Donald Trump, then U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders. — Now, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz has his own piñata courtesy of a Dallas party store. — Last week, Cruz sparked widespread outrage for flying …

Discussion: Raw Story and Crooks and Liars

David Siders / Politico:
Texas disaster puts Beto O'Rourke back in business

Discussion: El Paso Times and HuffPost

Mary Grace Granados / Dallas Morning News:
Oak Cliff party store has a new political piñata depicting Ted Cruz on his way to Cancún

Discussion: The Hill and Political Wire

Nomaan Merchant / Associated Press:

Judge bans enforcement of Biden's 100-day deportation pause — A federal judge has indefinitely banned President Joe Biden's administration from enforcing a 100-day moratorium on most deportations — Rep. Linda Sanchez on new immigration reform bill presented by Democrats

Discussion: HotAir, BizPac Review, National Review, Talking Points Memo, The Texas Tribune, WISC-TV, Forbes, Breitbart, Washington Times, Mother Jones, CBS Dallas / Fort Worth, New York Times, Human Events, Sean Hannity and Townhall

Adam Shaw / Fox News:
Biden's 100-day deportation moratorium indefinitely banned by judge

Discussion: Breitbart, Big League Politics, Politico and TheBlaze

Kaelan Deese / Washington Examiner:
Federal judge slaps indefinite ban on 100-day moratorium on deportations

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, ABC News, USA Today and Insider

John Gizzi / Newsmax:

Will Ex-Sen. Perdue's Exit Mean Sen. Herschel Walker, R-Ga.? — Not since Aug. 20, 1956, when former Sen. Millard Tydings, D-Md., suddenly withdrew from a bid for the seat he lost six years earlier, has the abandonment of a former U.S. senator from a comeback campaign had such an impact …

Discussion: Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Hill

Politico:

McConnell throws cold water on Dems' proposed 1/6 Commission — Speaker Nancy Pelosi's bid to create a broad bipartisan review of the Jan. 6 insurrection is in peril after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell slammed the proposal on Wednesday as “partisan by design.”

Discussion: Fox News and Townhall

Tyler Olson / Fox News: Ex-Capitol Police chief criticizes Pelosi pick for Capitol probe, says ‘complicit’ comments ‘disrespectful’

Christian Vanderbrouk / The Bulwark:

MAGA's Moment of Weakness — Trump and his allies have been defeated, humiliated, and betrayed. It's time to sweep the leg. — “We're going to win so much, you're going to be so sick and tired of winning, you're going to come to me and go 'Please, please, we can't win anymore.' You'll say 'Please …

Discussion: CNN, New York Magazine, HotAir, New York Post, Forbes and New York Times

Rachel Lerman / Washington Post:

Major Trump backer Rebekah Mercer orchestrates Parler's second act — Mercer, whose family also invested in right-wing news site Breitbart, controls two of the three board seats at the company — When social media website Parler's founding CEO John Matze was pushed out last month …

Politico:
POLITICO Playbook PM: The most and least popular leaders in Washington

Discussion: Fox News and Washington Post

Ben Chapman / Wall Street Journal:

Bruce Springsteen's Drunken-Driving Charges Dropped by Prosecutors — Musician's blood-alcohol level was under the legal limit, federal prosecutors say; Springsteen pleaded guilty to consuming alcohol in a closed area — Federal prosecutors in New Jersey said Wednesday …

Wall Street Journal:

Texas Electric Bills Were $28 Billion Higher Under Deregulation — Competition in the electricity-supply business promised reliable power at a more affordable cost — Texas's deregulated electricity market, which was supposed to provide reliable power at a lower price, left millions in the dark last week.

Discussion: HuffPost, The Hill, Earther, Kevin Drum and Insurance Journal

Brianne Pfannenstiel / Des Moines Register:

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley says he'll make a decision about re-election this fall — Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said Wednesday he expects to make a decision about whether to seek re-election “sometime in September, October or November” of this year. — “That's plenty of time to …

Adam Bernstein / Washington Post:

Fanne Foxe, ‘Argentine Firecracker’ at center of D.C. sex scandal, dies at 84 — At about 2 a.m. Oct. 7, 1974, U.S. Park Police pulled over a silver-blue Lincoln Continental that had been swerving and speeding without headlights on near the Jefferson Memorial in Washington.

Discussion: New York Times

ProPublica:

Sheryl Sandberg and Top Facebook Execs Silenced an Enemy of Turkey to Prevent a Hit to the Company's Business — Amid a 2018 Turkish military campaign, Facebook ultimately sided with Turkey's demand to block the page of a mostly Kurdish militia. “I am fine with this,” Sandberg wrote.

Discussion: New York Post, more at Techmeme »

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / VICE:

McDonald's Secretive Intel Team Spies on ‘Fight for $15’ Workers, Internal Documents Show — McDonald's collects ‘strategic intelligence’ on workers advocating for a $15 minimum wage, including ‘how and where will FF$15 attack the brand.’ — For years, McDonald's has internally labeled activists …

Discussion: Popular Information, Daily Kos and USA Today

Sarah Rainsford / BBC:

Amnesty strips Alexei Navalny of ‘prisoner of conscience’ status — Amnesty International has stripped the Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny of his “prisoner of conscience” status after it says it was “bombarded” with complaints highlighting xenophobic comments that he has made in the past and not renounced.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Natalia Explains …, Мед …, Instapundit and spiked

Washington Post:

Life amid the ruins of QAnon: ‘I wanted my family back’ — An epidemic of conspiracy theories, fanned by social media and self-serving politicians, is tearing families apart. … She bought ammunition, camping gear, a water purifier and boxes of canned food.

Mitt Romney / Wall Street Journal:

Biden's Stimulus Bill Is a $1.9 Trillion Clunker — Senate Republicans are eager to get aid where it's needed, reopen schools and encourage work. — Democrats are anxious for any excuse to blow up the Senate filibuster, the last procedural hurdle to one-party government.

Discussion: Insider, Raw Story, Deseret News, Fox News and Washington Post

Josh Boswell / Daily Mail:

EXCLUSIVE: Hunter Biden was living with his brother Beau's widow Hallie while sending raunchy texts and FaceTiming in the shower with her married SISTER as they declared their love and she called him her ‘prince’ — Hunter Biden began dating his late brother Beau's widow, Hallie Biden, shortly after Beau died of brain cancer in 2015

Martin Pengelly / The Guardian:

Key Biden aide said pandemic was ‘best thing that ever happened to him’, book says — Anita Dunn said privately what aides ‘would never say in public’ — Cautious campaigning won Covid battle with Trump — A senior adviser to Democrat Joe Biden in his campaign for president believed …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Disrn, Raw Story and The Blue State Conservative

Des Moines Register:

It violates free press rights to bring to trial a Des Moines Register reporter arrested while covering a protest — Editorial: The pending charges against a Register reporter who was arrested while covering a social justice protest last spring are a clear infringement on the freedom of the press.

Barak Ravid / Axios:

Scoop: Netanyahu asked Biden to keep Trump's sanctions on International Criminal Court — Netanyahu asked Biden in their first phone call last week to keep sanctions imposed by the Trump administration on the International Criminal Court (ICC) in place, Israeli officials tell me.

Walter Olson / The Dispatch:

House Democrats Go Fox Hunting — There is no ‘fake news’ exception to the First Amendment. — 4 hr ago — When elected officials browbeat the executives of regulated telecom, video, and app companies trying to get them to drop the main news channel of the political opposition …

Discussion: PRESS RUN, Issues & Insights, TK News and Liberty Unyielding

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

DCCC chairman investigating ‘why the polling sucked’ in 2020 — Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), the chairman of the House Democratic campaign arm, said Wednesday he's doing a deep dive into the party's election failures in 2020, including a look at “why the polling sucked.”

Discussion: Politico