memeorandum: OBAMA TARGETS BREITBART, PALIN, HANNITY WITH HEAVILY-EDITED AD (Ben Shapiro/BREITBART.COM)

4:05 PM ET, March 13, 2012

Top Items:

The Obama Poll Drop Mystery: Explained! — Yesterday morning, a new Washington Post poll showed a sharp drop in President Obama's approval rating, from 50 percent approval (and 46 percent disapproval) to the reverse. People on Twitter started tittering. Jonathan Bernstein insisted it was all just random statistical noise.

Discussion: Prairie Weather, The Caucus, Business Insider, American Prospect, Indecision Forever, Ezra Klein, The Daily Dish, The New Republic, Washington Post, FiveThirtyEight and Outside the Beltway

Steven Mufson / Washington Post:

Voters blame president for gas prices, experts say not so fast — How much does the president have to do with the price of gasoline? — A lot, say American voters. According to oil experts and economists, not so much — at least in the short term. — Today's oil prices are the product …

Discussion: Washington Times, The Hill, National Review, Questions and Observations, ABCNEWS, Pirate's Cove, Ezra Klein, Mediaite, Washington Monthly, Campaign 2012, Cafe Hayek and The Enterprise Blog

Shannen W. Coffin / National Review:

New York Times: It's Just a Poll. Nothing to See Here. — The New York Times reports today that President Obama's approval rating has dipped to 41 percent with 47 percent disapproving of the job that the president is doing. Not to worry, says the Times.

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, CBS News and Cold Fury

Andrew Restuccia / The Hill:
Obama energy chief disavows '08 remark favoring higher gas prices

Discussion: Hot Air, Weasel Zippers and BREITBART.COM

New York Times:
Obama Approval Rating Shows Serious Slip in New Poll

Mickey Kaus / The Daily Caller:
Psst! Obama lost the birth control mandate debate

Discussion: JustOneMinute, National Review, LifeNews.com, Los Angeles Times and Wake up America

Stephanie Condon / CBS News:
Poll: Obama's approval rating sinks to new low

Jonathan Martin / Politico:

Alabama and Mississippi primaries: Mitt Romney could seal deal in Dixie — RICHLAND, Miss — In a topsy-turvy GOP primary, where the unexpected has been the norm, such a final plot twist may be altogether fitting: the Mormon Yankee who thinks cheese grits are a revelation effectively seals the nomination in Alabama and Mississippi.

Jeff Poor / The Daily Caller:
Santorum: Fox News is ‘shilling’ for Mitt Romney

Discussion: GOP 12, Hot Air, The Raw Story and Business Insider

Sean Trende / Real Clear Politics:
The Slog to 1,144: So Far, Demographics Trumps Momentum

Discussion: Hit & Run, Washington Post and Patterico's Pontifications

Alec MacGillis / The New Republic:
Is The South Too Republican For Republicans?

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Washington Post, The Caucus and The Moderate Voice

Greg Giroux / Bloomberg:
Super-PAC Ads Dominate Republican Race in Alabama, Mississippi

Discussion: Washington Monthly, WWL-TV, ABCNEWS, al.com, USA Today, Business Insider, Wall Street Journal, Politico, ThinkProgress, Hot Air and OpenSecrets.org

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Polling in Deep South Has Posed Challenges

Discussion: Time, The Other McCain, Crooks and Liars, Guardian and americanthinker.com

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Santorum: Fox News is ‘shilling’ for Mitt Romney

Discussion: Washington Post

Sarah Palin / Facebook:

Let's Talk About the Real Issues, Mr. President — The far Left continues to believe American voters are not smart enough to grasp the diversionary tactics it employs to distract us from the issues our President just doesn't want to talk about - issues that affect us all every day and must be addressed.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Little Green Footballs, New York Times, Washington Wire, Power Line, Weasel Zippers, Don Surber, Politico, Mediaite, The Gateway Pundit, Israel Matzav, The Mental Recession and Cold Fury

Ben Shapiro / BREITBART.COM:

OBAMA TARGETS BREITBART, PALIN, HANNITY WITH HEAVILY-EDITED AD — The Obama re-election campaign has released an internet ad targeting Sarah Palin, Sean Hannity, and Breitbart.com. Coming up short in the fundraising department and under fire for President Obama's longtime association …

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Taylor Marsh, Hot Air, Wake up America, protein wisdom, Conservatives4Palin and Patterico's Pontifications

Richard Cohen / Washington Post:

Sarah Palin's foolishness ruined U.S. politics — At some point while watching HBO's absolutely smashing (and terrifying) movie “Game Change,” it occurred to me that Sarah Palin has ruined America. The movie has been scalloped out of the book by the same name and focuses on Palin, rather than on the entire 2008 presidential campaign.

Discussion: Rumproast, A plain blog about politics, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Right Sphere, Wonkette and The Reality-Based Community

Paul Glastris / Washington Monthly: False Equivalence Watch, Richard Cohen Version

Andrew Malcolm / Investor's Business Daily:

Online, liberals far less tolerant than normal people — Not exactly shocking news for those exposed to them for years, but the respected Pew Research Center has determined that political liberals are far less tolerant of opposing views than regular Americans.

Discussion: protein wisdom, The Jawa Report, americanthinker.com, Ricochet Conversations Feed and Patterico's Pontifications

Pew Internet:

Social networking sites and politics — Home - > - Reports - > - Social networking sites and politics - > - Main findings - > - Social networking sites and politics — Main findings — Social networking sites have become places where political conversation, debate, and proselytizing occur, especially during campaign seasons.

Discussion: Mediaite, The Volokh Conspiracy and Mashable!

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Pew: Liberals most intolerant online

Discussion: Ed Driscoll, The PJ Tatler, The Daily Caller, Sister Toldjah and American Spectator

Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:

BREAKING: Rush Limbaugh Syndicator Suspends National Ads For Two Weeks — Radio-Info.com reports that Premiere Networks, which syndicates the Rush Limbaugh show, told its affiliate radio stations that they are suspending national advertising for two weeks. Rush Limbaugh is normally provided …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Taylor Marsh, Radio-Info.com, Mother Jones, Crooks and Liars, The Maddow Blog, The Political Carnival, Cagle Post, Addicting Info, NewsHounds blog, The Raw Story, Prairie Weather, rubber hose, Mediaite, The Last Tradition and Washington Post, more at Mediagazer »

David Frum / The Daily Beast:
Mike Huckabee Brings on Rush Limbaugh's Decline

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, News Desk, The Mahablog, Mediaite, The Impolitic and Runnin' Scared

Frank Bruni / New York Times:
One-Way Wantonness

Discussion: JustOneMinute, pandagon.net, Feministing, The Volokh Conspiracy, Runnin' Scared, the daily howler, The Moderate Voice, Daily Kos, Addicting Info and CNN, more at Mediagazer »

David A. Graham / The Atlantic Online:

The Problem With Polls About Whether Obama Is a Muslim — By asking voters what they think about the president's religion, pollsters help to perpetuate a falsehood. — Liberal blogs and sites are having a field day with new data from Public Policy Polling that shows that 52 percent …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, BuzzFlash.org, Prairie Weather and 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com

Sandra Fluke / CNN:

Slurs won't silence women — Editor's note: Sandra Fluke is a third-year law student at Georgetown University Law Center and has served as president of Georgetown Law Students for Reproductive Justice. — (CNN) — Last month, students from several Catholic universities gathered to send …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Townhall.com, rightwingwatch.org, JustOneMinute, Hot Air, Feministing, Mediaite, NewsBusters.org blogs and The PJ Tatler

Jeff Poor / The Daily Caller:
HBO's ‘Game Change’ promoted by same PR firm that represents Sandra Fluke

Discussion: protein wisdom

Eryn Brown / Los Angeles Times:

All red meat is bad for you, new study says — A long-term study finds that eating any amount and any type increases the risk of premature death. — Eating any amount and any type of red meat increases the risk of premature death, a new study says. (William Thomas Cain / Getty Images / March 12, 2012)

Discussion: Archives of Internal …, Gothamist, Opinion L.A., Jezebel, Truthdig, Guardian and americanthinker.com

Laurie Goodstein / New York Times:

Church Puts Legal Pressure on Abuse Victims' Group — Turning the tables on an advocacy group that has long supported victims of pedophile priests, lawyers for the Roman Catholic Church and priests accused of sexual abuse in two Missouri cases have gone to court to compel the group to disclose …

Discussion: rightwingwatch.org, Daily Kos, Balloon Juice, The Daily Dish, Joe. My. God. and Campaign 2012

Saul Loeb / National Post:

Dick Cheney cancels Toronto trip, says Canada is too dangerous — TORONTO — Former U.S. vice-president Dick Cheney has cancelled an April appearance in Toronto citing concerns Canada is too dangerous. — “He felt that in Canada the risk of violent protest was simply too high,” …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Los Angeles Times, The Impolitic, The Mahablog, National Review and The Raw Story

Rick Santorum / CNN:

TRENDING: Santorum rails against Maher on ‘Christian madrassa’ comment — (CNN) - Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum hit back against Bill Maher Monday night after the liberal talk show host criticized Santorum for home-schooling his children, calling his home a “Christian madrassa.”

Discussion: Hot Air

New York Times:

U.S. Officials Debate Speeding Afghan Pullout — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is discussing whether to reduce American forces in Afghanistan by at least an additional 20,000 troops by 2013, reflecting a growing belief within the White House that the mission there has now reached the point of diminishing returns.

Discussion: Washington Post, Yahoo! News, The Heritage Foundation, Reuters, Hit & Run, Guardian, Firedoglake, FP Passport, ThinkProgress, Daniel W. Drezner, Global Spin, The Hill, Political Insider, News Desk and Balloon Juice

Jack Brammer / Lexington Herald-Leader:

House panel turns down anti-bullying bill despite pleas from parents — FRANKFORT — After an emotional debate, the House Education Committee voted down an anti-bullying bill Tuesday that identified classes of students who might be harassed by their peers. — The vote came after parents …

Discussion: ThinkProgress

Alicia M. Cohn / The Hill:

Biden: Obama 'would've been a one-term president' if bin Laden mission had failed — President Obama would have ended up a one-term president if last summer's mission to kill Osama bin Laden had failed, according to Vice President Biden. — Biden, speaking Monday night at a small fundraising event …

Discussion: Mediaite

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

What if George W. Bush had done that? — President Barack Obama has forged a surprising consensus on opposite ends of the political spectrum: They wonder how on earth he gets away with it. — A series of recent moves — from aggressively filling his reelection war chest to green-lighting shoot …