memeorandum: Gay congressional candidate wins key primary in Wisconsin (Denis Dison/Gay Politics)

1:45 AM ET, August 15, 2012

Top Items:

Sally Kohn / Salon:

Paul Ryan didn't build that! — His family built its fortune on the public-works projects that Romney's “You didn't build that” campaign mocks — When Paul Ryan took to the stage in Mooresville, North Carolina, as Mitt Romney's running mate, he attacked President Obama's “you didn't build that” …

Discussion: blogs.detroitnews.com, PoliticusUSA, Mediaite, Esquire, ThinkProgress and Hit & Run

Politico:

GOP pros fret over Paul Ryan — You've heard them on television and read them on POLITICO — cheerful, defiant statements from Republican political professionals about Mitt Romney's bold masterstroke in tapping Paul Ryan as his running mate, and turning the 2012 presidential race into a serious …

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post, NewsBusters.org blogs, Donklephant, Ballot Box, Investor's Business Daily, New York Times, The Huffington Post, Addicting Info, The Lonely Conservative, Hot Air, Liberal Values, PERRspectives, The Week, Guardian, MiamiHerald.com, The Hill, Daily Kos, The Atlantic Online, Applesauce, Balloon Juice, The Hill, Reuters, The Monkey Cage, The Caucus, The Raw Story, Shakesville, SQUATLO RANT, Univision News Tumblr, The New Republic, Outside the Beltway, JOSHUAPUNDIT, Ricochet Conversations Feed, New York Magazine, Mother Jones, Mediaite, First Read, neo-neocon, Washington Wire, The Maddow Blog, AEIdeas, Washington Monthly, ABCNEWS, emptywheel, americanthinker.com, Swampland, Booman Tribune, The Daily Beast, p m carpenter's commentary, 2012 Decoded, The Hinterland Gazette, Connecting.the.Dots, Wall Street Journal and USA Today, more at Mediagazer »

Bloomberg:

Paul Ryan Should Be the Ross Perot of 2012 — The traditional roles of a U.S. presidential running mate are ticket balancer and attack dog. With their choices of Al Gore and Dick Cheney, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush added another: the brainy policy partner with big-picture views.

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Hot Air, Salon, Dynamist and National Review

BuzzFeed:
Romney Campaign Bars Press From Ryan, Adelson Event

Discussion: Daily Kos and Politico, more at Mediagazer »

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Obama up 6 in New Hampshire — PPP's newest New Hampshire …

Discussion: Ballot Box and Politico

Ryan Grim / The Huffington Post:
Paul Ryan Will Talk About Tax Policy ‘In The Light Of Day’ — After The Election

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and TakeMyCountryBack.com

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Obama up slightly in Ohio

Discussion: Ballot Box

CNN:
Ryan embraces ‘regular guy’ routine on the stump in Colorado

Discussion: Hot Air and Politico

William Galston / The New Republic:
Why Demogoguing Paul Ryan is Bad For Democrats

Discussion: New York Magazine and Power Line

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:
The Unbearable Lightness of Being a ‘GOP Pro’

Discussion: CNN, Politico and Daily Kos

William Kristol / Weekly Standard: Cut This Ad! Clinton COS on Ryan: ‘This Guy is Amazing.’

Emily Goodin / The Hill:

Romney slams Obama in tough new speech — Mitt Romney used a tough new campaign speech to personally blast the Obama campaign on Tuesday, saying comments earlier in the day from Vice President Biden are “what an angry and desperate Presidency looks like.” — “Mr. President …

Discussion: Moe_Lane's blog, The Lonely Conservative, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, The Other McCain and The Gateway Pundit

Washington Free Beacon:

Biden on Romney: 'They're going to put y'all back in chains' — Vice President Joe Biden told supporters that Republicans would “put y'all back in chains,” during a campaign speech Tuesday in Danville, Va. — VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: They've said it. Every Republican's voted for it.

Discussion: The Lonely Conservative, Scared Monkeys, CNN, Hot Air, The Other McCain, Weekly Standard, protein wisdom, National Review, The Gateway Pundit, Conservatives4Palin and The Right Scoop, more at Mediagazer »

Maggie Haberman / Politico:

Biden clarifies, digs in on ‘chains’ — Vice President Joe Biden dug in when it came to apologizing for his earlier remark, made at a Virgina campaign event where the AP described the crowd as having a couple hundred African-American attendees, about Republicans and Wall Street wanting to put “y'all back in chains.”

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Power Line and Shot in the Dark

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Romney camp blasts Biden for ‘chains’ remark, calls it a ‘new low’

Discussion: Politico, 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com, CNN, Veracity Stew, his vorpal sword, Washington Wire, Taylor Marsh, The Hinterland Gazette and The Daily Caller

CNN:
Biden: Romney's Wall Street will 'put y'all back in chains'

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Politico, Michelle Malkin, JOSHUAPUNDIT and Univision News Tumblr

Donovan Slack / Politico:
Romney camp wants Obama to denounce Biden's ‘slanderous’ remark

Discussion: New York Magazine, Daily Kos, Weasel Zippers, PoliticusUSA, Balloon Juice, Wonkette and American Power

Sarah Kliff / Washington Post:

Romney's right: Obamacare cuts Medicare by $716 billion. Here's how. — The Romney campaign has gone on the offense on Medicare, charging that the Affordable Care Act “cuts $716 billion” from the entitlement program. — That $716 billion figure is one you'll probably be hearing a lot about during this election cycle.

Discussion: Booman Tribune and The Daily Dish

Maggie Haberman / Politico:
Romney says he'll put ‘the $716 billion back’ in Medicare

Discussion: The Hill, First Read, Hot Air and 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:
Stockman Savages Ryan

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, ABCNEWS, Hullabaloo, Applesauce and Taylor Marsh

David A. Stockman / New York Times:
Paul Ryan's Fairy-Tale Budget Plan

Discussion: Washington Post, Hullabaloo, Rolling Stone, The Political Carnival, The Atlantic Online, Truthdig, Little Green Footballs, The Raw Story, Business Insider, ThinkProgress, Eschaton, The Glittering Eye, p m carpenter's commentary, The Mahablog, Taylor Marsh and The Moderate Voice

Ezra Klein / Washington Post:
Paul Ryan's budget keeps Obama's Medicare cuts. Full stop.

Discussion: The New Republic, First Read, Taylor Marsh, Business Insider, National Review, The Incidental Economist, Forbes, Applesauce and Crooks and Liars

Denis Dison / Gay Politics:

Gay congressional candidate wins key primary in Wisconsin — The next openly gay member of Congress will almost certainly be Wisconsin State Rep. Mark Pocan, a progressive small business owner who won the Democratic primary tonight in the Congressional District that has been represented …

Discussion: Washington Blade and Joe. My. God.

BuzzFeed:
Florida Democrats Will Send First Gay Legislator To Tallahassee

Discussion: Equality Florida Blog and Towleroad News #gay

Alex Alvarez / Mediaite:

O'Brien And Sununu's Epic Shouting Match: ‘Put An Obama Bumper Sticker On Your Forehead When You Do This!’ — Tuesday's Starting Point began with a bang (and a whimper, on our end) as host Soledad O'Brien and Romney surrogate John Sununu entered into a heated argument over Medicare.

Discussion: Wonkette, The Moderate Voice, Crooks and Liars and BuzzFeed

David Sherfinski / Washington Times: Sununu to CNN host: ‘Put an Obama bumper sticker on your forehead’

John Nichols / thenation.com/blogs/117:

Paul Ryan's Got a Great Big Problem With Progressivism — Paul Ryan's return to Wisconsin on the day after his selection as Mitt Romney's choice for the Republican vice presidential nomination was billed as a “homecoming.” — But Ryan did not actually go home to Janesville, the blue-collar town where he was born and raised.

The Boston Globe:
Ryan sought stimulus funds while decrying program

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Maddow Blog, US Politics and Cognitive Dissidence

Jack Moore / BuzzFeed:

Barack Obama Is A Wizard This photo from the AP has not been doctored in any way. — Jack Moore BuzzFeed Staff posted a few minutes ago — A light shines behind President Barack Obama as he speaks during a campaign event at Bayliss Park, Monday, Aug. 13, 2012, in Council Bluffs, Iowa …

Discussion: The Impolitic

Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:

Ex-Wrestling Executive Wins G.O.P. Primary — Linda E. McMahon, a former wrestling executive, easily captured Connecticut's Republican Senate primary on Tuesday night, clinching a second chance to run for an office she failed to win two years ago. — In defeating Christopher Shays …

Discussion: CNN, Hartford Courant, Politico and Joe. My. God.

Tomer Ovadia / Politico:

Dems want debate question barred — Some Democratic lawmakers want to make sure that one question does not get asked at the upcoming first presidential debate - about Simpson-Bowles. — Three Democratic House members objected Tuesday to a request by four senators that President Barack Obama …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin and The Daily Caller

Stephanie Mencimer / Mother Jones:

Ryan Sponsored Abortion Bill That Would Make Romney's Kids Criminals — The VP candidate pushed an anti-abortion bill that would outlaw IVF—which Mitt Romney's children used. — Now that Mitt Romney has chosen Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate, Ryan's long history as a culture warrior is getting a fresh look.

Discussion: Mother Jones, National Review, Daily Kos, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and ThinkProgress

John McCormack / Weekly Standard:
Dem Congressman Falsely Claims Ryan Voted to “Ban all Birth Control”

Discussion: National Review

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

More questions raised about Fareed Zakaria's work — Columnist and TV host Fareed Zakaria, who acknowledged plagiarizing parts of a magazine article last week, appears to have also published without attribution a passage from a 2005 book. — Zakaria's 2008 book, “The Post-American World …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, NewsBusters.org blogs, The Atlantic Online, Outside the Beltway, Poynter, Taylor Marsh and Gatekeeper, more at Mediagazer »

Jeffrey Goldberg / The Atlantic Online:
Fareed Zakaria Responds to the Charge of Quote-Stealing

Discussion: Poynter

Max Fisher / The Atlantic Online:

Photo Evidence That Kazakhstan May Have the World's Worst Parking Habits — A new website seeks to document and shame the Central Asian nation's appalling car parking habits. — Unfortunately, there is no World Bank or International Monetary Fund study on comparative parking practices across nations …

Discussion: Radio Free Europe/Radio … and BuzzFeed

Michael Doyle / Capitol Alert:

Rep. Dennis Cardoza announces resignation — Citing sensitive family needs, Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced, has tendered his immediate resignation from the House of Representatives. The surprisingly timed departure takes effect at midnight Wednesday. — A veteran San Joaquin Valley politician …

Discussion: The Caucus, Wonkette, Politico, Ballot Box, Influence Alley and Hotline On Call

Alexandra Jaffe / Ballot Box:

Florida Rep. Stearns trailing local vet in Republican primary — Local veterinarian Ted Yoho is unexpectedly leading longtime Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) in their GOP primary on Tuesday night. — The race is down to the wire. Yoho had 34 precent of the vote to Stearns' 33 percent, with 100 percent of precincts reporting.

Discussion: Politico and Hotline On Call