memeorandum: Happy ‘Whitey Tape’ Eve! (David Weigel/The Washington Independent)

4:55 PM ET, May 16, 2009

Top Items:

Emily Goodin / The Hill:

Pelosi turns down Sunday show invitations — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) turned down invitations to be on several Sunday morning talk shows and is instead spending the weekend with her family. — The Speaker was invited to appear on NBC's “Meet the Press,” ABC's “This Week,” …

Discussion: Redhot

Orange County Register:

Steyn: Pelosi's tortured press performance — Let's just cut to the chase and handcuff Cheney and Pelosi to a radiator in a CIA safe house somewhere. — Recommend — Uh-oh. Nancy Pelosi's performance at her press conference re: waterboarding has raised, according to The Washington Post …

Discussion: Hot Air

Faiz Shakir / Think Progress:

Conservatives Express Hope That Their Attacks On Pelosi Will Quiet Calls For Truth Commission — For weeks, conservatives have been launching hypocritical and disingenuous attacks on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) regarding her level of knowledge of the Bush administration's torture program.

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Brutally Honest and The Page

Mike Madden / Salon:
Cheney's torture trap for Democrats

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Jules Crittenden, RedState, Wake up America, Open Left, Stop The ACLU, protein wisdom, Hot Air, PoliGazette, Talking Points Memo and Gateway Pundit

William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:
Pelosi May 2002 Statement Casts Further Doubt On Her Claims

Discussion: The Sundries Shack, The Strata-Sphere, protein wisdom, Don Surber and USS Neverdock

Tim Graham / NewsBusters.org:
Speaker Pelosi Lied? N.Y. Times Puts It On Page A-18

Discussion: DailyHowler.com, Townhall.com and The Caucus

Carl Hulse / New York Times:
In Detainee Furor, a Rare Stumble by Pelosi

Discussion: Prairie Weather, MoJo Blog Posts and Washington Post

Washington Post:

Republican Governor of Utah Selected to Be Envoy to China — Utah Gov. Jon M. Huntsman Jr. (R) will be introduced today as President Obama's choice as ambassador to China, a source familiar with the decision said last night. — Huntsman, 48, was mentioned this spring as a potential Republican contender …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Washington Monthly and Donklephant

Al Giordano / The Field on the Narcosphere:

Huntsman to China: It's About Romney — When, a day before the 2008 Tsunami Tuesday primaries, Michelle Obama visited with top apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints, eyebrows were raised. What was the Obama campaign doing reaching out to Mormons, some said, who have long been a reliable voting bloc for Republicans?

Discussion: Jack & Jill Politics

The Politico:

Huntsman chosen China ambassador — President Barack Obama named Republican Utah Gov. Jon M. Huntsman Jr. as his pick for ambassador to China, likely removing one of his strongest potential challengers in the 2012 presidential campaign from the running. — In an unusual Saturday announcement …

Discussion: Political Punch, Hot Air, Salon, The Swamp, Little Green Footballs, Ben Smith's Blog, The Page, In The Agora and Balloon Juice

David Leonhardt / New York Times:
The China Puzzle

Discussion: ParaPundit, TPMCafe and Paul Krugman

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Huntsman to China, 2012 Aspirations Fade

Discussion: Washington Post, DownWithTyranny!, Open Left, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, No More Mister Nice Blog and Newshoggers.com

CNN:
Utah governor named China envoy

Discussion: Pajamas Media

Associated Press:
AP Source: Obama to Name Utah Gov Envoy to China

Discussion: Taylor Marsh and MyDD

Robert Gehrke / Salt Lake Tribune: Huntsman to accept ambassadorship to China

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:

Don't Wince. Fight! — Dick Cheney, Most Valuable Republican. — When accused of being too aggressive on behalf of the United States at the United Nations, Daniel Patrick Moynihan was fond of repeating a French proverb: “Cet animal est fort méchant, / Quand on l'attaque il se défend.”

Discussion: The Daily Dish, The Huffington Post, Washington Monthly, Commentary, Townhall.com, Newshoggers.com, AmSpecBlog and Think Progress

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

Conservatives Map Strategies on Court Fight — WASHINGTON — If President Obama nominates Judge Diane P. Wood to the Supreme Court, conservatives plan to attack her as an “outspoken” supporter of “abortion, including partial-birth abortion.” — If he nominates Judge Sonia Sotomayor …

Discussion: The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Washington Post and The Page

Jess Bravin / Wall Street Journal:
Sessions Favors Judge for High Court

Discussion: The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

Victoria Toensing / Wall Street Journal:

Critics Still Haven't Read the ‘Torture’ Memos — The CIA proposed the methods. The Justice Department gave its advice. — Printer — Friendly — Sen. Patrick Leahy wants an independent commission to investigate them. Rep. John Conyers wants the Obama Justice Department to prosecute them.

Discussion: protein wisdom, neo-neocon and Commentary

Michael Stokes Paulsen / Weekly Standard:
Obama's Injustice Department

Discussion: Power Line

David Weigel / The Washington Independent:

Happy ‘Whitey Tape’ Eve! — One year ago tomorrow—May 16, 2008—former CIA analyst and current security consultant Larry Johnson put up this blog post at his site “No Quarter.” … Johnson posted a video of a then-current Tennessee Republican ad attacking Michelle Obama, then continued his argument.

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, TBogg and Wonkette

Mark Silva / The Swamp:

Obama abroad: Ghana, Italy, Moscow — The president, with an avowed goal of reengaging the United States in international diplomacy on a wide array of fronts, will add Africa to his travels abroad this summer. — The White House, in announcing today the date of a trip to Moscow …

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog: A trip to Africa — Along with expected stops in Russia and Italy …

Jonah Lehrer / New Yorker:

DON'T! — The secret of self-control. — In the late nineteen-sixties, Carolyn Weisz, a four-year-old with long brown hair, was invited into a “game room” at the Bing Nursery School, on the campus of Stanford University. The room was little more than a large closet, containing a desk and a chair.

Discussion: The Daily Dish and Joanne Jacobs

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

A NEW FOUNDATION.... When presidents pursue an ambitious agenda, which breaks with the recent past, the larger vision tends to get a name. We've seen a “New Deal,” a “Square Deal,” a “Fair Deal,” a “New Frontier,” and the drive for a “Great Society.” — President Obama is subtly hoping to build a “New Foundation.”

Discussion: Greg's Opinion and Liberal Values

Peter Baker / New York Times:
Familiar Obama Phrase Being Groomed as a Slogan

Discussion: The Caucus and The Swamp

Terry Frieden / CNN:

U.S. sends Gitmo detainee to France for release — WASHINGTON (CNN) — U.S. officials at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have released a well-known Algerian detainee and flown him to France, where he will be allowed to join family members. — French officials said they agreed to accept Lakhdar Boumediene …

Stephen F. Hayes / Weekly Standard:

Biden Reveals Classified Information? — Joe Biden is proving impossible to parody. — In one of the few funny jokes at the White House correspondents dinner, Wanda Sykes won loud laughter when she joked that terrorists interested in learning America's most important secrets would only have to ask Biden how he's doing.

Discussion: Newsweek Blogs