memeorandum: Ensign admits affair; sources say blackmail involved (The Politico)

8:55 PM ET, June 16, 2009

Top Items:

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:

Ensign Acknowledges Extramarital Affair — UPDATE, 6:55 p.m.: In a press conference moments ago, Ensign admitted the affair but seemed resolved to remain in political life. “Last year I had an affair,” said Ensign. “I violated the vows of my marriage.” Ensign did not name the woman …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Washington Wire, Talking Points Memo, FiveThirtyEight, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Salon, Ben Smith's Blog, Indecision Forever, The Atlantic Politics Channel, TPMDC, Comments from Left Field and The Washington Independent

The Politico:

Ensign admits affair; sources say blackmail involved — Nevada Republican Sen. John Ensign said Tuesday evening he is “truly sorry” about an affair he had last year with a campaign staffer, going public with an embarrassing admission about his marital infidelity.

Discussion: Associated Press, The Note, Runnin' Scared, Burnt Orange Report, Gawker and Hot Air

Ncarlile / Think Progress:

FLASHBACK: Ensign Called On Clinton To Resign After Admitting Affair — ‘He Has No Credibility Left’ — The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza reports that Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), a member of GOP leadership and a potential candidate for president in 2012, will hold a press conference later today …

Discussion: Raw Story, Las Vegas Now and The Democratic Daily

Washington Post:

Nevada Sen. John Ensign Acknowledges Extramarital Affair — UPDATE, 5:55 p.m.: Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) has acknowledged an extramarital affair with a campaign staffer in a statement released by his office. “I deeply regret and am very sorry for my actions,” said Ensign.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Philly.com

CNN: Sen. Ensign admits affair with campaign staffer

David M. Herszenhorn / The Caucus: Senator Ensign Admits Extramarital Affair

Drudge Report:

ABC TURNS PROGRAMMING OVER TO OBAMA; NEWS TO BE ANCHORED FROM INSIDE WHITE HOUSE — On the night of June 24, the media and government become one, when ABC turns its programming over to President Obama and White House officials to push government run health care — a move that has ignited an ethical firestorm!

Bill Dedman / MSNBC:

Obama blocks access to White House visitor list — Taking Bush's position, administration denies msnbc.com request for logs — The Obama White House has denied requests by msnbc.com and a nonpartisan watchdog group for the names of White House visitors. The watchdog group …

Discussion: CREW, The Politico, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Political Punch, Salon, Associated Press, TPMMuckraker, Think Progress, Newsweek Blogs, Democracy in America, Wall Street Journal, MoJo Blog Posts, NO QUARTER, Wonkette and The Impolitic

Kathryn Cheng / ABC News' Press Room:

ABC News Responds to RNC Letter — Dear Mr. McKay: — I am in receipt of your letter of June 15, 2009 and wanted to respond to a number of false premises you raise regarding our ongoing and upcoming coverage of health care. — I hope we can all agree that a robust debate of health care issues and potential policies is in order.

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Riehl World View, The Caucus and FishBowlDC

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
A ‘PRESCRIPTION’ FOR A MANUFACTURED CONTROVERSY. …

Discussion: Don Surber

Sue Pleming / Reuters:

U.S. State Department speaks to Twitter over Iran — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department contacted the social networking service Twitter over the weekend to urge it to delay a planned upgrade that could have cut daytime service to Iranians, a U.S. official said on Tuesday.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Twitter Blog, Telegraph, Gawker, Taylor Marsh, Indecision Forever, techPresident, BayNewser, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room and Outside The Beltway

Robert Mackey / The Lede:

Latest Updates on Iran's Disputed Election — To supplement reporting from New York Times correspondents inside Iran, The Lede will continue to track the aftermath of Iran's disputed presidential election online, as we have for the last several days. Please refresh this page throughout …

Discussion: Associated Press, New York Times, Open Left, Guardian, News: News blog, Washington Monthly and The New Republic

Anderson Cooper 360:
State Department to Twitter: Keep Iranian tweets coming

Discussion: Agence France Presse, Webware.com, Digits, TechCrunch, The Moderate Voice, Wake up America, Mashable!, ReadWriteWeb, FP Passport and Silicon Alley Insider

BBC:
Iran opposition keeps up pressure

Discussion: RealClearWorld, Wolf Howling and The Duck of Minerva

Noah Shachtman / Danger Room:
Web Attacks Expand in Iran's Cyber Battle (Updated Again)

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Personal Democracy Forum blogs, New York Times, Austin Heap, Obsidian Wings and Newshoggers.com

Michael C. Moynihan / Reason:
Another Iran Roundup

Discussion: The New Republic and Commentary

Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC:
THE REVOLUTION MUST BE TWITTERED

Discussion: Hot Air and RedState

Walter Alarkon / The Hill:

In reversal, GOP balks at war funding — House Republicans are preparing to vote en bloc against the $106 billion war-spending bill, a position once unthinkable for the party that characterized the money as support for the troops. — For years, Republicans portrayed the bills funding …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Politico, Glenn Thrush's Blog, The TrogloPundit, Open Left, Washington Monthly, Hot Air, DownWithTyranny!, Open Congress, Democratic Strategist, TPMDC and Talking Points Memo

Perry Bacon Jr / Capitol Briefing:
House Approves $106B Bill to Fund Wars in Iraq, Afghanistan

Discussion: Democrats.com

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
On the War Supplemental — We can all recall the days when voting …

Discussion: Open Left, Campaign Silo and Center for American Progress

Patrick O'Connor / The Politico:
Dems table Pelosi-CIA inquiry

Discussion: Weekly Standard

Joe Klein / Swampland:

McCain Unhinged — For two years now, John McCain has been entirely consistent on Iran: every last statement he's made—at least, those that I've seen—has been (a) fabulously uninformed and (b) dangerously bellicose. He's still at it, apparently. There is no question that President Obama's …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Obsidian Wings and Wall Street Journal

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Reagan didn't remain silent on Poland

Discussion: Gateway Pundit and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Peter Wehner / Commentary:
Let Us Not Comfort Cruel Men

Discussion: Weekly Standard

The New Republic:

Khamenei on the Ropes? — Robert Baer served in the CIA as a field operative from 1976 to 1997. His latest book is The Devil We Know: Dealing with the New Iranian Superpower (Crown Publishers, 2008). — In Iran nothing is ever as it seems, including presidential elections.

Discussion: The Daily Dish and RealClearWorld

Michael Ledeen / Pajamas Media:
So How's it Going in Iran?

Discussion: The washington times Blogs, BBC, Washington Post, Weekly Standard, Spectator, Wolf Howling, Wall Street Journal, Commentary, New York Times, neo-neocon and Ben Smith's Blog

Laura Secor / News Desk:
The Supreme Leader's Next Move

Discussion: New York Times, Hot Air and Shadow Government

Fox News:

Exclusive: Sarah Palin Accepts David Letterman's Apology for ‘Coarse’ Jokes — Sarah Palin has accepted comedian David Letterman's apology made during Monday night's broadcast of “The Late Show” for crude jokes made about her and her teen daughters last week.

Discussion: MSNBC, The Atlantic Politics Channel, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Big Hollywood, PERRspectives, About.com Conservative …, NO QUARTER, FITSNews, jillstanek.com, Runnin' Scared, Little Green Footballs, Hot Air and seattlepi.com

Irving Dejohn / NY Daily News:
‘Fire Dave!’: Crowd lines up to protest Letterman's ‘Late Show’ Palin joke

Discussion: Runnin' Scared, FOX Forum and Conservatives4Palin.com

Views from the Occident:

Confirmed: Montazeri Questions Election Results, Supports Peaceful Protests, Condemns Violence — Grand Ayatullah Husayn (Hossein) 'Ali Montazeri has issued a statement supporting peaceful protests to “claim rights”, condemned the violence, and called the Iranian presidential election results into question.

Discussion: niacINsight and FP Passport

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Grand Ayatollah Montazeri Takes A Stand

Discussion: The League of Ordinary …, Views from the Occident, Weekly Standard and The Moderate Voice

Washington Post:

Calif. Aid Request Spurned By U.S. — The Obama administration has turned back pleas for emergency aid from one of the biggest remaining threats to the economy — the state of California. — Top state officials have gone hat in hand to the administration, armed with dire warnings of a fast-approaching …

Discussion: Calitics, Wall Street Journal, Hot Air, GayPatriot, Hullabaloo, Ezra Klein, Reason and FOX Forum

Lindsey Ellerson / Political Punch:

Key Obama Ally Says President Obama Did Not Follow the Law in IG Firing — After being briefed today on President Obama's firing last week of Gerald Walpin, Inspector General of the Corporation for National and Community Service, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said the president did not abide …

Discussion: YID With LID and Taylor Marsh

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Andrew Sullivan, who probably has more readers than any other solo political blogger, wrote yesterday that he thought he might be the subject of a denial-of-service attack, as a pro-opposition Iranian site said it was. — In fact, his blog was just loading slowly because of the massive surge of traffic.

Discussion: The Daily Dish and democracyarsenal.org

CNN:

Oops! President Obama confuses right, left — (CNN) — President Obama is so busy these days dealing with pressing foreign policy issues like Iran and North Korea, that he can't seem to tell his right from his left. — After holding a bilateral meeting in the Oval office …

Fox News:

Carter to Obama: Remove Hamas From Terror List — Former President Jimmy Carter says he will ask the Obama administration to remove the militant Palestinian group from the U.S.-designated terror list, just as Hamas says it foiled a bomb plot against Carter..

Discussion: Jihad Watch, Hot Air, New York Times, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, A Blog For All, The Cable, Atlas Shrugs and This ain't Hell …

Bernard-Henri Levy / The New Republic:

What We Can Do In Iran — Massive cheating or not? — RELATED CONTENT — Morse and Makovsky: “Why Congress's Sanctions Against Iran Won't Work” (5/29/09) — A new kind of coup d'etat or not? — How do we interpret this strange election whose results were announced by the press affiliated …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias

Gorman Gorman / The Note:

McCain: “Scrap” Health Care Bill And Start Over — ABC News' Z. Byron Wolf reports: — Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz, called on President Obama and Democrats in Congress to “scrap the current [healthcare] bill and start over.” — McCain pointed to a nonpartisan cost estimate of $1 trillion …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Political Punch, AmSpecBlog, The Politico, Wonk Room and Hot Air

Lee Fang / Think Progress:

Rep. King: Uighurs ‘wasting away in MargaUighurville.’ — The closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention center has provoked a curious form of hyperbole from Rep. Steve King (R-IA). Speaking on the House floor yesterday, King reacted to the news that the innocent Uighur detainees held …

Discussion: Christian Science Monitor and Washington Post