memeorandum: Sector Snap: Insurers gain ground after speech (Associated Press)

12:20 AM ET, September 11, 2009

Top Items:

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

Wilson took caffeine pills in 2007 — Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), who shouted “you lie!” at President Obama during his Wednesday night address to Congress, admitted to regularly consuming caffeine pills in 2007. — It is unclear if Wilson still takes NoDoz, a brand of pill that contains 200 milligrams …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Hot Air, Stop The ACLU, PoliBlog, Conservatives4Palin.com, NewsBusters.org and Weasel Zippers

Adam Fogle / The Palmetto Scoop:

Get your free 'I'm With Joe Wilson' t-shirt — TPS/MADE IN MULTIPLES GIVING AWAY SHIRTS TO SUPPORT CONGRESSMAN — Congressman Joe Wilson may not have picked the best moment to voice his constituent's complaints about President Barack Obama's attempts to socialize health care, but he did so nonetheless.

Discussion: Erick's blog, The Daily Dish, Gateway Pundit, Don Surber, Weekly Standard, neo-neocon, George's Bottom Line and Top of the Ticket

Mark Silva / The Swamp:

Shimkus walked on Obama: ‘Frustrated’ — Rep. Joe Wilson, the South Carolina Republican who yelled at President Barack Obama during his address to Congress this week, wasn't the only one unhappy with what he heard. — Rep. John Shimkus, a Republican from Illinois, walked out.

Discussion: The Capitol Fax Blog, American Power and The Political Carnival

Good Lt / The Jawa Report:

HORRIFIC BOMBSHELL: Joe Wilson Took NoDoz Caffiene Pills in 2007 Or Something — ...making him as bad as any college student cramming for exams. Here are NoDoz, for the uninitiated. — Of course, this is just a pathetic leftwing non-smear-in-the-making (they're obviously trying …

Discussion: RBO

Dan / Riehl World View: Interview: Rep. Joe Wilson (R) SC

The Hill:
Analysis: Obama speech to Congress unlikely to be game changer

Discussion: Prescriptions, The Politico, The Note, Commentary, neo-neocon, Blue Crab Boulevard, Below The Beltway, Swampland, Bluegrass Pundit, QandO, The Reaction, The Anchoress and New York Times

Eric Boehlert / Media Matters for America:
The press can't even get the “You Lie!” story right

Discussion: Firedoglake and Daily Kos

Mere Rhetoric:
Video Flashback: Dems Shout And Boo At Bush During 2005 SOTU [Video]

Discussion: Glenn Thrush's Blog, Christian Science Monitor, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Ezra Klein, The Rhetorican, Flopping Aces, theblogprof, Dr. Sanity, POWIP, JammieWearingFool, msnbc.com, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Althouse and Neptunus Lex

PolitiFact.com statements:
Joe Wilson: “You lie!” …

Justin Elliott / LiveWire:

Flashback: Rep. Wilson Also Had To Apologize After Attacking Strom Thurmond's Illegitimate Daughter — Last night, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) issued an apology — “I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the President's remarks” — and called the White House after heckling Obama during …

Discussion: SpyTalk, Washington Monthly, Salon, Capitol Briefing, Raw Story, Cafe Talk Aggregator, The Plum Line, Pam's House Blend, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Corrente, Angry Bear, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, alicublog, Daily Kos and TPMDC

David Neiwert / Crooks and Liars:

Obama heckler Joe Wilson a member of neo-Confederate SCV, fought to keep Dixie flag flying in South Carolina — [Members of the James Younger Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans in 2006.] — Looking into the background of Rep. Joe Wilson, R-South Carolina, after his heckling of President Obama last night, I came across this:

Discussion: Our Campaigns, Firedoglake, Wonk Room, The Other McCain and Jack & Jill Politics

Heather / Crooks and Liars:

Countdown: Special Comment About the Shout of “You Lie” — Keith lets Rep. “Wrong-Way” Wilson have it in this Special Comment.

Discussion: Pam's House Blend

The Hill:
Pelosi halts effort to sanction Wilson

Discussion: The Plum Line, The Hill, Open Congress, Riehl World View, The Moderate Voice and The New Republic

Blue Texan / Firedoglake:
South Carolina Congressman Who Screamed at President Obama Fought …

Discussion: Facing South, FiveThirtyEight and MoJo Blog Posts

Domenico Montanaro / msnbc.com:
THE JOE WILSON CIRCUS

Discussion: CNN, The Hill, Hot Air, The Politico and LiveWire

The Huffington Post:

Yosi Sergant, Obama Aide, Asked To Resign: Glenn Beck Strikes Again — Glenn Beck has struck again. — Yosi Sergant, who recently popped up on Beck's radar for his involvement in a conference call on national service, has been asked to resign as communications director by the National Endowment …

Discussion: Power Line, Fox News, Big Hollywood, The washington times Blogs, Hot Air, Ben Smith's Blog, The Huffington Post, MoJo Blog Posts, CultureGrrl, RBO, Townhall.com, D-Day, Weasel Zippers, The Rhetorican and MyDD

James Rucker / Firedoglake:

A Line in the Sand Against Beck — Watching the Glenn Beck show this past month, one might have assumed that Van Jones had assaulted Beck, insulted his wife, and stolen his kids' lunch money. Beck devoted time on a whopping 16 shows to crafting a distorted, despicable portrait of Van that few who know him would recognize.

Discussion: American Power and The Huffington Post

ColorOfChange.org:
Six New Companies, Including the USPS, Humana Pledge Not to Run …

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, MoJo Blog Posts and Media Matters for America

Michael A. Fletcher / Washington Post:
Beck Strikes Again; Yosi Sargent Reassigned at NEA

Discussion: The washington times Blogs and Moe Lane

Chris Ariens / TVNewser:

John Stossel Leaving ABC For Fox — First on TVNewser: John Stossel, the longtime ABC News correspondent and co-anchor of “20/20,” is leaving ABC to join Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network. TVNewser has learned Stossel will host a weekly, one-hour program for the 2-year-old business channel.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Huffington Post, Michelle Malkin, theblogprof, Michael Calderone's Blog, Hoffmania!, Crooks and Liars, Osborne Ink, Balloon Juice, Media Matters for America, Pajamas Media and Silicon Alley Insider

John Stossel / John Stossel's Take:

I'm Moving to FOX — It's time for a change. — In one month, I leave ABC News. — In October, I will join the folks at Fox. — I plan to do a one hour prime time show every week on FBN, the Fox Business Channel, and contribute to various existing programs on Fox News Channel.

Discussion: pandagon.net and Washington Monthly

Fox News:

2 ACORN Employees Fired, Could Face Criminal Charges — The community organizing group ACORN has fired two employees at its Baltimore office who were seen on hidden-camera video giving advice to a man posing as a pimp and a woman pretending to be a prostitute, as some legal experts raise questions …

Discussion: Townhall.com, Nice Deb, Freedom's Lighthouse and Hot Air

Fox News:

ACORN Officials Videotaped Telling ‘Pimp,’ ‘Prostitute’ How to Lie to IRS — Officials with the controversial community organizing group ACORN were secretly videotaped offering to assist two individuals posing as a pimp and a prostitute, encouraging them to lie to the Internal Revenue Service …

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, theblogprof, Michelle Malkin, News Hounds, Stop The ACLU, Inside Charm City, AmSpecBlog, American Power and Wizbang

James O'Keefe / Big Government:
Chaos for Glory: My Time With ACORN

Discussion: Power Line, Hot Air, NO QUARTER, Fausta's Blog, The Powers That Be, Reason, Another Black Conservative, Fox News, Gateway Pundit and The Jawa Report

Andrew Breitbart / Big Government:
Exposing ACORN: Introducing James O'Keefe

Discussion: Mashable!, Power Line and Nice Deb

Oren Yaniv / NY Daily News:

Semenya, forced to take gender test, is a woman ... and a man — (Photo by Lee Warren/Gallo ImagesGetty Images) Original Filename: 90065429.jpg — Tests show that controversial runner Caster Semenya is a woman ...and a man! — The 18-year-old South African champ has no womb or ovaries …

Discussion: Guardian and Pam's House Blend

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

STEELE BLASTS KENNEDY LETTER IN SPEECH.... In his speech last night, President Obama noted there are countless Americans who've “shared their stories” with policymakers “at town halls, in e-mails, and in letters.” One of those letters, the president said, came from Ted Kennedy, who had …

Discussion: WhiteHouse.gov Blog

Joseph Weber / Washington Times:
Steele calls Kennedy letter ‘political tool’

Discussion: The Washington Independent, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Salon and Taegan Goddard's …

Guardian:

Al-Qaida faces recruitment crisis - anti-terror experts — Eight years after 9/11, Osama bin Laden is still at large but willing fighters and ideological support are in short supply — Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida is under heavy pressure in its strongholds in Pakistan's remote tribal areas …

Discussion: Abu Muqawama, D-Day, ATTACKERMAN, democracyarsenal.org, The Washington Independent and Matthew Yglesias

Tim Graham / NewsBusters.org:

Unanimous on The View: GOP ‘Incredibly Disrespectful’ to Obama — The ladies on ABC's The View were unanimous on Thursday: the Republicans were rude to President Obama. Sitting in Elisabeth Hasselbeck's chair was Meghan McCain, who said Rep. Joe Wilson's shout “makes all Republicans look bad.”

Discussion: Hot Air

Sabato's Crystal Ball:

RED DAWN: GOP REVIVAL FOR 2010 HOUSE? — Republicans will pick up substantially, but fall short of full control — While the next slate of House elections does not occur until 2010, congressmen and their challengers certainly don't take off the “off-year.”

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog and Virginia Politics

Adam Fogle / The Palmetto Scoop:

SCGOP calls for Sanford's resignation — OVER 2/3 OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE SAID DISGRACED GOVERNOR SHOULD GO — The tide of support from his own Republican Party officially turned against disgraced Gov. Mark Sanford Thursday as the South Carolina GOP called for his resignation.

Discussion: TPMMuckraker, MyDD and D-Day

Robert Seidman / TVbytheNumbers:

Updated TV Ratings: SYTYCD vs. POTUS and Glee premieres nicely … Update: The presidential address was seen by 31.8 million across 10 networks in the final numbers. — Update: September 10, 2009 9:32a PDT, updated with some notes from FOX. — FOX easily won the night dominating the adults 18-49 and adults 18-34 demos.

Discussion: Show Tracker, Michael Calderone's Blog, Don Surber, The Atlantic Politics Channel and JammieWearingFool

Michael Binyon / Times of London:

Thatcher told Gorbachev Britain did not want German reunification — Two months before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Margaret Thatcher told President Gorbachev that neither Britain nor Western Europe wanted the reunification of Germany and made clear that she wanted the Soviet leader to do what he could to stop it.

Discussion: The Daily Dish

Associated Press:

Sector Snap: Insurers gain ground after speech — NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of health insurers gained some ground Thursday after President Barack Obama reaffirmed his commitment to reforming the health care system in a televised speech to a joint session of Congress.

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

HRC pushing to repeal marriage act — At a busy legislative moment, foes of the Defense of Marriage Act are re-starting the campaign against it. Rep. Jerry Nadler is, I'm told, expected to introduce a bill that would repeal the legislation next week, and today Human Rights Campaign …

Discussion: Pam's House Blend

David A. Fahrenthold / Capitol Briefing:

House Unearths a 14th Forged Letter from a Lobbyist — Congressional investigators today said they have turned up a 14th forged letter that was sent to a Congressional office criticizing the House's climate change bill, this one appearing to come from an American Legion post in Rocky Mount, Va.

Discussion: Think Progress, TPMMuckraker and The Washington Independent

Andy Barr / The Politico:

Pawlenty advocates state sovereignty — Minnesota Republican Tim Pawlenty urged fellow governors on Thursday to more frequently assert state sovereignty over the federal government and suggested that the country may increasingly see states suing the federal government.

Discussion: The Washington Independent and The Political Carnival