memeorandum: It's On: CBS News Investigates Letterman Scandal (Felix Gillette/New York Observer)

4:10 PM ET, October 14, 2009

Top Items:

Robert Schmidt / Bloomberg:

Geithner Aides Reaped Millions Working for Banks, Hedge Funds — Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) — Some of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's closest aides, none of whom faced Senate confirmation, earned millions of dollars a year working for Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and other Wall Street firms …

Discussion: The Atlantic Politics Channel, The Huffington Post, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Swamp, DailyFinance, The Confluence, Michelle Malkin, LewRockwell.com Blog, Clusterstock, msnbc.com and Docudharma

Louis Uchitelle / New York Times:

Still on the Job, but at Half the Pay — MECHANICSVILLE, Va. — The dark blue captain's hat, with its golden oak-leaf clusters, sits atop a bookcase in Bryan Lawlor's home, out of reach of the children. The uniform their father wears still displays the four stripes of a commercial airline captain, but the hat stays home.

Discussion: Balloon Juice, naked capitalism, Outside The Beltway and ParaPundit

Wall Street Journal:
Wall Street On Track To Award Record Pay

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Gawker, DailyFinance, American Street, The Note, Wonk Room, Think Progress, New York Magazine, FT Alphaville, Clusterstock and MyDD

Dexter Filkins / New York Times:

Stanley McChrystal's Long War — Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal stepped off the whirring Black Hawk and headed straight into town. He had come to Garmsir, a dusty outpost along the Helmand River in southern Afghanistan, to size up the war that President Obama has asked him to save.

Discussion: Michael Calderone's Blog, Newshoggers.com, Danger Room, ATTACKERMAN and The Washington Independent

Peter Baker / New York Times:

Biden No Longer a Lone Voice on Afghanistan — WASHINGTON — A few hours after getting off a plane from America's war zones, Joseph R. Biden Jr. slipped into a chair, shook off his jet lag and reflected on what he had seen. The situation in Iraq, he said, was much improved.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, News Desk, Associated Press, Laura Rozen's Blog, The AfPak Channel, Commentary and The Page

Sean Higgins / Investor's Business Daily:
Americans, In Reversal, Now Back Afghan Troop Surge

Discussion: Washington Times, The Jawa Report, The Politico, Hot Air, Jules Crittenden, AmSpecBlog, Gateway Pundit, Conservatives4Palin.com, BLACKFIVE and Guardian

Fred Kaplan / Slate:
There's a way to solve the Afghanistan mess without sending a lot …

Discussion: Guardian, Taylor Marsh and Villainous Company

Mark Steyn / The Corner on National Review Online:

Okay, Prove You Didn't Say It! — By: Mark Steyn — For some reason, Rush Limbaugh's mooted purchase of a sports franchise has prompted CNN and others to distribute far and wide what appear to be entirely fabricated racist quotes by Rush. As Tim Blair points out: … Just so. What's the theory here?

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, JammieWearingFool, Pajamas Media, NewsReal Blog, QandO, Confederate Yankee, GayPatriot, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Tim Blair, Riehl World View, Ace of Spades HQ, AmSpecBlog, The Jawa Report, Erick's blog and NewsBusters.org

Ace / Ace of Spades HQ:
Charles Johnson Now So Anti-Racist He's Denouncing Fake Racist Quotes

Discussion: Indecision Forever, American Thinker, Hot Air, Gates of Vienna, Wake up America, IMAO, Scholars and Rogues, The Other McCain and Moonbattery

Eric Zimmermann / The Hill:

Snowe: Public option could be dealbreaker — The public option is likely a deal breaker for Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), the sole Republican who voted for healthcare reform in the Finance Committee yesterday. — In a number of interviews this morning, Snowe, whose vote is seen as crucial …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, No More Mister Nice Blog, rubber hose, Wake up America and EconoSpeak

Ben Frumin / TPM LiveWire:
Schumer To Reid: The Fate Of The Public Option May Be In Your Hands

Discussion: Firedoglake, TPMDC, The Note, The Hill, Talking Points Memo and TalkLeft

The Huffington Post:
All Eyes Turn To Reid: Legacy In Balance As Health Care Debate Continues

Discussion: Firedoglake, No More Mister Nice Blog, TPMDC, The Swamp and TPM LiveWire

The Note:
Public Option with Opt-Out Clause Not a Silver Bullet for Snowe

Discussion: AMERICAblog News and George's Bottom Line

Ceci Connolly / Washington Post:

Health Insurers Emerge as Obama's Top Foe in Reform Effort — Now they have an enemy. — For months, President Obama and his administration waged their fight for a health-care overhaul without a clear opponent, even courting the industry executives and interest groups that helped kill reform efforts 15 years ago.

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Morning Fix: Health Care Winners and Losers

Discussion: msnbc.com, Quinnipiac University, AFL-CIO NOW BLOG, The Politico and Ben Smith's Blog

Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:
The Top Ten Things Worth Fighting For

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Ezra Klein, Wonk Room, Ben Smith's Blog and American Spectator

Michael A. Cohen / The Politico:

Now who loves America more? — Twenty-five years ago, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Jeane Kirkpatrick famously lambasted Democrats as “blame America firsters” and a party plagued by “self-criticism and self-denigration” of America. It was a speech at pace with an emerging political stereotype …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Sister Toldjah and Right Wing Nut House

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
Daisy Chain of Cheneys

Discussion: Washington Post, Gawker and Prairie Weather

Jennifer Rubin / Commentary:
Liz Derangement Syndrome

Discussion: Eunomia, Maggie's Farm and Bookworm Room

New York Times:

Saudis Seek Payments for Any Drop in Oil Revenues — Saudi Arabia is trying to enlist other oil-producing countries to support a provocative idea: if wealthy countries reduce their oil consumption to combat global warming, they should pay compensation to oil producers.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Climate Progress, The Daily Dish, The Reality-Based Community, Raw Story, QandO, Matthew Yglesias and MoJo Blog Posts

Daniel W. Drezner:
So it turns out that Arab sheikhs understand the meaning of “chutzpah”

Discussion: Megan McArdle

Bob Cusack / The Hill:

Limbaugh fires back at ‘fool’ Jackson Lee for NFL floor speech — Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh on Wednesday fired back at a House Democrat who has called on the National Football League (NFL) not to let him buy the St. Louis Rams. — On his radio show, Limbaugh said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee …

Discussion: Gateway Pundit

Bob Cusack / The Hill:
House Dem urges NFL not to let Limbaugh buy the St. Louis Rams

Discussion: The Greenroom, NewsBusters.org, Big Government, Gateway Pundit, Conservative Dallas, Breitbart.tv, Pajamas Media and Moonbattery

Brad Wilmouth / NewsBusters.org:

Olbermann: Without ‘Fascistic Hatred,’ Malkin Is Just a ‘Mashed-Up Bag of Meat with Lipstick’ — On Tuesday's Countdown show, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann spewed bile at conservative commentator Michelle Malkin, accusing her of possessing “fascistic hatred,” and comparing her to a “mashed-up bag of meat with lipstick on it.”

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Political Byline, Jenn Q. Public, Pundit & Pundette, Sister Toldjah, Breitbart.tv, Wake up America and AmSpecBlog

Mary Katharine Ham / Weekly Standard: The Washington Post Has a Tenuous Grasp on Idea of ‘Incivility’

Jake Sherman / The Politico:

Boehner downplays Dow 10,000 — Dow 10,000 just isn't that big a deal, House Republican leader John Boehner said Wednesday morning. — And anyone who places significance on the stock market hitting this symbolic number is “certainly not talking to the American people.”

Discussion: Think Progress, Washington Monthly and Daily Kos

Bloomberg:
Dow Exceeds 10,000 as Banks Turn From Drag to Drivers

Discussion: Gawker, The Page and New York Magazine

PittsburghLIVE.com:

Poll shows Specter staring at ‘near fatal’ 31 percent re-election figure — TRIBUNE-REVIEW — HARRISBURG — Only 31 percent of Pennsylvania voters believe Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter should be re-elected, and 59 percent believe it's time to give someone else a chance, a state poll released today shows.

Discussion: Real Clear Politics, Politics Daily, Commentary, The Plum Line, Taegan Goddard's …, TPMDC, Politics Nation and neo-neocon

Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:

The Curious Resignation Of Robert Wexler — Today, Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL), a well-regarded young congressman with a good job and enough seniority to ensure that he is comfortable, will announce his resignation from the House of Representatives. The reason: he intends to perform other work in a “public policy” capacity.

Discussion: JTA, Broward Politics and Real Clear Politics

Spencer Ackerman / The Washington Independent:
What Is Wexler Thinking? — By all accounts, Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) loves Congress.

Discussion: MiamiHerald.com, wexler.house.gov, Talking Points Memo, TPM LiveWire and Top of the Ticket

Washington Wire:

Palin Plans New Political Group — Michael M. Phillips reports on the doings of conservative favorite Sarah Palin. — Sarah Palin fans can expect to see a new Palin political organization surface as her memoir, “Going Rogue: An American Life,” hits the shelves next month.

Discussion: New York Post, Tammy Bruce and Riehl World View

Wall Street Journal:

An Apartment Complex Teeters — High-Profile Tishman/BlackRock Property in New York in Danger of Default — The giant Stuyvesant Town apartment complex on Manhattan's East Side, shown Tuesday, was developed by MetLife for World War II veterans. — One of the biggest …

Discussion: New York Magazine and Clusterstock

Jordy Yager / The Hill:

House Republicans accuse Muslim group of trying to plant spies — Four House Republicans are accusing a Muslim advocacy group of trying to plant spies on Capitol Hill. — Republican members of the Congressional Anti-Terrorism Caucus said the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) …

Discussion: The Politico, The Political Carnival and Atlas Shrugs

Felix Gillette / New York Observer:

It's On: CBS News Investigates Letterman Scandal — Over the past year, Armen Keteyian, the chief investigative correspondent for CBS News, has reported on cyber-thieves in New Jersey, murder-for-hire plots in Wisconsin and teenage bomb-makers in Atlanta. But these days, Mr. Keteyian is hard …

David M. Herszenhorn / Prescriptions:

For Insurers, a Question of Trust (and Antitrust) — In a rare appearance as a witness at a Senate hearing, the majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, on Wednesday told the Judiciary Committee that it should repeal a 1945 law that granted the insurance industry limited exemption …

Discussion: Megan McArdle, Firedoglake, The Politico, Ezra Klein and Prairie Weather

updates.pressherald.mainetoday.com:

Poll: 51.8% plan to vote no on question 1 — in - Central Maine Newspapers - Portland Press Herald — According to new poll data, 51.8 percent of people who plan to vote in November say they will vote no or are leaning in that direction on question 1, the people's veto of Maine's same-sex marriage law.

Discussion: Pam's House Blend, D-Day and #gay

PewResearch.org:

Daily Number: 15% - America's Health Care is ... Fairly Average — Only 15% of Americans believe that the U.S. has the best health care in the world. Read more — THE TOP STORY INDEX — New Media Index — Celebrity Jeopardy: Polanski on Blogs — 8 Oct 09 The Roman Polanski saga …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Matthew Yglesias, The Swamp, The Plum Line, Taegan Goddard's …, Ezra Klein, Hullabaloo and The Political Carnival

KATU-TV:

Apartment residents told to take down U.S. flags — Residents of the Oaks Apartments in Albany have reportedly been told to take down their flags. Even this one, on the back of a motorcycle, is part of the reported ban. — ALBANY, Ore. - At the Oaks Apartments in Albany …

Discussion: Left Coast Rebel and Townhall.com