Check out Mini-memeorandum for simple mobiles or memeorandum Mobile for modern smartphones.
12:30 PM ET, May 19, 2010

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
The Politico:
The GOP's special failure  —  All the evidence pointing to monster Republican House gains this fall—the Scott Brown upset win in Massachusetts, the scary polling numbers in once-safely Democratic districts, the ever-rising number of Democratic seats thought to be in jeopardy—was contradicted Tuesday.
RELATED:
New York Times:
Specter Defeat Signals a Wave Against Incumbents  —  WASHINGTON — Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who left the Republican Party a year ago in hopes of salvaging a 30-year career, was rejected on Tuesday by Democratic primary voters, with Representative Joe Sestak winning the party's nomination …
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
‘WHERE IS THE WAVE?’....  Arguably the most important election yesterday wasn't a primary race, but rather, the congressional special election in Pennsylvania's 12th — a contest to fill the vacancy left by the late Rep. Jack Murtha (D).  —  Observers in both parties considered the race something of a bellwether.
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
What Tuesday Really Meant  —  There were five races that we were tracking closely over the course of the evening — and I've already seen analysts drawing flimsy conclusions from each of them.  —  Pennsylvania — Democratic Senate primary  —  The results: Joe Sestak defeats Arlen Specter, 54-46.
Reuters:
Activists seize control of politics  —  For any politician with the usual instincts for self-protection, the lessons of Tuesday's primaries could not be more clear: This could happen to you.  —  Arlen Specter lost in Pennsylvania even though the party-switching Democrat was recruited and backed by a sitting president.
Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Online:
Is Rand Ron's Son?  Or the Most Powerful Republican in the Woooorld?  —  Rand Paul is in the spotlight tonight.  He's enjoying Scott Brown-like status as the Most Powerful Republican In The World.  And look: he says he represents the Tea Party movement.  So that must be the end of it, right?
Alexander Burns / The Politico:
Sestak, Paul score wins as Lincoln faces runoff  —  Upstart Senate candidates claimed two stunning victories in primary elections Tuesday night as Pennsylvania Rep. Joe Sestak denied incumbent Democrat Arlen Specter renomination to a sixth term and Kentucky insurgent Rand Paul easily bested …
Daniel Larison / Eunomia:
PA-12 and The Single Greatest Pushback in American History
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
How (and why) Arlen Specter lost
Thomas M. Defrank / NY Daily News:
Sen. Arlen Specter's primary loss continues bad 2010 for President Obama, Democrats
Discussion: Washington Monthly
New York Times:
Blumenthal's Vietnam Claims Grew in Time, Colleague Says  —  Former Representative Christopher Shays of Connecticut found it puzzling: over time, his friend Attorney General Richard Blumenthal kept revising how he talked about his military service during the Vietnam War.  At first, in the 1980s, he was humble.
RELATED:
Jim Geraghty / National Review:
I Believe Richard Blumenthal
George F. Will / Washington Post:
Slow learners at the 9th Circuit  —  The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is a stimulus package for the Supreme Court, which would rather not have one.  The 9th Circuit, often in error but never in doubt, provides the Supreme Court with steady work: Over the past half-century …
Discussion: Moonbattery
RELATED:
Jim Oliphant / The Swamp:
Elena Kagan: Money in the bank?
Discussion: CNN and SCOTUSblog
Jane Horwitz / Washington Post:
Theater J pulls Madoff play after objections from activist Elie Wiesel  —  Bowing to objections from Elie Wiesel, the author, human rights activist and Holocaust survivor, Theater J has canceled its first production of the coming season — a play in which Wiesel is a character.
Washington Examiner:
Campbell Brown scurries out, Eliot Spitzer jumps in  —  It's official: Campbell Brown's prime-time show on CNN is toast, sources say.  —  The ratings are down 6 percent from last year, at 159,000 viewers in the coveted 25-to-54 demographic, CNN says.  Mediaite took Brown's spin and reported …
RELATED:
Steve Krakauer / Mediaite:
Campbell Brown Leaving CNN After Network Grants Release From Contract (UPDATE)
Chris Johnson / Washington Blade:
Key senator says hold off on 'Don't Ask' repeal  —  A key U.S. senator has told the Blade that he opposes repealing “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” at this time.  —  In a brief exchange on Capitol Hill, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) said Tuesday he would vote against an effort next week to overturn the law.
Discussion: The Hill and Joe. My. God.
Alex Rodriguez / Los Angeles Times:
Pakistan arrests army officer linked to Times Square bomb suspect  —  The major's involvement with Faisal Shahzad remains unclear, but authorities say the two met in Islamabad and were in cellphone contact.  —  Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan  —  Investigators have arrested …
RELATED:
Dina Temple-Raston / NPR:
Jamaican Imam Said To Inspire Times Square Suspect
Patrick Gavin / The Politico:
HOUSE PASSES BEER RESOLUTION  —  While most of Washington was focused on Tuesday's election results, the House was busy doing something else: Passing a resolution about beer.  —  House Resolution 1297, sponsored by Rep. Betsy Markey, supports “the goals and ideals of American Craft Beer Week.”
Discussion: JONATHAN TURLEY and Don Surber
Bloomberg:
Conspiracy of Banks Rigging States Came With Crash  —  A telephone call between a financial adviser in Beverly Hills and a trader in New York was all it took to fleece taxpayers on a water-and-sewer financing deal in West Virginia.  The secret conversation was part of a conspiracy stretching across …
Chris Bowers / Open Left:
Crotchety Progressive Rant  —  I am outraged by this, because this is outrageous.  —  And yet, where are the street protests in response to this outrage?  No, not those protests—we need bigger ones.  There should be hundreds of thousands of people out there protesting this.  Every day.
Discussion: Dennis the Peasant and TalkLeft
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Resultsblogging II: PA-12  —  Former John Murtha staffer Mark Critz's win in the PA-12 House election is just straight-up embarrassing for Republicans.  The Democratic strategy was straight out of the 2006/2008 playbook.  Find a moderately conservative House district and run a somewhat heterodox Democrat.
Discussion: TalkLeft and Dennis the Peasant
Michael Barone / Beltway Confidential:
Republican lesson from Pennsylvania 12 special  —  In Pennsylvania 12, so far the state shows 77,410 votes cast in the Democratic primary for Congress and 43,614 in the Republican primary—43% of them for 2008 Republican nominee William Russell, who pointedly did not endorse special election Republican candidate Tim Burns.
Discussion: Riehl World View
Ben Raines / Breaking News from the Press-Register:
BP told feds it could handle oil spill 60 times larger than Deepwater Horizon … In its 2009 exploration plan for the Deepwater Horizon well, BP PLC states that the company could handle a spill involving as much as 12.6 million gallons of oil per day, a number 60 times higher than its current estimate of the ongoing Gulf disaster.
Simon McGregor-Wood / ABCNEWS:
Rahm's Son's Bar Mitzvah Irks Some in Israel  —  Israeli Activists Say They Will ‘Blow Up,’ Figuratively, Zach Emanuel's Bar Mitzvah  —  White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's plan to take his son, Zach, to Jerusalem's famous Western Wall for his Jewish coming-of-age ritual appeared to have run into serious trouble.
Discussion: Jerusalem Post and Think Progress
Nick Gillespie / Hit & Run:
Why We're Having an Everybody Draw Mohammed Contest on Thursday May 20  —  The deadline for submitting work to Reason's Everybody Draw Mohammed contest has passed; winners will be shown on Thursday, May 20.  —  All that remains is anticipation, both of the artwork that will be displayed …
Discussion: Balloon Juice
J.P. Freire / Beltway Confidential:
DOJ Voting Rights attorney resigns over Black Panthers stonewalling  —  A trial attorney with the Department of Justice's Voting Rights Section has resigned, citing concerns about the government's refusal to prosecute a case involving voter intimidation by the New Black Panther Party.
BBC:
Full text: Clegg reform speech  —  Here is the full text of Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg's speech on political reform:  —  I have spent my whole political life fighting to open up politics.  —  So I'd like to make one thing very clear:  —  This government is going to be unlike any other.
Discussion: Guardian and Crooked Timber
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Graham: Senate likely to revisit energy and climate bill next year  —  Senators will probably try again next year on a compromise energy and climate bill, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Wednesday.  —  Graham seemed to imply he did not expect the bill unveiled last week by Sens. John Kerry …
Discussion: The Politico
 
 
 Archived Page Info: 
This is a snapshot of memeorandum at 12:30 PM ET, May 19, 2010.

View the current page or another snapshot:


 
 See Also: 
memeorandum: site main
memeorandum River: reverse chronological memeorandum
memeorandum Mobile: for phones
memeorandum Leaderboard: memeorandum's top sources
 
 Subscribe: 
memeorandum RSS feed
memeorandum on Mastodon
 
 
 More Items: 
Alex Isenstadt / The Politico:
Stutzman to seek Souder seat
Discussion: Hot Air
Calculated Risk:
MBA Q1 National Delinquency Survey Conference Call
Discussion: Free exchange and Eschaton
Wall Street Journal:
Chuck Schumer vs. Free Speech
Discussion: protein wisdom
People-Press.org:
Public's Priorities, Financial Regs
Discussion: Politics Daily
David Weigel / Right Now:
Rand Paul wins, and libertarians rejoice
Reuters:
Obama rebukes Republicans for trying to block him
Discussion: Daily Kos and Beltway Confidential
Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Video: The most depressing commencement address ever?
 Earlier Items: 
Elaine Ganley / Associated Press:
Women protest as French Cabinet gets veil ban bill
Discussion: Gateway Pundit and Weasel Zippers
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Scandals in the House Republican Class of 1994
Discussion: msnbc.com and Daily Kos
Democracy Now:
Audio From 1998: Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) Hangs Up On Amy Goodman …
O.Kay Henderson:
Biden “embarrassed as hell” about the BFD
Yahoo! News:
Miss USA controversies storm the blogosphere
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Authentic Brands licenses Sports Illustrated's publishing rights to The Players' Tribune owner Minute Media for 10 years, with plans to keep the print edition

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Ofcom rules that five GB News programs presented by Conservative politicians have broken its due impartiality rules and puts the channel “on notice”

Todd Spangler / Variety:
YouTuber MrBeast announces a deal with Prime Video for Beast Games, a reality-competition show with 1,000 contestants, promising the winner a $5M cash prize

 
Sister Sites:

Techmeme
 Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web
Mediagazer
 Top news and commentary for media professionals from all around the web
WeSmirch
 The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page