memeorandum: California Official's $800,000 Salary in City of 38,000 Triggers Protests (Christopher Palmeri/Bloomberg)

10:10 PM ET, July 20, 2010

Top Items:

NAACP STATEMENT ON THE RESIGNATION OF SHIRLEY SHERROD — (BALTIMORE, MD) - NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous issued the following statement today after a careful investigation into the presentation of former USDA Official Shirley Sherrod. — “The NAACP has a zero tolerance policy …

Discussion: Politics Daily, Left Coast Rebel, Hot Air, DaTechguy's Blog, Little Green Footballs, The Anchoress, Balloon Juice and HotAirPundit

Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Farmer's wife says fired USDA official helped save their land — Despite being defended by the white farmer she allegedly discriminated against, former U.S. Department of Agriculture official Shirley Sherrod will not get her job back. — Sherrod “kept us out of bankruptcy,” said Eloise Spooner, 82.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Outside the Beltway, Comments from Left Field, American Power, The Plum Line, Sister Toldjah, New York Magazine, Mediaite, Taylor Marsh, RedState, Washington Monthly, JustOneMinute, Ben Smith's Blog and Weekly Standard

Rachel Slajda / TPMMuckraker:

Breitbart On Sherrod's NAACP Speech: ‘I Did Not Edit This Thing’ — The crux of the Shirley Sherrod controversy is what she said outside of the two-minute video clip posted by Big Government — whether she was, as she claims, telling a story about how she overcame racial prejudice …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Corner on National …, Little Green Footballs, Talking Points Memo and The Daily Caller

CNN:

NAACP ‘snookered’ over video of former USDA employee — Atlanta, Georgia (CNN) — The NAACP has retracted its original statement condemning comments made by a former Agriculture Department official who resigned after a video clip surfaced of her discussing a white farmer.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Politics Daily, Big Government, Swampland, The Politico, Raw Story, Associated Press, PostPartisan, Mediaite, This Just In, Obama Foodorama, Rumproast, Jack & Jill Politics, YID With LID, Little Green Footballs and newsfeed.time.com

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Official: No White House pressure on Sherrod — Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack this afternoon took responsibility for firing an official, Shirley Sherrod, whose appearance on video recalling her behavior toward a white farmer drew charges of racism, and whose immediate firing drew suggestions …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Big Government, The Plum Line, Washington Monthly, PostPartisan, Daily Kos, The Rachel Maddow Show and TPMMuckraker

Digby / Hullabaloo:

The White House's Weak Back Hand — Update below: — Weak Back Hand — by digby — When our new overlord Andrew Breitbart says jump, the White House says, “how high?” Kevin Drum: … Naturally, the administration panicked like a bunch of frightened little children:

Discussion: Federal Eye, TalkLeft, The Plum Line, Fact-esque, Talking Points Memo, Politics Daily and The Agonist

Tom Blumer / Washington Examiner:

Shirley Sherrod's Disappearing Act: Not So Fast — My oh my, that happened quickly. Perhaps too quickly. — Until yesterday, Shirley Sherrod was Georgia Director of Rural Development for the USDA. Earlier in the day at Big Government, Andrew Breitbart put up a video that exposed …

Discussion: American Power, NewsBusters.org, RedState, Don Surber, Hullabaloo, Right Wing News, Big Government, Patterico's Pontifications, Weasel Zippers and Talking Points Memo

David Kurtz / Talking Points Memo:

Not Looking Good For Breitbart — The 82-year-old wife of the white Georgia farmer who was supposedly discriminated against some quarter century ago by the black USDA official forced to resign this week — if the video released by Andrew Breitbart's Big Government and re-run by Fox is to be believed …

Discussion: TPMMuckraker and No More Mister Nice Blog

Fox News:
Ex-Ag Official Says White House Forced Her Out Without Hearing ‘Truth’ About Video

Discussion: Hot Air, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Associated Press, Mediaite, YID With LID, Say Anything, Gateway Pundit, Townhall.com, Left Coast Rebel, Riehl World View, THEROOT.COM and Sweetness & Light

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Breitbart's Skilled Editing

Discussion: msnbc.com and Mediaite

Datechguy / DaTechguy's Blog:
One thing about the NAACP video of Shirley Sherrod

Discussion: The Other McCain

Rachel Slajda / TPMMuckraker:
Agriculture Secretary Stands By Asking For Sherrod's Resignation

Discussion: Salon

Alex Seitz-Wald / Think Progress:
White House Uses Misleading Breitbart Video As Basis To Hastily …

Discussion: CNN, Jay Bookman and Shakesville

Rachel Slajda / TPMMuckraker:
USDA Appointee Forced To Resign After Edited Speech Released By Breitbart (VIDEO)

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Think Progress, Salon, Mediaite, Moonbattery, Media Matters for America, The Nation and Hot Air

Jonathan Strong / The Daily Caller:

It was the moment of greatest peril for then-Sen. Barack Obama's political career. In the heat of the presidential campaign, videos surfaced of Obama's pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, angrily denouncing whites, the U.S. government and America itself. Obama had once bragged of his closeness to Wright.

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

The Corruption Of Journo-list — The latest revelations from Journo-list are deeply depressing to me. What's depressing is the way in which liberal journalists are not responding to events in order to find out the truth, but playing strategic games to cover or not cover events and controversies in order to win a media/political war.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The New Republic, Conservatives4Palin.com, Pajamas Media and Right Wing News

Ben Domenech / The New Ledger:
Lessons From Journolist: Why Ross Douthat is Useful

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Stop The ACLU, Big Journalism, Right Wing News, Mother Jones and Riehl World View

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:

Lindsey Graham's vote on Elena Kagan ensures primary challenge — South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham's (R) announcement that he will vote in favor of Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court is likely to further incite conservatives already unhappy with him and, according to close observers …

Discussion: Hot Air, Washington Post, New York Times, The Hill, MyDD, The Nation, PostPartisan, Weasel Zippers, Power Line, Washington Monthly, The BLT, Wonkette and Outside the Beltway

Jeff Sessions / USA Today:
Opposing view on the Supreme Court: A big-government vision

Discussion: National Review, The Washington Independent, msnbc.com, The Hill, Minnesota Independent, Hotline On Call, Gateway Pundit, Balkinization and The Hill

Frank J. Gaffney Jr / Washington Times:
GAFFNEY: Kagan's Shariah problem

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Think Progress and Wonk Room

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / The Caucus:
Judiciary Committee Approves Kagan to Supreme Court

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, The Politico, msnbc.com, Fausta's Blog, RealClearPolitics Video Log and Prairie Weather

New York Times:
The Republicans and the Constitution

Discussion: Hillbilly Report, ACS Blog, aca litigation blog and Althouse

Christopher Palmeri / Bloomberg:

California Official's $800,000 Salary in City of 38,000 Triggers Protests — Hundreds of residents of one of the poorest municipalities in Los Angeles County shouted in protest last night as tensions rose over a report that the city's manager earns an annual salary of almost $800,000.

Discussion: Hot Air, L.A. NOW, Beltway Confidential, Blue Crab Boulevard, Say Anything, LewRockwell.com Blog and Instapundit

David Streitfeld / New York Times:
A City Outsources Everything. Sky Doesn't Fall.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online and Mish's Global Economic …

Derek Thompson / The Atlantic Online:

The Scariest Unemployment Graph I've Seen Yet — The median duration of unemployment is higher today than any time in the last 50 years. That's an understatement. It is more than twice as high today than any time in the last 50 years. — OK, you're saying, but what does this mean?

Discussion: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and Grasping Reality …

Carl Hulse / New York Times:

Breaking Impasse, Senate Extends Jobless Benefits — WASHINGTON — The Senate broke a stalemate on Tuesday over extending unemployment benefits for Americans who have been out of work for six months or more, voting to override Republican objections that the bill's costs would add to the federal deficit.

Discussion: The Confluence and Truthdig

Ezra Klein:
Unemployment benefits to pass, but all alone

Discussion: The Washington Independent, The Rachel Maddow Show, Shakesville and Free exchange

The Politico:

GOP leery of Tea Party Caucus — With the official formation of a congressional Tea Party Caucus, Rep. Michele Bachmann has thrust an existential question before House Republican leaders: Are you in or are you out? — Indiana's Mike Pence, chairman of the Republican Conference, was adamant.

Discussion: CNN, The Corner on National …, New York Magazine, The Huffington Post, PostPartisan, The New Republic, Hot Air, Derek Wallbank, Daily Kos, Rumproast, George's Bottom Line, The Plum Line, The Caucus, TPMDC, Swampland, Washington Monthly, The Hill and Guardian

Molly K. Hooper / The Hill:
GOP campaign chief joins Tea Party caucus

Discussion: The Politico, CNN and TPMDC

The News Star:

(2 of 2) — Traylor is also currently involved in a romantic relationship with Denise Lively, the estranged wife of his stepson, Ryan Ellington, the son of Noble Ellington. — Lively and Ryan Ellington remain legally married, but both he and Traylor said the Lively-Traylor relationship began …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Salon, TPMDC, Washington Monthly and Talking Points Memo

Jim Geraghty / National Review:

GOP's Schilling Leads Democrat Incumbent Phil Hare, 45-32 — Few of my assessments in this cycle have met with more derision than my argument that Phil Hare, an Illinois Democrat, is supremely vulnerable. — His GOP opponent, Bobby Schilling, hired Magellan Strategies to conduct a poll of the district.

Discussion: Gateway Pundit and Moe Lane

John Aravosis / AMERICAblog News:

BP photoshops fake photo of crisis command center, posts on main BP site — UPDATE: Show BP you mean business, donate to AMERICAblog. If you like our hard-hitting activist journalism, then please donate and help us continue our work. Thanks so much. — (H/t to AK for spotting this.)

Discussion: Washington Post, The Huffington Post, msnbc.com, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Boing Boing, Mediaite, Grist, Breaking News … and Daily Kos, more at Techmeme »

Ben Geman / The Hill:

House Dems whack Cheney over oil spill — Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee traded partisan blows Tuesday over whether the Obama administration or the former Bush administration deserves more blame for the catastrophic Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Timothy B Lee / Bottom-up:

How to Talk Liberaltarian — Nick Schulz weighs in on the liberaltarianism debate: … This seems completely wrong to me. Conservatives care about “protecting individual liberty” for some people, but the conservative movement includes many people who are indifferent, if not hostile …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias and The Daily Dish

Reuters:

Ark. Democrat faces big deficit to Republican — Poll shows Lincoln 19 points behind challenger in Nov. election — WASHINGTON — Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, a chief architect of the U.S. financial regulation overhaul, faces an uphill battle for re-election on Nov. 2, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll said Tuesday.

Discussion: Politics Daily and The Page

Darren Samuelsohn / The Politico:

Climate bill on the ropes — Senate climate legislation appeared to be on life support Tuesday after two key advocates said they were skeptical of reaching a quick deal on a controversial bill that includes a cap on greenhouse gases from power plants. — “The clock is our biggest enemy …

Ken Ritter / Associated Press:

VOTER REGISTRATION FRAUD CASE: ACORN finances leave questions — High court clears way for trial to proceed — The political advocacy group ACORN is “limping along” near bankruptcy, which could affect a pending voter registration case in Nevada, a lawyer for the group said Monday.

Discussion: Big Government