memeorandum: Conspiracy theorists find validation from Glenn Beck (Dana Milbank/Washington Post)

5:40 PM ET, October 9, 2010

Top Items:

Why is This GOP House Candidate Dressed as a Nazi? — An election year already notable for its menagerie of extreme and unusual candidates can add another one: Rich Iott, the Republican nominee for Congress from Ohio's 9th District, and a Tea Party favorite, who for years donned …

Toledo Blade:
Iott's Nazi re-enactments gain national attention

Discussion: National Review, New York Magazine and The Reaction

Ace / Ace of Spades HQ:

Oh, Dear: Blumenthal Does Know How To Create Jobs — And he's created them — through his lawsuits. — “Businesses welcome them.” — Linda McMahon, your next commercial is waiting. — Thanks to Laura “Shanty Trollop” W. — Add-on from lauraw: I recently saw Linda McMahon …

Discussion: Maggie's Farm and Moe Lane

Gschwarzcnn / CNN:

Scott Brown to Connecticut — (Updated 1:23 p.m. ET with Blumenthal campaign response) — (CNN) - Connecticut Republican Senate nominee Linda McMahon is getting a little extra help from Massachusetts Republican Sen. Scott Brown. — The two will hold a rally Saturday afternoon …

Anthony York / PolitiCal:

Jerry Brown announces NOW endorsement one day after Meg Whitman slur — Jerry Brown announced he has received the endorsement of the National Organization for Women, less than 24 hours after the emergence of a recorded message in which Brown can be heard in a conversation with advisors in which someone calls Whitman a “whore.”

Discussion: The Last Tradition, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, Left Coast Rebel, Big Journalism, theblogprof, Michelle Malkin, Liberty Pundits Blog, L.A. NOW, POWIP, Gateway Pundit and HotAirPundit

William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:

The Other Jerry Brown Insult: Police Chiefs Don't Read — Jerry Brown was caught on audio agreeing with an aide who called Meg Whitman a “whore.” (Audio below at 1:55) — Understandably, all the attention is focused on the “whore” comment. But there was another Brown insult which has not received any attention.

Discussion: The Last Tradition, Left Coast Rebel, Moe Lane, Opinion L.A. and PolitiCal

Wall Street Journal:

Democrat Bastions Besieged by GOP — Republican challengers are suddenly threatening once-safe Democrats in New England and the Northwest, expanding the terrain for potential GOP gains and raising the party's hopes for a significant victory in next month's elections.

Discussion: The Other McCain, MyFox DC, American Power, Da Techguy's Blog and JammieWearingFool

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Projected Republican Gains Approach 50 House Seats — It has become fashionable to speak of a Democratic comeback, but we're not really seeing one in our forecasting models. Certainly there are some individual races — particularly on the East and West Coasts, as well as some gubernatorial contests outside …

Discussion: Washington Post, Wake up America, The Caucus, Washington Monthly, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Real Clear Politics and The Sundries Shack

John Amato / Crooks and Liars:

Rush Limbaugh says there will never be equality because:"some people are just born to be slaves" — How dare you say there's racism in the Teabircher movement? I'm so offended by that notion. Isn't what Rush Limbaugh just soooooo true? … He's absolutely correct because there were many people that were born slaves in America.

Discussion: newsfeed.time.com, No More Mister Nice Blog and New York Times

New York Times:

Lured Into a Trap, Then Tortured for Being Gay — He was told there was a party at a brick house on Osborne Place, a quiet block set on a steep hill in the Bronx. He showed up last Sunday night as instructed, with plenty of cans of malt liquor. What he walked into was not a party at all …

Discussion: Politics Daily, The Daily Dish and Gothamist

CNN:

Angle: Two American cities under Sharia law — (CNN) - Nevada GOP Senate nominee Sharron Angle told a crowd of Tea Party rally-goers last week that two cities — Dearborn, Michigan and Frankford, Texas — are under Sharia law, the sacred law of Islam. — “We're talking about a militant …

Discussion: The Political Carnival

Washington Post:

Momentum builds for full moratorium on foreclosures — Senior Obama administration officials said Friday that a nationwide moratorium on foreclosure sales may be inevitable, despite their grave reservations about the impact a broad freeze would have on the nation's housing market and economic recovery.

Discussion: Power Line and National Review

Brian Doherty / Hit & Run:

Baby Snatching: It's Hilarious When We Just Don't Like Their Kind — A fascinating culture-war blog entry plus comments at Wonkette, well worth reading for people confused as hell as why Sarah Palin is able to succeed selling a sense of “they hate us but really we are more than OK” to lots of Americans.

Discussion: protein wisdom, Oath Keepers, Wonkette and Liberty Pundits Blog

Imre Beke Jr / New York Post:

Portrait of endangered NY Democrat — Tweet — For a sense of how big the Republican wave may be on Election Day, consider a normally safe Northeastern Democrat — Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-Ulster), a liberal who's held the seat since 1992 and never faced serious opposition.

Discussion: Capital Tonight, Hot Air and Outside the Beltway

Steven Mufson / Washington Post:

Constellation Energy shelves plan for Calvert Cliffs reactor — Constellation Energy has shelved its proposal to build a new reactor at its Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant, Obama administration officials said Friday, even though the administration had decided to award the project a $7.5 billion loan guarantee.

Discussion: The Hill and The Volokh Conspiracy

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

Conspiracy theorists find validation from Glenn Beck — Glenn Beck has a friend in California. — “I would've never started watching Fox News if it wasn't for the fact that Beck was on there,” says this friend, Byron Williams. “And it was the things he did, it was the things he exposed, that blew my mind.”

Discussion: Daily Kos and The Atlantic Online

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:

Macroeconomics: Can Anyone Play This Game? — I thought I might highlight this passage from an interview the Cleveland Fed conduct with Laurence Meyer, a former Fed governor who also founded the consulting firm Macroeconomic Advisers. The content of his assertions sound completely insane …

Discussion: Paul Krugman

Timothy F. Geithner / Washington Post:

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner tackles five myths about TARP — Born at the peak of the financial crisis in 2008, the Troubled Asset Relief Program expired last week, ending what was perhaps the most maligned yet most effective government program in recent memory.

Discussion: The Confluence and Economist's View

Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:
Government spending rises 9%

Discussion: WhoSaidYouSaid and GayPatriot

Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Online:

President Loses ‘Iron Hand,’ Gains Donilon — The key to understanding why President Obama picked deputy National Security Adviser Tom Donilon to replace Gen. James Jones has three grooves: one, Donilon is a civilian policy wonk loyal to the President who has been involved in every facet …

Discussion: Prairie Weather