memeorandum: How Today's Conservatism Lost Touch with Reality (Fareed Zakaria/Time)

7:55 PM ET, June 16, 2011

Top Items:

Raymond Hernandez / New York Times:

Weiner Tells Friends He Will Step Down — WASHINGTON — Representative Anthony D. Weiner has told friends that he plans to resign his seat after coming under growing pressure from his Democratic colleagues to leave the House in the wake of revelations of his lewd online exchanges with women, said a person told of Mr. Weiner's plans.

The Politico:

Anthony Weiner resigns from Congress — BROOKLYN, N.Y. — In the same room where he launched his first campaign for City Council two decades ago in the Gravesend neighborhood of Brooklyn, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) announced his resignation from Congress on Thursday.

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Weiner's exit — Anthony Weiner's pained resignation, staged at a senior center in the Brooklyn neighborhood called Gravesend, may have finally burned out the incredible media storm around him. — There was more press here than I've seen in 10 years of covering New York political events …

Discussion: CNN, Runnin' Scared, Connecting.the.Dots and Capital Tonight

Huma Khan / ABCNEWS:

President Obama Confident Anthony Weiner Will ‘Bounce Back’ — President Obama said he is confident that embattled New York Rep. Anthony Weiner and his wife, Huma Abedin, can bounce back from the sexting scandal that ended the Democrat's congressional career.

Discussion: The Note and Weasel Zippers

Wolf Blitzer / The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer: BLITZER'S BLOG: I wouldn't rule out second chance for Weiner

Jim Geraghty / National Review:
Anthony Weiner, Tainting Our Political Class

Discussion: Pajamas Media and NewsBusters.org blogs

CNN:
As Weiner goes, so does NY's 9th District?

Discussion: Ballot Box and The Hill

Jeff Zeleny / The Caucus:

Romney: 'I'm Also Unemployed' — TAMPA, Fla. — Mitt Romney sat at the head of the table at a coffee shop here on Thursday, listening to a group of unemployed Floridians explain the challenges of looking for work. When they finished, he weighed in with a predicament of his own.

Matthew Yglesias / ThinkProgress:
Mitt Romney Is Not Unemployed

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Outside the Beltway

The Note:

Jon Huntsman Cancels Appearance At Republican Leadership Conference Due To Illness — ABC News' Michael Falcone (@michaelpfalcone) reports: — Although he was slated to speak at a major gathering of Republicans taking place in New Orleans this weekend — just days before the official rollout …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Page, The Politico, Taegan Goddard's …, GOP 12 and Taylor Marsh

Rasmussen Reports:

Romney, Bachmann, Cain Lead The Pack Among GOP Primary Voters — Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney continues to lead the race for the Republican nomination, but Michele Bachmann has surged into second place following her Monday night entry into the campaign.

Discussion: Public Policy Polling, Wall Street Journal, Don Surber, Hot Air, Outside the Beltway, Mediaite, GOP 12, New York Magazine, No More Mister Nice Blog, AmSpecBlog, Ricochet Conversation Feed, HotAirPundit, Fox News and Fox Nation

Molly Ball / The Politico:
The GOP's unfavorite son primary

Discussion: CNN, The Caucus, NewsBusters.org blogs, Betsy's Page, Democratic Strategist and The Maddow Blog

Feifei Sun / The Page:
The Big Questions: Bachmann's TIME

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, No More Mister Nice Blog, Shakesville, Ben Smith's Blog and Weigel

Rasmussen Reports:
45% of GOP Primary Voters Say It's Bad for Party If Palin Enters Presidential Race

Discussion: Hot Air, GOP 12 and FrumForum

Associated Press:

Union leader compares NJ gov to Hitler at rally — Thousands participate in a rally to protest a Senate Budget Committee hearing on employee benefits at the State House Annex in Trenton, N.J.,Thursday, June 16, 2011. Labor leaders rallying for collective bargaining rights in New Jersey went …

Discussion: RedState, Weasel Zippers and Hot Air

Jamie Weinstein / The Daily Caller:

Union leader calls New Jersey gov ‘Adolf Christie,’ compares pension battle to ‘World War III’ [VIDEO] — At a Thursday rally in New Jersey protesting Republican Gov. Chris Christie's pension deal that would cut pensions and benefits to public workers, a union leader charged Christie with acting like a Nazi.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Maggie Haberman / The Politico:
Union executive: Chris Christie is Hitler

Discussion: Don Surber

Brian Bolduc / National Review:
Union Leader Dubs Governor ‘Adolph Christie’

Discussion: Pajamas Media and Sister Toldjah

James Risen / New York Times:

Ex-Spy Alleges Bush White House Sought to Discredit Critic — WASHINGTON — A former senior C.I.A. official says that officials in the Bush White House sought damaging personal information on a prominent American critic of the Iraq war in order to discredit him.

Juan / Informed Comment:
Ret'd. CIA Official Alleges Bush White House Used Agency to “Get” Cole

Discussion: Mercury Rising, ThinkProgress and The Daily Dish

The Hill:

Senate kills off ethanol tax credits in possible break with tax pledge — The Senate voted 73-27 Thursday to kill a major tax break that benefits the ethanol industry, handing a political win to a bipartisan group of lawmakers that call the incentive needless and expensive.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Hot Air, National Review, The Politico, Reuters, Dot Earth, Outside the Beltway, Wizbang, The Foundry, Jared Bernstein, FrumForum and Wall Street Journal

Wall Street Journal:
Ethanol Suffers Rare Loss in Senate

Discussion: Firedoglake and Hit & Run

The Note:

Glitter Bandits Strike Pawlenty — ABC News' Matt Jaffe (@jaffematt) and Arlette Saenz (@ArletteSaenz) report: — Another glittered bandit struck out at a GOP presidential candidate. — A few weeks ago it was Newt Gingrich who was doused in glitter by a liberal activist. On Thursday, it was Tim Pawlenty.

Discussion: The Politico, The Hill, Minnesota Independent, Ben Smith's Blog and FrumForum

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Pawlenty concedes he missed an opportunity to attack Romney at debate

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Alexander Burns / The Politico: Tim Pawlenty gets glittered

Jonathan Weisman / Washington Wire:
Pawlenty Finally Throws the Punch — On Twitter

Discussion: The Caucus, Mashable! and The Blotter

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

2012 Voter Preferences for Obama, “Republican” Remain Close — Forty-four percent prefer the Republican; 39%, Obama — PRINCETON, NJ — Forty-four percent of registered voters say they are more likely to vote for “the Republican Party's candidate” and 39% for Barack Obama …

Discussion: Hot Air, Political Punch, National Review, Wake up America and Firedoglake

Lydia Saad / Gallup:
U.S. Satisfaction Dips to 20% in June

Discussion: Firedoglake, Outside the Beltway, Hot Air, National Review, Mock, Paper, Scissors and MyDD

Datechguy / Datechguy's Blog:
What the talking heads don't tell you about the NBC/WSJ poll internals

Discussion: msnbc.com, The New Republic, Hot Air and Don Surber

The Atlantic Online:

Obama Fails to Justify the Legality of War in Libya — In a letter to John Boehner and a 38-page report, the White House could not prove it complied with the War Powers Resolution — Is the U.S. at war in Libya, putting President Obama in violation of the War Powers Resolution?

Discussion: Political Punch, The Politico, Washington Post and Outside the Beltway

Russell Berman / The Hill:
Boehner says House could move to cut off funding for Libya

Discussion: The Note, Weasel Zippers, The Hill and Taylor Marsh

The White House:
Letter from the President on the War Powers Resolution

Discussion: Washington Wire

Nicholas D. Kristof / New York Times:

Our Lefty Military — As we search for paths out of America's economic crisis, many suggest business as a paradigm for cutting costs. According to my back-of-the-envelope math, top C.E.O.'s earn as much as $1 a second around the clock, partly by cutting medical benefits for employees.

Discussion: American Times, Democracy in America, National Review, RedState, Ricochet Conversation Feed, Verum Serum, Washington Monthly, normblog and LewRockwell.com Blog

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

Weiner Gives Up the Ghost — So, Anthony Weiner is set to resign from Congress. Since I said I hoped he wouldn't do so, I feel obliged to comment on his decision. — What stands out to me about all this aren't Weiner's juvenile and mortifying ‘offenses,’ but the bizarre and almost inexplicable …

Discussion: TPMDC, Washington Post, Comments from Left Field, The Daily Dish and Feministing

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Norah O'Donnell moves to CBS — Norah O'Donnell, one of NBC's best-known Washington bureau reporters, is moving to CBS News to be chief White House correspondent, CBS announced. — It's a stunning shakeup for both the front row of the White House briefing room and for Washington's intensely competitive network news bureaus.

Discussion: Mediaite and FishbowlDC

Fareed Zakaria / Time:

How Today's Conservatism Lost Touch with Reality — “Conservatism is true.” That's what George Will told me when I interviewed him as an eager student many years ago. His formulation might have been a touch arrogant, but Will's basic point was intelligent. Conservatism, he explained, was rooted in reality.

Discussion: The Big Picture and The Daily Dish

NBC New York:

Possible Al-Qaida Hit List Targets Specific Americans — An al-Qaida-linked website has posted a potential hit-list of sorts. It has the names and photos of several U.S. officials and business leaders. The site prompted the FBI to send out a new terror bulletin.

Discussion: The Jawa Report and Runnin' Scared