memeorandum: Johnson touts his penchant for vetoes in GOP debate (Josh Lederman/Ballot Box)

1:00 AM ET, September 23, 2011

Top Items:

N.H. poll shocker: Perry falls, Romney surges as does Jon Huntsman — Well, here are a couple of — no, make that several — new wrinkles in the Republican presidential contest in New Hampshire: — With the next televised debate tonight in Florida on Fox News, a new poll of likely …

Discussion: Hit & Run, Campaign 2012 and Outside the Beltway

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

Obama and Perry, geese and ganders — The New York Times has an item this morning about tonight's Republican debate, and it featured this Getty Images photograph, taken before the start of last week's debate. — It wouldn't be especially interesting, except I also remember seeing this photograph several hundred times four years ago.

Discussion: JustOneMinute, The Caucus and Joe. My. God.

Gallup:

More Voters Considering Romney Than Obama, Perry — Sixty-two percent would definitely vote for Romney or consider doing so — PRINCETON, NJ — More registered voters say they would definitely vote for Mitt Romney or might consider doing so (62%) than say the same about his two main rivals …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Washington Post, Top of the Ticket, Business Insider, Outside the Beltway, FiveThirtyEight and Boy in Bushwick

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

The Agony of the GOP Establishment — Psst, pick the guy on the left. — The Republican establishment finds itself with a problem no party establishment wants to have. It has a presidential race between a decent candidate, who could probably win the general election but is distrusted …

Discussion: Washington Post, No More Mister Nice Blog, Salon and Guardian

David Shepardson / Detroit News:
McCotter drops out of race for GOP presidential nomination

Discussion: The Other McCain, The Politico, National Review, Wonkette, Iowa Caucuses, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, The Iowa Republican, Hot Air and Althouse

Josh Lederman / Ballot Box:
Johnson touts his penchant for vetoes in GOP debate

Discussion: The Politico

Ta-Nehisi Coates / The Atlantic Online:

The Night They Killed Troy Davis — Rutgers historian William Jelani Cobb was outside of the prison, last night, where Troy Davis was held and executed. He filed this report while bearing “witness to a great evil.” Jelani has guest-posted here before. We're always happy to have him back offering …

Discussion: Colorlines

Amanda Terkel / The Huffington Post:
Bill Clinton Weighs In On Troy Davis Execution

Discussion: American Power, New York Times, The Politico, Reuters and Mother Jones

Peter Wilkinson / CNN:
World shocked by U.S. execution of Troy Davis

Discussion: News One, Guardian, The Other McCain, The Observer-Dispatch …, ThinkProgress, TalkLeft and New York Times

John Hawkins / The Huffington Post:
Why Do Liberals Have Such a Soft Spot for Cop Killers Like Troy Davis?

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, theblogprof, Nation Now, Confederate Yankee and Hullabaloo

Dahlia Lithwick / Slate Magazine:
Will the Troy Davis case be the one that finally turns America against the death penalty?

Discussion: American Prospect, CNN, Washington Post, WXIA-TV, Salon, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Daily Dish, Democracy in America, Outside the Beltway, The Maddow Blog, Law Blog, New York Magazine and The Moderate Voice

Brian Beutler / TPMDC:

GOP Ups Ante Big Time In Government Shutdown Fight — We should know tonight whether Congress is in genuinely the throes of another government shutdown fight, or whether Democrats and Republicans will figure out a way to avoid their impulses. — Instead of cutting a deal with Democrats …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Hullabaloo and Daily Kos

Russell Berman / The Hill:
Boehner chastises conservatives: You voted to spend more money

Discussion: The Politico, TPMDC, Guardian and Daily Kos

Josiah Ryan / The Hill:
Reid: Senate unlikely to vote Thursday on spending measure

Discussion: CNN

Steve Jones / Telegraph:

CERN scientists ‘break the speed of light’ — Scientists said on Thursday they recorded particles travelling faster than light - a finding that could overturn one of Einstein's fundamental laws of the universe. — Antonio Ereditato, spokesman for the international group of researchers …

Discussion: Don Surber and Vox Popoli

Frank Jordans / Associated Press:

CERN claims faster-than-light particle measured … GENEVA (AP) — Scientists at the world's largest physics lab say they have clocked subatomic particles traveling faster than light, a feat that - if true - would break a fundamental pillar of science. — The readings have so astounded researchers …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Pajamas Media

Andrew Breitbart / Big Government:

Explosive Email Shows Anti-Palin Author McGinniss, Random House Likely Published Literary Hoax — The awful launch week for the over-hyped, expected bestseller The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin, by controversial author Joe McGinniss, just got worse. Much worse.

Discussion: The Other McCain, Conservatives4Palin, Big Journalism, Mediaite, Power Line, Ricochet Conversation Feed, Whiskey Fire, Don Surber, All American Blogger and The Right Scoop

goproud.org:

Rick Santorum Owes Gay Soldier an Apology — For Immediate Release — Joint Statement of Christopher R. Barron, Chairman of the Board and Jimmy LaSalvia, Executive Director — (Washington, D.C.) - “Tonight, Rick Santorum disrespected our brave men and women in uniform, and he owes Stephen Hill …

Discussion: Mediaite, ThinkProgress, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Raw Replay and Joe. My. God.

Hotline On Call:

Dem Poll: Obama Dragging Down His Own Party — One of the Democratic party's leading pollsters released a survey of 60 Republican-held battleground districts today painting an ominous picture for Congressional Democrats in 2012. The poll shows Democratic House candidates faring worse …

Discussion: RedState, Scared Monkeys, Weasel Zippers and Hot Air

Jim Forsyth / Reuters:

Fancy last supper requests off the menu on Texas death row — (Reuters) - The Texas prison system abolished on Thursday the time-honored tradition of offering an opulent last meal to condemned inmates before their executions, saying they will get standard prison fare instead.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, New York Magazine and Hullabaloo

Larry Flynt / TMZ.com:

Gunning for Rick Perry — Hustler Magazine publisher Larry Flynt is putting GOP Presidential candidate Rick Perry in his crosshairs ... he'll be offering up to $1 million for anyone who can prove Perry has had an illicit sexual liaison ... TMZ has learned. — The ad — which Flynt …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Mediaite, Politics Blog, Business Insider and The Daily Caller

Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:

Oops, Obama touts his jobs plan today at an Ohio bridge that won't qualify — You know all those rusting bridges that President Obama wants to spend billions more dollars repairing to allegedly stimulate the economy? — He's headed out to one today which he's described as a …

Discussion: USA Today, Outside the Beltway, Fox News, Sense of Events, The Sundries Shack, All American Blogger, National Review and Politics

Danny Yadron / Washington Wire:
Obama To Republicans: ‘Help Us Rebuild This Bridge’

Discussion: nation.foxnews.com and ThinkProgress

Jon Swaine / Telegraph:

David Cameron: world on brink of new economic crisis — The world stands on the brink of a new economic crisis that would leave countries like Britain “staring down the barrel”, David Cameron has warned. — David Cameron said that Western politicians must show more ‘leadership’

Discussion: Hot Air and Pajamas Media

Kevin Drum Feed:

The Great $16 Muffin Myth — I've been reading all day about the $16 muffins the Department of Justice served at one of its conferences, and I finally got curious about this. Is it really true? So I went to the DOJ Inspector General's website, got the report, and searched for “muffin.”

Discussion: Runnin' Scared, Flower & Thistle, ThinkProgress, FP Passport, Outside the Beltway, The Impolitic, New York Magazine and Nation Now

Josh Rogin / Foreign Policy:

Bill Clinton: Netanyahu killed the peace process — Who's to blame for the continued failure of the Middle East peace process? Former President Bill Clinton said today that it is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — whose government moved the goalposts upon taking power …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Walter Russell Mead / Via Meadia:

Panic? — That's what we've been seeing on world markets since Thursday trading began in Asia; this morning it hit the US with the kind of sickening thud we remember too well from 2008. Amid the general hurricane of bad economic news a few things stand out.

Discussion: Hot Air

Eli Clifton / ThinkProgress:

Clinton: ‘There Is Not A Single Solitary Example’ Of A Country That Has Succeeded With A Tea Party Philosophy — Credit: Cibele Vieira / Clinton Global Initiative — Former President Bill Clinton blasted the “non-fact-based political debate” surrounding the Republican primary race …

Tim Mak / The Politico:

U.S., allies walk out on Iran leader — Western diplomats walked out on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after he questioned what he called the “mysterious September 11 incident” during his fiercely anti-American diatribe. — “[Who used] the mysterious Sept. 11 incident as a pretext to attack Afghanistan and Iraq?”

Discussion: ABCNEWS, ThinkProgress, New York Times, CNN and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Yahoo! News:
US walks out as Iran delivers anti-US speech

Discussion: Bangor Daily News, Associated Press and Campaign 2012

Shelby Hodge / CultureMap Houston:

Michelle Obama dazzles in New York, wearing diamond bangles by H-Town's Katie Decker — That was no ordinary bling on the wrist of First Lady Michelle Obama at the DNC fundraiser in New York Tuesday night. Those fancy diamond cuffs were the creation of 23-year-old Katie Decker …

Discussion: ECHIDNE of the snakes, Fausta's Blog, Weasel Zippers, Don Surber, americanthinker.com and Doug Ross

Trang Do / WAFF-TV:

Derrick Mason executed at Holman Prison — Derrick Mason has been executed by lethal injection for the 1994 robbery and murder of a Huntsville convenience store clerk. The execution took place at Holman prison in Atmore, he was pronounced dead at 6:49 p.m Thursday.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Hinterland Gazette

James B. Stewart / New York Times:

Voting to Hire a Chief Without Meeting Him — The mystery isn't why Hewlett-Packard is likely to part ways with its chief executive, Léo Apotheker, after just a year in the job. It's why he was hired in the first place. — The answer, say many involved in the process, lies squarely with the troubled Hewlett-Packard board.

Discussion: AllThingsD, Felix Salmon, GigaOM, msnbc.com, New York Magazine and Washington Post, more at Techmeme »

Megan McArdle / The Atlantic Online:

Is Irish Austerity Paying Dividends? — Last year, the failure of Irish austerity was on the lips of every left-wing wonk in America. Paul Krugman, the leader of this school of thought, has compared austerity to bloodletting and other such primitive medical quackery (a comparison he repeated a couple of days ago).

Discussion: Agence France Presse, Marginal Revolution and Free exchange

Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:

Santorum: Honoring God Is Essential To National Security — Ahead of tonight's GOP debate, the presidential candidates are gathering at a rally sponsored by the Faith and Freedom Coalition in Orlando, Florida. In his bid to be the favorite of social conservatives, former Sen. Rick Santorum …

Scott McPherson / Advocate:

MAP: Which Countries Enlist Gay Soldiers? — The United States is now one of 26 countries worldwide that welcome gays and lesbians in the military, according to the Palm Center. — The United States is now one of 26 countries worldwide that welcome gays and lesbians in the military, according to the Palm Center.

James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:

The Five Million Dollar Man — How government unions rip off the taxpayer. — In his Labor Day speech in Detroit, Barack Obama issued a ringing endorsement of government employee unions: … From the president's hometown comes an example of what he is actually supporting.

Discussion: driftglass, The Atlantic Online and Chicago Tribune