memeorandum: Iowa GOP officials set date for the Republican caucuses: Jan. 3 (Jennifer Jacobs/Iowa Caucuses)

7:40 AM ET, October 18, 2011

Top Items:

New Yorkers Back Wall St. Protesters 3 - 1, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Stay As Long As You Want, Even Republicans Say — By a 67 - 23 percent margin, New York City voters agree with the views of the Wall Street protesters and say 87 - 10 percent that it is “okay that they are protesting …

Douglas Schoen / Wall Street Journal:

Polling the Occupy Wall Street Crowd — In interviews, protesters show that they are leftists out of step with most American voters. Yet Democrats are embracing them anyway. — President Obama and the Democratic leadership are making a critical error in embracing the Occupy Wall Street movement …

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Betsy's Page, Weasel Zippers and The Hill

Rolling Stone:

Why Occupy Wall Street Is Bigger Than Left vs. Right — I was surprised, amused and annoyed all at once when I found out yesterday that some moron-provocateur linked to notorious right-wing cybergoon Andrew Breitbart had infiltrated — a series of private e-mail lists …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, ThinkProgress, WNYC News Blog, Mediaite, Business Insider, Hullabaloo, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Little Green Footballs

Mj Lee / The Politico:

Donald Trump: Obama should put a stop to Occupy Wall Street protests — The Obama administration has allowed the Occupy Wall Street protests go on for too long, Donald Trump suggested on Monday. — “I do think that government maybe is letting this go a little bit too far,” Trump said on Fox News Monday morning.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and ThinkProgress

Rick Hampson / USA Today:

Poll: Washington to blame more than Wall Street for economy — Most Americans blame Wall Street for the nation's economic predicament — but they blame Washington more. — And in the democracy that fancies itself the capital of capitalism, more than four in 10 people describe the U.S. economic system as personally unfair to them.

Discussion: Gallup, The Politico, Informed Comment, The Heritage Foundation and The Hill

Taft Wireback / News-Record.com:
Occupy protesters look for new campsite

Discussion: The Politico, TalkLeft, USA Today and Pat Dollard

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
The Geography of Occupying Wall Street (And Everywhere Else)

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Marooned In Marin, The Atlantic Online, Colorlines, The Daily Caller and Prairie Weather

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Occupy Wall Street protesters to confront Obama on trip

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

New York Times:
Bloomberg Says ‘Tent City’ Goes Beyond Free Speech

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Guardian and National Review

Melissa Grace / NY Daily News:
Dismiss all charges or we will clog up courts, lawyers for Occupy Wall Street protesters say

Discussion: Firedoglake, WNYC News Blog and Business Insider

Maggie Haberman / The Politico:

Trump bolsters Bachmann on telephone town hall — Michele Bachmann got a boost from Donald Trump on a tele-town hall tonight, a call on which her campaign claimed more than 200,000 listeners took part. — Trump opened by saying he had a “lot of respect” for Bachmann, with whom he had breakfast last week …

Discussion: The Caucus and Gawker

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
So much for the ‘liberal’ media — It's simply taken as a given …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Balloon Juice, The Political Carnival, msnbc.com, New York Magazine, Eschaton, Prairie Weather and PewResearch.org, more at Mediagazer »

Journalism.org:
THE MEDIA PRIMARY — HOW NEWS MEDIA AND BLOGS HAVE EYED …

Discussion: Mediaite, NewsBusters.org blogs, Patterico's Pontifications, msnbc.com, Washington Post, The Atlantic Online, Daily Kos, ABCNEWS, The Page, The Politico, Political Mojo and GOP 12

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Santorum calls SNL sketch ‘bullying’

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Rumproast, US Politics, Gay Politics and American Power

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

“Christopher Columbus Was the First Zionist” — Someone leaked a batch of emails that have been exchanged by leaders of the Occupy Wall Street group. I've only dipped into them briefly, but some are pretty entertaining. This thread reminded me of my days as a leftist …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Frank Newport / Gallup:

Record-High 50% of Americans Favor Legalizing Marijuana Use — Liberals and those 18 to 29 most in favor; Americans 65 and older most opposed — PRINCETON, NJ — A record-high 50% of Americans now say the use of marijuana should be made legal, up from 46% last year.

Discussion: Business Insider, The Volokh Conspiracy, Liberal Values, Hot Air, Mediaite, The Political Carnival, Hit & Run, The Moderate Voice, JONATHAN TURLEY, The Raw Story, The Informer, Sentencing Law and Policy, Firedoglake, The Hill, msnbc.com, New York Magazine, Gawker and JustOneMinute

Laura Geller / WWBT-TV:

Thieves steal truck with President's equipment — HENRICO, VA (WWBT) - NBC12 has uncovered one of those stories that makes you think: “How in the world does that happen?!” A truck filled with President Obama's podiums and audio equipment was stolen in Henrico just days before his visit to Chesterfield.

Discussion: NBC Washington DC, The Hill, Outside the Beltway and The Gateway Pundit

Julian Pecquet / The Hill:

New healthcare fight is joined as White House's 2010 law implodes — Congressional Republicans on Monday called for the immediate repeal of a major component of the 2010 healthcare reform law as the issue blew up in the administration's face. — The seemingly unworkable long-term care benefit contained …

Discussion: The Politico

Julian Pecquet / The Hill:
Obama opposes repeal of healthcare program suspended last week

Discussion: Associated Press, Betsy's Page, Townhall.com, Hit & Run, Hot Air, Campaign 2012, American Spectator, Weasel Zippers, Patterico's Pontifications, Liberal Values, Director's Blog and ThinkProgress

Larry O'Connor / Big Government:

White House Denies **Was President Obama Really Sitting in Front of an Assembly Line in this Video? — UPDATE: The White House has responded to our inquiry and they deny that this week's weekly address video was shot in front of a green screen. They also explained that the production line …

Discussion: Pajamas Media and Little Green Footballs

Tanya Somanader / ThinkProgress:

Cantor To Give Speech On Income Inequality And ‘How We Make Sure The People At The Top Stay There’ — As the 99 percent movement protests spread across the globe, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) finally agreed yesterday that “there is too much income disparity” …

Discussion: Salon.com, Salon, Washington Monthly, INSTAPUTZ and Booman Tribune

Jake Sherman / The Politico:
Eric Cantor to address the rich-poor gap in speech at University of Pennsylvania

Discussion: Daily Kos

Bill Keller / New York Times:

Good News! No, Really! — Bored by the soggy sleep-ins and warmed-over anarchism of Occupy Wall Street? Fed up (Fed Up!) with the presidential Race to the Bottom? Depressed by the warning signs of the next Depression? — I bring relief. Like Nurse Jackie scavenging in the medicine chest …

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
What are those OWS people so angry about?

Discussion: Angry Bear, Grasping Reality …, Balloon Juice and Washington Monthly

Michael Muskal / Los Angeles Times:

Hillary Clinton again says she won't run for president in 2016 — (Michael Loccisano / Getty Images / October 14, 2011) — Hillary Rodham Clinton, the woman seemingly born to become the first female president of the United States, on Monday again ruled out a race for the top office in 2016 …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Truthdig and Guardian

Lori Preuitt / NBC Bay Area:

Iran Hikers Show Support for Occupy Movement — Sarah Shourd, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal spoke in Oakland Monday. — From left, Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal, the three University of California at Berkeley graduates who were imprisoned in Iran on espionage charges, speak at an “Occupy Oakland” rally.

Discussion: Pat Dollard and Weasel Zippers

Jennifer Jacobs / Iowa Caucuses:

Iowa GOP officials set date for the Republican caucuses: Jan. 3 — Iowa GOP Chairman Matt Strawn said tonight that the actions of early-state newcomer Nevada have exacerbated problems and unnecessarily crowded the January calendar. (Register file photo) — Iowa GOP leaders …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and The Page

RealClearPolitics Video Log:

Obama: GOP Wants “Dirtier Air, Dirtier Water, Less People With Health Insurance” — “My plan says we're going to put teachers back in the classrooms, construction workers back to work,” President Obama said at a campaign event today. “Tax cuts for small businesses, tax cuts for hiring veterans …

Discussion: Townhall.com, The Gateway Pundit, Pat Dollard, Sense of Events, Pajamas Media, Pundit & Pundette and The Lonely Conservative

Zaid Jilani / ThinkProgress:

Herman Cain Claimed That A ‘Liberal Court’ Killed Jesus — Herman Cain Thinks This Guy Was The Ruth Bader Ginsburg Of His Era — Daily Kos's bernardpliers recalls a Herman Cain column from December 2010 where the GOP presidential primary candidate appears to complain that Jesus was killed by liberals.

Discussion: Daily Kos, Booman Tribune and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

And Jim Rutenberg / New York Times:

Perry Campaign's Payment for Private Jet Raises Questions — In the first two weeks of Rick Perry's presidential campaign, his aides turned to Brian D. Pardo, a Texas businessman under investigation by federal securities regulators, to use his Cessna Citation X business jet to fly to campaign events.