memeorandum: Journalists Dancing on the Edge of Truth (David Carr/New York Times)

4:15 PM ET, August 20, 2012

Top Items:

Romney: Akin's ‘Inexcusable’ Comment — In a phone interview this morning, Mitt Romney told National Review Online that Representative Todd Akin's recent comment on rape is “inexcusable.” — “Congressman's Akin comments on rape are insulting, inexcusable, and, frankly, wrong,” Romney said.

Alexander Burns / Politico:

Crossroads pulls out of Missouri after Akin comments — The conservative outside-spending powerhouse Crossroads GPS is pulling its ads from the Missouri Senate race, three sources confirmed to POLITICO. — The group had originally booked a new round of ads to start Wednesday but began canceling them earlier today.

Discussion: CNN, Ballot Box, The Fix, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, 2012 Decoded, Business Insider, The Daily Caller, The Mahablog, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Mediaite, Election 2012, Hotline On Call, The New Civil Rights Movement and National Review

Michelle Malkin:

The Todd Akin mess — Ugh. — Over the weekend, GOP Rep. Todd Akin — the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Missouri — said some really, really stupid things. (Twitchy has comprehensive coverage. Click here and keep scrolling.) — There's no sugar-coating or whitewashing this.

Discussion: Wake up America, Conservatives4Palin, Washington Examiner, Datechguy's Blog, Twitchy and The Raw Story

Noah Bierman / Boston Globe:

Scott Brown calls on Akin to drop out of Missouri Senate race — In a rare intra-party rebuke, Senator Scott Brown called on Missouri Representative Todd Akin this morning to withdraw from the US Senate race in his state, after Akin made controversial remarks on rape.

Discussion: First Read, New York Magazine, Politicker, Outside the Beltway, The PJ Tatler, WPRI.com Blogs and National Review, more at Mediagazer »

National Review:

Step Aside, Todd Akin — Representative Todd Akin, the Republican nominee for Senator from Missouri, became nationally notorious yesterday for saying something stupid. In the course of explaining why he believes abortion should be illegal even when pregnancies result from rape …

Discussion: St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Mediaite

David Taintor / Talking Points Memo:

Reports: Akin Advisers Make Preparations For Withdrawal Tomorrow — Missouri Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin's advisers are making preparations to withdraw from the race Tuesday, GOP operative Richard Grenell and RedState.com editor Erick Erickson report.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Daily Kos

Garance Franke-Ruta / The Atlantic Online:

A Canard That Will Not Die: ‘Legitimate Rape’ Doesn't Cause Pregnancy — Republicans have been getting in trouble for asserting this since at least 1988 — but anti-abortion politicians keep hauling out this old idea for a reason. — Here we go again. Trotting out the contemporary equivalent …

BuzzFeed:
Mitt Romney Said In 2007 He Would Be “Delighted” To Sign A Bill Banning All Abortions Nationally

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Atlantic Wire, The Caucus, The Maddow Blog and The Hinterland Gazette

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Akin Comments Could Swing Missouri Senate Race

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, ThinkProgress, First Read, Midwest Voices, Midwest Democracy, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Dish, The Caucus, Election 2012 and The Political Carnival

Sarah Kliff / Associated Press:
Rep. Todd Akin is wrong about rape and pregnancy, but he's not alone

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, ThinkProgress, Washington Post, The Daily Beast, Guardian, The Daily Caller, Daily Kos, CNN, Outside the Beltway and The Raw Story

Byron Tau / Politico:
Obama: ‘Rape is rape’

Discussion: Little Green Footballs and The Hinterland Gazette

Kaili Joy Gray / Daily Kos:
Todd Akin clarifies he's on the same page as Paul Ryan on ‘forcible rape’

Discussion: The Hill, Firedoglake, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Devin Dwyer / ABCNEWS:
Democrats Tie Ryan, Romney to Akin as ‘Dangerous’ for Women

Discussion: GOP 12 and ABCNEWS

Evan McMorris-Santoro / Talking Points Memo:
Todd Akin: 'I've Not Yet Begun To Fight'

Discussion: Hot Air, Stinque and thenation.com/blogs/164578

Pema Levy / Talking Points Memo:
'God's Little Shield': A Short History Of The False No-Pregnancy-From-Rape Theory

Discussion: Midwest Democracy, Los Angeles Times, Taking Note, Guardian and The Atlantic Online

BuzzFeed:
Family Research Council Backs Akin

Discussion: The New Civil Rights Movement

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
How Todd Akin And Paul Ryan Partnered To Redefine Rape

Discussion: rightwingwatch.org, The New Republic, Todd Akin for U.S. Senate 2012, Mother Jones, BuzzFeed, Talking Points Memo, Washington Monthly, Left In Alabama, The Daily Beast, The Huffington Post, CNN, Shakesville, Daily Kos, The New Civil Rights Movement, The Raw Story and Show Me Progress

David Catanese / Politico:
Todd Akin's rape remark has GOP fretting

Discussion: CNN, ABCNEWS, The New Republic, Daily Kos, Hot Air, Talking Points Memo, The Huffington Post, Outside the Beltway, The Moderate Voice, The Maddow Blog and The Page, more at Mediagazer »

Scott Lemieux / Lawyers, Guns & Money:
Well, They *Should* Be Defending Akin

Discussion: ThinkProgress, American Prospect and Talking Points Memo

Dana Loesch / BREITBART.COM:
AKIN ON ‘LEGITIMATE RAPE’: “I MISSPOKE”

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Erick's blog, Mediaite, The Gateway Pundit, The Other McCain, Daily Kos, LifeNews.com, Wake up America, Towleroad News #gay, The Daily Caller and Little Green Footballs

Alexander Burns / Politico:
DNC email ties Romney to Todd Akin

Discussion: Taylor Marsh and Washington Examiner

James Fallows / The Atlantic Online:

As a Harvard Alum, I Apologize — Yes, I know, you could imagine many sentences that would follow that headline. But here is what I have in mind right now: A tenured professor of history at my undergraduate alma mater has written a cover story for Daily Beast/Newsweek that is so careless …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Business Insider and Noahpinion

Niall Ferguson / The Daily Beast:

Newsweek Cover Rebuttal: Paul Krugman Is Wrong — The liberal New York Times blogger objected to ‘multiple errors and misrepresentations’ in this week's Newsweek cover story on Obama's record in office. Author Niall Ferguson rebuts the charges. — You know you have hit the target …

Discussion: Instapundit, The Glittering Eye and NewsBusters.org blogs

Paul Krugman:
Unethical Commentary, Newsweek Edition

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, NewsBusters.org blogs, New York Magazine, Business Insider, No More Mister Nice Blog, Mother Jones, Wake up America, Conservatives4Palin, The Daily Dish, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, Hot Air, Scared Monkeys, Wizbang, Crooks and Liars, Brad DeLong and Daily Kos, more at Mediagazer »

Dylan Byers / Politico:
Niall Ferguson's ridiculous defense

Discussion: The Daily Dish

J. Bradford DeLong / Brad DeLong: More Lies from Niall Ferguson: Fire-His-Ass-Now Department

Glenn Thrush / Politico:

POLITICO e-book: Obama campaign roiled by conflict — President Barack Obama's campaign team, celebrated four years ago for its exceptional cohesion and eyes-on-the-prize strategic focus, has been shadowed this time by a succession of political disagreements and personal rivalries that haunted the effort at the outset.

Discussion: Election 2012, The Glittering Eye, nation.foxnews.com, Althouse, Business Insider, JustOneMinute, Algemeiner.com, Marbury, Belmont Club, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, Weekly Standard and Right Wing News

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:

Condoleezza Rice among the first female members at Augusta National Golf Club — The site of the Masters tournament has granted entry to female members for the first time in its 80-year history. — Augusta National Golf Club has admitted female members for the first time in its history …

Discussion: Associated Press, The Moderate Voice and CNN

Associated Press:
Augusta National to Add First Two Female Members

Discussion: DealBook, newsfeed.time.com and Wonkette

Politico:

Exclusive: GOP scolded after drinking, nudity in Israel — The FBI probed a late-night swim in the Sea of Galilee that involved drinking, numerous GOP freshmen lawmakers, top leadership staff - and one nude member of Congress, according to more than a dozen sources, including eyewitnesses.

TMZ.com:

Phyllis Diller Dead — Legendary Comic Dies at 95 — Dead at 95 — EXCLUSIVE DETAILS — Comedian Phyllis Diller — who paved the way for today's female comics — died this morning, TMZ has learned. — Sources close to Diller tell us the comedian died in her sleep at her L.A. home, surrounded by family.

Discussion: Towleroad News #gay

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

An Unserious Man — Mitt Romney's choice of Paul Ryan as his running mate led to a wave of pundit accolades. Now, declared writer after writer, we're going to have a real debate about the nation's fiscal future. This was predictable: never mind the Tea Party, Mr. Ryan's true constituency …

Discussion: Prairie Weather, AEIdeas and The Hinterland Gazette

Matthew Boyle / The Daily Caller:

Former union boss at Occupy event: Our goal is to ‘overthrow the capitalist system and build communism’ [VIDEO] — Former Amalgamated Transit Union local 689 president Mike Golash, now an “Occupy” movement organizer, was caught on tape Sunday revealing his political goals …

Discussion: protein wisdom, The Other McCain, Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit and The Lonely Conservative