memeorandum: First Read: The GOP's Bush 43 Wounds Still Haven't Healed (NBC News)

4:30 PM ET, November 6, 2015

Top Items:

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

Exclusive: Carson claimed West Point ‘scholarship’ but never applied — Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson on Friday conceded that he never applied nor was granted admission to West Point and attempted to recast his previous claims of a full scholarship to the military academy …

Rachel Stoltzfoos / The Daily Caller:

Team Carson: ‘Politico Story Is An Outright LIE’ — “The campaign never ‘admitted to anything,’” a spokesman for Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson told The Daily Caller News Foundation in response to a hit by Politico claiming his campaign admitted to “fabricating” a key point about his West Point story.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Townhall.com, Mother Jones, Washington Post, Mediaite, Independent Journal, The Gateway Pundit, Outside the Beltway, Business Insider, The Week and Bloomberg.com news

Steve Eder / New York Times:

Ben Carson Says He Was Never Accepted to West Point — A report on Friday said Ben Carson had acknowledged never having applied to West Point, raising questions about his repeated assertions that he had turned down a scholarship to attend the military academy.

Discussion: Mother Jones, Little Green Footballs, National Review, Washington Post, Business Insider, Daily Kos, The Week, Slantpoint, Talking Points Memo, Fox News Insider and Liberaland

Erick Erickson / Erick on the Radio:

Hit the Brakes on the Ben Carson Story — I've struck through the original piece here. — It is looking more and more like the details of Ben Carson's West Point story are more nuanced. — In 2013, he said he was offered a scholarship to West Point. The Politico story centers on Carson claiming he “applied and was accepted.”

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, The Daily Caller, Bloomberg.com news and Mediaite

Tal Kopan / CNN:
Ben Carson on questions about his past: “Bunch of lies'

Discussion: Daily Kos, Politico, Washington Post, PoliticusUSA, New York Times, Slantpoint, The Daily Beast, Taylor Marsh, The Daily Caller, ThinkProgress, Daily Mail, Business Insider, The Week, Mediaite, addictinginfo.org, The Moderate Voice and Talking Points Memo

David Weigel / Washington Post:
Ben Carson's allies defend West Point story

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Political Wire and The Daily Caller

Coral Davenport / New York Times:

Obama Rejects Construction of Keystone XL Oil Pipeline — WASHINGTON — President Obama on Friday announced that he has rejected the request from a Canadian company to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline, ending a seven-year review that had become a flash point in the debate over his climate policies.

Discussion: Power Line, US Department of State, The White House, Washington Monthly, The Moderate Voice, USA Today, Associated Press, Gizmodo, Hit & Run, The Daily Signal, Outside the Beltway, Politico, Patterico's Pontifications, The Democratic Daily, Fusion, Washington Free Beacon and The Week

Elana Schor / Politico:
Obama rejects Keystone XL pipeline

Discussion: Bloomberg View, Bloomberg Business, Bloomberg.com news, ABC News and Washington Free Beacon

Amy Harder / Wall Street Journal:
Obama Administration to Reject Keystone XL Pipeline, Citing Climate Concerns

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, DCist and US News

The Hill:
Obama rejects Keystone pipeline

Discussion: The PJ Tatler

Katie Valentine / ThinkProgress:
In Huge Win For Environmentalists, Obama Rejects The Keystone XL Pipeline

Discussion: Business Insider and Booman Tribune

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

Key Clinton emails did not contain highly classified secrets, inquiry finds — The U.S. intelligence community has retreated from claims that two emails in Hillary Clinton's private account contained top secret information, a source familiar with the situation told POLITICO.

Discussion: Bloomberg.com news, TalkLeft, Daily Kos and Political Wire

Carimah Townes / ThinkProgress:

Jury Acquits Officer Who Shot Unarmed Man Face Down On The Ground — On Thursday, a jury acquitted Officer Lisa Mearkle for shooting David Kassick in Pennsylvania, who was pulled over for an expired inspection sticker. The same day, video of the deadly encounter was released by the local D.A. …

Discussion: Hullabaloo, PennLive.com and Washington Post

CRIMEWATCH:

Video of Off. Lisa Mearkle/David Kassick — The Dauphin County District Attorney's Office today released the video footage shown at the trial of Officer Lisa Mearkle. The footage is from the Taser camera that Officer Lisa Mearkle deployed as she fired two shots at David Kassick in South Hanover Township …

Discussion: RedState, Hit & Run, Raw Story, WHTM-TV, Associated Press and NBC News

NBC News:

First Read: The GOP's Bush 43 Wounds Still Haven't Healed — First Read is a morning briefing from Meet the Press and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter. — The GOP's Bush 43 wounds still haven't healed

Discussion: Politico and Washington Post

Peter Baker / New York Times:
First President George Bush Swings at Son's Aides, Rattling Clan

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog and Fox News Insider

Andrew Shain / The Charlotte Observer:
Lindsey Graham punted from GOP debate next week

Discussion: RedState, Washington Monthly, Hot Air and CNNMoney

Glenn Thrush / Politico:

5 of the stupidest things said this campaign season — The gaffe-phobic script of modern American politics has been shredded, stomped on and set ablaze in 2016 — especially on the Republican side. The GOP base wants passion in its candidates, and the media has grown accustomed to the Trump treatment …

Discussion: ABC News, RedState, Bloomberg.com news, Los Angeles Times, The Hill, CBS Philly and The Huffington Post

ABC News:
Ben Carson Lashes Out at Media Over Questions About Violent Childhood

Discussion: abc7chicago.com and Towleroad

Hollywood Reporter:

“And a lot of it is going to be driven by Tarantino, who is nothing if not predictable.” — In a veiled threat, the largest police union in the country says it has a “surprise” in store for Quentin Tarantino. — Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police …

Discussion: Mother Jones, EW.com, New York Post, Hit & Run, alicublog, Guardian, Talking Points Memo, Associated Press, Liberaland, Fusion, Mediaite, Slantpoint, Mashable, The Huffington Post and MSNBC

Eliza Collins / Politico:

Fiorina quarrels with ‘The View’ hosts — If you had your TV on mute Friday, you would have had no idea that Carly Fiorina and the hosts of “The View” went at it, they were all smiling so big. — When Fiorina first appeared, Whoopi Goldberg cheerfully greeted her by saying, “Hey girl” and went on to say, “Let's clear the air.”

Discussion: ABC News and Taylor Marsh

Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:

Things Get Even Uglier In The Louisiana Race For Governor — A top GOPer's endorsement of the Democratic candidate in the Louisiana governor's race over U.S. Sen David Vitter (R-LA) has apparently rankled some local Republican officials. — Local blogger and New Orleans Times-Picayune columnist Robert Mann …

Discussion: NOLA River and Something Like the Truth

Rtmannjr / Something Like the Truth:
St. Tammany Parish GOP Executive Committee compares Jay Dardenne to wife killer

Discussion: NOLA River and Talking Points Memo

Greg Stohr / Bloomberg Business:

Religious Objections on Obamacare Get U.S. Supreme Court Review — The U.S. Supreme Court scheduled a new showdown over Obamacare and religious rights, agreeing to hear contentions that faith-based groups shouldn't have to facilitate what they consider to be immoral insurance coverage for contraceptives.

Jennifer Haberkorn / Politico:
Supreme Court to take up challenge to Obamacare's contraception mandate

Discussion: NBC News and The Week

Michelle Ye Hee Lee / Washington Post:

Here's why Marco Rubio's corporate card saga isn't really a scandal — “People need to understand what they're talking about. It wasn't a credit card. It was an American Express charge card secured under my personal credit in conjunction with the [Republican] Party. Bills would be mailed to me at home.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Washington Examiner, Fox News, Power Line, Mediaite, Politico, ABC News, miamiherald, The Daily Caller, Naked Politics, National Review and New York Times

Lachlan Markay / Washington Free Beacon:

Clinton Signed NDA Laying Out Criminal Penalties for Mishandling of Classified Info — As the nation's chief diplomat, Hillary Clinton was responsible for ascertaining whether information in her possession was classified and acknowledged that “negligent handling” of that information …

Discussion: Townhall.com, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Daily Caller, The PJ Tatler, Daily Mail, Independent Journal and Hot Air

Suzanne Perez Tobias / Wichita Eagle:

Conway Springs teacher says he will not resign; news conference canceled … A Conway Springs teacher at the center of a controversy over showing an anti-bullying film has decided not to resign, a move that could force a school board vote on whether he can return to the classroom.

Discussion: Guardian