Top Items:
Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
McCain responds and then some — McCain responds to Obama in tough enough, if predictable, language: — "While Senator Obama's two years in the U.S. Senate certainly entitle him to vote against funding our troops, my service and experience combined with conversations with military leaders …
Discussion:
TIME: Swampland, Power Line, The Anonymous Liberal, The Blue State, The Populist and politburo diktat 2.0
RELATED:
Andy McCarthy / National Review:
Sen. McCain, Keep Giving 'Em Flak ... er, Flack — Good for Senator McCain on his sharp rebuttal to Senator Obama. May I add one point, though, that continues to make me nuts? — Senator Obama says: " It is time to end this war so that we can redeploy our forces to focus on the terrorists …
Greg Sargent / Election Central:
Obama Rips Romney And McCain, Scorns McCain's Baghdad Stroll — The back and forth between Dem and GOP Presidential candidates is heating up big time over Iraq. — Barack Obama has just unleashed the following statement hammering John McCain and Mitt Romney for criticizing Obama's vote …
ABCNEWS:
O'Donnell Will Not Be Back on 'The View' — ABC Announces Early Departure for Host — The saga is over. — Rosie O'Donnell will not be returning to "The View." — In a statement today, Brian Frons, the president of Disney-ABC's Daytime Television Group, said, "We had hoped that Rosie …
Discussion:
Fox News, The Huffington Post, Althouse, The Moderate Voice, Scared Monkeys, NewsBusters.org, Right Wing News, The Populist and GINA COBB
RELATED:
Associated Press:
Rosie O'Donnell won't return to 'The View' — Announcement comes two days after heated on-air fight with co-host — Elisabeth Hasselbeck, left, Rosie O'Donnell sparred frequently on "The View," though they profess to be good friends off camera. — MSNBC video — Rosie quits 'The View' early
New York Post:
SHE'S DEFACE OF ROSIE REVENGE — ROSIE O'Donnell left "The View" with a bang, not a whimper, following her on-air smackdown with co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck on Wednesday. — Yesterday, Rosie's chief writer, Janette Barber, was allegedly escorted from the building after she was caught drawing moustaches …
Discussion:
Associated Press, r blog, Hot Air, Sister Toldjah, Gateway Pundit, NewsBusters.org and The News Buckit
Los Angeles Times:
Sadr reemerges, demands U.S. pullout from Iraq — KUFA, Iraq — Influential cleric Muqtada Sadr resurfaced today after months in hiding and delivered a fiery sermon in this Shiite Muslim holy city in which he reiterated his demand for the swift departure of U.S. forces.
RELATED:
Walter Pincus / Washington Post:
Pre-War Intelligence Report on Iraq Released — Report Forecast Militant Violence, Saw Establishing Democracy as Difficult — The U.S. intelligence community accurately predicted months before the Iraq war that al-Qaeda would link up with elements from former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime …
RELATED:
New York Times:
White House Said to Debate '08 Cut in Troops by 50% — The Bush administration is developing what are described as concepts for reducing American combat forces in Iraq by as much as half next year, according to senior administration officials in the midst of the internal debate.
Christy Hardin Smith / Firedoglake:
Libby On The Verge Of Sentencing — There has been a lot of grist from the Beltway rumor mill of late on Scooter Libby and his upcoming sentencing hearing — but it has amounted to a whole lot of speculation and innuendo and wishful thinking, and not much substance with any real factual basis in which to dig.
Real Cities:
Fewer candidates apply for positions as U.S. attorneys — WASHINGTON - The Bush administration's decision to fire nine U.S. attorneys last year has created a new problem for the White House: The controversy appears to be discouraging applications for some of the 22 prosecutor posts that President Bush needs to fill.
Associated Press:
North Carolina Judge: Court Witnesses Can Take Oath With Koran — RALEIGH, N.C. — A Wake County judge ruled Thursday that any religious text can be used to swear in a witness or juror in the state's courtrooms, not just the Bible. — The American Civil Liberties Union argued a law …
E. J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:
See You in September — "Let's grow up, conservatives!" — Barry M. Goldwater's declaration at the 1960 Republican National Convention was designed to quell a rebellion against Richard M. Nixon, whom conservatives saw as selling out to liberals on various platform planks.
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh, Liberty Street, The Reaction, TalkLeft, The Mahablog, Michael P.F. van der Galiën, The Democratic Daily and Sirotablog
Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:
THE END OF THE DREAM....Everyone knows that income inequality has been widening dramatically in the past three decades, as the rich get (lots) richer and the working class mostly stagnates. But hey — this is America! At least we still have lots of social mobility, right?