memeorandum: G.O.P. Voters, in Big Shift, Favor McCain Over His Rivals (New York Times)

10:40 PM ET, January 13, 2008

Top Items:

Katharine Q. Seelye / The Caucus:

BET Founder Slams Obama in South Carolina — COLUMBIA, S.C. — Robert L. Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television, who is campaigning today in South Carolina with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, just raised the specter of Barack Obama's past drug use.

Discussion: The Swamp, The Moderate Voice, The New Republic, FOX Embeds, JustOneMinute, Riehl World View, politburo diktat 2.0, Taylor Marsh, Too Sense, The Carpetbagger Report, Prairie Weather, Buck Naked Politics, CBS News, QandO and The Page

Sen. Hillary Clinton / MSNBC:

‘Meet the Press’ transcript for Jan. 13, 2008 — MR. TIM RUSSERT: Our issues this Sunday: Obama wins Iowa. — (Videotape): — SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL): Thank you, Iowa. — MR. RUSSERT: Clinton wins New Hampshire. — (Videotape): — SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY) …

Discussion: Political Radar, History News Network, The Campaign Spot, Don Surber, Macsmind, Flopping Aces, Riehl World View, Ben Smith's Blogs, Heading Right, The Caucus, Horses Mouth and New York Times

Gateway Pundit:

It Has Begun... Hillary Takes Credit For Surge She Opposed!! — CAUTION: DON'T READ THIS WITH WHILE EATING... It has begun... Democrats are now taking credit for the surge... A surge they all opposed! — Hillary takes credit for the sucess in Iraq on Meet the Press.

Discussion: protein wisdom, Hot Air, Stop The ACLU and Blue Crab Boulevard

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

NOT BEAN BAG — We seem to be at the point where there are now two credible possibilities. One is that the Clinton campaign is intentionally pursuing a strategy of using surrogates to hit Obama with racially-charged language or with charges that while not directly tied to race nonetheless play to stereotypes about black men.

Discussion: TPM Election Central and politburo diktat 2.0

Hillary Clinton / CNN:

Clinton backer appears to raise Obama's drug use — (CNN) - BET founder and prominent Hillary Clinton supporter Bob Johnson said Sunday he is ‘insulted’ with the Obama campaign's latest criticisms of Clinton, and appeared to take aim at the Illinois senator for his admitted drug use as a young man.

Discussion: The Politico

Zzaki / Political Radar:

Clinton Surrogate Makes Veiled Reference to Obama's Drug Use — ABC News' Eloise Harper reports: Speaking in Columbia, S.C., BET founder Bob Johnson was introducing Clinton and made a veiled swipe at Barack Obama's past drug use. The last surrogate to talk about Obama and drugs …

Discussion: MoJoBlog, TalkLeft and politburo diktat 2.0

New York Times:

Clinton and Obama Spar Over Remark About Dr. King — Escalating their fight for the Democratic presidential nomination, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Senator Barack Obama engaged in a war of words on Sunday over Mrs. Clinton's recent remark about the role that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. played …

Jeralyn / TalkLeft:
Another Sign Edwards Will Throw Support to Obama

Discussion: protein wisdom and PoliGazette

Beth Fouhy / Associated Press:
Clinton, Obama Clash Over Race Issue

Discussion: Firedoglake and Shakespeare's Sister

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Obama Slams Clinton's ‘Meet’ Appearance

Discussion: TalkLeft, Firedoglake, The Moderate Voice and MSNBC

The Politico:
Hillary Clinton attacks Barack Obama

Discussion: The Daily Dish, Hot Air, Redstate, Scared Monkeys, FOX Embeds, Wake up America, Patterico's Pontifications, Althouse, Irish Trojan in Tennessee and Balloon Juice

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Obama: Clinton rewrites history

Discussion: TalkLeft

The Fact Hub:
On Meet the Press, Hillary Examines Sen. Obama On Iraq

Discussion: Sirotablog, Hotline On Call, The Moderate Voice, Washington Times, The Democratic Daily, TPM Election Central and Brave New Films blog

Phillip Elliott / Associated Press:
Clinton blames Obama camp over remark

Discussion: Firedoglake and skippy the bush kangaroo

New York Times:

G.O.P. Voters, in Big Shift, Favor McCain Over His Rivals — WASHINGTON — Republican voters have sharply altered their views of their presidential candidates following the early contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, with Senator John McCain, widely written off just weeks ago …

Discussion: Cliff Schecter

Gary Langer / ABCNEWS:

POLL: Transformed by Iowa and N.H., '08 Kicks Off as a Free-for-All — McCain and Obama mix up the race (AP Photo) — Iowa and New Hampshire have transformed the 2008 presidential race into a free-for-all, vaulting John McCain past longtime frontrunner Rudy Giuliani in the Republican contest …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, Riehl World View and Hot Air

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

The Noxious Fruits of Hate Speech laws — (updated below) — I've written several times before about the oppressive, dangerous hate speech laws which are common — increasingly so — in both Canada and Europe, whereby the Government is empowered to punish as criminals citizens …

Discussion: protein wisdom, Liberty Street, Reason Magazine, Daimnation!, small dead animals, GINA COBB, Firedoglake, Jay Currie, Neptunus Lex, Ezra Levant, Atlas Shrugs and Classical Values

Keith Bonnell / National Post:
Defiant Levant republishes cartoons

Discussion: Ezra Levant and Jules Crittenden

The Big Trunk / Power Line:
A CASE STUDY IN RESISTANCE

Discussion: The Corner, QandO, Commentary and AMERICAN DIGEST

Mark R. Levin / The Corner:

Deplorable Campaigning — Mike Huckabee: “Many of us who have been Republicans out of conviction . . . the social conservatives,” he told reporters, “were welcomed in the party as long as we sort of kept our place, but Lord help us if we ever stood forward and said we would actually like to lead the party.”

Discussion: Redstate, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, bustardblog, Right Wing Nut House, RADAMISTO and Right Wing News

Washington Post:
Huckabee: Evangelical Christians Now Have a Chance to Lead GOP

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, Flopping Aces, Gateway Pundit, Associated Press, Don Surber, The Daily Dish, The Caucus, All Spin Zone and Balloon Juice

Timothy Noah / New York Times:

Fathers and Sons — To be neoconservative is to bear almost daily witness to the resurrection of Adolf Hitler. “Truly Hitlerian,” the Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer pronounced Saddam Hussein's saber-rattling before Iraq invaded Kuwait. Three days after the 9/11 attacks …

Discussion: Roger L. Simon and toohotfortnr

Clark Hoyt / New York Times:
He May Be Unwelcome, but We'll Survive

Discussion: Think Progress and toohotfortnr

Camilla Tominey / Daily Express:

PLOT TO KILL QUEEN FOILED — AL Qaeda terrorists posing as TV crews planned to blow up the Queen by smuggling explosives into last year's Commonwealth summit. — Two huge outside broadcast vans belonging to the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation were seized after a tip-off from intelligence agents.

Discussion: The Corner, Wake up America and Spectator

Robert Bryce / Washington Post:

ARTS & LIVING CITY GUIDE — washingtonpost.com > Opinions > Outlook — Myths About Breaking Our Foreign Oil Habit … In a speech last year, former CIA director R. James Woolsey Jr. had some advice for American motorists: “The next time you pull into a gas station to fill your car with gas …

Discussion: Redstate

Cernig / The Newshoggers:

Who Spun The Hormuz Incident? (Update - The Full Video) — By now, anyone following the changing story of the almost-clash between three US Navy capital ships and five Iranian speedboats in the Gulf has read the Navy Times report that says the mysterious threatening voice on the Pentagon's audio tape …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Times of London, SIVACRACY.NET, RADAMISTO and Springbored's Springboard

Ross Douthat:

Liberal Fascism And Its Critics — Here is some free advice for liberals who don't care much for Jonah Goldberg or his (bestselling) new volume: Either confine yourself to dismissive snark, of the sort perfected by my colleague Matt, or buckle down and actually read the damn thing.

Discussion: The Reaction, The Impolitic and BitsBlog