Top Items:
Jeff Zeleny / New York Times:
An Obama Refrain Bears Echoes of a Governor's Speeches — CHICAGO — Senator Barack Obama adapted one of his signature arguments — that his oratory amounts to more than inspiring words — from speeches given by Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts during his 2006 campaign.
Discussion:
The Swamp, Weekly Standard, Lynn Sweet, Channel '08, American Spectator, Wonkette, TownHall Blog, TIME, Jules Crittenden, MSNBC, Flopping Aces, Hot Air and Big Head DC
RELATED:
Big Head DC:
Obama Caught Plagiarizing 2006 Speech? — Big Head DC has discovered alarming similarities between a speech made by Sen. Barack Obama on February 16 while campaigning for president in Wisconsin and an October 2006 speech made by Deval Patrick, the current Democratic governor of Massachusetts.
Mike Allen / The Politico:
Clinton aide accuses Obama of plagiarism — Howard Wolfson, the Clinton campaign's communications director, today accused Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) of committing “plagiarism” in a speech in Milwaukee on Saturday night. — Wolfson made the explosive charge in an interview with Politico …
Timothy J. Burger / Bloomberg:
Obama Bought His Home With No Rezko ‘Discount,’ Seller Affirms — Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) — The couple who sold Barack Obama his Chicago home said the Illinois senator's $1.65 million bid “was the best offer” and they didn't cut their asking price because a campaign donor bought their adjacent land …
Matthew Mosk / Washington Post:
System Worries Clinton Backers — Supporters of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton are worried that convoluted delegate rules in Texas could water down the impact of strong support for her among Hispanic voters there, creating a new obstacle for her in the must-win presidential primary contest.
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Hilzoy / The Daily Dish:
Competence — From the Washington Post (emphasis added, and stolen from publius): … When I read this, I dissolved in giggles after the first sentence. It was that part about the Texas delegate selection rules “creating a new obstacle for her” that got me. In what sense are the Texas rules a “new obstacle?”
Discussion:
The New Republic, Eschaton, The Caucus, Comments from Left Field, Lawyers, Guns and Money and Balloon Juice
Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
How Evangelical Leaders Blew It — Dan Gilgoff does a post-mortem on how the evangelical movement managed to allow John McCain to win the Republican Party nomination over two candidates more amenable to their cause. Gilgoff focuses on their failure to back Romney, and makes it plain …
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Daniel Gilgoff / USA Today:
Why the Religious Right is stuck with McCain — The lukewarm support for Mitt Romney left a void that evangelical preacher Mike Huckabee was only too happy to fill. The result: A GOP nominee who strays far from the flock. — As co-founder of the blog Evangelicals for Mitt …
Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
41 Endorses McCain — George H. W. Bush endorsed John McCain …
41 Endorses McCain — George H. W. Bush endorsed John McCain …
Discussion:
The Ruckus
Edwin Chen / Bloomberg:
Former President Bush Endorses McCain's Candidacy
Former President Bush Endorses McCain's Candidacy
Discussion:
michellemalkin.com
Elisabeth Bumiller / New York Times:
McCain Facing Delicate Choice: A Role for Bush
McCain Facing Delicate Choice: A Role for Bush
Discussion:
Jonathan Martin's Blogs, Oliver Willis, TIME, Don Surber, Alternate Brain and The Ruckus
William Kristol / New York Times:
Democrats Should Read Kipling — Browsing through a used-book store Friday — in the Milwaukee airport, of all places — I came across a 1981 paperback collection of George Orwell's essays. That's how I happened to reread his 1942 essay on Rudyard Kipling.
Mark Schmitt / American Prospect:
WOULD YOU MAKE A “PLEDGE” WITH THIS MAN? — The first great skirmish of an Obama-McCain general election has broken out over a matter of such arcane policy-wonkery that until this weekend, you would find it only here at TAPPED: the precise relationship between a loan and public financing …
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You Decide 08!:
BILL CLINTON CONTINUES DOUBLE-EDGED ROLE ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL — Former President Bill Clinton is on a tear, traveling around the country to help his wife win the Democratic presidential nomination. But his repeated returns to his own administration have again raised questions about whether he is helping or hurting Hillary Clinton.
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Robert D. Novak / Washington Post:
Why Torts Trumped Terrorism — A closed-door caucus of House Democrats last Wednesday took a risky political course. By 4 to 1, they instructed Speaker Nancy Pelosi to call President Bush's bluff on extending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to continue eavesdropping on suspected foreign terrorists.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Captain's Quarters, Pirate's Cove, Emptywheel, PrairiePundit, Jules Crittenden and Blue Crab Boulevard
Michael J. Totten:
The Dungeon of Fallujah — “This is not Norway here, and it is not Denmark.” - Lebanese Forces militia leader Bashir Gemayel. — FALLUJAH - Next to the Joint Communications Center in downtown Fallujah is a squalid and war-shattered warehouse for human beings. Most detainees are common criminals.
Ben Smith / The Politico:
More Obama and Patrick — Mike Allen has more on a pretty striking borrowing, seen in the videos below. — Also, I'd be interested in how others hear this, but it's striking to see Obama deliver the same lines, almost verbatim, as another politician; it really gives you a sense of what's …
Discussion:
The New Republic
David Denby / New Yorker:
KILLING JOKE — The Coen brothers' twists and turns. … The Coen brothers' “No Country for Old Men” casts an ominous and mournful spell from the first shot. Over scenes of a desolate West Texas landscape, an aging sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones), ruminating on the new viciousness of crime, says that he's not afraid of dying.
Discussion:
The New Republic
Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
It's All Uphill From Here — It was 15 degrees outside on a wind-whipped Pennsylvania Avenue as Hillary Clinton, smile firmly fixed in place, made an early-morning stop for a primary she didn't have a prayer of winning. — Inside the high-ceilinged office of the National Council of Negro Women …