Top Items:
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
The Testing Of Obama — Today will be a crucial day. It will be a day when we will discover if America's racial environment - and the emotions and feelings and anger and fears that it entails - can allow for a black man - with all that entails - to become president.
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The Politico:
Race uproar offers test for Obama — Democrats who worry that Barack Obama is untested can put their concerns to rest. — The inflammatory rhetoric of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright has confronted Obama with the most severe test of his presidential campaign and, quite likely, of his public career.
Press Association:
On Defensive, Obama Plans Talk on Race — Faced with what his advisers acknowledged was a major test to his candidacy, Senator Barack Obama sought on Monday to contain the damage from incendiary comments made by his pastor and prepared to address the issue of race more directly than at any other moment of his presidential campaign.
Byron York / The Corner:
All The News That's Fit... Greetings from the train to Philadelphia, where Barack Obama will give his big speech this morning. In advance of the speech, the Jeremiah Wright story finally got big-time coverage in the Washington Post, with a front-page story headlined “Congregation Defends Obama's Ex-Pastor.”
Discussion:
democracyarsenal.org
Tom Raum / Associated Press:
Obama to confront racial issues — PHILADELPHIA - Democrat Barack Obama is seeking to distance himself from “stupid statements” by his longtime pastor that have aggravated racial divisions in the contentious Democratic primary battle. He is calling for both sides to tone down their rhetoric.
NY Daily News:
Gov. Paterson admits to sex with other woman for years — The thunderous applause was still ringing in his ears when the state's new governor, David Paterson, told the Daily News that he and his wife had extramarital affairs. — In a stunning revelation, both Paterson, 53, and his wife …
Discussion:
Anne Schroeder's Blogs, Don Surber, Spin Cycle, Classical Values, Hot Air, Top of the Ticket, On Deadline, Scared Monkeys, Truthdig, Too Sense, Talking Points Memo, Wonkette, Joe. My. God., Jules Crittenden, New York Magazine, GINA COBB, QandO, Political Machine, TownHall Blog, Macsmind, Fausta's blog, Gawker, Wizbang, TalkLeft, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, The Page, Gateway Pundit, TPM Election Central, PunditGuy, PoliGazette, Political Byline and Riehl World View
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E. J. Dionne Jr / Washington Post:
The Street on Welfare — Never do I want to hear again from my conservative friends about how brilliant capitalists are, how much they deserve their seven-figure salaries and how government should keep its hands off the private economy. — The Wall Street titans have turned into a bunch of welfare clients.
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Alan S. Blinder / Washington Post:
The Fed Can't Do It Alone — Psychology has now overwhelmed economics.
The Fed Can't Do It Alone — Psychology has now overwhelmed economics.
Discussion:
Economist's View
Vikas Bajaj / New York Times:
Plunge Averted, Markets Look Ahead Uneasily
Plunge Averted, Markets Look Ahead Uneasily
Discussion:
The Huffington Post
Randy E. Barnett / Wall Street Journal:
Gun-Rights Showdown — Today, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case of Heller v. District of Columbia, a suit brought by several D.C. citizens contending that the ban on the possession of operable firearms inside one's home violates the Second Amendment.
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Robert A. Levy / Boston Globe:
Fighting for our right to bear arms — DOES THE Constitution's Second Amendment give individuals the right to bear arms or is that right reserved exclusively for members of a “well-regulated militia”? That is the question the US Supreme Court will consider today in the case of District …
Discussion:
New York Times, Clayton Cramer's BLOG, Confederate Yankee, Los Angeles Times and SCOTUSblog
Roger Simon / The Politico:
Obama camp: HRC is taking the low road — Is it possible to win the Democratic nomination in such a way as to make winning not worth it? — The Barack Obama campaign thinks so. It thinks Hillary Clinton's campaign is willing to take any road to the White House, including the low road.
John M. Broder / New York Times:
Florida Democrats Won't Vote Again, Official Says — WASHINGTON — The Florida Democratic Party chairwoman on Monday officially buried the possibility of redoing the state's disputed January presidential primary, saying there was no practical or affordable way to conduct a new election.
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Frank Newport / Gallup:
McCain's 67% Favorable Rating His Highest in Eight Years — Obama has a 62% favorable rating, while Clinton's is 53% — PRINCETON, NJ — John McCain's 67% favorable rating is the highest of any of the three major candidates running for president, and ties for his highest in Gallup polling history.
Waleed Ibrahim / Reuters:
Iraq reconciliation meeting off to shaky start — BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A conference to reconcile Iraq's warring political groups began to unravel even before it got under way on Tuesday, with the main Sunni Muslim Arab bloc pulling out and protesting it had not been properly invited.
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ABCNEWS:
Clinton Sticking to Iraq Plan, No Matter What — In Testy Exchange With Reporter, Clinton's Top Advisers Clarify Her Troop Withdrawal Plan — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is sticking to her plan to withdraw troops from Iraq, no matter what. — In a testy exchange with a reporter …
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Adam Nagourney / Press Association:
Anniversary Highlights Iraq War's Role in Campaign
Anniversary Highlights Iraq War's Role in Campaign
Discussion:
New York Times
Christopher Hitchens / Slate:
How Did I Get Iraq Wrong? — I DIDN'T. … An “anniversary” of a “war” is in many ways the least useful occasion on which to take stock of something like the Anglo-American intervention in Iraq, if only because any such formal observance involves the assumption that a) this is, in fact …
Shelby Steele / Wall Street Journal:
The Obama Bargain — Geraldine Ferraro may have had sinister motives when she said that Barack Obama would not be “in his position” as a frontrunner but for his race. Possibly she was acting as Hillary Clinton's surrogate. Or maybe she was simply befuddled by this new reality …