Top Items:
Pew Research Center:
Obama Weathers the Wright Storm, Clinton Faces Credibility Problem — National Discontent Approaches 20-Year High, Bush Approval at 28% — Summary of Findings — The videos of Rev. Jeremiah Wright's controversial sermons and Barack Obama's subsequent speech on race and politics …
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CNN:
Clinton tells Democrats: Don't vote for McCain — FAYETTEVILLE, North Carolina (CNN) - Hillary Clinton pleaded for partisan unity on Thursday, urging Democrats not to abandon their party to vote for John McCain if their preferred candidate fails to secure the nomination.
Frank Newport / Gallup:
Democratic Groups Most at Risk of Deserting — Independents, conservatives likeliest to vote for McCain — PRINCETON, NJ — Democrats are at most risk of losing the support of independents, conservative Democrats, and, among Hillary Clinton supporters, less well-educated Democrats …
Amanda / Think Progress:
EXCLUSIVE: McCain's Foreign Affairs Speech Plagiarizes 1996 Address By Adm. Timothy Ziemer (UPDATED) — EXCLUSIVE: McCain's Foreign Affairs Speech 1996 Address By Adm. Timothy Ziemer (UPDATED) … Yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) gave a foreign policy speech to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council.
Discussion:
Weekly Standard Blog, The Swamp, Matthew Yglesias, The Washington Independent and Marc Ambinder
CNN:
Analysis: Al-Sadr in trouble, Iraq headed for meltdown — (CNN) — The fighting among Shiite militias and government troops in Basra is a glimpse of Iraq's future, and pivotal cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is in deep trouble, according to two CNN correspondents and a CNN military analyst.
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Abu Aardvark:
another theory for the pile
another theory for the pile
Discussion:
The Newshoggers, asharq-e.com, Danger Room, missing links, American Footprints, Washington Monthly and Outside The Beltway
al.com:
Siegelman to be released from prison, Scrushy must stay in — MONTGOMERY — A federal appellate court today ordered former Gov. Don Siegelman released from prison while he appeals his 2006 conviction, but denied co-defendant Richard Scrushy's request to be released.
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Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Hillary vows: We're going all the way to the convention; Update: Hillary questions the legitimacy of Obama's nomination — Good lord. Even I find her ruthlessness here creepy, and I'm pulling for her. I'm giving you the second clip mostly for the smug look on her face after she delivers her bone-chilling …
Discussion:
RIGHTWINGSPARKLE
Southern Political Report:
New InsiderAdvantage Poll — Obama Leads Big In North Carolina — Hillary Clinton desperately needs to claim more white votes if she is to win a desperately needed primary by taking the Democratic presidential contest in North Carolina May 6. — But with five weeks to go …
Lindsay Renick Mayer / Capital Eye:
Democratic Donors Send $24 Million Letter to Pelosi — Major fundraisers, who support Hillary Clinton, urge the Speaker of the House not to meddle with superdelegate votes—and millions of dollars are behind their message. — Prominent backers of Hillary Clinton sent a multi-million-dollar message …
Discussion:
Washington Wire, The Corner, Boston Globe, New York Times, Fox News, Spin Cycle, The Caucus, The Trail and AMERICAblog
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New York Post:
AND THERE HE HO'S AGAIN — ‘WICKED’ SPITZER LINKED TO BUSTY BUSTED MADAM'S BIZ — Disgraced former Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been identified as a long-standing client of a second high-priced call-girl ring, The Post has learned. — The ex-governor regularly patronized Wicked Models …
Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC:
FIRST THOUGHTS: MYTH BUSTER — From Chuck Todd and Domenico Montanaro — *** Myth buster: Pollster Peter Hart calls the NBC/WSJ poll a “myth buster” survey; it really breaks down a lot of the myths we've been hearing over the last week like: (1) that the Wright controversy was the beginning …
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C. J. Chivers / New York Times:
Supplier Under Scrutiny on Aging Arms for Afghans — Since 2006, when the insurgency in Afghanistan sharply intensified, the Afghan government has been dependent on American logistics and military support in the war against Al Qaeda and the Taliban. — But to arm the Afghan forces …
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New York Times:
Obama on ‘Renewing the American Economy’ — Following is the transcript of Barack Obama's economic speech at Cooper Union in New York, as provided by CQ Transcriptions Inc. — Thank you so much for being here. — Let me begin by thanking Dr. Drucker and Cooper Union for hosting us here today.
Discussion:
New York Post, The RBC, Gothamist, The Glittering Eye, Comments from Left Field and Ben Smith's Blogs
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Joe Klein / Time:
Silly Season — Unlike Barack Obama, Bill Clinton does not believe in “the fierce urgency of now.” The former President has an exquisitely languid sense of how political time unfurls. He understands that those moments the political community, especially the media, considers urgent usually aren't.
Discussion:
Marc Ambinder, TownHall Blog, Reuters, Commentary, American Power, Wonkette, The Carpetbagger Report and The Unapologetic Mexican
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Mike Allen / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Obama talks cap-gains rate with CNBC — In an interview in conjunction with his big economic speech in New York, Senator Obama tells CNBC's Maria Bartiromo he favors increasing the capital-gains tax rate. — Bartiromo reported after her interview: “Right now, as you know, the cap gains tax is at 15 percent.
Michelle Malkin:
Fitna has arrived — Readers are sending the Liveleak English version of Geert Wilders' Fitna, which has just been posted. (Be patient, may be a little slow to load.) It's 15 minutes with scenes of jihad interlaced with quotes from the Koran. — The film ends not with any blasphemous image …
Eric Lichtblau / Slate:
The Education of a 9/11 Reporter — THE INSIDE DRAMA BEHIND THE TIMES' WARRANTLESS WIRETAPPING STORY. … For 13 long months, we'd held off on publicizing one of the Bush administration's biggest secrets. Finally, one afternoon in December 2005, as my editors and I waited anxiously …
Gail Shister / TVNewser:
Olbermann Counting Up...Happy At Last — Five years later, Keith “Take This Job and Shove It” Olbermann is still — dare we say it? — happy at MSNBC. — In fact, when Olbermann marks the milestone with a special Countdown on NBC Sunday, he will be just six months away from breaking …
Ben / Think Progress:
Krauthammer: McCain Has ‘Hidden Agenda’ To ‘Kill The United Nations’ — Yesterday in an foreign policy address in Los Angeles, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) called for the United States to create and lead a “League of Democracies” in order to “harness the vast influence of the more than one hundred …