memeorandum: Learning to Link: The Military Commission Decision Disqualifying … (Marty Lederman/Balkinization)

8:30 PM ET, May 11, 2008

Top Items:

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:

Limbaugh: ‘My impact will increase’ — Conservatives are despondent, liberals are as enthused about a presidential candidate as they've been in 40 years, and the candidate he has long loathed won the Republican nomination. — But never mind the pervasive sense of GOP malaise …

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Daniel W. Reilly / The Politico:

McAuliffe: Need ‘something big’ — Terry McAuliffe, campaign chairman for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), admitted Sunday that “something big would have to happen” for his candidate to overtake Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Newsweek:

Sit Back, Relax, Get Ready to Rumble — He's taken everything in stride, it seems. How Obama and his team will battle the GOP onslaught. — How do you know if Barack Obama is unhappy with what you're saying— or not saying? At meetings of his closest advisers, he likes to lean back, put his feet on the table and close his eyes.

Discussion: Stop The ACLU and Donklephant

Brian Knowlton / New York Times:
Edwards Raises Doubts About Clinton's Chances

Discussion: AMERICAblog and The Jed Report

MSNBC:
May 11: Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), Terry McAuliffe, political roundtable

Discussion: Booman Tribune, The Field and Commentary

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Is She a Trojan Rabbit? — Now Barack Obama faces a true dilemma: how best to punish Hillary Clinton. — After 15 months of fighting her off, as she veered wildly from bully to victim, as she brandished any ice pick at hand, whether racial, sexual, mathematical or marital …

Discussion: Corrente and Campaign Stops

Scott Lemieux / Lawyers, Guns and Money:

The Transition — MoDo seems regretful that she will have less reason (at least outside the context of blind dates) to snigger about Bill Clinton's sex life. But she holds out faint hope for a Vice Presidential nod: … Hahahahahahahaha! That's the kind of legendary wit …

Discussion: TalkLeft, Balloon Juice, Real Clear Politics and The Democratic Daily

Marc Ambinder:

A Second McCain Aide Resigns — Doug Davenport, the regional campaign manager for the mid-Atlantic states, founded the DCI Group's lobbying practice and oversaw the contract with Myanmar in 2002. — “Doug has tendered his resignation and we have accepted it,” Jill Hazelbaker, McCain's communications director, wrote in a e-mail.

Discussion: The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, The Daily Dish, Firedoglake, DownWithTyranny!, Stumper, The New Republic, AMERICAblog and New York Times

Jonathan Martin / Jonathan Martin's Blogs:

Second McCain aide quits over DCI ties — The second McCain aide in as many days has left the campaign over ties to a public relations firm that once represented the Burmese junta. — Doug Davenport, one of McCain's 11 regional campaign managers, quit his post today, a McCain spokeswoman said in response to an inquiry.

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report and The Page

Pol Watchers:

Obama's new Kentucky ad focuses on coal — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama launched a new TV ad this weekend featuring an Illinois miner praising the the him for work on coal issues. — “Washington, D.C., is not listening to us,” said Randy Henry, who is identified as a miner for 31 years.

Discussion: The Page

New York Times:
Already, Obama and McCain Map Fall Strategies

Discussion: The Politico, Taegan Goddard's …, Los Angeles Times, The Debatable Land, Daily Kos, The New Republic, On Deadline, The Page and PERRspectives Blog

Adam Nagourney / The Caucus:

Emanuel to Kennedy: That's Not Nice — On a day when it seemed that everybody was beating up on Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton — even “Saturday Night Live” had run a skit making fun of her — one person came to her defense on Sunday: Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, the No. 3 Democrat in the House.

Discussion: Taylor Marsh and The Page

Tom Foreman / CNN:

Religious right leaning toward Democrats? — “Raw Politics” on “Anderson Cooper 360” delivers the latest political news with a wry sense of a humor and without spin. — WASHINGTON (CNN) — For decades, evangelicals have been seen as solid supporters of the Republican Party. That could be changing.

Discussion: protein wisdom, Jack and Jill Politics and DownWithTyranny!

Paul Kane / Washington Post:

As Losses Mount, GOP Begins Looking in the Mirror — Since losing 30 seats and their 12-year stranglehold on power in 2006, House Republicans have kept asking themselves the same question: Can it get any worse? — On Tuesday, they may get another answer they won't like.

Discussion: The Strata-Sphere, Jonathan Martin's Blogs, Booman Tribune, DownWithTyranny!, The Other McCain and NY Daily News

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

Poisoning The Racial Wells — My Sunday Times column is on the Clintons and race: … (Photo: Stan Honda/AFP/Getty.)

Discussion: Times of London and The Moderate Voice

William Glaberson / New York Times:

Judge's Guantánamo Ruling Bodes Ill for System — A decision by a military judge on Friday to disqualify a top Pentagon official from any further role in a Guantánamo war crimes case was a major new challenge to the Bush administration's legal approach to the war on terrorism.

Marty Lederman / Balkinization:
Learning to Link: The Military Commission Decision Disqualifying …

Discussion: The Daily Dish and Emptywheel