memeorandum: McCain, at NRA, Acknowledges Disagreement, But Speaks Of … (Marc Ambinder)

7:40 PM ET, May 16, 2008

Top Items:

Huckabee jokes about Obama ducking a gunman — (CNN) - During a speech before the National Rifle Association convention Friday afternoon in Louisville, Kentucky, former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee — who has endorsed presumptive GOP nominee John McCain …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Huffington Post, Think Progress, Ben Smith's Blogs, Open Left, Balloon Juice, Daily Kos, Shakesville, Pandagon, Confederate Yankee, Hullabaloo and Donklephant

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

Huckabee jokes at NRA conference about someone trying to shoot Obama; Update: Painfully awkward video added — Stupid, and doubtless to receive plenty of attention since it's useful to so many groups. The left will use it as a Larger Truth about the NRA; the media will use it to find …

Discussion: The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Jonathan Martin's Blogs and TownHall Blog

Andy Barr / The Hill's Blog Briefing Room:
Huckabee Jokes About Obama Getting Shot At

Discussion: American Spectator

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:

Obama on McCain: Hypocrisy and fear-mongering — In an appearance in South Dakota just now, Barack Obama came back at yesterday's attacks from George W. Bush and John McCain, accusing them of “hypocrisy, fear-peddling, and fear-mongering.” — He responded first to the charge from Bush …

Discussion: The Swamp, TPM Election Central, Commentary, Hot Air, The Page, The Carpetbagger Report, American Street, Weekly Standard Blog, Slog, The Other McCain and Gateway Pundit

David Brooks / New York Times:

Obama Admires Bush — Hezbollah is one of the world's most radical terrorist organizations. Over the last week or so, it has staged an armed assault on the democratic government of Lebanon. — Barack Obama issued a statement in response. He called on “all those who have influence with Hezbollah” to “press them to stand down.”

Discussion: Commentary, Power Line, Weekly Standard Blog, New York Times, Ben Smith's Blogs, Confederate Yankee, JustOneMinute, Hot Air, Right Wing Nut House, Eunomia, New York Post, democracyarsenal.org and Strange Bedfellows

New Yorker:

FEVER DREAM TICKETS — That was an astounding speech John McCain delivered this morning in Columbus, Ohio. On almost every issue except Iraq, it was a ringing declaration of rhetorical (though not always substantive) independence from the Bush Administration.

Discussion: The Opinionator and Daily Kos

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
McCain campaign responds: ‘Hysterical diatribe’

Discussion: The Caucus, The New Republic, The Swamp, Salon, The Jed Report and Balloon Juice

John McCain / CNN:
Obama: Bush and McCain ‘have a lot to answer for’

Discussion: michellemalkin.com, Degree of Madness, Top of the Ticket, Political Radar, The Moderate Voice, American Power and If I Ran the Zoo

Marc Ambinder:
Obama: Bush-McCain “Have a Lot To Answer For.”

Discussion: The Daily Dish

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:

Bush Rebuffed on Oil Plea in Saudi Arabia — RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — With the price of oil hitting record highs, President Bush used a private visit to King Abdullah's ranch here Friday to make a second attempt to persuade the Saudi government to increase oil production and was rebuffed yet again.

Discussion: Washington Post, MarketWatch, The Huffington Post, Climate Progress and Washington Monthly

Marc Ambinder:

The White House Changes Targets — Ed Gillespie, gaggling to reporters today in Saudi Arabia, said that the White House really meant to Get Carter, not Obama:

Discussion: Weekly Standard Blog, TownHall Blog, Sister Toldjah and Open Left

Jonah Goldberg / The Corner:

The Long Night of an Obama Presidency — Reading this piece about the Edwards endorsement of Obama, a cold shiver went down my spine. As scary as a Deval Patrick appointment as AG would be (I've long thought he would be Obama's likely choice), the suggestion that John Edwards …

Discussion: Political Radar and American Street

CNN:

Edwards flatly rules out running with Obama — (CNN) — Seeing John Edwards and Barack Obama on the same stage earlier this week left political pundits buzzing: Could these two be an unbeatable presidential ticket? — They appeared to have natural chemistry — something Edwards …

Discussion: MyDD, Open Left and DownWithTyranny!

Rasmussen Reports:

Election 2008: Kansas Senate — Kansas Senate: Roberts 52% Slattery 40% — Before March, the Unites States Senate election in Kansas was a shoe-in for Republican incumbent Pat Roberts. At that point there was no viable Democratic candidate in the race and the state has not elected a Democratic senator since 1932.

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, MyDD and Swing State Project

Rasmussen Reports:
Election 2008: Maine Senate

Discussion: Cliff Schecter, MyDD, Daily Kos and Swing State Project

American Research Group:
Democrats — Hillary Clinton leads Barack Obama 56% to 38% among men …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh and TalkLeft

Peggy Noonan / Wall Street Journal:

Pity Party — Big picture, May 2008: — The Democrats aren't the ones falling apart, the Republicans are. The Democrats can see daylight ahead. For all their fractious fighting, they're finally resolving their central drama. Hillary Clinton will leave, and Barack Obama will deliver a stirring acceptance speech.

Discussion: New York Times, Pajamas Media, Redstate, James Wolcott's Blog, the talking dog, The Strata-Sphere, Macsmind, American Street, Donklephant, Wonkette, Real Clear Politics, protein wisdom, Vox Popoli, Jezebel and Amygdala

John Fund / Wall Street Journal:

Flirting With Disaster — Republicans are shellshocked over losing a third House seat in a special election this year. Much as a series of special-election defeats by Democrats in 1994 augured that the first midterm election of the Clinton years would be bad for the party …

Discussion: Booman Tribune, Eunomia, Air America Radio blogs and Real Clear Politics

Michelle Cottle / The New Republic:

What Went Wrong? — The exclusive story of Hillary's fall, as told by the high-level advisors, staffers, fundraisers, and on-the-ground organizers who lived it. — Endings are rarely as joyous as beginnings—and in the case of a long, wearing, and ultimately disappointing campaign, they can be downright brutal.

Discussion: Donklephant, The Other McCain, Swampland, Democratic Strategist, Ben Smith's Blogs, Real Clear Politics and The Daily Dish

City Journal:

The Real Iraq — Moment of Truth in Iraq, by Michael Yon (Richard Vigilante Books, 227 pp., $29.95) — Iraq is where ideologies go to die. Arab nationalism, Baathism, anti-Americanism, al-Qaidism, Donald Rumsfeldism, and Moqtada al-Sadrism have either died there or are dying.

Discussion: protein wisdom, Newshoggers.com, Martini Revolution, The Daily Dish, American Power and Confederate Yankee

Libby Copeland / Washington Post:

Belittled Woman — At some point along the way, Hillary Clinton became “poor Hillary” and it stuck. — She went up against a charmer who once made an audience cheer just by blowing his nose (poor Hillary), and she lost states and delegates and she bet on a filly that died (poor Hillary) …

Discussion: protein wisdom, Hot Air, The Other McCain, American Street, TalkLeft and The Caucus

Jeralyn / TalkLeft:

A Blogger Call With Hillary Clinton: It's the Math Not the Map — We had a great blogger call with a very hoarse Hillary Clinton today. It was just for bloggers so she could thank us for our support. — She is staying in the race. She is ahead in the popular vote by 50,000 votes …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, The Democratic Daily and Booman Tribune