memeorandum: Belittled Woman — At some point along the way, Hillary Clinton … (Libby Copeland/Washington Post)

5:40 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: Think Progress, Balloon Juice, Ben Smith's Blogs, Daily Kos, Pandagon and Shakesville

Andy Barr / The Hill's Blog Briefing Room:

Huckabee Jokes About Obama Getting Shot At — During a speech to the National Rifle Association convention in Louisville, Kentucky Friday, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee joked to the audience that an offstage noise was Barack Obama avoiding gunfire.

Discussion: American Spectator

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Huckabee jokes at NRA conference about someone trying to shoot Obama …

Discussion: Jonathan Martin's Blogs, TownHall Blog and Outside The Beltway

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, Weekly Standard Blog, The Carpetbagger Report, American Street, The Other McCain and Slog

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, Hot Air, JustOneMinute, Ben Smith's Blogs, Confederate Yankee, Right Wing Nut House, Eunomia, democracyarsenal.org, Strange Bedfellows, The American Mind and abu muqawama

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, Daily Kos and Firedoglake

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:

McCain campaign responds: ‘Hysterical diatribe’ — This general election campaign is getting off to a rollicking start. — From McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds: … Oddly, McCain's response also contained the claim he'd distorted Defense Secretary Robert Gates' willingness to meet the leaders of Iran …

Discussion: The New Republic, The Jed Report and Balloon Juice

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

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

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

Discussion: The Daily Dish

New York Times:
Bush Assails ‘Appeasement,’ Touching Off Storm

Discussion: The Caucus, Marc Ambinder, The Page, Salon, Los Angeles Times, Guardian Unlimited, The Washington Independent, New York Post and Power Line

Associated Press:
Obama accuses Bush of ‘appalling attack’

Discussion: The Corner, MSNBC and Gateway Pundit

Naftali Bendavid / The Swamp: Obama fires back on ‘appeasement’

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, The Huffington Post, Washington Monthly, MarketWatch, Climate Progress, American Street, Hoffmania! and The American Conservative

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 and TownHall Blog

Adam Schreck / Associated Press:
Oil sets record near $128; pump price at high, too

Discussion: Commentary

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, the talking dog, James Wolcott's Blog, The Strata-Sphere, Macsmind, American Street, Donklephant, protein wisdom, Wonkette, Vox Popoli, Jezebel, Real Clear Politics 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 and Air America Radio blogs

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

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

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, michellemalkin.com, American Street, The Other McCain, Hot Air, TalkLeft, The Caucus and The Mahablog

Michelle Malkin:

McCain reaches out to blogs...on the left; Update: “A new standard for transparency and accountability” — Scroll down for updates... The McCain campaign holds weekly blogger conference calls with its candidate. There are many questions I know you'd like asked, but I've never been able …

Discussion: Washington Times, The Jawa Report, Political Machine, The American Mind and TBogg

Mark Murray / MSNBC:

FIRST THOUGHTS: BUSH'S GIFT TO OBAMA — From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro — *** Bush's gift to Obama: When President Bush — thousands of miles away in Israel — decided to fire his thinly veiled shot at Obama yesterday, it was a giant gift to the Illinois senator and his campaign.