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3:55 PM ET, May 16, 2008

Top Items:

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, Weekly Standard Blog, TPM Election Central, American Street, The Page, The Carpetbagger Report, Swampland 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: Weekly Standard Blog, JustOneMinute, Ben Smith's Blogs, Commentary, Hot Air, Right Wing Nut House, Confederate Yankee, Eunomia, democracyarsenal.org, 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, Firedoglake and John McCain 2008

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 and Balloon Juice

Paul Kiel / Talking Points Memo:

OBAMA RESPONDS — Update: To McCain, this was a “hysterical diatribe.”

Discussion: Spin Cycle, TPM Election Central, The Carpetbagger Report and MyDD

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

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

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

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
McCain's Hamas comments, context restored Update: Video context added

Discussion: Weekly Standard Blog, American Spectator, Matthew Yglesias, Boston Globe, The New Republic, The Corner, Israel Matzav, The Campaign Spot and Macsmind

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

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

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, James Wolcott's Blog, Macsmind, Donklephant, protein wisdom, Vox Popoli, Jezebel, the talking dog, Wonkette, 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

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 and The American Conservative

Marc Ambinder:
The White House Changes Targets

Discussion: Weekly Standard Blog

Charles Levinson / USA Today:
Saudis reject Bush's plea to increase oil output

Discussion: Think Progress

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

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: The American Mind, The Jawa Report and TBogg

Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:
McCain widens dialogue on blogs

Discussion: Political Machine

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:

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 …

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.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The New Republic, Swampland, Liberal Values, Marc Ambinder and Donklephant

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

Glenn Reynolds / Pajamas Media:

SO IF THE REPUBLICANS ARE IN TROUBLE, WHY ARE THESE PEOPLE SO HAPPY? I'm at the NRA Convention in Louisville, Kentucky. I haven't been to a big gun event in probably a decade, and the change in mood is striking: People are, well . . . not ebullient, really, but noticeably cheerful and confident.

Discussion: The Strata-Sphere and Outside The Beltway