memeorandum: McCain Invokes POW Days to Repel Attacks, Connect With Voters (Edwin Chen/Bloomberg)

11:55 AM ET, May 20, 2008

Top Items:

‘Bush intends to attack Iran before the end of his term’ — US President George W. Bush intends to attack Iran in the upcoming months, before the end of his term, Army Radio quoted a senior official in Jerusalem as saying Tuesday. — The official claimed that a senior member of the president's entourage …

Discussion: Think Progress, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, QandO, Jules Crittenden, Confederate Yankee, Commentary, Donklephant, Wonkette, The Raw Story, Political Byline, Israel Matzav, God-o-Meter and Blogs of War

Faiz / Think Progress:
Senior Israeli official: ‘Bush intends to attack Iran before the end of his term.’

Discussion: Firedoglake and The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

Mark Murray / MSNBC:

FIRST THOUGHTS: EVERYONE'S A WINNER — From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro — *** Everyone's a winner: Much like a children's soccer or Tee Ball game, tonight's contests in Kentucky (which Clinton is expected to win big) and Oregon (ditto for Obama) are going to allow everyone to walk out a winner.

Dan Balz / Washington Post:

Democrats Observe A Fragile Cease-Fire — Sen. Barack Obama will return to Iowa tonight to celebrate another milestone in his long and sometimes bitter battle against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who shows no signs of dropping her effort to convince party leaders that she would be a stronger Democratic nominee for president.

Discussion: The Plank, Political Machine and Political Radar

New York Times:
Obama Is Expected to Hit a Milestone in Today's Votes

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Politico, Washington Post, Fox News, Los Angeles Times, Sister Toldjah, The Caucus, Democratic Strategist, Associated Press, MSNBC, The Political Carnival and On Deadline

Patrick Healy / New York Times:
As Time Runs Short, Clinton Claims Lead in Popular Vote

Lois Romano / Washington Post:

Clinton Puts Up A New Fight — The Candidate Confronts Sexism On the Trail and Vows to Battle On — Women of all ages and nationalities push against the rope line carrying books and T-shirts, posters and stuffed animals — anything for her to autograph. They tote huge signs that shout …

Discussion: protein wisdom, Spin Cycle, The New Republic, MSNBC, The Page and Jules Crittenden

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:

Clinton on misogyny — Hillary has avoided, for most of the race, talking about the question of misogyny (though her aides have broached it somewhat more freely than Obama's aides have racism). — She addressed it in a Washington Post interview today: … This is a complicated story, I think.

Discussion: The Swamp and Balloon Juice

David Brooks / New York Times:

Talking Versus Doing — In 1965, Mancur Olson wrote a classic book called “The Logic of Collective Action,” which pointed out that large, amorphous groups are often less powerful politically than small, organized ones. He followed it up with “The Rise and Decline of Nations.”

Discussion: Cato-at-liberty, American Spectator, Digital Rules, UNCoRRELATED, Political Perceptions and New Yorker

Matthew Yglesias:
Jobs I'd be Willing to Take — According to George Packer …

Discussion: Outside The Beltway and Comments from Left Field

Staten Island Advance:

Exclusive: Fossella will not seek re-election — In a bombshell announcement that brings the curtain down on one of the most storied careers in Staten Island political history, fifth-term Republican Rep. Vito Fossella will not seek re-election this fall. — Mired in scandal after revelations …

Discussion: Capitol Briefing, New York Times, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Hotline On Call, DownWithTyranny! and Pandagon

Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:

John McCain's Rapid-Fire Responders — Aides Turn the Media Rebuttal Into a Savvy Campaign Tactic — When Newsweek ran a story last week on how John McCain and his allies may attack Barack Obama in the fall, the Arizona senator's top adviser fired off a letter calling the article “offensive” …

Discussion: Commentary, Swampland, Jonathan Martin's Blogs, MSNBC and Romenesko

Rick Klein / ABCNEWS:

All in the Family: Are Candidates' Spouses Fair Game? — Obama Says ‘Lay Off’ Wife but Spouses Playing Political Role in '08 Race — In a political season that's seen candidates' spouses play unprecedented roles, Sen. Barack Obama called for a new standard Monday that seeks to redraw …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, UNCoRRELATED, News Hounds, Gateway Pundit and Political Byline

Kate Phillips / The Caucus:
Tennessee Senator Takes On His Own Party

Discussion: Hot Air, michellemalkin.com, Post Politics, NO QUARTER, Comments from Left Field, The American Mind, The Moderate Voice and The Political Carnival

Caroline Glick / Real Clear Politics:

Obama's Unique Appeasement Style — Spin doctors were relabeled “strategists” in the early 1990s. And as Mark Steyn wrote last week in National Review, “Increasingly, the Western world has attitudes rather than policies.” — The latest attitude to be flouted as policy is indignation.

Discussion: The Mahablog, Betsy's Page and American Power

Gateway Pundit:
John Bolton: “Bush Hit the Nail on the Head— Now the Nails Are Complaining” (Video)

Discussion: GINA COBB, Israel Matzav, Swampland, democracyarsenal.org and Wall Street Journal

Wall Street Journal:

Clinton Keeps Up Fight As Staff Tensions Rise — By MONICA LANGLEY in Bowling Green, Ky., and AMY CHOZICK in Crow Agency, Mont. — Heading into twin Democratic primaries Tuesday in Kentucky and Oregon — which the two candidates are expected to split — Sen. Hillary Clinton is vowing …

Discussion: The Page

Dean Barnett / Weekly Standard Blog:

Barack Obama, Sexist! (?) — Yesterday I posted the news that Geraldine Ferraro may not vote for Barack Obama because of his “terribly sexist” ways. I mocked Ferraro's shrill claim of sexism, but I now realize that perceiving sexist activity is not a strength of mine.

Discussion: Hot Air

Robert F. Worth / New York Times:

A Living-Room Crusade via Blogging — BEIRUT, Lebanon — Jane Novak, a 46-year-old stay-at-home mother of two in New Jersey, has never been to Yemen. She speaks no Arabic, and freely admits that until a few years ago, she knew nothing about that strife-torn south Arabian country.

Discussion: The Jawa Report, PoliGazette, TigerHawk and Drudge Retort

Adam Schreck / Associated Press:

Oil crosses $129 for first time, heads for $130 — Crude oil futures pass $129 a barrel for the first time, likely headed past $130 — NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices spiked to a new trading high Tuesday, sweeping toward $130 a barrel as supply concerns intensified the momentum buying that has lifted crude deeper into record territory.

Discussion: Donklephant

CNN:

Mom forced to live in car with dogs — SANTA BARBARA, California (CNN) — Barbara Harvey climbs into the back of her small Honda sport utility vehicle and snuggles with her two golden retrievers, her head nestled on a pillow propped against the driver's seat.

Hans A. Von Spakovsky / Wall Street Journal:

Anatomy of a Beltway Smear Campaign — During the past two years, while my nomination to the Federal Election Commission was pending - and before I withdrew last week - friends would call whenever the latest newspaper story or blog post attacking me was planted by political operatives and left-wing advocacy organizations.

Discussion: Nitpicker, Betsy's Page and Election Law