Bob Dole unloads on McClellan  —  Bob Dole yesterday sent a scalding email to Scott McClellan, excoriating the former White House spokesman as a “miserable creature” who greedily betrayed his former patron for a fast buck.  —  In an extraordinary message obtained and authenticated by Politico …

Ickes At The Alamo: Clinton's Delegate Counter Warns Of Defections At DNC Meeting  —  stumble digg reddit del.ico.us news trust buzz up  —  The major dispute over the Florida and Michigan delegations to the Democratic convention in Denver has now boiled down to Hillary Clinton's demand …

Clinton is top candidate for Dems  —  EDITORIAL BOARD  For the first time in memory, every state will play a role in choosing a nominee for the nation's highest office.  —  Some of those parts are small, but not ours: as one of the last two primary elections, South Dakota Democrats suddenly …

Thank You, and Goodbye  —  My name is Andrew Exum, and for the past year and a half, I have had the great pleasure of editing this blog under the ridiculous pseudonym “Abu Muqawama.”  —  I started this blog as a joke - hence the tongue-in-cheek name - and have been shocked to discover …

Healing the wounds of Democrats' sexism  —  LAST YEAR at the beginning of the presidential primary season, Democrats were giddy with excitement.  Not only did we have an embarrassment of riches in our candidates but we had two historic candidacies to enjoy.

The Obama Gaffe Machine  —  For months, Barack Obama has had the image of an incandescent, golden-tongued Wundercandidate.  That image may be fraying now.  —  As smart and credentialed as he is, Sen. Obama is often an indifferent speaker without a teleprompter.

U.S. Cites Big Gains Against Al-Qaeda  —  Group Is Facing Setbacks Globally, CIA Chief Says  —  Less than a year after his agency warned of new threats from a resurgent al-Qaeda, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden now portrays the terrorist movement as essentially defeated in Iraq and Saudi Arabia …

GOP priest attacks Obama in invocation  —  Here's the video of the invocation at the New York State Republican Party dinner last night, delivered to a crowd including Rudy Giuliani and Rep. Peter King, and where Dick Cheney later spoke.  —  In it, the priest, Monsignor Jim Lisante mockingly asks God …

Don't Link Obama to Former Radicals  —  Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, best known recently as friends of Barack Obama, disappeared in 1969 after two of their colleagues in the Weather Underground died while building a bomb.  Ayers and Dohrn spent 11 years setting off bombs and putting out statements threatening violent revolution.

The right-wing Politico cesspool  —  Politico reporter Mike Allen, formerly of The Washington Post and Time, appeared yesterday on the show of right-wing radio host Mike Gallagher.  The two of them guffawed together at how absurd are Scott McCellan's claims that the media was “deferential” …

Pfleger warned about pulpit politics.  Pfleger stepped down from “Catholics for Obama.”  —  WASHINGTON — The Rev. Michael Pfleger mocked Sen. Hillary Clinton from the pulpit of Trinity United Church of Christ — earning him a reprimand Thursday from Sen. Barack Obama as his comments threaten …

White women cold toward Obama  —  Barack Obama's favorability ratings among white women have declined significantly in recent months, particularly among Democrats and independents, presenting an immediate obstacle for the likely Democratic nominee as he moves to shore up his party's base.

Guest: Eric Martin  —  GETTING TO KNOW YOU...Like Dr. iRack, I found Dexter Filkins' review of Patrick Cockburn's new book on Moqtada al-Sadr to be well worth the read (don't agree with everything Filkins or Cockburn write, but overall, insightful).  This is a pretty good summary …

THE POLITICS OF MASCULINITY.  —  I've been sort of struggling with whether to write this post, but after Daniel Larison and Matt Stoller both toed around the point while offering their takes on Webb, I guess it's worth doing.  Let me start by saying that this isn't really about James Webb.