memeorandum: US Seeking 58 Bases; Khamenei Tells al-Maliki not to sign Security Pact (Juan Cole/Informed Comment)

2:30 PM ET, June 10, 2008

Top Items:

Obama's Answer on the Johnson Conundrum — ABC News' Sunlen Miller today asked Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, how he could “rail against Countrywide Financial Corp as an example of insiders and today's economy while your VP search is headed by someone who got questionable loans from Countrywide?”

Discussion: michellemalkin.com, Redstate, NewsBusters.org, JammieWearingFool and Commentary

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:

Obama: No vetting the vetters — At a press conference in St. Louis, Obama defends his choice of Jim Johnson to lead his vetting team, calling reports into Johnson's ties to the mortgage company Countrywide “a game.” — “Johnson has a very discrete task,” he said, dismissing the notion that he'd “hire vetters to vet the vetters.”

Discussion: MSNBC, The Campaign Spot and Commentary

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Obama's hypocrisy on Johnson continues Update: “Preposterous”

Discussion: Political Punch, Wake up America, Little Green Footballs and Redstate

Leila Fadel / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

U.S. seeking 58 bases in Iraq, Shiite lawmakers say — BAGHDAD -Iraqi lawmakers say the United States is demanding 58 bases as part of a proposed “status of forces” agreement that will allow U.S. troops to remain in the country indefinitely. — Leading members of the two ruling Shiite parties …

Discussion: The Daily Dish, abu muqawama, The Opinionator, Newshoggers.com, Happy Furry Puppy Story …, PoliGazette and Firedoglake

Lolita C. Baldor / Associated Press:

Bush administration says it may not get Iraq deal this year — WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is conceding for the first time that the United States may not finish a complex security agreement with Iraq before President Bush leaves office. — Faced with stiff Iraqi opposition, it is …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Newshoggers.com, Gulf Times, Comments from Left Field, Hullabaloo, Los Angeles Times, Matthew Yglesias, Below The Beltway, rubber hose and Associated Press

Juan Cole / Informed Comment:
US Seeking 58 Bases; Khamenei Tells al-Maliki not to sign Security Pact

Discussion: American Footprints

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Obama could raise $100 million in June, fundraisers say — Leading Democratic fundraisers predict that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) will raise hundreds of millions of dollars over the next few months if he opts out of public financing and begins raising money for the general election.

Discussion: The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Patterico's Pontifications, Wake up America, Macsmind, PoliGazette, PoliBlog (TM), Washington Post, Redstate, Firedoglake and Balloon Juice

The Big Trunk / Power Line:

SOMETHING'S HAPPENING HERE — The Hill reports that Obama may raise $100 million in June. Has anyone asked John McCain whether he has any second thoughts about the campaign finance law that bears his name? — In the video above of Obama's appearance in Bristol, Virginia, he appears to be having an out of body experience.

Discussion: Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog and Wake up America

CNN:

McCain: ‘I will veto every single beer’ — (CNN) - John McCain issued a promise Tuesday that may cause a bit of unrest with a broad swath of voters: — He'll veto every single beer? — In a slip of the tongue while railing against excessive earmarks at the National Small Business Summit in Washington …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias and The Political Carnival

Edward J. Markey / Wall Street Journal:

Why Is Bush Helping Saudi Arabia Build Nukes? — Here's a quick geopolitical quiz: What country is three times the size of Texas and has more than 300 days of blazing sun a year? What country has the world's largest oil reserves resting below miles upon miles of sand?

Discussion: The Washington Note, Hot Air, Taylor Marsh, Newshoggers.com, michellemalkin.com, The Moderate Voice, PoliGazette, Israel Matzav and The Volokh Conspiracy

Mark Hemingway / National Review:

Jewish Whispering Campaign — Newsweek has a piece this week on Barack Obama — titled “His Jewish Problem: A Myth?” — that is an absolutely Herculean feat of water-carrying for the Illinois senator. But before tackling the factual problems, the article's biggest problem needs to be addressed …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, TPM Election Central, Commentary, Power Line, TIME.com, Political Punch, Betsy's Page, The Carpetbagger Report, Gateway Pundit, American Street, Open Left, The Mahablog and Sister Toldjah

Mark Hemingway / The Corner:
Anatomy of an Obama Hit Job

Discussion: Commentary

David Saltonstall / NY Daily News:

Barack gets dressing down for dorkiness — Barack Obama ditched the campaign trail for the bike trail last weekend, offering onlookers a rare peek into the Democratic nominee's casual-wear closet. — It wasn't a pretty picture: ill-fitting jeans, a tucked-in golf shirt …

Discussion: Don Surber and JammieWearingFool

New York Post:

BARACK'S BITE — WE'RE in for taxing times if Barack Obama wins the White House, says CNBC's Maria Bartiromo. “He's going to take the capital gains tax at 15 percent right now all the way up to 25 to 28 percent,” the “Money Honey” tells Avenue. “Sell anything, like a home or stocks, and make a profit . . .

Discussion: Confederate Yankee, TIME.com, Commentary, John McCain Report blog, Blog entry, Gawker, Oliver Willis and QandO

James Oliphant / Chicago Tribune:

Abortion foes take battle beyond Roe — Makeup of high court is political focal point, but activists cutting access with ruling intact — WICHITA, Kan. — Troy Newman appears to be just about the happiest person who ever set foot in an abortion clinic. — “We're winning,” Newman says excitedly.

Discussion: The Swamp

Carpetbagger / The Carpetbagger Report:
Why pro-choice Dems have nothing to like about John McCain

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Real Clear Politics and Reproductive Health

Marc Ambinder:

Clinton Asks Pledged Delegates To Support Obama (Updated) — Multiple Democratic sources say that Sen. Hillary Clinton, in a series of private conversations and conference calls, continues to urge her pledged delegates to vote for Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention.

Discussion: Dispatch, TPM Election Central and TIME.com

CNN:

Senator says Obama VP search team discussed 20 names — WASHINGTON (CNN) — Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's vice presidential vetting team discussed roughly 20 names with a senior Senate Democrat Tuesday, including some well-known options and others that are “outside the box.”

Chris Orr / The New Republic:

Get Carter — We'll see whether it's a line of attack he sticks with, but John McCain's effort to tie Barack Obama to Jimmy Carter in an interview with Brian Williams last night seems like an awfully weak political gambit. McCain quipped: … Where to begin?

Discussion: Attackerman, Commentary, The Carpetbagger Report and Political Punch

Matthew Yglesias:

Intelligence — From page 208 of America Between the Wars: From 11/9 to 911 the Misunderstood Years Between the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the Start of the War on Terror by Derek Chollet and James Goldgeier: … One reason the Bush administration was able to get away with massively …

Discussion: Eschaton

Stephen Fidler / Financial Times:

Down but dangerous: how al-Qaeda has been pushed on to the defensive — Between 1998 and 2001, the US suffered three serious terrorist attacks: against its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998; against the USS Cole, a warship docked in Aden, in 2000; and, most devastatingly, against New York and Washington on September 11 2001.

Discussion: The Sundries Shack, Hot Air, The Strata-Sphere and New York Sun