Top Items:
The Huffington Post:
McCain Stacks Fox News ‘Town Hall’ With Supporters — Tonight was the first in a much-hyped series of ‘town hall’ forums scheduled by John McCain's campaign, in which Barack Obama had been challenged to show up to discuss the issues directly with the GOP nominee.
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Michael Scherer / Swampland:
McCain Slams The Supreme Court's Habeas Decision — PEMBERTON, N.J.—I am still sitting in a John McCain town hall, so have not had time to transcribe the full quotes, but wanted to post this quick. After a day of consideration, the McCain Campaign has decided to come out hard against yesterday's 5 …
Discussion:
Washington Post, JustOneMinute, The New Republic, Flopping Aces, The Trail, BitsBlog, Fausta's blog, TIME.com and Real Clear Politics
John Scalzi / Whatever:
Fox News Would Like To Take a Moment To Remind You That the Obamas Are As Black As Satan's Festering, Baby-Eating Soul — Back in the day - you know, when presidential candidates were respectably white - news organizations called potential First Ladies “wives.”
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Wall Street Journal:
News Outlets Face Increasing Scrutiny in Campaign — Bloggers Rip Fox Over Screen Text About Mrs. Obama — For the second time this week, Fox News Channel was driven to respond to criticism over on-air statements about Barack Obama, in this case for screen text that described …
The Hill:
McCains report more than $100,000 in credit card debt — Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and his wife reported more than $100,000 of credit card liabilities, according to financial disclosure documents released Friday. — The presidential candidate and his wife Cindy reported piling up debt on a charge card between $10,000 and $15,000.
Discussion:
The Daily Dish, Macsmind, Pam's House Blend, TPM Election Central and The Political Carnival
Portfolio:
Countrywide's Many ‘Friends’ — Two U.S. senators, two former Cabinet members, and a former ambassador to the United Nations received loans from Countrywide Financial through a little-known program that waived points, lender fees, and company borrowing rules for prominent people.
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Associated Press:
Iraq PM: security deal talks at dead end — AMMAN, Jordan - Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says talks with the United States on a longterm security agreement have reached a “dead end.” Al-Maliki says the talks slumped because each side refused the other's demands.
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Matthew Yglesias:
Obama on Social Security — I think one of the big questions hanging out there in the campaign is how America's currently McCain-loving seniors will feel when they find out about McCain's passion for wrecking Social Security. I got some remarks from the Obama campaign in my inbox this morning …
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Charles Babington / Associated Press:
Obama wants payroll tax on incomes above $250,000
Obama wants payroll tax on incomes above $250,000
Discussion:
TigerHawk
Josh Gerstein / New York Sun:
McCain on Wall Street: ‘Angry’ About Oil — Speaking on Wall Street last night, Senator McCain of Arizona sounded more like an economic populist than a proponent of the kind of unbridled free-market capitalism promoted by many who work on the trading floors nearby.
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Blue Texan / Firedoglake:
Noonan: Obama Is An Unpatriotic, Effeminate, Cynical, Immoral, Godless Opportunist — Today, Nooner bases her entire column on this comparison: … You can see right away where this is headed, don't you? … Translation: Obama hates America. … Yup, and apparently, in Old America …
Discussion:
Orcinus
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Peggy Noonan / Wall Street Journal:
Brave New World? — And so it begins, the campaign proper.
Brave New World? — And so it begins, the campaign proper.
Discussion:
MSNBC
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Town hall talks break down — The talks between the McCain and Obama campaigns on debates appear to have broken down, with Obama's campaign — evidently concluding that the format could favor McCain, or at least give McCain some oxygen — offering just one town hall and one extra debate in response to McCain's suggestion of 10.
Peter Slevin / Washington Post:
Obama Campaign Dispatching Thousands — Moving to harness the grass-roots energy that helped win the Democratic nomination, Sen. Barack Obama's campaign will deploy 3,600 volunteers in 17 states this weekend, each committed to six consecutive weeks of full-time political work.
Discussion:
Marc Ambinder, Open Left, Below The Beltway, The Political Carnival, TPM Election Central, Booman Tribune and TIME.com
Wall Street Journal:
President Kennedy — Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy isn't known for his judicial modesty. But for sheer willfulness, yesterday's 5-4 majority opinion in Boumediene v. Bush may earn him a historic place among the likes of Harry Blackmun. In a stroke, he and four other unelected Justices …
Discussion:
Washington Wire, New York Times, New York Times, Law Blog, Tammy Bruce, Los Angeles Times, Real Clear Politics, The Sideshow and How Appealing
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Lessig Blog:
The Kozinski mess — So the wires are a twitter with the story of Chief Judge Alex Kozinski's “web site” which, from reading the stories, you'd think was filled with porn (and worse), revealing a dark soul who, some experts in legal ethics suggest, shouldn't be presiding at an obscenity trial.
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, The Volokh Conspiracy, Firedoglake, Balkinization, Althouse, Open Left and Threat Level
Ian Bailey / Globe and Mail:
Powell tells B.C. crowd he might vote for Obama — VANCOUVER — Colin Powell, the former Republican secretary of state, says he is not ruling out a vote for Barack Obama, the presumed Democratic nominee for president. — While Mr. Powell served in the administrations of two Republican presidents …
Adam B. Ellick / New York Times:
Texas Inmate Says Judge and Prosecutor Had Affair — HOUSTON — Lawyers for a Texas inmate facing execution next week filed court papers on Thursday accusing the judge at his double-murder trial of having an affair with the prosecutor. — The papers, filed in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals …
Thomas B. Edsall / The Huffington Post:
Obama Moves To The Center — Barack Obama faces the difficult task of shifting his message away from the primary electorate to general election voters, while avoiding angering the more liberal primary voters who gave him the presidential nomination. — Obama appears at the close of this week …