memeorandum: AT&T: termination fees ultimately a great deal for consumers (Matthew Lasar/Ars Technica)

11:05 AM ET, June 14, 2008

Top Items:

Let's Get Something Straight — I liked Tim Russert, even though I thought his BS gotcha nonsense was thorough idiocy and not helping the debate at all. He was a likable guy- friendly, always smiling. I understand it is a loss for the beltway folks, and he had a lot of really good friends …

Discussion: The Peking Duck, Brilliant at Breakfast, TBogg, Below The Beltway, Emptywheel, Oliver Willis and Gateway Pundit

Tom Shales / Washington Post:

Tim Russert: The Smile That Lit Up Journalism — But he couldn't have died. It seems impossible. Tim Russert can't be gone because he was having too good a time. — He was an expert at journalism, politics and the ways of the world, yes, but he also seemed to have mastered happiness.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, City Room, BuzzFlash.org, The Trail, FishBowlDC, TV Decoder and Romenesko

Ezra Klein / American Prospect:

SAD NEWS. — The wires are reporting that Tim Russert died from a heart attack today. He was 58. — I had a weird experience a few months ago where a Twitter message I thought private was accessed by someone outside my circle and leaked to Wonkette. The message was written during …

Discussion: THE GUN TOTING LIBERAL™, Althouse, The Raw Story and The Daily Dish

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Obama on Russert's death

Discussion: TIME.com, FOX Embeds, Stumper and Comments from Left Field

Brian Maloney / The Radio Equalizer:
Talk Radio Reacts To News Of Tim Russert's Sudden Passing

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, The Democratic Daily, Associated Press and Commentary

Juliet Eilperin / The Trail:

McCain Cancels Fundraiser with Oilman Who Joked About Rape — Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) Friday suddenly cancelled an upcoming fundraiser at the home of a Texas Republican after media outlets began asking the campaign about comments the host made while running for governor in 1990.

Discussion: MOMocrats

Larry Rohter / MSNBC:

NYT: McCains owed $225,000 in credit card debt — Senate disclosure statements give look at candidates' personal finances — Senators John McCain and Barack Obama released their Senate financial disclosure statements on Friday, revealing that Mr. McCain and his wife had at least $225,000 …

Discussion: Daily Kos, Balloon Juice, Brilliant at Breakfast and Salon

Raymond Hernandez / New York Times:

Giuliani Plans to Aid Hopefuls, for His Share — WASHINGTON — With the Republican Party in need of money for the November elections, former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani has offered to appear at fund-raisers around the country for G.O.P. candidates. But there is a catch: He wants some cash out of the deal.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, TIME.com and Daily Kos

Noemie Emery / Weekly Standard:

It's Not Race, It's Arugula — Obama's real electoral challenge. — On the way to his rendezvous with destiny, Barack Obama consistently lost white voters, especially of the middle and working classes, to Hillary Clinton—voters variously known as Appalachians or Reagan Democrats …

Discussion: michellemalkin.com

John Coleman / KUSI-TV:

John Coleman's Comments Before the San Diego Chamber of Commerce — Global Warming and the Price of a Gallon of Gas — You may want to give credit where credit is due to Al Gore and his global warming campaign the next time you fill your car with gasoline, because there is a direct …

Discussion: The Diplomad, A Tiny Revolution and Maggie's Farm

Leslie Wayne / New York Times:

Senators Caught in Mortgage Fallout — When Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota wanted a mortgage for his beach house, he turned to a Washington insider, James A. Johnson, former head of Fannie Mae, the government mortgage giant, who then put the senator in touch with Angelo Mozilo …

Matthew Mosk / Washington Post:

Court Deems Campaign Finance Rules Too Weak — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled yesterday that the Federal Election Commission has failed to adequately enforce key aspects of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance restructuring that Congress passed six years ago …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Democracy Project

Matthew Lasar / Ars Technica:

AT&T: termination fees ultimately a great deal for consumers — Those early termination fees (ETFs) that consumers pay for switching cell phones in mid-contract are a great deal, an attorney for AT&T told the Federal Communications Commission yesterday. “ETF-backed term contracts give customers …

Discussion: PointOfLaw Forum

David Kopel / The Volokh Conspiracy:

HOW THE IRISH SAVED CIVILIZATION, AGAIN The Irish Times reports that the Lisbon Treaty has been defeated in a referendum held in the Republic of Ireland. The Lisbon Treaty is a new version of the proposed EU Constitution, which had previously been rejected by the voters of the France and the Netherlands.

Discussion: EU Referendum, Pajamas Media, Guy Fawkes' blog …, Outside The Beltway and The Glittering Eye

Shawn Pogatchnik / Associated Press:
Ireland rejects European Union reform treaty

Discussion: QandO and Little Green Footballs

The Campaign Spot:

Obama vs. The New Rochelle Train — David Mendell's Obama: From Promise to Power, p. 148-149: … Obviously, if Barack Obama were satisfied with an office job, not only would he have not spent three years as a community organizer, he probably wouldn't have ever run for office.

Discussion: TalkLeft, Redstate and Ed Driscoll.com