Key Iraqi Leaders Deliver Setbacks to U.S.  —  Premier Rejects Terms of Proposed Pacts; Cleric Reactivates Militia  —  The Bush administration's Iraq policy suffered two major setbacks Friday when Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki publicly rejected key U.S. terms for an ongoing military presence …

TIM RUSSERT  —  Our colleague Calvin Trillin once referred to the televised weekend bloviators from Washington as the “Sabbath Gasbags.”  Which was fair up to a point.  Countless cubic feet of hot, polluted air are regularly unleashed into the national atmosphere by politicians and commentators …

Delegate's reversal stuns party  —  Wisconsin Democrat now publicly supports McCain  —  Washington - As an avid supporter of Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic primaries, Debra Bartoshevich is not alone in her frustration over Clinton's defeat.  —  She's not alone in refusing to support Barack Obama.

Chris Matthews' Russert Eulogy: Like a Belch in Church  —  Chris Matthews' initial reaction to the death of colleague Tim Russert can be summed like this: Bush lied.  People died.  —  Yes, MSNBC's Chris Matthews found a way to use even the death of a beloved journalist …

It's not race, it's arugula  —  The Weekly Standard's Noemie Emery disputes the media's facile, predictable racial interpretation of Obama's poor showing in Appalachia.  It's not because of race, but rather reflects a deep national divide between action-oriented Jacksonians versus clerical, paper-pushing Brahmins:

ASSIGNMENT DESK: BILL RICHARDSON FOR VP?  —  Make Bill Richardson vice president, or he will kill this child.  Yeeearrgghhh!  —  Ryan asks, “Could you do an evaluation of Richardson for VP?  He seems like an obviously good choice, but there hasn't really been any discussion of him as a nominee.

Obama's quandary: Wear a helmet, look dumb or be a role model?  —  Sure, there's world wars and toxic pollution and corruption and Social Security reform and a few other things like trillions of dollars in debt to worry about.  —  But before getting to those easy issues …

There's Votes in Them Thar Hills  —  Drill, McCain, drill.  —  For years now, John McCain has warned of the peril to America in sending $400 billion a year to foreign countries in return for oil.  He's been loud and relentless on the subject—and wise.  “It's a national security issue,” …

America's real drug problem  —  This isn't exactly news.  It's long been known and remarked on within drug policy reform circles, but it's worth mentioning when the media periodically rediscover that legal drugs kill more people than illegal ones do. … There's two major points we can take from this.

Fox forced to apologise to Obama for third time in two weeks  —  Rupert Murdoch's Fox News television station has been forced to apologise to Barack Obama for the third time in a fortnight after screening a racially tinged caption referring to his wife Michelle as his “baby mama”.

“The Happening”: The Most Morally Abhorrent Film Ever Made (Spoiler Alert)  —  Chris does an admirable (and hilarious) job of tearing apart M. Night Shyamalan's latest crime against cinema, The Happening.  It is incredibly awful, so laughingly bad that at one point during the screening …

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.

Afghan official: 870 inmates escaped from prison  —  KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - U.S. and NATO troops aided Afghan forces with reconnaissance in a hunt Saturday for 870 inmates who escaped prison after a sophisticated Taliban assault that even NATO conceded was a success for the militants.