Obama on GOP: ‘If They Bring a Knife to the Fight, We Bring a Gun’  —  Barack Obama is warning supporters that the general election fight between him and John McCain may get ugly, but the Illinois senator is vowing not to back down.  —  “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun …

Obama Goes One on One, Battling ‘Just a Speechmaker’ Label  —  Standing before Senator Barack Obama at a campaign event Thursday in Wisconsin, a young man asked him earnestly, “What does life mean to you?”  —  “Oh, goodness,” Mr. Obama began.  “Well, you know, I, uh, you don't know where to start on a question like that.”

McCain doesn't pick up on Michelle Obama joke  —  So a man finally got a question into McCain and he had a very different sort of question.  —  The questioner noted that he had been educated at Princeton and Harvard and made more than $300,000 a year.  —  “How can I be proud of my country?” he asked.

Stay classy, Chris Matthews  —  Chris Matthews had his opportunity to offer remembrances of his colleague, Tim Russert, on Countdown with Keith Olbermann last night, and used it to give an anti-war screed.  [...] Read the rest »

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 …

Getting Paid  —  Saudi Arabia has a plan to boost their oil production in the near future.  According to the NYT's Jad Mouawad that “was seen as a sign that the Saudis are becoming increasingly nervous about both the political and economic effect of high oil prices.”

“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 …

The Relevance of ANWR?  —  Ramesh responds: … Point taken.  But McCain's embrace of cap-and-trade didn't happen in a vacuum: It was an attempt, albeit a misguided one, to break with the heads-in-the-sand approach to energy and climate change that far too many conservatives have been taking for far too long.

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.

HAPPY 233RD BIRTHDAY, US ARMY!  —  America's Army was founded on June 14th, 1775.  Below is a video from last October about Soldiers and their families:  —  In the video below, the Sergeant Major of the Army, Kenneth Preston, gives a birthday message:  —  Here's a birthday present that the Army got...

Ireland delivers stunning blow to EU  —  The long campaign to forge a new dispensation for the European Union descended into panic and uncertainty yesterday when Ireland turned its back on its 26 EU partners and voted down the Lisbon Treaty.  —  EU leaders in Brussels and governments across the union …

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.

“He Was Loving This Election”  —  Back when he was just starting in television — and ever since — but particularly back then, Tim Russert was astounded by the joys of the job.  Early on, he helped arrange an interview with the Pope for the Today Show — and Tim did it up right …