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 …

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.

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.

Harold Ford, Jr. Throws Former Campaign Manager Under The Bus  —  It was a long curious day for the Tennessee Democratic party yesterday.  Divisions in the party were exacerbated when John Rodgers of the Nashville City Paper reported the words of Tennessee Democratic Party state executive committee member Fred Hobbs on Barack Obama:

“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 …