memeorandum: The Canonization of Saint Russert (Jack Shafer/Slate)

5:10 PM ET, June 17, 2008

Top Items:

McCain Camp Pounces on Obama Comments From ABC News Interview — The campaign of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., tonight pounced on comments Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., made in an interview today with ABC News. — This was the exchange in question. — TAPPER: Speaking of the Supreme Court …

Discussion: Marc Ambinder, TPM Election Central, National Review, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Confederate Yankee, Commentary, Althouse, Liberal Values, The Sundries Shack, American Street, The Washington Independent, Hot Air, Political Machine, Oliver Willis, Israel Matzav and Sister Toldjah

George F. Will / Washington Post:

Contempt Of Courts — The day after the Supreme Court ruled that detainees imprisoned at Guantanamo are entitled to seek habeas corpus hearings, John McCain called it “one of the worst decisions in the history of this country.” Well. — Does it rank with Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857) …

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, The Corner, Power Line, Los Angeles Times, Below The Beltway, The Seminal, War in Context, Angry Bear, PoliBlog (TM) and Cato-at-liberty

The Hill:

McCain camp: ‘Naïve’ Obama has ‘Sept. 10 mindset’ — The campaign of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Tuesday accused Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) of being “naïve” and “representing the perfect manifestation of a Sept. 10 mindset” in his approach …

Discussion: Wonk Room, The Swamp, Gateway Pundit and Connecting.the.Dots

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

John Yoo's ongoing falsehoods in service of limitless government power — (updated below) — One of the most reliable methods for knowing that a position is unsustainable is that its advocates must employ outright falsehoods in order to support it. In a Wall St. Journal Op-Ed today …

Discussion: The Daily Dish, Blue Girl, Red State, PoliBlog (TM), Happy Furry Puppy Story … and American Street

John Yoo / Wall Street Journal:

The Supreme Court Goes to War — Last week's Supreme Court decision in Boumediene v. Bush has been painted as a stinging rebuke of the administration's antiterrorism policies. From the celebrations on most U.S. editorial pages, one might think that the court had stopped a dictator from trampling civil liberties.

Discussion: Newshoggers.com, New York Times, neo-neocon, The Progress Report, Right Wing News, Althouse, FP Passport, michellemalkin.com and Think Progress

Joby Warrick / Washington Post:

Report Questions Pentagon Accounts — Officials Looked Into Interrogation Methods Early On — A Senate investigation has concluded that top Pentagon officials began assembling lists of harsh interrogation techniques in the summer of 2002 for use on detainees at Guantanamo Bay …

Discussion: Emptywheel, Guardian, The New Republic, Balkinization, McClatchy Washington Bureau, Clayton Cramer's BLOG, Washington Monthly, BuzzFlash.org and Salon

Michael Goldfarb / John McCain Report blog:
Barack Obama, Esquire: The 9/10 Candidate

Discussion: Power Line, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Weekly Standard Blog, Think Progress, The Trail, Washington Monthly, National Review, The New Republic, Ben Smith's Blogs, The Carpetbagger Report and No More Mister Nice Blog

Andy McCarthy / The Corner: Re: Paging Andy McCarthy

John Aravosis / AMERICAblog News:

Pin at the GOP state convention in Texas: “If Obama is President... will we still call it the White House?” — Expect the Republican party to do absolutely nothing about the racists in its own midst. The national Republican party in Washington has contacts all the time with its state parties.

Discussion: Marc Ambinder, Open Left, Talking Points Memo, Liberty Pundit, Salon, Outside The Beltway, TPM Election Central, Think Progress, Spin Cycle, Cogitamus, Donklephant, The Reaction and Scholars and Rogues

Brad Friedman / The BRAD BLOG:

If You Lose the White House Do the Rest of Us Have to Allow you to Stay in our Country? — Who says Republicans don't have class? From the Dallas Morning News blog's report on the Texas GOP state convention... If you're interested in their items, their website is here.

Rasmussen Reports:

67% Support Offshore Drilling, 64% Expect it Will Lower Prices — Most voters favor the resumption of offshore drilling in the United States and expect it to lower prices at the pump, even as John McCain has announced his support for states that want to explore for oil and gas off their coasts.

Discussion: Weekly Standard Blog, Houston Chronicle, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, The Next Right, TownHall Blog, The Sundries Shack, Wake up America, Commentary and Naked Politics

Michelle Malkin:

Haditha Watch: Charges dismissed against Lt. Col. Chessani — Fight the smears. Call John “Cold-blooded” Murtha for comment: 202-225-2065. — Note: As of 1:40pm Eastern, you will not find the Haditha story on the front page of the NYTimes website. — Told you to watch out for this yesterday.

Discussion: Hot Air, Wake up America, Gateway Pundit, Democracy Project and Macsmind

Chelsea J. Carter / Associated Press:
Military judge dismisses charges in Haditha case

Discussion: BLACKFIVE and Democracy Project

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

Put Your Right Wing In, Take Your Left Wing Out — If John McCain keeps dancing like this, he's liable to break a hip. — Last month, he shimmied to the left on energy policy, infuriating conservatives with a plan to cap carbon emissions. Yesterday, he shuffled back to the right …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, New York Times, Gristmill, The Caucus, The American Conservative, The Carpetbagger Report, Think Progress, Cliff Schecter, MSNBC, Buck Naked Politics and NewsBusters.org

New York Times:
Where They Mostly Agree

Discussion: TalkLeft, Swampland and TPM Election Central

Francis De Luca / John W. Pope Civitas Institute:

N.C. Poll: McCain Leads Obama 45-41 — Both Candidates Improve Standing with Base — Raleigh, NC - After solidifying the Democratic nomination for President, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) has pulled to within four points of Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) in North Carolina according …

Discussion: TalkLeft, FiveThirtyEight.com and Daily Kos

Nate / FiveThirtyEight.com:
Tea Leaves — To follow up on Sean's post, Sean Reagan …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, The New Republic and Open Left

Jack Shafer / Slate:

The Canonization of Saint Russert … BACK TO TOP — PRINT DISCUSS E-MAIL

Discussion: FishBowlDC, protein wisdom, Ed Driscoll.com and Expressio Unius

Tony Horwitz / New York Times:

Leader of the Pack — AS the Democratic primaries revealed, Barack Obama is having a hard time winning the support of blue-collar voters. — So here's a piece of strategic advice for the candidate: Lose the Nicorette. Light up instead. — Consider these statistics, culled from studies of smoking patterns.

Discussion: The Democratic Daily and Democracy in America

Edward Cody / Washington Post:

In China, Fascination With Obama's Skin Color — America may be discussing whether Barack Obama is tough enough to field a 3 a.m. phone call, but for the Chinese Communist Party's official newspaper, the real issue is his race. — “Obama's skin color is the biggest focal point of this year's U.S. election …

Discussion: Hullabaloo

CNN:

Fifth severed foot found on Canadian coast — (CNN) — A severed human foot was found washed up on an island on the western coast of Canada this week, the fifth detached foot found in the area in the past 11 months, according to local police and media reports.

Discussion: Media Blog

Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC:

FIRST THOUGHTS: GORE-ACLE FINALLY SPEAKS — From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro — *** The Gore-acle finally speaketh: For months, the question wasn't if Al Gore was going to endorse Obama, but when. And would he do it at a time that was pivotal in the primary?

Discussion: The Huffington Post, marbury, 2008Central.net and AMERICAblog News