Top Items:
Wall Street Journal:
Lawmakers Reach Deal To Expand Surveillance — WASHINGTON — After more than a year of partisan acrimony over government surveillance powers, Democratic and Republican leaders have agreed to a bipartisan deal that would be the most sweeping rewrite of spy powers in three decades.
Discussion:
ProPublica, Hot Air, Redstate, Obsidian Wings, TPMMuckraker, War and Piece, Emptywheel and The Carpetbagger Report
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Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Obama, telecoms and the Beltway system — (updated below - Update II) — As noted yesterday, Blue Dog Rep. John Barrow of Georgia has been one of the most enthusiastic enablers of the radical and lawless policies of the Bush administration. When running for re-election …
Discussion:
TalkLeft, Crooks and Liars, Firedoglake, Emptywheel, Redstate, Booman Tribune, Buck Naked Politics, SquareState.net and DownWithTyranny!
David Kurtz / Talking Points Memo:
THAT'S SOME COMPROMISE — Who really thinks that the White House and the telecoms would go along with this so-called “conditional immunity” that congressional Democrats have agreed to if they didn't think they could satisfy the condition? — All they must do is provide a federal district court judge with …
ACLU:
ACLU Condemns FISA Deal, Declares Surveillance Bill Unconstitutional — Contact: (202) 675-2312 or media@dcaclu.org — Washington, DC - With news that a surveillance bill may be voted on in the House of Representatives as early as tomorrow, the American Civil Liberties Union sternly warned members against voting for the legislation.
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
George Bush's latest powers, courtesy of the Democratic Congress — (updated below - Update II - Update III) — CQ reports (sub. req.) that “a final deal has been reached” on FISA and telecom amnesty and “the House is likely to take up the legislation Friday.” I've now just read a copy of the final “compromise” bill.
TPM Election Central:Obama Cuts Ad For Conservative Pro-War House Dem
Discussion:
The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Swing State Project, MSNBC, Ben Smith's Blogs and Open Left
Daniel W. Reilly / The Crypt's Blogs:FISA Deal completed, House vote likely tomorrow
Discussion:
Wake up America
Ed OKeefe / Political Punch:
Obama to Break Promise, Opt Out of Public Financing for General Election — In a web video to supporters — “the people who built this movement from the bottom up” — Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, announced this morning that he will not enter into the public financing system, despite a previous pledge to do so.
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New York Times:
Obama Opts Out of Public Financing for Campaign — WASHINGTON — Senator Barack Obama announced on Thursday that he would not participate in the public financing system for presidential campaigns. He argued that the system had collapsed, and would put him at a disadvantage running …
Discussion:
Marc Ambinder, TalkLeft, Daily Kos, Reason Magazine, Below The Beltway and Democracy in America
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Obama aide blames McCain on public-financing — Obama spokesman Bill Burton is blaming Senator John McCain's campaign for failing, he says, to negotiate in good faith on a course to public financing. — “In the past couple of weeks, our campaign counsels met and it was immediately clear …
Discussion:
The Swamp, MSNBC, Political Punch, TPM Election Central, Donklephant, TIME.com, Macsmind, Salon and Outside The Beltway
Sam Graham-Felsen / Barack Obama:
Video: Important Announcement from Barack — The campaign sent out this email this morning... Friend — Barack Obama recorded a video message with an important announcement that he wanted you to hear first: — We have made a crucial decision that will impact how we compete in the general election …
Wall Street Journal:
Angelo's Angel — Give Senator Christopher Dodd credit for nerve. On Tuesday, the very day he finally admitted knowing that Countrywide Financial regarded him as a “special” customer, the Connecticut Democrat also announced that he was bringing to the Senate floor a housing bailout sure to help lenders like Countrywide.
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Andrew E. Kramer / New York Times:
Deals With Iraq Are Set to Bring Oil Giants Back — BAGHDAD — Four Western oil companies are in the final stages of negotiations this month on contracts that will return them to Iraq, 36 years after losing their oil concession to nationalization as Saddam Hussein rose to power.
Discussion:
The Swamp, Matthew Yglesias, Newshoggers.com, The Washington Independent, Wonk Room, The Huffington Post, Managing Globalization, Hullabaloo, Attackerman, Facing South, TPMMuckraker, The Carpetbagger Report, Needlenose, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, War in Context, A Tiny Revolution, Bang the Drum, Obsidian Wings, TalkLeft, The Daily Dish, About.com US Politics and Firedoglake
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Obama: ‘Country I Love’ — This patriotic ad, in which Obama says he was raised with “values straight from the Kansas heartland,” is a reminder of the resources Obama will be able to put behind telling his own story his way, centered on the “deep and abiding faith in the country I love.”
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Kathleen Kingsbury / Time:
Pregnancy Boom at Gloucester High — As summer vacation begins, 17 girls at Gloucester High School are expecting babies—more than four times the number of pregnancies the 1,200-student school had last year. Some adults dismissed the statistic as a blip. Others blamed hit movies like Juno …
Bill Adair / CQ Politics:
Rating Confusion: Is Obama a Liberal? — It's a line you'll hear many times from Sen. John McCain over the next five months: “In just a few years in office, Sen. Obama has accumulated the most liberal voting record in the Senate.” — But McCain's campaign also pointed out recently that Barack …
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog
Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:
Obama and McCain Spout Economic Nonsense — Barack Obama and John McCain are busy demonstrating that in close elections during tough economic times, candidates for president can be economically illiterate and irresponsibly populist. — In Raleigh, N.C., last week, Sen. Obama promised …
Discussion:
The Swamp
Joe Klein / Time:
In with the Old — Barack Obama has never been shy about comparing himself to Abraham Lincoln. He did so when he announced his candidacy at the Illinois state capitol, where both he and Lincoln served in the legislature. “The life of a tall, gangly, self-made Springfield lawyer tells us …
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