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David Weigel / Reason Magazine:
More Fun in Obamaconspiracyville: In Which Larry Sinclair Gets Arrested — I blogged a few weeks back about a convicted criminal, Larry Sinclair, who'd been begging the media to cover his wild allegations about Barack Obama. Today Sinclair trotted into the National Press Club to air …
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Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Sinclair arrested, and other notes from the Press Club — A footnote to the story of Larry Sinclair, the gadfly whose long criminal record I wrote about this morning: He was arrested by Washington, D.C. police after his press conference there today, two officials at D.C.'s First District station confirmed to Politico.
Roxana Tiron / The Hill:
Rumsfeld repays McCain; declines to back candidate — Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld recently declined to answer whether he will support Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for president. — McCain, the GOP presidential standard-bearer, has been one of Rumsfeld's harshest critics.
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John McCormick / The Swamp:
Obama rejects public financing — In a widely expected decision, Sen. Barack Obama announced this morning that his Democratic presidential bid will reject public financing, abandoning an earlier pledged to participate in the system if his Republican challenger agreed to do the same.
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blogs
Associated Press:
Obama opts out of public funding — Says public financing of presidential elections as it exists today is broken — WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Thursday he will bypass the federal public financing system in the general election, abandoning an earlier commitment …
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 Daily Dish, Matthew Yglesias, Firedoglake, About.com US Politics, Whiskey Fire, TIME.com, Daily Kos, Don Surber and Think Progress
Mike Soraghan / The Hill:
House, Bush reach deal on war supplemental — The House will vote on an emergency supplemental spending bill Thursday after Republican and Democratic leaders struck a deal with the White House late Wednesday, aides said. — The deal did not include the Senate, but House leaders were to present …
Discussion:
Emptywheel
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Ed OKeefe / Political Radar:
Cindy McCain Presses Obama Patriotism Case — ABC News' Ed O'Keefe Reports: Laura Bush may be ready to give Michelle Obama the benefit of the doubt when it comes to her patriotism but Cindy McCain may not. — “I don't know why she said what she said,” Mrs. McCain explains in an interview …
Discussion:
INSTAPUTZ, AMERICAblog News, Salon, Hot Air, Sister Toldjah, Spin Cycle, The LA Times President …, Michelle Obama Watch, TIME.com and The Caucus
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Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Good news: Another Democrat calls for nationalizing the oil industry — Submitted for your disapproval, in case you were wondering what the opposition had in mind as a counterpoint to McCain's proposal for 45 new nuclear reactors. It's Maurice Hinchey, whom longtime HA readers will recall as someone brimming with sound theories.
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Jacques Steinberg / New York Times:
Russert's Son Sounds a Theme of Unity at Funeral — WASHINGTON — In death, Tim Russert did on Wednesday what no living journalist has accomplished this campaign season: he got Barack Obama and John McCain to sit together and talk, quietly. — Specifically, it was Mr. Russert's son, Luke …
Discussion:
Jon Swift, The Moderate Voice, skippy the bush kangaroo and The Hill's Blog Briefing Room
CNN:
Americans drive 1.4 billion fewer highway miles — WASHINGTON (CNN) — Americans drove 1.4 billion fewer highway miles in April than they did in April 2007, the Department of Transportation said Wednesday. — That marks the sixth consecutive monthly drop and coincides with record gas prices …
Chuck Bennett / New York Post:
SUBPOENA BLITZ PUTS HEAT ON AL — IRS SEEKS INFO FROM TOP DONORS — The probe into the Rev. Al Sharpton's finances intensified this week, with the IRS sending out a flurry of subpoenas to his most generous corporate donors, The Post has learned. — Anheuser-Busch, the brewer of Budweiser …
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
NAFTA Dancer now says he used “overheated” rhetoric — The NAFTA Dance continued today as Barack Obama tried to move from populist to centrist within a fortnight of clinching the Democratic nomination. Earlier, Obama tried wooing heartland voters by saying he would unilaterally opt out of free-trade deals …
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David Sirota / The Huffington Post:
Memo to Obama: You Can't Represent the Uprising While Undermining It
Memo to Obama: You Can't Represent the Uprising While Undermining It
Discussion:
Outside The Beltway
Harry Siegel / The Politico:
Specter of 2000 could haunt Obama — Until 2000, it hadn't happened in more than 100 years, but plugged-in observers from both parties see a distinct possibility of Barack Obama winning the popular vote but losing the Electoral College — and with it the presidency — to John McCain.
ConnPolitics:
Dodd and CT residents speak out — By WTNH Chief Political Correspondent Mark Davis, on Jun 18, 2008 — (WTNH) _ Senator Chris Dodd's nearly 28 years as Connecticut's United States Senator is being seriously tested. He says he thought the VIP treatment he got from Countrywide Financial …
Mark Halperin / TIME.com:
Obama Remarks on Detainees and Afghanistan — Good afternoon. We just finished the first meeting of my new Senior Working Group on National Security. We had a productive discussion about the challenges facing our nation, and I'm grateful that these distinguished men and women will be advising me in the months to come.
Discussion:
Althouse, The Carpetbagger Report, TPM Election Central, TalkLeft, MyDD, Commentary, Oliver Willis and The Reaction
Michelle Malkin:
The Obama/Pooh Photoshop collection — In response to Barack Obama's foreign policy adviser endorsing Winnie the Pooh as a “fundamental text on national security” this week (yes, it's true), readers and bloggers are having brutal fun with Photoshop. No doubt Obama's minions will find …
New York Times:
Obama's Campaign Tightens Control of Image and Access — At a rally for Senator Barack Obama in Detroit on Monday, two Muslim women said they were prohibited from sitting behind the candidate because they were wearing head scarves and campaign volunteers did not want them to appear …
Robert Cox / Media Bloggers Association:
Backstory on AP - Drudge Retort Issue — In reading a small slice of the coverage of the AP - Drudge Retort contretemps it struck me that a lot of the more breathless coverage in the blogosphere stems from the rather larger misperception that one day last week, out of the blue, Rogers Cadenhead got slapped with a lawsuit by AP.
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