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.
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ProPublica, Hot Air, Obsidian Wings, Redstate, War and Piece, TPMMuckraker, TIME.com, Emptywheel, The Carpetbagger Report and ACSBlog
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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 …
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, Buck Naked Politics, Booman Tribune, SquareState.net, Daily Kos and DownWithTyranny!
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.
Office of the House Democratic Majority …:
Bipartisan FISA Compromise Reached — WASHINGTON - Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman John “Jay” Rockefeller (WV), Senate Intelligence Committee Vice-Chair Kit Bond (MO), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (MD), and House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (MO) announced today that a bipartisan compromise …
TPM Election Central:Obama Cuts Ad For Conservative Pro-War House Dem
Discussion:
The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Swing State Project, Ben Smith's Blogs, MSNBC and Open Left
Daniel W. Reilly / The Crypt's Blogs:FISA Deal completed, House vote likely tomorrow
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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:
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 …
Kelly Moeller / Political Punch:
McCain Campaign Counsel Denies Obama Campaign Account — In explaining its decision to not enter into the public financing system for the general election, Obama campaign counsel Bob Bauer met with McCain campaign counsel Trevor Potter and, according to Obama spox Bill Burton, Potter …
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:
Matthew Yglesias, Newshoggers.com, The Washington Independent, Managing Globalization, The Huffington Post, Wonk Room, Hullabaloo, Attackerman, Facing South, The Daily Dish, TPMMuckraker, The Carpetbagger Report, A Tiny Revolution, Needlenose, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, War in Context, Bang the Drum, Obsidian Wings, TalkLeft, About.com US Politics, Firedoglake and Democracy in America
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
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
Thomas W. Evans / New York Times:
Sue OPEC — THE president of the United States has the power to attack, and perhaps destroy, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, the illegal cartel that has driven the price of oil over $130 per barrel. This can be accomplished without invasion or bombing. No special legislation is needed.
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