Top Items:
David Brooks / New York Times:
The Two Obamas — God, Republicans are saps. They think that they're running against some academic liberal who wouldn't wear flag pins on his lapel, whose wife isn't proud of America and who went to some liberationist church where the pastor damned his own country.
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Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
Ghosts in the GOP attack machine — In a web video emailed to supporters Thursday, Barack Obama explained that he was opting out of the public financing system because John McCain is “not going to stop the smears and attacks from his allies running so-called 527 groups who will spend millions …
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
MCCAIN BREAKING THE LAW IN PLAIN SIGHT — I mentioned earlier today that it was quite a thing to see John McCain denouncing Barack Obama for breaking his word on public financing when McCain himself is at this moment breaking the law in continuing to spend over the spending limits he promised …
Discussion:
The Opinionator, Matthew Yglesias, The Carpetbagger Report, Firedoglake, The Jed Report and The Mahablog
Julia Hoppock / Political Punch:
McCain Double-Talk on Immigration? — Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., met Wednesday evening with Hispanic Republicans in Chicago. — In an Associated Press story about the meeting, one quote jumped out at me: “He's one John McCain in front of white Republicans.
Washington Post:
The Politics of Spare Change — BARACK OBAMA isn't abandoning his pledge to take public financing for the general election campaign because it's in his political interest. Certainly not. He isn't about to become the first candidate since Watergate to run an election fueled entirely …
Discussion:
Associated Press, New York Times, Fact Checker, Hot Air, Outside The Beltway, Guardian, New York Post, NY Daily News, Sweetness & Light, OpenSecrets.org, MSNBC, TBogg, Redstate and Commentary
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Niccolo Obama — I can't say I care and see no reason why public financing is somehow morally superior to hundreds of thousands of small donors. But if you want to see a Democrat prepared to take a short-term hit in order to score a real long-term advantage over his opponent, Obama's your man:
Noam Scheiber / The New Republic:
Obama More Cynical Than Bill Clinton? Brooks Says Maybe — David Brooks pronounces himself stunned by the depths of Obama's ruthlessness and cynicism in response to yesterday's public financing announcement. Brooks makes several valid points, but I think he's wrong to be so shocked (or …
The Politico:Politico's guide to Obama's opt-out
Discussion:
techPresident, The Next Right, Lynn Sweet, USA Today, The Caucus and The Washington Independent
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
What Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and Fred Hiatt mean by “bipartisanship” — It's bad enough watching the likes of Steny Hoyer, Rahm Emanuel and a disturbingly disoriented Nancy Pelosi eviscerate the Fourth Amendment, exempt their largest corporate contributors from the rule of law …
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Laurie Kellman / Associated Press:
Former aide: Bush should tell all on CIA leak … WASHINGTON (AP) - A former White House spokesman told Congress on Friday that President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney wanted him to say that Cheney's chief of staff wasn't involved in the leak of a CIA operative's identity, an assertion that turned out to be false.
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Michael Barbaro / City Room:
Bloomberg Criticizes ‘Whisper Campaign’ Around Obama — BOCA RATON, Fla. — Injecting himself directly into the presidential campaign and speaking before one of its most crucial constituencies, Jewish voters, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on Friday morning forcefully rejected what he called a …
Kenneth Chang / New York Times:
White Patches Found in Mars Trench Are Ice, Scientists Say — After a decade of shouting, “Follow the water!” in its exploration of Mars, NASA can finally say that one of its spacecraft has reached out, touched water ice and scooped it up. — Now, scientists will be able to tackle …
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Alexis Madrigal / Wired Science:
Mars Phoenix Tweets: “We Have ICE!” — There is water ice on Mars within reach of the Mars Phoenix Lander, NASA scientists announced Thursday. — Photographic evidence settles the debate over the nature of the white material seen in photographs sent back by the craft.
New York Post:
CABLE GUYS LUST FOR TIM'S JOB — TIM Russert's body wasn't even cold in the ground before MSNBC anchors Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann started jockeying for his job, sources claim. — Matthews was heard loudly discussing what seemed to be his strategy for landing Russert's “Meet the Press” …
Greg Sargent / TPM Election Central:
Exclusive: MoveOn To Close Its 527 In Response To Obama's Candidacy — MoveOn, the advocacy group supporting Barack Obama, has decided to permanently shutter its 527 operation, partly in response to the Illinois Senator's insistence that such groups should not spend on his behalf during the general election …
Rogers Cadenhead / Workbench:
AP Settles Dispute with Drudge Retort — Late Thursday night, AP issued the following statement after a day-long discussion of the DMCA takedowns issued to the Drudge Retort that reached all the way up to the company's top management: … I'm glad that my personal legal dispute with the AP is resolved …
RELATED:
Gallup:
Gallup Daily: Obama 46%, McCain 44% — Obama's margin over McCain slightly smaller than in previous days — PRINCETON, NJ — Gallup Poll Daily tracking shows Barack Obama with 46% of the support of registered voters and John McCain at 44%. This is a slightly smaller margin …
Discussion:
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