memeorandum: Obama More Cynical Than Bill Clinton? Brooks Says Maybe (Noam Scheiber/The New Republic)

1:25 PM ET, June 20, 2008

Top Items:

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.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs, Macsmind, American Spectator, Shakesville, The Strata-Sphere, PoliGazette, Commentary, The New Republic, Balloon Juice, Comments from Left Field, Althouse, The American Scene, TIME.com, marbury and alicublog

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: Matthew Yglesias, Firedoglake, The Carpetbagger Report, The Jed Report and The Mahablog

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: Fact Checker, Associated Press, New York Times, Hot Air, Outside The Beltway, Guardian, NY Daily News, New York Post, Sweetness & Light, TBogg, OpenSecrets.org, MSNBC and Redstate

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:

Discussion: Weekly Standard Blog, Spin Cycle and Marc Ambinder

Leslie Wayne / New York Times:

Obama's Decision Threatens Public Financing System — From the moment that the public financing system was created in the wake of the Watergate crisis, it was viewed as an imperfect way to rid politics of the excesses of special-interest money. — But now, with the decision by Senator Barack …

Discussion: The Swamp, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, The Caucus, Guardian, TPM Election Central, Comments from Left Field, marbury, Capitol Briefing, TIME.com, The Trail and EconoPundit

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 …

Jonah Goldberg / The Corner:

Brooks & Obama — From a longtime liberal reader: … My e-friend is referring to the fact that Obama is referring to Brooks column today in which he argues that Obama is much tougher, smarter and more serious than those “saps” — AKA Republicans — think. He concludes:

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 …

Discussion: Prairie Weather and The Sundries Shack

Rick Klein / ABCNEWS:

Obama Poised for Huge Cash Edge — Democrats Could Swamp McCain With $500 Million in Final Two Months — Sen. Barack Obama's decision to forgo public financing for his presidential campaign clears the way for him to outspend Sen. John McCain by 3-to-1 or substantially more in the general election …

Discussion: The Swamp, neo-neocon, Below The Beltway, American Spectator and Power Line

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Woodhouse to DNC — The takeover of the Democratic National Committee …

Discussion: TPM Election Central

Ben Smith / The Politico:
Obama out of system, but not out of character

Discussion: The Swamp, Political Radar, BuzzFlash.org, Commentary, TIME.com and Associated Press

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

What Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and Fred Hiatt mean by “bipartisanship” — (updated below - Update II - Update III - Update IV) — It's bad enough watching the likes of Steny Hoyer, Rahm Emanuel and a disturbingly disoriented Nancy Pelosi eviscerate the Fourth Amendment …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Washington Post, TalkLeft, First Draft, Balloon Juice, Julian Sanchez, Democracy in America, Shakesville and Daily Kos

Christy Hardin Smith / Firedoglake:
FISA Debate In The House

Discussion: The Raw Story and Julian Sanchez

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.

Discussion: Hot Air

Mike Glover / Associated Press:
Culver aides: McCain ignored request to cancel Iowa visit

Discussion: Jonathan Martin's Blogs, TIME.com and The Jed Report

Las Vegas Sun:
McCain meets with Hispanic leaders

Discussion: Jonathan Martin's Blogs

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 …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The New Republic and TIME.com

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” …

Discussion: Redstate, Hot Air, Gawker and JammieWearingFool

Jared Allen / The Hill:

Dems excited, GOP wary of McClellan's testimony — House Democrats are eagerly preparing for Friday's testimony by former White House press secretary Scott McClellan, but Republicans seem unsure of how to handle the president's unlikely critic. — Both Democrats and Republicans …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Think Progress, The Crypt's Blogs, Time, The Progress Report and The Nation

Associated Press:
McClellan: Bush should tell all on CIA leak

Discussion: The LA Times President … and Top of the Ticket

U.S. House Judiciary Committee:
Opening Statement by Scott McClellan Former White House Press …

Discussion: Associated Press, Political Machine, The Raw Story and The Gavel

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 …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs and TIME.com

Bill O'Reilly / billoreilly.com:

Hell No, Baby Alex Won't Go — Have you seen the Baby Alex political ad that the radical left, George Soros-funded organization MoveOn.org has produced? To some, it plays like a Saturday Night Live skit, but the intent is deadly serious: to damage John McCain.

Discussion: The Huffington Post and News Hounds