Top Items:
Kelly Moeller / Political Punch:
Rove: Obama's the Guy at the Country Club Holding a Martini Making Snide Comments About Everyone Else — ABC News' Christianne Klein reports that at a breakfast with Republican insiders at the Capitol Hill Club this morning, former White House senior aide Karl Rove referred to Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, as “coolly arrogant.”
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Matthew Yglesias:
Country Club'd — Karl Rove's strategic messaging advice on how to take on Barack Obama: … Josh Marshall runs this under an “uppity watch” heading, but I'm not sure I detect any racial animosity here. But what about the class cues? How many Americans have had the experience …
David Whitford / Fortune:
The evolution of John McCain — As a maverick Senator, he took pride in just saying no to everyone's wish list. But as a presidential contender, he's become a tax cutter and defender of home mortgages. The inside story of how the candidate is shaping his plan to fix the economy.
Discussion:
Washington Wire, Crooks and Liars, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Marc Ambinder, The New Republic, Think Progress, Top of the Ticket, AMERICAblog News, Swampland, Salon, Spin Cycle, Fox News, Jonathan Martin's Blogs, MSNBC, The Carpetbagger Report, Too Sense, Political Radar, Real Clear Politics, Wonkette and The RBC
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Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:
OBAMA vs. McCAIN ON THE ECONOMY....Fortune magazine has parallel interviews about the economy with John McCain and Barack Obama in the current issue, and the PR email they sent me highlights their answers to this question: … It's as if McCain is trying to become a parody of himself here.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Megan McArdle, Obsidian Wings, Comments from Left Field and The Carpetbagger Report
Peter Hamby / CNN:
McCain criticizes adviser's terrorism comments — FRESNO, California (CNN) — Sen. John McCain distanced himself Monday from comments made by a senior campaign adviser suggesting that McCain would stand to benefit politically from a terrorist attack on U.S. soul.
Matt / Think Progress:
McCain adviser: Another attack on the U.S. ‘would be a big advantage’ for McCain.
McCain adviser: Another attack on the U.S. ‘would be a big advantage’ for McCain.
Ken Wheaton / AdAge:
Obama Campaign Drops Faux Presidential Seal — The Possum Sleeps Tonight — Last week, Barack Obama unveiled a new campaign seal — and not the kind that swims, barks and balances balls on the end of its nose. Rather, it was the kind that has a big old eagle on it and some Latin …
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CNN:
Obama's presidential seal gone after one use — (CNN) - Barack Obama's communications director said Monday that the presidential seal the campaign unveiled last week at a meeting with Democratic governors won't be seen again. — “That was a one time thing for a one time event,” Robert Gibbs told CNN.
Marc Ambinder:
A No “Seal” Zone, Starting..... I've had my fun with the Obama campaign's seal, and now that fun ends. I'm told that Obama recognizes that it was a silly mistake, that the universal reaction at Wacker and Michigan was, “Boy, was that dumb,” and that they don't think the seal staging will matter to actual voters.
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
‘The Google’ — The first question at an excellent panel at the Personal Democracy Forum in New York today with top web folks from the leading campaign goes to McCain aide Mark Soohoo. — Moderator Andrew Rasiej asks for a show of hands on whether the panelists have had to tell the candidate not to say …
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Joe Klein / Swampland:
Too Good to Check — I have no way of knowing if this is true, though the source is excellent...but the word in Republican circles is that John McCain is quite frustrated by the vice presidential selection process because he can't go with any of his top three choices. They are:
Larry Rohter / New York Times:
Obama Camp Closely Linked With Ethanol — When VeraSun Energy inaugurated a new ethanol processing plant last summer in Charles City, Iowa, some of that industry's most prominent boosters showed up. Leaders of the National Corn Growers Association and the Renewable Fuels Association …
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Home Not-So-Sweet Home — “Owning a home lies at the heart of the American dream.” So declared President Bush in 2002, introducing his “Homeownership Challenge” — a set of policy initiatives that were supposed to sharply increase homeownership, especially for minority groups. — Oops.
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Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
The New Republic syndrome — (updated below - Update II) — The number one problem facing the Democratic Party is that, as events of the last week demonstrate, it continues to be plagued by The New Republic Syndrome, one of the most fatal political afflictions that exist.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Daily Kos, Corrente, Unfogged, Booman Tribune and American Street
Andrea Elliott / New York Times:
Some Muslim Americans Feel Shunned by Obama — As Senator Barack Obama courted voters in Iowa last December, Representative Keith Ellison, the country's first Muslim congressman, stepped forward eagerly to help. — Mr. Ellison believed that Mr. Obama's message of unity resonated deeply with American Muslims.
Discussion:
TIME.com
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Ethan / ...My heart's in Accra:
PDF: Visualizing the political blogosphere — If innovations in the citizen media community are shaping the political process, it's worth looking closely at the structures and architecture of that new space. Two speakers at PDF specialize in visualizing and analyzing mass sets of data.
Rebecca Traister / Salon:
Why Clinton voters say they won't support Obama — The attack of the PUMAs, or a dozen reasons why Clinton voters are still too angry to come home. — Hillary Clinton supporters wait for their candidate to arrive at the National Building Museum in Washington on June 7.