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:
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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.
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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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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Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
If You Can't Use a Computer, How Can You Be President? — digg it — I'm at the Personal Democracy Forum in New York and during the last session, Tracy Russo (formerly of the Edwards campaign, with me in the photo) got into it with Mark Soohoo of the McCain campaign.
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 …
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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, Corrente, Unfogged, Booman Tribune and American Street
Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
Washington Post Editor Leonard Downie Jr. Stepping Down — 44-Year Veteran Led Newspaper to 25 Pulitzer Prizes — Leonard Downie Jr. said today he is stepping down as The Washington Post's executive editor, ending a 17-year tenure in which the paper became a major online force and won …
Discussion:
The Politico
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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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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.
Mel Watkins / NYT > Movies:
George Carlin, Irreverent Comedian, Dies at 71 — George Carlin, the Grammy-Award winning standup comedian and actor who was hailed for his irreverent social commentary, poignant observations of the absurdities of everyday life and language, and groundbreaking routines like …