memeorandum: Election 2008: Georgia Presidential Election (Rasmussen Reports)

1:55 PM ET, June 30, 2008

Top Items:

Some on left target McCain's war record — The highest voltage third rail of this presidential campaign may not be race, sex, or age, but Senator John McCain's military service. — McCain's campaign Sunday issued a pair of outraged statements after retired general and Barack Obama supporter Wesley Clark …

Discussion: Newshoggers.com, Political Insider, The Campaign Spot, Hot Air, Blog P.I., TownHall Blog, Booman Tribune, Oliver Willis, PoliBlog (TM), Political Perceptions, GINA COBB, The Strata-Sphere, American Power, Confederate Yankee, Daimnation!, Cold Fury, TIME.com and Neptunus Lex

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

Swiftboating McCain — Ben Smith documents the left's gross attacks on McCain's military record: … Wesley Clark is now and always has been a Clinton-type, but this is pretty revolting. This kind of personal attack was repulsive coming against Kerry from the far right. And it's repulsive the other way round.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, GayPatriot, The RBC and JammieWearingFool

CNN:

Gen. Clark challenges McCain's qualifications — (CNN) — Retired U.S. General Wesley Clark, a supporter of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, questioned Sunday whether Sen. John McCain's military experience qualified him to be commander-in-chief. — The McCain campaign called for Obama to condemn the remarks.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Firedoglake, Politics Blog, Daily Kos, Fox News, Althouse, The Debate Link, Towleroad.com, Donklephant, Top of the Ticket, Political Fix, The Mahablog, Wake up America, Outside The Beltway and QandO

Dday / Hullabaloo:

Get Ready For The Mother Of All Hissy Fits — So Wes Clark went on Face The Nation today and “went there” - challenging John McCain's constant referrals to his wartime biography which are standing in for his doctrinaire ideological stances on foreign policy.

Discussion: Balloon Juice, TBogg, The Political Carnival and pandagon.net

John Aravosis / AMERICAblog News:
Honestly, besides being tortured, what did McCain do to excel in the military?

Discussion: Right Wing Nut House, Brilliant at Breakfast, NewsBusters.org, TownHall Blog, BLACKFIVE, Ben Smith's Blogs, Right Wing News, JammieWearingFool, The Sundries Shack, michellemalkin.com, Comments from Left Field, Sister Toldjah and American Power

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
DC PRESS LORDS LAY DOWN FIRE FOR MCCAIN

Discussion: Media Matters for America and Swampland

Gottalaff / The Political Carnival:
CNN: “Wesley Clark tried to Swiftboat John McCain today.”

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, ad astra, per aspera, MyDD, CBS News, Cliff Schecter, Associated Press, Salon, The News Buckit, Yahoo! News and Daily Kos

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Romney tops McCain veep list — Surprising many Republican insiders, Mitt Romney is at the top of the vice-presidential prospect list for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). But lack of personal chemistry could derail the pick. — “Romney as favorite” is the hot buzz in Republican circles …

Discussion: The New Republic, TIME.com, Althouse, Donklephant, Balloon Juice, PoliBlog (TM) and Club for Growth

Michael D. Shear / Washington Post:

GOP Sharpens Attacks on Obama — Allies of McCain Casting Democratic Candidate as Unprincipled, Opportunistic — CLEVELAND — Sen. John McCain's allies have seized on a new and aggressive line of attack against Sen. Barack Obama, casting the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee …

Discussion: MoJoBlog, Commentary, The Caucus, Real Clear Politics and Patterico's Pontifications

Scott Martelle / Top of the Ticket:
John McCain's veep list said to be topped by Mitt Romney

Discussion: The Swamp

Steven Thomma / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Lack of funds hobbling the ‘Republican attack machine’ — WASHINGTON — Democrats and the media have used the term so much that it's almost an article of faith. But the so-called “Republican attack machine” waiting with piles of unregulated cash to chew up Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is anything but.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, michellemalkin.com, Informed Comment, QandO, American Spectator and The Other McCain

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
McCain surrogate defends Swift Boaters

Discussion: TIME.com and TPM Election Central

Eli Saslow / Washington Post:

In Flag City USA, False Obama Rumors Are Flying — FINDLAY, Ohio — On his corner of College Street, Jim Peterman stares at the four American flags planted in his front lawn and rubs his forehead. Peterman, 74, is a retired worker at Cooper Tire, a father of two, an Air Force veteran and a self-described patriot.

Discussion: Jonathan Martin's Blogs, Ben Smith's Blogs, Reason Magazine, Washington Monthly, The New Republic, The Trail, Swampland, Lonewacko, Shakesville, The Carpetbagger Report, pandagon.net, Amygdala, Feministe, Oliver Willis, Gateway Pundit and Bark Bark Woof Woof

George Packer / New Yorker:

OBAMA'S IRAQ PROBLEM — In February, 2007, when Barack Obama declared that he was running for President, violence in Iraq had reached apocalyptic levels, and he based his candidacy, in part, on a bold promise to begin a rapid withdrawal of American forces upon taking office.

Discussion: MSNBC, The New Republic, John McCain Report blog, Jonathan Martin's Blogs, New York Times, The Opinionator, Marc Ambinder, Political Punch, The Strata-Sphere, The Glittering Eye and Swampland

Chris Welch / CNN:

Obama to deliver ‘major speech’ on patriotism — CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) — Presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama plans to deliver what his campaign is calling a “major speech” Monday, centering around an issue he's been trying to highlight for months now: his patriotism.

Discussion: Gateway Pundit

Jennifer Loven / Associated Press: Obama: I will never question others' patriotism

Carpetbagger / The Carpetbagger Report:

Note to the religious right: auto-replace is not your friend — Auto-correct can be a very helpful feature of any word-processing program. But when conservatives use it, they run the risk of embarrassing themselves. — Some far-right sites that subscribe to the Associated Press feed …

Discussion: PageOneQ.com Latest and No More Mister Nice Blog

Kyle / Right Wing Watch: The Dangers of Auto-Replace — In addition to blocking traffic …

Spencer Ackerman / The Washington Independent:

Iraq Contractor Security Assessment Differs From Bush/McCain — Whenever Bush administration or Sen. John McCain campaign officials open their mouths about Iraq, they portray the country as on a continuous path of Surge-based stabilization. “As security has improved, the environment has changed for the better,” Amb.

Discussion: Think Progress, DefenseLINK, ATTACKERMAN and Brilliant at Breakfast

Simon / Bloggasm:

Who's responsible for shutting down a number of anti-Obama Blogspot accounts? — When Carissa Snedeker went to log into her Blogspot account Wednesday evening at about 7:30, she had no idea what would be waiting for her. She had created her blog, Blue Lyon, three years ago and up until …

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, Outside The Beltway, The Campaign Spot, Sister Toldjah, Stop The ACLU and The Confluence

Mark Preston / CNN:

Congressional Democrats hire Bush impersonator — WASHINGTON (CNN) — House Democrats will use a President Bush impersonator in a new radio advertising campaign that seeks to link 13 incumbent Republicans to rising gas prices as the country heads into the Fourth of July holiday.

Discussion: The Crypt's Blogs, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, The Fix, The Swamp and Swing State Project

Glenn Reynolds / Pajamas Media:

I'M WRITING A SHORT PIECE ON HELLER FOR NORTHWESTERN, and something became clear to me as soon as I started writing: What's most striking about Heller is that absolutely everybody — majority and dissents — says the Second Amendment protects an individual right.

Discussion: Cold Fury, Don Surber and Of Arms and the Law