memeorandum: The (Down) Beat Goes On In The Media (IBDeditorials.com)

7:00 PM ET, July 3, 2008

Top Items:

Jeff Zeleny / The Caucus:

Obama Might ‘Refine’ Iraq Timeline — Barack Obama in Fargo, N.D. (Photo: Jae C. Hong/Associated Press) — FARGO, N.D. - Senator Barack Obama said Thursday the United States cannot sustain a long-term military presence in Iraq, but added that he would be open to “refine my policies” …

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Obama to ‘refine’ Iraq plan — Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on Thursday backed off his firm promise to withdraw combat forces from Iraq immediately and instead said he could “refine” his plan after his trip to Baghdad later this month. — Earlier, a top Obama adviser had said that the senator is not “wedded” to a specific timeline.

Discussion: TownHall Blog, The New Republic, Gateway Pundit, Pajamas Media and American Spectator

Jonathan Weisman / The Trail:
Obama Softens on Iraq Withdrawal Timeline

Discussion: The American Mind

Scott Martelle / Top of the Ticket:
Is Barack Obama softening his Iraq withdrawal time line?

Discussion: The Swamp

Jennifer Loven / Associated Press:
Obama says Iraq trip could refine his policy

Discussion: TPM Election Central

BBC:

Google must divulge YouTube log — Google must divulge the viewing habits of every user who has ever watched any video on YouTube, a US court has ruled. — The ruling comes as part of Google's legal battle with Viacom over allegations of copyright infringement.

Discussion: TalkLeft, Corrente and Newshoggers.com

Kurt Opsahl / Electronic Frontier Foundation:

Court Ruling Will Expose Viewing Habits of YouTube Users — Yesterday, in the Viacom v. Google litigation, the federal court for the Southern District of New York ordered Google to produce to Viacom (over Google's objections): … The court's order grants Viacom's request and erroneously ignores …

Discussion: Threat Level, TechCrunch, Wampum, Reason Magazine, Stop The ACLU, Discourse.net, The Impolitic, Wake up America, Blogs of War and The Volokh Conspiracy

Miguel Helft / New York Times:
Judge Orders Google to Turn Over YouTube Records

Discussion: Electronic Frontier Foundation

Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Judge Protects YouTube's Source Code, Throws Users To The Wolves

Discussion: RConversation, Scripting News and Scholars and Rogues

Matthew Yglesias:

I'm Worried — David Broder: … And yet here we are in 2008. And I don't think anyone can seriously dispute that the current President of the United States violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act or any number of legal commitments to refrain from torture.

Discussion: Firedoglake, TalkLeft, Grasping Reality … and Washington Monthly

David S. Broder / Washington Post:
One Nation No More? — Civics Needs a Boost, but Our Identity Endures

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, American Power and The American Scene

Joe Rospars / my.barackobama.com:

Response from Barack on FISA and Discussion with Policy Staff — Barack is on the road today, but he wrote a response that he asked be posted on the blog. You'll find it below. — In addition, for the next 30 minutes or so, three members of our policy staff will be in the comments on this post to respond to any questions you have.

Discussion: TalkLeft, Emptywheel, MyDD, TPM Election Central and AMERICAblog News

Barack Obama / The Huffington Post:
My Position On FISA — Today, Barack Obama posted a message …

Discussion: The Trail and Booman Tribune

ABC News:

Plasma, LCDs blamed for accelerating global warming — Audio: Flat screen TVs ‘contribute to global warming’ (The World Today) — A gas used in the making of flat screen televisions, nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), is being blamed for damaging the atmosphere and accelerating global warming.

Discussion: The Jawa Report, The Sundries Shack, Moonbattery, NewsBusters.org and Pirate's Cove

Douglas J. Feith / Wall Street Journal:

Why We Went to War in Iraq — A lot of poor commentary has framed the Iraq war as a conflict of “choice” rather than of “necessity.” In fact, President George W. Bush chose to remove Saddam Hussein from power because he concluded that doing so was necessary.

Discussion: Booman Tribune, Wonk Room and Balloon Juice

Doyle McManus / Los Angeles Times:

A short but sweet gathering — Barack Obama's campaign and the Democratic National Committee are toying with a convention scheduling change that has been broached before in theory but never seriously considered: cutting the party's conclave in Denver short by one day to give Obama an extra …

Discussion: The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Marc Ambinder, The Trail, Hot Air, Redstate, TIME.com and The Political Carnival

Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico:
Caroline Kennedy: The reluctant operative

Discussion: The Political Carnival and MSNBC

Rasmussen Reports:

Election 2008: Montana Presidential Election — Montana: Obama Leads McCain By Five — Barack Obama is leading John McCain by five percentage points in Montana. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state shows Obama attracting 48% of the vote while McCain earns 43%.

Discussion: The New Republic, Strange Bedfellows, TPM Election Central, Matthew Yglesias, Open Left, FiveThirtyEight.com, Reason Magazine, Left in the West, Publius Endures, Cliff Schecter, Slog, Donklephant, MyDD, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Political Machine, pandagon.net, The Carpetbagger Report and Philly.com

Daniel J. Chacon / Rocky Mountain News:

‘She deceived us,’ mayor says about jazz singer — Opting for black anthem ‘a very bad decision,’ says City Council boss Hancock — Sen. Barack Obama said today a jazz singer's decision to sing the ‘Black National Anthem’ at Denver's State of the City speech this week was wrong.

Discussion: Shakesville, MSNBC, Slapstick Politics, Flopping Aces and Hot Air

Wall Street Journal:

McCain Allies Find Finance-Law Holes — Governors' Fund Recruits Big Donors; Bid to Catch Obama — Allies of Sen. John McCain have found new loopholes in the campaign-finance law he helped write — and they're using them to reel in huge contributions to help him compete with Sen. Barack Obama.

Discussion: Marc Ambinder, TPMMuckraker, Newshoggers.com, MoJoBlog, Betsy's Page, BuzzFlash.org and Jonathan Martin's Blogs

Steve Doughty / Daily Mail:

Sharia law SHOULD be used in Britain, says UK's top judge — The most senior judge in England tonight gave his blessing to the use of sharia law to resolve disputes among Muslims. — Lord Chief Justice Lord Phillips said that Islamic legal principles could be employed to deal with family …

Discussion: The Sundries Shack and Vodkapundit

David Matthews / The Hill:

Philly radio station refuses to run Democratic ad — A Philadelphia news radio station has rejected a Democratic ad that features an impersonator of President Bush thanking GOP congressional candidates for supporting the “Big Oil” agenda. — Philadelphia KYW-AM Vice President …

Discussion: The Political Carnival and Fox News

Patricia Cohen / New York Times:

The '60s Begin to Fade as Liberal Professors Retire — MADISON, Wis. — When Michael Olneck was standing, arms linked with other protesters, singing “We Shall Not Be Moved” in front of Columbia University's library in 1968, Sara Goldrick-Rab had not yet been born.

Discussion: ParaPundit, The Jawa Report and Althouse