memeorandum: Barnes Defends Gramm: Americans Are ‘Whining All The Way Through’ The Bad Economy (Ben/Think Progress)

4:41 PM ET, July 11, 2008

Top Items:

Presidential candidate Obama to sponsor Cup car at Pocono race … SI.com has learned that for the first time in history, a major presidential candidate may sponsor a race car in NASCAR's premier series. According to sources, Barack Obama's campaign is in talks to become the primary sponsor …

Discussion: The Swamp, Spin Cycle, The Corner, The Raw Story, Riehl World View, Media Blog and Donklephant

Michelle Malkin:

Obama tries to buy the NASCAR vote — I mentioned Barack Obama's plans to troll for NASCAR votes last week. SI.com has the details of how the campaign will execute the pander. Guess he'll be leaving the kids home for this one: … Like I said before: Watch out for those NASCAR cooties!

Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC:

FIRST THOUGHTS: THE A.D.D. ELECTION — From Chuck Todd and Domenico Montanaro — *** The A.D.D Election: It's another whiplash week. It's amazing how many Fridays we look back at the week and just shake our head... This really is turning into the A.D.D. election.

Discussion: The New Republic, Newshoggers.com, NFL Fanhouse, MyDD, Political Insider, David Corn and The Trail

Jonah Goldberg / The Corner:

Phil Gramm — From a reader: … Me: Fair enough. My own excuse is that this is one of these stories that I somehow missed until late in the day, not sure why that is. Anyway, this is just another example of why I've always wanted Phil Gramm to be president of the United States and why that can never, ever, happen.

Discussion: The Jed Report

Ben / Think Progress:

Barnes Defends Gramm: Americans Are ‘Whining All The Way Through’ The Bad Economy — Last night on Fox News's Special Report, the “All-Star panel” discussed top McCain adviser Phill Gramm's recent controversial remarks that regarding the economy, the U.S. has become a “nation of whiners” and the U.S. is merely in a “mental recession.”

Discussion: Wonkette, BuzzFlash.org, The Caucus and Pajamas Media

Bill Scher / The Huffington Post:
Phil Gramm Is Conservatism

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, The Washington Independent, Sadly, No!, Grasping Reality …, Right Wing Nut House and Jonathan Martin's Blogs

Los Angeles Times:

McCain's broken marriage and fractured Reagan friendship — Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, walks with former first lady Nancy Reagan. Mrs. Reagan endorsed the Republican presidential candidate Tuesday, March 25, 2008 in Bel Air, Calif.

Discussion: AMERICAblog News, The Corner, The Carpetbagger Report, The BRAD BLOG, Blue Girl, Red State, Bucks Right, Cogitamus, Wonkette, The Other McCain, Eschaton, Sister Toldjah and Oliver Willis

Matthew Mosk / Washington Post:

Donors Asked To Give for Two — The fundraising machine Sen. Barack Obama is relying on to overwhelm Sen. John McCain this fall has shown signs of wear in recent weeks, as Internet contributions have slowed and efforts to recruit top donors to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign have been beset by lingering tensions.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Talking Points Memo, Newsweek Blogs, Political Buzz, TIME.com, The G Spot, MyDD, Spin Cycle, Redstate, protein wisdom, Prairie Weather and Open Left

Michael Luo / The Caucus:
Lax on Its List of ‘Bundlers,’ the Obama Campaign Names Names

Discussion: New York Times, Ben Smith's Blogs, Comedy Central, TIME.com and Daily Kos

Matthew Yglesias: The Cash Machine — The Washington Post reports that Barack Obama …

Martha Raddatz / ABCNEWS:

Obama's Iraq Withdrawal Plan May Prove Difficult — U.S. Commanders in Iraq Warn of Security Dangers, See Logistical Nightmare — Whatever nuance Barack Obama is now adding to his Iraq withdrawal strategy, the core plan on his Web site is as plain as day: Obama would “immediately begin to remove our troops from Iraq.

Discussion: Commentary, Austin Bay Blog, The Strata-Sphere, TIME.com, The Glittering Eye and Confederate Yankee

Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:
OBAMA vs. THE BRASS....If this Martha Raddatz piece at ABC News …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, democracyarsenal.org and Hot Air

Washington Wire:

Hagel to Join Obama on Iraq Trip — Susan Davis reports on the presidential race. — The buzz this week that Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska is planning to join Sen. Barack Obama on an up-coming visit to Iraq is correct, two sources with knowledge of the trip confirmed Friday.

Discussion: Hotline On Call, TIME.com and Donklephant

Spiegel Online:

German Politicians Are in an Obama Tizzy — The kerfuffle over Barack Obama's possible Brandenburg Gate appearance later this month just won't die down. Merkel's government has its doubts, but some in her own party don't see the big deal. — The debate surrounding the impending Berlin visit …

Discussion: The Daily Dish, protein wisdom, Ben Smith's Blogs, Talking Points Memo, TPM Election Central, Sister Toldjah, Prairie Weather, Weekly Standard Blog and The Campaign Spot

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Brandenburg Gate gate

Discussion: The Trail, Across The Pond, TPM Election Central and TIME.com

Erik Kirschbaum / Reuters: Germany denies Bush thwarted Obama speech

Jaime Sneider / Weekly Standard Blog:

Democrats Are Distancing Themselves from Obama — When it comes to offshore drilling, a growing number of Obama's Senate colleagues are distancing themselves from his steadfast opposition. They're even starting to side openly with McCain's proposal to allow it.

Discussion: Hot Air

Jack Torry / The Columbus Dispatch:
Do we lift the ban on offshore drilling?

Discussion: MyDD, Ben Smith's Blogs and OPENERS

John O. McGinnis / Wall Street Journal:

Who Will Be President? — An obscure government agency will soon decide whether citizens can get hold of information essential to modern democratic decision making. On Monday, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission began to analyze whether to create a safe harbor for prediction markets in the U.S. …

PZ Myers / Pharyngula:

Fight back against Bill Donohue! — So far today, I have received 39 pieces of personal hate mail of varying degrees of literacy, all because I was rude to a cracker. Four of them have included death threats, a personal one day record. Thirty-four of them have demanded that I be fired.

Discussion: The Daily Dish, Daily Kos, Lean Left, Jesus' General, pandagon.net, Gateway Pundit, Hullabaloo, Confederate Yankee, Blog of the Moderate Left, American Street, Blue Girl, Red State, Vox Popoli, Whiskey Fire and Sadly, No!

Josh Kraushaar / The Crypt's Blogs:

DCCC reserves ad time in 31 districts — The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has reserved nearly $35 million on television advertisements in 31 House districts in for the fall campaign, offering a sneak preview of the central campaign battlegrounds and the party's most vulnerable incumbents.

Discussion: Naked Politics

James L. / Swing State Project:
DCCC Reserves $35M in Air Time For 31 Races (Updated)

Discussion: Daily Kos and MyDD

Matthew Yglesias:

By Request: Does This Blog Suck? Do All Blogs Suck? — DeliciousPundit asks “What'd you think about David Appell's smackdown of you?” — The only thing I have to say to defend myself from those charges is that I don't think the post was really about why I suck, it was about why the punditsphere …

Discussion: Open Left, MoJoBlog, Donklephant and The Glittering Eye

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:

McCain ad: “God's Children” — Team McCain has its latest ad out today, taken from a New Hampshire debate in June 2007, when John McCain soliloquized on the contributions of Hispanic citizens and residents to our efforts in Vietnam and Iraq. Titled “God's Children”, the ad matches imagery to McCain's impromptu salute:

Discussion: Marc Ambinder, The Caucus, The Daily Dish, The Impolitic, Political Machine, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Campaign Spot and The Other McCain

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:

Wolfson: Clinton not being vetted ‘as far as I know’ — On Fox, former Clinton chief strategist Howard Wolfson indicated that Hillary Clinton is not being formally considered as Obama's running mate, in that she has not been asked to undergo the formal vetting process.

Discussion: Marc Ambinder, VP Watch, The Field on the Narcosphere, The Swamp, TIME.com, Associated Press, NO QUARTER, Taylor Marsh, TPM Election Central, MyDD, Spin Cycle, Wonkette, MSNBC and Open Left

Amanda / Think Progress:

After Voting Against Equal Pay Legislation, McCain Claims He's ‘Committed To Equal Pay For Equal Work’ — Today, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) participated in a town hall meeting in Wisconsin. During the discussion, he claimed that he is a strong supporter of equal pay for women and other workers:

Discussion: Wonk Room, The Carpetbagger Report, Hullabaloo, TIME.com and Center for American Progress

Marrecca Fiore / Fox News:

Teen Pregnancy Rate Hits 15-Year High — The teen pregnancy rate is up for the first time since 1991, while the percentage of teens who smoke has hit a 10-year low, according to a report released Friday by the National Institutes of Health. — Between 2005 and 2006, the number …

Discussion: Jezebel and Blog of the Moderate Left