Top Items:
New York Post:
EGO-BAMA, SWALLOW SOME OF THAT PRIDE — In his pre-campaign book, “The Audacity of Hope,” Barack Obama proclaims, “I find comfort in the fact that the longer I'm in politics the less nourishing popularity becomes, that a striving for rank and fame seems to betray a poverty of ambition …
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Ryan Lizza / New Yorker:
MAKING IT — How Chicago shaped Obama. — Barack Obama on the South Side during his first campaign, for the State Senate. An outsider in Chicago's system, he was meticulous about constructing his own political identity and coalition. Photograph by Marc PoKempner.
The Big Trunk / Power Line:
THE RESISTIBLE RISE OF BARACK OBAMA — Jonah Goldberg devotes a good column to the thesis that Barack Obama believes in nothing more than he believes in himself. He collects quotes that illustrate Obama's adolescent grandiosity, a grandiosity that was dramatically on display in his treatment of Jeremiah Wright.
Stephen F. Hayes / Weekly Standard:
The Enthusiasm Gap, Part II — Conservative voters remain uninspired by the McCain campaign. — Standing on a stage at an auto-parts manufacturing facility in this small town west of Detroit, John McCain reacquainted himself with his enthusiasm gap. — Rich Keenan owns the Old Glory Flags …
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Ali / Think Progress:
Fiorina: ‘To Say McCain Was Aligned With Bush On Iraq Is To Change History’ — This morning on NBC's Meet the Press, Carly Fiorina, surrogate for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), defended McCain's record on Iraq. She insisted he had stood up to President Bush and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld repeatedly …
Ezra Klein / American Prospect:
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MCCAIN AND BUSH IS, UH, UM, AH, ERR...
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MCCAIN AND BUSH IS, UH, UM, AH, ERR...
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias
Nico Pitney / The Huffington Post:
Mark Sanford Draws A Blank On McCain/Bush Economics
Mark Sanford Draws A Blank On McCain/Bush Economics
Discussion:
AMERICAblog News
Karen DeYoung / Washington Post:
U.S., Iraq Scale Down Negotiations Over Forces — Long-Term Agreement Will Fall to Next President — U.S. and Iraqi negotiators have abandoned efforts to conclude a comprehensive agreement governing the long-term status of U.S troops in Iraq before the end of the Bush presidency …
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Tom Coghlan / Times of London:
Nine US soldiers killed in Afghanistan as Taliban attacks base — Taliban insurgents killed nine US troops when they attempted to overrun an American base as bloody fighting broke out in several parts of Afghanistan today. — Nato reported that the small American Combat Outpost in Dara …
Discussion:
The Jawa Report, The Strata-Sphere, Newshoggers.com, The Agonist, Blue Girl, Red State and The Long War Journal
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Stephen Labaton / New York Times:
Rescue Sought for Fannie and Freddie — WASHINGTON — Alarmed about the sharply eroding confidence in the nation's two largest mortgage finance companies, the Bush administration will ask Congress to approve a rescue package that would give the government the authority to buy billions …
Discussion:
L.A. Land
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Mike Allen / The Politico:
Arnold may consider Obama energy post — California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in an interview aired Sunday that he would be open to the idea of serving as energy czar in a Barack Obama administration. — Regardless of whether he takes that particular job, Schwarzenegger, a Republican …
Greg Mitchell / The Huffington Post:
Shocker: More than 1 in 10 Army Recruits Now Given “Moral Waivers” — It has been rumored by some time that the U.S. Army has had to lower its standards to get enough recruits for its expanded war-fighting needs in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now firm evidence has emerged, and it is not pretty.
N. Gregory Mankiw / New York Times:
What if the Candidates Pandered to Economists? — IN the months to come, John McCain and Barack Obama will be vying for the support of various voting blocs. It is safe to say, however, that one group won't get much attention: economists. — The American Economic Association represents …
Discussion:
Marginal Revolution, The Glittering Eye, PrestoPundit, EconLog, naked capitalism and The Volokh Conspiracy
Frank Rich / New York Times:
The Real-Life ‘24’ of Summer 2008 — WE know what a criminal White House looks like from “The Final Days,” Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's classic account of Richard Nixon's unraveling. The cauldron of lies, paranoia and illegal surveillance boiled over, until it was finally every man …
New York Times:
The Shame of Postville, Iowa — Anyone who has doubts that this country is abusing and terrorizing undocumented immigrant workers should read an essay by Erik Camayd-Freixas, a professor and Spanish-language court interpreter who witnessed the aftermath of a huge immigration workplace raid at a meatpacking plant in Iowa.
Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
No Ice Cream, Senator? — Barack Obama may make it to the Rose Garden, but he'll still be an orchid. For all his attempts to act like a sturdy American perennial, he's a genuine hothouse flower, and everything he is and does is cultivated. — He has been trying of late to show off his dad cred …
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog, Commentary, The American Mind, pandagon.net and American Spectator
Juan Williams / FOX Forum:
A Man Who Loved People, the Gritty Nature of Life and All of the Human Comedy — NPR Senior Correspondent/FOX News Political Contributor — Tony Snow and I traveled parallel paths through Washington. We are a year apart in age -Tony is a year younger at 53 -and both loved politics and debate.
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Times of London:
Stephen Payne: a hotshot lobbyist who can get you into White House — A lobbyist offered access to Dick Cheney and other US leaders in return for a donation to the Bush library — The images on the tiny screen of Stephen Payne's personal organiser told a clear story: this was a man with connections at the highest level.
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