memeorandum: Ya can't make it up — The New Yorker says it's satire. (Mike Allen/Jonathan Martin's Blogs)

1:05 AM ET, July 14, 2008

Top Items:

‘Scare tactic’ — Obama slams Muslim portrayal — The Obama campaign is condemning as “tasteless and offensive” a New Yorker magazine cover that depicts Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) in a turban, fist-bumping his gun-slinging wife. — An American flag burns in their fireplace. — The New Yorker says it's satire.

Discussion: Hot Air, HorsesAss.Org, Top of the Ticket, American Power, Polimom Says, BLACKFIVE, Taylor Marsh, Ketchup and Caviar, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Blue Girl, Red State, Riehl World View, Macsmind and Gateway Pundit

Mike Allen / Jonathan Martin's Blogs:

Ya can't make it up — The New Yorker says it's satire. It certainly will be candy for cable news. — At a press availability Sunday afternoon in San Diego, Senator Obama was asked, according to the diligent Maria Gavrilovic of CBS News: “The upcoming issue of the New Yorker …

Discussion: The New Republic, Pajamas Media, TIME.com, Althouse, JammieWearingFool, The Volokh Conspiracy, Doug Ross, The Strata-Sphere and Moonbattery

Zzaki / Political Punch:

Obama Camp Hammers New ‘Ironic’ New Yorker Cover Depicting Conspiracists' Nightmare of Real Obamas — The sophisticates at The New Yorker have come up with a cover that is sure to get the magazine a lot of attention. Negative attention. From their friends.

Discussion: Feministe, AMERICAblog News, The Daily Dish, Newshoggers.com, Wake up America, The Raw Story, Pensito Review and Michelle Obama Watch

Nico Pitney / The Huffington Post:

Barry Blitt Defends His New Yorker Cover Art Of Obama — Barry Blitt is the artist behind this week's very controversial New Yorker cover of Barack and Michelle Obama. Via email, I asked him to respond to those who feel that his work was offensive, and to explain his own personal feelings about the Obamas.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs

The Huffington Post:

Yikes! Controversial New Yorker Cover Shows Muslim, Flag-Burning, Osama-Loving, Fist-Bumping Obama — Who knows if they'll get this in Dubuque, but they sure aren't going to like it in Chicago: This week's New Yorker cover features an image of Michelle and Barack Obama …

Discussion: TalkLeft, FOX Embeds, The Confluence and The Daily Dish

Jeff Zeleny / New York Times:
Troops in Afghanistan Need Help, Obama Says

Discussion: TalkLeft and New York Times

Stephen Labaton / New York Times:

Treasury Acts to Save Mortgage Giants — WASHINGTON — Alarmed by the sharply eroding confidence in the nation's two largest mortgage finance companies, the Bush administration on Sunday asked Congress to approve a sweeping rescue package that would give officials the power to inject billions …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, EconLog, TPMCafe, Economist's View, Connecting.the.Dots, RADAMISTO and The Agonist

Bloomberg:

Paulson Statement on Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae: Full Text — July 13 (Bloomberg) — Following is the text of a statement issued today by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson: — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac play a central role in our housing finance system and must continue to do so in their current form as shareholder-owned companies.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Board of Governors …, Mish's Global Economic …, naked capitalism, Swampland, the talking dog and Emptywheel

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Fannie, Freddie and You — And now we've reached the next stage of our seemingly never-ending financial crisis. This time Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are in the headlines, with dire warnings of imminent collapse. How worried should we be? — Well, I'm going to take a contrarian position …

Discussion: Portfolio.com, Marginal Revolution and Eschaton

David S. Hilzenrath / Washington Post:

Fannie, Freddie Deflected Risk Warnings — For Years, Critics Sounded Alarms About Firms' Thin Capital Reserves — Though the implosion of investor confidence in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac last week was sudden, the worries driving it have been the subject of countless warnings over many years.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and The Volokh Conspiracy

Stephen Labaton / New York Times:
Bush Offers Plan to Save Fannie, Freddie

Discussion: BloggingStocks and L.A. Land

Nico Pitney / The Huffington Post:

Mark Sanford Draws A Blank On McCain/Bush Economics — The most painful clip from the Sunday morning shows: top McCain VP prospect Mark Sanford “drawing a blank” (in his own words) on live TV when asked to name a major economic policy that President Bush and John McCain disagree on. — The transcript:

Discussion: AMERICAblog News and RADAMISTO

Ezra Klein / American Prospect:
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MCCAIN AND BUSH IS, UH, UM, AH, ERR...

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, The Trail and Matthew Yglesias

Stephen F. Hayes / Weekly Standard:
The Enthusiasm Gap, Part II

Discussion: Hullabaloo and TIME.com

Ali / Think Progress:
Fiorina: ‘To Say McCain Was Aligned With Bush On Iraq Is To Change History’

Discussion: Blue Girl, Red State, Crooks and Liars, Matthew Yglesias and Eschaton

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. — KEYWORDS

Discussion: The Corner, Eunomia and The New Republic

New York Post:
EGO-BAMA, SWALLOW SOME OF THAT PRIDE

Discussion: TBogg, pandagon.net, Macsmind and Viking Pundit

The Big Trunk / Power Line:
THE RESISTIBLE RISE OF BARACK OBAMA

Discussion: Flopping Aces, The Sundries Shack, www.redstate.com and Sister Toldjah

Gallup:

Gallup Daily: Presidential Preferences Remain in “the Zone” — Presidential race has been highly stable for the last two weeks — PRINCETON, NJ — Barack Obama wins the support of 46% of national registered voters interviewed in Gallup Poll Daily tracking from July 10-12, while John McCain is not far behind with 43%.

Discussion: American Spectator, Scared Monkeys, The Strata-Sphere and FiveThirtyEight.com

MsUnderestimated:

WESTBORO BAPTIST CHURCH TO PICKET TONY SNOW'S FUNERAL — Dear God, please let the Patriot Guard Riders know about this ahead of time. The Phelps gang is ready to strike, and they outline their intent here. — Please pass this along to all who can get the word out so we can stop these fools.

Discussion: NewsBusters.org

CNN:

CNN exclusive: Obama on foreign policy — Editor's note: Fareed Zakaria is a pre-eminent foreign affairs analyst and hosts “Fareed Zakaria: GPS” on CNN at 1 p.m. ET Sunday. — (CNN) — Sen. Barack Obama discussed his vision for the world in a wide-ranging foreign policy discussion with CNN's Fareed Zakaria.

Discussion: Jihad Watch, Connecting.the.Dots and Macsmind

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 …