My Plan for Iraq  —  THE call by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki for a timetable for the removal of American troops from Iraq presents an enormous opportunity.  We should seize this moment to begin the phased redeployment of combat troops that I have long advocated …

David Remnick On That New Yorker Cover: It's Satire, Meant To Target “Distortions And Misconceptions And Prejudices” About Obama  —  Earlier today, the New Yorker released its cover for the July 21, 2008 issue — and the reaction was swift and furious.  —  The cover by Barry Blitt, called …

McCain's Hillary Problem  —  He's running her same campaign.  And she lost.  —  Feel free to tell me I'm nuts for asking the question, but doesn't it seem that, more and more, the McCain campaign is turning into the Clinton campaign?  —  The comparison smacked me upside the head last week …

Terrorist Watch List Hits One Million Names  —  ACLU launches online watch list complaint form  —  Contact: (202) 675-2312 or media@dcaclu.org  —  WASHINGTON, DC - The nation's terrorist watch list has hit one million names, according to a tally maintained by the American Civil Liberties Union based upon …

Krugman on the GSEs  —  Paul Krugman has a new column on Fannie and Freddie which I think is important.  I'm going to take issue with a fair amount of it, but not with the basic argument that the uproar over the GSEs is “overblown.”  That, I think is a point worth making.

DO YOUR JOB: STOP IGNORING SCHEUNEMANN'S PAST  —  As you can see, the McCain campaign is moving ahead with a new stab-in-the-back style attack on Obama over Iraq.  But as Team McCain is raising the volume on these slash-and-burn style attacks, it's time for some coverage of the guy who's McCain's brain on Iraq.

McCain's Perez Hilton Problem  —  It's no secret that last week was not a good one for John McCain.  His old friend, Phil Gramm, demonstrated such a sad case of foot in mouth disease with his “mental recession” line that it was almost as though Gramm was acting as an Obama campaign covert operative.

AP Stringer Stands by as Taliban Murder 2 Women, Gets Snuff Footage [UPDATE: Worse than Bilal Hussein!]  [UPDATE: Confirmed: Took Video of Murder]  —  AP photographer Rahmatullah Naikzad was a witness to a Taliban murder.  The two women were alleged to have been prostitutes who served Western clientèle.

Election 2008: Michigan Presidential Election  —  Michigan: Obama's Lead Grows to 8%  —  Barack Obama has more than doubled his lead over John McCain to eight percentage points in the economic battleground state of Michigan, with much of his new support coming from voters who have moved away from the Republican hopeful.

Citigroup's $1.1 Trillion of Mysterious Assets Shadows Earnings  —  At an investor presentation in May, Citigroup Inc. Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit said shrinking the bank's $2.2 trillion balance sheet, the biggest in the U.S., was a cornerstone of his turnaround plan.

Is Fournier saving or destroying the AP?  —  Ron Fournier says he regards Sandy Johnson, his predecessor as head of The Associated Press's Washington bureau, as “a mentor.”  —  Johnson, though, regards Fournier, who replaced her in a hard-feelings shake-up in May, as a threat …

McCains to Profit on Anheuser, InBev Deal  —  T. W. Farnam reports on the presidential race.  —  Cindy McCain, wife of Republican presidential candidate John McCain, is set to get a huge payout from the sale of Anheuser-Busch Cos., brewer of Budweiser and hundreds of other brands, to Belgian beverage giant InBev NV.

Bush lifts executive ban on offshore drilling  —  President Bush lifted an executive ban on offshore oil and gas drilling Monday, putting more pressure on congressional Democrats to address GOP calls to open more acreage for domestic energy exploration.  —  The executive ban …

McLaughlin takes heat for ‘Oreo’ comment  —  (CNN) — Longtime Washington talk-show host John McLaughlin is facing fire Monday for referring to Barack Obama as an “Oreo” during a segment on his Sunday political program, “The McLaughlin Group.  —  The veteran Washington journalist was discussing …

Iglesias: Ashcroft Was ‘Pushed Out’ Because He ‘Refused To Sign Off On The Warrantless Wiretaps’  —  In March 2004, then-acting Attorney General James Comey refused to sign an order extending President Bush's warrantless domestic spying program “amid concerns about its legality and oversight.”

Success in Iraq  —  The war continues to abate in Iraq.  Violence is still present, but, of course, Iraq was a relatively violent place long before Coalition forces moved in.  I would go so far as to say that barring any major and unexpected developments (like an Israeli air strike on Iran …