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 …

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 …

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 …

Obama backers on the left are doing the wincing now  —  When Jesse Jackson's Castrato-gate or the Barack Obama Nuts Controversy or whatever you want to call it erupted last week—as captured by the hot microphones of Fox News—terrible cries of pain went unnoticed.

Bush to Lift Executive Ban on Offshore Drilling  —  President Bush to lift executive ban on offshore drilling, urge Congress to act as well  —  The White House says President Bush is planning to lift an executive ban on offshore oil drilling.  —  In a Rose Garden statement on Monday, the president plans to lift the ban.

Denver businesses stiffed by DNC  —  As soon as Charlotte Kulscar heard the Democratic National Committee named Denver its 2008 convention site, she began researching how to get a piece of the estimated $160 million economic impact for her print shop.  —  She thought she had a good shot.

No fuzzy math: State Dems sign up voters 7-1 over GOP  —  TALLAHASSEE - John McCain's Florida problems may be growing: Democratic voters have out-registered Republicans by a nearly 7-to-1 margin since January.  —  State totals show Democrats gained a net of 106,508 voters from January through May …

Lieberman Finds Middle a Tricky Path  —  WASHINGTON — Joseph I. Lieberman, lapsed Democrat of Connecticut, strolled into the weekly lunch of the Senate Democrats last Tuesday, unaccompanied by a food taster.  —  He greeted his colleagues, including some who felt he should not have been there.

McCain takes a Social Security risk  —  The Republican seems willing to consider privatization — and Democrats aim to use that to sway senior voters.  —  WASHINGTON — It was a spectacular flop: a president making dozens of fruitless trips around the country to build support for a plan his own party's leadership refused to accept.

Foreign Courts Take Aim at Our Free Speech  —  Our Constitution is one of our greatest assets in the fight against terrorism.  A free-flowing marketplace of ideas, protected by the First Amendment, enables the ideals of democracy to defeat the totalitarian vision of al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.