OBAMA'S DISHONEST OP-ED  —  In this morning's New York Times, Barack Obama published an op-ed on Iraq that presumably previews his “major speech” on the subject tomorrow.  Even by Obama's standards, the piece is breathtakingly dishonest.  —  Obama admits that he opposed the surge …

Ventura: I'm not running for Senate  —  (CNN) — Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura has decided not to run for U.S. Senate in that state, he told CNN's “Larry King Live” Monday night.  —  Ventura, a former professional wrestler, had said last week he was weighing whether to run.

JAMIE GORELICK'S TIES TO FANNIE MAE AND WHAT SHE'S DOING NOW— In reading this article about Crony Capitalism at Fannie Mae (tip to Instapundit), I noticed that Jamie Gorelick was one of the Fannie executives who benefited from inflated bonuses based on Enron-style accounting.

ONE DOWN, ONE TO GO  —  This morning President Bush rescinded the executive order that has prohibited drilling on the outer continental shelf since 1990.  Many of us have wondered why he didn't do that some time ago.  Rescinding the order will not, of course, allow exploration to go forward …

Want Obama in a Punch Line?  First, Find a Joke  —  What's so funny about Barack Obama?  Apparently not very much, at least not yet.  —  On Monday, The New Yorker magazine tried dipping its toe into broad satire involving Senator Obama with a cover image depicting the presumptive Democratic …

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 …

Matthews Worries ‘Right’ Will Turn New Yorker Cover into T-Shirt  —  On Monday's “Hardball” Chris Matthews was so upset about the New Yorker's cover, depicting Barack Obama in a turban and Michelle Obama toting an AK-47, because he feared “the right will be using that as t-shirt material within the next couple of weeks.”

Fournier to Rove: “Keep Up the Fight”  —  Buried in the 50-page report on Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch released today by the House Oversight Committee, is a priceless quote from none other than the new head of the AP's Washington Bureau, Ron Fournier.  —  Straight from page 21 of the report:

Six Questions for Jane Mayer, Author of The Dark Side  —  In a series of gripping articles, Jane Mayer has chronicled the Bush Administration's grim and furtive dealings with torture and has exposed both the individuals within the administration who “made it happen” (a group that starts …

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.

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 …

Flipping Out  —  So Obama will listen to his generals and consider the facts on the ground before fully withdrawing from Iraq.  OMG!  WTF?  Rick Klein of ABC News exclaimed, “There's been lots of speculation this week about whether Barack Obama has an Iraq problem.  He does now.”

The Surprising Closeness of the Contest  —  Despite a general sentiment that John McCain's campaign has gone through an extremely difficult — and disorganized — past month, a series of recent polls suggest that the Arizona senator remains within striking distance of Barack Obama with less …

Israel, Iran and the Bomb  —  Iran's test salvo of ballistic missiles last week together with recent threatening rhetoric by commanders of the Islamic Republic's Revolutionary Guards emphasizes how close the Middle East is to a fundamental, in fact an irreversible, turning point.

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.

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.