Top Items:
Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
May We Mock, Barack? — When I interviewed Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert for Rolling Stone a couple years ago, I wondered what Barack Obama would mean for them. — “It seems like a President Obama would be harder to make fun of than these guys,” I said. — “Are you kidding me?” Stewart scoffed.
Greg Sargent / TPM Election Central:
Obama Campaign Criticizes New York Times Story On Poll — The Obama campaign is taking issue with The New York Times this morning over the paper's front-page piece today on the Times poll released last night, critiquing the story for omitting a great deal of the paper's own poll polling data …
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Michael Tomasky / Guardian:
The election is about the Republican party's failures — It's about John McCain and the failed policies and stale ideas of the Republican party — When Barack Obama sewed up the Democratic nomination, I wrote that he needed to do five things: redefine himself, redefine John McCain …
New York Times:
Poll Finds Obama's Run Isn't Closing Divide on Race
Poll Finds Obama's Run Isn't Closing Divide on Race
Discussion:
The New Republic, Marc Ambinder, TownHall Blog, MSNBC, Washington Wire, protein wisdom, Ben Smith's Blogs, A Tiny Revolution, Commentary, First Draft, The Carpetbagger Report, Washington Post, Think Progress, Swampland, Open Left, The Swamp, Political Punch, Hot Air, Democratic Strategist and LiberalOasis
Jerome Armstrong / MyDD:
BlogOsphere — While Obama was making the case that McCain flip-flops …
BlogOsphere — While Obama was making the case that McCain flip-flops …
Discussion:
The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Shakesville, Jonathan Martin's Blogs and Rasmussen Reports
Washington Post:
The Iron Timetable — BARACK OBAMA yesterday accused President Bush and Sen. John McCain of rigidity on Iraq: “They said we couldn't leave when violence was up, they say we can't leave when violence is down.” Mr. Obama then confirmed his own foolish consistency.
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Wall Street Journal:
The New Reality in Iraq — All of the most important objectives of the surge have been accomplished in Iraq. The sectarian civil war is ended; al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) has been dealt a devastating blow; and the Sadrist militia and other Iranian-backed militant groups have been disrupted.
CNN:
New Moveon ad takes aim at McCain's Iraq policy — (CNN)— Sen. John McCain's Iraq policy is front-and-center in a new Moveon.org ad Wednesday taking aim at the Arizona senator's unwillingness to stake out a timeline for redeployment of troops from Iraq. — “In Chicago, in Saint Louis and Seattle …
Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:
So Popular and So Spineless — Much ink has been spilled lately decrying the decline in American popularity around the world under President Bush. Polls tell us how China is now more popular in Asia than America and how few Europeans say they identify with the United States.
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Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Tom Friedman doesn't understand why America is unpopular in the world — Tom Friedman is befuddled. He cannot understand “the decline in American popularity around the world under President Bush” and is specifically upset about the fact that “China is now more popular in Asia than America …
Anita Huslin / Washington Post:
On the Outside Now, Watching Fannie Falter — In the four years since he stepped down as Fannie Mae's chief executive under the shadow of a $6.3 billion accounting scandal, Franklin D. Raines has been quietly constructing a new life for himself. He has shaved eight points off his golf handicap …
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Joe / Joe. My. God.:
Elizabeth Dole Says “F**k You” To Americans Who Died From AIDS — This is unbelievable. Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) wants to rename the the current AIDS relief bill after Jesse Helms. … Jesse Helms, the man who in 1987 described AIDS prevention literature as “so obscene, so revolting, I may throw up.”
Discussion:
MoJoBlog, The Huffington Post, Wonkette, The Bilerico Project, pandagon.net, DownWithTyranny! and Eschaton
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Amir Shah / Associated Press:
US troops pull out of Afghan base after attack — KABUL, Afghanistan — U.S. troops abandoned a remote outpost in eastern Afghanistan where militants killed nine American soldiers this week and insurgents briefly overran the area, officials said Wednesday, underlining the difficulties faced by forces in the border region.
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Elaine Sciolino / New York Times:
Policy Shift Seen in U.S. Decision on Iran Talks — PARIS — The decision by the Bush administration to send a senior American official to participate in international talks with Iran this weekend reflects a double policy shift in the struggle to resolve the impasse over the country's nuclear program..
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Lydia Saad / Gallup:
Congressional Approval Hits Record-Low 14% — Democrats less positive than Republicans about Congress — PRINCETON, NJ — Congress' job approval rating has dropped five percentage points over the past month, from 19% in June to 14% in July, making the current reading the lowest congressional …
Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:
Hillary Clinton launches fundraising for 2012 already! — Just six weeks after reluctantly surrendering to Barack Obama in the brutal 2008 Democratic primary race, Sen. Hillary Clinton has begun raising money for what she says is her 2012 New York Senate reelection campaign.
Alex Johnson / MSNBC:
Gay tourism ad causes uproar in S.C. — State cancels contract, faces investigation after posters plaster London — A state employee has resigned and officials have disavowed an international advertising campaign that led to calls for an investigation of tourism posters proclaiming “South Carolina is so gay.”
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Planned Parenthood Action Fund: ‘Simple Question’ — Planned Parenthood Action Fund is launching a televised campaign against Senator John McCain on cable in some swing states today. — The ad uses McCain's evident discomfort with a question about whether it's “unfair” …
Michael M. Grynbaum / New York Times:
Consumer Prices, Driven by Fuel, Surge 1.1% in June — A crucial measure of inflation rose at its fastest rate in 17 years, the government said on Wednesday, just a day after the chairman of the Federal Reserve warned that inflation poses a significant risk to the nation's economic outlook.
Matthew Yglesias:
The Trouble With Sam's Club — I keep meaning to write this, but in my view the big flaw with Grand New Party qua book is that its analysis of why the GOP is the way it is struck me as very superficial and shallow. The book is very good on the nature of the GOP's predicament and on possible ways …