Obama , Couric Spar Over Surge  —  Check out this exchange between CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric and Sen. Barack Obama about why Obama says he still wouldn't have supported the surge back then had he known it would help reduce violence so significantly.

Vanity Fair Covers The New Yorker  —  We here at Vanity Fair maintain a kind of affectionate rivalry with our downstairs neighbors at The New Yorker.  We play softball every year, compete for some of the same stories, and share an elevator bank.  (You can tell the ones who are headed …

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS CAUGHT WITH MISTRESS AND LOVE CHILD!  —  Vice Presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards was caught visiting his mistress and secret love child at 2:40 this morning in a Los Angeles hotel by the NATIONAL ENQUIRER.  —  The married ex-senator from North Carolina …

McCain gaffes pile up; critics pile on  —  Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) said “Iraq” when he apparently meant “Afghanistan” on Monday, adding to a string of mixed-up word choices that is giving ammunition to the opposition.  —  Just in the past three weeks, McCain has also mistaken “Somalia” …

Hell hath no fury like a Maverick spurned  —  So, the McCain camp is trying to have fun with the Obamedia lovefest.  They've posted two music video spoofs and are asking supporters to vote for their favorite.  I agree with the message, of course.  And the vids are well-executed.

Maliki's Endorsement: Not Lost in Translation  —  German magazine Der Spiegel caused quite a commotion this week by printing an interview with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki in which he endorsed Obama's Iraq plan by name.  Some tried to downplay the significance of this endorsement …

Novak: “I Just Put Something on the Internet” (!!)  —  Prince of Darkness tells Fox News Channel: His report about McCain announcing his running mate this week may have been “a dodge” by the campaign to grab some headlines from Obama.  —  The conservative columnist goes on to say he'd gotten the tip from a …

Pickens Tells Offshore Drilling Advocates: 'You're Going To Get A Rude Awakening'  —  Testifying before Sen. Joe Lieberman's (I-CT) Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, conservative Texas billionaire T. Boone Pickens explained his plan to dramatically decrease oil usage by greatly expanding wind power electricity.

Too young for the No. 1 job?  —  Barack Obama is too young to be president.  Yes I know he is 46 and the Constitution sets the presidential age qualification at 35 or higher, but Obama has said that we ought not to interpret the Constitution woodenly and formalistically.

Election 2008: Ohio Presidential Election  —  McCain Opens Modest Lead in Ohio  —  John McCain has opened a modest lead over Barack Obama in the key swing state of Ohio.  The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the Buckeye State shows McCain attracting 46% of the vote while Obama earns 40%.

“Wall Street Got Drunk”: ‘Banned’ Bush Video Surfaces  —  An ABC-TV outlet in Houston, and now the Houston Chronicle, have posted a video taken at a political fundraiser for Pete Olson, featuring George W. Bush last week — capturing some embarrassing/revealing moments after, he noted, he had asked cameras to be turned off.

Obama Photo of the Day  —  As Barack Obama prepares to visit the city of Ramallah in the West Bank, a Palestinian artist sketches Obama among his other portraits of Jesus, “martyred” Hamas terrorist Abdel Aziz Rantisi ("The Pediatrician of Death"), and Che Guevara.  —  With a peace dove, of course.

Stephanopoulos falsely suggested Obama “now” aligned with McCain on more troops in Afghanistan — but Obama has called for more troops for years  —  While discussing Sen. Barack Obama's trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, ABC News' chief Washington correspondent George Stephanopoulos falsely suggested during …

I Can Haz Chart?  —  Stunning stuff as National Review's Peter Robinson asks John Cogan a question: … Ross Douthat is amazed: … One of the top results when I googled for “federal spending share of GDP” was Richard Kogan's article (the “K” makes all the difference) “FEDERAL SPENDING …