Top Items:
Spiegel Online:
Obama Calls Berlin a ‘Symbol of the Victory of Hope’ — US Presidential Candidate Barack Obama started his much-anticipated trip to Germany on Thursday, and the expectations are massive. SPIEGEL ONLINE will be following his every move through Berlin with its Live Ticker.
Discussion:
Crooks and Liars, FP Passport, The Campaign Spot, NewsBusters.org, Pajamas Media, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and TIME.com
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Marc Ambinder:
Obama Team Begins Work On Presidential Transition — With less than six months to go before he would be sworn in as the nation's 44th president, Sen. Barack Obama has directed his aides to begin planning for the transition. — “Barack is well aware of the complexity and the organizational …
Discussion:
Hot Air, Commentary, Political Machine, Taegan Goddard's …, The Other McCain, Salon, Fox News, TIME.com, Boston Globe and JammieWearingFool
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Competing optics: Cheering Germans or American military? Update: Snubbing wounded soldiers? Update: Touring Berlin instead? — I guess this is a question of priorities. Barack Obama apparently ran short on time in his visit to Germany today, and travelers know how schedules can slip during long tours …
Jaketapper / Political Punch:
Obama On Tonight's Berlin Speech: “A Crapshoot” — How does one prepare to speak to a million screaming Germans? — I asked Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, this question as he boarded O Force One and came back to the reporters' veal pen before the plane took off from Tel Aviv, Israel to Berlin, Germany.
Discussion:
Weekly Standard Blog, Power Line, The Trail, The Carpetbagger Report, Political Radar, Wonkette and TPM Election Central
Michael Saul / NY Daily News:
GOP gripes: So we're running vs. Prez Bam?
GOP gripes: So we're running vs. Prez Bam?
Discussion:
Weekly Standard Blog
Matthew Yglesias:
Beetle in a Box — So John McCain said the surge led to the Anbar Awakening even though the Awakening, in fact, happened before the surge began. So he's ignorant. Or maybe dishonest. But now we learn he's also rather stubborn: … Shawn Brimley tries to bring common sense to bear on this …
Discussion:
democracyarsenal.org, Gun Toting Liberal Blog, TBogg, Obsidian Wings, Buck Naked Politics, Donklephant, The Carpetbagger Report, D-Day and CNN
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Michael Cooper / New York Times:
Candidates Spar Over Troop Surge and Iraq Chronology
Candidates Spar Over Troop Surge and Iraq Chronology
Discussion:
FP Passport, The Reaction, Informed Comment, www.redstate.com, Blue Girl, Red State and democracyarsenal.org
Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:
McCain Makes Significant Gains in Four Key Battleground States — Majority of Voters in Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin Favor Keeping Troops in Iraq, According to Quinnipiac-washingtonpost.com- Wall Street Journal Survey — Republican John McCain has quickly closed …
Discussion:
The New Republic, Power Line, The Fix, No More Mister Nice Blog, Hot Air, Macsmind, The Monkey Cage, Sister Toldjah and Boston Globe
David S. Broder / Washington Post:
Obama's Tour de Force — It made no sense when Barack Obama left the country on his nine-day overseas tour for some of my fellow columnists to describe it as a high-risk venture. — Foreign leaders, who can read the polls as well as anyone, would go out of their way not to embarrass a man who may …
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Ilan Goldenberg / American Prospect:
Why McCain Should Embrace Withdrawal
Why McCain Should Embrace Withdrawal
Discussion:
Newshoggers.com
Michael D. Shear / Washington Post:
McCain Still Waiting for His Turn at Good Luck
McCain Still Waiting for His Turn at Good Luck
Discussion:
Truthdig
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Sorry We Asked, Sorry You Told — Don't ask, don't tell. And, whatever you do, don't ask Elaine Donnelly to tell you what she thinks about gays in the military. — The House Armed Services personnel subcommittee made just such a miscalculation yesterday.
NEWS.com.au:
Moon-walker claims alien contact cover-up — FORMER NASA astronaut and moon-walker Dr Edgar Mitchell - a veteran of the Apollo 14 mission - has stunningly claimed aliens exist. — And he says extra-terrestrials have visited Earth on several occasions - but the alien contact …
Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
GOP losing the new-media war — Republicans have no lack of would-be George F. Wills. — But what they really need are some more Robert D. Novaks. — The distinction between the two prominent conservative journalists isn't always obvious, but it's nevertheless important to understand …
Mark Murray / MSNBC:
FIRST THOUGHTS: OBAMA'S ELECTION TO WIN — From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro — *** Obama's election to win: How important has this overseas trip been for Obama? Look no further than our latest NBC/WSJ poll, which has Obama leading McCain by six points (47%-41%), unchanged from last month.
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Wall Street Journal:
Voter Unease With Obama Lingers Despite His Lead — Poll Finds Background, Experience Are Advantages for McCain — WASHINGTON — Midway through the election year, the presidential campaign looks less like a race between two candidates than a referendum on one of them — Sen. Barack Obama.
Discussion:
TownHall Blog, SFGate, The Carpetbagger Report, The Strata-Sphere and Democratic Strategist
WJLA-TV:
Source: Novak's Victim Worse Than First Thought — The pedestrian who was struck by prominent Washington columnist and commentator Robert Novak is in worse shape than first thought, a hospital source tells ABC 7 News. — The victim, a 66-year-old man, appeared somewhat incoherent, said the source who had seen the victim.
Discussion:
MoJoBlog, The LA Times President …, Matthew Yglesias, TMZ.com, DCist, Macsmind, Washington Post and The Democratic Daily
Matthew Yglesias:
The Party of Cheetos — I'm a pretty regular Morning Joe watcher as it happens, and I even caught some of yesterday's broadcast. But I missed the part where Joe Scarborough made a ludicrous defense of John McCain screwing up the chronology of events in Iraq and then launched into an unhinged attack on, well, me and my friends:
Discussion:
ATTACKERMAN
ACLU:
Documents Released by the CIA and Justice Department in Response to the ACLU's Torture FOIA — Contains “communications from the CIA to OLC on a matter in which the CIA requested legal advice from OLC” and shows that CIA interrogators were permitted to use both “Standard Techniques” and …
National Enquirer:
JOHN EDWARDS LOVE CHILD — UPDATE: The NATIONAL ENQUIRER is revealing new details about the political scoop we broke yesterday - the secret meeting between Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards and Rielle Hunter. — A team of ENQUIRER reporters caught the married ex-senator visiting …