Top Items:
Marty / Martin Eisenstadt's Blog:
Paris Hilton's family fuming at McCain campaign — I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it seems that the new McCain ad criticizing Obama for being a celebrity has ruffled some unintended feathers. I, for one, quite liked the ad, but I hear whispers from the inner campaign staff …
Discussion:
michellemalkin.com, Gun Toting Liberal Blog, The Anonymous Liberal, Wonkette and Blue Girl, Red State
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Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico:
GOP's celeb-Obama message gains traction — Barack Obama's critics laid down the foundations of the strategy months ago: The Republican National Committee started the “Audacity Watch” back in April, and Karl Rove later fueled the attack by describing the first-term Illinois senator as “coolly arrogant.”
Gallup:
Gallup Daily: Obama 45%, McCain 44% — PRINCETON, NJ — The race for the presidency has moved back into a statistical tie in the latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update of national registered voters, with Barack Obama now ahead of John McCain by just one percentage point, 45% to 44%.
Ross Douthat:
Barack Hitler Obama — It's remarkable what those fiendish GOP operatives can squeeze into thirty seconds: Not only does McCain's “celeb” ad have “Barack Obama will rape yo daughters overtones,” says Rick Perlstein (who's apparently under the impression that most Americans think of Paris Hilton …
Mark Murray / MSNBC:
GRAHAM AND LIEBERMAN DEFEND AD — From NBC's Ken Strickland and Andrea Mitchell — Responding to criticism of McCain's recent TV ad depicting Obama as celebrity without substance, two of McCain's key Senate allies fired back in an unrelated news conference.
Discussion:
Wake up America, PoliticalBase.com Blog, The Carpetbagger Report and TPM Election Central
Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:
Where did Barack Obama's mojo go? — Something's going on. Or some things. — A new CNN/Opinion Research poll out Wednesday shows that despite nine solid days of blanket media coverage from overseas with Barack Obama cheered by adoring throngs of Germans and parlez-vousing with the French …
Todd Purdum / Vanity Fair:
The McCain Behind the Curtain — The saddest sight on “Straight Talk Air,” the sleek flying successor to John McCain's one-time rolling caravan of candor, is the couch. It's a soft, tan leather shelf, custom-fitted for high altitude truth-telling when McCain, a former Navy pilot, took his act from the road to the skies this summer.
Matthew Yglesias:
Management By McCain — Kevin Drum's not the only liberal upset by a political press that can't seem to hold John McCain responsible for John McCain's campaign tactics. But isn't the image painted in today's stories — of McCain as a kind of passive bystander to decisions being made on his behalf by his staff — sort of more damning?
Noam Scheiber / The New Republic:
The McCain Ad in South Florida — Contemplating Eve's (and Rick Perlstein's) analogy between the McCain “Celeb” ad and Leni Riefenstahl's greatest hits, it occurs to me that the similarities won't be lost on many elderly Jews in South Florida. My late grandfather, a member of this species …
Discussion:
Blog entry
Dean Barnett / Weekly Standard Blog: About that Ad — As you know, I haven't exactly established myself …
Jonathan Martin / Jonathan Martin's Blogs:
Suggesting the race card and then denying it
Suggesting the race card and then denying it
Discussion:
Sister Toldjah
John Riley / Spin Cycle:
Sex celebs: Why Britney and Paris?
Sex celebs: Why Britney and Paris?
Discussion:
Ross Douthat, The Corner, The Trail, The Carpetbagger Report, The New Republic, Political Punch and MSNBC
Mike Glover / Associated Press:
Obama says Republicans trying to scare voters
Obama says Republicans trying to scare voters
Discussion:
The Hill's Pundits Blog, JustOneMinute, Gateway Pundit, Dean's World, www.redstate.com and Maggie's Farm
Matt Apuzzo / Associated Press:
Federal judge rules Bush's aides can be subpoenaed — WASHINGTON - President Bush's top advisers are not immune from congressional subpoenas, a federal judge ruled Thursday in a long-running dispute between the two political branches. — Congressional Democrats called the ruling …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, The Gavel, Think Progress, Hot Air, DownWithTyranny!, The Carpetbagger Report and On Deadline
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Marty Lederman / Balkinization:
This is Really Pretty Amazing — In a 93-page opinion in the Miers/Bolton contempt case, Judge Bates not only rejects all of the various Administration arguments against justiciability, but goes so far as to reach the merits and hold that there is no basis for the DOJ argument …
David Stout / New York Times:
Judge Rules White House Aides Can Be Subpoenaed — WASHINGTON — President Bush's top advisers must honor subpoenas issued by Congress, a federal judge ruled on Thursday in a case that involves the firings of several United States attorneys but has much wider constitutional implications for all three branches of government.
Michael Scherer / Swampland:
Inside the New Battleground Poll — In the grand cosmos of political polling organizations, Quinnipiac is one of the better ones. So it's worth taking a look at its new summer snapshot of three battleground states—Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The poll was conducted over a full week …
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Faiz / Think Progress:
EXCLUSIVE: To Provoke War, Cheney Considered Proposal To Dress Up Navy Seals As Iranians And Shoot At Them — Speaking at the Campus Progress journalism conference earlier this month, Seymour Hersh — a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist for The New Yorker — revealed that Bush administration officials held …
Raleigh News & Observer:
Facing questions, Edwards evades reporters — It was only three weeks ago that John Edwards was fielding media questions on his chances of filling the Democratic Party's vice presidential slot on Barack Obama's ticket or a potential Cabinet position in an Obama administration.
RELATED:
Julia Werdigier / New York Times:
Rising Oil Prices Swell Profits at Exxon and Shell — Exxon Mobil, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, reported on Thursday that second-quarter income rose 14 percent, to $11.68 billion, the highest-ever for an American company. — Net income of $2.22 a share compared with $10.26 billion …
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Logan Murphy / Crooks and Liars:
PFC LaVena Johnson Was Raped, Beaten, Set On Fire And Worse - Army Calls It Suicide — Nicole and I have both written posts about the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of PFC LaVena Johnson, and Democracy Now! had a heartbreaking interview with her family last week.
Jennifer Parker / Political Radar:
Clinton Supporter Angered By ‘Other Women’ Obama VP Talk — ABC News' Jennifer Parker reports: A longtime friend of Sen. Hillary Clinton said it's “incomprehensible” that Sen. Barack Obama would choose another woman to be his vice-presidential candidate over Sen. Hillary Clinton.