Top Items:
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.”
Discussion:
Confederate Yankee, MyDD, American Street, Real Clear Politics, Gateway Pundit and The Fix
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Washington Post:
As Aides Map Aggressive Race, McCain Often Steers Off Course — Sen. John McCain last week delivered one of his sharpest critiques yet of Sen. Barack Obama's Iraq policies, carefully reading a prepared speech that accused his Democratic rival of failing the commander-in-chief test …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Jonathan Martin's Blogs, The Politico, The Carpetbagger Report and TIME.com
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 …
Zzaki / Political Punch:
Did Obama Accuse McCain of Running a Racist, Xenophobic Campaign? — “John McCain right now, he's spending an awful lot of time talking about me,” Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., said today in Rolla, Mo. “You notice that? I haven't seen an ad yet where he talks about what he's gonna do.
Wall Street Journal:
Roles Are Set, as Are the Perils — Obama at Risk Of Arrogant Tag, McCain, Negative — AURORA, Colo. — Presidential rivals Barack Obama and John McCain both appear to be seizing the roles in which they have been cast: Sen. Obama as front-runner and Sen. McCain as underdog.
Daniel Henninger / Wall Street Journal:
Is John McCain Stupid? — Is John McCain losing it? — On Sunday, he said on national television that to solve Social Security “everything's on the table,” which of course means raising payroll taxes. On July 7 in Denver he said: “Senator Obama will raise your taxes. I won't.”
Mike Glover / Associated Press:
Obama says Republicans trying to scare voters — SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) - Democrat Barack Obama, the first black candidate with a shot at winning the White House, says John McCain and his Republican allies will try to scare them by saying Obama “doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills.”
Marc Ambinder:
Hit Me, Davis, One More Time — A night's sleep a few thoughts on celebrity, John McCain;'s ad, celebrity, and what voters will make of all of this. — 1. John McCain is the Republican least associated with the Bush brand of politics. His appeal is based on his independence …
Glenn Reynolds / Pajamas Media:
GAFFE-O-MATIC: … Isn't there just one President on the dollar bill?
GAFFE-O-MATIC: … Isn't there just one President on the dollar bill?
Discussion:
www.redstate.com
Matt Apuzzo / Associated Press:
US judge: White House aides can be subpoenaed — WASHINGTON - President Bush's top advisers are not immune from congressional subpoenas, a federal judge ruled Thursday in an unprecedented dispute between the two political branches. — House Democrats called the ruling a ringing endorsement …
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Gomonkeygo / The New Disease:
What's the Word, John? — Miscegenation (Latin miscere “to mix” + genus “kind") is the mixing of different racial groups, that is, marrying, cohabiting, having sexual relations and having children with a partner from outside of one's racially or ethnically defined group. — Obama. Britney.
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Rick Perlstein / Blog entry:
Liberal Fascism — Recall that John McCain's new adviser Karl Rove …
Liberal Fascism — Recall that John McCain's new adviser Karl Rove …
Discussion:
BAGnewsNotes
Associated Press:
Obama-Clinton ticket advocacy group shuts down — WASHINGTON (AP) — An effort to urge Barack Obama to pick former rival Hillary Rodham Clinton as his running mate is shutting down under the assumption she is not a contender for the No. 2 spot. — The two former Clinton staffers who started …
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Jennifer Parker / Political Radar:
Clinton Supporter Angered By ‘Other Women’ Obama VP Talk
Clinton Supporter Angered By ‘Other Women’ Obama VP Talk
Discussion:
PSoTD
Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Obama's Veep Vetting Enters New Stage — Barack Obama's vice presidential vetting process has moved into a new stage in which a larger than previously reported group of candidates is being exposed to a “deeper dig” into their backgrounds — in the words of a source familiar with the process.
Discussion:
Political Radar, Associated Press, MSNBC, Donklephant, Jonathan Martin's Blogs and Taegan Goddard's …
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Marty Kaplan / The Huffington Post:
On Having Your (Political) Heart Broken — The e-mail came when I was in Mexico, at a fitness resort that — in pursuit of wellness — confines BlackBerry use to guests' rooms. — “Need to chat briefly with you regarding John Edwards and the effects of this scandal on his future political career.”
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Tuned In:
McCain Tries to Britney-fy Obama — I haven't been spending much time picking apart campaign ads in this election, because I know enough about what I don't know about that I don't want to pretend to be factcheck.org. But in his newest ad, John McCain has come into Tuned In's house …
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Aaron C. Davis / Washington Post:
Police Raid Berwyn Heights Mayor's Home, Kill His 2 Dogs — A police SWAT team raided the home of the mayor in the Prince George's County town of Berwyn Heights on Tuesday, shooting and killing his two dogs, after he brought in a 32-pound package of marijuana that had been delivered to his doorstep, police said.
Discussion:
Reason Magazine
Publications:
Homeward Bound: Recent Immigration Enforcement and the Decline in the Illegal Alien Population — Monthly data collected by the Census Bureau through May 2008 shows a significant decline in the number of less-educated, young Hispanic immigrants in the country.
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, The Swamp, Newsday, Front page feed, Stop The ACLU, ImmigrationProf Blog, ParaPundit and Immigration Chronicles
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.
Discussion:
TIME.com
Steve Hargreaves / CNNMoney.com:
Exxon posts record $11.68 billion profit — World's largest publicly traded oil firm makes $1,485.55 a second in the quarter, but misses forecasts. — NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Exxon Mobil once again reported the largest quarterly profit in U.S. history Thursday, posting net income …