One Nation, Under a New Obama Salute  —  George Bush had his three-fingered W salute that supporters flashed when greeting him at presidential campaign events in 2000.  And now, if a Los Angeles creative agency gets its way, Sen. Barack Obama will see fans meet him with his own salute like the one above.

Georgian army moves to retake South Ossetia  —  TSKHINVALI, Georgia - A Cabinet minister says Georgian troops control the capital of the breakaway province of South Ossetia.  —  Georgian troops launched a major military offensive earlier Friday to regain control of South Ossetia, prompting a furious response from Russia.

Democratic Aides Working on Plan To Keep the Peace At the Convention  —  With the clock running out on preparations for the Democratic convention, advisers to Sen. Barack Obama are scrambling to reach a compromise with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to appease her supporters and find roles for her and her husband.

Know-Nothing Politics  —  So the G.O.P. has found its issue for the 2008 election.  For the next three months the party plans to keep chanting: “Drill here!  Drill now!  Drill here!  Drill now!  Four legs good, two legs bad!”  O.K., I added that last part.

Group Plans Campaign Against G.O.P. Donors  —  Nearly 10,000 of the biggest donors to Republican candidates and causes across the country will probably receive a foreboding “warning” letter in the mail next week.  —  The letter is an opening shot across the bow from an unusual …

Accountability Now/Strange Bedfellows money bomb  —  Richard Nixon, August 8, 1974, 9:01 p.m. from the Oval Office: … Thirty-four years ago today, Richard Nixon was forced from office as a result of mounting public anger, which in turn fueled the bipartisan intent of Congress to impeach him …

Cohen on track for decisive victory  —  The bet Steve Cohen campaign made with himself and with the city of Memphis might have seemed naïve.  —  Some critics called it pandering.  —  But Cohen's gut told him to run on his record.  He said his heart told him to embrace the presidential rival …

YEP  —  Schumer: “I would answer back hard.  What do you mean [Obama's] not one of us?  It's John McCain who wears $500 shoes, has six houses, and comes from one of the richest families in his state.  It's Barack Obama who climbed up the hard way, and that's why he wants middle-class tax cuts and better schools for our kids.”

Political Cycles  —  You're in a plane and you're flying over the campaign at a level of about 10,000 feet, and you look down and see: Not much has changed.  Battle lines fixed, topography the same, troops pretty much where they were.  —  But land the plane, walk around and talk to people, and you realize: This thing is moving.

Lord of the Memes  —  All my life I've been a successful pseudo-intellectual, sprinkling quotations from Kafka, Epictetus and Derrida into my conversations, impressing dates and making my friends feel mentally inferior.  But over the last few years, it's stopped working.  People just look at me blankly.

The Olympics Are Political  —  Today the 2008 Summer Olympics start in Beijing.  The debate in the lead up to the Games has focused on whether or not this sporting event, representing the pinnacle of thousands of athletes' careers, is also a time to discuss politics.