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Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
OY — From the Journal ... It's genuinely hard to know where to start with this sort of nonsense. To say that Randy has a conflict of interest misses the point. And I'd hope that's not the argument the Obama campaign is trying to make. The point is that Randy was running point …
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New York Times:
Russia Says It Has Ordered Halt to Georgia Military Action — MOSCOW — President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia announced Tuesday that he had ordered a halt to his country's military operation in Georgia, although he did not say that troops were pulling out and he insisted that Russian forces …
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Washington Post, Transatlantic Politics, MoJoBlog, Reuters, Taylor Marsh, Associated Press, Outside The Beltway, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Independent, Lawyers, Guns and Money, Boston Globe, FP Passport, Silicon Alley Insider, Hullabaloo, PERRspectives Blog, EU Referendum, The Lede, Think Progress, Blogs of War, International Herald Tribune, TalkLeft, Telegraph and Donklephant
Johanna Neuman / The LA Times President Bush Blog:
With Georgia, Russia at war, where's Condoleezza Rice? — Russia is pounding Georgia, a small democratic country that depends on the United States for moral support. — The president of the United States, who once famously peered into Russian dictator-in-the-making Vladimir Putin's soul and proclaimed him …
Star Bulletin:Some politics, then some fun — Obama urges truce in Georgian conflict
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Boston Globe
Washington Post:
‘Snake Oil’ — Debunking three ‘truths’ about offshore drilling — THE NATURAL Resources Defense Council Action Fund has taken out full-page ads in this newspaper and others to decry offshore drilling for oil as “George W. Bush's Gasoline Price Elixir” that is “100% Snake Oil.”
Mark Sherman / Associated Press:
Mukasey: No prosecutions in Justice hiring scandal — NEW YORK - No criminal prosecutions are planned for former Justice Department officials accused of allowing politics to influence the hiring of prosecutors, immigration judges and other career government lawyers, Attorney General Michael Mukasey said Tuesday.
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Think Progress, Happy Furry Puppy Story …, Emptywheel, All Spin Zone, WTF Is It Now?!? and The Reaction
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Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:
Mukasey Won't Pursue Charges in Hiring Inquiry — WASHINGTON — Attorney General Michael Mukasey on Tuesday rejected the idea of criminally prosecuting former Justice Department employees who improperly used political litmus tests in hiring decisions, saying he had already taken strong internal steps in response to a “painful” episode.
Discussion:
The Swamp, United States Department …, ACSBlog, On Deadline, Martini Revolution, Sadly, No! and RADAMISTO
James Fallows:
David Brooks from Chengdu: my lord — Some of his pensees: … This is the kind of thing you can say only if you have not the slightest inkling of how completely different a billion-plus people can be from one another. Beijingers from Shanghainese, Guangdong entrepreneurs from farmers in Sichuan …
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times
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Mark J. Penn / The Politico:
Negative ads: They really do work — Clever negative advertising works. That is reality. — The tactic meets with media and pundit disapproval and spawns accusations of negativity, but the reality is that a clever negative ad can be devastatingly effective.
Discussion:
New York Times, Ben Smith's Blogs, CNN, Top of the Ticket, Salon, Wonkette, Wilshire & Washington, Donklephant and Boston Globe
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John Aravosis / AMERICAblog News:
This is only one of John McCain's 8 or 9 (or 10) houses — Hey, nothing wrong with being filthy rich. Just stop playing the regular guy, going after your opponent's supposedly elite life, when you and your wife combined are worth $100 million and you can't even remember how many homes you own.
Natalie Gewargis / Political Punch:
Today's Campaign Contest: Count the Young White Women in McCain's Anti-Obama Video — How many young white women professing adoration for Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, can you count in this anti-Obama web video that the campaign of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz, was sending out yesterday?
Eric Kleefeld / TPM Election Central:
GOP Rep. To Environmentalists: Jesus Already Saved The Planet — We like to keep track of the, er, intriguing sayings of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, the Christian Right champion from Minnesota. But this latest is really out there — Bachmann says we don't need pesky environmentalists …
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Jim Brown / OneNewsNow.com:GOP floor revolt over inaction continues
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The Hill's Blog Briefing Room
Peter Wehner / Commentary:
Sullivan's Travels — In a post early this morning, Andrew Sullivan concludes with this: … This highlighted statement is an astonishing one. The clear implication is that what America did in going to war with Iraq is the moral equivalent of what Russia has done to Georgia.
Brent Budowsky / Editor and Publisher:
Target Obama: Why The Press Must Fact-Check Campaign Claims — What is the responsibility of reporters, editors and publishers when a candidate is the target of a campaign of attack and personal destruction employing the systematic use of lies, smears, innuendo and character assassination?
Richard T. Cullen / The Politico:
Enthusiasm gap plagues GOP convention — While excitement is building for a Democratic Party convention capped by Barack Obama's historic acceptance speech before a sold-out, 75,000-seat football stadium, the GOP convention the following week is shaping up to be a considerably more staid affair …
James Risen / New York Times:
Use of Iraq Contractors Costs Billions, Report Says — WASHINGTON — The United States this year will have spent $100 billion on contractors in Iraq since the invasion in 2003, a milestone that reflects the Bush administration's unprecedented level of dependence on private firms for help in the war …
Discussion:
The Swamp, Buck Naked Politics, Washington Post, DownWithTyranny!, VetVoice, TPMMuckraker, MoJoBlog and The Washington Independent
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Andrew Tilghman / TPMMuckraker:Massive Private Contractors' Role In Iraq Documented By New Congressional Report
Discussion:
ATTACKERMAN
James Pethokoukis / US News:
Two Cheers for Russia's Invasion of Georgia — The thoughts of a former expert on the former Soviet Union—that would be me, to crib a line from geopolitical guru Thomas Barnett—about the Russian invasion of Georgia: — 1) It would be great if clarity came cheap. Sometimes it does, but often it doesn't.
Learfield / Radio Iowa:
Jim Leach endorses Obama — “It's been a very difficult thing for me because I've never endorsed a Democrat before...but sometimes in life you come to a juncture where it's very clear the national interest trumps party discipline,” former Iowa Congressman Jim Leach said in a noontime interview with Radio Iowa.
Michelle Malkin:
Foreclosure sob story of the morning — Nope, the MSM has learned nothing from the subprime debacle, stimulus-palooza, and the foreclosure frenzy. They are still printing sob stories to elicit sympathy for borrowers who don't deserve it. — Check this out from the San Francisco Chronicle.
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