Top Items:
John McCain / Wall Street Journal:
We Are All Georgians — For anyone who thought that stark international aggression was a thing of the past, the last week must have come as a startling wake-up call. After clashes in the Georgian region of South Ossetia, Russia invaded its neighbor, launching attacks that threaten its very existence.
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Seumas Milne / Guardian:
This is a tale of US expansion not Russian aggression — It's likely to be a taste of things to come — The outcome of six grim days of bloodshed in the Caucasus has triggered an outpouring of the most nauseating hypocrisy from western politicians and their captive media.
Andrew E. Kramer / New York Times:
Peace Plan Offers Russia a Rationale to Advance — TBILISI, Georgia — It was nearly 2 a.m. on Wednesday when President Nicolas Sarkozy of France announced he had accomplished what seemed virtually impossible: Persuading the leaders of Georgia and Russia to agree to a set of principles that would stop the war.
Charles Krauthammer / Real Clear Politics:
How to Stop Putin — WASHINGTON — The Russia-Georgia cease …
How to Stop Putin — WASHINGTON — The Russia-Georgia cease …
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
The Neocons And The Soviets — It's very bizarre to read …
The Neocons And The Soviets — It's very bizarre to read …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, The Glittering Eye, Commentary, Financial Times and Voice of America
New York Times:
Russia Backs Separatists as Rice Heads for Talks on Crisis
Russia Backs Separatists as Rice Heads for Talks on Crisis
Discussion:
Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog
Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:
I See Four Key Battleground States — Presidential campaigns ultimately come down to who can win 270 Electoral College votes. With most states favoring one candidate or the other, this year's contest could come down to a few battleground states. — Based on visits this past week …
Marc Ambinder:
Clinton's Name Likely To Be Placed In Nomination; Agreement Near With Obama Campaign — Reports of strife between negotiators for Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama are exaggerated and the two sides are nearing an agreement on how Clinton's delegates will participate …
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blogs, Corrente, Liberal Values, Outside The Beltway, TIME.com, Balloon Juice and marbury
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Mark Bieganski / The Oprah blog:
Confirmed: Oprah Winfrey plans to be there when Barack Obama accepts nomination
Confirmed: Oprah Winfrey plans to be there when Barack Obama accepts nomination
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blogs
Walter Shapiro / Salon:
Johnny, I hardly knew ye — After covering John Edwards — and liking him — for years, what I thought I knew about him was wrong. But reporters often misjudge candidates. — John Edwards at his South Carolina primary night rally in Columbia, S.C., on Jan. 26, 2008.
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People.com:
The Edwards Affair: Elizabeth's ‘Excruciating Anguish’ — Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards stunned the nation with his televised confession Aug. 8 that he had an extramarital affair. Battling cancer that her doctors call incurable, his wife, Elizabeth …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Slate, Washington Post, Web Scout, Political Radar, Scared Monkeys and NewsBusters.org
Eli Saslow / Washington Post:
New Books Aim To Unweave the Obama Narrative — In two autobiographies and dozens of speeches, Barack Obama has weaved the narrative that defines his campaign: An introspective boy gradually comes to terms with his mixed-race heritage and emerges with an “unprejudiced” worldview.
Discussion:
The Corner, Political Machine, Commentary, Macsmind, Los Angeles Times and Real Clear Politics
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Luke Rosiak / OpenSecrets.org:
Troops Deployed Abroad Give 6:1 to Obama — During World War II, soldiers crouching in foxholes penned letters assuring their sweethearts that they'd be home soon. Now, between firefights in the Iraqi desert, some infantrymen have been sending a different kind of mail stateside …
Paul Burka / Texas Monthly:
Leave It To Weaver — What John McCain's former chief strategist thinks of his campaign. … The place where I was meeting John Weaver was all wrong—a nondescript office building on F Street in downtown Washington, near Ford's Theatre, where Lincoln was shot.
Discussion:
MSNBC
Jack Shafer / Slate:
Conventional Nonsense — MAKING THE CASE FOR A PRESS BOYCOTT OF THE NATIONAL POLITICAL CONVENTIONS. — With just one exception over the last three decades, the two major parties have known the identity of their likely presidential candidate weeks or even months before gaveling their national political conventions open.
Kate Zernike / New York Times:
Charismatic Governor Rises to the Short List — The turning point in Tim Kaine's campaign for Virginia governor in 2005 was an advertisement by his opponent featuring a father whose son had been murdered by a man Mr. Kaine represented on death row. — “Tim Kaine says that Adolf Hitler …
Ira Teinowitz / AdAge:
Obama Turns to the Humble Infomercial — Maybe He's Trying to Win the Insomniac Vote — WASHINGTON (AdAge.com) — The Obama campaign is the first to use a long-form infomercial during the 2008 presidential campaign. — If you hadn't noticed, that may have been because the nearly 30-minute program aired …
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blogs
Carrie Johnson / Washington Post:
Hair Samples in Anthrax Case Don't Match — Strands From Mailbox in Princeton Are Not From Ivins, Investigators Say — Federal investigators probing the deadly 2001 anthrax attacks recovered samples of human hair from a mailbox in Princeton, N.J., but the strands did not match the lead suspect …