Top Items:


President Obama's Oval Office speech on Iraq — text — Oval Office Remarks by President Obama, as provided by the White House — Good evening. Tonight, I'd like to talk to you about the end of our combat mission in Iraq, the ongoing security challenges we face, and the need to rebuild our nation here at home.
Discussion:
Townhall.com, Washington Monthly, Power Line, Associated Press, Hit & Run, USA Today, No More Mister Nice Blog, Hot Air, Political Punch, Taylor Marsh, The Huffington Post, White House.gov Blog Feed, The Daily Beast, TPMCafe, The Agonist, Right Wing News, Political Byline, Informed Comment, Newshoggers.com, Weasel Zippers, Michelle Malkin, The Foundry, The Confluence, Macsmind, CNN, The Sundries Shack and Gateway Pundit
RELATED:


Humility and Honesty About Iraq Can Inspire Trust — Later today, President Obama will speak to the American people about Iraq. No doubt he will laud the “end of major combat operations” by the date he randomly selected some 18 months ago. His press secretary Robert Gibbs also gave us …

The “nobody-could-have-known” excuse and Iraq — (updated below - Update II - Update III [Wed.] - Update IV [Wed.]) — The predominant attribute of American elites is a refusal to take responsibility for any failures. The favored tactic for accomplishing this evasion is the “nobody-could-have-known” excuse.
Discussion:
At War, The Huffington Post, The Moderate Voice, TalkLeft and Eschaton

A Note to My Fellow Hawks — President Obama opposed the war in Iraq. He still thinks it was a mistake. It's therefore unrealistic for supporters of the war to expect the president to give the speech John McCain would have given, or to expect President Obama to put the war in the context we would put it in.
Discussion:
Washington Wire, The New Republic, Swampland and National Review

Drunkblogging Obama's Iraq Speech — One way or another, Absolut Victory will be declared tonight. — 4:53PM Tonight, after 18 tumultuous months in office, President Obama faces his toughest challenge yet: To claim credit in Iraq without driving a thankful nation to laughter and tears, but mostly laughter.
Discussion:
Instapundit, TigerHawk and Sister Toldjah

Obama's Speech
Discussion:
PostPartisan, The Plum Line, Commentary, Betsy's Page and Hot Air

Obama Declares an End to Combat Mission in Iraq
Discussion:
The Caucus, Washington Wire, Washington Times, Theo Spark, The Talking Dog, Right Wing News, Daily Kos, The Blaze, Althouse, Guardian and CNN

Obama declares it's time to turn page on America's combat mission in Iraq
Discussion:
Reuters, The Swamp, Gawker, CNN and The Reaction


Murkowski Concedes Alaska Primary Race to Tea Party Candidate — In a major upset, Sen. Lisa Murkowski has conceded her GOP Senate primary race to Tea Party Express favorite Joe Miller, who had the backing of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. — “I don't see a scenario in which the primary …
RELATED:

Murkowski Concedes Alaska Primary Defeat — ANCHORAGE — Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska conceded late Tuesday in her Republican primary race against Joe Miller, a lawyer from Fairbanks who was backed by Tea Party activists, Sarah Palin and other conservatives.
Discussion:
CNN, FiveThirtyEight, Washington Wire, Wonkette, Climate Progress, MyDD, OpenSecrets.org, Right Wing News, SENATUS and New York Magazine


Murkowski concedes GOP Senate race to Miller — Incumbent Lisa Murkowski has conceded to challenger Joe Miller in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate. — Speaking at a news conference broadcast on live television from her campaign headquarters in Anchorage, Murkowski said …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and TPMDC


Counting of absentee ballots begins — From Sean Cockerham at the Alaska Division of Elections office in Anchorage — Joe Miller's lead over Lisa Murkowski just grew slighly with absentee and questioned ballots from the Mat-Su. — Miller now leads Mukowski by 1,460 votes.
Discussion:
Tammy Bruce, Jumping in Pools, Associated Press, Weekly Standard, Hotline On Call, Hot Air, Weigel, Daily Kos, Fox News and The Politico

Murkowski Concedes Alaska Primary Race
Discussion:
Salon, The Atlantic Online and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Murkowski campaign: We could know tonight
Discussion:
The Politico, The Note and Liberty Pundits Blog

Joe Miller Set to Win Alaska Senate Primary
Discussion:
The Other McCain, Liberty Pundits Blog, Red Dog Report and Riehl World View

CNN: Murkowski considering conceding Alaska race? …
Discussion:
Ace of Spades HQ and The Daily Caller

Murkowski concedes GOP Senate race in Alaska
Discussion:
Macsmind and iOwnTheWorld.com

AK-Sen: The Latest Count
Discussion:
The Fix, Hotline On Call, The Mudflats, The Politico, Conservatives4Palin.com and msnbc.com


In Sean Hannity's World, There Was No Glenn Beck Restoring Honor Rally — Bill O'Reilly spent his entire show Monday night talking about Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor rally. Fox & Friends talked about it. So did Megyn Kelly, and Bret Baier, and Greta Van Susteren. But Sean Hannity didn't mention it.
Discussion:
Erick's blog, RedState, Riehl World View and TPM LiveWire, more at Mediagazer »
RELATED:

Glenn Beck “Restoring Honor” Rally Crowd Estimate Explained
Discussion:
Fulbright in Portugal, The Daily Dish, TPMDC and Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck Is Not Malcolm X.
Discussion:
Balloon Juice, Blogcritics and Philly.com


Ed Schultz: I could draw 300,000 people to the Mall like Beck did — Remember, this is the same guy who allegedly threw a nuclear tantrum a few weeks ago because he wasn't big enough shakes to make it into an MSNBC promo. And yet ... isn't he right about the unions?
Discussion:
National Review, Scared Monkeys and Patterico's Pontifications
RELATED:

MSNBC Libtalker: I Could EASILY Out-Draw Glenn Beck!
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, The Daily Caller, American Glob and Hot Air

Apple to Provide Live Video Streaming of September 1 Event — What: — Live video stream of Apple's September 1 event — When: — Where: — www.apple.com — Live Video Streaming — Apple® will broadcast its September 1 event online using Apple's industry-leading HTTP Live Streaming …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, MacRumors, Engadget, ReadWriteWeb, The Moderate Voice and TechCrunch, more at Mediagazer »


Katrina and the myth of superlative reporting — Five years ago this month, a few weeks after Hurricane Katrina battered the Gulf Coast and left much of New Orleans under water, former CBS anchorman Dan Rather went on Larry King Live to extol television's coverage of the deadly storm.
Discussion:
Instapundit and The Huffington Post


John Cusack Calls for ‘Satanic Death’ of Fox News, GOP Leaders — During the 2008 election, Cusack spoke out against John McCain for MoveOn.org. — Actor John Cusack went on a caustic Twitter rampage Sunday evening, attacking former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Fox News.
Discussion:
iOwnTheWorld.com, Freedom's Lighthouse, GayPatriot and Gawker

How Did Democrats Get Here? — We talked this morning about the Democrats' poor electoral position — already shaky, it is probably now deteriorating further — but we haven't talked as much about why they're in this predicament. This is for a good reason: once you get past the premise …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, The Moderate Voice, Left Coast Rebel, Don Surber and Talking Points Memo

Busted! Fox's Carlson Catches Gibbs In A Naked Lie—Asks 6 Times If Obama Will Credit Bush Tonight — Gibbs's lie was so deep, I had to freeze frame so you could see exactly what Obama said about the surge in 2007. He's one smug, flippant jerk too.
Discussion:
theblogprof, Left Coast Rebel, Patterico's Pontifications, Villainous Company, Hot Air, The Blast and Beltway Confidential

Steve Schmidt, Former McCain Campaign Chief, On Mehlman Fundraiser: Same-Sex Marriage Becoming Conservative Cause — What's Your Reaction: … A major same-sex marriage fundraiser hosted by former RNC chairman Ken Mehlman and other Republicans provides one of the sharpest illustrations …
Discussion:
The Daily Dish, Wonk Room, Pam's House Blend, Towleroad News #gay and Ben Smith's Blog