memeorandum: Trump slams McCain for being ‘captured’ in Vietnam; other Republicans quickly condemn him (Philip Rucker/Washington Post)

8:40 PM ET, July 18, 2015

Top Items:

Trump Attacks McCain for Being Prisoner of War: 'I Like People That Weren't Captured' — Speaking today in Iowa, Donald Trump attacked John McCain for being a former prisoner of war. Watch here: — “He's not a war hero,” Trump, a Republican running for president, said of McCain.

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Washington Post, Hot Air, Hit & Run, Scared Monkeys, No More Mister Nice Blog, Guardian, NPR, The PJ Tatler and Salon

Ben Schreckinger / Politico:

Trump attacks McCain: 'I like people who weren't captured' — Donald Trump might finally have crossed the line. — Appearing on Saturday at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, the real estate mogul took his running feud with Arizona Sen. John McCain to a new level. — Story Continued Below

Discussion: The Hill, Yahoo Politics, Addicting Info, The Week, ABC News, PoliticusUSA, CANNONFIRE, JSOnline, Outside the Beltway and Mashable

Stephen F. Hayes / Weekly Standard:

Trump GOP Candidacy Blows Up — Donald Trump confirmed two things during a stop in this central Iowa town Saturday: He has no class and he may well run as an independent when he does not win the Republican nomination. — There had been considerable public evidence of both long …

Discussion: New York Times, Liberal Values and National Review

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:

Trump slams McCain for being ‘captured’ in Vietnam; other Republicans quickly condemn him — AMES, Iowa — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump slammed Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a decorated Vietnam War veteran, on Saturday by saying McCain was not a war hero because he was captured by the North Vietnamese.

Andrew Husband / Mediaite:

Donald Trump Ignores Draft Deferment Questions After Criticizing McCain, Vietnam — In case you hadn't noticed, Donald Trump is not having a very good day. During a talk at the Family Leadership Summit, the 2016 GOP hopeful launched a tirade of verbal garbage at Arizona Sen. John McCain …

Discussion: Liberaland and Hinterland Gazette

Sahil Kapur / Bloomberg Business:

Trump on John McCain: 'I Like People That Weren't Captured, Okay?' — Donald Trump went where nobody could have expected even Donald Trump to go. — The real estate mogul and Republican presidential candidate, who's leading the field in several recent polls, lit into Senator John McCain …

Discussion: Washington Post, Gothamist, The Week, The Daily Caller, Des Moines Register and Raw Story

Dante Chinni / Wall Street Journal: Trump Surge Leaves All but Jeb Bush in Donald's Dust

Martin Pengelly / Guardian:

O'Malley and Sanders interrupted by Black Lives Matter protesters in Phoenix — The Democratic presidential candidates Martin O'Malley and Bernie Sanders were heckled and constantly interrupted during an appearance at the Netroots Nation conference on Saturday, as protesters …

Discussion: Hit & Run, Hot Air, The Daily Caller and Patterico's Pontifications

Paul Sperry / New York Post:

Obama collecting personal data for a secret race database — A key part of President Obama's legacy will be the fed's unprecedented collection of sensitive data on Americans by race. The government is prying into our most personal information at the most local levels, all for the purpose of “racial and economic justice.”

Discussion: The PJ Tatler

WANE-TV:

Sailor from Paulding one of Chattanooga shooting victims — Darlene Proxmire, the step-grandmother of Randall Smith, called NewsChannel 15 Saturday morning and said he passed away around 4 a.m. — This is an update to the previously published story: — PAULDING COUNTY, Ohio (WANE) …

Discussion: Guardian, WCMH-TV, WKRN-TV, The Gateway Pundit and KXAN-TV

Fox News:
Sailor in Chattanooga shooting has died, death toll now 5

Discussion: WANE-TV, NBC News, Liberty Unyielding, Scared Monkeys, Fox News Insider, Guardian, USA Today, National Review, WTKR-TV and Washington Free Beacon

Neil Irwin / New York Times:

Forecasters Expect a Strong Economy for the 2016 Presidential Election — When it comes to elections, fundamentals matter. A lot. — A wide range of political science research suggests that if you want to know who will win the presidency, the state of the economy …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and US News

KHOU-TV:

10lb. baby boy born on Beltway 8 en route to birthing center — HOUSTON - A baby boy was born in the family car on Beltway 8 while on the way to the birthing center - and it was all captured on video. — The video shows a mom in the last stages of labor.

Discussion: Associated Press

BBC:

Greece debt crisis: Reforms ‘will fail’ - Varoufakis — Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has told the BBC that economic reforms imposed on his country by creditors are “going to fail”, ahead of talks on a huge bailout. — Mr Varoufakis said Greece was subject to a programme that will …

Discussion: Reuters, Bloomberg Business, Common Dreams, The Atlantic, Guardian and NPR

Jennifer Schuessler / New York Times:

Ta-Nehisi Coates's ‘Visceral’ Take on Being Black in America — BALTIMORE — “Between the World and Me,” Ta-Nehisi Coates's meditation on being a black man in America, has had an almost frictionless glide straight to the heart of the national conversation. — A blurb from Toni Morrison declared …

Discussion: Marginal REVOLUTION and Washington Post