memeorandum: Michelle Obama: I Would Have To Think About Supporting Clinton If She Is The Nominee (Big Tent Democrat/TalkLeft)

10:15 PM ET, February 4, 2008

Top Items:

Dole scolds Limbaugh — Bob Dole, the former Senate Republican leader, wrote an insistent letter to Rush Limbaugh on Monday and suggested that for the good of the party, the conservative talk-show host should stop his strafing of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

Discussion: protein wisdom, Political Machine, Riehl World View and Boston Globe

CNN:

In letter to Limbaugh, Bob Dole defends McCain — BOSTON (CNN) — Former Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole on Monday wrote conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh defending John McCain as a “mainstream conservative” who had supported the party on critical votes during Dole's time as the Senate Republican leader.

Discussion: Jonathan Martin's Blogs, American Power, Shakespeare's Sister and The Reaction

Tony Allen-Mills / Times of London:

Flawed Cindy McCain has a grudge list — ON almost every step of his march towards the Republican nomination, John McCain has relied on the support of his glamorous second wife Cindy. Yet she has not always been a political asset. A Republican victory in November would bring to the White House a formidable but flawed first lady.

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, Truthdig and protein wisdom

Jill Zuckman / The Swamp: Bob Dole weighs in on McCain as a conservative

Jason George / The Swamp:

Hillary Clinton cries in Connecticut — NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Sen. Hillary Clinton teared up this morning at an event at the Yale Child Study Center, where she worked while in law school in the early 1970s. — Penn Rhodeen, who was introducing Clinton, began to choke up …

New York Magazine:

Breaking: Hillary Reemploys ‘The Cry’ — Yep, it's official. Hillary Clinton is running to be Crybaby-in-Chief. According to the Tribune Co.'s politics blog, the Swamp, Clinton teared up after a heartfelt introduction by a former colleague at the Yale Child Study Center in New Haven, where she worked in college.

Discussion: Shakespeare's Sister, Comments from Left Field, Wonkette and TIME: Swampland

Big Tent Democrat / TalkLeft:

Michelle Obama: I Would Have To Think About Supporting Clinton If She Is The Nominee — Imagine if Bill Clinton had said that? Michelle Obama needs to straighten this out immediately. Really bad stuff from the Obama campaign. — Update (TL): More than 300 comments, this thread is closing.

Discussion: The Opinionator, The Field, US Presidential race 2008 real …, Tennessee Guerilla Women, Rox Populi, Don Surber, Tom Watson and Salon

Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:
PULLING THE LEVER....So who am I going to vote for tomorrow?

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, THE LIBERAL JOURNAL, newsrack blog, TalkLeft, Brian Beutler, bustardblog, BartBlog, The RBC, culturekitchen, HillaryClinton.com and The Crone Speaks

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Republicans have become the credibility-free party — (updated below) — Substantial attention has been paid to the historic unpopularity of the Bush presidency, but relatively little attention has been paid to the accompanying collapse of the Republican Party's credibility.

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, Comments from Left Field, PoliGazette, LiberalLand, Firedoglake and protein wisdom

Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
The Hub — I remember sitting in the media room at the Libby trial …

Discussion: Eschaton

Atrios / Eschaton:
Februrary Fund Drive

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Hullabaloo, Suburban Guerrilla and Brilliant at Breakfast

Gallup:

Gallup Daily: Tracking Election 2008 — Based on daily polling from Feb. 1-Feb. 3, 2008 — PRINCETON, NJ — On the eve of the Super Tuesday election, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama remain closely matched in national Democratic voters' nomination preferences.

Discussion: Spin Cycle, Liberal Values, THE LIBERAL JOURNAL, Comments from Left Field, Needlenose, Pollster.com, American Power and Talking Points Memo

Josh Patashnik / The New Republic:

Vote McCain—Because Life Expectancy Is Going Up — The McCain campaign must be pretty spooked about conservative reaction to the story that their man isn't a full-throated Sam Alito fan. Today the campaign sent out an email to supporters trumpeting this Wall Street Journal op-ed …

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Wall Street Journal:
McCain and the Supreme Court

Discussion: Hot Air, AMERICAN DIGEST, Stop The ACLU, Patterico's Pontifications, Rachel Lucas, Boston Globe, The Volokh Conspiracy, Balkinization, The Swamp, Macsmind and The American Mind

Marc Ambinder:

Plouffe Memo: We're The Giants, Baby — (not in so many words...despite or because of polls showing that Obama is now leading or tied with Hillary Clinton nationally.). … I'm sorry. Hold up, time out. What?? Unless every Obama adviser I've spoken to over the past year has out and out lied to me …

Discussion: protein wisdom, Taylor Marsh, Wonkette, Salon, The New Republic and Comments from Left Field

CNN:

FBI wants palm prints, eye scans, tattoo mapping — CLARKSBURG, West Virginia (CNN) — The FBI is gearing up to create a massive computer database of people's physical characteristics, all part of an effort the bureau says to better identify criminals and terrorists.

Discussion: Concurring Opinions, Why Now? and BlueHerald 2.0

Seymour M. Hersh / New Yorker:

A STRIKE IN THE DARK — What did Israel bomb in Syria? — Israel and the U.S. have avoided comment on press reports about a nuclear facility. — Sometime after midnight on September 6, 2007, at least four low-flying Israeli Air Force fighters crossed into Syrian airspace and carried …

Discussion: Mercury Rising and A Tiny Revolution

Little Green Footballs:

Muslims Enraged, Seething at Wikipedia — Apparently there are a whole lot of Muslims enraged and offended at Wikipedia, because there are ... gasp ... drawings and images of Mohammed in his Wikipedia entry. — Blasphemy! — So they're demanding that Wikipedia stop violating …

Discussion: Wake up America

A.B. Stoddard / The Hill:

Before the Big Day... I resist predictions, as all sane people should after the New Hampshire primary, but I felt compelled to make a few observations before the Big Day. — GOP: — 1) John McCain has another good night. — Democrats: — 1) It will be a draw between Hillary and Barack, deciding little.

Discussion: The Swamp, The Crypt's Blogs and Middle Earth Journal

Marc Ambinder:

Feb 5 Projections: Revised — According to campaign sources, polling and stealing off other analysts, Hillary Clinton has an edge in New York, New Jersey, Tennessee, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Arkansas. — Obama has an edge in Idaho, Colorado, Minnesota, Kansas, Alabama, Georgia, North Dakota and Illinois.

Discussion: Spin Cycle and AMERICAblog

Ben Smith / The Politico:

Clinton's January: $13.5 million — That's from campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe on MSNBC today: … A lot of money by most measures, but less than half of what Obama's claiming for the month.

Discussion: Political Machine