memeorandum: Silly Season — Unlike Barack Obama, Bill Clinton does not believe in … (Joe Klein/Time)

6:00 PM ET, March 27, 2008

Top Items:

Obama Weathers the Wright Storm, Clinton Faces Credibility Problem — National Discontent Approaches 20-Year High, Bush Approval at 28% — Summary of Findings — The videos of Rev. Jeremiah Wright's controversial sermons and Barack Obama's subsequent speech on race and politics …

Discussion: Washington Wire, Taegan Goddard's …, Daily Kos, American Street, Boston Globe and Associated Press

Frank Newport / Gallup:

Democratic Groups Most at Risk of Deserting — Independents, conservatives likeliest to vote for McCain — PRINCETON, NJ — Democrats are at most risk of losing the support of independents, conservative Democrats, and, among Hillary Clinton supporters, less well-educated Democrats …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Southern Political Report, Reuters, Marc Ambinder, The Fix, CCPSBlog and The Huffington Post

Gallup: Gallup Daily: Obama Now at 48% to Clinton 44%

Michael Barone / US News:
Polls Show Obama Damaged by Reverend Wright

Discussion: American Power, The Campaign Spot and Moonbattery

Mark Silva / The Swamp:
Obama has ‘weathered’ the Wright storm, poll says

Discussion: Jonathan Martin's Blogs

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

Hillary vows: We're going all the way to the convention; Update: Hillary questions the legitimacy of Obama's nomination — Good lord. Even I find her ruthlessness here creepy, and I'm pulling for her. I'm giving you the second clip mostly for the smug look on her face after she delivers her bone-chilling …

Discussion: RIGHTWINGSPARKLE

Joe Klein / Time:

Silly Season — Unlike Barack Obama, Bill Clinton does not believe in “the fierce urgency of now.” The former President has an exquisitely languid sense of how political time unfurls. He understands that those moments the political community, especially the media, considers urgent usually aren't.

Discussion: TownHall Blog, Marc Ambinder, Reuters, American Power, Commentary, Wonkette, The Carpetbagger Report, The Unapologetic Mexican, The Raw Story and Poll Dancing

Ann Althouse / Althouse: Fraud in Texas? “It looks like there was data entry error.

USA Today:

Obama: Beware 'you're on your own' society — GREENSBORO, N.C. — Presidential candidate Barack Obama, largely ignoring his Democratic rival for now, ridiculed likely Republican nominee John McCain on Wednesday for offering “not one single idea” to help hard-pressed homeowners facing foreclosure.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Trail, Hot Air, The American Mind and MSNBC

New York Times:
How Not to Prevent Foreclosures

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, MyDD and The Democratic Daily

New York Post:
IT'S THE BLOOMY-'BAMA SHOW

Discussion: Hot Air, Comments from Left Field, The Daily Politics, Gothamist, Ground Game and A Blog For All

Patrick Healy / The Caucus:
Obama Warms to Wrapping Up Contest

Discussion: Open Left, American Street and TPM Election Central

Frank James / Baltimore Sun:

Expert: Current Iraq fighting not good guys vs bad — The battles raging in southern Iraq's Basra are more than a central Iraqi government trying to assert control over the militia of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Instead, it's more complicated, more like a mini civil war between competing Shiite groups vying for power.

Discussion: The Daily Dish, Weekly Standard Blog, The New Republic, Outside The Beltway and democracyarsenal.org

Abu Aardvark:
another theory for the pile

Discussion: The Newshoggers, asharq-e.com, Danger Room, missing links and Washington Monthly

CNN:
Analysis: Al-Sadr in trouble, Iraq headed for meltdown

Discussion: Reuters

Jules Crittenden:
Sadr Tidings — The good news is, Iraqi forces are heavily engaged …

Discussion: Time, Neptunus Lex, The Huffington Post, The Moderate Voice, Dean's World and The Seminal

Amanda / Think Progress:

EXCLUSIVE: McCain's Foreign Affairs Speech Plagiarizes 1996 Address By Adm. Timothy Ziemer (UPDATED) — EXCLUSIVE: McCain's Foreign Affairs Speech 1996 Address By Adm. Timothy Ziemer (UPDATED) … Yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) gave a foreign policy speech to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council.

Discussion: The Swamp, Marc Ambinder and Wonk Room

New York Post:

AND THERE HE HO'S AGAIN — ‘WICKED’ SPITZER LINKED TO BUSTY BUSTED MADAM'S BIZ — Disgraced former Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been identified as a long-standing client of a second high-priced call-girl ring, The Post has learned. — The ex-governor regularly patronized Wicked Models …

Discussion: NY Daily News, New York Times and The Jawa Report

Emilie Lounsberry / Philly.com:

No death for Mumia Abu-Jamal — at least for now — A federal appeals court today refused to reinstate the death sentence of world-famous death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal, but left intact his murder conviction in the 1981 shooting death of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner.

Discussion: Moonbattery, The Moderate Voice and Reason Magazine

Hindrocket / Power Line:
FREE MUMIA! — A panel of the Third Circuit Court …

Discussion: Agence France Presse, Hot Air, NewsBusters.org and michellemalkin.com

Richard Beeston / Times of London:

Iraqi militia success means Britain must fight - or admit failure — The battle for Basra now raging on the streets of Iraq's second city shows every sign of turning into a nightmare for the dwindling British forces based near by. — For months Britain has been quietly reducing its presence …

Discussion: The New Republic and Booman Tribune

Dean Godson / Times of London:
Crude oil surges after Basra pipeline bombing

Discussion: Firedoglake, Salon, The Huffington Post, CNN, Informed Comment, Booman Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, Hot Air, Counterterrorism Blog, VetVoice, Danger Room, The Carpetbagger Report and Outside The Beltway

Lindsay Renick Mayer / Capital Eye:

Democratic Donors Send $24 Million Letter to Pelosi — Major fundraisers, who support Hillary Clinton, urge the Speaker of the House not to meddle with superdelegate votes—and millions of dollars are behind their message. — Prominent backers of Hillary Clinton sent a multi-million-dollar message …

Discussion: Boston Globe, The Corner, New York Times, The Caucus, The Trail, Spin Cycle and AMERICAblog

Marc Ambinder:
Clinton Donors Circulate Florida/Michigan Petition

Discussion: Daily Kos

C. J. Chivers / New York Times:

Supplier Under Scrutiny on Aging Arms for Afghans — Since 2006, when the insurgency in Afghanistan sharply intensified, the Afghan government has been dependent on American logistics and military support in the war against Al Qaeda and the Taliban. — But to arm the Afghan forces …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Sunlight Foundation blogs, TPMMuckraker, Confederate Yankee, Alternate Brain, BuzzFlash.org, democracyarsenal.org, On Deadline, Blue Girl, Red State, First Draft, MoJoBlog, The Swamp, The Washington Independent and The Blotter

Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC:

FIRST THOUGHTS: MYTH BUSTER — From Chuck Todd and Domenico Montanaro — *** Myth buster: Pollster Peter Hart calls the NBC/WSJ poll a “myth buster” survey; it really breaks down a lot of the myths we've been hearing over the last week like: (1) that the Wright controversy was the beginning …

Discussion: The Corner, Outside The Beltway, Spin Cycle, Taylor Marsh, Crooks and Liars and The Fix

New York Times:

Obama on ‘Renewing the American Economy’ — Following is the transcript of Barack Obama's economic speech at Cooper Union in New York, as provided by CQ Transcriptions Inc. — Thank you so much for being here. — Let me begin by thanking Dr. Drucker and Cooper Union for hosting us here today.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs, The Glittering Eye, Comments from Left Field, The RBC and DownWithTyranny!

Eric Lichtblau / Slate:

The Education of a 9/11 Reporter — THE INSIDE DRAMA BEHIND THE TIMES' WARRANTLESS WIRETAPPING STORY. … For 13 long months, we'd held off on publicizing one of the Bush administration's biggest secrets. Finally, one afternoon in December 2005, as my editors and I waited anxiously …

Discussion: protein wisdom, The Strata-Sphere, The Jawa Report and NewsBusters.org

Michelle Malkin:

Fitna has arrived — Readers are sending the Liveleak English version of Geert Wilders' Fitna, which has just been posted. (Be patient, may be a little slow to load.) It's 15 minutes with scenes of jihad interlaced with quotes from the Koran. — The film ends not with any blasphemous image …

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Hot Air, The Sundries Shack, Gateway Pundit, A Blog For All, snapped shot, Wake up America, Riehl World View and PoliGazette

al.com:

Siegelman to be released from prison — MONTGOMERY — A federal appellate court today ordered former Gov. Don Siegelman released from prison while he appeals his 2006 conviction, saying there are “substantial questions” about his case. — A federal jury in 2006 convicted Siegelman …

Discussion: Oliver Willis, TPMMuckraker and The Washington Independent

CBS News:

Gore's Message To Climate Change Skeptics — Tells 60 Minutes That Doubting Global Warming Is Manmade Is Akin To Believing Earth Is Flat — (CBS) Self-avowed “P.R. agent for the planet” Al Gore says those who still doubt that global warming is caused by man - among them, Vice President Dick Cheney …

Discussion: JammieWearingFool

Gail Shister / TVNewser:

Olbermann Counting Up...Happy At Last — Five years later, Keith “Take This Job and Shove It” Olbermann is still — dare we say it? — happy at MSNBC. — In fact, when Olbermann marks the milestone with a special Countdown on NBC Sunday, he will be just six months away from breaking …

Ben / Think Progress:

Krauthammer: McCain Has ‘Hidden Agenda’ To ‘Kill The United Nations’ — Yesterday in an foreign policy address in Los Angeles, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) called for the United States to create and lead a “League of Democracies” in order to “harness the vast influence of the more than one hundred …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, USA Today, The Newshoggers, Weekly Standard Blog, Ground Game and Outside The Beltway