memeorandum: Torture's Bad Seeds (Dan Froomkin/Washington Post)

9:30 PM ET, June 17, 2008

Top Items:

McCain Camp Pounces on Obama Comments From ABC News Interview — The campaign of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., tonight pounced on comments Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., made in an interview today with ABC News. — This was the exchange in question. — TAPPER: Speaking of the Supreme Court …

Discussion: Marc Ambinder, TPM Election Central, The Hill, Confederate Yankee, Flopping Aces, Comments from Left Field, National Review, GINA COBB, The Washington Independent, Hot Air, Liberal Values, The Sundries Shack, Althouse and American Street

Julia Hoppock / Political Punch:

Obama Pushes Back on McCain Camp Terrorism Attacks — Responding to charges by the campaign of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz, that comments he made to ABC News indicate he has a “naive” pre-9/11 view of terrorism, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, told reporters Tuesday that Republicans are not trying …

Discussion: Hot Air, Marc Ambinder, Commentary and Comments from Left Field

George F. Will / Washington Post:

Contempt Of Courts — The day after the Supreme Court ruled that detainees imprisoned at Guantanamo are entitled to seek habeas corpus hearings, John McCain called it “one of the worst decisions in the history of this country.” Well. — Does it rank with Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857) …

Discussion: The Corner, Salon, Weekly Standard Blog, DownWithTyranny!, Wall Street Journal, Power Line, The Seminal, PoliBlog (TM), War in Context, PERRspectives Blog, Los Angeles Times, Angry Bear and Below The Beltway

Alexander Marquardt / CNN:

Obama responds to McCain camp on terrorist prosecution — (CNN) - Barack Obama responded to the McCain campaign's Tuesday attack that putting terrorists from Guantanamo Bay on trial is “a policy of delusion,” noting last week's Supreme Court ruling that detainees would have the right to challenge their detention.

Discussion: TalkLeft

Associated Press: Obama: Bin Laden still free because of GOP tactics

Michael Goldfarb / John McCain Report blog:
Barack Obama, Esquire: The 9/10 Candidate

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, The Trail, Weekly Standard Blog, Commentary, Power Line, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, The Carpetbagger Report, Think Progress, Wonk Room, The New Republic, Washington Monthly, Ben Smith's Blogs and No More Mister Nice Blog

Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC:
WOULD BIN LADEN GET HABEAS RIGHTS?

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs, Weekly Standard Blog, Commentary and Spin Cycle

Associated Press:
Obama rebukes McCain camp on terrorism criticism

Discussion: AMERICAblog News

James Gerber / Political Radar:
Kerry: McCain Bin Laden Argument ‘Phony’

Discussion: Weekly Standard Blog

Tim Conneally / BetaNews:

AP sets up a toll booth for bloggers citing its stories — The AP's disharmony with bloggers may have only just begun, as the alternative it's now offering to being served with takedown notices involves paying an up-front sum for excerpting online articles — as few as five words.

Discussion: Hot Air, Buck Naked Politics, Legal Blog Watch, Comments from Left Field, Little Green Footballs, Unqualified Offerings, The Jawa Report and Macsmind

Kos / Daily Kos:

More on the AP idiots … Hey AP — that's 120 words. Have your lawyers call my lawyers. — Media experts are swarming over the AP's takedown notice against two bloggers, claiming that no one is allowed to excerpt from AP stories anymore. Remember the AP's idiotic assertion:

Discussion: Ali Eteraz, Eschaton, AMERICAblog News, culturekitchen and Democrats.com

Jane Hamsher / Firedoglake:
$12.50 For Five Words? “Bite Me” Indeed, AP

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

NY Daily News:

Hil and Obama, together again: First joint appearance to rally her donors — Hil and Obama, together again — Hillary Clinton will join Barack Obama for a joint appearance in Washington next week to persuade her donors to begin giving to the Democrats' nominee, the Daily News has learned.

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Wake up America, TIME.com, Boston Globe and Salon

Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:

Hillary Clinton's campaign photo album's got something missing — For those of you who still can't quite accept the fact that Hillary Clinton is gone, finished, beaten, defeated as a Democratic presidential candidate, her campaign has just posted an online photo album. — For a walk down memory lane, go here.

Discussion: The Huffington Post and Democracy in America

Tom Lasseter / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Militants found recruits among Guantanamo's wrongly detained — GARDEZ, Afghanistan — Mohammed Naim Farouq was a thug in the lawless Zormat district of eastern Afghanistan. He ran a kidnapping and extortion racket, and he controlled his turf with a band of gunmen who rode around in trucks with AK-47 rifles.

Discussion: Firedoglake and Prairie Weather

Joby Warrick / Washington Post:
Report Questions Pentagon Accounts

Discussion: Emptywheel, Balkinization, McClatchy Washington Bureau, Guardian, Clayton Cramer's BLOG, BuzzFlash.org and The New Republic

Dan Froomkin / Washington Post:
Torture's Bad Seeds

Discussion: Think Progress, Hullabaloo and ACLU Blog

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Targeting Steny Hoyer for his contempt for the rule of law — (updated below - Update II - Update III) — It is now definitively clear that House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is the driving force behind a bill — written by GOP Sen. Kit Bond — to vest the President with vast …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Firedoglake, The Hill, Crooks and Liars, Newshoggers.com, Hullabaloo, DownWithTyranny! and Unqualified Offerings

Francis De Luca / John W. Pope Civitas Institute:

N.C. Poll: McCain Leads Obama 45-41 — Both Candidates Improve Standing with Base — Raleigh, NC - After solidifying the Democratic nomination for President, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) has pulled to within four points of Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) in North Carolina according …

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight.com, Donklephant, TalkLeft and Daily Kos

Nate Silver / The New Republic:
Today's Polls: Yes, Obama's Still Bouncing

Discussion: Daily Kos

Jack Shafer / Slate:

The Canonization of Saint Russert … BACK TO TOP — PRINT DISCUSS E-MAIL

Discussion: Spin Cycle and FishBowlDC

Faiz / Think Progress:
Rep. Darrell Issa politicizes Russert's death.

Discussion: Calitics

Matt Stoller / Open Left:

Dear Chuck Todd and NBC: Iraq Matters — Chuck Todd calls Moveon's latest ad, featuring a mother asking McCain not to kill her child with irresponsible warmongering in Iraq, ‘shameless’. — I didn't notice any outcry from NBC when Progress for America aired this ad …

Discussion: The Talent Show and MyDD

John Amato / Crooks and Liars:
Chuck Todd disses Move On's new ad: ‘I think it was a borderline shameless ad’

Discussion: AMERICAblog News

Wall Street Journal:

Obama Plans Spending Boost, Possible Cut in Business Tax — FLINT, Mich. — Sen. Barack Obama shed new light on his economic plans for the country, saying he would rely on a heavy dose of government spending to spur growth, use the tax code to narrow the widening gap between winners and losers …

Discussion: The Campaign Spot

Wall Street Journal:
Barack Obama on Economics: 'We're Going Through a Big Shift'

Discussion: Israpundit, The Carpetbagger Report and The New Republic

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

Put Your Right Wing In, Take Your Left Wing Out — If John McCain keeps dancing like this, he's liable to break a hip. — Last month, he shimmied to the left on energy policy, infuriating conservatives with a plan to cap carbon emissions. Yesterday, he shuffled back to the right …

Discussion: The American Conservative, Gristmill, The Carpetbagger Report, The Moderate Voice and The Caucus

New York Times:
Where They Mostly Agree

Discussion: TPM Election Central and TalkLeft

Jonathan Martin / Jonathan Martin's Blogs:

So much for Obama's Hispanic problem? — Chuck Todd and the First Read guys capture something that really stood out to me in that Nevada poll I wrote up yesterday: Obama's much-buzzed-about shortcomings with Latinos don't appear to be real.

Discussion: Slog

Tennessee Center for Policy Research:

For Immediate Release: June 17, 2008 — Gore's personal electricity consumption up 10%, despite “energy-efficient” home renovations — NASHVILLE - In the year since Al Gore took steps to make his home more energy-efficient, the former Vice President's home energy use surged more than 10% …

Discussion: Argghhh!, Stop The ACLU, Sister Toldjah, Hot Air and Wake up America

John Aravosis / AMERICAblog News:

Pin at the GOP state convention in Texas: “If Obama is President... will we still call it the White House?” — Expect the Republican party to do absolutely nothing about the racists in its own midst. The national Republican party in Washington has contacts all the time with its state parties.

Discussion: The BRAD BLOG, Marc Ambinder, TRAIL BLAZERS, Salon, Open Left, Talking Points Memo, Liberty Pundit, TPM Election Central, Outside The Beltway, Donklephant, Cogitamus and Spin Cycle

Michelle Malkin:

Haditha Watch: Charges dismissed against Lt. Col. Chessani — Fight the smears. Call John “Cold-blooded” Murtha for comment: 202-225-2065. — Note: As of 1:40pm Eastern, you will not find the Haditha story on the front page of the NYTimes website. — Told you to watch out for this yesterday.

Discussion: Associated Press, Hot Air, BLACKFIVE, Wake up America, Gateway Pundit, Democracy Project and Macsmind

Rasmussen Reports:

67% Support Offshore Drilling, 64% Expect it Will Lower Prices — Most voters favor the resumption of offshore drilling in the United States and expect it to lower prices at the pump, even as John McCain has announced his support for states that want to explore for oil and gas off their coasts.