memeorandum: Obama leaps to early Iowa start; McCain slowly digs in (Thomas Beaumont/Des Moines Register)

12:25 PM ET, July 14, 2008

Top Items:

David Remnick On That New Yorker Cover: It's Satire, Meant To Target “Distortions And Misconceptions And Prejudices” About Obama — Earlier today, the New Yorker released its cover for the July 21, 2008 issue — and the reaction was swift and furious. — The cover by Barry Blitt, called …

Discussion: Washington Wire, The New Republic, Achenblog, Salon, The Nation, Althouse, Comment Central, The RBC, The Corner, BAGnewsNotes, Political Machine, AlterNet, marbury and Top of the Ticket

Michelle Malkin:

Grow a pair, Obama — So, you found this satirical New Yorker cover art “tasteless and offensive.” — Welcome to public life. — Guess what? In Washington, political cartoonists and caricaturists spare no one. — Here's a reminder of the crap Condi Rice has had to deal with over the years:

Discussion: The Powers That Be and Michelle Obama Watch

Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:

THAT NEW YORKER COVER....I blogged a few hours ago about Ryan Lizza's Obama piece in the current issue of the New Yorker, but at the time I hadn't seen the cover that went along with it. Now I have, because when I browsed through my RSS feed after dinner it turned out that the entire (liberal) …

Discussion: The Carpetbagger Report, Balloon Juice, The Impolitic and Blog of the Moderate Left

Jonah Goldberg / The Corner:

Covers and Beholders — What I find interesting about the New Yorker cover is that it's almost exactly the sort of cover you could expect to find on the front of National Review. Roman Genn could do wonders with that concept. Of course, if we ran the exact same art …

Discussion: Eschaton and alicublog

Editor and Publisher:
‘New Yorker’ Cover With Obama as Muslim “Terrorist' Draws Heat

Discussion: The Fix

James Joyner / Outside The Beltway:
New Yorker Obama Terrorist Cover

Discussion: The Daily Dish, Eunomia and politburo diktat 2.0

Attaturk / Firedoglake:
“Hope” — I guess it takes a lot of that stuff to actually make a statement like this:

Discussion: Associated Press

Katie Fretland / The Swamp:
Obama campaign slams New Yorker cover

Discussion: TownHall Blog, The Daily Dish, Lynn Sweet, Commentary, GregsOpinion.com, Exploring race and Tennessee Guerilla Women

Nico Pitney / The Huffington Post:
Barry Blitt Defends His New Yorker Cover Art Of Obama

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Opinionator, Comedy Central, The Caucus, Alas, a blog, TPM Election Central, Michelle Obama Watch, Fox News, Feministing, Bob Cesca's Goddamn … and Jonathan Martin's Blogs

Mike Allen / The Politico:
‘Scare tactic’ — Obama slams Muslim portrayal

Barack Obama / New York Times:

My Plan for Iraq — THE call by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki for a timetable for the removal of American troops from Iraq presents an enormous opportunity. We should seize this moment to begin the phased redeployment of combat troops that I have long advocated …

Krooney / TIME.com:
Graham: Obama Iraq Op-Ed “Brazen Attempt to Rewrite History”

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, The Corner, TownHall Blog and TPM Election Central

Juan Cole / Informed Comment:
Obama on Iraq and Afghanistan: A Friendly Critique

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, BlondeSense, Hot Air and democracyarsenal.org

Tanta / Calculated Risk:

Krugman on the GSEs — Paul Krugman has a new column on Fannie and Freddie which I think is important. I'm going to take issue with a fair amount of it, but not with the basic argument that the uproar over the GSEs is “overblown.” That, I think is a point worth making.

Greg Robb / MarketWatch:
White House, Fed will rescue Fannie, Freddie

Discussion: The American Mind, The Next Right and naked capitalism

Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Fannie, Freddie and You — And now we've reached the next stage …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Washington Post, EconLog, Matthew Yglesias, Paul Krugman, The Sideshow, Eschaton and Grasping Reality …

Louise Story / New York Times:
Analysts Say More Banks Will Fail

Discussion: The Confluence and The American Mind

Clive Crook / Financial Times:
Guarantees for America's guarantors

Discussion: Megan McArdle, Clive Crook, Portfolio.com and naked capitalism

ACLU:

Terrorist Watch List Hits One Million Names — ACLU launches online watch list complaint form — Contact: (202) 675-2312 or media@dcaclu.org — WASHINGTON, DC - The nation's terrorist watch list has hit one million names, according to a tally maintained by the American Civil Liberties Union based upon …

Discussion: PoliBlog (TM), HorsesAss.Org and Reason Magazine

Ben Feller / Associated Press:

Bush to Lift Executive Ban on Offshore Drilling — President Bush to lift executive ban on offshore drilling, urge Congress to act as well — The White House says President Bush is planning to lift an executive ban on offshore oil drilling. — In a Rose Garden statement on Monday, the president plans to lift the ban.

Discussion: Wonk Room, michellemalkin.com and Hot Air

Fox News:

Bush to Lift Executive Ban on Offshore Oil Drilling — WASHINGTON — President Bush will lift an executive ban on offshore oil drilling, although new oil exploration on the Outer Continental Shelf will remain off limits until Congress also takes action. — The president will make a Rose …

Discussion: Bucks Right

Steven Mufson / Washington Post:
Offshore Drilling Backed as Remedy for Oil Prices

Discussion: Climate Progress, Get Energy Smart! and www.redstate.com

Thomas Beaumont / Des Moines Register:

Obama leaps to early Iowa start; McCain slowly digs in — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is off to a more aggressive campaign in Iowa than John McCain, despite the Republican having clinched the nomination three months earlier than his rival.

Discussion: TIME.com

Mark Leibovich / New York Times:

Lieberman Finds Middle a Tricky Path — WASHINGTON — Joseph I. Lieberman, lapsed Democrat of Connecticut, strolled into the weekly lunch of the Senate Democrats last Tuesday, unaccompanied by a food taster. — He greeted his colleagues, including some who felt he should not have been there.

Discussion: TPM Election Central, The New Republic, Marc Ambinder and American Power

Amanda / Think Progress:

Despite Aversion To Golfing During The War, Bush Will Attend A McCain Golf Fundraiser Hosted By His Parents — Despite Aversion To Golfing During The War, Bush Will Attend A McCain Golf Fundraiser Hosted By His Parents — In May, President Bush revealed that he had given up playing golf because of the Iraq war.

Discussion: Examiner

Ron Moreau / Newsweek:

Why Vietnam Loves McCain — They jailed him for five years. Now they want him in the White House. — Photos: Jonathan Torgovnik / Getty Images — Let Freedom Ring: Nurse Thanh remembers; Duyet at home in Haiphong — John McCain might not recognize Nguyen van Sy, but they used to be neighbors.

Discussion: Jonathan Martin's Blogs and Don Surber

Elizabeth Aguilera / The Politico:

Denver businesses stiffed by DNC — As soon as Charlotte Kulscar heard the Democratic National Committee named Denver its 2008 convention site, she began researching how to get a piece of the estimated $160 million economic impact for her print shop. — She thought she had a good shot.

Discussion: Hot Air