memeorandum: Study: Some Americans cut credit card use (Ronni Berke/CNN)

3:19 AM ET, July 31, 2008

Top Items:

Weaver, McCain's Former Strategist, Calls “Celeb” Ad “Childish” — John Weaver, for years one of John McCain's closest friends and confidants, has been in exile since his resignation from McCain's presidential campaign last year. With the exception of an occasional interview, he has …

Discussion: CNN, TIME.com, NewsBusters.org, The Anonymous Liberal, Political Machine, PoliticalBase.com Blog, The RBC, The New Republic, Hot Air, Washington Monthly, Pajamas Media, Tom Watson, Talking Points Memo, Political Punch, Campaign Diaries and American Spectator

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

Keeping Track — I note with interest today, John McCain's new tactic of associating Barack Obama with oversexed and/or promiscuous young white women. (See today's new ad and this from yesterday.) Presumably, a la Harold Ford 2006, this will be one of those strategies that will be a matter …

Jim Rutenberg / New York Times:

McCain Tries to Define Obama as Out of Touch — WASHINGTON — After spending much of the summer searching for an effective line of attack against Senator Barack Obama, Senator John McCain is beginning a newly aggressive campaign to define Mr. Obama as arrogant, out of touch and unprepared for the presidency.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Washington Post and The RBC

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:

McCain's Risky Ad Strategy — UPDATE, 6:30 pm: Barack Obama's campaign has quickly turned around a response ad that bashes John McCain for practicing the “politics of the past.” — The key image? McCain and President Bush standing side by side while the words “John McCain: Same Old Politics, Same Failed Policies” appear on screen.

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!, The Trail, The New Republic, Political Machine, Oliver Willis and Truthdig

Massie Ritsch / OpenSecrets.org:
Watchdogs Compare McCain, Obama on Donor Disclosure

Discussion: protein wisdom, Flopping Aces, Buck Naked Politics, Salon, Ben Smith's Blogs and Don Surber

New York Observer:
Mac Attack — They Adored Him! Senator McCain Had the Press Eating …

Discussion: Reason Magazine and Wonkette

Jim Rutenberg / New York Times:
With Commercial, McCain Gets Much More Than His Money's Worth

Discussion: Hot Air, MyDD, The Caucus, Newsweek Blogs, Open Left, Don Surber, FiveThirtyEight.com, Political Machine and protein wisdom

Isabel Wilkinson / The Huffington Post:
A Week In John McCain's Shoes — His $520 Ferragamo Loafers, That Is

Discussion: Newsweek Blogs, Oliver Willis, Spin Cycle, Booman Tribune, D-Day, Political Radar and The Nation

Alexander Mooney / CNN:

Obama trip abroad doesn't move poll numbers — WASHINGTON (CNN) — It was a weeklong trip that drew blanket media coverage and sharp criticism from Republicans, but Sen. Barack Obama's recent tour abroad did little to alter his standing in the presidential race, according to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll.

Discussion: Flopping Aces, MyDD, Reason Magazine, Taegan Goddard's … and TPM Election Central

Gallup:

Gallup Daily: Presidential Race Tightens to 4 Points — PRINCETON, NJ — After moving into a nine percentage point lead over John McCain in Gallup Poll Daily tracking of national registered voters this past weekend, Barack Obama now leads by just four points, 46% to 42%.

Discussion: The Other McCain, Weekly Standard Blog, American Spectator and Hot Air

Alexander Mooney / CNN:
Poll: Most Americans want offshore drilling

Discussion: Commentary and TIME.com

Barak Ravid / Haaretz:

Olmert to step down in September, vows to push for peace first — Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Wednesday that he has decided not to contend in the Kadima primary election and would resign as soon as the new party leader was chosen, due to the criminal investigations in which he has been embroiled in recent months.

Discussion: The American Scene and American Footprints

Haaretz:

Poll: Netanyahu is public's preferred choice for next PM — Opposition leader and Likud Party Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu is the Israeli public's preferred choice to replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, according to a survey released on Wednesday by Channel 10.

Discussion: Guardian and Commentary

Jerusalem Post:
Olmert says he will resign after Kadima elects new leader

Discussion: The New Republic, New York Times, Hot Air and Israel Matzav

Ben Smith / The Politico:

Obama camp condemns song: Ludacris ‘should be ashamed’ — Barack Obama's campaign is condemning a song by the rapper Ludacris that praises Obama and bitterly attacks Senators Hillary Clinton and John McCain. — “As Barack Obama has said many, many times in the past, rap lyrics today …

Discussion: JammieWearingFool, CBN.com, Top of the Ticket, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Weekly Standard Blog, NewsBusters.org, Political Punch, Gateway Pundit, Blogs of War, Political Machine, Wake up America, American Spectator and Fox News

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Audio: This is not the Ludacris that Barack Obama thought he knew …

Discussion: Marc Ambinder and American Spectator

Amanda Erickson / The Swamp: Obama + Ludacris = best friends 4eva

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

For White House, Hiring Is Political — WASHINGTON — On May 17, 2005, the White House's political affairs office sent an e-mail message to agencies throughout the executive branch directing them to find jobs for 108 people on a list of “priority candidates” who had “loyally served the president.”

Discussion: The Raw Story, Hullabaloo, Buck Naked Politics, At-Largely, TPMMuckraker, The Swamp and Think Progress

David Stout / New York Times:
Democrats Call for Contempt Charges Against Rove

Discussion: TPMMuckraker, Rough Sketch, Buck Naked Politics, Big Lizards, Salon, The Swamp, The New Republic, The Carpetbagger Report and michellemalkin.com

The Onion:

Al Gore Places Infant Son In Rocket To Escape Dying Planet — EARTH—Former vice president Al Gore—who for the past three decades has unsuccessfully attempted to warn humanity of the coming destruction of our planet, only to be mocked and derided by the very people he has tried to save …

Zzaki / Political Punch:

Did Obama Accuse McCain of Running a Racist, Xenophobic Campaign? — “John McCain right now, he's spending an awful lot of time talking about me,” Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., said today in Rolla, Mo. “You notice that? I haven't seen an ad yet where he talks about what he's gonna do.

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:

McCain camp on Obama's ‘hysteria’ — Staying very personal, the McCain campaign responds to Obama's suggestion that Republicans will attack his unusual name and his race: — “This is a typically superfluous response from Barack Obama. Like most celebrities, he reacts to fair criticism …

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Alas, a blog and First Draft

The Hill:

50 Most Beautiful People on Capitol Hill 2008 - Top 10 — Political party: Democrat. — Dating status: “Happily single” — She's striking - and accident-prone. — Three weeks ago, Tulani Elisa, a legislative assistant for Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), fell down while going up the Metro escalator that leads into Dupont Circle.

Discussion: skippy the bush kangaroo, Matthew Yglesias and The American Mind

Darleen Click / protein wisdom:

Things that chap my ass - an ongoing series — One could almost hear the audible hissing over McCain's ad questioning O!'s unseriousness over drilling while O! continues his Great Pretender tour, yet O! turns around and continues to insult the intelligence of those not completely in his thrall: