memeorandum: McCain Adviser Was Lobbyist for Georgia (Mary Jacoby/Wall Street Journal)

3:30 PM ET, August 11, 2008

Top Items:

Putin Makes His Move — The details of who did what to precipitate Russia's war against Georgia are not very important. Do you recall the precise details of the Sudeten Crisis that led to Nazi Germany's invasion of Czechoslovakia? Of course not, because that morally ambiguous dispute …

Discussion: Marc Ambinder, The Daily Dish, The Hill, Wonk Room, The Gun Toting Liberal?, Balloon Juice, The New Republic, Matthew Yglesias, Commentary, The Swamp, D-Day, baldilocks and The Duck of Minerva

William Kristol / New York Times:

Will Russia Get Away With It? — In August 1924, the small nation of Georgia, occupied by Soviet Russia since 1921, rose up against Soviet rule. On Sept. 16, 1924, The Times of London reported on an appeal by the president of the Georgian Republic to the League of Nations.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Newshoggers.com, Weekly Standard Blog, Donklephant, The Duck of Minerva, Fausta's Blog, Political Machine, At-Largely, LewRockwell.com Blog, Blogs of War and Lawyers, Guns and Money

Taegan Goddard / Political Insider:

Did McCain Plagiarize His Speech on the Georgia Crisis? — A Wikipedia editor notices some similarities between Sen. John McCain's speech today on the crisis in Georgia and the Wikipedia article on the country Georgia. They appear similar enough that most people would consider parts …

Discussion: democracyarsenal.org, Think Progress, Registan.net, Emptywheel and Open Left

New York Times:

Georgia Fight Spreads, Moscow Issues Ultimatum — GORI, Georgia — Russia issued an ultimatum to Georgian forces on Monday to surrender completely in and around the western pro-Russian separatist enclave of Abkhazia, in a sign that fighting could escalate on a second front in the west of Georgia.

Discussion: The RBC, NO QUARTER, Happy Furry Puppy Story …, On Deadline, The Lede, A Blog For All, The Caucus and TalkLeft

Jonathan Martin / Yahoo! News:

McCain warns Russians of “severe, long-term negative consequences” — Hoping to further burnish his commander-in-chief credentials while his rival is on vacation and the president is abroad, John McCain appeared before cameras this morning to offer a lengthy primer on the crisis in the Caucasus …

Discussion: D-Day and A Fistful Of Euros

Joe Klein / Swampland:

It's Raining Nazis—Continued — When a column starts off like this: … ...the author has got to be a neoconservative pushing for the next war. In this case, it's Robert Kagan, girding for a new twilight struggle with the Sovi...uh, sorry: that was a couple of twilight struggles ago...Russia.

Discussion: Washington Wire, Obsidian Wings and The Washington Note

Ben / Think Progress:
Neocons Call For U.S. To Launch War With Russia

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Ross Douthat, Shakesville, www.redstate.com and Empire Burlesque

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
What Is Maximum Pressure? — Washington Times calls …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and National Review

Mikheil Saakashvili / Wall Street Journal:
The War in Georgia Is a War for the West

Discussion: Newshoggers.com, Telegraph, Washington Post, International Herald Tribune, The Sundries Shack, Atlas Shrugs, Power Line, Hot Air, DownWithTyranny!, The Foundry, Blogs of War, Macsmind and michellemalkin.com

Tony Halpin / Times of London:
We helped in Iraq - now help us, beg Georgians

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times, StrategyPage, Flopping Aces, Newshoggers.com, Outside The Beltway, The Reaction, Ace of Spades HQ, www.redstate.com, Right Wing News and Matthew Yglesias

Megan McArdle:
The logic of empire — Hilzoy views McCain's desire …

Discussion: Obsidian Wings, Outside The Beltway and The Politico

Mary Jacoby / Wall Street Journal:
McCain Adviser Was Lobbyist for Georgia

Discussion: The Caucus

Henry / Crooked Timber:
Territorial integrity norms

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Ben Smith's Blogs, TalkLeft, Washington Post and The Parasite

TigerHawk:
True colors: Where's the “anti-war” movement on the Russo-Georgia war?

Discussion: Gateway Pundit and The Corner

Blake Fleetwood / The Huffington Post:
What a Convenient Little War for The Republicans

Discussion: Neptunus Lex, BitsBlog and Confederate Yankee

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Those Plucky Georgians — Not quite as Bill Kristol advertizes:

Discussion: Salon, Christian Science Monitor, Swampland and Hullabaloo

David Nowak / Associated Press:
Georgia claims Russians have cut country in half

Discussion: Booman Tribune, Registan.net, Little Green Footballs, Danger Room, The Glittering Eye, The Parasite, Information Dissemination, Russia Blog and Outside The Beltway

ABCNEWS:

Wolfson: Edwards' Cover-up Cost Clinton the Nomination — Aides Say She Would Have Won Iowa if Edwards Affair was Exposed — Sen. Hillary Clinton would be the Democratic presidential nominee if John Edwards had been caught in his lie about an extramarital affair and forced out of the race last year …

Nate / FiveThirtyEight.com:

Why Howard Wolfson is Out of a Job — Not to re-litigate the Primary Wars — we're in a snarky mood this morning — but Howard Wolfson tells ABC News that, were it not for John Edwards, Hillary Clinton would have beaten Barack Obama in Iowa: … Iowa actually didn't turn out to be that close …

Discussion: Firedoglake

Bob Cusack / The Hill:

Plans for Clinton convention rallies intensify — Frustrated supporters of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) are planning multiple rallies at the Democratic convention in Denver, coupled with television and print advertisements. — The disenchanted Democrats want to express their disappointment …

Discussion: MoJoBlog

CNN:
Clinton aide: If affair pushed Edwards out, she would have won

Discussion: TalkLeft and Open Left

Glenn Thrush / The Politico:

7 worrisome signs for Obama — A few weeks back, Time magazine was musing that John McCain was in danger of sliding from “a long shot” to a “no-shot.” Around the same time, a hard-nosed former Hillary Clinton insider declared the race “effectively over” thanks to the McCain campaign's ineptitude …

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight.com, TPM Election Central and Daily Kos

CNN:
McCain campaigns with VP contender in battleground state

Discussion: Jonathan Martin's Blogs

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Video: Yeah, Obama is inexperienced, arrogant ... and?

Discussion: Commentary, The Other McCain, www.redstate.com and Right Voices

ABCNEWS:

Is John Edwards Still Lying? — Former Friend of Ex-Mistress Says Edwards Still Not Telling the Whole Truth — A one-time close friend of John Edwards' ex-mistress says the former Senator is still not telling the whole truth about how his affair with Rielle Hunter began.

Discussion: Liberal Values, NY Daily News, AMERICAblog News, A Blog For All, Hot Air and PrestoPundit

Serge F. Kovaleski / New York Times:
Behind a Meeting That Exposed Edwards's Affair

Discussion: The Huffington Post, DBKP and Deceiver.com

Mark Silva / The Swamp:

Obama to McCain: Who's the ‘celebrity?’ — In the celebrity by association game, which is worse: Paris Hilton or President Bush? — Barack Obama is banking on Bush's association with John McCain, targeted in a new campaign TV ad that links, with several big “embraces,” …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and No More Mister Nice Blog

Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
Obama finally responds to Celeb with Bush rap

Discussion: MoJoBlog

jillstanek.com:

Breaking news: New documents show Obama cover-up on born-alive survivors bill — UPDATE, 10:22a:Michelle Malkin has linked to my post. — UPDATE, 9:50a: Kathryn Lopez of National Review on line is Doug Johnson of the National Right to Life Committee drew my attention to a previously unnoticed Barack …

Discussion: Hot Air and michellemalkin.com

Yuval Levin / The Corner: Obama and the Born-Alive Act

Dan / Riehl World View:

RWV Excl: McCain Caught In Photo With Younger Woman … “I want John McCain,” the young strawberry-blond now confides to anyone who will listen, just days after spending hours of primping, riding in a car and waiting in line under the hot sun to enter a steamy town hall in the Midwest where …

John Heilemann / New York Magazine:

The Color-Coded Campaign — Why isn't Obama doing better in the polls? The answer no one wants to hear. — From the eleventh-floor headquarters of Barack Obama's campaign on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, 2008 looks a lot like 1980—with the ideological polarities reversed.

Discussion: TownHall Blog and NewsBusters.org