memeorandum: Can a patriotic pitch save McCain's campaign? (Howard Fineman/MSNBC)

McCain's Focus on Georgia Raises Question of Propriety — After Chiding Obama, He Dwells on Crisis as a President Might — Standing behind a lectern in Michigan this week, with two trusted senators ready to do his bidding, John McCain seemed to forget for a moment that he was only running for president.

Discussion: Political Punch, Firedoglake, I Don't Like You Either, Buck Naked Politics, Moue Magazine, Talking Points Memo and Taylor Marsh

Michael Falcone / New York Times:

McCain Displays Credentials as Obama Relaxes — HONOLULU — For the last several days, Senator Barack Obama has seemed to fade from the scene while on his secluded vacation here, as his opponent, Senator John McCain, has seized nearly every opportunity to display his foreign policy credentials …

Discussion: Political Perceptions, Macsmind and Media Blog

Kenneth T. Walsh / US News:

McCain Warns of a ‘Dramatically Different Relationship’ With Russia in the Wake of Its Invasion of Georgia — GOP presidential candidate calls Russia's actions ‘not acceptable behavior in the 21st century’ — ABOARD THE MCCAIN CAMPAIGN PLANE—Republican presidential candidate John McCain kept …

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
McCain: “In The 21st Century Nations Don't Invade Other Nations”

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Obsidian Wings

Marc Ambinder:

Obama, Richmond, VA, Next Thursday? Not Necessarily What It Looks Like... CBS News's Jeff Greenfield and I each have independent Democratic sources who say that an advance team for Barack Obama is in Richmond, VA preparing for a campaign event next Thursday. — To conjecture, of course, would be easy.

Discussion: CBS News and Open Left

Alexander Mooney / CNN:

Biden, Bayh get VP night slots at convention — (CNN) — The two senators widely believed to be at the top of Barack Obama's shortlist for VP have been given prime-time speaking slots at the Democratic convention Wednesday night — the very same night the vice presidential candidate is slated to speak.

Discussion: Outside The Beltway, PoliGazette and Patterico's Pontifications

Sam Youngman / The Hill:

Potential VP candidates fill Wednesday speaking slots — At least three of Sen. Barack Obama's (Ill.) potential running mates are slated to address the Democratic convention on the night that the vice presidential candidate is scheduled to speak. — Sens. Evan Bayh (Ind.) and Joseph Biden …

Sarah Wheaton / The Caucus: Denver Teasers — Such a tease, that Democratic National Convention Committee.

The Huffington Post:

Jackson Browne Sues GOP And McCain Campaign — Singer, songwriter, liberal activist and now John McCain scourge Jackson Browne filed a lawsuit today against the presumptive GOP nominee and the Republican Party for failing to obtain a license to use one of his songs in a television commercial.

Discussion: All Spin Zone, Firedoglake, Dean's World and Wilshire & Washington

Scott Martelle / Top of the Ticket:
Jackson Browne sues John McCain over song use

Discussion: Crooks and Liars

Washington Post:

Pakistani President Expected to Resign — Musharraf, Facing Impeachment, Likely To Step Down Within Days, Officials Say — Faced with mounting pressure from former political allies and dwindling support from his international backers, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, once a top U.S. ally …

Discussion: Informed Comment and On Deadline

ESPN:

Edwards' “other woman” revives memories of a gruesome scandal … On Sunday, as I was sitting in my summer cabin in Vermont, completely absorbed in a New York Times story about John Edwards' affair with Rielle Hunter, I began reading a paragraph whose message shot through me like a sudden bolt of electrical current.

Jill Zuckman / Chicago Tribune:

John McCain and the POW church riot — HARRISBURG, Pa. — They called it the church riot. — Sen. John McCain, who is known for his reticence and even discomfort invoking faith on the campaign trail, was once dubbed a “Hell's Angel” for rioting against his captors in Vietnam in order to hold Sunday church services.

Discussion: www.redstate.com

Lynn Smith / Los Angeles Times:

Doc blames Clintons for 9/11 miniseries' DVD holdup — ‘Blocking the Path to 9/11,’ produced by John Ziegler and Citizens United, claims that further showing of ABC's controversial project has been quashed. — In Hollywood docudramas, when the phrase “miscarriage of justice” is employed …

Discussion: Power Line and AlterNet

New York Times:

Lawyers' Ties Hint at Extent of Hiding Edwards's Affair — As tabloid reports of a sex scandal threatened former Senator John Edwards's presidential campaign last December on the eve of the Iowa caucuses, two lawyers surfaced with written statements that appeared to exonerate the candidate.

Discussion: Deadline USA, Brilliant at Breakfast, Riehl World View, TalkLeft, DBKP, Media Blog and Deceiver.com

Robert Kuttner / American Prospect:

VICE PRESIDENT GORE? — Vice President Gore? It has a certain ring. Most folks have assumed that Gore is off the VP list, but he hasn't been slotted as a convention speaker yet, which is curious since Gore is one of the party's superstars and its most effective spokesperson on energy and the environment.

Discussion: The RBC