memeorandum: McCain's Ohio Rally Stokes V.P. Speculation (Nitya/Political Radar)

5:30 PM ET, August 18, 2008

Top Items:

Dan Gilgoff / God-o-Meter:

Rick Warren to God-o-Meter: Obama, Dems Can't Just Talk Faith — In an interview with God-o-Meter on the day after his Saddleback Civil Forum with John McCain and Barack Obama, Rev. Rick Warren sounded pretty dubious about Barack Obama's and the Democrats' chances of making inroads among evangelicals.

Discussion: Washington Post, Top of the Ticket, Right Wing Watch, The Swamp, TownHall Blog, PrestoPundit, Althouse and TRAIL BLAZERS

Katharine Q. Seelye / New York Times:

Despite Assurances, McCain Wasn't in a ‘Cone of Silence’ — ORLANDO, Fla. — Senator John McCain was not in a “cone of silence” on Saturday night while his rival, Senator Barack Obama, was being interviewed at the Saddleback Church in California. — Members of the McCain campaign staff …

Sally Quinn / Washington Post:

Worlds Apart — When I was little, I had a recurrent dream that there was a terrible earthquake. My father, his body a horse with wings, swooped down from the sky, kneeled so I could jump on his back and flew away just as the earth cracked open beneath me. It was my most comforting dream.

Discussion: TalkLeft, The Corner, neo-neocon, The Mahablog and Jezebel

William Kristol / New York Times:

Showdown at Saddleback — While normal people were out having fun Saturday night, I was home in front of the TV. But I wasn't enjoying the Olympics. Your diligent columnist was dutifully watching Barack Obama and John McCain answer the Rev. Rick Warren's questions at Saddleback Church.

Discussion: The New Republic, The Moderate Voice, National Review, Swampland, Althouse, The Politico, The Corner, Scott Rosenberg's Wordyard and Wake up America

Ezra Klein / American Prospect:

YOUR WORLD IN CHARTS: THE RICH DEFINE THE RICH. — One of the more interesting subthemes of this election has been the elite political class's struggle to sync its understanding of the economy — based around well-educated people who live in New York or DC — with the national income distribution.

Discussion: Think Progress, AFL-CIO NOW BLOG, The Other McCain, Matthew Yglesias and The Monkey Cage

Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC:

FIRST THOUGHTS: OBAMA AS JON LOVITZ? — From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro — *** Channeling Jon Lovitz: Is Obama having a Jon Lovitz-as-Dukakis SNL moment: “I can't believe I'm losing to this guy”? Well, Obama isn't losing — he still has a small single-digit lead …

Byron York / The Corner:
McCain, Obama, and the “Cone of Silence”

Discussion: Commentary

Amanda / Think Progress:
Kristol Makes His Fourth Factual Error In His New York Times Column

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Crooks and Liars, Matthew Yglesias and Althouse

Natalie Gewargis / Political Punch:
More on the Cone of Not-So-Silence

Discussion: AMERICAblog News, The Jed Report and CNN

John Drescher / Raleigh News & Observer:

Edwards went for big time — Forgive me if I'm straining to believe John Edwards' version of events. My last conversation with him wasn't a good one. — In some ways, that talk reflected the difficult relationship we've had with him since he became a national political figure.

Discussion: Washington Post

McSweeney's:

Feature: “Fragments From ‘Edwards! The Musical’” by Ben Greenman (8/18/08) — Hi, I'm Lisa. I mean Rielle. Will you take me To a hotel? — JOHN EDWARDS — Well, I never. — I'm shocked and dismayed. My wife and children Would feel betrayed. — Plus, there's a special circumstance:

Byron York / The Corner:
The Real John Edwards

Discussion: Hot Air

Alexander Mooney / CNN:

Obama VP buzz squarely on Biden — (CNN) - When Joe Biden returns to Capitol Hill Monday from his two-day trip to embattled Georgia, vice presidential speculation will rest squarely on him. — The longtime Delaware senator and former presidential candidate has long been considered …

Discussion: Left in the West, Open Left, New York Times, No More Mister Nice Blog, TPMCafe and Wonkette

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

BIDEN? — I just noticed that CNN is saying that Biden's the big buzz for VP down in DC political circles today. So I'm trying to process what I think of Biden as a potential pick. — On the one hand, it's not the most exciting choice. He doesn't bring a state. Delaware's going to go Democratic.

Discussion: American Prospect, The New Republic and Bob Cesca's Goddamn …

The Politico:
Obama likely to announce VP this week

Discussion: The Swamp, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times, Democratic Strategist, Hot Air and Financial Times

Marc Ambinder:

Who Got To Triantafilou? — Alex M. Triantafilou, the chairman of the Hamilton Co., Republican Party, wrote on his blog yesterday that McCain would be in Dayton, Ohio on August 29 — the day after the Democratic convention ends — and was looking for a “big” venue. … That was yesterday.

Discussion: Hot Air, PoliticalBase.com Blog and The Washington Independent

Nitya / Political Radar:
McCain's Ohio Rally Stokes V.P. Speculation

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight.com and Open Left

Alex Triantafilou / Hamilton County GOP:
Phelps, McCain, Anonymous Posts, etc.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

Jane Perlez / New York Times:

Musharraf Announces His Resignation — ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Under pressure over impending impeachment charges, President Pervez Musharraf announced he would resign Monday, ending nearly nine years as the head of one of the United States' most important allies in the campaign against terrorism.

Discussion: The Daily Dish, Yahoo! News, DAWN, Bloomberg, The Moderate Voice, Sweetness & Light, Times of India, At-Largely, The Washington Independent, Matthew Yglesias, Law Blog, MoJoBlog, Comments from Left Field and The Washington Note

Jason Zengerle / The New Republic:
Obama, McCain, and Musharraf

Discussion: Think Progress, Matthew Yglesias, The Carpetbagger Report and TIME.com

Candace Rondeaux / Washington Post:
Musharraf Resigns as President of Pakistan

Discussion: Gates of Vienna, Hot Air and The Strata-Sphere

Catholic League:

DEMOCRATS MUST NIX OFFENSIVE BLOGGERS — Over 120 blogs have been credentialed as members of the media for the Democratic National Convention; those who have received credentials are allowed to cover the Convention at the Pepsi Center. While most of them offer legitimate commentary, some do not.

Discussion: Hot Air, The Carpetbagger Report, ATTACKERMAN, The Other McCain, The Edge of the American West, Right Wing Watch and pandagon.net

Greg Mitchell / Editor and Publisher:

Pew Survey: Viewers of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert Score High on News Knowledge — NEW YORK The results of the new Pew Survey on News Consumption (taken every two years and released this afternoon) suggest that viewers of the “fake news” programs “The Daily Show"and “The Colbert Report” …

Ben / Think Progress:
Colbert, Stewart viewers more well-informed than those watching O'Reilly, Dobbs.

Discussion: Pew Research Center and The Sideshow

Carpetbagger / The Carpetbagger Report:
One-in-three Americans struggle badly with current events

Discussion: Pew Research Center, The Opinionator and The Impolitic

Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:

The Chicago Annenberg Challenge - The Fog Thickens — Barack Obama and unrepentant Weatherman Bill Ayers worked together on public school reform in Chicago for several years through the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, co-founded by Bill Ayers and originally chaired by Barack Obama.

Discussion: Cold Fury and Lonewacko

Stanley Kurtz / The Corner:
Chicago Cover-up? — In the process of tracing down the Obama …

Discussion: National Review and The Campaign Spot

Byron York / The Corner:

Fellow POW: I Remember McCain Telling the “Cross in the Dirt” Story — You've probably seen that there are some out there in the blogosphere questioning the authenticity of John McCain's “cross in the dirt” story, which McCain told Saturday night at the Saddleback Summit.

Philip Klein / American Spectator:
Sullivan Spreads Smear of McCain's POW Record

Discussion: Confederate Yankee and Firedoglake

Chris Healy / The Everyday Republican:

More Details on Dodd Deal Show Senator Knew What He Was Getting — U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd may have thought he put his problems behind him when he scooted off to Ireland for some August recess, but The Truth is Out There over his two sweetheart loans deals from Countrywide Financial.

Discussion: The Corner

Kevin Rennie / Hartford Courant: Dodd Deal: Extra Perks On Mortgages

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:

Bloomberg Set To Be On Presidential Ballot In Virginia — The state of Virginia is, for the first time in many decades, a toss up in the presidential election. And with its 13 electoral votes and polls showing a tight race, the commonwealth should host a fierce competition between Barack Obama and John McCain.

Discussion: Political Machine and Comedy Central

Greg Sargent / TPM Election Central:

McCain Outspending Obama By Hundreds Of Thousands In Many Core Battleground States — The McCain campaign has outspent the Obama camp by hundreds of thousands of dollars, and in some cases by as much as a million dollars or more, in virtually all of the nearly dozen battleground states …

Amity Shlaes / Washington Post:

Five Ways to Wreck a Recovery — Perverse monetary policy was the greatest cause of the Great Depression. But five non-monetary missteps were important in making the Depression great, and the same missteps damaged the global economy as well. While many are thinking about the Depression …

Discussion: Angry Bear and NewsBusters.org