Top Items:


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 …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, The Carpetbagger Report, Commentary, The Huffington Post, Weekly Standard Blog, The Fix, Firedoglake, dallasmorningviewsblog …, USA Today, MoJoBlog, THE GUN TOTING LIBERAL™, Don Surber, Washington Post, The Swamp, The Washington Note, The Daily Dish, Jonathan Martin's Blogs, Hullabaloo, Taylor Marsh, The Trail, Hot Air, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, MSNBC, Political Radar, Needlenose, All Spin Zone, Comedy Central, Pajamas Media, The Reaction, Swampland, Veterans For America and Marc Ambinder
RELATED:

Flipping Out — So Obama will listen to his generals and consider the facts on the ground before fully withdrawing from Iraq. OMG! WTF? Rick Klein of ABC News exclaimed, “There's been lots of speculation this week about whether Barack Obama has an Iraq problem. He does now.”
Discussion:
democracyarsenal.org

BBC: Maliki's remarks misreported — Barack Obama based his editorial on Iraq in large part on the assertion by Nouri al-Maliki wants timetables for American withdrawal. Unfortunately, as the BBC notes, Maliki didn't actually say that — although the fault really does not lie with Obama.
Discussion:
Gateway Pundit

Obama: It's Time to Begin to End the War (Updated)
Discussion:
Commentary

Obama on Iraq and Afghanistan: A Friendly Critique
Discussion:
Newshoggers.com, Washington Monthly, New York Times, Commentary, BlondeSense and democracyarsenal.org


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:
The Dish Rag, Crooks and Liars, The Huffington Post, michellemalkin.com, Wonkette, Gawker, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Hullabaloo, culturekitchen, TownHall Blog, BAGnewsNotes, Guardian, Comment Central, Editor and Publisher, Outside The Beltway, The Corner, The Nation, The Confluence, Comedy Central, Political Machine, AMERICAblog News, Opinion L.A., Michelle Obama Watch and Liberal Values
RELATED:

New Yorker — Since it's the controversy of the day, let me make my views more clear.


Remnick Defends Obama Cover, Idea That Readers Aren't Retards
Discussion:
Swampland

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:
Matthew Yglesias, PoliBlog (TM), ACLU Blog, The Huffington Post, HorsesAss.Org and Shakesville

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.
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias, Washington Post, Cato-at-liberty, Paul Krugman, The Foundry, Corrente, EconLog and Firedoglake
RELATED:

Morning Bell: The Left's Crony Capitalism Exposed
Discussion:
The Volokh Conspiracy

DO YOUR JOB: STOP IGNORING SCHEUNEMANN'S PAST — As you can see, the McCain campaign is moving ahead with a new stab-in-the-back style attack on Obama over Iraq. But as Team McCain is raising the volume on these slash-and-burn style attacks, it's time for some coverage of the guy who's McCain's brain on Iraq.
RELATED:

McCain's Perez Hilton Problem — It's no secret that last week was not a good one for John McCain. His old friend, Phil Gramm, demonstrated such a sad case of foot in mouth disease with his “mental recession” line that it was almost as though Gramm was acting as an Obama campaign covert operative.
RELATED:


AP Stringer Stands by as Taliban Murder 2 Women, Gets Snuff Footage [UPDATE: Worse than Bilal Hussein!] [UPDATE: Confirmed: Took Video of Murder] — AP photographer Rahmatullah Naikzad was a witness to a Taliban murder. The two women were alleged to have been prostitutes who served Western clientèle.

McCain's Hillary Problem — He's running her same campaign. And she lost. — Feel free to tell me I'm nuts for asking the question, but doesn't it seem that, more and more, the McCain campaign is turning into the Clinton campaign? — The comparison smacked me upside the head last week …

Clinton supporters want floor vote — It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings. — Dan Cook — Operation Chaos may not yet have finished, according to CQ Politics. While Hillary Clinton negotiates for a place of honor at the convention, some of her followers have a more important role in mind for her.
Discussion:
GINA COBB
RELATED:

Election 2008: Michigan Presidential Election — Michigan: Obama's Lead Grows to 8% — Barack Obama has more than doubled his lead over John McCain to eight percentage points in the economic battleground state of Michigan, with much of his new support coming from voters who have moved away from the Republican hopeful.


Citigroup's $1.1 Trillion of Mysterious Assets Shadows Earnings — At an investor presentation in May, Citigroup Inc. Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit said shrinking the bank's $2.2 trillion balance sheet, the biggest in the U.S., was a cornerstone of his turnaround plan.

Is Fournier saving or destroying the AP? — Ron Fournier says he regards Sandy Johnson, his predecessor as head of The Associated Press's Washington bureau, as “a mentor.” — Johnson, though, regards Fournier, who replaced her in a hard-feelings shake-up in May, as a threat …


McCains to Profit on Anheuser, InBev Deal — T. W. Farnam reports on the presidential race. — Cindy McCain, wife of Republican presidential candidate John McCain, is set to get a huge payout from the sale of Anheuser-Busch Cos., brewer of Budweiser and hundreds of other brands, to Belgian beverage giant InBev NV.
Discussion:
The Raw Story

Bush lifts executive ban on offshore drilling — President Bush lifted an executive ban on offshore oil and gas drilling Monday, putting more pressure on congressional Democrats to address GOP calls to open more acreage for domestic energy exploration. — The executive ban …
RELATED:


McLaughlin takes heat for ‘Oreo’ comment — (CNN) — Longtime Washington talk-show host John McLaughlin is facing fire Monday for referring to Barack Obama as an “Oreo” during a segment on his Sunday political program, “The McLaughlin Group. — The veteran Washington journalist was discussing …
Discussion:
Wonkette


Iglesias: Ashcroft Was ‘Pushed Out’ Because He ‘Refused To Sign Off On The Warrantless Wiretaps’ — In March 2004, then-acting Attorney General James Comey refused to sign an order extending President Bush's warrantless domestic spying program “amid concerns about its legality and oversight.”
Discussion:
dallasmorningviewsblog …

Success in Iraq — The war continues to abate in Iraq. Violence is still present, but, of course, Iraq was a relatively violent place long before Coalition forces moved in. I would go so far as to say that barring any major and unexpected developments (like an Israeli air strike on Iran …
Discussion:
QandO