THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN

Good line on the tube today: McCain may not win Bush’s third term, but he’s certainly running Bush’s third campaign.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/31/us/politics/31campaign.html
Mr. McCain’s campaign is now under the leadership of members of President Bush’s re-election campaign, including Steve Schmidt, the czar of the Bush war room that relentlessly painted his opponent, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, as effete, elite, and equivocal through a daily blitz of sound bites and Web videos that were carefully coordinated with Mr. Bush’s television advertisements.

The run of attacks against Mr. Obama over the last couple of weeks have been strikingly reminiscent of that drive, including the Bush team’s tactics of seeking to make campaigns referendums on its opponents — not a choice between two candidates . . .

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/mcnastys-mcnasty-by-digby-heres-story.html

Exhibit A: Have you really come to this, John – comparing your opponent to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton?

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/new_mccain_ad_attacks_obama_as.php

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccain_camp_defends_comparison.php

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=7228

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16381.html
[Steve Benen] I’m pretty comfortable, at this point, describing John McCain as the single most ridiculous major party presidential nominee of the modern political era. This ad is so spectacularly inane, it’s hard to watch it without feeling insulted. . . . [read on]

Uh, John, let’s stay away from the Britney comparisons, okay?

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/group_responds_to_mccain_ad_br.php

“Oops, he did it again” http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/30/135652/259

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/7/30/202939/836

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/hit_me_davis_one_more_time.php

From the man who helped run McCain’s 2000 campaign

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/weaver_mccains_former_strategi.php
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, by his own account, bit his tongue as McCain's campaign has adopted a strategy that Weaver believes "diminishes John McCain."

With the release today of a McCain television ad blasting Obama for celebrity preening while gas prices rise, and a memo that accuses Obama of putting his own aggrandizement before the country, Weaver said he's had "enough."

The ad's premise, he said, is "childish." . . . .

The strategy of driving up Obama's negatives "reduces McCain on the stage," Weaver said. . . . "There is legitimate mockery of a political campaign now, and it isn't at Obama's. For McCain's sake, this tomfoolery needs to stop." . . .

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/us/politics/30mccain.html
[NYT] Mr. McCain is clearly trying to sow doubts about his younger opponent, and bring him down a peg or two. But some Republicans worry that by going negative so early, and initiating so many of the attacks himself rather than leaving them to others, Mr. McCain risks coming across as angry or partisan in a way that could turn off some independents who have been attracted by his calls for respectful campaigning.

The drumbeat of attacks could also undermine his argument that he will champion a new brand of politics. . . .

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16387.html
[Steve Benen] Taken together, the three ads combine to make McCain look “desperate” or “relentlessly negative.” But there’s another adjective that comes to mind: “small. . . .

Democrats don’t need to “diminish” McCain; Democrats can sit back and watch McCain “diminish” himself. Over the last few days, I feel like I’m watching Obama play rope-a-dope with a pugilist who seems painfully oblivious to what he’s doing to himself. . . .

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16378.html
[McCain campaign memo, March 2008] “It is critical,” the memo explained, “as we prepare to face off with whomever the Democrats select as their nominee, that we all follow John’s lead and run a respectful campaign focused on the issues…. Throughout the primary election we saw John McCain reject the type of politics that degrade our civics, and this will not change.” The memo added that “overheated rhetoric and personal attacks” only serve to “distract” us, and that it was imperative that the campaign hold itself “to the highest standards.”

[NB: Well, he got rid of THOSE guys.]

More: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/07/31/mccain/index.html

Exhibit B: it all started with a Washington Post piece

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/29/AR2008072902068.html
Barack Obama has long been his party's presumptive nominee. Now he's becoming its presumptuous nominee.

Fresh from his presidential-style world tour, during which foreign leaders and American generals lined up to show him affection, Obama settled down to some presidential-style business in Washington yesterday. . . .

The 5:20 [event] turned out to be his adoration session with lawmakers in the Cannon Caucus Room, where even committee chairmen arrived early, as if for the State of the Union. Capitol Police cleared the halls -- just as they do for the actual president. The Secret Service hustled him in through a side door -- just as they do for the actual president.

Inside, according to a witness, he told the House members, "This is the moment . . . that the world is waiting for," adding: "I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions." . . .

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/gop_attacks_obama_over_dispute.php
[Greg Sargent] Not surprisingly, the Republican National Committee is now attacking Barack Obama over the Washington Post account of him supposedly hailing his own symbolic importance before a roomful of House Dems -- an account that's being disputed by multiple sources.

But here's what's funny: The RNC's attack consists of nothing more than a reproduction of the entire WaPo post, under the headline "Audacity Watch." In other words, the WaPo post is seen by the RNC as a perfect and complete attack in and of itself -- akin to an RNC press release. . . .

More: http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=7230

One little problem: that’s not what Obama said

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/ah_journalism.php
[Matt Yglesias] So it seems that Barack Obama said something like:

“It has become increasingly clear in my travel, the campaign, that the crowds, the enthusiasm, 200,000 people in Berlin, is not about me at all. It's about America. I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions.” . . .

And now for hours the press and the GOP have been in a frenzy about Obama's arrogance. Because he tried to say something humble about why he was greeting by hundreds of thousands of people when he gave a speech.

More: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/account_of_presumptious_obama.php

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/messiah_well_actually.php

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16380.html

Here’s some supportive evidence on which version to believe, from Michael Smerconish: a similar topic came up once before, and Obama said much the same thing

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/04/us/politics/04obama.html
[June 5] “I love when I’m shaking hands on a rope line and”— he mimes the motion, hand over hand — “I see little old white ladies and big burly black guys and Latino girls and all their hands are entwining. They’re feeding on each other as much as on me."

He shrugs . . . “It’s like I’m just the excuse.”

Much more: http://mediamatters.org/items/200807300009

Why these kinds of stories work

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_07_27_archive.html#1053223613546380666
[Atrios] While Obama's consumption of orange juice at breakfast was proof he was deeply out of touch with normal America, John McCain's $500 shoes are further proof that he is indeed a man of the people with whom most people would want to BBQ with. Except they wouldn't.

These zombie narratives (Democrats are out of touch, effete, elitist, and Republicans are rugged men of the people) are so ingrained that no amount of facts or reality can stop the bobbleheads from repeating them.

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16383.html
[Steve Benen] Put it this way — if Barack Obama paid $520 for a pair of Italian loafers, every voter in America would know about it. Every media outlet would report it and every Republican would talk about it.

I’m reminded, of course, of John Edwards’ $400 haircuts. Last year, that story was everywhere, with the Washington Post writing multiple articles about it. “How could Edwards relate to regular folks if he has that kind of lifestyle?” the media asked, over and over again.

Indeed, the media seems to go to great lengths to look for evidence to bolster the far-right meme that Obama is some kind of outsider. From bowling to orange juice to arugula, reporters love to characterize Obama as something less than a “real” American.

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/cokies-law-by-digby-chris-matthews.html

Obama defends himself – and gets attacked for it

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/07/did-obama-accus.html

Let’s not be under any illusions about what’s going on here. Start with Karl Rove:

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/06/rove-obamas-the.html
[June 23] ABC News' Christianne Klein reports that at a breakfast with Republican insiders at the Capitol Hill Club this morning, former White House senior aide Karl Rove referred to Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, as "coolly arrogant."

"Even if you never met him, you know this guy," Rove said, per Christianne Klein. "He's the guy at the country club with the beautiful date, holding a martini and a cigarette that stands against the wall and makes snide comments about everyone who passes by."

Ever since then, we’ve been hearing more and more about Obama’s “arrogance” and “presumption.” In this context these are racially loaded terms: read “uppity” . . . and he wants to steal your women

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-ridley/when-rove-calls-obama-arr_b_109639.html
[John Ridley] We've heard that; we've heard the pejorative "arrogant" before. When I say "we" I mean those of us who are "others" in America; people of color. Minorities. Women. We hear the word all the time from a select section of privileged white guys . . . [read on]

Then there’s the guy who made this ad, run against Harold Ford in 2006 – he’s on McCain’s team now:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1smE1Es-8QA
“Harold, call me”

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/206241.php
[Josh Marshall] 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 of deep dispute during the campaign and later treated as transparent and obvious once the campaign is concluded. . . . [read on]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-jenkins/obama-still-does-not-know_b_115671.html
[Paul Jenkins] What angers John McCain and bemuses many traditional observers is how unflappable Barack Obama remains in public, no matter how condescending the attacks. There is little doubt that the thick skin he grew over decades came in handy as he started to run for president. The past 18 months surely were not the first time Obama was baited for being black, for being white, for being Muslim, or for not being from "here," and it must be fascinating, although not unexpected, for him to see these patronizing attitudes resurface at this stage of his life. For the rest of us, what is fascinating is to witness how these old-school mindsets are backfiring on those who hold them, making them look less wise, more prejudiced, less fit to lead and altogether completely unappealing. . . [read on]

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/miscegenation-dogwhistle-watch-by-dday.html

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/on-dogwhistles-by-digby-ive-been.html

Exhibit C: There, was that so hard? The press, after giving a despicable McCain ad hour upon hour of free publicity, finally gets around to telling people it is full of lies. The McCain campaign instantly responds, “oops, sorry” – after the damage is done, of course

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/election_central_morning_round_131.php
The New York Times reports that the McCain campaign's ad falsely attacking Barack Obama over the canceled troop visit has only run as paid commercial about a dozen times. Obviously the ad has gotten a lot more play than that -- and it's all come from free media talking about the ad, which was obviously the basis of their strategy to begin with.

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/big_news_orgs_start_declaring.php

http://mediamatters.org/items/200807300011

http://pundits.thehill.com/2008/07/30/mccain-lies-about-obama-and-wounded-troops/

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0708/McCain_campaign_backs_off_cameras_charge.html?showall

The lies of John McCain

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/st-pete-times-eviscerates-mccain-and.html
[St Petersburg Press] The Straight Talk Express has taken a nasty turn into the gutter. . . . [read on]

More: http://theeclecticquill.com/2008/07/30/mccains-22-lies-is-not-going-negative-its-lying/

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16385.html

Cross this guy off the McCain VP list, I guess

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/top_mccain_surrogate_refuses_t.php
John McCain's claim that Barack Obama would rather lose the war than lose the presidential race is so repugnant that one of his most prominent surrogates -- Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who's also talked about as a potential Veep -- refused to endorse it.

Here’s a good explanation for why the McCain campaign, and the candidate, can’t get their messages straight

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/30/AR2008073003246.html
As Aides Map Aggressive Race, McCain Often Steers Off Course

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0708/12193.html
McCain’s cacophonous Cabinet

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121745962594698731.html
Is John McCain Stupid?

http://www.slate.com/id/2196396
[Daniel Politi] In a front-page piece that almost (but not quite) implies that McCain's aides are thrusting this aggressive style on the candidate against his will, the Post notes that the senator from Arizona is unpredictable and dislikes parroting talking points over and over again. As a result, McCain's "advisers cringe" when he "keeps talking" and subsequently dilutes what could have been a good sound bite. McCain's campaign has been criticized for lacking a consistent message, but to some Republicans that failure has more to do with the candidate's shortcomings rather than campaign's failures. And the NYT points out that there are those who believe that trying to "apply the Bush model" to McCain simply won't work. "It could be the Coca-Cola strategy of marketing that they're trying to apply to Dr Pepper," a former McCain strategist said.

In the Post's op-ed page, David Ignatius flat-out suggests that what we're seeing now isn't the real McCain. In a fawning piece that goes through McCain's biography, Ignatius says the presumptive Republican nominee needs to stop listening to advisers and start being himself. "What's damaging the McCain campaign now, I suspect, is that this fiercely independent man is trying to please other people," writes Ignatius. "He should give that up and be the person whose voice shines through the pages of his life story."

More: http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/its-kind-of-sad-when-blogger-is.html

Breathtaking

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/bush_administration_wants_all.php
[Andrew Tilghman] Should federal judges interpreting the new U.S. wiretapping law be able to hear and consider legal arguments from outside parties like the American Civil Liberties Union?

The Bush administration says no.

The Department of Justice filed court papers yesterday seeking to block the ACLU -- and any other third party -- from submitting briefs to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the classified forums that will be primarily responsible for translating the federal law signed last month into practice.

The DOJ argues that any briefs the ACLU might file would be ill-informed because its lawyers cannot access the classified information at the heart of many FISA cases . . . [read on]

[NB: Right! THEY CAN’T ACCESS THE INFORMATION TO FIND OUT IF THE LAW IS BEING VIOLATED]

The politicized hiring at the Justice Department was just one instance of a pattern extending across the Bush administration. Does anyone think that people like Monica Goodling just came up with this idea themselves? Where did the direction and coordination come from? (I think we know)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/31/washington/31capital.html
“The Bush administration is unprecedented in how systematic the politicization is and how it extends both across the wider organization chart and deep down within the bureaucracy,” Professor Rudalevige said. “They’ve been very consistent from Day 1 in learning the lessons of previous administrations and pushing those tactics to the limit.” . . . [read on]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/31/washington/31capital.html
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.”

“We simply want to place as many of our Bush loyalists as possible,” the White House emphasized in a follow-up message . . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/doj_report_shows_partisian_cul.php
There are still two more uncompleted inspector general reports pending -- one about the firing of eight U.S. attorneys and another about political agendas in the department's Civil Rights Division. . . . [read on]

This is appalling: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/fine_says_igs_office_only_talk.php
Throughout the investigation of improper political influence on the Department of Justice's hiring process, the DOJ's inspector general interviewed 85 people -- but only one from the White House. . .

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/as-many-loyalists-as-possible_30.html

Alice responds: the White House is really, really concerned. And disappointed. Really

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/white_house_finally_responds_t.php
QUESTION: Dana, what's your reaction to the Justice Department report where they -- the report essentially says, yes, that there was inappropriate influence on politics and ideology that was part of our hiring and firing practices?

PERINO: Well as I have read the coverage of it -- I haven't read the report, but as I read the coverage of it, there's obviously information in there that would cause concern to anybody. And we agree with Michael Mukasey that -- the Attorney General -- that there was concern. There should be concern any time anyone is improperly using politics to influence career decisions. . . .

QUESTION: But you won't go so far as to say that, looking at Alberto Gonzales's Justice Department, President Bush is disappointed this was going on?

PERINO: Well, I think that we are -- overall disappointment in the situation, sure.

Citing Rove for contempt: what comes next?

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/in_contempt_vote_on_karl_rove.php

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/07/30/roves-contempt-for-all-the-reasons-weve-been-talking-about/

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/30/105218/975

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/whats_next_for_karl_rove.php

Ahem: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/206240.php
[Josh Marshall] Can we note that Karl Rove is now working as an outside advisor to John McCain? So shouldn't McCain be asked about today's developments?

Why Stephen Johnson, EPA, should resign

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/not-to-beat-this

Going after Blackwater

http://www.propublica.org/article/waxmans-strategy-for-undoing-blackwater-730/#When:16:22:00Z

Heavy irony alert

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_07_27_archive.html#7141621922886265969
[Atrios] Sam Brownback is on my TV upset that China might be monitoring the internet and telephone communications of visitors during the olympics. "That's spying!" he says. He's really upset. . . .

Keeping up the pressure on Ron Fournier, Associated Press

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/29/223139/798

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16374.html

Kiss kiss

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/theres_the_love.php

Vincent Bugliosi: George W. Bush deserves worse than impeachment (thanks to Hugh P for the link)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/vincent-bugliosi/the-prosecution-of-george_b_102427.html

Bonus item: Hey, McCain, leave poor Britney alone!

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_07_27_archive.html#4917171537909162186

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- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:37 AM

 
OFF THE TABLE

McCain just can’t get his story straight on tax increases

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16364.html
[Steve Benen] In March, John McCain chatted with National Review’s Ramesh Ponnuru when the discussion turned to entitlements such as Social Security. Ponnuru asked if, in the course of negotiations with congressional Democrats, McCain might be “willing to accept a tax increase.” McCain said, “No, no.” Ponnuru pressed on, asking, “Any circumstances?” McCain replied, “No. None. None.”

This certainly seemed to be McCain’s position. As recently as a couple of weeks ago, McCain told the editorial board of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review that he opposes any effort to “raise the [payroll] cap” as part of an effort of strengthening the Social Security system.

Over the weekend, McCain reversed course and said the opposite. . . .

He’ll take it back (again): http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/07/28/1229574.aspx
Fiscal conservative group The Club for Growth went after presumptive GOP nominee McCain on social security.

"We listened with concern yesterday to your interview with George Stephanopoulos on Social Security," the club's president Pat Toomey writes in a letter to McCain. "When asked if you would be open to raising the payroll tax, you refused to rule out a tax increase, saying 'There is nothing that’s off the table.' This statement was particularly shocking because you have been adamant in your opposition to raising taxes under any circumstances." . . .

And so it goes: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_07/014192.php
[Kevin Drum] Today, after getting beat up by the tax jihadist wing of the GOP, here's the candidate's mouthpiece on Fox:

KELLY: Might the Social Security tax go up? Is that on the table?

BOUNDS: No, Megyn, there is no imaginable circumstance where John McCain would raise payroll taxes. It's absolutely out of the question.

More: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#25921996

McCain: withdrawal from Iraq could take a hundred years, or one month. We’ll just have to wait and see

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/election_central_morning_round_130.php
[Eric Kleefeld] John McCain is continuing to hedge on how long it might take to withdraw from Iraq, at once ruling out a timetable and hinting he might do it faster than Barack Obama. "Now whether that fits into 16 months or not, or one month, or whatever, the point is it's got to be conditions-based," McCain told Larry King last night.

McCain says he would chase Bin Laden “to the gates of hell.” But he doesn’t really mean it

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16369.html

I hesitate to call this another “senior moment” – but I guess I just did

http://www.theyoungturks.com/story/2008/7/28/35226/1462/Diary/Another-McCain-Gaffe-Calling-Gen-Petraeus-the-Chairman-of-the-Joint-Chiefs-of-Staff-
MCCAIN: I believe that, when he said that we had to leave Iraq, and we had to be out by last March, and we had to have a date certain, that was in contravention to -- and still is -- the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General David Petraeus. . . .

The religious right doesn’t like McCain, they don’t trust McCain, and they seem ready at any point to walk away from him

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/jul/29/evangelicals-warn-against-mccain-romney-ticket/
Prominent evangelical leaders are warning Sen. John McCain against picking former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney as his running mate, saying their troops will abandon the Republican ticket on Election Day if that happens. . . .

Will they? http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16365.html

McCain’s poll numbers IN ARIZONA

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/29/11201/1844

The kind of campaign they’re running: McCain aide compares Obama to Paris Hilton

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/206045.php

How do you fight political smears? Two theories

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/leading_with_the_truth_to_debu.php

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/big_labor_targets_swing_states.php

Another ridiculous, untruthful attack ad from the McCain campaign

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/07/29/dr_no/index.html

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/new_obama_response_ad_uses_sam.php

McCain picks up the latest Republican lie: that approving offshore oil drilling would have an immediate impact

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16362.html

The kind of “even-handed” coverage that makes us all dumber

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/29/lobbyists/index.html
Obama, McCain both have lobbyist ties . . .

During this campaign, lobbyists and trade groups donated $181,000 to McCain, while Obama received $6,000 . . .

Real journalism: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/206149.php
[Josh Marshall] A while back the McCain put a new rule in place that no one involved in their campaign could be a federal lobbyist or foreign agent. But CBS has an interview out with McCain campaign manager Rick Davis that appears to say that rule is no longer in effect. Asked how many lobbyists work on the campaign, Davis tells Katie Couric: "We don't make it a litmus test for employment at the McCain campaign." . . . [H]ow is this not a reversal of their rule?

Hey! Major press outlets suddenly discover that McCain’s “Obama won’t visit the troops” attack ad is a lie (well, better late than never)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/29/AR2008072902286.html

Compare the NYT account: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/us/politics/30ads.html

Is McCain losing his “base” in the media?

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/an_elite_backlash_against_mcca.php

http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/29/john-mccain-the-media-darling-schtick-beginning-to-wear-thin/

http://www.discourse.net/archives/2008/07/the_tin_ear.html

Ron Fournier, Washington Bureau chief for AP, almost worked for McCain – maybe he still does

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/ap.html

http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/30/sprinkles-in-the-tank/

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/media-industrial-complex-by-dday-turns.html

Ted Stevens (R-AK), one of the nastiest figures in the Senate, has been two steps ahead of the law for years. It finally caught up with him. This creates another possible Democratic pick-up, and puts a filibuster-proof majority of 60 within reach

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/washington/30stevens.html
Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, the longest-serving Republican senator in United States history and a figure of great influence in Washington as well as in his home state, has been indicted on federal corruption charges. . . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/financial_disclosure_forms_at.php
[Kate Klonick] According to the indictment, Stevens concealed "things of value," estimated at around $250,000, from his publicly filed personal financial disclosure forms over the past seven years. It is this concealment, and not the legality of accepting those "things of value," that is at issue.

“Stevens’ Road to Ruin”: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/ted-stevens-road-to-ruin.php

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na-stevens30-2008jul30,0,6322685.story
According to Citizens Against Government Waste, a Washington watchdog group, Stevens sponsored a total of 1,452 pork barrel projects worth $3.4 billion between 1995 and 2008, making Alaska the No. 1 state in pork per capita every year since 1999. . . .

He intends to fight: http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/7/29/172710/036

More: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/ted-stevens-road-to-ruin.php

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/more-on-ted-stevens-indictment.html

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/ted_stevens_indictment_virtual.php

Bye-bye Ted

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/29/AR2008072902098.html
[Michael Crowley] Stevens cultivated a tyrannical image and personalized politics to an extreme degree, dividing the world into friends and enemies and showing no mercy. . . . [read on]

GOP senators scramble to erase financial ties to Stevens

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/elizabeth_dole_dumps_10_k_of_i.php
Dole

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/sen_sununu_gets_rid_of_money_f.php
Sununu

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/two_more_gop_senators_dump_mon.php
Smith, Collins . . .

Good for McCain? I DON’T THINK SO

http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0708/One_more_reason_for_McCain_to_run_against_GOP_Capitol_Hill.html

It’s always good to have these reminders of Republican corruption on the eve of a national election. Here’s more

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/waxman_urges_special_counsel_t.php
Special Counsel Scott Bloch is under investigation by the FBI. His own employees can't stand him. And now pressure is mounting from Capitol Hill for one of Washington's top watchdogs to step down. . . .

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/senate-dems-call-on
Three Senate Democrats have called for EPA administrator Stephen Johnson to resign. . . .

Iraq war proponent now cashing in

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/top_neocon_richard_perle_seek.php

Joe Klein makes some enemies

http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/07/when_extremists_attack.html
I have now been called antisemitic and intellectually unstable and a whole bunch of other silly things by the folks over at the Commentary blog. They want Time Magazine to fire or silence me. This is happening because I said something that is palpably true, but unspoken in polite society: There is a small group of Jewish neoconservatives who unsuccessfully tried to get Benjamin Netanyahu to attack Saddam Hussein in the 1990s, and then successfully helped provide the intellectual rationale for George Bush to do it in 2003. Their motivations involve a confused conflation of what they think are Israel's best interests with those of the United States. They are now leading the charge for war with Iran.

Happily, these people represent a very small sliver of the Jewish population in this country. Unhappily, their views have had an impact in the highest reaches of the Bush Administration--and seem to have an influence on John McCain's campaign as well. . . . [read on]

This is a long, ongoing story: the Army has to keep lowering its enlistment and promotion standards in order to maintain numbers

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/07/30/sergeants/index.html

Yesterday we saw the release of a devastating report detailing the ideological, “moral,” and religiously inflected litmus tests imposed on candidates for Justice Dept jobs. But we haven’t seen anyone question the White House about it

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/29/white-house-press-corps-hasnt-asked-perino-about-doj-politicization/

“A culture of corruption” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/07/29/BL2008072901203.html

I probably don’t do enough left-wing criticisms of Barak Obama here. Well, there is room for criticism

http://allenruff.blogspot.com/2008/07/obama-and-empire-following-article-is.html

http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/29/after-the-massacre-now-will-obama-break-off-his-date-with-eliminationist-hate-preachers/

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:50 AM

 
A BIG "D"

Business as usual in the Bush Department of “Justice”

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/justice-dept-auditor
[Matthew Blake] We've known for more than a year that Monica Goodling, the former Justice Dept. White House liaison, and Kyle Sampson, chief of staff for Gonzales and Goodling's immediate supervisor, violated federal govt. policy -- and federal law -- by taking into account the political affiliations of candidates for career Dept. positions. Today's report, though, details Goodling's remarkable lack of subtlety in her zeal for a more Republican Justice Dept.

The report gives eight instances where candidates who qualified for positions like counter-terrorism prosecutor and asst. U.S. attorneys were turned down by Goodling due to questions about their GOP loyalty. . . . Several prospective employees told the inspector general that Goodling often steered the conversation to questions about abortion and gay marriage. For instance, one employee might have thought they were displaying their GOP bona fides by naming Condoleezza Rice as their most admired politician. But Goodling "frowned" and replied "but she's pro-choice."

Goodling also performed Lexis Nexis searches on prospective candidates by typing in their names in tandem with words like "abortion," "gay," and "homosexual." She also mined www.opensecrets.org for prospective employee's political contributions. . . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/28/AR2008072801007.html
For nearly two years, a young political aide sought to cultivate a "farm system" for Republicans at the Justice Department, hiring scores of prosecutors and immigration judges who espoused conservative priorities and Christian lifestyle choices. . . .

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/28/goodling-passed-over-experienced-counterterrorism-prosecutor-because-wife-was-a-democrat/
[Ali] In today’s Justice Department report on Monica Goodling’s and other DOJ officials’ politicization of the department, the investigators reveal that Goodling’s political considerations were “particularly damaging to the Department because it resulted in high-quality candidates for important details being rejected in favor of less-qualified candidates.”

In one disgraceful example, Goodling refused to hire “one of the leading terrorism prosecutors in the country” because his wife was a Democrat . . . [read on]

http://www.propublica.org/article/govt-report-political-meddling-worsened-immigration-backlog-728/
The report is rich in the code used in e-mails by Goodling and others to connote those deserving of advancement: "on the team" was a favorite (e.g. "loyal to the team," "a true member of the team," "completely on the team"), but there's also simply "like you and me" or the more robust "rock-solid Americans."

Those on the wrong team usually got a simpler tag. "She’s a D," says one e-mail. Or in another: "she's a big D." . . . [read on]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/205903.php
[Washington Post] Goodling regularly asked candidates for career jobs, "What is it about George W. Bush that makes you want to serve him?"

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/goodling_to_interviewee_what_i.php
“Tell us about your political philosophy. There are different groups of conservatives, by way of example: Social Conservative, Fiscal Conservative, Law & Order Republican.” . . .

“Aside from the President, give us an example of someone currently or recently in public service who you admire.” . . .

"Why are you a Republican?"

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/07/28/monica-discriminated-against-margaret-chiaras-purported-lover-too/
[Marcy Wheeler] Over a year and a half has passed since Margaret Chiara was fired with a bunch of other US Attorneys--and we still have no good explanation why she was targeted. The apparent reason, though, is a rumor that she was having a gay relationship with an AUSA in her office . . . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/28/AR2008072801007.html
Leslie Hagen, an assistant U.S. attorney . . . was denied at least two positions at the Justice Department because Goodling suspected she was a lesbian . . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/in_gonzales_doj_lesbian_rumors.php
As a Republican source told NPR, "To some people, that's even worse than being a Democrat." . . . [read on]

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/doj_misconduct_includes.php
When a reporter last year asked about political litmus tests for Department of Justice officials, a guy in the press office said that's "crap."

But he was lying. . . .

The press flack was John Nowacki, who is now the deputy director for the Executive Office for United States Attorneys' Staffs. He's one of the only DOJ officials named in today's report who is still working for the department.

Nowacki was a staunch defender for Monica Goodling. She helped hire him at DOJ and both are graduates of Regent University, the evangelical school in Virginia founded by televangelist Pat Robertson. . . .

The full report: http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/special/s0807/final.pdf

Can CNN read?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/28/justice.politics/index.html
Aides to then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales improperly considered political affiliations and ideologies in hiring, but Gonzales was unaware of those actions, according to an investigation released Monday by the Justice Department internal watchdog.

But the aides are unlikely to be punished because they do not appear to have committed criminal violations and no longer work in the Justice Department. . . .

Page 137 of the report

“In sum, the evidence showed that Sampson, Williams, and Goodling violated federal law and Department policy . . . .”

Other non-CNN news outlets

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/ig-play-but-major
Justice Department Report on Hiring Finds Violations (The New York Times)

Report Finds Former Justice Aids Broke Law in Selection of Prosecutors (The Wall Street Journal)

Justice Officials Repeatedly Broke Law on Hiring, Report Says (The Washington Post)

Bush Justice officials broke law: DOJ IG (Chicago Tribune)

Justice Dept.: Hiring Scandal Violated Law (CBS News)

DOJ: Former aide broke law in hiring scandal (MSNBC)

It wasn’t only Goodling

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/for_sampson_hiring_at_doj.php
[Andrew Tilghman] In October 2003, shortly after Sampson started working at DOJ, then as Counselor to Attorney General John Ashcroft, he began to overhaul the selection process for immigration judges. "[We] were only considering essentially Republican lawyers for appointment," Sampson said . . .

Sampson's new process involved "coordination" with White House and an extra effort to get friends of the Bush administration into the judgeships when possible. Sampson circulated a document outlining the new process.

"Many lawyers seeking positions within the Administration, including judgeships, become known to the White House offices of Political Affairs, Presidential Personnel, and Counsel to the President." . . .

Also, Sampson often called over to the White House personnel office seeking "ideas for immigration judge postings." Sampson told a staffer to "contact the White House to get any candidate ideas that they had for immigration judges".

In one case, Sampson pushed a prospective judicial candidate who was supported by White House political director Karl Rove. . . [read on]

More: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/williams_gentlemen_prefer_blo.php

Gonzales: I knew nothing

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/report_confirms_gonzales_hands.php

[NB: I am certain that Sampson and Goodling had direct instructions to do this, and if it is true that Gonzales had nothing to do with it, then it came from somewhere else: Rove or others in the White House. If there is ever a trial, will they give those others up?]

Yes, we were RIGHT

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/28/12049/0013

More on the possible legal consequences

http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/28/doj-politicization-will-political-litmus-tests-in-hiring-for-doj-spell-end-to-goodling-immunity-deal/
[Christy Hardin Smith] Monica Goodling was granted immunity conditioned on her not committing perjury or giving false statements to investigators or Congress. According to am e-mail I received from the HJC, that immunity may now be in jeopardy . . . [read on]

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/conyers_considers_criminal_ref.php
[John Conyers] The Report also indicates that Monica Goodling, Kyle Sampson, and Alberto Gonzales may have lied to the Congress about these matters. I have directed my staff to closely review this matter and to consider whether a criminal referral for perjury is needed."

OTHER consequences

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/leahy_says_doj.php
[Patrick Leahy, D-VT] "The report reveals decisions to reject qualified, experienced applicants to work on counterterrorism issues in favor of a less experienced attorney on the basis of political ideology. Rather than strengthening our national security, the Department of Justice appears to have bent to the political will of the administration. Further, the report reveals that the 'principal source' for politically vetted candidates considered for important positions as immigration judges was the White House- a clear indication of the untoward political influence of the Bush administration on traditionally non-political appointments."

It’s better to be good AND lucky. Coming back from Europe, Obama wanted to turn his focus to the economy. The White House accommodates by releasing a truly damning report on the deficit: half a trillion and no end in sight. McCain’s answer? Extend Bush’s tax cuts and veto earmarks

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/29/washington/29budget.html
The White House predicted on Monday that the Bush administration would bequeath a record deficit of $482 billion to the next president — a sobering turnabout in the nation’s fiscal condition from 2001 when President Bush took office and inherited three consecutive years of budget surpluses.

By most accounts, the worst seems yet to come. The deficit announced by Jim Nussle, the White House budget director, does not reflect the full cost of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the potential $50 billion cost of another economic stimulus package or the prospect of steeper losses in tax revenue or further declines in the housing market. . . .

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16357.html

No kidding, they actually said this: http://www.pensitoreview.com/2008/07/28/bush-administration-blames-bill-clinton-for-deficit/
[A] senior administration official says the budgetary problems stem from what is believed to be inadequate defense, intelligence and homeland security resources that were handed down from Clinton.

You know, McCain really DOESN’T know anything about economics. This is fairy tale material . . .

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/mccain_budget_news_makes_balan.php
“"I have an unmatched record in fighting wasteful earmarks and unnecessary spending in the U.S. Senate and I have the determination and experience to do the same as President. As President, I have committed to balancing the budget by the end of my first term”

[Marc Ambinder] McCain's advisers insisted that the budget would essentially balance itself if Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security are reformed, if hundreds of billions in waste are trimmed from the budget, if troops begin to come home and Iraq begins to cost less, and if (when) McCain's tax cut proposals up the GDP (which would bring more revenue to the treasury,) etc. etc. . . .

The major networks just aren’t interested in the piddling little detail that McCain’s latest attack ad is completely FALSE

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/big_news_orgs_fail_to_label_mc.php

Factcheck.org, fortunately, is: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/factcheckorg_mccain_ad_attacki.php

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/07/28/senator_inappropriate/index.html
[Joe Klein] This is the sort of thing you put on the air when:

1. You're desperate.

2. Your Middle East policy has been superseded by events and abandoned by your allies.

3. You apparently have nothing substantive to say about America's future role in the region and the world.

More: http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/7/28/121744/048

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/205945.php

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16361.html

“Pinãta politics”

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16352.html
[Steve Benen] [S]ince McCain brought in Rove’s team to run the campaign operation, his brand of Pinãta Politics have led him to take swings in all kinds of directions . . . [read on]

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/29/7253/14071
[WP] The moves puzzled some GOP strategists, who said McCain would be better off touting a more positive message . . . [read on]

The real target audience of McCain’s smears

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16359.html

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/working-kewl-kidz-by-digby-minute-i.html

“John McCain is always there for our troops – except when he isn’t”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#25892122

Here is the new and expanded list of McCain’s track record on Iraq: he can claim he was an early critic, but the facts say otherwise

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/mccain-iraq-timetable.php

CANCER: not the kind of thing McCain wants to be talking about right now

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/07/28/mccain-voters-should-not-be-concerned-about-my-health/
John McCain told CNN’s Larry King Monday that voters should not be concerned about his health, hours after the Arizona senator had a mole-like growth removed from his face.

McCain, who has had four malignant melanomas removed in the past . . .

When will the press start looking into Randy Schuenemann’s past?

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/206004.php

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccain_advisors_horrifying_ira.php

Another example of “if it were Obama . . .” (because he's arrogant and hates the troops, you know)

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16356.html
Vice President Cheney’s invitation to address wounded combat veterans next month has been yanked because the group felt his security demands were Draconian and unreasonable.

The veep had planned to speak to the Disabled American Veterans at 8:30 a.m. at its August convention in Las Vegas.

His staff insisted the sick vets be sequestered for two hours before Cheney’s arrival and couldn’t leave until he’d finished talking, officials confirmed.

“Word got back to us … that this would be a prerequisite,” said the veterans executive director, David Gorman, who noted the meeting hall doesn’t have any rest rooms. “We told them it just wasn’t acceptable.”

David Autry, another Disabled American Veterans official, said Cheney’s demands would be “a huge imposition on our delegates.” . . .

Obama’s VP short list?

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/7/29/195/01837
The Washington Post and Chicago Tribune's Swamp are saying the same thing: Obama's veep vetting is focusing most heavily on Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, Joe Biden, and Sen. Evan Bayh. . . .

Obama’s economic advisors – including more than one former Bush aide!

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/07/two-former-bush.html
Bush administration veterans former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and former Securities and Exchange Commissioner William Donaldson will join former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, and more traditionally Democratic economic advisers such as former Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, billionaire liberal Warren Buffett, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, and SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger. . .

An assault on democracy

http://www.gregpalast.com/obama-doesn%E2%80%99t-sweat-he-should/
[Greg Palast] In swing-state Colorado, the Republican Secretary of State conducted the biggest purge of voters in history, dumping a fifth of all registrations. Guess their color.

In swing-state Florida, the state is refusing to accept about 85,000 new registrations from voter drives – overwhelming Black voters.

In swing state New Mexico, HALF of the Democrats of Mora, a dirt poor and overwhelmingly Hispanic county, found their registrations disappeared this year, courtesy of a Republican voting contractor.

In swing states Ohio and Nevada, new federal law is knocking out tens of thousands of voters who lost their homes to foreclosure. . . .

The Bush gang pumps up the fear before the fall election: watch for a heightened terror alert level

http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=5420514&page=1

http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/29/terra-terra-terra/

Gitmo justice

http://www.propublica.org/article/mention-of-cia-banned-from-gitmo-trial-728/#When:11:06:00Z
[Eric Umansky] The first trial started last week: Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a former driver for Osama bin Laden, has been charged with conspiracy and material support for terrorism.

So far there have been relatively few fireworks. A judge excluded any statements Hamdan made during interrogations at Bagram, where abuse of prisoners was reportedly routine. Hamdan also apparently became upset and walked out after video was shown of him being, as the Los Angeles Times put it, “trussed, hooded and badgered by armed and masked U.S. captors.”

Meanwhile, yesterday’s Los Angeles Times had a "reporter’s notebook” dispatch giving a peek behind the scenes. According to the Times' Carol Williams, no mention of the CIA will be allowed at the trial . . .

http://www.slate.com/id/2196264
[Daniel Politi] FBI agents have testified about how they didn't inform Osama Bin Laden's former driver, Salim Hamdan, about his constitutional rights, and a psychiatrist has said that the isolation and repeated interrogations have so warped Hamdan's sense of reality that he sometimes thinks the trial itself is another method of interrogation. The whole process sometimes takes a surreal nature. At one point, a prosecution witness showed a chart of al-Qaida's leadership that includes Hamdan far below the supposed leader, who was released from Guantanamo in 2004. Plus there's the small fact that the administration has made it clear that even if Hamdan is acquitted, he could still face indefinite detention. . . .

Small business?

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/sba_cant_explain.php
Private military contractor Blackwater and its affiliates may have wrongly received more than $100 million in contracts that were supposed to be set aside for small businesses . . .

Our Orwellian EPA

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iug4JpO54gzlHe2EdnXHEGTEKreQD92726OG0
The Environmental Protection Agency is telling its pollution enforcement officials not to talk with congressional investigators, reporters and even the agency's own inspector general. . . .

The June 16 message instructs 11 managers in the EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, the branch of the agency charged with making sure environmental laws are followed, to remind their staff members to keep quiet. . . .

[NB: Nothing to hide, folks?]

One person CAN make a difference

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/28/AR2008072802363.html
Senate Republicans yesterday blocked consideration of 35 bills that were rolled into one omnibus measure designed to overcome the objections of Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who has used parliamentary tactics to stymie dozens of pieces of legislation. . . .

What Coburn is blocking: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/28/132029/188

Theocracy watch: death to liberals

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/police-man-went-on-shooting-spree-in.html
“Killer targeted church for liberal views”

[John Aravosis] Wonder what our friends on the religious right have to say about this? You know, the ones who publicly demonize "liberal" churches. Think their hate had a hand in this? Yes it did.

http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/28/knoxville-update-all-liberals-should-be-killed/
[Knoxville News] Inside the house, officers found "Liberalism is a Mental Health Disorder" by radio talk show host Michael Savage, "Let Freedom Ring" by talk show host Sean Hannity, and "The O'Reilly Factor," by television talk show host Bill O'Reilly. . . .

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/watching_conservatives_/2008/07/words_are_actions_and_actions_have_consequences.php
[Mark Kleiman] Of course, if this had been an atheist or a Muslim shooting up a fundamentalist church rather than a wingnut shooting up a Unitarian church, Hannity, O'Reilly, and Savage would be screaming "terrorism."

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/this-too-is-terrorism-by-dday-man-in.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 8:00 AM

 
DON’T LOOK NOW

Another episode in the ongoing John McCain comedy series, “I Never Said What I Am Recorded on Tape Saying”

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/election_central_sunday_roundu_25.php
During John McCain's interview today on ABC's This Week With George Stephanopoulos, McCain got noticeably flustered when he denied having called 16 months "a pretty good timetable" for leaving. McCain denied using the word "timetable” . . .

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/TheNote/story?id=3105455&page=1
Remember when "timetable" was a dirty word for Republicans?

Back in January of this year, John McCain pilloried Mitt Romney for encouraging President Bush in April 2007 to develop a private "series of timetables and milestones" for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.

"Timetables was the buzzword for those that wanted to get out," McCain scolded Romney at a Jan. 30 debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif.

How the (time)tables have turned.

During a Friday interview with CNN, McCain called a 16-month withdrawal from Iraq "a pretty good timetable."

Watch: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/07/25/tsr.mccain.6p.cnn

The fact is, McCain has given us nothing but doubletalk about the war and the “surge” all along – while mouthing supportive language, he has always been careful to pepper his comments with cautionary qualifications that give him the ability to either claim partial credit for success, or distance himself from failure. Now we’re hearing that he “supported the surge,” but it wasn’t always so clear

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/205856.php
[Salon, February 20th, 2007] In fact, McCain has increasingly hedged his position on the surge . . . [read on]

Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOCeQDHUTw8

McCain’s long journey

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/205835.php

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/27/mccain-denies-timetables/

http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/27/mavericks-next-big-idea/

Steve Benen offers a scathing, point-by-point takedown of McCain’s latest ad

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16338.html
It’s nothing short of breathtaking to watch a once honorable man want the presidency so desperately, he’s willing to flush his credibility and reputation down the toilet. John McCain’s new TV ad marks a turning point, not only in this presidential campaign, but as a measurement of McCain’s increasingly absent character. . . . [read on]

More reactions: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_07/014177.php
[Kevin Drum] I've never been a big John McCain fan. Even in the 2001-2004 era, when he was flirting with the left and opposing the most neanderthal elements in his own party, I didn't really warm to him.

To me, he mostly seemed like a standard issue conservative who had discovered a good schtick during the 2000 campaign and was milking it for all it was worth, pandering to a press and pundit corps that, he had learned, routinely goes gaga over politicians who supposedly reject the shibboleths of both parties and simply speak their mind.

I never really bought it, but at the same time, politics is politics. McCain was hardly the first guy to work hard on his public persona, and, ideological disputes aside, he always struck me as a basically decent person. A little too self-righteous for my taste, but decent.

But now I'm watching him in 2008, his desperation for the presidency driving him to conduct a campaign that's carefully but relentlessly testing ever more contemptible depths of squalor in its attacks on Barack Obama ("he made time to go to the gym but cancelled a visit with wounded troops" is just the latest), and I wonder how he's going to feel when it's all over. Not only will he lose the election, but he's going to wake up one morning and realize that he abandoned his dignity in the process. That's obviously something that's important to him, and even for someone who was never much of a fan, it's kind of sad to watch him give it up so readily.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/27/14259/6209
[BarbinMD] With more than three months until the November election, it’s hard to believe that we are at a point where we must ask, exactly how low is John McCain willing to go? . . .

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/say_anything_1.php
[Matt Yglesias] When you think about the stunningly dishonest ad John McCain is running, falsely accusing Barack Obama of not meeting with troops during his trip abroad and falsely accusing Obama of some scheme to deny money to the troops, you have to recall the breathtakingly unprincipled way in which McCain has been pursuing the presidency from the beginning . . .

More: http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/backlash-builidng-against-mccains.html

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/barack_obama_/2008/07/obamaphobia_in_action.php

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16345.html

Who said it?

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16346.html
“How can we possibly find honor in using the fate of our servicemen to score political advantage in Washington? There is no pride to be had in such efforts. We are at war, a hard and challenging war, and we do no service for the best of us — those who fight and risk all on our behalf — by playing politics with their service.” [read on]

McCain’s lies are so vile that even a press inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt seems uneasy about it

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/7/27/143024/403

D’oh!

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/07/hearing-gate-ex.html
ABC News' Z. Byron Wolf reports from Capitol Hill: The McCain campaign criticism of Sen. Barack Obama's hearing record on Capitol Hill led us to put the shoe on the other foot.

It turns out that presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain has attended even fewer Afghanistan-related Senate hearings over the past two years than Obama's one. Which is a nice way of saying, McCain, R-Ariz., the top Republican on the Senate Armed Service Committee, has attended zero of his committee's six hearings on Afghanistan over the last two years. . . .

Double d’oh!

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/07/new-mccain-ad-b.html
[ABC] New McCain Ad Bashes Obama for Not Visiting Troops Using Footage of Obama Visiting Troops . . .

McCain’s flip-flop list reaches the 70 mark (and still counting)

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16344.html
[Steve Benen] When I first started pulling these together, it never occurred to me, even once, that the list would get this long. . . .

Here’s #71: http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/mccain-flips-flops-on-raising-taxes.html

McCain: outsider? maverick? Don’t believe it

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/28/us/politics/28IRI.html

What’s THIS all about?

http://www.lvrj.com/breaking_news/25941494.html
Silver State Bancorp, the Henderson-based holding company for the similarly named bank, reported that Andrew McCain, son of Republican presidential candidate John McCain, resigned today from the boards of directors of the bank and bank holding company.

The company cited “personal reasons” for McCain’s resignation, and a Silver State spokesman declined further comment. . . .

Bush’s trip to Israel; McCain’s trip to Israel; and Obama’s trip to Israel – a fascinating comparison

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16343.html

Obama: it’s not bragging if you can do it

http://presumptuous.notlong.com

Speculation (no more than that) on Obama’s VP options

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=7180

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/7/27/184531/847

The key Obama advisor you’ve never seen or met

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-072708-jarrett,0,1640738.story

Obama’s press coverage versus McCain’s: some real numbers

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16341.html
Most of the reporting from the evening news was opinion-free, but when on-air media personalities strayed, 28% of the statements about ----- were positive, while 72% was negative. In contrast, 43% of the statements about ----- were positive, while 57% was negative. . . [can you fill in the blanks?]

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/old-faithful-erupts-by-digby-we-all.html

A good question, from Atrios

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_07_27_archive.html#8088808180830965358
One wonders just how high [Obama’s] polling support should be before the "he isn't winning enough so he's really losing" narrative is killed.

Ow! This hurts my head

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/this-just-in-obamas-speech-was-so-good.html
The latest inanity is, apparently, a new piece in US News & World Report that was breathlessly quoted today by the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza. In this piece we learn that Obama's universally praised speech in Berlin this past Thursday might be a problem for Obama because, as we learned with George Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech, sometimes great speeches are judged harshly by history.

More on the Bush gang’s fascination with “24”

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/fanboy-interrogations-by-digby-dahlia.html
[Digby] I've written a ton about this shocking phenomenon over the years, but even I didn't know that John Yoo actually cited the show in his book . . . [read on]

I guess I’m just going to have to read Jane Mayer’s book. This stuff is incredible

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/speaking-in-code-by-digby-i-havent.html
BILL MOYERS: Who were some of the other conservative heroes, as you call them, in your book?

JANE MAYER: A lot of them are lawyers. And they were people inside the Justice Department who, one of whom, and I can't name this one in particular, said when he looked around at some of the White House meetings - he was in where they were authorizing the President, literally, to torture people - if he thought that was necessary, he said, "I can't, I could not believe these lunatics had taken over the country." And I am not talking about someone who is a liberal Democrat. I'm talking about a very conservative member of this Administration . . . [read on]

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/power-of-sustained-memory-by-dday-digby.html

The climate change report the Bush gang doesn’t want you to see

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jul/25/carbonemissions.climatechange

No wonder they can’t wait to get rid of us

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/28/world/middleeast/28iraq.html
The American military admitted Sunday night that a platoon of soldiers raked a car of innocent Iraqi civilians with hundreds of rounds of gunfire and that the military then issued a news release larded with misstatements, asserting that the victims were criminals who had fired on the troops. . . .

In a statement issued late Sunday, the American military said that “a thorough investigation determined that the driver and passengers were law-abiding citizens of Iraq.” It added that the soldiers were not at fault for the killings because they had fired warning shots and exercised proper “escalation of force” measures before they opened fire on the people in the car. . . .

http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/27/surge-y-success-not-so-much-john/

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/27/AR2008072701768.html
The U.S. government paid a California contractor $142 million to build prisons, fire stations and police facilities in Iraq that it never built or finished . . .

The Afghanistan we’ve made (thanks to Ben R for the link)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/magazine/27AFGHAN-t.htm
A Narco-state . . . [read on]

Bonus item: A new book, sponsored by the State Dept, on how to avoid fiascos like Iraq in the future

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/the-cricketers
"The biggest stupid idea," Kilcullen said, "was to invade Iraq in the first place." [read on]

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:24 AM

 
THIS MAN FOR PRESIDENT?

Well, it’s only July and the true colors of the McCain campaign are coming through – watch this despicable new ad

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccain_ad_obama_isnt_there_for.php
“Barack Obama never held a single Senate hearing on Afghanistan.

He hadn't been to Iraq in years.

He voted against funding our troops.

And now, he made time to go to the gym, but cancelled a visit with wounded troops.

Seems the Pentagon wouldn't allow him to bring cameras.

John McCain is always there for our troops.

McCain. Country first.

John McCain: I'm John McCain and I approve this message.”

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/205793.php
[Josh Marshall] [It] is really beyond disgusting. At this point I think it's clear that honor really doesn't mean much to McCain. When things get tough, as it is in this election campaign, there's no limit to what he'll do.

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/mccain-launches-negative-ad-based-on.html
[Obama spokesman] “John McCain is an honorable man who is running an increasingly dishonorable campaign. Senator McCain knows full well that Senator Obama strongly supports and honors our troops, which is what makes this attack so disingenuous. Senator Obama was honored to meet with our men and women in uniform in Iraq and Afghanistan this week and has visited wounded soldiers at Walter Reed numerous times. This politicization of our soldiers is exactly what Senator Obama sought to avoid, and it's not worthy of Senator McCain or the 'civil' campaign he claimed he would run,” said Obama campaign spokesman Tommy Vietor. . . . [read on]

More: http://www.samefacts.com/archives/campaign_2008_/2008/07/a_halftruth_from_the_obama_campaign.php

Why Obama didn’t go to Landstuhl

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/pentagon_confirms_that_it_told.php

http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/07/obama_arrives_home.html

Various items on what a lousy, miserable campaign McCain is running

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/26/15113/4712

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/7/26/10521/4269

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/25/224956/104

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/such-mean-old-man-by-digby-in-true.html

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16334.html

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16333.html

“The big picture”

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/205809.php
[Josh Marshall] Just think that a couple weeks ago the entire campaign was engulfed by scrutiny of Obama's suggestion that he might be "refining" his plan for a 16 month timetable for withdrawal -- a twitter, if that, on the seismograph of campaign course corrections. Now consider that over the span of a few weeks Sen. McCain has gone from predicting a decades long presence of American troops in Iraq and attacking any discussion of timetables for withdrawal to endorsing Maliki's push for a 16 month timetable and tying himself in knots trying to explain why what Maliki's endorsing is any different from Obama's.

When confronted with Maliki's own words saying that he supports what Obama supports, McCain now falls back on that last redoubt of philanderers, asking the American people, "Who you gonna believe? Me or your lyin' eyes?"

For all the seismic shifts that have taken place over the last two weeks, we need to recognize that McCain has now abandoned virtually everything he's been campaigning on for the last year. There's really no more eloquent confirmation of that reality than the fact that McCain now appears determined to base his campaign on charges that Obama is unpatriotic and despises American soldiers. . . . [read on]

McCain advisor: you can’t assume that what McCain says on the stump is necessarily the official position of the campaign. Huh?

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/25/holtz-eakin-mccain-may-not-speak-for-the-mccain-campaign-on-the-economy/

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/does_mccain_speak_for_mccain.php
[Matt Yglesias] Basically, the McCain campaign's position is that their candidate should be allowed to produce one set of "official" numbers for the purposes of expert scrutiny. But when going around the country talking to voters, McCain should be allowed to produce a different set of "unofficial" proposals -- perhaps made with his fingers crossed behind his back -- that are designed to trick voters into believing he means what he says, while really they're just unoffocial proposals he doesn't mean. Or something.

Same advisor: when McCain says he doesn’t know anything about economics, that’s just humble self-deprecation. In fact, his knowledge is “phenomenal” (r-i-i-i-g-h-t)

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/26/14633/0748

What do you say about a campaign that takes its theme of the day directly from late night show monologues?

http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/bldailyfeed3.htm
"Hey, have you heard John McCain's new campaign slogan? 'Hey guys! I'm over here!'” --Jay Leno

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/07/26/mccain-feeling-a-little-left-out/
John McCain's is using a weekly radio address to take some jabs at his Democratic rival's trip abroad.

He says the presidential contest became "a long-distance affair" this week, as Barack Obama made speeches abroad to "the people of the world." McCain says he began to feel "a little left out" . . .

Who said it?

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/205769.php
[March 21, 2008] Flanked by fellow Senators ----- noted they'd undertaken their week long fact-finding tour of Iraq, Jordan, Israel, England and France as members of Congress's Armed Services committee -- not as some sort of campaign foreign road show. Perhaps, but discussing international affairs with foreign leaders and enhancing ----'s presidential hopes aren't mutually exclusive. Still, ----- acted the apt pupil. "I wish every senator, every senator would make this same trip," ----- said, noting several of the first-hand educational experiences he'd gotten. "They'd be better informed."

Coincidence?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/26/AR2008072601891.html
Campaign contributions from oil industry executives to Sen. John McCain rose dramatically in the last half of June, after the senator from Arizona made a high-profile split with environmentalists and reversed his opposition to the federal ban on offshore drilling. . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/22/16320/0815
[McCain, July 22] “My friends, we have to drill off shore. We have to do it. It's out there and we can do it. And we can do that. The oil executives say within a couple of years we could be seeing results from it. So why not do it?”

What Bush and Cheney wrought

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/26/doj-codes-lunatics/
[Jane Mayer] There was such an atmosphere of intimidation. … They felt so endangered in some ways that, at one point, two of the top lawyers from the Justice Department developed this system of talking in codes to each other because they thought they might be being wiretapped…by their own government. They felt like they might be kind of weirdly in physical danger. They were actually scared to stand up to Vice President Cheney.

Seeding for the future

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/24/AR2008072403421.html
Two leading Senate Democrats asked Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey yesterday to "exercise vigilance" and ensure that political appointees do not improperly wheedle their way into permanent slots at the beleaguered Justice Department.

Sens. Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) and Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) wrote to department leaders seeking "personal assurances" that they would monitor employment decisions at Justice as the Bush administration draws to a close.

"When unqualified political appointees take over jobs better left to skilled candidates, it threatens the agency's professionalism and independence," Schumer said. "We don't need ideological stowaways undermining the work of the next administration." . . .

Yes, tv coverage of Obama sometimes has a rock-star quality. But DON’T TELL ME that they’re easier on him than they are on McCain

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/opinion/27rich.html
[Frank Rich] It was laughable to watch journalists stamp their feet last week to try to push Mr. Obama into saying he was “wrong” about the surge. More than five years and 4,100 American fatalities later, they’re still not demanding that Mr. McCain admit he was wrong when he assured us that our adventure in Iraq would be fast, produce little American “bloodletting” and “be paid for by the Iraqis.” . . . [read on]

The blatant bias of ABC News

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/exposing-blatant-bias-and.html

More: http://www.jedreport.com/2008/07/abc-news-offici.html

Hardly news, but now we have it from the source: Fox News hacks Hannity, O’Reilly, etc, take their leads from WH talking points

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/26/15310/1656

More: http://www.juancole.com/2008/07/fox-news-w-tv.html

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/26/AR2008072601862.html
THIS WEEK (ABC) : Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sens. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.).

MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

LATE EDITION (CNN): Obama and McCain.

Bonus item: so Obama is “presumptuous,” huh?

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/talk-about-presumptuous-by-digby-from.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:18 AM

 
LOST AND WANDERING

Caution: the following might make your head explode

McCain says he thinks Maliki’s 16-month withdrawal timetable is a “pretty good” idea, but thinks that Obama’s 16-month withdrawal timetable is a traitorous, cowardly admission of defeat. Got that?

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/mccain-actually-thinks-16-month.html

More: http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/25/mccain-sings-obamas-plan-is-my-plan-puts-bullet-in-rationale-for-his-entire-campaign/

McCain says Maliki is lying anyway

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccain_on_malikis_endorsement.php
BLITZER: What -- but if Maliki persists, you're president and he says he wants U.S. troops out and he wants them out, let's say, in a year or two years or 16 months, or whatever, what do you do? Do you just -- do you listen to the prime minister?

MCCAIN: He won't. He won't. He won't.

McCain reiterates his claim that Obama wants defeat in Iraq

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/07/25/mccain-i-question-obamas-judgment/

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/mccain-obama-chooses

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/mccain-obama-playing
[Matthew DeLong] [I]t is quite ironic that as McCain makes this accusation, he repeats his assertion that Obama "would rather lose a war than a political campaign." As has been noted by others, if that attack on Obama's integrity does not constitute using the war for personal political gain, then I guess I don't understand the concept.

More: http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2008/articles/2008/07/26/mccain_sharpens_attack_on_obama/

More from McCain’s incredible interview

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/205709.php
[Josh Marshall] Blitzer asked McCain if it didn't make sense to scrutinize McCain's judgment in going to war in the first place if he's placing so much emphasis on scrutinizing Obama's judgment on the surge. McCain's answer, in so many words, that's old news. . . .]

McCain: “From the early days of this war, I feared the administration was pursuing a mistaken strategy, and I said so”

That’s a lie: http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/mccain-now-claiming-he-was-critical-of.html

A total lie: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccains_iraq_timeline_criticiz.php

A slogan that I doubt will catch on

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccain_lampoons_obama_audacity.php
John McCain has unveiled a new slogan against Barack Obama: That Obama's attitudes on Iraq represent "the audacity of hopelessness"! . . .

It gets worse: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/25/1879/95843

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/codpiece-delusion-by-digby-like-so-many.html

One sign of a failing campaign: being caught in a perpetually reactive mode

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/07/25/rollins/index.html
"McCain is having a disastrous week," Rollins said. "It would have been better if he had just kept a low profile and stayed out of the limelight. He got dragged into making a lot of stupid comments about Obama, and there's been this tremendous contrast with the visuals, which is what a lot of people pay attention to."

And though she quotes one aide, Mark Salter, saying he's not worried, Bumiller notes that McCain's camp is well aware of how the week has gone. "Campaign advisers to Mr. McCain say that the mood is not good at headquarters in Arlington, Va., and that the week got off to a bad start when Mr. McCain was photographed in a golf cart with the 84-year-old former President George Bush in the resort town of Kennebunkport, Me.," Bumiller writes. "It was the same day that pictures of Mr. Obama in sleek sunglasses alongside Gen. David H. Petraeus in a helicopter in Iraq were beamed all over the world."

Separately, Politico's Mike Allen asks a very good question: "Do we think that the Republican effort to goad Obama into taking a foreign trip will be written about in textbooks as a GOOD idea?" . . .

More: http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/what-mccain-could

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/7/25/121630/699

You know when the McCain campaign puts out a memo called “myth versus fact,” it’s going to be a howler. They do not disappoint

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/07/25/mccain_memo/index.html

McCain shifts toward full-bore Roveanism

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/mccain-adopts-rove-campaign-strategy.html
[IHT] Bruce Merrill, professor emeritus at Arizona State University, said he felt McCain's refusal to back down in the face of contrary evidence was part of a new campaign strategy formulated by operatives brought on board from President George W. Bush's two successful White House bids.

"Ultimately, the strategy is to make voters doubt Obama's character," said Merrill, noting that modern campaigning plays not to real issues but to voter fears, emotions and visceral judgments. . . [read on]

This is a funny story: McCain has embraced most of Bush’s policy positions (even though he says he hasn’t). Meanwhile, Bush is quietly moving many of his positions, in the international domain at least, subtly in the direction of Obama’s policies. Where does that leave poor old John?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/26/us/26policy.html
Essentially, as the Bush administration has taken a more pragmatic approach to foreign policy, the decision of Mr. McCain, of Arizona, to adhere to his more hawkish positions illustrates the continuing influence of neoconservatives on his thinking even as they are losing clout within the administration. . . .

Everyone remembers George H.W. Bush’s embarrassing gaffe in the checkout line at the supermarket, marveling over the barcode reader, as if it were some amazing futuristic device – he’d simply never seen one before. John McCain, wary of committing a similar goof, ends up making himself look even more stupid

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/mccain-needs-cheat-notes-on-milk-prices.html

Okay, think through the implications of this: the Pentagon tells Obama they don’t want him visiting US troops in a German base hospital. He complies. The McCain camp, naturally, then attacks him for disrespecting the troops. Later, a viral email (written by an Army intelligence officer) makes the rounds on the right-wing blogosphere, slamming Obama (falsely) for shooting baskets when he could have been visiting troops in Afghanistan. Coincidences?

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/07/25/pentagon-was-concerned-with-obama-visit-to-hospital/
A top aide to Barack Obama said Friday the campaign canceled a scheduled visit to an American military base in Germany the day before because the Pentagon expressed concerns it would be viewed as a campaign trip. . . .

The Illinois senator had planned on visiting a U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany — currently housing American troops injured in Iraq. . . . But speaking to reporters Friday, Senior Obama adviser Robert Gibbs said Ret. Major Gen. Scott Gration, currently a policy adviser to the campaign, received a call from Pentagon officials earlier in the week who expressed concern with the trip — specifically because Obama was heading there on his campaign plane and campaign staff would be accompanying him on the visit.

After speaking with Gration, the campaign decided to cancel the trip. . .

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/07/obama-scrubs-vi.html
The McCain campaign is slamming Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., over a decision to cancel a visit with U.S. troops in Germany.

The German magazine Der Spiegel is reporting online that Obama has “cancelled a planned short visit to the Ramstein and Landstuhl U.S. military bases in the southwest German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The visits were planned for Friday.”

“Barack Obama will not be coming to us,” a spokesperson for the U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl told Der Spiegel. “I don't know why.” . . .

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/utah-army-national-guard-intelligence.html
[John Aravosis] The new chain email claims, incorrectly, that Obama blew off the troops waiting to shake his hand at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan so he could shoot hoops instead (was the alleged Intell Officer trying to imply a racist smear against Obama as well? You know those black guys and their basketballs...). In any case, the Army came out and denied the veracity of the email - Obama didn't shoot hoops, and he did greet the troops . . .

More: http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/pentagon-blocks-obama-from-visiting.html

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/vets-blasts-mccains-double-standard-of.html

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/nice-trick-by-dday-i-guess-conservative.html

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/pentagon_confirms_that_it_told.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_07/014168.php

http://cliffschecter.firedoglake.com/2008/07/25/your-guide-to-the-troop-hospital-non-scandal/

The State Dept gets into the act too

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/205734.php

A GOP congressman writes an attack piece for a German newspaper, timed to coincide with Obama’s visit there. Let’s play, “if the parties were reversed . . .”

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/25/105116/830
[Smintheus] Used to be an ironclad rule of American politics that partisanship ended at our shores. . . . [read on]

They’re still hitting Obama over his “citizen of the world” comment

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16317.html

Ooooh, ouch

http://www.slate.com/id/2196068
[John Dickerson] Barack Obama's trip to Iraq was so presidential that at moments, he sounded like our current White House resident. When Karen Tumulty of Time asked Obama what he'd learned on his trip, he said, "It confirmed a lot of my beliefs." Lara Logan of CBS asked him if he was ever in doubt when it came to foreign-policy issues, and he answered, "Never." . . .

It’s been said a million times that the Iraq war is all about oil; and yet we’re still learning every day new details of just how much it is about oil

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/state_ig_to_probe_kurdish_oil.php

The US military doesn’t want you seeing disturbing images from the war – it’s only for your own good, you know

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/7/26/11712/2022

This represents some kind of postmodern, double looped nightmare: how a tv show meant to depict fictional torture helped provide a rationale for the real thing

http://www.slate.com/id/2195864
[Dahlia Lithwick] The most influential legal thinker in the development of modern American interrogation policy is not a behavioral psychologist, international lawyer, or counterinsurgency expert. Reading both Jane Mayer's stunning The Dark Side and Philippe Sands' The Torture Team, I quickly realized that the prime mover of American interrogation doctrine is none other than the star of Fox television's 24: Jack Bauer.

This fictional counterterrorism agent—a man never at a loss for something to do with an electrode—has his fingerprints all over U.S. interrogation policy. As Sands and Mayer tell it, the lawyers designing interrogation techniques cited Bauer more frequently than the Constitution. . . .

The DOJ torture memos read like directions on how to plan defense strategies in case torture cases ever get prosecuted

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/legal_reasoning_makes_torture.php
“If a defendant acts with good faith belief that his actions will not cause such suffering, he has not acted with specific intent. A defendant acts in good faith when he has an honest belief that his actions will not result in severe pain or suffering.” [read on]

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_07/014169.php

Yes, it could happen

http://pundits.thehill.com/2008/07/25/bush-will-issue-a-mass-pardon/
[Brent Budowsky] Before leaving office George W. Bush will issue a mass pardon, the largest collection of presidential pardons in American history. Bush will pardon himself, Vice President Cheney, and a long list of officials involved in torture, eavesdropping, destruction of evidence, the CIA leak case and a range of potential crimes. . . .

There is one thing we can do that is almost certain to lower gas prices substantially, right away. It’s been done before, and it’s easy to do. Why are the Republicans blocking it?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/25/73717/0889

I doubt this will pass, and Bush would never sign it – but maybe Obama would

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/senate-aims-at
Spurred by reports that abusive offshore tax havens are syphoning hundreds of billions of dollars in federal revenues, Congress's leading voices on tax policy called Thursday for tighter restrictions on companies and individuals doing business abroad. . . .

How to become an informed consumer of polls

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/25/9812/55505

Obama doesn’t have an “Hispanic problem” – McCain does

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/25/11101/9208

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/25/124251/218

Have a good laugh with this one: a number of Republicans up for re-election this fall DON’T WANT to be seen at the GOP convention

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/07/25/skipping_the_convention/index.html

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/many_gop_senators_facing_tough.php

The RNC web site still runs a day clock complaining that it has been over 900 days since Obama visited Iraq. Time to update your page, guys – or maybe, being who they are, they’ll just keep running it

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/rncs_clock_on_obamas_iraq_trip.php

The fight over fraud in the 2004 Ohio vote (and Karl Rove’s role in it) continues

http://votefraud.notlong.com

http://www.opednews.com/articles/ohio-attorney-files-motion-by-steveheller-080718-804.html

How the press sees itself

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_07_20_archive.html#482119767276354177
[Ezra Klein] But the obsession with the old, with documents that are outside the public's sight line, with interviews and the promise of off-message moments that they bring, comes out of an underlying worldview in journalism: That politicians are all bullshit artists, that politics is all artifice, and the reporter's job is to cynically expose it as such and then peer behind the curtain to uncover the moments of spontaneity and honesty.

What the press actually does

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_07_20_archive.html#482119767276354177

http://mediamatters.org/items/200807250013

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/hide-rabbit-by-digby-following-up-on.html

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/frowning-sourpusses-on-bus-by-dday.html

Doesn’t this constitute some kind of journalistic malpractice? Mark Halperin’s ostensibly “mainstream” and “serious” news blog The Page cites Rush Limbaugh as a legitimate source of information

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/205679.php

Bill O’Reilly, well-informed as always

http://mediamatters.org/items/200807250009
On his radio show, Bill O'Reilly called prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib "pathetic," "awful," and said "[n]o one should justify that, ever," then added, "But nobody died." . . .

An email being bounced around the wing-nut universe claims that Obama is suspected of eighteen murders

http://www.sadlyno.com/archives/10015.html

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/virtual-gothic-by-digby-ive-been.html

Bonus item: Michael Bérubé hits one out of the park – The World writes John McCain a letter

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/25/world_writes_open_letter_to_mc/
The entire world drafted an open letter to Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) today, asking him to drop out of the U.S. presidential race and concede the presidency to Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois). . . .

Pointing to polls that show Obama leading McCain 94 percent to 6 percent everywhere on the inhabited globe except the United States, where most polls give Obama a narrow one- to three-point lead, the entire world suggested that Americans might not be sufficiently informed about the U.S. election. "Look, this isn't funny," said a world representative, who spoke on condition of anonymity . . . [read on!]

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 8:07 AM

 
A CITIZEN OF THE WORLD

In order to preserve his bizarre Iraq war time line, McCain redefines “the surge” to mean “all counterinsurgency activities”

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16302.html
“A surge is really a counterinsurgency strategy, and it’s made up of a number of components,” McCain said. “And this counterinsurgency was initiated to some degree by Colonel McFarland in Anbar province relatively on his own.” A reporter asked, “So when you say ’surge’, then you’re not referring just to the one that President Bush initiated; you’re saying it goes back several months before that?” McCain replied, “Yes . . .” [read on]

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16305.html
[Anonymous Liberal] If you define “the surge” as broadly as he does here, you can no longer claim that Barack Obama opposed it. Obama, of course, has never been opposed to the use of more effective counter-insurgency tactics in Iraq. . . .

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/so-now-the-surge
[Spencer Ackerman] The McCain-Surge death-spiral continues. . . . [read on]

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/07/24/mccain_surge/index.html
“Pure nonsense” . . . [read on]

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/beetle_in_a_box.php
[Matt Yglesias] Shawn Brimley tries to bring common sense to bear on this: "The word "surge" has always been used to as shorthand referring to President Bush's decision to deploy about 30,000 additional U.S. troops to Iraq in early 2007, the first of which did not arrive in Iraq until later in the spring." McCain is arguing, I guess, that "the surge" doesn't refer to the manpower boost more formally termed the "surge of forces" by the military. Instead, "surge" is, perhaps, short for "counterinsurgency."

The main problems here would be that nobody uses "surge" that way . . .

[NB: Including McCain himself in previous comments.]

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/surge-began-in-march-1867-by-dday-so-to.html

Good point

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_07_20_archive.html#5881531859836287876
[Atrios] I'll leave semantic discussions to others, but lost in all of this discussion is the cost of the surge. Wars have become free, with neither the dollar cost nor cost in lives subject for polite conversation anymore.

The troop escalation was announced in January of 2007. Since that time over 1100 US troops lost their lives. Obviously not all of those losses are attributable to the presence of additional troops in Iraq, but they are all attributable to the continuing presence of the US in Iraq.

McCain’s VP wanna-be’s pick up the surge meme

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/205491.php

CBS cut a SECOND gaffe from the McCain interview

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#25840961

http://mediamatters.org/items/200807240011

Their lame excuse: http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/wash-post-cbs-admits-to-editing-mccains.html

Having urged Obama to take this overseas trip, McCain now tries to criticize him for it. This is pretty weak tea, I must say

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/straight_talk_9.php
[MSNBC] "I would rather speak at a rally or a political gathering any place outside of the country after I am president of the United States," McCain told O'Donnell. "But that's a judgment that Sen. Obama and the American people will make."

However, on June 20, McCain himself gave a speech in Canada -- to the Economic Club of Canada -- in which he applauded NAFTA's successes. An implicit message behind that speech was that Obama had been critical of the trade accord. Also, McCain's trip to Canada was paid for by the campaign.

More: http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_07_20_archive.html#5916854689902660333

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/24/192821/643

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/mccain-criticizes-obama-for-giving.html

Clearly one of the great advantages of Obama’s candicacy is his ability to heal the destructive image of US arrogance and cowboy diplomacy Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld gave us around the world. This trip has shown the eagerness of other nations to embrace a different kind of American leader. Now, how are the Republicans going to make THAT into a negative?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/24/154632/802
“While Barack Obama took a premature victory lap in the heart of Berlin, proclaiming himself a citizen of the world, John McCain continued to make his case to the American citizens who will decide this election. Barack Obama offered eloquent praise for this country, but the contrast is clear. John McCain has dedicated his life to serving and protecting America, Barack Obama spent an afternoon talking about.”

Ahem: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/205551.php
“My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.” [NB: Guess who?]

More nonsense: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16312.html

http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/24/28688/

Obama’s Berlin speech: text and video

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/full_text_of_obama.php

How the European press views Obama

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/german_press_goes_mad_with_oba.php

How the U.S. press bends over backwards to turn Obama’s success into some kind of negative

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_07/014162.php

http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/012897.php

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/25/opinion/25brooks.html

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/205588.php

The new meme: Obama’s “presumptuousness”

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/pressing-press-by-digby-bob-cesca-at.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/25/64534/1123

Obama begins planning for the transition if he wins; this, of course, is represented as one more example of his hubris and arrogance, except for one little thing . . . .

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/obama_team_begins_work_on_pres.php

http://mediamatters.org/items/200807240009
George W. Bush approved Johnson's program for a White House transition in the summer of 2000. . . [read on]

You’ll be hearing this phrase more and more: the election is a “referendum on Obama.” Why? Because poll after poll shows that a “referendum on McCain” is a sure loser

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16303.html

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives2/2008/06/020679.php

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2008/06/wheres_johnny_o.php

Much is made of the fact that given the press coverage of his overseas trip, Obama’s lead in the polls should be much greater. But McCain has had the domestic stage all to himself – what has he done with it?

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/mccain-stumbles-on

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_07/014159.php

http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/25/is-medias-mccain-love-affair-almost-over/

Brilliant counter-programming

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccain_to_be_in_german_restaur.php
[Greg Sargent] While Obama gives his historic speech in Berlin today, John McCain will be lunching in a German restaurant in Ohio.

Farah Hice, a hostess at Schmidt's Restaurant and Sausage Haus in Columbus, just confirmed to me by phone that McCain just walked into the restaurant and is staying for lunch. . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/24/172710/081
[DHinMI] Someone emailed me this news from another source, and at first we couldn't tell if it was satire. Obama, of course, gave a speech this afternoon to huge crowd in Berlin. He has just come from the Middle East, where he garnered glowing press. Seeing the McCain campaign try to counter Obama's Berlin event with a stop in German Village where McCain ate some sausage is so pathetic it probably causes most political observers who aren't fervent Republicans to laugh, and like us, think, "nah, this has to be a joke. They're not that bad...are they?"

It wasn't a joke. And it's got me worried.

You probably know the concept of peaking too soon. I'm afraid the McCain campaign may be bottoming out too soon. I've been following politics since the mid-80's, and I can't think of any campaign that has been as bad as McCain's. . . . .

So why am I worried? Because I can't believe Republicans will allow McCain to continue running his campaign this poorly. . . . A solid loss hurts them for a while. It could take them a decade or longer to recover from a landslide loss.

McCain isn't a particularly good candidate. He's undisciplined, many people think he's too old to be president, he's too closely associated with George W. Bush, and his party is now loathed by much of America. He's generally seen as likable, but more and more his weaknesses as a candidate are becoming visible.

But as bad a candidate as McCain may be, his campaign is making him worse. They wasted the time between him locking up their nomination and Obama securing ours. Obama raised as much money in one day last month as McCain raised in all of June. McCain spent far more than Obama in June, but he didn't gain any ground.

The McCain campaign recently went through shake-up that was supposed to tighten their operations. While they have gotten slightly more aggressive in attacking Obama, their messaging and choice of locations and visuals have been laughably bad and don't appear to be getting any better.

I love seeing McCain's campaign get outclassed by Obama's in almost every facet. I have thought all along that whoever won our nomination would win the presidency, and that there's a good chance that by historical standards it won't even be close. But I don't like to see the McCain campaign hit what by similar historical standards may be rock bottom, and do it so far out from the election that McCain might have time to bring in people who could improve his operation and make the election closer than we would all like.

“McCain's week-long temper tantrum”

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/john-mccains-week-long-temper-tantrum.html

Nature has a funny sense of humor (and timing)

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16308.html
[Steve Benen] Recognizing the interest in Barack Obama’s speech in Germany today, the McCain campaign came up with a photo-op that would have captured at least some attention — John McCain would hop on a helicopter and give a speech from an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, off the Louisiana coast. . . .

But just an hour after the photo-op was finalized and the media was alerted, the event was off. The campaign said the weather just wasn’t cooperating. Jonathan Martin noted, “The campaign declined to comment any further about the quick decision to spike the trip other than to cite the weather.” . . .

[Think Progress] Ironically, the “weather” of concern is the strengthening Hurricane Dolly, which has been bumped up to a category 2 hurricane (Katrina was rated a category 5) with winds up to 100 miles per hour. Today, Dolly made landfall in Texas.

As the Wonk Room’s Brad Johnson has noted multiple times, McCain and his surrogates have for weeks been peddling the false claim that Hurricane Katrina caused no major oil spills to push for expanded drilling. . . .

As McCain makes his push for increased oil production, Louisiana officials are also dealing with a barge collision that caused a spill of an estimated 9,000 barrels of fuel into the Mississippi River, resulting in a 12-mile long oil slick. “Television stations reported the stench of diesel fuel wafting across the French Quarter.”

[Benen] [T]he weather is actually fine off the Louisiana coast today, and it’s the oil spill that probably prompted the cancellation.

Post hoc, ergo propter hoc

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/24/113159/139

McCain advisor Randy Scheuneman is not only far ahead in the “he’ll say anything” derby, he has a real problem with his lobbyist past and links to Chalabi

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/sheunemann_helped_pakistan_get.php

Not a bad summation

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/24/71926/8200
[BillinPortlandMaine] If...

You don't know how to use the internet, you don't know that Czechoslovakia is no longer a country, you don't know Sunni from Shia, you don’t know much about the economy, you're uninformed about women's health issues, you don't know whether you're for or against gay adoption, stem cell research or setting a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, you don't know what countries share a border with Pakistan, you don't know when the surge began, you no longer object to waterboarding or closing Guantanamo, you don't tell the truth about your votes on veterans issues, you said Putin was the leader of Germany, you think alternative energy means switching from regular to premium, you say you know how to win wars but you haven't actually won any, your idea of a funny joke is suggesting different ways to kill people in other countries, you want to keep giving tax breaks to the wealthy but not the middle and lower class, you confuse Somalia with Sudan, you thought voting for the Iraq war was an exercise in good judgment, you once said "I disagree with what the majority of Americans want," you think Social Security is "a disgrace," your idea of health care is apparently 'take more vitamins,' you voted to support Bush's policies 95 percent of the time last year and 100 percent of the time this year, and over the course of a single week you unfairly attacked both your opponent's patriotism and his humanity...

Then tell me again, Senator McCain: why should Americans vote for you?

A major disclosure on the Bush gang’s rationalization of torture

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/07/memo_good_faith_protects_again.php
[AP] The Justice Department in 2002 told the CIA that its interrogators would be safe from prosecution for violations of anti-torture laws if they believed `in good faith' that harsh techniques used to break the will of prisoners, including waterboarding, would not cause "prolonged mental harm."

The newly released but heavily censored memo approved the CIA's harsh interrogation techniques method by method, but warned that if the circumstances changed, interrogators could be running afoul of anti-torture laws.

The Aug. 1, 2002 memo signed by then-Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee was issued the same day he wrote a memo for then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales defining torture as only those "extreme acts" that cause pain similar in intensity to that caused by death or organ failure. . . .

More: http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/torture-memos

The memos: http://www.aclu.org/safefree/torture/36104res20080724.html

An interactive guide to the Bush gang’s rampant lawbreaking

http://www.slate.com/id/2195533

Support the troops?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/25/opinion/25fri1.html

Karl Rove: why Obama’s flip-flops are worse than McCain’s flip-flops

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121685888325079319.html

Rove and Seigelman: the questions haven’t been answered

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9x8CsVJrG4

Stephen Johnson, the stubborn, lying lead of the EPA, now simply refuses to talk with Congress at all (maybe he’s claiming “executive privilege”)

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/stonewall_johnson_refuses_to_t.php

Our old friend Jean Schmidt (R-OH): even Republicans hate her

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/gop_pol_rep_jean_schmidt_is_a.php

The weird control Drudge has over the perceptions of otherwise sensible reporters

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_07/014158.php

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/editorial-muse-by-digby-whoops-some-of.html

How Fox “News” does polling

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/fox_news_poll_do_you_have_a_ne.php

Bonus item: Sometimes congressional Democrats satirize themselves

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/what-hell-by-digby-house-speaker-nancy.html
Still, four out of six members of the board for the newly created Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) will be former members of Congress, including former CIA Director Porter Goss (R-Fla.), who will serve as co-chairman. . . .

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 8:17 AM

 
DOUBLING DOWN

At this point, McCain’s entire campaign has basically reduced to this: “I supported the surge! I deserve to be President! Obama opposed the surge: he is a traitor who hates our troops!”

http://ostroyreport.blogspot.com/2008/07/mccain-its-my-surge-dammit-i-was-right.html

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/205230.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_07/014157.php

What do you do when you make a stupid, easily disproven claim about the historical sequence of the surge? If you’re a Republican, you repeat it again, even more loudly

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/23/21334/7055

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16300.html

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccains_pushback_on_timing_flu.php

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccain_surrogate_by_asking_for.php

http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/012894.php

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/205343.php

A history of the surge: http://www.juancole.com/2008/07/social-history-of-surge.html

McCain versus McCain: on the surge

http://www.jedreport.com/2008/07/video-mccain-co.html

McCain’s “wisdom”

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/205288.php

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/the_russia_connection.php

Let’s set aside the surge for a second (did it take THAT much courage to support a policy advocated by the President from your own party, even if you were in a minority in doing so?). Let’s look at McCain’s longer track record of comments on the war – and ask again what it tells us about his “judgment”

http://www.jedreport.com/2008/07/john-mccains--1.html

The McCain scattershot attack strategy is just laughably bad

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/23/mccain-camp-attacks-obama_n_114486.html

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16292.html

http://www.thenextright.com/patrick-ruffini/obama-campaign-prints-german-language-flyers-for-berlin-rally

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_07/014156.php

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/mccain-adviser6

http://www.slate.com/id/2195762/
[John Dickerson] McCain is attacking too much and indiscriminately. The barrage undermines his brand, takes time away from telling voters what he might do for them, and looks awfully old-timey in a year when voters want a new brand. He should go on the offensive, yes, but in targeted forays. . . [read on]

Heh, heh – what a cut-up this guy is

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccain_on_reporters_little_jer.php
[NYT] The buzz began Monday when the columnist Robert D. Novak posted an item saying that sources close to the McCain campaign were "suggesting" he would announce his selection this week. On Monday night, en route from Buffalo to Manchester, N.H., reporters went to the front of Mr. McCain's plane to get a response.

Mr. McCain's initial reaction was not encouraging. "What do you want, you little jerks?" he asked, using what his staff members say is a term of endearment. . . .

Losing his base?

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/7/23/182724/104

Fred Hiatt’s WP editorial page now explains to us that the Maliki government didn’t ACTUALLY endorse Obama’s withdrawal plan. They’re the only people left in the press universe who think so, and they do have one little fact to explain: that Maliki explicitly indentified Obama by name in his comments

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/wapo_editorial_iraqi_political.php

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16298.html

What no one wants to say: Obama knows MORE about foreign policy than McCain, has a broader and deeper vision of the world, and is far less inclined toward verbal flubs and inaccuracies

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/23/obamas_tour_the_secret_to_the/

http://www.slate.com/id/2195865

Digging deep: new reasons to vote against Obama

Too charismatic: http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/thought_of_the_day_2.php

Too young: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/younger-than-springtime-by-digby-i-love.html

Too eloquent: http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/24/an-eloquent-president/

Too much like Castro: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/24/mccain-campaign-running-o_n_114657.html

Too much like Hitler: http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/liberal_fascism.php

Corruption as a way of life

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/23/AR2008072301437.html
Auditors at a Pentagon oversight agency were pressured by supervisors to skew their reports on major defense contractors to make them look more favorable instead of exposing wrongdoing and charges of overbilling . . .

Another in the long list of going-away gifts for corporate America the Bush gang is trying to push through before leaving office

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/22/AR2008072202838.html
Political appointees at the Department of Labor are moving with unusual speed to push through in the final months of the Bush administration a rule making it tougher to regulate workers' on-the-job exposure to chemicals and toxins. . . .

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/23/AR2008072303694.html

Hmm . . . what does it mean when even your own Attorney General can’t explain your “executive privilege” claim?

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/mukasey-stumbles

I’m not holding my breath for this investigation, but if it were to happen. . . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/massive_domestic_spying.php

Watch the interview CBS didn’t want you to see. (And they still haven’t explained or apologized for it yet.)

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/23/03522/1531

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/cbs_sidesteps_questions_about.php

Karl Rove answers some questions about Siegelman – and, as usual, what matters is what he DOESN’T say

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/karl_rove_issues_new_denials_i.php

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/07/23/rove-all-but-confirms-he-did-talk-to-non-doj-people-about-siegelman/

Bonus item: Boy, the McCain team REALLY doesn’t think some things through

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/205399.php

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:50 AM

 
SURGING

Backed into a corner, watching his last chance at being president slipping away from him, McCain shows his vicious side

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/22/1560/20050
[McCain] “I had the courage and the judgment to say that I would rather lose a political campaign than lose a war. It seems to me that Senator Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign.”

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/desperate-mccain-launches-outrageous.html
[Joe Sudbay] Today, in what has to be one of the more desperate, unfounded and outrageous claims coming from McCain, he just said on national television that "it seems to me that Senator Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign." Watch the video -- and watch McCain's creepy smirk at the end. He knows what he said is brutal -- a brutal lie . . .

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/mccain-escalates
[Sridhar Pappu] Any degree of restraint and nuance in the attacks within Sen. John McCain's crusade against Sen. Brarack Obama has officially ended. . . [read on]

http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/07/mccain_meltdown.html
[Joe Klein] This is the ninth presidential campaign I've covered. I can't remember a more scurrilous statement by a major party candidate. It smacks of desperation. It renews questions about whether McCain has the right temperament for the presidency . . . [read on]

“A nation of whiners”: well, I guess they should know

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/205099.php
[KB] I guess Phil Gramm was right. There are more than a few whiners in this country. Unfortunately for John McCain most of them seem to be working on his campaign. Right now his campaign's message seems to have devolved into a pathetic meta critique of the media. . . .

“Obama Love” http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccain_campaign_targets_media.php

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16282.html
[Steve Benen] I suppose it’s possible for the McCain campaign to come up with a more ridiculous, hypocritical line of attack, but it’s hard to imagine what that might be.

Honestly, hearing the McCain campaign whine about someone getting fawning media coverage is a bit like hearing Barry Bonds accuse someone getting an unfair advantage by abusing steroids. . . . [read on]

More: http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=7078

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/donuts-anyone-mccains-whining-about.html

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/07/mccain-complain.html

McCain keeps lying

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccain_falsely_claims_that_oba.php
[McCain] "Our troops will come home with honor. And we won't be defeated. And there won't be chaos in the region. There won't be increased Iranian influence in the region. And it will have a bearing on what happens in Afghanistan, as well as the entire region of the world. And I'm proud of what they've done. And to deny their success -- I think is a fundamental misunderstanding of what happened. The American people will make a judgment."

McCain also accused Obama of denying that the troops had made possible the success of the surge, calling it "a great disservice to young men and women who are serving and have sacrificed."

[Greg Sargent] All of this is false. Obama is emphatically not denying the success of the troops. He's denying the success of the Iraqi political process. He has repeatedly said for months now that the troops were responsible for reducing violence.

Obama, Feb. 21: "I think it is indisputable that we've seen violence reduced in Iraq. And that's a credit to our brave men and women in uniform."

Obama, July 15th: "As I have said many times, our troops have performed brilliantly in lowering the level of violence."

Obama, today: "In Iraq, we reviewed the gains that have been made in lowering the levels of violence thanks to the outstanding efforts of our military, the increased capabilities of the Iraq security forces..."

More: http://www.samefacts.com/archives/the_war_in_iraq_/2008/07/obama_the_surge_and_opportunity_cost.php

McCain makes another completely boneheaded error, and this time it concerns his supposed area of expertise and his main bragging point: the surge. According to McCain, the surge gave rise to the “Anbar Awakening” – it’s a “matter of history,” he says. Well . . . .

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/mccain_disputes_obama_account.php

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/mccains_surge_of_time_travel.php
[Matt Yglesias] [T]hen-Colonel, now-General Sean MacFarland explain[ed] the origins of the awakening to UPI's Pam Hess on September 29, 2006. That was a bit over a month before the midterm elections. The surge wasn't announced until after the elections and wasn't actually implemented until long after MacFarland gave the interview. And presumably the events he was describing happened before the interview itself.

More: http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2008/07/22/macfarlandknowsbetterthanmccain/

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/we_owe_it_all_to_the_surge.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_07/014144.php

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/john_mccain_/2008/07/lying_or_confused.php

More to this story: CBS, which conducted the interview, EDITED OUT McCain’s embarrassing goof – and then spliced in other footage to portray a different answer to the question that was asked!

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/mccains_mixedup_timeline.php

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/cbs-edits-mccain-gaffe-from-interview.html

Watch: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#25805843

Yes, he said it

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/22/16320/0815
[McCain] “My friends, we have to drill off shore. We have to do it. It's out there and we can do it. And we can do that. The oil executives say within a couple of years we could be seeing results from it. So why not do it?”

[NB: Yes, indeed. If the oil executives say so, well, who are we to question them?]

Gaffes, or something worse?

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16283.html

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/sweet-neocon-by-dday-its-long-list-but.html
[Dday] It's a long list, but yesterday could very well have been the stupidest day of John McCain's campaign . . .

John McCain, meet YouTube. Ouch. (thanks to David S. for the link)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEtZlR3zp4c

The Scheunemann/Payne connections continue to spread

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccain_adviser_found_to_have_l.php

More: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/investor_document_says_payne_w.php

Did Mitt Romney buy the VP slot for $45 million?

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/07/22/romneys_45_million_gamble.html

Bob Novak: The McCain campaign used me (and I’m not happy about it)

http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0708/Novak_backs_off_veep_report.html

Why the NY Times rejected McCain’s op-ed

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16276.html

The “McCain Trainwreck”

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/205107.php
[David Kurtz] Josh and I were discussing a little while ago just how complete the Republican collapse on foreign policy has been in the short span of just a few weeks. It's remarkable and hard to think of any recent historical parallels. . . .

More: http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/mccains_waterloo.php

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/maliki-comments-a

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1825337,00.html

Nuri al-Maliki said exactly what he meant to say, and despite all the obfuscations and denials from the Bush and McCain camps, it is a fundamental game-changer. We are pulling our troops out of Iraq: the only debatable issues now are how and when

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/205163.php
[Josh Marshall] [N]ot only did Prime Minister Maliki say what he said. According to Der Spiegel, his office signed off on this specific quote before the article went to press. In other words, the entire misunderstanding, misstatement, mistranslation, miswhatever meme is utter nonsense. . . .

Alice: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/205165.php

Well, this is a creative way for McCain to try to get ahead of Obama’s curve: maybe he’ll withdraw the troops EVEN FASTER

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccain_surrogate_he_might_with.php

McCain starts work on his convention speech, and breaks new ground in reintroducing himself to the American people: “Did I mention that I was once a prisoner of war?”

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/mccain-to-use-convention-speech-to.html

The Republican message machine just can’t stop screwing up

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/whoops_gopers_attack_obama_for.php
[Greg Sargent] Republicans are trying to argue that they've caught Obama in a gaffe because he flew into Jordan today in an Osprey aircraft -- despite the fact that last year he spoke out against funding the aircraft, describing it as wasteful.

It's not the most devastating hit ever launched. And it doesn't seem to be getting lots of traction today.

But alas for these GOPers, it turns out that John McCain also used the Osprey for his trip to Iraq in May of this year -- even though he, too, criticized the project as wasteful!

You can see pictures of McCain arriving in the Osprey here and here. But back in 2007, McCain dismissed the Osprey as untested and too costly.

And it actually gets worse, too. As you can see in those pics, McCain was wearing body armor when leaving his Osprey in Iraq. And McCain can be called out under the rules of Washington discourse as having voted against body armor, the sort of charge his campaign regularly lobs at Obama. He did, after all, vote against the appropriations bill that included a time-line for leaving Iraq as well as funding for body armor and other approps.

So on his trip to Iraq, McCain used not one, but two things he previously criticized or voted against in some fashion -- the Osprey and body armor. But who's counting?

Fred Hiatt, editorial page editor at the Washington Post, has made a specialty of finding more and more dishonest ways to rationalize the Iraq war. But this one tops them all

http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/23/editorial-jackass/

Guess who is opposed to opening a third war front in Iran?

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/campaign_2008_/2008/07/ft_columnist_generals_prefer_obama_to_mccain_on_iran.php

So fitting

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/poll_obama_more_popular_among.php
Obama Far More Popular Among American Jews Than Lieberman Is [read on]

More: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/lieberman_im_so_proud_to_speak.php
Lieberman: "I Am Proud" To Speak At John Hagee Conference [read on]

Ahmad Chalabi, always the survivor

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/205066.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/22/184414/113

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_07_20_archive.html#5101497557906852780

Obama looks very convincing in the role of Commander in Chief

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/at_jordan_presser_obama_keeps.php

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/at_presser_in_jordan_obama_det.php

Juan Cole raises some concerns: http://www.juancole.com/2008/07/cole-in-salon-obama-is-wrong-on.html

One of the hallmarks of the Obama campaign has been to play aggressively: to contest “unwinnable” states; to counteract slanders with tough and clever playbacks; and not ceding the turf that McCain wants to claim as his own. This is acting like a winner, and it’s great to see a Democrat mastering that

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16280.html
[Obama] “[F]oreign policy is the area where I am probably most confident that I know more and understand the world better than … Senator McCain.”

[Steve Benen] It was a reminder that when it comes to his perceived liability, Obama sees a strength. In fact, he’s not lacking in confidence on the issue — asked this week whether he has any “doubts” about the power of his foreign-policy vision, Obama said, simply, “Never.”

Nevertheless, Obama is no doubt aware of the conventional wisdom, and what he has to do to bolster his credibility. Obama could, in theory, work to change the subject and emphasize the issues where he already has public support. To his credit (and my relief), Obama’s doing the opposite. . . . [read on]

The salad days for Fox News are over

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/snubbed-fox-not-invited-on-obamas-trip.html

CNN, always attuned to the grievances and concerns of black Americans, finds a new reason to worry about them

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/22/obama.hurt.blacks/index.html
Could an Obama presidency hurt black Americans? [read on]

Attorney General Mukasey now wants to retroactively legitimize the perpetual incarceration of “enemy combatants”

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/just-say-no-by-digby-congress-should.html

You’re not supposed to pardon people until after they’ve been found guilty of something. But that won’t stop Bush: just watch him

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16278.html

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/pardon_me.php

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/corruption_in_washington_/2008/07/the_upcoming_pardon_wave_bring_on_the_disbarments.php

The list? http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/07/21/pardon-watch-the-betting-pool/

EPA head Stephen Johnson, caught in a lie

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/22/AR2008072202683.html
A former Environmental Protection Agency official yesterday contradicted EPA administrator Stephen L. Johnson's congressional testimony on one of the administration's key global warming decisions, saying the White House ordered Johnson to block California's bid to regulate vehicles' tailpipe emissions.

On Jan. 24, Johnson told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee under oath that he had made the decision on his own after determining there was no compelling evidence to justify California's plans. "The responsibility for making the decision for California rests with me and solely with me," Johnson said at the time. "I made the decision. It was my decision. It was the right decision."

Yesterday, however, former EPA deputy associate administrator Jason K. Burnett -- who resigned last month and has since divulged key details about how President Bush and his deputies have influenced the agency's decisions on climate policy -- testified before the committee that Johnson had concluded that California's request was legally justified -- until White House officials ordered him to reverse the decision. . . . [read on]

Bush caught on camera: "Wall Street got drunk . . . it got drunk and now it's got a hangover”

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/205139.php

Bush no longer needs his cowboy stage set

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/22/184414/113

Bonus item: So, how does it feel, John?

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/7/22/1336/24207

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:06 AM

 
THE WHEELS ARE FALLING OFF

Desperate times

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccain_camp_now_officially_dis.php
[Eric Kleefeld] For the first time, the McCain campaign is trying to dismiss Maliki's endorsement of Obama's troop-withdrawal timeline by questioning the translation -- even though a published report in the New York Times convincingly argues that the translation was accurate.

In a conference called just now with reporters, McCain foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann responded to a question about Malik's comments by citing "the reaction from the Iraqi government, which made it clear that there were apparently some translation problems in the quote, that's not the position of the prime minister."

"I certainly can't believe that the Obama campaign would take a quote that's already been clarified out of context, and try to hang their Iraq policy on that," Scheunemann later added. . . .

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16268.html

Hey guys, a few problems there. The translator was Maliki’s own guy. The translation has been independently corroborated. Then, THE VERY GUY you are quoting as saying Maliki was “mistranslated,” came out with this:

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/44985.html
Minutes after the Democratic presidential candidate met the Iraqi leader at his private residence, Maliki's spokesman, Ali Dabbagh, announced that Iraq wants American combat troops to leave by the end of 2010 . . . Dabbagh said Maliki and Obama didn't discuss specific proposals during the hour-long meeting. But he said Iraq would like to have all U.S. combat troops out of the country, leaving only advisers, some quick-reaction forces and air support forces behind.

"The Iraqi government sees that the end of 2010 is an appropriate date for the withdrawal of the forces," Dabbagh said [in English] . . .

More: http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/on-iraq-game-over

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/mccain-plays-defense

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204908.php

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16273.html

So, no more nonsense about “mistranslation” please. The Iraqi government is on record now saying explicitly that they don’t want a permanent US troop presence, and that they want all troops out sooner rather than later. Some press outlets are quibbling that “the end of 2010” is a few months more than Obama’s 16 months, but that clearly isn’t the issue. This is devastating news for Bush and McCain – and if you don’t think so, just watch their reactions

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25786952/

http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/07/21/mccain-and-petraeus-know-best.aspx

If they ask us to leave . . .

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/24/politics/politico/thecrypt/main2848888.shtml
[May 2007] President Bush said today if the Iraqi government were to ask the United States to leave Iraq, he would grant the request.

"We are there at the invitation of the Iraqi government. This is a sovereign nation. Twelve million people went to the polls to approve a constitution. It's their government's choice,’’ the president said during a Rose Garden news conference. "If they were to say leave, we would leave."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4978361/
[May 2004] The U.S. administrator of Iraq told regional officials Friday that the United States would leave Iraq if requested to do so by the new Iraqi government . . . L. Paul Bremer told a delegation from Iraq’s Diyala province that American forces would not stay where they were unwelcome.

“If the provisional government asks us to leave we will leave,” Bremer said . . .

http://chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-05/15/content_330992.htm
[May 2004] U.S.-led coalition forces would leave Iraq if a new interim government should ask them to, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Friday . . .

"We're there to support the Iraqi people and protect them and the new government," Powell said . . . But were the new government to say it could handle security, "then we would leave” . . .

http://sayanythingblog.com/mobile/entry/mcconnell_if_iraqis_ask_us_to_leave_well_leave/
[May 2007] Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Sunday if the Iraqi Parliament votes to ask the United States to leave Iraq, “we’ll be glad to comply.”

http://www.cfr.org/publication/6973/
[McCain in April 2004] PETER PETERSON: Let me give you a hypothetical, senator. What would or should we do if, in the post-June 30th period, a so-called sovereign Iraqi government asks us to leave, even if we are unhappy about the security situation there? I understand it's a hypothetical, but it's at least possible.

McCAIN: Well, if that scenario evolves, then I think it's obvious that we would have to leave because — if it was an elected government of Iraq . . . I don't see how we could stay when our whole emphasis and policy has been based on turning the Iraqi government over to the Iraqi people.

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16272.html
[McCain now] Meredith Vieira asked McCain, “[I]f the Iraqi government were to say — if you were President — we want a timetable for troops being to removed, would you agree with that?” McCain responded, “I have been there too many times. I’ve met too many times with him, and I know what they want.”

[Steve Benen] Got that? The prime minister of Iraq and the Iraqi people may seem to want U.S. troops out of their country, but John McCain has been to Iraq and he “knows what they want.” . . .

“Obama was wrong about the surge! Obama was wrong about the surge! The surge worked!” Well, there are a couple of problems with that. As was well-known at the time, the purpose of the surge was to lower violence to the point where the Iraqi government could stabilize, so we could get out. So if the surge has worked, when can we start getting out?

Moreover, McCain could be right about the surge, but still wrong about supporting this misbegotten war in the first place (or has everybody forgotten about that part?). On the other hand, it’s easy for Obama to admit that the surge – for a variety of reasons – worked better than he and most others expected. And he’s done that. So now what does McCain say?

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16274.html
[Steve Benen] Appearing on NBC’s “Today” show, McCain made the exact same argument, over and over again, in some instances in response to unrelated questions. . . . [W]e’ve quickly reached the point at which every McCain sentence includes a noun, a verb, and “Obama was wrong about the surge.”

Seriously, go ahead and watch this clip from the “Today” show, and count how many times McCain makes the case that he was right about the surge and that Obama was wrong. . . . [read on]

Watch: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204960.php

How wrong was Obama? http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/_reply_reply_reply_to.php
Sen. Barack Obama said it was "fair" to notice that he did not anticipate that the surge of U.S. troops into Iraq would be coincident with the so-called Sunni Awakening and the decisions of Shia militias to reduce their footprints, the combination of which led to measurable declines in violence.

In an interview with ABC's Terry Moran, Obama said that he "did not anticipate, and I think that this is a fair characterization, the convergence of not only the surge but the Sunni awakening in which a whole host of Sunni tribal leaders decided that they had had enough with Al Qaeda, in the Shii’a community the militias standing down to some degrees. So what you had is a combination of political factors inside of Iraq that then came right at the same time as terrific work by our troops . . .”

How wrong was McCain? http://www.juancole.com/2008/07/troop-agreement-misses-deadline.html
[Juan Cole] McCain was consistently wrong. He was wrong about the desirability of going to war against Iraq. He was wrong about it being a cakewalk. He was wrong about there being WMD there. He was wrong about everything. And he was wrong about the troop escalation making things better. The casualty figures dropped in al-Anbar, where few extra US troops were ever sent. They dropped in Basra, from which the British withdrew. Something happened. Putting it all on 30,000 extra troops seems a stretch. And what about all the ethnic cleansing and displacing of persons that took place under the nose of the "surge?" McCain has been wrong about everything to do with Iraq. And he is boasting about his wisdom on it! . . . [read on]

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-brooks22-2008may22,0,1862622.column
[Rosa Brooks] Here's McCain, in his own words, getting Iraq wrong from Day One . . . [read on]

http://www.reason.com/news/show/125338.html
[Stephen Chapman] McCain has been consistent about Iraq, in the sense of being consistently wrong. If the American people get a long look at what he's said and a clear picture of our fortunes in Iraq, he may yearn for the days when he was being pilloried for offering "amnesty" to illegal immigrants. . . . [read on]

More: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204889.php

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/university.php

Yes, he said it

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/21/mccain-warns-of-hard-struggle-on-the-iraq-pakistan-border/
Today on Good Morning America, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) refused to call the situation in Afghanistan “precarious and urgent,” but admitted that “We have a lot of work to do.” He warned of a “very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq-Pakistan border.” . . .

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16270.html

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/the_iraqpakistan_border.php

He lies too: http://www.samefacts.com/archives/campaign_2008_/2008/07/note_to_john_mccain.php

McCain’s new ad says that rising gas prices are all Obama’s fault (stop laughing!)

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/new_mccain_ad_barack_obama_to.php

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16271.html
[Steve Benen] I occasionally think about something Time’s Joe Klein wrote in April about McCain’s style. Klein predicted that McCain would avoid a cheap and pathetic style of campaigning, because he knows better. McCain, Klein said, “sees the tawdry ceremonies of politics — the spin and hucksterism — as unworthy.” If he doesn’t, “McCain will have to live with the knowledge that in the most important business of his life, he chose expediency over honor.”

For McCain, it appears the equation is simple. If abandoning honor and honesty will give him the presidency, then so be it. The truth, McCain has concluded, is for losers.

To anyone who cares about reality, the ad doesn’t make a lick of sense. McCain has to hope, desperately, that we’re all idiots. . . [read on]

Fact checking the ad: http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/580/

More: http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=7054

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/7/21/134343/171

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_07/014136.php

The Republicans’ Big Lie that more drilling now would lower gas prices

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/another_oildrilling_myth_is_bo.php

More hints that McCain will announce his VP this week to try to steal some thunder from Obama – and that his choice will be money machine Mitt Romney

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/httpblogwashingtonpostcomthefi.php

And Jack Reed for Obama VP?

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/politicalinsider/2008/07/look-for-sen-jack-reed.html

McCain submits a guest editorial on Iraq to the NYT, mostly composed of the kinds of dishonest attacks against Obama that his campaign is becoming famous for. The NYT says, no, but if you want to publish a parallel piece to his, laying out and clarifying your own views on Iraq, we’d be happy to publish it. For the Right, of course, this is outrageous proof of media bias

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/07/21/mccain_oped/index.html

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/new_york_times_to_mccain_cut_t.php

More: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/07/21/new-york-times-rejects-mccain-editorial/

McCain’s “economic stupidity”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/20/opinion/20rich.html

Guess who’s still advising him? http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/phil-gramm-not-so-gone-after-all.html

When will the general press start looking into Randy Scheunemann’s shady dealings?

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/homeland_security_advisor_who.php

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccain_camp_plays_down_foreign.php

McCain has been hit with one damaging blow after another during the past couple of weeks. So what’s the big story? The media’s bias toward Obama, of course

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080721/ap_en_tv/ap_on_tv_obama_s_trip

More: http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/ap-cites-rush-limbaugh-as-expert-on.html

The Post sorta kinda gives Obama credit

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/21/AR2008072102851.html
Obama has certainly not won the argument over Iraq policy. Far from it. His proposal to withdraw U.S. combat forces over a 16-month period still faces serious questions, including from some of the commanders who might be asked to implement it if he is elected.

But the curious turn of events made for an unexpected opening act for the Democrat's week-long tour of seven countries, demonstrating anew the combination of agility and good fortune that has marked his campaign. . . .

But as political theater, the events of the past few days have played unfailingly in the Democrat's favor. On Friday, a day after Obama left for Afghanistan and Iraq, Bush administration officials announced that the United States and Iraq had agreed on a time horizon for removing troops. Then, twice in three days, Maliki embraced a withdrawal timeline similar to Obama's. Beyond that, McCain shifted ground to declare that he, too, favors sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan.

[NB: Yeah, it’s all just political theater . . . and Obama’s “agile” . . . and lucky.]

The Dems are about to move 100 bills all being held up by one Republican senator

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/21/113149/189

Will Bush’s job approval fall into the ‘teens?

http://americanresearchgroup.com/economy/
21%, and dropping . . .

Electronic voting and election theft: the questions still haven’t been answered

http://sideshow.me.uk/sjul08.htm#07211954

Theocracy watch: “Purity balls”

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/charming-patriarchs-by-digby-over-two.html

Bonus item: Who will Condi Rice vote for this fall?

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204988.php

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:58 AM

 
A TREE FALLS IN THE FOREST . . .

We now know that the Bush gang put the screws to Maliki to back off his pro-Obama comments. The excuse that he was “mistranslated” is ridiculous. Der Spiegel stands by its original story and releases a full transcript, which has been RE-translated, with no change in meaning.

Here’s what has become clear: the Bush gang really doesn’t care what Maliki thinks or wants for his country’s future. The goal is to arrange a long-term troop presence (which is part of what motivated this insane war in the first place), and to negotiate whatever short-term troop drawdown, within whatever “time horizon,” is necessary to make that politically palatable. You don’t need a Status of Forces Agreement to arrange a withdrawal; you negotiate one to make it possible to STAY. And, of course, McCain fully supports this outcome

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/07/20/maliki_aides_statement_came_af.html
The statement by an aide to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki calling his remarks in Der Spiegel "misinterpreted and mistranslated" followed a call to the prime minister's office from U.S. government officials in Iraq. . . .

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204811.php
[Josh Marshall] [A]s far as I know the Prime Minister's office has yet to release any statement itself. The statement was released by CentCom and Multi-National Force-Iraq. . .

http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/07/20/maliki-s-endorsement.aspx
[Mark Halperin’s rag] The Page gave this headline to Maliki's walkback: "Maliki Clarifies Seemingly Pro-Obama Remarks." . . . The Page's credulousness about the walkback is an embarrassment.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204796.php
Der Spiegel is standing by its story, its translation of what Maliki said.

And as Ben Smith aptly puts it, "It's almost a convention of politics that when a politician says he was misquoted, but doesn't detail the misquote or offer an alternative, he's really saying he wishes he hadn't said what he did, or that he needs to issue a pro-forma denial to please someone. The Iraqi Prime Minister's vague denial seems to fall in that category” . . . [read on]

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16258.html
[Steve Benen] This, of course, is ridiculous. First, the statement did not point to a single error in the transcript. Not one. Second, Maliki made three separate comments about the superiority of Obama’s policy. Were they all the result of some kind of mistranslation? Third, if Maliki’s comments had been misunderstood, why didn’t the follow-up quote Maliki at all? And finally, the clarification was, humorously, published by the U.S. military’s Central Command press office, not the prime minister’s office. (”Basically, this morning we saw Maliki speaking in person and endorsing Obama’s plan to end the occupation in no uncertain terms. By the late afternoon, an Iraqi government spokesman was pretending this never happened in a statement released by the occupying army.”)

To consider just how significant yesterday’s development are, consider the inverse. Ezra noted:

Imagine if Maliki had walked in front of the cameras and said, “at this stage, a timetable for withdrawal is unrealistic, and we hope our American friends will not bow to domestic political pressures and be hasty in leaving Iraq just as the country improves.” It would be a transformative moment in this election. John McCain would talk of nothing else. The cable shows would talk of nothing else. Magazines would run thousands of covers about “Obama’s Iraq Problem.” Obama would probably lose the race. Instead, the opposite happened.

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/the_wayward_press_/2008/07/correction_or_retraction.php
[Mark Kleiman] The more I think about the detail Kevin Drum noticed — that the supposed "correction" about Nouri al-Maliki's Spiegel interview issued in the name of the Prime Minister's spokesman was actually released by the CentCom press office — the angrier I get. First, of course, at CentCom, for acting as an arm of the McCain campaign. But second at the U.S. press. . . . [read on]

Der Speigel's transcript: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,566852,00.html

It was NOT a “mistranslation”

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204829.php
[A]ny question of mistranslation or misunderstanding is put to rest. The interpreter was al Maliki's, not Der Spiegel's. And Der Spiegel provided the Times with a tape recording of the interview, which was then independently translated and confirmed the accuracy of the original Der Spiegel account. . . .

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/21/us/politics/21obama.html

What Maliki’s comments mean

http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/07/20/maliki-s-endorsement.aspx
[Jonathan Chait] Most commentary has focused on the political repercussions -- as a GOP strategist succinctly put it to Marc Ambinder, "We're fucked" -- and that certainly seems to be the case. How can John McCain paint Obama's plan as wildly naive or irresponsible when the Iraqi government favors it too?

The Bush administration and the McCain campaign have replied by suggesting that Maliki doesn't really want an American withdrawal, he's just saying it for domestic political purposes. Maybe so. But that just underscores the point. If Maliki has to publicly favor American withdrawal, this shows that the Iraqi polity is not going to stand for an extended occupation. . . .

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16258.html
[Steve Benen] McCain’s communications team isn’t necessarily the smoothest operation in politics, but even if it were, how, exactly, does one spin this? It’s not as if McCain can say Maliki hasn’t spent enough time on the ground in Iraq. What’s he going to do, call Maliki a cut-and-runner? (McCain can’t even question Maliki’s judgment, since he’s been praising the prime minister’s leadership.)

The whole point — literally, the entire argument — underpinning McCain’s policy is that U.S. troops need to stay in Iraq, indefinitely, in order to protect and support the sovereign, democratically-elected government of Iraq. And now, that sovereign, democratically-elected government of Iraq is telling John McCain, “You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.” . . .

Now, McCain and the Bush administration aren’t about to take this lying down. A senior McCain official also told Ambinder, “[V]oters care about [the] military, not about Iraqi leaders.” In other words, according to the McCain campaign, Americans shouldn’t care about the position of the democratically-elected leader of a sovereign country, who no longer wants 150,000 American troops in his country. Got it.

Of course, this might be more compelling if McCain hadn’t already stated his belief that “we would have to leave” if “an elected government of Iraq” asked us to. . . .

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/07/analysis_iraq_playing_us_polit.php
[AP] The Iraqi prime minister's seeming endorsement of Barack Obama's troop withdrawal plan is part of Baghdad's strategy to play U.S. politics for the best deal possible over America's military mission. . . .

More analysis: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204829.php

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/yes_theyre_lying.php

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16265.html

http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/20/a-different-kind-of-iraqi-resistance/

http://www.juancole.com/2008/07/obama-in-iraq-der-spiegel-proves-al.html

Who cares what Maliki wants?

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccain_camp_admiral_mullen_opp.php
[Eric Kleefeld] The McCain campaign appears to have come up with their response to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's endorsement of Barack Obama's withdrawal proposal: Dig in, and keep insisting that U.S. commanders oppose it. . .

More: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/19/mccain-camp-reacts-to-malikis-call-for-withdrawal-voters-dont-care-about-iraqi-leaders/

A simple question

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16263.html
[Steve Benen] British Prime Minister Gordon Brown thinks Barack Obama has the right approach on counter-terrorism. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki thinks Obama has the right approach on Iraq. The Bush administration seems to think Obama has the right approach on Iran. And none other than John McCain thinks Obama has the right approach on Afghanistan.

The conventional wisdom has told us for a year and a half that Obama’s biggest weakness is background on foreign policy and national security. But if that’s the case, why is everyone following this guy’s lead? [read on]

The Phil Gramm/John McCain connection is deeper than people realize – and yet McCain is still getting a free ride for adopting a thoroughly Grammian economic philosophy

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/20/opinion/20rich.html

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/barney-frank-on-phil-gramm-hes-scariest.html
[Barney Frank on Phil Gramm] "He's the scariest part of John McCain"

A fight within McCain’s economic team? http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2008/07/douglas_holtzea/

Wow – a Randy Scheunemann/Stephen Payne link. Read on

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/more_scheunemann.php

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/20/scheunemann-payne/

More: http://majikthise.typepad.com/majikthise_/2008/07/mccains-senior.html

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/john_mccain_/2008/07/is_mccain_surronded_entirely_by_crooks.php
[Mark Kleiman] It's about as ugly a story as you can imagine, with Scheunemann's cronies bragging to potential investors that his role in getting us bogged down in Iraq gives him such strong influence with the U.S. government that the various 'stans will give oil leases on concessional terms in order to have that influence working for them. One of his co-perpetrators is the guy Bush put on the Homeland Security Advisory Council who just got caught selling access to U.S. officials for donations to the Bush library.

In a just world, this would be the end for McCain. He's now had to dump his chief economic adviser and two spiritual advisers in a row, as well as assorted crooked lobbyists and hangers-on. This raises real questions about his judgment.

But since the story is slightly complicated (not that it can't be told straightforwardly, but it has several moving parts), doesn't involve anyone black, wasn't dug up by a mainstream media outlet, and won't be pumped by Matt Drudge or his mini-me Mark Halperin, it's likely to sink without a trace.

Some Congressional hearings on Payne and his buddies, with Scheunemann called as a witness, might change that. But don't hold your breath.

Obama is getting rock-star treatment during his overseas trip: will the McCain campaign try to wrest some attention by announcing their VP choice early?

http://www.jedreport.com/2008/07/two-predictions.html

Theocracy watch: James Dobson flips

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/in-major-reversal-james-dobson-flips.html
"I never thought I would hear myself saying this," Dobson said in a radio broadcast to air Monday. "... While I am not endorsing Senator John McCain, the possibility is there that I might." . . .

[NB: which means he will, of course]

Man-crushes for McCain: you can’t parody stuff like this

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/louie-do-you-like-movies-about.html
Real Men Vote for McCain
Top 10 reasons why. . . [read on]

More: http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/20/conventional-wisdom-watch-mccain-edition/

How low can he go?

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/election_central_sunday_roundu_24.php
In an appearance this morning on Fox News Sunday, Joe Lieberman advanced the latest argument from the McCain campaign against Barack Obama's overseas trip: "The fact is that if Barack Obama's policy on Iraq had been implemented, Barack Obama couldn't go to Iraq today. It wouldn't be safe."

The kind of people they are

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/popular-conservative-radio-host-says.html
[Media Matters] On July 16, the No. 3 syndicated radio talk show host in the country, Michael Savage, made the following statement on autism:

Now, you want me to tell you my opinion on autism? ... A fraud, a racket. . . . You know what autism is? I'll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it's a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out. That's what autism is.

What do you mean they scream and they're silent? They don't have a father around to tell them, 'Don't act like a moron. You'll get nowhere in life. Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man’. . . .

Barack Obama, CEO

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16262.html

Bonus item: Funny, embarrassing – our weekly update on the progress of John McCain’s remedial technology training

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/20/151318/774
“He's fully capable of browsing the Internet and checking Web sites.”

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:27 AM

 
MALIKI ENDORSES OBAMA WITHDRAWAL PLAN

This is a major turning point – if the press allows it to be

http://www.reuters.com/article/vcCandidateFeed2/idUSL198009020080719
[Iraq P.M. Maliki] “U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes. . . . Whoever is thinking about the shorter term is closer to reality. Artificially extending the stay of U.S. troops would cause problems."

http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/012874.php
[Steve Soto] A focus on the shorter term pretty much undercuts McCain's entire national security policy. And this came two days after al-Maliki spoke to Bush, so it's clear W no longer carries any sway with the Iraqis.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/19/104422/195
[BarbinMD] Will McCain accuse Maliki of making decisions before visiting Iraq and knowing the facts on the ground?

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/iraqs-maliki-endorses-obama-iraq-plan.html
[John Aravosis] This is huge . . . [read on]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204740.php
[Josh Marshall] I don't think it's enough to say this is a huge development. It's huger than that. In a stroke, I think, al Maliki has cut McCain off at the knees in a way I'm not sure his campaign strategy can recover from. . . .

I would not discount the possibility that the White House will muscle Maliki into a retraction of some sort. But I think it will be difficult for that to seem to be anything other than what it is. . . . [read on]

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16253.html
[Steve Benen] By any reasonable measure, this is pretty extraordinary. The Bush-backed Iraqi prime minister has endorsed Obama’s withdrawal policy, both in general and by name.

In fact, it gets better. Maliki, hailed by Republicans, has given up on Republican talking points altogether. . . [read on]

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/almalikis_announcement_a_big_d.php
[Marc Ambinder] This could be one of those unexpected events that forever changes the way the world perceives an issue . . . [read on]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204730.php
[Josh Marshall] Ouch. This should sure make the next round of negotiations between Bush and Maliki a lot of fun. . . .

Do keep an eye out for some 'clarifications' of Maliki's stance. But as much as I suspect that this is a genuine characterization of Maliki's views, we should not discount that his willingness to say this is also a recognition of the way the winds are blowing.

More: http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/shifting_sands.php

McCain and Obama respond

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/mccain_campaign_responds_to_al.php
"His domestic politics require him to be for us getting out," said a senior McCain campaign official . . .

An Obama official, also speaking on background, asks: "So given that al-Maliki said today that it’s time for an official timetable and that Obama “is right when he talks about 16 months,” will McCain honor that commitment and call for withdrawal or change his position that we should leave Iraq if asked?"

McCain tries again: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204751.php
[Randy Scheunemann] The difference between John McCain and Barack Obama is that Barack Obama advocates an unconditional withdrawal that ignores the facts on the ground and the advice of our top military commanders. John McCain believes withdrawal must be based on conditions on the ground. Prime Minister Maliki has repeatedly affirmed the same view, and did so again today. Timing is not as important as whether we leave with victory and honor, which is of no apparent concern to Barack Obama. The fundamental truth remains that Senator McCain was right about the surge and Senator Obama was wrong. We would not be in the position to discuss a responsible withdrawal today if Senator Obama's views had prevailed.

[Josh Marshall] I think the clotted, dodging-the-issue nature of the response communicates very clearly the box this has placed the McCain camp in. . . Set aside for the moment that McCain doesn't believe in withdrawal at all. Scheunemann is betting on our believing that Maliki himself doesn't know what he means.

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/presidential_campaigns_fight_o.php
[Josh Marshall] The presidential campaigns battled today over the significance of Nouri al-Maliki's endorsement of Barack Obama's proposed 16-month withdrawal timetable -- with the McCain campaign making the rather curious claim that Maliki was actually backing up McCain's position.

The White House freaks out: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/19/141354/208

Watch for the rollback: CentCom (CENTCOM!) issues a statement saying Maliki was “mistranslated”

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204762.php

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/the_walkback.php
[Matt Yglesias] [T]he only thing really surprising about this development is how little effort was made to make it convincing . . .

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_07/014129.php
[Kevin Drum] The retraction claimed that Maliki's comments were "were misunderstood, mistranslated and not conveyed accurately," which might be plausible if there were only a single sentence in question. However, how likely is it that Spiegel mistranslated three separate comments? Here are the relevant excerpts from the interview:

Today, we in Iraq want to establish a timeframe for the withdrawal of international troops — and it should be short. . .

U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes. . .

Those who operate on the premise of short time periods in Iraq today are being more realistic....The tenure of the coalition troops in Iraq should be limited.

There's just no way that all three of these passages were mistranslated . . . [read on]

Kleiman says it, so I don’t have to. Maliki’s comments were less pro-Obama than anti-McCain (he of the “I don’t care if we stay in Iraq for 100 years” comment – did ANYONE consider what a slap in the face that was to the sovereign government of Iraq?)

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/the_occupation_of_iraq_/2008/07/game_set_match.php
[Mark Kleiman] 1. The key point isn't that al-Maliki agrees with Obama about the timeframe for withdrawal; what's important is that al-Maliki, like Obama but unlike McCain or Bush, isn't willing to turn Iraq into an American protectorate. It's not the 16 months; it's the 100 years. And that's what Obama should start saying; 16 months is negotiable, but 100 years isn't.

2. Obviously al-Maliki more or less blindsided Bush on this one. He'd been talking about a timetable, and the Bush folks pushed back, trying to go for a "timeframe" rather than a "timeline," something "aspirational." [In the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about aspiration.] And now al-Maliki goes public with his original position, stated even more bluntly. The fact that the WH press office wasn't ready with a response is telling.

3. Equally obviously, someone in Washington or in the Embassy in Baghdad twisted an arm inside the Iraqi government to get al-Maliki's spokesman to issue a semi-hemi-demi non-retraction retraction, complaining vaguely about having been "misunderstood and mistranslated" without saying what the correct understanding or translation would have been, followed by two paragraphs of diplomatic flannelmouth adding up to precisely nothing. . . .

4. Why did al-Maliki do it? Your choice of interpretations, not mutually exclusive:

a) "Yanks Out!" is a winning slogan in Iraqi politics, and al-Maliki has an election to fight in October.

b) He figures Obama is going to win, and this way Obama owes him one.

c) He thinks he's now strong enough to take out the Sadrists and either make make a deal with some group of Sunnis or just rule them as a subject population after our troops leave.

d) "100 Years" genuinely creeps him out. . . [read on]

And now THIS

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/brown-plans-to-withdraw-troops-as-he-backs-obama-over-war-on-terror-872388.html
Gordon Brown prepared the ground for a historic realignment in the "war on terror" yesterday by setting out a four-point plan for withdrawal of British troops from Iraq by the end of next year.

Although he is refusing to set a detailed timetable for withdrawal, it is clear Mr Brown is in agreement with the US presidential candidate Barack Obama on the need for military action in Afghanistan to take priority. Both appear to be working to a 16-month timetable. . . .

The press yawns

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204770.php
[Josh Marshall] [A]s far as I can tell, the Post relegates the story to two paragraphs near the top of the paper's story about Obama's trip to Afghanistan. The article returns to the topic and provides some elaboration at the end. The Times gives the story almost the identical treatment -- a short reference below the lede and returned to at the end of the piece.

The most credulous take I've seen so far is CNN's which all but takes al Dabbagh's 'translation error' explanation at face value. . .

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_07/014129.php
[Joe Klein] “Maliki Endorses Obama Withdrawal Plan is a headline everyone can understand."

[Kevin Drum] True enough, but only if that's the headline the U.S. media actually decides on. Unfortunately, we're in sort of a fluid phase right now in which the press seems unsure of what narrative to adopt on the current state of American foreign policy. Consider: (a) negotiations with North Korea have recently started paying off, (b) we sent a U.S. diplomat to talk with Iran over the weekend and are apparently thinking about opening an interests section in Tehran, (c) the security situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating, leading to calls for an increased troop presence, and (d) Maliki has endorsed the idea of a 16-month withdrawal timeline from Iraq. All of these are directions that Obama has endorsed for some time.

So does the press decide that this means Obama has shown good judgment and good instincts in foreign affairs? That seems like it would be the most reasonable interpretation, but alternatively the press could decide that what this really means is that there are now very few differences between Obama and McCain on foreign policy — without implying any judgment about who was right and who was wrong. That's a stretch, but it would be nice and faux-neutral, something that appeals to reporters.

Or, who knows? Maybe something entirely different will bubble up from the press corps. This ought to be a pretty good foreign policy moment for Obama, but we won't know for sure until the media narrative takes shape. Stay tuned.

More: http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/19/maliki_goes_obamas_way_while_n/

Blurring distinctions

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/19/17264/9511

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/07/obama_campaign_memo_obama_lead.php
From: The Obama Campaign

RE: Obama Leading on Foreign Policy, McCain Following

There are two problems with John McCain's political attacks on Barack Obama's foreign policy. First, on the biggest foreign policy questions of the last eight years, Barack Obama has made the right judgment and John McCain has sided with George Bush in making the wrong one. Second, the failure of the McCain-Bush foreign policy has forced John McCain to change his position, and to embrace the very same Obama approaches that he once attacked. . . . [read on]

On Iran: this is NOT a policy change – and don’t call them negotiations!

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,386201,00.html
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday that the United States still has conditions for negotiating with Iran even though the Bush administration is sending a senior diplomat to weekend talks with an Iranian nuclear envoy.

She said the shift in policy is a signal the administration is serious about diplomacy, but does not mean Washington is ready for open-ended discussions with Iran. Such talks can only occur after Tehran halts activities that could lead to development of atomic weapons.

Rice spoke a day before the State Department's third-ranking diplomat, William Burns, is to attend a meeting in Switzerland with Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili. The US previously has shunned such gatherings, demanding that Iran first suspend its enrichment and reprocessing of uranium.

"It should be very clear to everyone that the United States has a condition for the beginning of negotiations with Iran, and that condition remains the verifiable suspension of Iran's enrichment and reprocessing activities," she told reporters at the State Department. "That remains the U.S. position and it will continue to be the U.S. position." . . .

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jZQ63ard4NHZIAOP3HWpdL9SlCeA
[AFP] Iranian, European and US officials began talks Saturday in Geneva's historic Town Hall in a bid to resolve the dispute over Tehran's nuclear programme. . . .

A member of the Iranian delegation told reporters that "everybody hopes there will be fruitful results to the negotiations". . . .

On the European side, Solana's spokeswoman Christina Gallach said that "the basis for successful negotiations is very substantial". . . . "We are very flexible about how to work towards our expectations... we are ready to look at creative manners that allow negotiations to start," Gallach added.

The attendance of Burns, the number three official at the State Department, marks a major policy shift by Washington, which has not had any diplomatic relations with Iran since 1980 following the Islamic Revolution.

"It's up to him to choose his attitude," Gallach said, but added that his presence was a "strong signal of the US support for a negotiated solution".

The United States insisted last week that Burns was traveling to Geneva just to listen to Iran's response and not negotiate. . . .

In London, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband hailed Burns's attendance as a strong signal of the West's determination to arrive at a negotiated solution.

Going all flippy-floppy

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080718/METRO/807180414
U.S. Sen. John McCain backtracked Friday on a pledge to set national auto emissions standards that would supersede those California and other states want to set.

"I guess at the end of the day, I support the states being able to do that," he said at a town hall meeting at the GM Technical Center.

The statement appears to contradict a statement McCain made to The Detroit News last month, when he said he hoped to set a national standard that would make state standards unnecessary . . .

A very, very good question

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204757.php
[RD] I take it from watching the news and reading the coverage of the campaign that Obama's a big fat flip-flopper.

But it makes me wonder... At this point, is there any significant policy position that John McCain currently holds, on any topic, that he's consistently held over the past 10 years? I mean that as a serious question. On economics, foreign policy, environmental policy, immigration, the role of evangelicals, you name it, it's hard for me to pin down. I guess maybe on free trade?

McCain’s irresponsible gas tax holiday: at least Clinton’s plan had a way of replacing lost highway revenues

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/19/131243/054

Theocracy watch: it’s no surprise, really, but the “agents of intolerance” have decided that McCain’s not so bad after all

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16249.html

It’s what they do: creator of the infamous “RATS” ad now produces another subliminal anti-Obama ad. In these things, there are no accidents

http://www.discourse.net/archives/2008/07/mccain_tries_subliminal_ad_to_link_obama_to_terrorism.html

Lies help too, of course

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16257.html
[Steve Benen] “[Obama] voted against funding our troops,” the narrator says, with the words, “Against Troop Funding” appearing on screen, in all caps. “Positions that helped him win his nomination. Now Obama is changing to help himself become president. John McCain has always supported our troops and the surge that’s working.” . . .

But the notion that Obama “voted against funding our troops” is likely to become an important conservative talking point, so it’s probably worth taking a moment to consider in more detail. . . [read on]

Gramm crackers . . .

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16255.html
[Steve Benen] [I]t’s just another round of double-talk from McCain. First the campaign agrees with Gramm, then it doesn’t. Gramm is a surrogate, then he isn’t, then he is, then he isn’t. Gramm is an advisor, then he isn’t, then he might be.

I can understand the campaign’s embarrassment, but this is ridiculous. Gramm not only thinks we’re a “nation of whiners,” he’s also, more importantly, the man whose financial deregulation efforts made the market meltdown possible.

That he’ll still be offering McCain advice on matters of economic policy tells us quite a bit about McCain’s reliability.

The Village media tells us what “real Americans” want and feel

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/jess-folks-by-digby-jamison-foser-has.html

http://mediamatters.org/items/200807180008

There’s going to be a big debate, if Obama should win, about whether his administration should investigate, or prosecute, the Bush gang’s lawless actions. Here’s an indication that they won’t

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/07/19/law/index.html

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/7/19/105134/542

I’ve sworn off Hillary stories, and I’ve bitten my tongue on more than one diehard Hillary supporter story; but now the DNC steps in

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/top_democratic_official_sends.php
"I supported Hillary Clinton and am proud and pleased that I did," reads the email, which was written by Donald Fowler, a former DNC chair and DNC member-at-large who was one of Hillary's most prominent supporters. Alice Germond, the Secretary of the DNC, is also a signatory.

"But she lost," continues the email, which was sent our way by a source. Barack Obama won. It's over."

"It is time for all Democrats, supporters of Senator Clinton and all other contenders for the nomination, to stand with him to secure his election and the election of Democrats at all levels of competition," the email continues.

The email also laces sharply into Hillary supporters who remain embittered by the primary and are demanding things in exchange for their support.

"I must confess a bit of fatigue and irritation with people who continue to carp, complain, and criticize the results of the primary and lay down conditions for their support," it reads. "It is time to act in a mature and resourceful fashion. It's time to put the primaries behind us. It's time to support Barack Obama without conditions or demands." . . . [read on]

The Powers That Be have decided that this is not a story, so let’s all just ignore it and move on . . .

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=7021
[Paul Rosenberg] The more one looks, the less it looks like John McCain is eligible to run for President. The problem is simple: although born to two US citizens, McCain was not born in the United States, and thus, he's a naturalized citizen, not a birthright citizen. . . .

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/us/politics/28mccain.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23415028/

[NB: I’m perfectly willing to accept that judicial review would decide that McCain IS eligible after all. But the point is that it’s never been tested in court, there is at least an argument on the other side, and yet no one wants to take this issue seriously.]

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlDC/television/sunday_show_preview_89625.asp
NBC Meet The Press: Al Gore, NBC's David Gregory and NBC political director Chuck Todd.

CBS Face the Nation: Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

ABC This Week: pre-empted by British Open coverage

CNN Late Edition: Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), House Speaker, Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO), Minority Whip, Henry Paulson, Secretary of the Treasury, Bill Schneider, CNN senior political analyst, Candy Crowley, CNN senior political correspondent and Gloria Borger, CNN senior political analyst.

Bonus item: just remember, it’s all in your head

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/7/19/143531/263

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:16 AM

 
OFF THE RECORD

There is nothing McCain can do, I guess, that will ever earn the kind of shocked outrage from the chattering classes that they reserve for the Dems. The latest: Obama, at McCain’s urging, plans a trip to Iraq – at considerable personal risk. For trips like these, the exact schedule and itinerary are closely guarded information, for obvious security reasons. Well, not any more . . .

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204672.php
[Reuters] Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Friday that his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, is likely to be in Iraq over the weekend.

The Obama campaign has tried to cloak the Illinois senator's trip in some measure of secrecy for security reasons. The White House, State Department and Pentagon do not announce senior officials' visits to Iraq in advance.

"I believe that either today or tomorrow -- and I'm not privy to his schedule -- Sen. Obama will be landing in Iraq with some other senators" who make up a congressional delegation, McCain told a campaign fund-raising luncheon. . . .

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/mccain-obama-lands8
[Matthew DeLong] With this much hype surrounding Obama's visit -- and his expected rock star reception in Europe -- McCain surely is aware of the significance of his comment. So it was no accident. The information he revealed -- though unconfirmed -- was not public, and there were reporters within earshot. If Obama is going to "own the media" for 10 days, it certainly would be in McCain's interest to steal some of Obama's thunder by removing the element of surprise from Obama's potential unannounced visit to Baghdad. . . .

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204672.php
[A knowledgeable insider notes] If it is true that Obama is going to Iraq this weekend, it is a very serious mistake for McCain to have disclosed it publically. Even for run-of-the-mill CODELs the military gives guidance like, "Please strongly discourage Congressional offices from issuing press releases prior to their trips which mention their intent to travel to the AOR and/or the dates of that travel or their scheduled meetings. Such releases are a serious compromise to OPSEC." If Obama is going to Iraq this weekend, I can not begin to imagine how much this is complicating the security planning for the trip.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204694.php
[Josh Marshall] Any thoughts on the reaction if Barack Obama had publicly broken the embargo on details and timing of Sen. McCain's imminent visit to a war zone?

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16250.html
[Steve Benen] I shudder to think of the apoplexy. We would hear about it, literally every day, for the rest of the campaign. Republicans everywhere would call Obama a traitor, and the media would create huge graphics that read: “Obama: Does he want McCain killed?” Democratic members of Congress would distance themselves from Obama, and the senator would be forced to issue a public apology. Every media narrative — about inexperience, lack of national security bona fides, etc. — would be reinforced.

It would be a development that literally changed the election. But given that it was McCain who divulged details, the story will probably go nowhere.

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/no_word_yet_from_mccain_camp_o.php
The McCain campaign has yet to comment . . .

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/18/16550/3804

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/john_mccain_/2008/07/mccain_blabs.php

McCain’s people perceive this trip as a major media coup for Obama, and they are doing EVERYTHING they can to provide counterprogramming

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/the_republican_line_on_obamas.php
[Marc Ambinder] The Republican Line On Obama's Trip . . . it appears to me to be: who does this guy he think he is? Vanity, insecurity, hubris, etc. Watch for it.

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/_in_some_ways_barack.php
[Marc Ambinder] Barack Obama's mid-summer overseas trip might remind you of the a runner who begins to train for a marathon a few days before the starting gun. Or it might be the start of a new golden age of American diplomacy, where an American (would-be) president is embraced by foreign leaders and peoples. Or it might be a political trip by a political campaign for a political purpose and thus deserving of the intense scrutiny it will get. . . . [read on]

“Obama Official Travel Briefing” http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/mccain_campaigns_parting_gift.php

Let’s see, Bush says “only appeasers would talk with Iran,” then announces new talks with Iran. He also says, “only cowards and quitters set deadlines for withdrawal from Iraq.” Now he announces – get ready for it – “a general time horizon for meeting aspirational goals,” including troop withdrawals

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/19/world/middleeast/19iraq.html

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204673.php

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16246.html

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/time_horizons.php

http://www.juancole.com/2008/07/bush-accepts-time-horizon-for-us-troop.html

http://abumuqawama.blogspot.com/2008/07/on-horizon.html

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204617.php
[Josh Marshall] Keep an eye out here for a concerted Bush-McCain push to take Iraq off the table for the election. They declare victory, say we'll be out in no time. So what's to argue about? . . .

Josh Marshall is right, it’s a trend. On issue after issue: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran, the Bush/McCain positions are moving closer to Obama’s. The trick, I assume, is to try to eliminate these toxic issues as a differentiating factor in the fall

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204646.php

More: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204681.php

http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/007744.html

McCain gets vicious

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccain_camp_rolls_out_brutal_n.php

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/obama_campaign_response_to_mcc.php

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/mccain-s-tougher

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/7/18/191623/173
[Bob Novak] [T]he private Republican view is that the focus must be on Obama in the coming campaign for McCain to win. A positive campaign will lose, and the spotlight on Obama must be harsher for McCain to have a chance.

McCain’s Abramoff connection

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/17/114751/649/283/552975

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/big_mccain_fundraiser_has_abra.php

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccain_moneyraiser.php

It was just a couple of days ago that the McCain campaign was strongly distancing themselves from Phil Gramm, whose “mental recession” and “nation of whiners” comments (which he still stands behind, by the way) didn’t go over very well. It hasn’t even been a week, and the media has already moved on to other pressing concerns, like what Jesse Jackson said off-mike at Fox News. Now Gramm “quits” as co-chair of McCain’s campaign – but stays on as an advisor. And the press still isn’t interested

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/gramm_resigns_mccain_cochairma.php
[Gramm] "It is clear to me that Democrats want to attack me rather than debate Senator McCain on important economic issues facing the country. That kind of distraction hurts not only Senator McCain's ability to present concrete programs to deal with the country's problems, it hurts the country. To end this distraction and get on with the real debate, I hereby step down as Co-Chair of the McCain Campaign and join the growing number of rank-and-file McCain supporters."

http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0708/Gramm_stands_down.html
McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said earlier today that Gramm would no longer represent the campaign. . . .

But when asked whether this meant he'd no longer advise or represent McCain, Bounds only said that it was Gramm's decision to step down from his co-chair post.

He becomes the second top McCain backer to step down from a co-chair position. Former Rep. Tom Loeffler, also a Texan, quit his post earlier this year after reporting about his lobbying also distracted from McCain's campaign message.

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/7/18/221936/767
“The question for John McCain isn’t whether Phil Gramm will continue as chairman of his campaign, but whether he will continue to keep the economic plan that Gramm authored and that represents a continuation of the polices that have failed American families for the last eight years,” said Obama spokesman Hari Sevugan.

More: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204618.php

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204635.php

Another McCain surrogate says “the Muslims are out to kill us.” (This is what seems to pass for rational political debate these days.) And the McCain campaign doesn’t have any problem with that

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16245.html

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/will_mccain_campaign_disavow_s.php

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccain_campaign_declines_to_di.php

The McCain campaign’s bad messaging

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16247.html

McCain: I have NEVER “flip-flopped”

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16237.html

Please put these two stories together for me

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_07_13_archive.html#5524529027891322701
[AOL News] The Wall Street Journal reports that Carly Fiorina, former Hewlett-Packard CEO and senior adviser to Sen. John McCain, met with a group of 25 prominent supporters and fundraisers for Sen. Hillary Clinton at a private home in Westchester County, NY. The group included several so-called "Hillraisers," each of whom have raised in excess of $100,000 for Clinton's failed primary campaign. The meeting was repeatedly sought by the Hillary supporters and is at least the second such meeting between backers of Clinton and the McCain campaign.

An organizer of the meeting, Amy Siskind, said that the pro-Hillary groups represented pledged to help deliver, "hundreds of thousands and maybe millions of votes," to McCain if the groups find areas of agreement between themselves and his campaign.

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16241.html
McCain denounces ‘HillaryCare’ . . .

Obama’s foreign policy team

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/18/us/politics/18advisers.html

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/obamas_gang_of_300.php

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2008/07/obamas_foreign_2/

“Comfort capsules”?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/17/AR2008071703161.html
The Air Force's top leadership sought for three years to spend counterterrorism funds on "comfort capsules" to be installed on military planes that ferry senior officers and civilian leaders around the world. . .

Air Force officials say the government needs the new capsules to ensure that leaders can talk, work and rest comfortably in the air. . . [read on]

I’ve been searching for language that captures the distinction between the seriously journalistic (if imperfect) press and the penumbra of pundits, analysts, expert commentators, etc., who take up so much of the time on the 24-hour networks. So here’s a useful term for them: the “opinion media”

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/netroots-nation-calls-out-fox-its-not.html

The press coverage of Obama and McCain has been “a disgrace” (thanks to Buzzflash for the link)

http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/91776/

Dishonest poll results from the Washington Post and ABC News

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/18/125332/374

Bonus item: Congressional Republicans aren’t even giving McCain campaign donations

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/few-house-gop-donate-to-mccain-2008-07-16.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:08 AM

 
ALL OVER THE MAP

Can someone please explain to me how these two lines of attack go together?

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccain_camps_new_attack_obama.php
On a conference call just now with reporters, McCain foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann compared Barack Obama's insistence on a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq to Bush's insistence that we were winning even as things went badly for years.

"I think the American people have had enough of inflexibility and stubbornness in national security policy," Scheunemann said. . . .

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/bracketing_obamas_trip.php
"The video doesn't lie," a McCain aide says. "With Obama's trip coming up, we thought it important to put together a documentary video outlining the various zigs and zags of his position on Iraq. It presents a candidate willing to let his political ambition dictate his position on what is obviously the most critical national security issue we face."

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16235.html

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/07/17/obama_iraq/index.html

McCain urged Obama to go to Iraq, and attacked him for not obeying instantly. Now, when Obama has decided to go, they’re attacking him for THAT. And the press plays along

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/mccain_camp_obama_trip_campaig.php
Communications director Jill Hazelbaker calls Obama's trip to Iraq and Afghanistan the "first of its kind campaign rally overseas."

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/07/17/iraq_media/index.htm
[Alex Koppelman] Barack Obama hasn't even left the country yet, but conservatives are already claiming that the media coverage of his trip to Europe, Iraq and Afghanistan is biased in his favor. . . [read on]

The McCain camp’s criticisms of Obama on the war have been all over the map, not even consistent with each other. But they’ve managed to morph this into the perception that Obama’s views are all over the map. You can criticize Obama for backtracking on some positions, but not on this one. Still, the meme seems to be taking hold

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16231.html
[Steve Benen] On Tuesday, the conservative Washington Times ran a front-page item under the headline: “Shift on war hits Obama’s liberal base.”

Sen. John McCain on Monday accused his Democratic presidential rival of flip-flopping on the war in Iraq, as a pair of new polls showed the Republican’s strategy of painting Sen. Barack Obama as politically expedient is beginning to take hold with voters.

As Mr. Obama repositions himself for the general election after exclusively targeting the Democratic base of committed liberals, it leaves some voters on the left feeling he is abandoning them on their top issue — Iraq — and has independents questioning his veracity.

This awful reporting was, of course, consistent with two straight weeks of non-stop talk in media/Republican circles about non-existent “changes” to Obama’s position on the war in Iraq. . . . .

This item from Mark Halperin over the weekend went under the headline: “McCain Team Takes Offensive on Iraq.”

On afternoon conference call, aides to the Republican pound the “total confusion” of Obama’s stance on Iraq. Michael Goldfarb: “We have seen him all over the map in the last couple of weeks.” Says plan on Obama’s Web site does not match his rhetoric. “He is sending so many different signals to so many different people.” . . . .

Randy Scheunemann: “There’s nothing less than total confusion about where Sen. Obama is on Iraq… the exact opposite of what we’ve seen” from McCain.

Now, I wouldn’t necessarily characterize this taking the “offensive”; I’d characterize this as “lying.” . . [read on]

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/comedy_continues_with_mccain_c.php
[Greg Sargent] The McCain camp's attacks on Obama over Iraq are really beginning to take on a burlesque quality. . .

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccain_documentary_on_obama_an.php
[Greg Sargent] I just watched the McCain campaign's new "documentary" on Iraq a few times, and while it does find scattered inconsistencies in Obama's positions, it doesn't really draw blood. . . .

Hey, forget about it anyway – the war is over!

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2008/07/when_new_realit/
Fred Kagan, Kimberly Kagan, and Jack Keane offer a glowing assessment of the political and security progress in Iraq in yesterday's Wall Street Journal op-ed "The New Reality in Iraq." Despite evidence to the contrary, the Keanes and Kagan open by triumphantly proclaiming:

All of the most important objectives of the surge have been accomplished in Iraq. The sectarian civil war is ended; al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) has been dealt a devastating blow; and the Sadrist militia and other Iranian-backed militant groups have been disrupted. Meanwhile, the Iraqi government has accomplished almost all of the legislative benchmarks set by the U.S. Congress and the Bush administration.

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/war-is-over
[McCain] I repeat my statement that we have succeeded in Iraq. Not we are succeeding. We have succeeded in Iraq. The strategy has worked and we now have the Iraqi government and military in charge in the major cities in Iraq. Al Qaeda is on their heels and on the run . . .

Watch: http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/mccain-presser-we

More: http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/the_wars_end_2.php

The Republicans just don’t know how to run any other kind of campaign

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccain_obama_is_an_extremist_i.php
In an interview with the Kansas City Star, reporter Dave Helling asked McCain whether he would really characterize Obama as an "extremist."

McCain's reply: "That's his voting record. All I said was his voting record -- and that is more to the left than the announced socialist in the United States Senate, Bernie Sanders of Vermont."

Helling then asked if McCain actually thinks Obama is a socialist. "Oh I don't know," McCain answered.

More: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204552.php

McCain’s big thinking on economic reform

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204532.php
[Josh Marshall] They say that John McCain doesn't know a lot about economics. Not having a ready grasp of the interaction between a weakening dollar and oil futures or the rippling effect of the credit crunch. But if that's true, where does he come up with innovative big think like this?

In response to the worsening economic situation, he's got a new plan: extend his bogus gas tax holiday a few more months.

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/campaign_2008_/2008/07/the_gas_tax_holiday_and_objective_journalism.php
[Mark Kleiman] Now that John McCain has decided to double down on the gas tax holiday idea, what are the odds that some reporter will report the objective fact that Hillary Rodham Clinton proposed the same idea during the primaries but couldn't find a single expert to back her up on it? Note that's "objective" as political reporter define it, since it has to do with what some campaign said or didn't say. And the view that the proposal was bogus was reported pretty much as fact when Hillary Clinton was pushing the gas tax holiday.

More: http://www.samefacts.com/archives/campaign_2008_/2008/07/a_quibble_clintons_gas_tax_holiday_was_not_so_bad_as_mccains.php

McCain’s own flip-flop on gay marriage has him in trouble (again) with the religious right

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16228.html

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/john_mccain_/2008/07/the_cost_of_flipflop_mccain_on_gay_adoption.php

McCain thinks the funding system for the Social Security program is an “absolute disgrace” (and he has an ultra-wealthy wife) – but that doesn’t keep him from cashing his monthly Social Security checks

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_07_13_archive.html#1509647208335956742

McCain’s “tell”

http://www.discourse.net/archives/2008/07/friday_mcbush_bashing_netroots_edition.html

Bush’s new rapprochement with Iran: how it hurts McCain

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_07/014116.php

http://www.juancole.com/2008/07/helman-is-bushs-engagement-with-iran.html

Obama’s VP list, based on who is (and isn’t) being vetted

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/whos_being_vetted.php

Uppity?

http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/18/operation-u-p-p-i-t-y/

Bush and Cheney’s crony contractors have been installing shoddy electrical systems in Iraq – and killing US soldiers

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/18/world/middleeast/18contractors.html

The Bush gang keeps finding more and more outrageous excuses to cover up their lawlessness

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16234.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/07/17/BL2008071701231.htm

http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/012861.php

This tells you everything: the DOJ’s memos to rationalize torture were written AFTER torture had already begun

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/07/17/ashcroft/index.html
[T]he first so-called torture memo, sometimes called the Bybee memo, was not produced by the Justice Department until Aug. 1, 2002. It defined torture down, breaking with long-established standards to restrict it to pain "equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death."

Ashcroft admitted to the committee that he participated in the production of that first memo in August 2002 for Zubaydah’s interrogation. "I do generally recall that I was made aware that a legal opinion relating to the interrogation of al-Qaida detainees was being prepared," Ashcroft said of that memo. "A draft or drafts were provided to my office, that I was briefed on the general contours of the opinion's substantive analysis and on its conclusions and that I approved its issuance."

But during questioning, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., pointed out that the abuse of Zubaydah had reportedly begun weeks, if not months, earlier. "Did you offer legal approval of interrogation methods used at that time ... prior to August 2002?"

"I have no recollection of doing that at all," Ashcroft responded. . .

How John Yoo made it into power

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/white_house_insisted_on_bush_l.php
[WP] Then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft offered the White House a list of five candidates to lead the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel in early 2003, but top administration officials summarily rejected them in favor of installing a loyalist who would provide the legal footing needed to continue coercive interrogation techniques and broadly interpret executive power . . .

In an angry phone call hours after Ashcroft's list reached the White House, President Bush's chief of staff, Andrew H. Card Jr., quickly dismissed the candidates, all Republican lawyers with impeccable credentials, the sources said. He and White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales insisted that Ashcroft promote John Yoo, a onetime OLC deputy who had worked closely with Gonzales and vice presidential adviser David S. Addington to draft memos supporting a controversial warrantless wiretapping plan and detainee questioning techniques.

Ashcroft's refusal created a tense standoff and was the only time in the attorney general's tenure that Bush was called upon to resolve a personnel dispute, the sources said.

More: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/ashcroft_sometimes_i_confuse_w.php
[Kate Klonick] If this doesn't set the tone for former Attorney General John Ashcroft's testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on interrogation methods at Guantanamo, I don't know what does.

In his opening statement, Ashcroft admitted that he had "limited recollection" of the events pertinent to the committee's inquiry. Specifically, "it's been difficult . . . to distinguish between what I in fact recall as a matter of my own experience, and what I remember from the accounts of others." . . .

For smart guys, there sure seems to be an awful lot of lack of recall in the Bush administration.

Rove tried to get Fitzgerald fired (while Fitzgerald was investigating him)

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/07/17/fitzgerald-learned-rove-was-trying-to-fire-him-in-2005-while-rove-was-still-under-investigation/

It’s still happening

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/07/special_counsel_deputy_quits_o.php
[AP] The second-in-command at the government's top whistle-blower office has quit in a dispute with his boss, whom he accused of putting "political agendas and personal vendettas" ahead of the agency's mission and independence.

James Byrne's resignation as deputy to U.S. Special Counsel Scott Bloch is effective Saturday. Bloch is under federal investigation, accused of destroying evidence potentially showing he retaliated against his own staff.

"Upon my departure, I am obligated to note that the mission, independence and very existence of the Office of Special Counsel are — and shall remain — at risk unless and until this agency is afforded a presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed leader who is capable of putting OSC's mission and OSC's people ahead of political agendas and personal vendettas," Byrne, the deputy special counsel, wrote in a July 10 letter to Bloch . . .

More: http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/7/17/212043/981

Gore’s challenge

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/18/washington/18gorecnd.html
Former Vice President Al Gore said on Thursday that Americans must abandon electricity generated by fossil fuels within a decade and rely on the sun, the winds and other environmentally friendly sources of power, or risk losing their national security as well as their creature comforts. . . [read on]

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16232.html

Watch: http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/7/17/212631/964

Bonus item: Why do we need to read the international press to find out what’s happening in our own country?

http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/012864.php
[Turkana] How horrendous has the Bush Administration been? Forget foreign policy, for a moment. Let's think about how we treat ourselves. How the Bush Administration treats us. If you wanted to give a people the greatest natural and human resources in the world, no imminent or proximate threats, and tell them to intentionally design a socioeconomic system that completely screws it up, they probably couldn't do a much better job than have the Bushies. From The Guardian . . . [read on]

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:58 AM

 
ORWELLIAN

McCain takes his “I’M not like Bush – YOU’RE like Bush” playback to its absurdist extreme: now Obama is supposedly just like Bush on Iraq

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccain_camps_new_attack_obama.php

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16222.html

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204324.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/16/174823/524

[NB: Do the reporters just laugh out loud when they put out this nonsense?]

Obama says he’s willing to talk with the leadership of Iran, and is trashed for his naiveté: “Appeaser! You just can’t talk with these people!” Well, guess who’s talking with them now?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/17/world/middleeast/17iran.html

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16216.html

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/see-we-tried-by-dday-some-may-be.html

McCain wants to implement a “surge” in Afghanistan, on the ostensibly successful Iraq model. One little problem with that . . . .

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/07/16/mccain_afghanistan/index.html

More: http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/16/obama-mccain-fighting-the-wrong-war/

http://www.slate.com/id/2195471

How McCain got there

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16220.html
[Steve Benen] John McCain delivered a high-profile speech on his Afghanistan policy, and unfortunately for his campaign, it didn’t go well. He went from opposing more troops in Afghanistan, to supporting more troops, to saying the troops shouldn’t come from the U.S., to saying some of the troops should come from the U.S. Ultimately, McCain ended up supporting the same policy Barack Obama has been articulating for months.

Today, the Obama campaign kept the pressure on. . . .

More: http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2008/07/mccain-on-afgha.html

Watch: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204362.php

Ouch

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/16/AR2008071600783.html
After suffering significant setbacks in the fight against insurgents in eastern Afghanistan, U.S. and Afghan troops have pulled out of a combat outpost where nine American soldiers were killed in a pitched battle with Taliban fighters Sunday.

U.S. and Afghan soldiers withdrew from the makeshift outpost near the remote village of Wanat as Taliban fighters swarmed the area near the border of the eastern provinces of Nuristan and Kunar . . .

McCain’s economic policy: there is no there there

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/16/AR2008071602434.html

McCain tells the NAACP: I’m for all the things you’re for, except . . . well . . . the things that I’m not

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/mccain-tells-naacpt

http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/012859.php

Please join me in hoping that McCain picks Romney as his VP. Then we’ll get to enjoy more things like this

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204373.php

McCain keeps violating his own campaign finance rules – and the press keeps ignoring it

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/mccain-campaign-finance-scams-continue.html

Steve Benen provides a great public service: a robust web site of all McCain’s reversals, flip-flops, waffles, and hypocrisies. It gets longer every day

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16221.html

McCain’s reversal on gay adoption: what it tells us

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/16/1142/71147

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/john_mccain_/2008/07/cheerful_thought.php

How can you want to prevent unwanted pregnancies and abortions, but oppose access to birth control?

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/election_central_morning_round_120.php

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/shocking_developments.php

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16218.html

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/7/16/155853/040

Naming an AIDS program for Jesse Helms?!??!!

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/16/10268/4544

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/dead-racist-bigot-jesse-helms-aids-hero.html

The Bush gang has expanded “executive privilege” to mean, basically, “we don’t want to talk about it”

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/president_bush_asserts_executi.php

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/07/16/did-bush-invoke-executive-privilege-to-shield-cheneys-interview-with-fitzgerald/

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/congressional

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/16/114934/787

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/7/16/131010/080

Chapter One of “The Dark Side,” for free

http://www.propublica.org/article/jane-mayers-the-dark-side-chapter-1-716/

Interview with Jane Mayer: http://www.propublica.org/article/talking-with-jane-mayer-715/

A “Truth Commission” on Bush-Cheney’s war crimes?

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/torture-and-village-by-dday-i-have.html

Obama leads in national polls: this is good news for McCain

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/everything_is_good_news_for_mc.php

Obama versus McCain, as managers

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/management_secrets_of_barack_o_1.php

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/one_more_management_secret_of.php

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/obama_the_manager.php

Obama shows what “taking the offense" means

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16219.html
[Steve Benen] Obama’s messages this week — the NYT op-ed on Monday, the DC speech yesterday, and the Purdue discussion today — are just about pitch-perfect. He isn’t defensive, and he’s not relying on conservative frames to discuss national security. He’s taking steps — and I hope he takes even more — to argue that the nation has been arguing in a fundamentally flawed way.

Now, I’ve seen all the recent polls. Obama’s strength is domestic policy and the economy; McCain’s strength is foreign policy and national security. The gap, on both fronts, is quite large. The conventional wisdom suggests Obama should try to change the subject, and keep the focus on the issues where he has the most support.

I tend to think this conventional thinking has it backwards, and I’m glad Obama is ignoring the conventional approach. There’s absolutely no reason for Obama to cede this ground — McCain’s wrong, he’s been wrong, and his vision for the future is ridiculously wrong. Too many Americans perceive him as competent and strong, based on little more than media myths and commercials.

Obama is talking to voters like they’re grown-ups, making the case for a more progressive, more coherent, and more effective approach to world affairs. I hope Americans are listening.

More: http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/07/16/obama_ad/index.html

Bayh for VP? Maybe not

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/bayh_as_veep_he_cochaired_wing.php
He Co-Chaired Neocon Committee For The Liberation Of Iraq With McCain [read on]

The Wall Street Journal reported that Obama brought in a modest $30 million in June (in current terms, this is a modest total), raising suggestions that his support was cooling – well, they were off just a LITTLE bit

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204401.php

File this under “be careful what you ask for”: for months the McCain gang complained that Obama wasn’t planning a trip to Iraq – making this some kind of litmus test of his worthiness to be president. As soon as he announced the trip, they started complaining about THAT. Now, with so much attention focused on the trip, the press plans major coverage – and the McCain camp is apoplectic. They’re planning to attack him while he’s out of the country

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204384.php

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/when_obamas_overseas_will_mcca.php

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/bracketing_obamas_trip.php

Investigating the Bush gang’s oil deals

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/lawmakers_call_on_state_department.php

Stephen Payne, Bush buddy and cash-for-access pimp, seems to have been flying under the radar

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/payne_doesnt_show_up_much_in_l.php
[Andrew Tilghman] Stephen Payne, the Bush supporter caught on tape offering access for cash, claims his firm has done a lot of work for foreign governments and politicians, but neither he nor his firm show up much in the DOJ database that tracks registered foreign agents. . . .

More: http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/16/the-white-house-on-sale-at-the-bush-library-gift-shop/

Republicans block bill on disclosure of donations to Bush library

http://www.propublica.org/article/republicans-block-presidential-library-disclosure-bill-716

Bonus item: Here’s how pathetic the Republican lies about China drilling for oil off the US coast have become: FOX NEWS is calling them out on it!

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/gop_senator_called_out_on_china.php

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 8:01 AM

 
CLEARING THE AIR

On Iraq, let’s not hear any more nonsense about how similar McCain’s and Obama’s positions are, okay? In their speeches yesterday, Obama offered a thoughtful, nuanced, reflection on the wrongheaded foreign policy thinking that has brought us to our present state. McCain offered . . . well . . .

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204161.php
[Josh Marshall] With all the hullabaloo today about Barack Obama's position on Iraq (and whether he'll promise to withdraw from Iraq in 16 months, or set that as a goal, etc.) it would seem that McCain campaign has again successively deflected attention from the fact that McCain's goal is to station American troops in Iraq permanently. His policy is not one of refusing to set arbitrary timelines or keeping in touch with commanders on the ground or members of the Iraqi government. Those are all obfuscations -- a continuation of the one used by President Bush for five years. The choice is still stark -- leave Iraq or stay in Iraq . . .

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/obama_i_strongly_stand_by_my_p.php
[Greg Sargent] Now that Barack Obama has just wrapped up his big Iraq speech, it's worth noting how big a gamble he's taken at key moments during this race -- by insisting on elevating the discussion to a higher plane than the ordinary tit-for-tat of campaigns.

When Obama was under fire for Reverend Wright, Obama gave a speech in which he asked his audience to think bigger, to rise above the narrow, gaffe-driven debate about Wright and have a real and meaningful discussion about the larger social and historical forces at play.

Now Obama has again done something very similar on Iraq. . . . [read on]

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16202.html
[Obama] “By any measure, our single-minded and open-ended focus on Iraq is not a sound strategy for keeping America safe . . . In fact — as should have been apparent to President Bush and Sen. McCain — the central front in the war on terror is not Iraq, and it never was.”

And in the point I’ve been waiting for Democrats to hammer home for years, Obama says what needs to be said: “Our men and women in uniform have accomplished every mission we have given them. What’s missing in our debate about Iraq – what has been missing since before the war began – is a discussion of the strategic consequences of Iraq and its dominance of our foreign policy. This war distracts us from every threat that we face and so many opportunities we could seize. This war diminishes our security, our standing in the world, our military, our economy, and the resources that we need to confront the challenges of the 21st century. By any measure, our single-minded and open-ended focus on Iraq is not a sound strategy for keeping America safe.”

[Steve Benen] Once in a while, I’m reminded that Obama “gets it.” Today’s speech is a reassuring example.

Obama isn’t defensive, and he’s not relying on conservative frames to discuss national security. He’s taking steps — and I hope he takes even more — to argue that the nation has been arguing in a fundamentally flawed way. . . .

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16209.html
[Obama] “The power to destroy life on a catastrophic scale now risks falling into the hands of terrorists. The future of our security - and our planet - is held hostage to our dependence on foreign oil and gas. From the cave-spotted mountains of northwest Pakistan, to the centrifuges spinning beneath Iranian soil, we know that the American people cannot be protected by oceans or the sheer might of our military alone.

“The attacks of September 11 brought this new reality into a terrible and ominous focus. On that bright and beautiful day, the world of peace and prosperity that was the legacy of our Cold War victory seemed to suddenly vanish under rubble, and twisted steel, and clouds of smoke. . . .

“Imagine, for a moment, what we could have done in those days, and months, and years after 9/11.

“We could have deployed the full force of American power to hunt down and destroy Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda, the Taliban, and all of the terrorists responsible for 9/11, while supporting real security in Afghanistan.

“We could have secured loose nuclear materials around the world, and updated a 20th century non-proliferation framework to meet the challenges of the 21st.

“We could have invested hundreds of billions of dollars in alternative sources of energy to grow our economy, save our planet, and end the tyranny of oil.

“We could have strengthened old alliances, formed new partnerships, and renewed international institutions to advance peace and prosperity.

“We could have called on a new generation to step into the strong currents of history, and to serve their country as troops and teachers, Peace Corps volunteers and police officers.

“We could have secured our homeland–investing in sophisticated new protection for our ports, our trains and our power plants.

“We could have rebuilt our roads and bridges, laid down new rail and broadband and electricity systems, and made college affordable for every American to strengthen our ability to compete.

“We could have done that.

“Instead, we have lost thousands of American lives, spent nearly a trillion dollars, alienated allies and neglected emerging threats - all in the cause of fighting a war for well over five years in a country that had absolutely nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks.”

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16208.html
[AP] Republican John McCain said Tuesday he knows “how to win wars” . . .

[Steve Benen] Now, with all due respect to the senator’s military service, what is it, exactly, that leads McCain to think he has this knowledge? McCain hasn’t, you know, actually won any wars.

My suspicion is, McCain means he endorsed the surge, the surge led to victory in Iraq, and if he can just bring more surges to more countries, American would keep winning. In other words, when McCain says he knows “how to win wars,” he means he’s concluded, “Surges = Victories.”

It simply never occurred to me that the Republican Party would nominate another presidential candidate as sophomoric and confused as George W. Bush. It just didn’t seem possible.

And yet, here we are. . . .

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/07/15/mccain_bluster/index.html
[McCain] I won't bluster, and I won't make idle threats, but understand this -- when I am commander in chief, there will be nowhere the terrorists can run and nowhere they can hide.

[Alex Koppelman] Funny, but that sounds, actually, exactly like bluster. . . .

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16205.html

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/the_debate_of_the_day_is_iraq.php

Obama’s full text: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/15/AR2008071501311.html

Video: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204204.php

Let’s see: Obama indicates that his position on the precise timing and manner of troop withdrawal from Iraq might be “refined” in light of changing circumstances on the ground and advice from his generals. Perfectly reasonable, but he’s savaged for “changing his position.” So he reiterates that he is still committed to the goal (the GOAL) of withdrawal in 16 months, and guess what? He’s savaged for NOT changing his position

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204160.php

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/livid.php

The press “helps”: http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/bad_frame.php

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204182.php

On Afghanistan, Obama and McCain are sounding more similar – and here’s why

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204166.php
[Josh Marshall] McCain is now trying to catch up to Obama on Afghanistan . . . In fact, he's now adopting Obama's position. . . .

More: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204242.php

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/john_mccain_/2008/07/riverboat_john_mccain_.php

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/07/15/afghanistan/index.html

McCain versus McCain: on the Dream Act

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16199.html
[Steve Benen] John McCain, recognizing the importance of Latino voters in the upcoming election, spoke to the National Council of La Raza yesterday. He told the audience, “I do ask for your trust,” adding, “I think I have earned that trust.” . . .

A young woman asked whether the Republican senator would support the Dream Act (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act), which gives undocumented young people a chance to earn U.S. citizenship by going to college or enlisting in the military.

McCain didn’t hesitate to endorse the legislation.

That’s clearly the right position for McCain to take. The Dream Act should be a no-brainer: “Roughly 65,000 children graduate each year from high school into a constrained future because they cannot work legally or qualify for most college aid. These are the overlooked bystanders to the ferocious bickering over immigration. They did not ask to be brought here, have worked hard in school and could, given the chance, hone their talents and become members of the homegrown, high-skilled American work force. The bill is one of the least controversial immigration proposals that have been offered in the last five years.”

But what McCain neglected to mention is that he already promised conservative activists that he opposes the Dream Act, and would have voted against it had he shown up for work last fall.

In fact, it was captured on tape. . . .

Will the press notice? http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_07_13_archive.html#4197679116449734825

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/mccain-running-zachary-taylor-campaign.html

McCain plans to cut Social Security: but he won’t tell us how, or how much

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/no_specifics.php

McCain versus McCain: on gay adoption

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16207.html

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/mccain-doesnt-get-out-very-much-by.html

McCain’s ugly sense of “humor”

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/funny-business-by-digby-that-mccain-is.html

http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/16/the-tin-ear/

McCain: dumb, and proud of it

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/no-wonder-mccain-cant-understand-how-to.html

Romney for VP?

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/romney_rises.php

Phil Gramm’s background in porn

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204229.php

The GOP is still flailing around trying to find a narrative that will reintroduce Obama to a public that is becoming increasingly comfortable with him. And they’re willing to lie to do it, of course

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/is-gop-now-gay-baiting-obama.html

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/the_small_business_lie.php

Is Obama holding his fire on some pretty obvious lines of attack against McCain until later in the campaign? Or is there another reason?

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/the_whites_of_their_eyes.php

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/obama_camp_hits_mccain_on_conf.php

On “changing the psychology.” While there is deniably a psychological and self-fulfilling dimension to how the economy works (for example, the stock market), it occurs to me that the constant harping by Bush, Gramm, and McCain on these “mental” dimensions seems to be another aspect of the reality-challenged thinking that they’ve brought to public policy generally. The most important thing, especially for difficult, intractable problems, is not to change the fundamental conditions, but to change the way people THINK about them. It won’t necessarily make things any better, but you won’t pay the same price politically for having screwed them up

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16206.html

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/psychodrilling_1.php

Remember the big deal Bush made about sacrificing his golf game out of respect for the soldiers dying in his grotty little war? Well, no more: and all it took was a partisan fundraising opportunity

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/14/bush-and-father-do-golf-f_n_112629.html

Actually, I think this is very revealing

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/15/131227/386
[From Jane Mayer’s “The Dark Side”] In the days after 9/11, when fears of another terrorist strike were at their peak, Vice President Dick Cheney was convinced that he had been subjected to a lethal dose of anthrax . . .

White House insiders from that white-knuckle time [said] the scare contributed to Cheney's insistence on hard-line tactics for fighting terror. . . .

More: http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/15/not-a-close-question-on-torture/

The question of the decade

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/07/15/BL2008071501518.html
[Dan Froomkin] Did Bush and Vice President Cheney declare war because they believed it was the best way to guarantee the safety of the American people? Or did they do it in a premeditated -- and ultimately successful -- attempt to seize greater political power? . . . [read on]

15 year old held, interrogated at Gitmo

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/7/15/8384/11197

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204170.php

Globalizing the mercenary market

http://nacla.org/node/4805

Is there a secrete Executive Order changing the order of succession in case the President and Vice President are both killed?

http://www.slate.com/id/2195384

No accountability

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/07/15/complicity/index.html

Doug Feith: designated apologist for the Bush gang’s lawlessness

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/feith_denies_denies_denies.php

http://www.slate.com/id/2195383

Bush and the Republicans are desperate to get a law passed allowing more offshore drilling for oil – so desperate that they’re telling ridiculous lies about the lack of any environmental problems

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204135.php
[David Kurtz] It's become something of a GOP talking point: Offshore drilling is environmentally safe because even Hurricanes Katrina and Rita didn't cause spills in the Gulf of Mexico.

Here's McCain picking up that line today . . .

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16200.html

Congress overrides Medicare veto

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/15/AR2008071501361.html

Theocracy watch

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/15/washington/15rule.html
The Bush administration wants to require all recipients of aid under federal health programs to certify that they will not refuse to hire nurses and other providers who object to abortion and even certain types of birth control. . . .

A cup of Joe

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/hagee_petition.php
J Street's got a petition going where you can tell Joe Lieberman how you feel about the idea of one of America's most prominent Jews going to hang out with Pastor Hagee who thinks Hitler was God's agent. . . .

AP Washington chief Ron Fournier apologizes – sort of – for his overly chummy missives with Karl Rove

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/breeze_apology_from_fournier.php
“I regret the breezy nature of the correspondence."

More: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/07/15/turdblossoms-still-a-lying-sack-ap-journalists-are-still-suck-ups/

We’re lucky that most crooks are really stupid: especially the Republican ones

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/07/lobbyist_charged_in_weldon_cor.php

Bush buddy Stephen Payne, caught selling access in exchange for donations to the Bush library, now says he was tricked into it

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/homeland_security_adviser_responds_to.php

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/homeland_security_advisor_prov.php

Who is Payne? http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/steven_payne_worked_for_pakist.php

http://www.metimes.com/Security/2008/07/15/analysis_more_bush_library_sleaze_charges/7bab/
A GOP lobbyist and fundraiser with close ties to the White House has quit a Homeland Security Department advisory committee following allegations of influence peddling and quid pro quo donations to the Bush presidential library.

Department spokeswoman Laura Keehner confirmed to United Press International that Stephen Payne was asked to resign after being surreptitiously videotaped by a British newspaper apparently offering to arrange meetings with senior administration officials in return for a six-figure fee, including a quarter-million-dollar donation to the library.

"The department asked him to step down" from his post on the Secure Borders and Open Doors Subcommittee of the Homeland Security Advisory Council, Keehner said, declining to comment on the reasons. . . .

One interesting aspect of the “satirical” Obama cover on the New Yorker is the fact that everyone knows that magazine is by and for liberals. Hence their defense that no one could believe that they meant it seriously. If the exact same cover were on the Weekly Standard or National Review, there would be riots in the streets. So, let’s try a little bit of hypothetical reversal here:

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/its-satire-get-it.html

Wow

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/googles_cool_campaign_tool.php
Check this out -- Google's speech recognition technologies will now scour YouTube's politician channels for specific words or phrases. . . .

Bonus item: The kind of people they are

http://www.first-draft.com/2008/07/republicans-are.html

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_07_13_archive.html#2523459905809631353
[Atrios] I've never quite been able figure out why the image of the burning twin towers is seen by Republicans as something in their favor. In my universe the timeline goes something like this:

Jan 20, 2001 Bush Inaugurated
Jan 25, 2001 Richard Clarke sends Condi Rice memo, warning about al Qaeda. Rice does nothing.
August 6, 2001 Bush gets memo titled "Bin Laden Determined to strike in US." Bush responds by telling the briefer, "All right. You've covered your ass, now." Then does nothing.
September 11, 2001 Bin Laden strikes in US.

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:54 AM

 
LONG MEMORIES

One of the more vicious lines that gets spewed by the Rush Limbaugh crowd is that the Democrats WANT defeat in Iraq (or want more troops getting killed, or want another terrorist attack, etc etc) because they hate America and only care about political advantage. This is despicable for many reasons, starting with the obvious point that it is NOT TRUE. Well, look who’s spewing it now

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/203945.php
[McCain adviser Randy Scheunemann] "Sen. Obama seems to think losing a war will help him win an election."

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16194.html

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccain_campaign_obama_dems_wan.php

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/mccain-says-obama-wants-american.html

Here’s what Obama SAYS about Iraq

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/14/opinion/14obama.html
[NYT] 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, and that is needed for long-term success in Iraq and the security interests of the United States.

The differences on Iraq in this campaign are deep. . . .

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/obamas_iraq_speech_i_will_end.php
Barack Obama may be making major news this morning with a big speech on Iraq in Washington, D.C., and excerpts from the speech have just been released by his campaign. . . . [read on]

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/07/15/obama_consistent_on_iraq.html
[Taegan Goddard] With Sen. Barack Obama scheduled to make a major speech on Iraq today -- and some accusing him of flip-flopping in recent days on his commitments to bring troops home if elected president -- Politifact finds the Illinois senator has not wavered in his statements throughout the campaign.

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16190.html

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/on_iraq_partisanship_is_back.php

Bush tries to help

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/bush-to-hasten-iraq-troop-withdrawal-in-bid-to-help-mccain-win-white-house-866885.html
President George Bush wants to speed up the withdrawal of American combat troops from Iraq, a move that could help to quell the anti-war anxieties of voters before November's presidential election.

Drawing down large numbers of troops would enable the Republican candidate, John McCain, to say that his forceful military strategy for Iraq was correct . . .

And who is this clown, Randy Scheunemann?

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/203960.php
[Josh Marshall] Scheunemann was a core participant in the lobbying, plotting and organized campaigns of deception that led America to war in Iraq. He was a close collaborator with Ahmad Chalabi through the 1990s. He helped draft the Iraq Liberation Act, which created the new funding stream for Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress. At the start of the Bush administration he signed on as Don Rumsfeld's 'consultant' on Iraq at the Pentagon. And then when the administration started cranking up the machinery for the propaganda campaign in favor of war he went back on the outside to form and lead the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, to lead the press and lobbying campaign to make sure the war got started on schedule.

Remember, US intelligence later found evidence that Chalabi, in addition to foisting a bunch of bogus intelligence and lying informers on the US and pocketing a lot of US taxpayer dollars, had provided highly classified US intelligence to Iran. Scheunemann worked closely with Chalabi for years in his efforts to get the US into war with Iraq. He was also a go-between between Chalabi and McCain. Now that he's taking such a high-profile role on the Iraq issue in the 2008, Scheunemann's history with Chalabi and the use of bogus intelligence to get the nation into war is unquestionably highly newsworthy.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east/jan-june03/chalabi_05-07-03.html
[Scheunemann, 2003] Iraq is not Afghanistan. It's not a primitive tribal civilization. It's a highly educated, urbanized population, and as for Dr. Chalabi's activity, all I think that we should be seeking and striving for in Iraq is a level playing field. He does in fact have a vision for Iraq. He has expressed it many times including the United States in exile conferences and bridging the differences, and his group has exhaustive contacts inside Iraq. Many of the surrenders or captures of the officials including some who made the CENTCOM playing card deck, have been facilitated or negotiated by the INC under Chalabi's leadership. . . .

More: http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_07_13_archive.html#4520368590988558896

Who lost Afghanistan?

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/afghanistans-descent

Six questions for Jane Mayer (“The Dark Side”) – don’t miss this one

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2008/07/hbc-90003234

More: http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2008/07/streaming_live_7/

“Dr. No”?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/14/153355/034
[Kagro X] George W. Bush thinks there are no such things as laws. So I suppose it comes as no surprise to learn that he thinks there are no such things as veto-proof majorities, either.

H.R. 6331, the Medicare payments patch legislation that would prevent at 10.6% cut in payments to physicians, passed the House by a margin of 355-59 on June 24, and passed the Senate by voice vote after a 69-30 vote on cloture. But Bush, apparently working to "encourage cooperation across the aisle," as they say, will spit in the faces of Members of both parties tomorrow as he vetoes the bill. . . .

[NB: Voice vote? Oh-oh.]

Bush buddy openly sells access to senior staff. Congress wants to know more

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/white_house_distances.php
[Andrew Tilghman] How much does it cost to get a meeting with top Bush administration officials?

According to one lobbyist, maybe about $600,000. And you can make that check out to the future George W. Bush presidential library fund. . . .

http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/007718.html
[Henry Waxman] Dear Mr. Payne:

I am writing regarding a report that you solicited funds for the George W. Bush Presidential Library in return for access to senior U.S. foreign policy officials. This is a matter that the Oversight Committee will investigate. . . .

1. What is your affiliation with George W. Bush Presidential Library? Have you been authorized or asked to solicit funds for the library?

2. Have you ever solicited funds for the library from any individuals, governments, companies, or organizations?

3. If you have ever solicited funds for the library, please describe each solicitation, including the persons or organizations solicited and amounts requested and received, and describe whether you arranged or attempted to arrange any meetings for such persons or organizations with U.S. government officials.

In addition, please provide the Committee with copies of any documents relating to contributions to or solicitations of contributions to President Bush’s library . . . [read on]

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/prez_consultant_go_back.php
[T]he president and the Houston-based consultant have known each other for at least 20 years. . . .

Alice “explains” http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204015.php

DHS opens “investigation” http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204056.php

Strange, unexplained memory loss syndrome affects military leadership, all simultaneously

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/memory_loss_thwarts_house_oversight_investigation_into_tillmans_death.php

Plame: we haven’t forgotten

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/07/14/five-years-later-and-the-attorney-general-still-maintains-the-cover-up/

Obama on NCLB (sort of)

http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/1054126,CST-NWS-obama14.article

Obama calls for more foreign language instruction, says US kids should be bilingual. For the nativists of the far right, this is an OUTRAGE!

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/14/104027/288

Oh my. Another (repeated) international policy gaffe – from the “expert”

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16196.html
[Steve Benen] This is almost certainly going to sound nitpicky, if not actually petty, but bear with me. It’s not unreasonable to note that John McCain continues to make references to a country that doesn’t exist. . . . [read on]

I truly hope McCain keeps talking about immigration: every time he opens his mouth he makes trouble

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/14/22630/7274

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16189.html

Zzzzzzt! McCain spokeswoman touches the third rail, says McCain might support tax increases

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16192.html

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/fiorinas_comments_.php

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/lying_in_politics_/2008/07/mccain_says_slash_social_security_benefits.php

Why can’t we all just be friends? How the press makes us stupid

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/lets_be_friends_1.php
[LAT] "Obama, McCain agree on many once-divisive issues." [read on]

Real economic analysis!

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/washington-post-on-mccains-economic.html
[WP] SEN. JOHN McCain says that President McCain would balance the federal budget by 2013. The plan is not credible.

The Congressional Budget Office projects a deficit of $443 billion in 2013 if President Bush's tax cuts are extended, as Mr. McCain wants, and the alternative minimum tax is merely patched to make certain it does not hit growing numbers of taxpayers. But Mr. McCain is proposing far more tax cuts. The only way he avoids having them add hundreds of billions more to the deficit in 2013 is by phasing them in and adding other caveats. Mr. McCain says on the campaign trail that he would repeal, rather than merely adjust, the alternative minimum tax, slash the corporate tax rate, now 35 percent, to 25 percent, and double the exemption for dependents. It turns out that none of that would be fully implemented by the end of the first McCain term. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimates the extra cost of the scaled-back plan at $47 billion in 2013, bringing the deficit to a daunting $490 billion. Sen. Barack Obama's campaign claims it would be far higher, somewhere between $650 billion and $750 billion.

The McCain campaign says it will fill the hole with spending cuts. It would "reclaim billions" by rooting out existing earmarks and prohibiting new ones; impose a one-year freeze on discretionary spending other than for defense and veterans; and "reserve all savings from victory in the Iraq and Afghanistan operations" to use toward deficit reduction. These claimed savings are illusory.

http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/012847.php
[NYT] Mr. McCain’s main campaign promises, if fulfilled, would lead to huge budget deficits. Extending the Bush tax cuts, enacting more tax cuts of his own and staying the course in Iraq would cost hundreds of billions of dollars more, every year, than the small bore spending cuts he has specified. Mr. McCain cannot balance the budget on a crusade against pork and a one-year freeze in a sliver of federal spending. Either he has a secret plan to balance the budget or he’s blowing smoke.

It is safe to assume there is no secret plan. . . .

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/campaign_2008_/2008/07/al_hunt_hammers_mccain.php
[Bloomberg] The Republican standard-bearer isn't comfortable in the economic arena. He started off the week talking about a “slowing'' economy. Slowing? Most Americans think it's going overboard and threatening to take them down.

He pledged to balance the budget by the end of his first term, which is inconsistent with the lavish tax cuts he also promises. He offered the same Social Security prescriptions that President George W. Bush failed to sell, insisting that somehow a more Democratic Congress would be receptive.

Contradictions, detours and flip-flops abound. . . .

It’s the middle of July, and the McCain campaign is still trying to get itself organized – badly

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/7/15/71713/0448

What’s happened to the Associated Press? Here’s a clue

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/204019.php
[Josh Marshall] Earlier today we noted the possible role of AP Washington Bureau Chief Ron Fournier is turning the AP's campaign coverage into complete crap. Now from the just released Tillman Report, it seems Fournier was also one of the reporters exchanging emails the day of Tillman's death with Karl Rove of all people . . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/fournier_to_rove_keep_up_the_fight.php
Karl Rove exchanged e-mails about Pat Tillman with Associated Press reporter Ron Fournier, under the subject line "H-E-R-O." In response to Mr. Fournier's e-mail, Mr. Rove asked, "How does our country continue to produce men and women like this," to which Mr. Fournier replied, "The Lord creates men and women like this all over the world. But only the great and free countries allow them to flourish. Keep up the fight." . . .

More: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0708/11716.html

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16193.html

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16198.html

http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/15/hes-bordering-on-arrogance/

Remember

http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/14/how-did-we-get-the-media-we-have/
[Phoenix Woman] The other day I was cleaning out my closet of old stuff and found a series of newspaper columns by people who probably wouldn't get their feet in the door were they starting out in today's conservative-dominated media: Tom Wicker, Molly Ivins, Andrew Greeley, Garry Wills, Carl Rowan, Jack Anderson, Mary McGrory...

What happened to our media over the past three decades? How did we get to the point where someone like Molly Ivins couldn't get a job as a receptionist at most major papers, while conservatively-correct dingdongs like David Brooks, Michael Gerson, Debra Saunders, William Kristol, John Tierney, and Ben Domenech are considered smart hires?

This is how . . . [read on]

What Joe Lieberman promised during his run for re-election in 2006

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/more_weak_reporting_on_joe_lie.php
[Greg Sargent] The first is that during the 2006 campaign against Ned Lamont, Lieberman and his aides vowed multiple times that he would continue caucusing with the Democrats. The second is that Lieberman also vowed to help elect a Democrat to the White House in 2008. . . .

An interesting issue about polling methodology, which does not use cell phones: does this slant the results demographically?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/14/111033/694

Bonus item: More ideas for future New Yorker covers

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_07/014086.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/14/81539/2609/953/551288

More: http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/14/about-that-new-yorker-cover/

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/muslims-and-militants-by-digby-there-is.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:56 AM

 
OVER THE LINE

Bush’s plan for a long-term military agreement with Iraq appears dead. What killed it?

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/203837.php
[Josh Marshall] [T]he hang-up seems clear: the Iraqis would not conclude an agreement without a clear timetable for US withdrawal. . . .

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_07_13_archive.html#1214065217411427959
[WP] The most contentious unresolved issue is the legal immunity of U.S. troops and Defense Department personnel from Iraqi prosecution for any alleged crime. . . .

http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/13/out-with-the-sofa-in-with-the-mou/
[WP] According to U.S. officials, Maliki also hopes that a temporary protocol would circumvent the full parliamentary review and two-thirds vote he has promised for a status-of-forces agreement. "He is trying to figure out, just as we did, how you can set up an agreement between the two and have it be legally binding," one official said, "but not go through the legislative body." . . .

More: http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/the_latest_from_iraq.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_07/014076.php
[Kevin Drum] By the way, you may have missed this a couple of days ago, but on Friday the surge officially ended. The last of the five surge brigades has left the country and we're now back down to 15 combat brigades in Iraq.

Wow. Frank Rich on “The Dark Side”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/opinion/13rich.html
We know what a criminal White House looks like . . . [read on]

Hugh’s list of Bush scandals: 368, and counting . . .

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/7/13/214559/690

Phil Gramm? Who?

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/election_central_sunday_roundu_23.php
Carly Fiorina today tried to downplay the potential impact of Phil Gramm's declaration that America had become "a nation of whiners" about he economy. "Outside of Washington, where this is an interesting parlor game, I think most Americans are not really focused on what a bunch of surrogates are saying," Fiorina said on Meet The Press -- though it's unclear if the average American will see things as Fiorina does, as she's just a campaign surrogate.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/reverse-clark-by-dday-john-mccains.html
GERSH: Is Senator Gramm still giving advice to Senator McCain?

HOLTZ-EAKIN: No.

GERSH: No.

HOLTZ-EAKIN: At — I haven’t spoken to Senator Gramm since the comments took place, and I’m not expecting to. . . [read on]

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccain_camp_gramm_is_not_advis.php
[Eric Kleefeld] Hmm, it looks like the McCain camp might have just thrown Phil Gramm under the bus in the wake of his "Nation of Whiners" gaffe. . . .

[NB: That’s not what I hear. I expect that he’s still a key part of the team, but we won’t be seeing or hearing anything from him between now and election day. He just became a non-person.]

They really are falling apart

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/13/mark-sanford-draws-a-blan_n_112391.html
The most painful clip from the Sunday morning shows: top McCain VP prospect Mark Sanford "drawing a blank" (in his own words) on live TV when asked to name a major economic policy that President Bush and John McCain disagree on. . . . [watch]

A case against the prosecution

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/13/mccain-aligned-bush/
[McCain advisor Carly Fiorina] John McCain stood up against George Bush and Don Rumsfeld in the prosecution of the Iraq war for many years. … To say that John McCain was aligned with President Bush on the prosecution of the war in Iraq is to change history. . . [read on]

[NB: Notice the careful, deceptive word choice. But even THIS isn’t true.]

Do facts matter? http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_07_13_archive.html#5349494206207450223

http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/14/hope-2/

After the election, Joe, after the election. . . .

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/07/13/democrats_prepare_to_boot_lieberman_out_of_caucus.html

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/07/14/quote_of_the_day.html



Bonus item: Over the line

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/7/13/215330/762

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/07/the-new-yorkers-ironic-obama-c.php

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:12 AM

 
THE DARK SIDE

Jane Mayer’s “The Dark Side”

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2008/07/streaming_live_6/
[Andrew Bacevich] Mayer recognizes but does not dwell on the intimate relationship between the global war on terror and Addington's new paradigm. The entire rationale of the latter derived from the former: no war, no new paradigm. Hence, the rush to declare that after Sept. 11, 2001, everything had changed. The insistence that the gloves had to come off, that the so-called law enforcement approach to dealing with terrorism had failed definitively, that only conflict on a global scale could keep America safe: These provided the weapons that Addington's War Council wielded to mount its assault on the Constitution -- all of course justified as necessary to keep Americans safe. . . . [read on]

More: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/07/12/torture/index.html
Mayer's book reports the following:

* "Red Cross investigators concluded last year in a secret report that the Central Intelligence Agency's interrogation methods for high-level Qaeda prisoners constituted torture and could make the Bush administration officials who approved them guilty of war crimes."

* "A CIA analyst warned the Bush administration in 2002 that up to a third of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay may have been imprisoned by mistake, but White House officials ignored the finding and insisted that all were 'enemy combatants' subject to indefinite incarceration."

* "[A] top aide to Vice President Cheney shrugged off the report and squashed proposals for a quick review of the detainees' cases . . .

'There will be no review,' the book quotes Cheney staff director David Addington as saying. 'The president has determined that they are ALL enemy combatants. We are not going to revisit it.'"

* "[T]he [CIA] analyst estimated that a full third of the camp's detainees were there by mistake. When told of those findings, the top military commander at Guantanamo at the time, Major Gen. Michael Dunlavey, not only agreed with the assessment but suggested that an even higher percentage of detentions -- up to half -- were in error. Later, an academic study by Seton Hall University Law School concluded that 55 percent of detainees had never engaged in hostile acts against the United States, and only 8 percent had any association with al-Qaeda."

* [T]he International Committee of the Red Cross declared in the report, given to the C.I.A. last year, that the methods used on Abu Zubaydah, the first major Qaeda figure the United States captured, were 'categorically' torture, which is illegal under both American and international law".

* "[T]he Red Cross document 'warned that the abuse constituted war crimes, placing the highest officials in the U.S. government in jeopardy of being prosecuted.'"

Bush’s billion-dollar fortress (uh, “embassy”) in Iraq – there’s a good chance Americans will never occupy it

http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/012835.php

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/12/AR2008071201915.html

Uh, excuse me. Isn’t this ILLEGAL?

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/12/bush-library-donation-scandal/
The Sunday Times reports Stephen Payne, a Bush pioneer and a political appointee to the Homeland Security Advisory Council, was caught on tape offering access to key members of the Bush administration inner circle in exchange for “six-figure donations to the private library being set up to commemorate Bush’s presidency.” . . .

Propaganda is propaganda

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/12/789/92251

The Bush gang simply refuses to deal with environmental issues – even when the Supreme Court orders them to

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/brave-new-world-by-dday-at-some-level-i.html

The result? http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/12/114914/899
Increasing CO2 in the atmosphere doesn't just raise global temperatures. It also turns the ocean into a toxic acidic solution . . . [read on]

Don’t make me laugh

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080713/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush;_ylt=AsY9cm2SHADYKabfkVnjbi6s0NUE
President Bush on Saturday tried to pin the blame on Congress for soaring energy prices . . .

If McCain thinks he can turn immigration into an electoral edge, I hope he keeps trying

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16178.html

McCain’s economic advisor needs a math lesson

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/math_with_doug_holtzeakin.php

Yes, he said it

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/john_mccain_/2008/07/heartless.php
Q: President Bush believes that gay couples should not be permitted to adopt children. Do you agree with that?

Mr. McCain: I think that we’ve proven that both parents are important in the success of a family so, no I don’t believe in gay adoption.

Q: Even if the alternative is the kid staying in an orphanage, or not having parents.

Mr. McCain: I encourage adoption and I encourage the opportunities for people to adopt children I encourage the process being less complicated so they can adopt as quickly as possible. And Cindy and I are proud of being adoptive parents. . . . [read on]

What’s REALLY wrong with McCain mixing up Pittsburgh and Green Bay in the two versions of his prisoner of war story

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16172.html

The excuse? http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/12/41331/9692
[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette] The senator's mixup with the Steelers "was an honest mistake," a campaign spokesman said yesterday. "If bloggers want to make fun of John McCain because he forgot which team he used under torture, that is their right."

[NB: Of course, this excuse is an insult to our intelligence. First of all, it’s McCAIN who repeats the story so often. And unless he and his people consider answering questions from the press to be “torture,” that aspect is completely irrelevant to his making the mistake in this instance. More relevant is that he was looking for a way to pander to the Pittsburgh audience. And one other aspect of the story – pointed out to me by my colleague Jim – is that the “Steel Curtain” glory days of the Pittsburgh Steelers came AFTER McCain was captured. He was held from 1967-73, so unless he was watching football games while he was in captivity, he wouldn’t even have KNOWN who the Pittsburgh defensive line was.]

The key thing about McCain’s Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Week is that it came AFTER his campaign shake-up, which was supposed to bring greater coherence and discipline to his messaging

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16179.html

Given the press’s usual fascination with sex and scandal, it is noteworthy that they’ve shown no interest in McCain’s history of adultery and divorce. Here’s what’s relevant about it today – not that it happened, but that he LIED about it

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16176.html
[Steve Benen] The Los Angeles Times did some solid investigative reporting and published a very damaging item yesterday on John McCain’s personal background, which is of course a key part of his campaign. We learned that McCain turned his back on his wife after she was seriously injured in a car accident, committed adultery, and left the mother of his children when he found a younger, wealthier woman.

Worse, we also learned that McCain didn’t tell the truth about this in his own memoir. McCain insisted that he was separated from his first wife before he began dating his second wife. That’s not true. McCain also insisted he’d been divorced for months before remarrying. That wasn’t true, either. (In fact, the LAT reported, “McCain obtained an Arizona marriage license on March 6, 1980, while still legally married to his first wife.”) . . . [read on]

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/12/12519/7986

Obama’s VP short list

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=6914

No, no, no: Obama’s REAL VP short list

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=6910

Yes, it’s true: candidates manipulate and use bloggers just as they do the press (thanks to Atrios for the link)

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/12/1272/05716/668/550564

A Tale of Two Polls. Two Newsweek polls, one showing a fifteen point Obama lead and the latest one, showing a statistical tie, are being overinterpreted by the press (whose preferred narrative is always “the race is tightening” – whether it really is or not). But here’s what the two polls really show

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16173.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/12/124829/538

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=6915

Remember: Clinton-Dole, 1996

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1996/04/15/211482/index.htm
[April 15] [Dole] can win, can't he? Not if you believe the polls. Unanimously, they have Dole trailing Bill Clinton by double-digit figures. Well, forget them. . . . This race is going to tighten.

http://people-press.org/commentary/?analysisid=25
[June 5] These data suggest that a modest improvement in Bob Dole's national standings could make this a much tighter race in the electoral college. Even though the May round of national surveys found Clinton's support levels in the mid-50's while Dole barely managed to reach the 40% mark, there are at least two important reasons to think that the race may tighten. . . .

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1375
[November 4] "There’s no doubt about it, the race is tightening," NBC’s Tim Russert announced on the Today show . . .

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A04E7D71238F936A35752C1A960958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2
[November 5] Mr. Dole's advisers are inundating the traveling press with reports of polls showing the race tightening . . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1996
[1996 results] Clinton: 379 electoral votes; Dole 159

The press’s pack mentality

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=6911

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/13/sunday-talking-heads-july-13-2008/
ABC's This Week: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) a McCain supporter. Topics: the vote in California, the latest on the state's devastating fires, and the skyrocketing price of gas. Roundtable: Time Magazine's Richard Stengel, ABC News' Donna Brazile, Cokie Roberts, George Will.

CBS' Face The Nation: Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Sallai Meridor; Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) ranking member; Roger Simon Politico. Topics: Iran, Iraq, Campaign 2008.

CNN's Late Edition: Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and McCain supporter Sen. Jon Kyl. (R-AZ). Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC) and Gov. Janet Napolitano: (D-AZ). Nancy Pfotenhauer McCain Economic Adviser and Jason Furman Obama Economic Adviser. Plus, Iraq's National Security Adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie on the future for U.S. troops in Iraq.

NBC's Meet The Press: Topics: the economy, taxes, gas prices & more. RNC Victory Chair and former CEO of Hewlett-Packard Carly Fiorina for the McCain campaign and Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), the national co-chair of the Obama campaign. Roundtable: on the politics of race, the search for running mates & party unity with former Rep. Harold Ford, Jr., Republican political strategist Mike Murphy, and NBC News' Andrea Mitchell.

Bonus item: John, if you don’t want people to think you’re an old coot, stop acting like an old coot

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/12/163933/470
“I am learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself.”

More: http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/john-mccain-i-am-learning-to-get-online.html

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_07/014075.php

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:54 AM

 
BRANDENBURG-GATE

So, did Bush intervene to ask Germany not to let Obama speak at the Brandenburg Gate?

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/203645.php
Indeed, Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmitt told the mass circulation tabloid Bild that "it would be nice if the German government would focus on strengthening its contacts to us rather than already beginning to look for our successors."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/203685.php
The Treasury Department is telling us that media reports in Germany -- quoting Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmitt on Obama's possible Brandenburg Gate speech -- took his remarks out of context and out of time: He made his remarks last week before the Brandenburg Gate speech became a story and had nothing to do with the speech or Obama's planned trip to Germany.

[NB: Uh-huh. I believe them completely, of course. But even if that were true, it's still a pretty incredible quote. Very revealing.]

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/report_bush_officials_not_happ.php
A new report in the German press says that Bush administration officials are unhappy with the idea and privately said as much to representatives of Chancellor Angela Merkel. . . .

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/white_house_refuses_to_say_whe.php
There's been yet another odd twist in the story about alleged pressure by the Bush administration on the German government to block an Obama speech at Berlin's historically-charged Brandenburg Gate: The White House isn't denying the allegations. . . [read on]

More: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/more_on_the_brandenburg_gate_s.php

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/german_government_denies_bush.php

The Bush gang’s never-ending battle to block the public’s right to know

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/washington/11cnd-visitors.html
The Bush administration was dealt a setback on Friday in its efforts to keep records of White House visitors under wraps when an appeals court refused to throw out a lawsuit seeking access to the material. . .

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah . . . we’re NOT LISTENING!

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/bush_administration_formally_d.php
[AP] The White House on Thursday rejected EPA's conclusion three weeks earlier that the 1970 Clean Air Act "can be both workable and effective for addressing global climate change." Instead, EPA said Friday that law is "ill-suited" for dealing with climate change. . . . [read on]

The pathetic mess Bush’s hacks have made over at the Department of “Justice”

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/chief_deputy_resigns.php

McCain has one of the truly awful weeks in modern presidential campaign history: calls Social Security an “absolute disgrace,” thinks our cigarette exports killing Iranians is funny, fumbles a story about his own prisoner of war experience, has an advisor who says the recession isn’t real and that people are just being “whiners,” and MORE – not just gaffes but potentially fatal misjudgments – but that doesn’t keep good old Mark Halperin from concluding that McCain had a pretty good week

What a week! http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#25645915

Halperin: http://mediamatters.org/items/200807110008

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16165.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/12/7414/88621

Thanks to MSNBC: remember this slam job against Obama?

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccain_campaign_unleashes_misl.php
McCain senior foreign policy adviser Kori Schake hit Obama, saying he "opposed calling [Iran's Revolutionary Guards] a terrorist organization." The basis for the charge? Obama's opposition to the Kyl-Lieberman amendment. . . .

But Obama has in fact supported labeling the guards a terrorist org, and explicitly said at the time of the Kyl-Lieberman vote that he opposed it for other reasons. . . .

Well: http://mediamatters.org/items/200807110006
As Media Matters for America documented, on the July 9 edition of CNN Election Center, anchor Campbell Brown uncritically aired Sen. John McCain's false claim that he "voted to condemn" the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization "when a amendment was on the floor of the United States Senate." In fact, McCain did not vote on the amendment to which he was referring, the Kyl-Lieberman amendment. . .

Please ask McCain: should insurance companies cover birth control for women, just as they cover Viagra for men?

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/what-is-john-mccains-problem-with-birth.html

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/mccains-birth

More on “women’s issues”: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/honor-of-john-mccain-by-dday-john-w.html

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16163.html

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16168.html

I’ll bet you didn’t know this. Now I ask you, how much coverage would this story have received if it was about Obama’s past?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/11/133326/401
An article in today’s Los Angeles Times about John McCain’s adultery and subsequent divorce chose to focus on how his actions affected his relationship with Ron and Nancy Reagan. But as sad as it is to learn that Nancy treated McCain with "cool correctness" after he left his disabled wife and three children for a 24 year old heiress, why don’t we just stay with this aspect of the story; the part where John McCain either forgot that he had carried on an affair for nine months or he lied about it in interviews and in his memoir, Worth Fighting For. . . . [read on]

More: http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/mccain-was-still-married-to-his-wife.html

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16162.html

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_07_06_archive.html#2163803345756147481

Is McCain’s love affair with the press coming to an end?

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/mccain-and-the-press

The GOP loves the “China drilling for oil off our coast” story so much that they can’t let facts stand in the way

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/203698.php
Former Rep. Melissa Hart (R-PA), who's running to get her seat back this year, concedes that China wasn't drilling offshore Florida in Cuban waters when she repeated the GOP's favorite myth of 2008 a few weeks ago -- but they may have started drilling since then!

More: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/goper_chinacuba_oil_myth_wasnt.php

Health care: an area of opportunity for the Dems this fall

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/11/142610/661
The best cure for losing is winning. Passage of the Medicare bill (the one that Ted Kennedy dramatically assisted with) has raised speculation about 'what next?’ . . .

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16160.html

Look who’s going to Iraq with Obama

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16170.html

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2008/07/hagel_to_endors/

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:48 AM

 
GOING MENTAL

McCain top economic advisor (and close friend) Phil Gramm says the recession is simply a “mental” thing, and that we have become a “nation of whiners.” Ooooh, not on message Phil. The Obama campaign seizes on the opportunity and, after initially defending Gramm, the McCain team goes into full-on damage control mode

Watch Gramm: http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/phil-gramm-you-bunch-of-whiners-video.html
[Joe Sudbay] He's so smug and condescending . . .

McCain, take one: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/10/mccain-campaign-initially_n_111929.html
"Mr. Gramm was simply saying that we are laying out the economic plan this week," the piece quoted a "McCain official" as saying . . .

[NB: I think this means he IS speaking for you.]

McCain, take two: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16157.html
““I don’t agree with Senator Gramm,” McCain told reporters. “I believe that the person here in Michigan that just lost his job isn’t suffering from a ‘mental’ recession. I believe the mother here in Michigan and around America who’s trying to get enough money to educate their children isn’t whining. America is in great difficulty. We’re experiencing enormous economic challenges, as well as others. Phil Gramm does not speak for me; I speak for me . . .”

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/203561.php
[T]he McCain campaign is so spooked by Sen. Gramm's comments about the 'mental recession' that they're pushing a Youtube video of McCain bashing Gramm, his own chief economics advisor. . .

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/203535.php
[DV] I'm not even sure I know what it means to say you don't agree with your chief economic advisor's comments about the economy. If he is McCain's chief economic advisor, what good is he? . . .

OK, John, you speak for you. So what did YOU say?

http://thejoshuablogs.blogspot.com/2008/07/john-mccain-your-economic-problems-are.html
John McCain now says he disagrees with Phil Gramm's statement that America is in a "mental recession" -- but his campaign initially defended Gramm, and the video record shows McCain himself shares the same view. . . [watch]

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/10/18122/2173
[January 08] As far as putting additional money in taxpayers pocket, that's fine, because a lot of it is psychological. Because I agree the fundamentals of our economy is still strong.”

[April 2008] I’m very concerned about it, Neil. And obviously the way it’s been going up is just terrible. But I think psychologically — and a lot of our problems today, as you know, are psychological — the confidence, trust, the uncertainty about our economic future, ability to keep our own home. This might give them a little psychological boost. Let’s have some straight talk, it’s not a huge amount of money.

[June 2008] So I don't see an immediate relief, but I do see that exploitation of existing reserves that may exist -- and in view of many experts that do exist off our coasts -- is also a way that we need to provide relief. Even though it may take some years, the fact that we are exploiting those reserves would have psychological impact that I think is beneficial.

[At one of the Republican debates] On the issues of rebates, fine, part of this is psychological. Part of the problem we have of course in any recession is psychological.

[NB: And, just to make the implicit explicit – where do you think he got these talking points? Phil Gramm, of course]

More: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#25630584

Obama jumps all over it

http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/10/obama-drives-home-the-mental-recession-wedge/
“Senator McCain, however, has said that we've made "great progress" on the economy. And Senator Phil Gramm, a top economic advisor to Senator McCain, just recently said that this is merely "a mental recession." Senator Gramm then deemed the United States - and I quote - "a nation of whiners." This comes after Senator McCain recently admitted that his energy proposals will have mainly "psychological" benefits.

Well, you know, America already has one Dr. Phil. When it comes to the economy, we don't need another.

Let's be clear, when people are struggling with the rising costs of everything from gas to groceries, when we've lost 438,000 jobs over the past six months, when typical families have seen their incomes fall nearly $1,000 since 2000, this economic downturn isn't in our heads. It isn't whining to ask for more than just psychological relief.

And I think it's time we had a President who doesn't deny our problems - or blame the American people for them - but takes responsibility and provides the leadership to solve them. That's the kind of President I will be.”

You speak for you, huh?

http://airamerica.com/blog/2008/jul/10/mccains-horrible-week
[Ddayblog] He emailed around a YouTube of him bashing his top economic adviser Phil Gramm and saying "He doesn't speak for me," at PRECISELY THE TIME Gramm was speaking for him at the Wall Street Journal's editorial board. . . .

And just remember how the press hyperventilated over Obama’s offhand comment about “bitter” folks clinging to their guns and religion

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/203499.php
[MG] Hmmm, so, will we see/hear weeks and weeks of prattling, analyzing, psychobabble, etc. about how badly Gramm/McCain do not understand the good people of this country? How intemperate, unwise, badly stated those remarks about good, honest, hardworking Americans were? Heck, he even implied that we're delusional about the recession.

I know. I'm delusional to even ask the question. Sigh.

On the second of the day’s big McCain gaffes, HE says Social Security is an “absolute disgrace.” He speaks for himself, remember – so what do they do? Send out a spokesman to redefine his comments for him

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/203377.php
[McCain] "Americans have got to understand that. Americans have got to understand that we are paying present-day retirees with the taxes paid by young workers in America today. And that's a disgrace. It's an absolute disgrace and it's got to be fixed."

[McCain spokesman Brian Rogers] "the disgrace is our failure to fix the long-run imbalance in Social Security -- a failure of leadership evidenced by our willingness to kick to problem to the next generation of leaders. He's also describing the looming and increasing demographic pressures confronting the Social Security system and Washington's utter failure to address it.”

More: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/203491.php

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16149.html

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/mccain-keeps-digging-that-social.html

Number three, also speaking for himself – McCain seems to think it’s a big yuk to joke about our cigarettes killing Iranians. Just another ill-considered quip, McCain being McCain, don’t take it seriously. Maybe hard-nosed types even think it’s a good thing to jab the Iranians with a sharp stick right now. But imagine this guy as the daily spokesman for our nation . . .

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/08/mccain-jokes-about-killing-iranians-again/

Heh, heh, don’t wanna talk about Viagra, heh, heh – but it raises an important issue about contraception and gender equity in health policy, and it was brought up by his own advisor: so where DO you stand, Mr. Straight Shooter?

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/09/mccain-gets-nervous-when-asked-about-his-opposition-to-insurance-provided-birth-control/

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16152.html

Watch: http://www.feministing.com/archives/009629.html
[Jessica Valente] So does he not know that he voted against requiring insurance companies to cover birth control for women? Or does he just not want to talk about it?

Rove 101: paint your opponent as un-American, hint that they’re actually traitorous

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/203577.php

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/does_mccain_campaign_disagree.php

Rove 101: building the bubble

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/10/7934/50702

http://www.motherjones.com/washington_dispatch/2008/07/john-mccain-screening-conference-call-questions.html

“Why McCain is So Awful”

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/why_john_mccain_is_so_awful.php
[Matt Yglesias] The reality is that he's been coasting for his entire political career . . . [read on]

Our suck-up press

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-bergmann/the-week-that-should-have_b_111983.html
[Max Bergmann] This is the week that should have effectively ended John McCain's efforts to become the next president of the United States. But you wouldn't know it if you watched any of the mainstream media outlets or followed political reporting in the major newspapers.

During this past week: McCain called the most important entitlement program in the U.S. a disgrace, his top economic adviser called the American people whiners, McCain released an economic plan that no one thought was serious, he flip flopped on Iraq, joked about the deaths of Iranian citizens, and denied making comments that he clearly made – TWICE . . . [read on]

More: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/10/mccain-regular-guy/

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/7/11/8048/23249

McCain trailing Obama – in Arizona!

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/mccains-arizona-woes

The money race

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/7/10/195150/513

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccain_camp_we_have_over_94_mi.php

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=6876

Charlie Crist, perhaps with the inside track to become McCain’s VP, lays out the groundwork for combating the claim that he’s gay

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/10/124856/286
[Kos] This isn't, "rumors" territory, but "open secret" territory. . .

Obama preps for his world tour, plans a speech at the Brandenburg Gate (where Kennedy and others have spoken before him). Bush calls his hug-buddy Angela Merkel and says, “Nix it”

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/report_bush_officials_not_happ.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/10/14644/9810

More: http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/obamas_europe_trip_risks_and_b_1.php
[Marc Ambinder] A few years ago, it might not have been the best political move for a candidate to be seen as receiving the adulation of world... especially France and Germany. Not today: given how important it is to many independents and Republicans and Democrats that America's standing in the world is restored, Obama could well benefit domestically from a raucous reception overseas.

There are potential drawbacks: gaffes will be magnified through the lens of a voracious, excited press corps. His trip has to be flawless, message-wise, tone-wise and in its execution. If Obama appears presumptuous and arrogant and not humble, there's a good bet that we'll see that reflected in the coverage back home. Likewise if any European (or Israeli) leader lectures him about unilateral diplomacy with Iran.

At least until he sits down with Gen. Petraeus . . . will he speak truth to power? -- the benefits surely outweigh the risks. . .

AG Mukasey: what he doesn’t think merits investigation

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/10/AR2008071002749.html

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/at-least-he-doesnt-say-i-dont-recall.html

FISA: it’s a crime. But the Dems are already talking about modifying it next year

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/10/162640/437

And the ACLU will challenge it in court

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/07/10/aclu/index.html

Rove refuses to testify to Congress, of course – now, what are they going to do about it?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/10/115919/708/808/549399

More: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/07/10/republicans-bend-over-backward-to-invent-excuses-for-rove/

A still-undisclosed Red Cross report on prisoner abuse

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/book_reveals_existence_of_secr.php
[NYT] The book, "The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals," by Jane Mayer, who writes about counterterrorism for The New Yorker, offers new details of the agency's secret detention program, as well as the bitter debates in the administration over interrogation methods and other tactics in the campaign against Al Qaeda. . .

Citing unnamed "sources familiar with the report," Ms. Mayer wrote that the Red Cross document "warned that the abuse constituted war crimes, placing the highest officials in the U.S. government in jeopardy of being prosecuted." . . .

The politics of oil in Iraq

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/iraqs-complicated

The kind of guy he is

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16159.html
[The Telegraph] George Bush surprised world leaders with a joke about his poor record on the environment as he left the G8 summit in Japan.

The American leader, who has been condemned throughout his presidency for failing to tackle climate change, ended a private meeting with the words: “Goodbye from the world’s biggest polluter.”

He then punched the air while grinning widely, as the rest of those present including Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy looked on in shock. . . . [read on]

Bonus item: Number four - lying? Or can’t remember?

http://airamerica.com/blog/2008/jul/10/mccains-horrible-week
[McCain, pandering in Pittsburgh] Asked what’s the first thing that comes to his mind when he thinks of Pittsburgh, McCain, chuckled, "the Steelers. I was a mediocre high school athlete but I loved and adored the sports but the Steelers really made a huge impression on me particularly in my early years."

And then McCain told a rather moving story about his time as a P.O.W. "When I was first interrogated and really had to give some information because of the pressures, physical pressures on me, I named the starting lineup, defensive line of the Pittsburgh Steelers as my squadron mates."

"Did you really?" asked the reporter.

"Yes," McCain said.

"In your POW camp?" asked the reporter.

"Yes," McCain said.

"Could you do it today?" asked the reporter.

"No, unfortunately," McCain said.

Here's one reason he likely couldn't do it today -- the Steelers aren't the team whose defensive line McCain named for his Vietnamese tormentors. The Green Bay Packers are. At least according to every previous time McCain has told this story. . . . [read on]

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 8:13 AM

 
NO JOKE

Following up on a topic from yesterday, Josh Marshall is hosting an interesting series over at TPM in response to the question, Why is John McCain running such a crappy campaign? The responses are pretty revealing. Read on

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/203323.php
[Josh Marshall] My initial theory was that if you look at the most outstanding instances of McCain's awkward, cringe-inducing delivery they're chiefly about domestic issues -- economy and culture war stuff -- that McCain doesn't really care about. When he's talking about the thing he's jazzed up about -- being right about the surge -- his delivery is much more straightforward. A lot of this stuff is also packaged as attacks on Obama, as Ben pointed out. . . . [read on]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/203336.php
[Reader KB on the Grand Unified Theory of McCain Crappiness] I don't think it's any great mystery. Two things to keep in mind about McCain. One is that he was built for the New Hampshire primary of small groups, town halls, shaking hands and back-slapping on the media caravan. He simply does not fill the grand stage set-pieces of a general election. It seems to swallow him up. He does not paint in large graceful strokes the way Obama does. He is a pointillist. Second, if you recall the 2000 race, McCain was focused on fighting special interests, pork, and money in politics. National security was not a huge part of that primary conversation. His shtick was radically altered by 9/11, and it makes him a less appealing candidate, less happy-go-lucky, more conventional.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/203336.php
[CB] In this cycle, he's done so much pandering to try to win every interest group that he has lost any sense of conviction in what he believes in, outside of the need to stay in Iraq. That shows in his nervous laughter at his own jokes, his inability to really sell applause lines (and his getting caught off-guard when people applaud at other points), and his general lack of clarity about the terminology and specifics of his own proposals. The best speech I've seen him deliver this term was the one about how life is going to be in the victorious year of 2013, which he delivered with more conviction than he's been able to give to telling us how we're gonna get there.

He's caught in a bind in that he needs to pander to his base to keep them from not showing up, but he also needs to reach out to independents, and the only way to do that is to be as vague as possible and promise as much as he can. That's a tough sell, and the flop sweat is showing.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/203348.php
[RM] McCain has a bad case of Republican entitlement. He's as bad as Fred Thompson was in the sense that the idea that you actually have to RUN for president - like, actually ask people to vote for you - not only befuddles but vaguely offends him. I'm sure he made his real decision to run well before the 2006 elections, and he thought it was just going to be a cakewalk.

That leads to the next facet of my GUTMC: McCain can prattle on about his supposed experience and Obama's supposed lack, but if we're talking about the states of their campaigns, he has no more experience running for president than Obama does - much less in fact, if you count Obama's tough primary fight. McCain is a long-term senator, but how many big-deal speeches has he ever given on national TV? Has he ever had reporters (some of them "unfriendly") following him around for this long? He's used to gearing up for an hour every other week or so on Meet the Press and maybe having a few "helpful" reporters around to write down "what he meant" rather than what he said, but he was not and is not prepared to have his exact words broadcast nationwide every day. . . . [read on]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/203341.php
[MO] The way McCain looks on the stump now reminds me of how my older relatives looked after I came back from college. Before I left, they were the people I always knew. When I got back, the changes that age produces were glaringly clear. As Josh says, a lot happens between 64 and 71. Furthermore, let's compare McCain and Reagan - the last national politician running for office at an advanced age. McCain's charisma has been based on energy and pugnaciousness. Reagan was always avuncular. McCain doesn't do avuncular. And, of course, Reagan in '80 was younger than McCain is now. . . .

Also, clearly, McCain is being over-handled in the way that reminds me of the Gore of '00. In general, the more times people give you advice about your personal mannerisms, the less you come across as natural. . . [read on]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/203361.php
[DB] As is obvious, the media has been giving McCain a free pass on everything. It always has. The reason is that the media likes McCain. Again, it always has. It likes his status as a former POW. It likes the fact that he provides reporters with unlimited access. It likes the fact that he has always been a very quotable maverick.

So the media has never held McCain accountable for what he says. Gaffes are overlooked, factual misstatements are glossed over, and inconsistencies are forgiven. This has always been true of the way the media has treated McCain.

But what has been the obvious consequence of this? It is simply that McCain has never had to learn the self-discipline that other successful politicians learn and deeply internalize very early in their careers . . . [read on]

McCain calls the Social Security program, and the way it’s funded, an “absolute disgrace.” Now his people are scrambling to explain that’s not what he meant at all. I hope they get used to this: they’ll be doing it again and again and again

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/203377.php
[McCain] "Americans have got to understand that. Americans have got to understand that we are paying present-day retirees with the taxes paid by young workers in America today. And that's a disgrace. It's an absolute disgrace and it's got to be fixed."

[McCain spokesman Brian Rogers] "the disgrace is our failure to fix the long-run imbalance in Social Security -- a failure of leadership evidenced by our willingness to kick to problem to the next generation of leaders. He's also describing the looming and increasing demographic pressures confronting the Social Security system and Washington's utter failure to address it." . . . [read on]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/203322.php
Over at TPMCafe, Reed Hundt and Todd Gitlin decry McCain's statement on Social Security--and the big question for both is why is it not getting any press?

Watch: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/203378.php

Here is a sample of McCain’s new Rovean campaign approach

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccain_campaign_unleashes_misl.php
[Greg Sargent] With the news today that Iran's Revolutionary Guards test-fired nine medium and long-range missiles, the campaign battle shifted today over to what to do about Iran. And just moments ago, the McCain campaign misleadingly attacked Obama for allegedly opposing the designation of the Guards as a terrorist organization. . . .

McCain senior foreign policy adviser Kori Schake hit Obama, saying he "opposed calling them a terrorist organization." The basis for the charge? Obama's opposition to the Kyl-Lieberman amendment. . . .

But Obama has in fact supported labeling the guards a terrorist org, and explicitly said at the time of the Kyl-Lieberman vote that he opposed it for other reasons.

As the Obama camp was quick to point out, in October of 2007, Obama co-sponsored the Iran Counter-Proliferation Act, which called on the Bush Administration to "designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a Foreign Terrorist Organization."

And back in September of 2007, Obama campaign spokesperson Bill Burton explicitly said that his opposition to Kyl-Lieberman was rooted not in the designation of the Guards a terrorist org. . . .

More: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/TheNote/story?id=3105288&page=1

McCain lies about his economic plan

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=06F63EAF-3048-5C12-004605D37EEB185E
On Monday, John McCain’s campaign released a statement signed by 300 economists who “enthusiastically support” his “Jobs for America” economic plan, providing a heavyweight testimonial to the presumptive Republican nominee’s “broad and powerful economic agenda.”

There’s just one problem. Upon closer inspection, it seems a good many of those economists don’t actually support the whole of McCain’s economic agenda. And at least one doesn’t even support McCain for president.

In interviews with more than a dozen of the signatories, Politico found that, far from embracing McCain’s economic plan, many were unfamiliar with — or downright opposed to — key details. . . . [read on]

McCain lies, en espanol

http://www.newsweek.com/id/145031

When does McCain think U.S. troops will be coming home?

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/new_dnc_web_ad_blasts_mccains.php

McCain: tacking to the right of Bush on Iran?

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16141.html

The AP “airbrushes” McCain’s failed attempt at humor over killing Iranians with cigarettes

What he said: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16136.html
[LAT] [A]n Associated Press reporter asked McCain to comment on a report that U.S. exports to Iran had increased tenfold during the last seven years — with cigarettes ranking as the top export.

“Maybe that’s a way of killing them,” McCain responded. He quickly followed up: “I meant that as a joke . . .”

According to the AP: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/associated_press_airbrushes_aw.php
Cindy McCain's jab to her husband's back came a second too late Tuesday to keep him from making a wisecrack about the health impact of Iran's main import from the United States: cigarettes.

According to Atrios: http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_07_06_archive.html#8160789178729640088
But when it comes to joking about killing Iranians... just what is the joke? I appreciate that it was a failed attempt at a joke, but the underlying premise is...it would be funny to kill Iranians.

That's some straight talk we can believe in, my friends. . .

The kind of people they are

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_07_06_archive.html#3115361516068358143
[Philadelphia Inquirer] A banner slogan on the Pemberton Republican Club's Web site that said, "Obama loves America like O.J. loved Nicole," disappeared yesterday after local Democrats alleged racist campaign tactics.

The Web master, Ed Kuck, a recently elected Republican County committeeman, said he had seen the slogan on an Internet site and copied it onto the club's Web page about a month ago as "a joke."

McCain economic advisor (Phil Gramm) says the economy is fine, we’re just a “nation of whiners”

http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/10/mccains-economic-brain-tells-americans-to-stop-whining-things-have-been-awesome-for-him/

Joe Lieberman blurts out the truth

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/lieberman_why_wouldnt_i_questi.php
[The Hill] When asked about concerns he is creating the impression that Obama would not be a friend to Israel, Lieberman responded: "It's my way of thinking that if I've concluded, as I have, that John McCain is best for our country, then why wouldn't I do that?"

[Greg Sargent] That seems like a pretty straight-up admission by Lieberman that his Obama's-bad-for-Israel nonsense is pure propaganda designed to help McCain. Or maybe we're missing something?

The Bush economic braintrust says, gee, maybe deregulation HAS gone too far. Now they tell us!

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/43476.html

Something good that could come out of the Iraq debacle

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/washington/09powers.html
Two former secretaries of state, concluding that a 1973 measure limiting the president’s ability to wage war unilaterally had never worked as intended, proposed on Tuesday a new system of closer consultation between the White House and Congress before American forces go into battle. . . .

But won't: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_07/014059.php
[Kevin Drum] But my first thought when I read about the Baker/Christopher proposal was that the only thing bipartisan about it was that no one in either party would want to touch it with a ten foot pole. Congress, I figured, doesn't want war declaring power. They'd rather pass the buck and then complain about it later . . . [read on]

Next crisis: Pakistan

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/pakistan-appears-to

The FISA bill passes; all the amendments to modify it fail. Bush declares victory and – I’ll bet you right now – is already drafting a signing statement reserving the right to ignore it if he wants anyway

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/senate_oks_new_wiretapping_law.php

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16144.html

Roll call: http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/09/fisa-final-votes-on-the-fisa-amendments-act/

Greenwald: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/07/09/fisa_vote/index.html

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/07/09/fisa/index.html

Congratulations, Democrats: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/9/225645/2050
[AP] Bowing to President Bush's demands . . .

Clean out that bad taste with a refreshing sip of Chris Dodd

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=6844
“If we do not change course and stand up for our Constitution, for what is best in America, for what we know is right and just, then history will most certainly decide that that it was those of us in this body who bare equal responsibility for the President's decisions-for it was us who looked the other way, time and time again. . . .” [read on]

Are the Dems going to cave on offshore drilling too?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/9/102928/5539

On the positive side, Ted Kennedy shows up heroically to cast a Senate vote on the Medicare bill, anticipating a GOP filibuster. Instead, once it is clear the bill will pass, nine Republicans shift votes to support it

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/with-kennedys

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/7/9/165723/1483

Watch: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/203415.php

Kennedy: http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/7/9/1747/85686
“I return to the Senate today to keep a promise to our senior citizens -- and that's to protect Medicare. Win, lose or draw, I wanted to be here. I wasn't going to take the chance that my vote could make the difference. Medicare should not be a partisan issue. Illness and age know no party boundaries. The 44 million Americans who rely on Medicare to meet their health care needs are both Democrats and Republicans. Like all Americans, they have worked hard all their lives. They've raised their families. They've built our towns and cities and farmed the land. They've served in our military.

We owe them so much for the part they have played in making America a great country. So today I proudly cast this important vote for them -- a vote to keep the Medicare program strong and effective for the future.”

McCain: http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/bad-newsgood-news-in-us-senate-today.html
John McCain was the one Senator who didn't vote today on Medicare. According to The Hill and CQ Politics, the so-called "Straight Talker" wouldn't even say how he'd vote. . . .

The future of health care

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/07/09/progressives_health/index.html

Attorney General Mukasey: Why, oh why, must we dwell on the past?

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/biden_to_mukasey_you_really_are_an_enigma_to_me.php

http://www.slate.com/id/2195084

Somewhere Walter Cronkite is weeping: CBS exec suggests cutting back convention coverage, calls it a “non-news event”

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=6847

When will they learn? Don’t - go - on - Fox - News

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/07/09/jackson_obama/index.html
Today's latest political kerfuffle involves a Fox News effort to hype off-mike Jesse Jackson, Sr., comments scoring Barack Obama for being excessively moralistic in remarks about black men.

Seems Jackson was being interviewed on Fox, and made the remarks when he thought they were off-the-record. But Fox has the tape, and Sean Hannity -- known universally for his concern for the sensitivities of African-Americans -- is apparently planning to air it tonight. . . .

http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/07/jesse-jackson-s.html
[Rod Dreher] I don't know that I've ever typed these words, but here they are: I feel sorry for Jesse Jackson. Some words he uttered disparaging of Barack Obama, words that were clearly intended to be private, were picked up by a Fox News microphone on a Fox set. Now Bill O'Reilly is going to broadcast them tonight, prompting Jackson to make a pre-broadcast apology to Obama.

I have no love for Jesse Jackson, but Fox is playing dirty here. . . .

Here it is: http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/07/09/jesse-jackson-apologizes-for-obama-remarks

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:37 AM

 
A RUDE OBSERVATION

Can I just point out that John McCain is an ineffective candidate, with unpopular policies, a bad habit of blurting out completely outrageous comments, a terrible manner in giving speeches, a completely disorganized and dysfunctional campaign, a demoralized and skeptical base, and poor fundraising, running during a time of massive dissatisfaction with his party and a presidential “endorsement” that carries more baggage than it does benefits? I know the press wants us to believe that this election is going to be really close (they always say that – it builds up the horse-race suspense and that’s good for viewership). But can we just say it? McCain has a huge “LOSER” stamped across his forehead

“Turmoil” in the McCain campaign

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/politicalinsider/2008/07/turmoil-continues-in-mccain-ca.html
[Taegan Goddard] It seems none of the competing advisers working on Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign can actually agree who is in charge. . . .

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/08/us/politics/08mccain.html
[NYT] Senator John McCain’s campaigns have long been defined by internal squabbling and power plays, zigzagging lines of command and a penchant by the candidate for consulting with former advisers without alerting current ones, always a recipe for disquiet.

After a period of relative calm on that score, it is becoming clear that his campaign is once again a swirl of competing spheres of influence, clusters of friends, consultants and media advisers who represent a matrix of clashing ambitions and festering feuds. . . .

http://www.americablog.com/2008/07/if-mccain-campaign-is-such-disaster-how.html
[Joe Sudbay] Okay, if there was a "matrix of clashing ambitions and festering feuds" on the Democratic side, the punditry would be agog, constantly challenging Obama's capacity to lead. Yet, with McCain, they treat this like their own personal side-show. The political reporters covering McCain are like the old Kremlinologists hunting for any sign of change or intrigue. It's all a game for them, but it's not a game for the rest of us.

Put McCain, who has never managed or run anything besides his campaign, to the same test Obama set for himself: Watch how McCain manages his campaign for clues as to how he will govern. If that's the test, McCain has already failed. Big time. The country can't afford a President whose management style borders on mayhem.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/08/us/politics/08mccain.html
All of this intrigue breeds discouragement among even those former McCain associates who do not dispute the notion that voters now might be getting an early glimpse of the messy, unstructured way in which a McCain White House might be managed. They are hard-pressed to explain why Mr. McCain tolerates this — or encourages this . . .

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/8/114432/3882

Just another makeover

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/203151.php

McCain promises to balance the budget in four years. Not so fast! says one of his economic advisors – try, more like eight years (maybe)

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccain_will_balance_budget_by.php
McCain economic adviser Doug Holtz-Eakin told the New York Times yesterday that McCain would balance the budget by the end of his first term. But during a conference call with reporters yesterday, Holtz-Eakin suddenly walked it back significantly.

Not only that, but he walked it back in a way that made it seem like this was always McCain's position, and not a flip-flop: "The senator has always pledged to balance the budget by the end of his second term."

Late Update: This isn't the first time McCain has gone back and forth on this one, either. As the New York Times noted, McCain promised back in February to balance the budget during his first term, but then changed it to the second term in April. . . .

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/08/us/politics/08econ.html
As Senator John McCain kicked off a week of economic-themed campaigning here on Monday, it was apparent that some of the underlying tensions between the two schools that guide his economic thinking — the supply-siders who want to cut taxes and the deficit hawks who want to balance the budget — remain unresolved. . . .

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/08/us/politics/08budget.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/08/us/politics/08econ.html

(But, the LA Times tells us, it’s OBAMA’S budget numbers that don’t add up)

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_07/014046.php

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16127.html

The AP helps, in a “fair and balanced” analysis piece

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/203230.php
“Barack Obama says John McCain's plan to balance the budget doesn't add up. Easy for him to say: It's not a goal he's even trying to reach.” . . . [read on]

McCain’s keen economic insights

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccain_i_would_imagine_that_we.php
"If we're technically in a recession or not, I would imagine that we are . . .”

[Greg Sargent] What you have here is McCain's political problem in a nutshell. If he acknowledges that the country's in a recession, then he has to explain why he's basically offering a continuation of Bush's economic policies. If he doesn't, he looks out of touch with Americans' economic pain. Here he tries to split the difference. . .

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16121.html
“Some economists don’t think much of my gas tax holiday,” he said of his plan to temporarily suspend the federal levy on motor fuels. “But the American people like it, and so do small business owners.” . . . [read on]

Does McCain REALLY want to get into the immigration issue again? Everything he says seems inevitably to tick off either the nativist right-wingers or Latinos (and sometimes both). Can he square the circle?

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/mccain-reaches-out

Would McCain honor the wishes of the Iraqi government if they asked us to leave?

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_07_06_archive.html#8036733921204564507
[McCain 2004] "Well, if that scenario evolves than I think it's obvious that we would have to leave because -- if it was an elected government of Iraq, and we've been asked to leave other places in the world. If it were an extremist government then I think we would have other challenges, but I don't see how we could stay when our whole emphasis and policy has been based on turning the Iraqi government over to the Iraqi people."

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/07/08/just_politics/index.html
[McCain 2008] John McCain was asked about Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's call yesterday for a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops.

McCain first flatly asserted that the news contradicted what he had heard in direct talks with Iraqi officials. And then, tellingly, he concluded, before going into his standard Iraq rap: "Prime Minister Maliki is a politician." . . .

More: http://www.samefacts.com/archives/the_war_in_iraq_/2008/07/maliki_betrays_mccain.php

http://www.juancole.com/2008/07/1-gi-killed-5-wounded-in-iraq-rubaies.html

http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/08/iraqis-up-the-ante-no-security-deal-with-us-without-timeline-for-ending-occupation/

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/203164.php

How McCain snookers the press

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=6832

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_07/014047.php

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccain_camp_responds_to_charge.php

It’s good to see that McCain is following through on his promise not to politicize his prisoner of war record

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/mccain-launches-love

When is an “earmark” not an earmark? When McCain asks for it, of course

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/lying_in_politics_/2008/07/just_to_be_clear_.php

McCain’s health plan? A fraud, like everything else

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/us/politics/09health.html

Quotable quotes