Blog Summaries

Pejman Yousefzadeh partakes in a little "schadenfreude" at Democratic dissatisfaction over their prolonged nomination fight. Yousefzadeh also looks at Barack Obama's speech on the economy and finds little substance and many platitudes.

David Freddoso, worried that a housing bailout will punish homeowners who made responsible mortgage decisions, judges John McCain's position on the subprime situation as "sound" and much better than the "slush-fund solutions" of his Democratic rivals. Freddoso argues that McCain is better than President Bush on a number of issues important to conservatives, including housing bailouts, healthcare and agricultural subsidies. Freddoso points out that the Club for Growth also likes McCain on free trade.

Meteor Blades argues that the Bush administration's statements that the surge is "working" has led to less U.S. media coverage of the ongoing violence in Iraq. Devilstower, looking at a new report on the solvency of Social Security, urges John McCain to act on what conservative pundits want, which is, in the Kossack's words, to "screw Social Security." For Devilstower, that would contrast nicely with what Barack Obama wants to do, which is raise the cap on what high earners pay into the system to stabilize it.

Paul Mirengoff notes Byron York's post pointing out that the New York Times had yet to report Rev. Jeremiah Wright's "God damn America" in its news pages as of Thursday, which Mirengoff sees as possible evidence of the mainstream media "airbrushing" its Obama coverage. Scott Johnson notes the online release of "Fitna," a film attributing violence by Muslims to the teachings of Islam and the Koran. Johnson, noting that European governments have sought to block its release, argues the film wouldn't be noteworthy if not for the fear and threats of violence the release has generated.

Kevin Drum has an excerpt from the upcoming book on the the White House warrantless wiretapping program by New York Times' Eric Lichtblau in which Lichtblau claims that the administration lied in its attempts to keep the Times from revealing the program. Drum also suggests that the training of Iraqi security forces isn't going so well, noting a report that U.S. forces, not a nearby Iraqi unit, was central to a Thursday battle with the Mahdi Army.

Ed Morrissey links to a New York Sun story claiming that Hillary Clinton met with an operative for Saddam Hussein when she was First Lady. Morrissey writes that he's "underwhelmed" because he doesn't expect much from Democrats. Morrissey also notes a study showing that news coverage of the Iraq war has dropped in recent months, just as it did after Gen. David Petraeus reported on the surge's progress.

The Post leads with news that the Iraqi government is meeting in an emergency session as battles rage between government forces and Shiite militias. It also links to an interview with Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) in which the Obama supporter calls for the Democratic leaders to end the nomination race after primaries in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Indiana.

Carol Platt Liebau cautions her conservative readers that Democratic disunity may just be temporary, recalling that Republicans went through their own bruising nomination fight and came out okay. Hugh Hewitt posts parts of his interview with Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen and praises the Democrat as someone who made sense on nuclear power and climate change.

Attaturk calls President Bush "completely delusional" and compares him to President Warren Harding for suggesting that Iraq is returning to "normalcy." David Neiwert argues that McCain needs to be called out for flip-flopping on a number of issues, including immigration. Neiwert notes that McCain now says he wouldn't vote for the immigration reform package he had championed.

The blog runs a correction after claiming that John McCain, in his foreign policy address this week, plagiarized a speech given by Adm. Timothy Ziemer. McCain's campaign said it used the lines in question before Ziemer. The blog also notes Sen. Chuch Hagel's (R-Neb.) criticism of Vice President Dick Cheney as someone who has "a credibility gap" on the Iraq war.