Morning Read

With both Barack Obama and John McCain's campaigns complaining about the media, bloggers suggest that they get over it. The controversy over The New Yorker's Obama cover bared double standards and a new difficulty for political cartoonists, according to a discussion on The Plank. Bloggers on both sides also jump up on the latest statements by two surrogates, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) and Obama backer Roland Martin, hoping to turn them into advantages for their candidates.

Though McCain's team is complaining about the extensive network news coverage for Obama's trip abroad, the greater amount of coverage of the Democrat is a function mainly of excitement around his candidacy and not just because of support in the media, writes TalkingPointsMemo's Josh Marshall. But while Obama criticized the right-wing media for driving down his wife's approval rating, Obama should instead consider the statement she has made about not being proud about her country, according to Townhall's Amanda Carpenter.

The dust-up over The New Yorker's cartoon, which depicted Obama in Muslim garb, reveals political cartoonists' inexperience in drawing a black candidate, writes Dayo Olopade at The Plank. A cartoon in Rolling Stone depicting McCain in a cage and surrounded by zealous Viet Cong members is more offensive than the Obama cartoon, since it lampoons the candidate and his wartime service, writes The Plank's James Kirchick, who hasn't heard much outrage over the McCain drawing.

Romney (R) suggested that McCain "authored" the "philosophy" of the U.S. troop surge, notes Marshall. But it was really Fred Kagan and other neo-conservatives who came up with the strategy, according to The Huffington Post's Jason Linkins. Conservatives should take a suggestion by Martin that McCain is right when it comes to supporting vouchers and use it to revive an urban agenda that Republicans have ignored, suggests The Next Right's Patrick Ruffini.

FROM THE BLOGS:
McCain's Aggressive Whining About Coverage - J. Marshall, TPM
Obama Trashes Right for Attacking Michelle - A. Carpenter, Townhall
It's The Chin, Stupid - Dayo Olopade, The Plank
Drawings and Double Standards - James Kirchick, The Plank
McCain Redraws EU Borders - Plutonium Page, Daily Kos
Mitt: McCain Invented Counterinsurg. Doctrine - J. Marshall, TPM
Key Obama Flack: McCain Right on Vouchers - P. Ruffini, Next Right
Pie in the Sky - Pejman Yousefzadeh, RedState
$5,000 Golf Gets President's OK - Meteor Blades, Daily Kos
McCain Adopts Afghan Policy, No One Notices - T. Beeton, MyDD
Are Jews Really Down on Obama? - Jonathan Singer, MyDD
Re: McCain's Trigger Finger - Mark Krikorian, The Corner
McCain's Trigger Finger - Ramesh Ponnuru, The Corner
Congratulations RedState - Donald H. Rumsfeld, RedState

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
Fed's Crisis Role Spurs Questions of Overreach - Wash. Post
Admin. Wanted Loyalist as Justice Dept. Legal Adviser - Wash. Post
In Iraq, Mixed Feelings About Obama and Troop Proposal - NYT
Federal Deficit Soars - The Hill

While new polls show Barack Obama leading nationally and doing well in red states, he may have to worry about his fundraising and his online support, according to bloggers Wednesday. Obama and John McCain jousted Tuesday over who had the best plan to quell violence in Afghanistan, but liberal bloggers point out that McCain is merely parroting the Democrat on the issue. And though a southern congressman won a primary fight by sticking to his conservative values, a GOP senator from the South is taking heat for using a photo of a French jet in a television spot, the bloggers write.

Obama leads McCain 50 percent to 42 percent among all registered voters in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, notes Daily Kos's DemFromCT. The Democrat barely trails McCain in a Public Policy Polling survey of South Carolina, which has the Republican leading 45 percent to 39 percent, writes MyDD's Jonathan Singer. But Obama may have damaged his brand by shifting his position on Iraq and telecom immunity, according to a Democratic source who voices concern to The Corner's Byron York about donors' dampened enthusiasm. Obama could help his cause online by being happy about getting bloggers' votes, writes MyDD's Jerome Armstrong, who noted that Obama singled out the blogosphere for having "raised hackles" over his rejection of public campaign funds.

While McCain is following Obama's lead by proposing that U.S. troops be moved to Afghanistan, the Republican is poised to get much of the credit because he's calling his plan a "surge," just like the one he championed in Iraq, writes The Plank's Dayo Olopade. McCain, however, offered multiple positions on his Afghan "surge" Tuesday, first calling for an increase in American troops, then an increase in NATO troops, and finally a deployment that involved a combination of the two, writes Josh Marshall at TalkingPointsMemo.

Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) won his primary 71 percent to 29 percent, crushing a candidate who ran to his left and thereby showing Republicans that they can win by being a champion of limited government and greater freedom, according to RedState's Jeff Emanuel. But Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole (N.C.) showed she's out of touch by trying to take credit for saving her state's military bases with an ad that uses images of a French fighter jet, writes MyDD's Todd Beeton, who links to The Hill's story about the Dole's television spot.

FROM THE BLOGS:
ABC/WaPo: Obama By 8 With RVs - DemFromCT, Daily Kos
Obama Within Striking Distance in S.C. - J. Singer, MyDD
Obama and Damage to the Brand - Byron York, The Corner
BlogOsphere - Jerome Armstrong, MyDD
Obama Website Purging: Deja Vu - C.P. Liebau, Townhall
Obama Writes He Attended 'Muslim School' - M. Lewis, Townhall
McCain's Afg. Position in Progress - J. Marshall, TPM
Iraq: Whose Line Is It Anyway? - D. Olopade, The Plank
Congrats, Rep. Paul Broun - Jeff Emanuel, RedState
Why Does Sen. Dole Hate America? - Todd Beeton, MyDD
Fed to Bar Sketchy Lending Practices - MissLaura, Daily Kos
GOP, Online Politics and Regulation - M. Turk, Next Right

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
Fed Chief Bleak on Economic Outlook - New York Times
Obama Leads By 8 Points in Poll - Washington Post
Poll Finds Obama's Run Isn't Closing Divide on Race - NYT
Housing Splits GOP and Bush - The Hill

John McCain said what he needed to say at the National Council of La Raza meeting Monday about securing the borders, according to one conservative blogger, but he may be guilty of pandering to Latino voters, according to others. Barack Obama's national lead in polls may be small, an Obama critic online notes, but he's still doing well in states where Democrats have struggled, according to bloggers on the left. And a new report revealed a "breezy" exchange between the Associated Press's Washington bureau chief and former White House aide Karl Rove, giving more ammunition to liberal bloggers miffed by the traditional media.

McCain got mixed reviews for his appearance before the Hispanic American group. McCain refused to budge on the immigration issue most important to conservative activists, securing the borders, which is what McCain pledged to do before seeking any further reforms, Ed Morrissey at Hot Air writes. But the Republican references to immigrants as "God's children" and his visit to a shrine in Mexico seemed a little much for Townhall's Amanda Carpenter. And though MyDD's Todd Beeton notes that McCain got a warm reception, particularly when he took more questions than the time allotted, he shifted positions when he said he would support the DREAM Act, failed legislation that would offer a path to citizenship to illegal immigrants who attend college or join the military, as president -- even though McCain said he would have voted to filibuster the same legislation in the Senate.

Obama leads McCain by just 2.7 percentage points in the average of national polls, trailing leads that Bill Clinton and George W. Bush held in their victorious races for president, writes The Next Right's Patrick Ruffini. Obama is also struggling to please his Democrats on Capitol Hill who are seeking help in their own races, notes RedState's Erick Erickson, who suggests that Obama never learned how to work with a team during his previous campaigns. But the Illinois senator is doing well in places that President Bush won easily but are now the "new swing states," including South Dakota, where Obama trails McCain by just four percentage points in a new Rasmussen poll, writes Daily Kos's brownsox. Obama's strength in these areas may stem from his organization, which has far more field offices and volunteers than McCain's, writes MyDD's Jonathan Singer.

After ex-pro football player Pat Tillman was killed while serving in Afghanistan, the AP's Ron Fournier e-mailed Rove to urge him to "keep up the fight," notes TalkingPointsMemo's Josh Marshall and The Huffington Post's Jason Linkins, who wonders what "fight" Fournier was talking about. Fournier, who recently wrote that Obama was "bordering on arrogance" and that McCain had "pragmatic resolve," has eschewed "just the facts" reporting for opinion and instant analysis, writes Firedoglake's Attaturk. Fournier wrote in a response to his e-mail's release that he regrets the "breezy nature of the correspondence."

FROM THE BLOGS:
McCain to La Raza: 'Borders Must Be Secured' - E. Morrissey, Hot Air
McCain's DREAM Act Flip - Todd Beeton, MyDD
McCain 'Pandery' at La Raza - Amanda Carpenter, Townhall
Obama's Nat'l Lead Cut in Half - P. Ruffini, The Next Right
Obama Down By Four Points in S.D. - brownsox, Daily Kos
McCain's Organization Gap Persists - Jonathan Singer, MyDD
Fournier to Rove: 'Keep Up The Fight' - Jason Linkins, HuffPo
Awesome Ron, Just Awesome - Attaturk, Firedoglake
The Latest Media Blind Spot - A. Huffington, Huffington Post
Homeland Sec. Adviser Pushing Access for $ - Tilghman, TPM EC
Surprise: Ventura Not Running for Sen. - Allahpundit, Hot Air
Dems Say Obama is Insular, Uncooperative - E. Erickson, RedState
President Calls Bluff on Offshore Drilling - E. Erickson, RedState

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
Want Obama In Punch Line? First Find Joke - NYT
Bush, In New Tactic, Lifts Ban on Offshore Drilling - WSJ
Paulson Drove Plan to Shore Up Fannie, Freddie - WSJ
High Gear on Housing - The Hill

The New Yorker cover cartoon satirizing attacks against Barack Obama is panned by Obama himself and liberal bloggers, who find it offensive. The troubles of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and IndyMac don't reflect well on Obama or Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), according to conservative bloggers.

The cartoon, which shows Obama in Muslim garb and his wife with a rifle slung over her shoulder, is "disgusting" and might be worth a subscription cancellation, writes Daily Kos's reef the dog, who wonders whether it's even a joke. All the scare tactics used against Obama are lumped into the cartoon, which should be received well by The New Yorker's sophisticated readership but will still delight Obama's critics on the right, according to The Huffington Post's Rachel Sklar. Some of those scare tactics, including the ones comparing Obama to Osama bin Laden and showing him in exotic dress, were first used by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), recalls The Corner's Seth Leibsohn. If Obama's campaign wanted to minimize the uproar over the cartoon, it should have kept quiet instead of criticizing it, suggests Isaac Chotiner at The Plank.

Obama and Democrats, who hope to use revenue generated from taxes on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, should instead be looking to privatize and wind down the government-sponsored mortgage giants, according to The Corner's Stephen Spruiell. Schumer should apologize for leaking to the press a letter that questioned the viability of IndyMac and led to its near-collapse, writes RedState's Erick Erickson. With bail outs set for IndyMac, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, taxpayers will become the ones paying for the economic crisis, writes The Huffington Post's Jared Bernstein, who knocks the Federal Reserve for not doing enough to keep bubbles from bursting.

FROM THE BLOGS:
The New Yorker Cover: OMFG, WTF? - reef the dog, Daily Kos
Yikes! Controversial New Yorker Cover - Rachel Sklar, Huffington Post
The Obama Campaign Picks The Wrong Fight - I. Chotiner, The Plank
A Little More on New Yorker Cover - Seth Leibsohn, The Corner
The Political Economy of Last Week - J. Bernstein, Huffington Post
Obama Wants Piece of Freddie/Fannie - S. Spruiell, The Corner
Chuck Schumer Owes Public An Apology - E. Erickson, RedState
Obama Calling ICE Agents Terrorists? - Carol Platt Liebau, Townhall
Clarifying Thoughts on Olbermann Post - Todd Beeton, MyDD
Iraq: No Agreement w/o Timetable - Josh Marshall, TPM
Progressives Unite, Or Same-Old Story? - Theda Skocpol, TPM Cafe
Who Killed Chandra Levy? - Marin Cogin, The Plank
GOP Is Party of Freedom of Choice - The Directors, RedState

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
Treasure Acts to Shore Up Fannie and Freddie - New York Times
Government as the Big Lender - New York Times
Chicago Links Obama's Circle - Washington Post
Hopes on Race Relations are High, Poll Shows - USA Today

It may be time for Barack Obama to dial down those lofty fundraising expectations, according to bloggers on both sides who note John McCain's strong war chest raised in June. McCain needed to distance himself from the latest comments by one of his economic advisers, former Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas), bloggers write. Democrats in the Senate and the next Democrat in the White House should go back and fix the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), suggest the Daily Kos bloggers upset at the this week's FISA overhaul.

While McCain has announced his $22 million fundraising haul for June, Obama has yet to declare his, which may portend a weak showing, according to The Next Right's Sean Oxendine. If Obama is to gain the fundraising advantage he had hoped for when he rejected public financing, he needs to raise more money quickly, suggests TalkingPointsMemo's Josh Marshall and MyDD's Todd Beeton. McCain's campaign says it has used the new cash to triple Obama's spending on early television advertisements in swing states, notes TPM's David Kurtz.

Gramm, an economic adviser to McCain, called the United States a "nation of whiners" in a "mental recession," prompting the candidate to say that he understands American workers' struggles. McCain made the right political move, but he could still benefit from having Gramm, a former Senate Banking Committee chairman, in his corner, writes Morrissey. Gramm's gaffe was one mistake of many this week for McCain's team, which also had its candidate talk about "killing Iranians" and call Social Security a "disgrace," notes The Huffington Post's Max Bergmann.

Obama should have held his ground and opposed the FISA bill that included telecom immunity since his position ticked off supporters and left him open to "flip-flop" charges, writes smintheus at Daily Kos. If Obama becomes president, he should take up Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. Russ Feingold's (D-Wis.) suggestion to reopen FISA to strengthen the oversight provisions on intelligence agencies' wiretapping, writes mcjoan, also at Daily Kos.

FROM THE BLOGS:
McCain Gets $22 Million in June - E. Morrissey, Hot Air
McCain Raises $22 Million in June - Todd Beeton, MyDD
Show Me The Money - Josh Marshall, TalkingPointsMemo
McCain Outspending Obama on TV? - David Kurtz, TPM
Obama Fundraising, Ctd. - Sean Oxendine, The Next Right
McCain Rejects Gramm's 'Mental Recession' - Morrissey, Hot Air
McCain's Economic Narrative Problem - Chris Cillizza, The Fix
10 McCain Fiascoes in One Week - Max Bergmann, HuffPo
Obama's FISA Sellout - smintheus, Daily Kos
FISA: What Happens Next? - mcjoan, Daily Kos
VP Line: Romney and Kaine on Top - C. Cillizza, The Fix
Obama/DODD? - Moe Lane, RedState
N.D. Is Swing State, Wis. Isn't - Todd Beeton, MyDD
Kennedy's Prescription for Change - J. Cohn, The Plank
Pulling a Dukakis, In a Good Way - N. Silver, The Plank
GOP=Open, Dem=Closed - P. Ruffini, Next Right
Tell Dems to Stop Trying to Block Comm. - Rep. Conaway, RedSt.

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
U.S. Weighs Takeover of Mortgage Giants - NYT
Gramm Remark Adds to McCain's Difficulty Over Econ. - WaPo
McCain Pegs War Chest at $400 Million - Wall Street Journal
McCain's Broken Marriage and Fractured Reagan Friendship - LAT

The Netroots has lost the debate over telecom immunity in Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act rewrite, disappointing those liberal bloggers at the heart of the online movement. Rev. Jesse Jackson may have inadvertently helped Barack Obama by making a crude remark about him, according to conservative bloggers and pundits. Obama, however, has to worry about his fundraising numbers now that he has ticked off his base, conservative bloggers write.

Congressional Democrats hailed a president with low approval ratings by voting for the FISA overhaul President Bush wanted, according to both kos and the front page of the Huffington Post. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) deserves kudos for voting against the bill that Obama supported, writes Open Left's Matt Stoller, who wonders if she is trying to embarrass her former rival or is showing a new, less cautious side. Democrats, by caving in on FISA and making suggestions that they'll go along with Republicans on offshore oil drilling, are following a strategy just as ineffective as that of a teenager who commits suicide, writes Daily Kos's Devilstower.

Jackson, when he thought he was off the air, whispered into a hot Fox News mic that he'd like to castrate Obama for "talking down to black people." Obama should send Jackson a fruit basket for drawing attention to his centrist views about fatherhood and education, writes Marc Ambinder. Some conservatives will think that anyone who ticks off Jackson can't be that bad, according to Kathryn Jean Lopez at The Corner. But voters shouldn't forget that Obama has been condescending to other demographics, including "bitter" Pennsylvanians, reminds Townhall's Carol Platt Liebau.

Obama may have problems with formerly staunch supporters on the left. Some bloggers online regret donating to him now that he voted for the FISA bill, writes The Corner's Mark Hemingway. Obama already had a poor fundraising month by his standards in May, and Democratic donors could be running out of money to give him this late into the election, notes The Next Right's Sean Oxendine.

FROM THE BLOGS:
'Bowing' to Mr. 28 Percent - kos, Daily Kos
Clinton Votes 'No' on FISA - Matt Stoller, Open Left
Dems Prepare to Buckle on Offshore Drililng - Devilstower, Daily Kos
Jesse Jackson's Hot Mic - Marc Ambinder
Equal Opportunity Condescension - Carol Platt Liebau, Townhall
McCain on SS: Don't Get All Grammary on Me - J. Marshall, TPM
Missouri Looks a Lot Like a Swing State - Jonathan Singer, MyDD
60 Votes Matters: Today's Medicare Vote - Jonathan Singer, MyDD
Obama's Fundraising Cooked? - Mark Hemingway, The Corner
Obama Fundraising Petering Out? - Sean Oxendine, The Next Right
Congress and Internet: Like It's 1999 - Jon Henke, The Next Right
Senate GOP Needs Testicular Fortitude - E. Erickson, RedState
Complaint Over Obama's Sweetheart Mortgage - Calif. Yankee, RedState

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
Senate Approves Bill to Broaden Wiretap Powers - NYT
Candidates Use Iran Missile Test as Policy Debate - NYT
Obama's Ideology Proving Difficult to Pinpoint - Washington Post
Dramatic Kennedy Return - The Hill

Barack Obama's policy shifts may have created a perception problem, according to bloggers. John McCain and Republicans in Congress, however, won't be able to distance themselves from President Bush this year, liberal bloggers write. But the latest poll of the Democratic-led Congress gives Republicans an opening, suggests one conservative blogger.

Obama may be correctly adjusting his Iraq withdrawal plan to the facts on the ground, but it's "discordant" for him to suggest that he hasn't changed his mind at all, writes Marc Ambinder. Obama's move to the center shows that he's getting stuck in the political culture and isn't the new kind of leader that he said he would be, writes Jon Henke at The Next Right. Obama sounds like former President Richard Nixon when he makes equivocal statements about ending a war, according to Townhall's Michael Medved.

Republicans will try to put distance between Bush and McCain, perhaps by having the president speak on the first day of the Republican convention, before McCain arrives, notes SusanG at Daily Kos. But just like Bush, "McSame" has aides who say that U.S. attorneys firings were "nonsense" and were involved in the controversy themselves, writes TalkingPointsMemo's Josh Marshall. Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.), who has the reputation of being "independent," has voted 93 percent of the time with Bush, giving him a record that won't help him in his race this year, writes MyDD's Todd Beeton..

But with Congress's approval rating in the single digits, Republicans can make gains by offering optimism and reforms, such as more offshore oil drilling and an end to earmarks and higher taxes, according to Townhall's Carol Platt Liebau. House Democrats certainly aren't helping their case with open-minded, tech-savvy voters, as they're proposing that members post material only to websites that get congressional approval, RedState's Directors note.

FROM THE BLOGS:
Perception More Dangerous Than Reality for Obama - Ambinder
Obama's Hope-a-Dope - Jon Henke, The Next Right
Barack 'Makes One Thing Perfectly Clear' - M. Medved, Townhall
Obama and Soldiers' Trust - haystack, RedState
McCain to Ensure Bush's Glory at Convention - SusanG, Daily Kos
Yep, Nuthin McSame About That - Josh Marshall, TPM
Another AP Beaut on McCain - Josh Marshall, TPM
The Verdict is In: Joe Must Go - Todd Beeton, MyDD
Exposing Dreier as Bush Rubber Stamp - Todd Beeton, MyDD
If The GOP Only Had a Message - C.P. Liebau, Townhall
Pelosi Wants to Shut Down Member Blogging - Directors, RedState
Those FISA IG Reports - smintheus, Daily Kos
The Case for Tim Kaine - Chris Cillizza, The Fix
John McCain's Bold, Gutsy New Ad - P. Ruffini, The Next Right
Monolingual Americans? - Victor Davis Hanson, The Corner

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
Obama Donors Aren't Rushing to Aid Clinton - NYT
Cheney Sought to Alter Climate Discussion - WSJ
McCain Shifts His Message to Latino Immigrants - LAT
Dems to Target McCain for Medicare Non-Vote - The Hill

Now that Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) has withdrawn his name from veep consideration, Barack Obama will likely look at former Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) and Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D), according to bloggers. Conservatives, who have heaped fulsome praise upon late Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), should be condemning the racist aspects of his legacy, a conservative and a liberal blogger both write. Democrats running for the House, who continue to fare well in polls, are taking a heavy-handed strategy in the primaries that Republicans could learn from, one conservative blogger writes.

Obama will now either turn to an elder statesman like Nunn or someone who reinforces his message of change and bi-partisanship like Sebelius, writes MyDD's Todd Beeton. Webb joins other "A-List" Democrats Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell in not wanting to be considered for the second slot on the ticket, notes RedState's Moe Lane. Nunn, a national security expert from the South, would be a great pick for Obama and for headline writers, who would find "Nunn" of the other names better, writes The Plank's Christopher Orr. As for John McCain's running mate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) is the only prospect who could fit the three different categories of picks -- media types, conservatives and "McCain insiders" -- according to Townhall's Matt Lewis.

Conservatives' passion for Helms's stand for "political incorrectness" would be better directed against the way he opposed the civil rights agenda, writes The Plank's Isaac Chotiner. It's troubling that some Helms's supporters are willing to gloss over the racist aspects of his past since other conservatives have been willing to condemn the racism of the John Birch Society and other figures on the right, according to The Next Right's Jon Henke.

House Republicans could learn from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's willingness to endorse candidates in primaries to boost them in the general election, according to The Next Right's Patrick Ruffini, who links to The Hill's story about the strategy. Polls show Democrats virtually tied against Reps. Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart, the Republican brothers in South Florida who have handily won their past races, TPM Election Central's Eric Kleefeld notes.

FROM THE BLOGS:
Webb Withdraws From VP Consideration - T. Beeton, MyDD
Scratch Webb From VP List - Moe Lane, RedState
Webb Exits VP Lottery - Ed Morrissey, Hot Air
GOP Opponent Claims Credit for Webb's Bill - SusanG, Daily Kos
Nunn Better - Christopher Orr, The Plank
Three GOP VP Lists - Matt Lewis, Townhall.com
Helms, the Right, and the History of Racism - I. Chotiner, The Plank
Racism and the Right - Jon Henke, The Next Right
A Clintonian at Fox - Jim Rutenberg, The Caucus
Anti-Theist Left Knows It's Not Real - Jeff Emanuel, RedState
Sanitizing Obama's Past - Carol Platt Liebau, Townhall.com
Wheel of Fortune: BMW Direct Responds - David Kurtz, TPM
Surge Amnesia - A. Huffington, The Huffington Post
Polls Show Close Races for Reps. Diaz-Balart - Eric Kleefeld, TPM EC
DCCC Plays in Primaries - Patrick Ruffini, The Next Right

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
Adding Up The Cost of Obama's Agenda - L.A. Times
McCain Says He Would Balance Budget By 2013 - Washington Post
Internal Politics Heat Up McCain Campaign - New York Times
Party Scrambles to Meet Obama's Call for Change - The Hill

John McCain has not yet even announced his plan to balance the budget in four years and already liberal bloggers are starting to poke holes in it. Conservative bloggers are shocked that the cover story in the New York Times Magazine, one of the leading pillars of the mainstream media, would praise Rush Limbaugh. And one of the up-and-coming conservative blog takes on a TalkingPointsMemo over its coverage of GOP fundraising practices.

McCain

With Congress away, general election chatter dominates the blogs heading into the July 4th weekend. John McCain made the right move in promoting veteran Republican operative Steve Schmidt to the head of his campaign, according to a conservative blogger and former GOP campaign aide. Retired Gen. Wesley Clark is being inconsistent by criticizing McCain, according to the Republican's backers online. And the suggestion that Barack Obama has a problem now that Iraq violence has subsided doesn't hold water, according to liberal bloggers.

Schmidt should give Republicans more confidence in McCain's operation, since Schmidt helped get President Bush and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzeneggar elected, writes The Next Right's Patrick Ruffini, who also worked on Bush's 2004 campaign. Under Schmidt, decisions will be made more quickly and McCain will focus more on the economy, reports Marc Ambinder.

Clark has little standing to criticize McCain's judgment in supporting the Iraq war since Clark once supported Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), who also backed the U.S.-led invasion, according to Townhall's Michael Medved. Recent comments by Clark about McCain's military service reminds Ruffini of the time the general pulled rank on his former rival for the presidency in 2004, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), a former Navy lieutenant. But McCain is having trouble answering Clark's question about the relevance of his Vietnam service to this year's presidential campaign, writes kos, who notes that McCain got angry when asked about it.

Contrary to pundits, Obama doesn't have an "Iraq problem" since polls show that more voters are interested in bringing troops home than in winning the war, MyDD's Todd Beeton writes. Obama hasn't shifted his position on withdrawal by reserving the right to pause a troop pull-out, as his critics have suggested, since he put forth a withdrawal plan in January 2007 that allowed for such pauses, notes Josh Marshall through a video of Obama strategist David Axelrod.

FROM THE BLOGS:
Schmidt Takes Over McCain Camp - P. Ruffini, The Next Right
Behind the Scenes of the McCain Campaign, V. 2.5 - M. Ambinder
Weasley's 'Judgment' - Michael Medved, Townhall.com
Clark Denigrated Kerry's Service in 2004 - P. Ruffini, Next Right
Defending McCain's Service Record - P. Yousefzadeh, RedState
Even McCain Can't Answer Clark's Question - kos, Daily Kos
McCain: I'm Not An Expert! - J. Marshall, TalkingPointsMemo
John 'I Didn't Say What I Said' McCain - Todd Beeton, MyDD
Axelrod's Smackdown over Iraq Record - J. Marshall, TPM
Obama Doesn't Have an Iraq Problem - Todd Beeton, MyDD
To Hell w/ The Brand for Obama - Rich Lowry, The Corner
How Obama Can Keep From Blowing It - A. Huffington, HuffPo
Obama and The Hoi Aristoi - Victor Davis Hanson, The Corner
Trade Flip-Flopping Fun Continues - P. Yousefzadeh, RedState
Why Does Limbaugh Support McCain? - Isaac Chotiner, The Plank
The Case Against Mitt Romney - Chris Cillizza, The Fix
A Sign of the Times: LAT & Rush - C. Platt Liebau, Townhall.com

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
Colombia Rescues Hostages During McCain Trip - USA Today
McCain Orders Shake-Up of His Campaign - New York Times
McCain Allies Find Finance-Law Holes - Wall Street Journal
Bush Officials Backed Oil Deal - Washington Post