Mike Huckabee joking about Barack Obama getting shot at outrages bloggers. Speculation that John Edwards will be Obama

Jamie Rubin

President Bush likening Barack Obama's calls for diplomacy to appeasement have started a conservative blogger pile-on. But while they criticize Obama, Democrats push back by pointing out statements they see as hypocrisy from Bush's candidate, John McCain. With the Senate still in session, conservatives are wary of McCain and others slipping illegal immigrant amnesty into legislation. But they may have fewer allies on the issue after the November elections, one blogging handicapper writes.

Hot Air's Allahpundit joins Israel's Knesset in applauding Bush's criticism of Obama, arguing that Obama's Democratic defenders don't understand the United States could be appeasing Iran by directly talking with its officials. Obama and the State Department want to reason with Iran when they should instead follow Bush and ask countries if they're "with us or against us," writes Andy McCarthy at The Corner. Bush should go even further than he has with his speeches and stop Condoleezza Rice from urging Israel to negotiate with Hamas, writes Lisa Schiffren, also at The Corner.

McCain, however, was open to talks with Hamas in 2006, something that takes away his credibility on the topic, writes MyDD's Jonathan Singer, who links to an interview with the Republican dug up by the Huffington Post. The Stump's Noam Scheiber finds irony in Bush's speech, since the president talks about ending fear a few paragraphs before he exploits fear in attacking Obama. And Josh Marshall finds one of Obama's attackers, right-wing radio host Kevin James, unable to say what former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain did to appease the Nazis, even though James repeats the word "appeasement" over and over again in an interview.

Keeping up the McCain criticism, Arianna Huffington writes that he is engaging in "pure unadulterated fantasy" when he runs down a long litany of accomplishments - ending the Iraq war, Osama bin Laden

A California Supreme Court ruling Thursday that a state law banning gay marriage is unconstitutional will rally conservatives this fall, bloggers predict, while sniping among House members didn

President Bush shakes up the blogosphere today comparing Barack Obama

John Edwards's endorsement of Barack Obama is more about symbolism than anything else, bloggers write on Thursday. But Edwards's support could turn into more, as he could again become the Democratic vice presidential nominee, reports the New York Times. Looking at Congress, liberal bloggers write that John McCain keeps shifting positions, while conservatives urge Republicans to get their act together to prevent tax hikes.

The endorsement means great press for Obama, which wipes his lopsided loss in West Virginia off the front pages, Marc Ambinder writes. But though Edwards may help Obama with working-class white voters and superdelegates, the former senator's choice doesn't fundamentally change the race in the way it could have had it come earlier, writes Chris Cillizza. If Edwards was really smart, he would have endorsed before the primary in his home state, North Carolina, where Obama was looking for a blow-out win, writes RedState's Pejman Yousefzadeh.

Edwards would bring to the ticket none of the executive experience or ability to win over swaths of voters that Obama is looking for, writes Victor Davis Hanson at The Corner. Obama should consider Hillary Clinton instead, since she has the support of women and working-class white voters that Obama needs for the landslide victory he wants, according to MyDD's Todd Beeton.

If Obama is now campaigning for the general election, he should attack McCain for the "hypocrisy" of opposing Sen. Jim Webb's (D-Va.) generous new G.I. Bill while lauding the previous G.I. Bill, writes Ben Crair at The Plank. McCain is also inconsistent on climate change by calling for some government intervention as a presidential candidate but having voted against investing money in renewable resources while in the Senate, writes Daily Kos's Meteor Blades.

One staffer on the Hill defends McCain to The Corner's Kathryn Jean Lopez, saying he's the one opposing the massive spending in the farm bill that House Republicans have gone along with. Blue Dog Democrats deserve blame for backing the bloated farm bill, too, writes Firedoglake's kirk murphy. If voters really want to put a clamp on waste, they should keep Democrats from winning veto-proof majorities in both chambers of Congress, since Democrats are talking about raising "government revenue" as part of their agenda, writes RedState's haystack.

FROM THE BLOGS:
The Big Show: Edwards Endorsement - Marc Ambinder
The Edwards Endorsement: What It Means - Chris Cillizza, The Fix
If John Edwards Was Smart... - Pejman Yousefzadeh, RedState
Edwards Endorses - Michael Crowley, The Stump
An Edwards VP? - Victor Davis Hanson, The Corner
Obama-Clinton, The Will Of The People - Todd Beeton, MyDD
McCain And The G.I. Bill - Ben Crair, The Plank
McCain/GOP Compromise Troops/1st Responders - BarbinMD, DKos
McCain Tries To Have It Both Ways - Meteor Blades, Daily Kos
Conservative Hill Staffer Protests - Kathryn Jean Lopez, The Corner
Blue Dogs Turn Poor Kids Into Cash Cows - kirk murphy, FDL
What Matters Is Who We Put In Congress - haystack, RedState

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
Ex-Rival Throws His Support To Obama - New York Times
Republican Election Losses Stir Fall Fears - New York Times
McConnell Has A Tough Row To Hoe - The Hill
Defeats Tempt House GOP To Distance Itself From Bush - WSJ

Former presidential contender John Edwards

Barack Obama has shown his foreign policy ignorance with a gaffe on Afghanistan

Democrat Travis Childers's victory in a conservative Mississippi House district Tuesday has removed any doubt among bloggers that Republicans are in trouble this year. Hillary Clinton's easy victory in Tuesday's other race, the West Virginia primary, may have little meaning to some liberal bloggers, but it suggests to conservatives that Barack Obama is weak. And John McCain's new green merchandise line has those on the right cringing.

Childers and Democrats have no business winning in a district President Bush carried by 25 percentage points in 2004, writes The Plank's Josh Patashnik. The Republican brand is in such bad shape that Democrats virtually anywhere can run candidates who seem to share positions with GOP candidates and win, according to Power Line's Paul Mirengoff. And if Republican leaders in Congress don't do something quickly, their party is headed for another round of epic losses, writes Pejman Yousefzadeh at RedState.

Both Mirengoff and Yousefzadeh acknowledge that McCain, running in this poisoned atmosphere for Republicans, faces an uphill battle against Obama. But the Arizona Republican can take solace in Obama's 41-percentage-point loss in West Virginia, which is more evidence that Obama is the weaker general election candidate than Clinton, according to RedState's Erick Erickson. Clinton and her campaign are using her lopsided win to make her case to be on the ticket in November, writes MyDD's Todd Beeton. The Plank's Patashnik writes that Obama is lucky that Clinton stuck around at least for this week; Tuesday's results, in which former candidate John Edwards picked up 7 percent of the vote, show that Obama likely would have lost West Virginia to candidates not running if Clinton had dropped out, according to the blogger.

Conservatives bloggers save some of their fire for McCain's climate change speech, in which the Republican accepts that man helped cause global warming. Perhaps McCain, instead of preparing for the Oval Office, can run an honorable campaign loved by the media that results in an offer to become the Secretary of the Interior in the new administration, writes The Corner's Andy McCarthy. McCain may be trying to show himself to be more enlightened than the average Republican, but he's also giving conservatives an excuse to blame him if he loses in November, according to Scott Johnson at Power Line.

The personalities of Capitol Hill's most powerful players also get some press. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the subject of a recent glowing New York Times profile, is lauded by one Republican for single-handedly raising the public discourse in a post by The Plank's Eve Fairbanks. And Swampland's Ana Marie Cox deconstructs senators' responses to the question of whether they would accept an offer to become a vice presidential nominee, which appeared in The Hill. According to Cox, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) showed the most interest in becoming a running mate, while Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) showed the least.

FROM THE BLOGS:
Republican Losing Streak Continues - Paul Mirengoff, Power Line
GOP Has Serious Problems With Brand ID - P. Yousefzadeh, RedState
Rebranding Republicans - Robert Borosage, Huffington Post
MS-01: Voters Don't Care About Wright - kos, Daily Kos
In West Virginia, Obama Still Can't Win - Erick Erickson, RedState
A Thought About West Virginia - Josh Patashnik, The Plank
Why Doesn't She Concede? - Thomas B. Edsall, Huffington Post
Next Moves For Team Obama - Chris Cillizza, The Fix
Consistency Is Not Required - John Hinderaker, Power Line
'Green McCain Onesie W/ Recycle Logo'!! - A. McCarthy, The Corner
Looking Across The Pond? - Andrew Stuttaford, The Corner
More Praise For Barney Frank - Eve Fairbanks, The Plank
VP Responses: "Big house, big car..." - A.M. Cox, Swampland

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
House GOP Hits New Low, Faces Bleak Nov. - The Hill
Democratic Victory May Be A Bellweather - Washington Post
Repaying Debt Hard For Losing Side - USA Today
Clinton Beats Obama Handily In West Virginia - New York Times