| 9:42 PM: | Palin Links Iraq to Sept. 11 In Talk to Troops in Alaska. The idea that the Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein helped al-Qaeda plan the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, a view once promoted by Bush administration officials, has since been rejected even by the president himself. But it is widely agreed that militants allied with al-Qaeda have taken root in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion. Washington Post. | |
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| 8:19 PM: | Making a mockery of 9/11. Sarah Palin's ignorance about foreign policy Thursday night will shadow John McCain's legacy, no matter who wins the election. Salon. | |
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| 8:17 PM: | Palin tries to defend qualifications in interview. John McCain running mate Sarah Palin sought Thursday to defend her qualifications but struggled with foreign policy, unable to describe President Bush's doctrine of pre-emptive strikes against threatening nations and acknowledging she's never met a foreign head of state. AP. | |
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| 7:44 PM: | Fact Check: Palin Wrong on Former VP Credentials. Palin was mistaken, at least where recent history is concerned. Every vice president over the last 30 years had met a foreign head of state before being elected. ABC. | |
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| 7:43 PM: | Venezuela to expel U.S. ambassador. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Thursday he is expelling the U.S. ambassador and recalling his own ambassador from Washington. CNN. | |
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| 7:42 PM: | Palin: Sanctions on Russia may be needed. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin says she "didn't blink" when Sen. John McCain offered her the Republican vice presidential nomination and is confident she could handle the duties of president if necessary. CNN. | |
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| 7:38 PM: | Live, From New York: Barack Obama! "The details of the sketch are still being worked out," an Obama campaign spokesperson tells People. People. | |
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| 6:43 PM: | Palin's ABC Interview: Stumped On Bush Doctrine, Seems To Contradict McCain On Pakistan (VIDEO) In her first major interview as the Republican vice presidential nominee, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was stumped when asked about the so-called "Bush Doctrine," unable to answer whether she agreed with the six-year-old U.S. policy of military preemption. HuffPost. | |
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| 6:17 PM: | Does Obama Support Kindergarteners Learning About Sex Before Learning How to Read? Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., this week launched a new TV ad attacking Sen. Barack Obama's record on education. ABC. | |
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| 6:00 PM: | Sarah Palin On Bush Doctrine: Homina, Homina, Homina. Forget war with Russia. The real news from Charlie Gibson's interview with Sarah Palin is this stretch, where she is clearly clueless about what the Bush Doctrine is. TPM. | |
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| 5:37 PM: | Palin on the Bush Doctrine. Goddard found the key "gotcha" -- Palin doesn't know what the Bush Doctrine is. Political Wire. | |
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| 4:55 PM: | Ukraine comes to the forefront. An already fragile Ukraine has been made a lot more nervous by Russia's war with Georgia -- and it is not alone. Economist. | |
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| 4:34 PM: | Sarah Palin Defends Experience, Takes Hard Line Approach on National Security. The governor advocated for the admittance of Georgia and Ukraine into NATO. When Gibson said if under the NATO treaty, the United States would have to go to war if Russia again invaded Georgia, Palin responded: "Perhaps so. I mean, that is the agreement when you are a NATO ally, is if another country is attacked, you're going to be expected to be called upon and help." ABC. | |
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| 4:28 PM: | Like I Said, Four More Years of Bush Would Be Vastly Preferable. Shows the consequences of taking a freshman governor with no experience in foreign policy and giving her a ten day crash course with Randy Scheunemann and the rest of John McCain's neocon brain trust that got booted from the Bush inner circle for being too nutty. TPM. | |
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| 2:11 PM: | Balz: Obama May Have Underestimated McCain. The WashPost sage says Obama probably did not anticipate his opponent's "daring" VP pick or the "relentless barrage" of attacks from his campaign. But adds: "One thing is clear. They do not panic in Chicago." Mark Halperin. | |
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| 2:10 PM: | Palin administration may fight subpoenas in court. Gov. Palin's administration is threatening legal action to block subpoenas by the Alaska Legislature as part of its investigation into whether she abused her authority trying to have her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper. AP. | |
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| 2:08 PM: | Obama Team & Democrat Establishment. There is an affect gap between how members of the Democratic political establishment view the presidential race right now -- concerns, bordering on panic -- and where Barack Obama's campaign brain trust thinks the race is at -- a mix of confidence and sobriety, but nothing approaching rank worrying. Atlantic. | |
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| 1:54 PM: | Dems going off message, again. As usual, Democrats are not proving themselves masters of message discipline. Salon. | |
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| 1:21 PM: | Lipstick on a pig. The Democrats urgently need to get a grip on this. When they rage at unfair Republican tactics, part of that fury unavoidably spills over into anger at the electorate for being so gullible as to fall for it. Clive Crook. | |
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| 1:12 PM: | McCain: Palin the Country's Top Energy Expert. Speaking to a Maine TV station Wednesday, McCain says his running mate "knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the United States of America." Listing credentials for Palin, also notes that Alaska neighbors Russia. Mark Halperin. | |
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| 1:11 PM: | More Palin Multiplier Effect. New McCain-Palin energy formula: more fundraising + volunteers = more state offices + more staff Increases include around 20 more offices in big targeted states such as Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, 10 more in Iowa. Plus: several hundred additional staffers. Mark Halperin. | |
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| 1:11 PM: | Sarah Palin stirs passion in Hollywood. Sarah Palin represents many things Hollywood liberals love to hate, from her opposition to gay marriage to her support for gun rights, yet she possesses two key qualities they admire -- star appeal and a great script. Reuters. | |
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| 1:10 PM: | Bill Clinton predicts Obama will win 'handily' Barack Obama and former President Clinton talked for two hours on Thursday, their first meeting in a White House race that had once bitterly divided them. Clinton predicted that Obama will win the presidency "pretty handily." AP. | |
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| 11:54 AM: | McCain's Health Care Tax Increase. [McCain does] nothing for families with members who have pre-existing conditions or children with special needs -- because it makes no provision to regulate the insurers, forcing them to cover all comers at "community" rates that don't discriminate against the people who need health insurance most. Joe Klein. | |
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| 11:44 AM: | Everybody Calm Down! Obama Is Hitting Back. Liberal blogger Steve Benen observes that only thing Obama hasn't done so far is fight fire with fire and use the same dishonest tactics as McCain. For instance, Benen suggests, they could argue that McCain wants to cut U.S. military aid to Israel, since that aid is an earmark and McCain claims he wants to eliminate them. Of course, Obama knows that McCain doesn't actually want to cut aid to Israel. But McCain also knew that Obama doesn't want to give sex tips to kindergarteners. Amer Prospect. | |
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| 11:08 AM: | Twenty Questions. Since the press isn't allowed to ask Palin questions to her face, they have started to pose them publicly. Andrew Sullivan. | |
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| 11:08 AM: | McCain campaign out to protect Palin's image. In the nearly two weeks since Sen. John McCain announced his vice presidential nominee to the world, the Internet rumors about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin have been flying. CNN. | |
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| 11:07 AM: | Don't meet the press. McCain has gone four weeks without a press conference, and three weeks without taking questions from citizens at a town hall meeting. Ben Smith. | |
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| 11:06 AM: | Ethics advisor warned Palin on Troopergate. Sarah Palin was counseled to apologize and cooperate with the investigation; instead, her administration is now threatening to try to quash subpoenas. Salon. | |
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| 11:03 AM: | McCain and Gay Republicans. John Nichols While John McCain is not in the camp of the haters who have come to dominate his party, he lacks the courage to challenge them. The Nation. | |
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| 10:58 AM: | Gallup: McCain's lead at 4 points. For the fourth straight day, Republican presidential nominee John McCain holds a "statistically significant" lead over Democrat Barack Obama in its tracking poll, Gallup says. Today's reading: McCain 48%, Obama 44%. USA Today. | |
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| 10:46 AM: | Former GOP senator calls Palin a 'cocky wacko' Former Rhode Island Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee has called vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin a "cocky wacko" and said her selection as John McCain's running mate has energized supporters of Democrat Barack Obama. AP. | |
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| 7:40 AM: | Obama, McCain call truce on night of 9/11. The two presidential candidates will call a truce in New York City on Thursday night for a conversation, on the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, about what their administrations would do to encourage public service. Politico. | |
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| 7:14 AM: | GOP foreign policy experts cool on Palin. While none have come out and publicly questioned the Alaska governor's level of experience in foreign affairs, few have been willing to make the case that Palin is well-versed in the field. Politico. | |
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| 6:00 AM: | Remembering 9/11. Both major presidential contenders will be marking the 7th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks today, most notably with a joint appearance later at the site of the World Trade Center in New York City. USA Today. | |
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