Midday open thread

• The most unpopular president in history is still a formidable fundraiser even as his party frets over how to keep him confined to the attic during the upcoming convention. Some, in fact, don't even want him in the attic:

  "I don’t think there are a lot of people who want to see him at the convention," said Mr. Rohrabacher, who is especially irked with Mr. Bush for his stance on immigration. He said the president "should stay home from the Republican convention, and everybody would be better off."

• Vets for Freedom--a "non-partisan" group that boasted Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham on its policy board before the two rascals resigned--is gearing up for a multi-million dollar, battleground state ad blitz. I'm sure readers will be surprised to learn the ads will be critical of Barack Obama.
• A Canadian court ruled that a refugee board needs to re-examine its denial of asylum to Joshua Keys, author of The Deserter's Tale.
• Condoleeza Rice: Still Proud of Decision to Invade Iraq.
• The mighty state of California admits cowering in the face of Anthem Blue Cross, neglecting to enforce a $1 million verdict for fear of being "outgunned" in court.
• At Hullabaloo, Tristero ridicules the notion of "hard trade-offs and ideological confusions that the past years have forced on all thinking people" when those supposed "thinking people" are erstwhile supporters of the Iraq war. DHinMI
• Best eulogy of Jesse Helms, from Hendrick Hertzberg:

  Far too late for it to do anybody any good, Jesse Helms has died. He has done so on Independence Day, which, since he was born too late to own slaves and in too liberal an age to allow him to outlaw sedition, will forever be his only resemblance to Thomas Jefferson and John Adams.

  It is rude to speak ill of the dead. Luckily, I did so ahead of time.

  DHinMI

• Gallup:Obama Leads By 5, 47% to 42%

  Except for a brief period a week ago when McCain and Obama were tied in voter preference, Obama has had the slight upper hand in the race since Gallup's June 6 report, leading McCain by one to seven percentage points. The last time McCain had any numerical advantage over Obama was in Gallup's June 5 report when he was one percentage point ahead, 46% to 45%. However, the last time McCain had a statistically significant lead was in early May. (To view the complete trend since March 7, click here.)

  Gallup does not call it a statistical dead heat. DemFromCT