My friends, there's a full lineup and other goodies below.

My friends, there's a full lineup and other fireworks below...

(From the diaries. SusanG)

Amy Silverman knows her subject. She writes,

I've been a writer and editor at [the Phoenix] New Times for 15 years. For much of that time, I wrote about Arizona politics, which is to say that I wrote about John McCain. It's still odd to see the guy in the spotlight, because for quite a while, I was pretty much the only one covering him. I never did fall for him in the way reporters fall for politicians, probably because he wasn't much to fall for back in the early 1990s. In those days, McCain was still rehabilitating the image he'd later sell to the national media. He was known then for cavorting in the Bahamas with Charlie Keating, rather than for fighting for campaign finance reform and limited government spending.

Silverman has written an excellent compendium of all things McCain. Think of it as McCain 101 -- a primer for pulling information about Grumpy McBush to dazzle your friends and befuddle your enemies (not to mention phone banking and such). I'll share some material from the story below the fold, but you should definitely read the entire thing. It's a big one; pack a lunch.

(Note: AxmxZ did a much shorter diary on this article yesterday, though I didn't see it until after writing my own. He deserves some recognition.)

Let's do it in timeline format, kinda like we do it at the History Commons:.

1982: McCain, recently remarried to Arizona beer heiress Cindy Hensley, moves to Phoenix and wins a seat in the US House. He quickly forges a relationship with the Democratic House eminence from Tucson, Mo Udall, who although a strong progressive, has always welcomed the opportunity to work with Republicans.

1982-88: McCain takes over $100,000 in contributions from our well-remembered buddy from Lincoln S&L, Charles Keating, and his employees. McCain and Keating are very close, with McCain frequently joining Keating on outings to the Bahamas, on Keating's dime. Keating also has what Silverman calls a "business relationship" with Jim Hensley, Cindy Hensley's father, and with Cindy as well.

1986: During McCain's race for the Senate, Arizona Democrats ask the Udall staffers not to allow McCain to cling too closely to Udall, worrying that McCain is using Udall as a campaign tool. Udall aide Bob Neuman later says he tries to be subtle, but when McCain figures out what Neuman wants, he bawls Neuman out using words the aide refuses to repeat. Neuman later says McCain was so extreme in his reaction that, as Silverman writes, he thought "there was something really wrong with the guy." McCain is running for Barry Goldwater's seat, with Goldwater's endorsement. But after the Keating scandal, Goldwater loses much of his respect for McCain, and, Silverman writes, "soon found he had to stop McCain from using his good name."

1986: McCain jokes to an audience from the National League of Cities and Towns, asking if they've heard "the one about the woman who is attacked on the street by a gorilla, beaten senseless, raped repeatedly, and left to die?" The punch line: "When she finally regains consciousness and tries to speak, her doctor leans over to hear her sigh contently and to feebly ask, 'Where is that marvelous ape?'" Neuman later says, "John McCain is the Eddie Haskell of politics. You can attribute that to me, and he'll kill me for it."

1987-1988: McCain battles against campaign finance reform, in part on behalf of his pal Keating.

April 12, 1988: Governor Evan Mecham (R-Lunatic) has just been impeached, and Democrat Rose Mofford, the Secretary of State, takes over the position. Mofford, a kindly lady with an astonishing snow-white beehive bouffant, is as non-partisan as one can be and still belong to a political party, gracious and well-liked by just about everyone in the state government. But not by McCain and some of his buds. (Disclaimer: Mrs. Max, who describes herself as either a Goldwater Republican or a Reagan Democrat depending on the day of the week, knows Mofford, and likes her tremendously.) McCain and his pals want to eject Mofford using the same recall process that was launched to yank Mecham. Eight days into her tenure, Mofford goes to DC to take part in what one aide later calls the "perfunctory wet kiss" meeting with the Arizona congressional delegation. The meeting is strictly ceremonial, or so most people think. Mofford is quite conversant with her duties as secretary of state, primarily the elections department. She doesn't know a great deal about the Central Arizona Project (CAP) or the technical details of water provision in that dry state. And in eight days, she hasn't been able to learn a hell of a lot. She speaks before the Senate Energy and Water Subcommittee on Appropriations about CAP. McCain is not a member of that committee, but his Republican buddy from Idaho, James McClure, is. McClure asks Mofford, in Silverman's words,

a series of questions that would leave any water expert's mouth dry. Her staff jumped in to try to answer, but even so, ultimately they had to file an addendum to the testimony.

Sandbagged. The publisher of the Arizona Republic, Pat Murphy, who considers himself a friend of McCain's, is "crushed" by the incident. It is, Silverman writes, "the beginning of the end of his respect for and friendship with McCain." During lunch, a "mischievously glee[ful]" McCain brags about his setup of Mofford. As Murphy recalls, "he had slipped some highly technical questions to [McClure] to ask Mofford--questions she wouldn't be prepared to answer or expected to answer. Flabbergasted, I asked McCain why would he want to sabotage Mofford's testimony, when in fact the CAP was the nonpartisan pet of Republicans and Democrats--such as far-left Udall and far-right Goldwater--since its inception. His reply, as near as I remember, was, 'I'll embarrass a Democrat any time I get the chance.'" Murphy accompanies McCain back to his office, where reporters ask about a rumor that McCain had tried to sabotage Mofford's testimony. Murphy is floored to hear him answer, in classic straight-talk fashion, "I'd never do anything like that." Murphy later learns that McCain had even brought in a private film crew to film the testimony for use in embarrassing Moffatt in the recall election. The Arizona Supreme Court strikes down the recall effort, so McCain's gamesmanship did little except destroy his friendship with Murphy and embitter Mofford. While she doesn't talk much about the McCains, having known Cindy since she was little, she will tell Silverman, the CAP hearing, "hurt me more than anything ... to be set up like that." She also says that McCain is "certainly no Barry Goldwater or Mo Udall."

Late 1980s: McCain hosts an event ostensibly to honor Goldwater, but in reality to raise funds for his Senate campaign. Goldwater initially refuses to participate and tells McCain to give half of the proceeds to the Arizona Republican Party. McCain retools the event to honor Reagan instead. Goldwater does speak at the event, but later writes to McCain, "You will recall during my speech at the dinner for the president in Phoenix, I announced that you were going to give half of the funds you raised to the State Republican Party. I am told by the Party, that you still owe them $35,000, and unless you pay all of it, or most of it, they cannot meet their payroll next Wednesday." McCain will continue to use Goldwater, a legend in Arizona politics, as well as Udall as a campaign touchstone for himself.

1990: Facing criticism over his relationship with Keating and an upcoming re-election battle, McCain flip-flops and becomes a proponent of campaign finance reform and reducing government spending. Silverman calls McCain's efforts "a farce. McCain famously sponsored a law designed to control special interests' grip on Washington, but at the same time, he took money from those interests." She adds details and links that I won't go into here, but her summation of his efforts: "sadly cosmetic." What he has done is take such a shrill stance against certain types of earmarks--pork, in the vernacular--that Arizona has lost out on federal funding for, among other worthy projects, a program at a Scottsdale hospital that trains military medical personnel in trauma care. Some of that training has been used in Iraq and Afghanistan, for those who were lucky enough to receive it before the program lost much of its funding. Silverman notes:

Arizona's political forefathers--Mo Udall, Barry Goldwater, Carl Hayden — pushed through one of the biggest pork barrel projects in the history of the United States Congress: the Central Arizona [Water] Project. If they hadn't, there wouldn't be much of a state to represent. As a native Arizonan, those are the politicians I grew up learning about. McCain just doesn't compare.

1991 and After: When Udall leaves Congress, McCain, who had voted with Udall on some environmental issues, quits supporting those issues, and begins to rack up low marks from environmental groups. One of his most recent is a zero from the League of Conservation Voters. He has refused to oppose efforts to mine uranium from sites perilously near the Grand Canyon, and refuses to support proposed changes to the Mining Act of 1872, oblivious to the fact that Arizona is a testament to the environmental degradation that comes with strip mining and other practices. He is well remembered for threatening the job of a Forest Service official who disagreed with him on the topic of the endangered Mount Graham red squirrel. However, in campaign appearances, McCain regularly invokes the name and environmental passion of Udall. In April 2008, Newsweek writes, "He traces his environmental awareness to the sainted Rep. Mo Udall, an Arizona Democrat who took McCain as a young congressman under his tutelage ... To environmentalists, that's like saying you learned about civil rights by driving around Alabama with Martin Luther King Jr." It's doubtful that Newsweek bothered to find much on the other side of the story.

Spring 1994: Silverman begins hearing rumors of Cindy McCain's addiction to prescription drugs. She learns of Tom Gosinski, who had been fired from his position as director of government and international affairs for Cindy McCain's nonprofit charity, the American Voluntary Medical Team (AVMT), which provides medical relief to poor countries. Gosinski had gone to the DEA and told them that Cindy McCain was using an AVMT doctor to illegally prescribe her drugs in her employees' names. Gosinski was one of those employees, and he was worried that he might be culpable. Cindy McCain had had numerous prescriptions written for her, some with as many as 500 pills on a single refill. Dr. John Max Johnson, her AVMT drug connection, told the DEA that she kept them in her personal luggage. Gosinski had not just ratted her out, but filed a wrongful-termination suit against the charity. That alerted John McCain's lawyer, John Dowd, to the situation. Dowd charged Gosinski with extortion. The extortion investigation produded public records that Silverman finds and uses for her reporting. But the McCains learn of her records request, and try to inoculate themselves against her reports, acknowledging Cindy's prescription drug addictions and blaming it on her back surgeries and the stress from the Keating scandal. They also claim, falsely, that Gosinski is trying to blackmail them. In her September 8, 1994 story, Silverman prints the following excerpt from Gosinski's personal journal, an entry from July 1992: "I have always wondered why John McCain has done nothing to fix the problem. He must either not see that a problem exists or does not choose to do anything about it. It would seem that it would be in everyone's best interest to come to terms with the situation. And do whatever is necessary to fix it. There is so much at risk ... During my short tenure at AVMT, I have been surrounded by what on the surface appears to be the ultimate all-American family. In reality, I am working for a very sad, lonely woman whose marriage of convenience to a U.S. Senator has driven her to: distance herself from friends; cover feelings of despair with drugs; and replace lonely moments with self-indulgences." Cindy avoids criminal charges by going into a drug rehab program.

1997: McCain is a frequent and steady visitor to Mo Udall, who is slowly dying of Parkinson's disease. Neuman is pleased with McCain's loyalty, but he is stunned when McCain brings reporter Michael Lewis with him to Udall's hospital bedside. (McCain is unable to wake Udall during the visit. Udall will die in 1998.) Neuman later recalls, "That was devastating to me, that he brought in a reporter. I thought that was crossing the line, and it destroyed me." Silverman writes, "I'm sure I would have accepted the offer to go the hospital, as well. I can't blame Lewis, but maybe the sight of the legendary Mo Udall in his final, sad days wasn't McCain's to share."

2000: As the presidential primaries heat up, Silverman flies to Washington to be interviewed by 20/20's Sam Donaldson on McCain. After the interview, Donaldson decides he doesn't want to report anything negative about McCain, and cans the interview. The same thing happens when she helps put together background research for 60 Minutes, when Mike Wallace decides he wants to do a positive story on McCain.

Whee doggies. And there's plenty more in the article: this is just the highlights. Even better, there are links to other New Times stories on McCain. So get to reading, and share the wealth.

Update: Amy Silverman writes in that an entire compendium of New Times links to stories about John McCain can be found on the Vintage McCain page on the newspaper's web site.

"He was jovial and fun and now he comes across as a grumpy old man." - gop strategist Ed Rollins on McCain

+ + +

^{Promoted by MB}

[Promoted by DHinMI]

SoonerG already has a good diary that points out aptly and astutely that John McCain's latest web attack ad is really a not too subtle code to the Christian Right Wing that Barack Obama is the literal Anti-Christ as foretold in the Book of Revelations and popularized in "non-fiction" books like "The Late Great Planet Earth" and Tim LaHaye's "Left Behind" novels.

Well, as if we needed confirmation that this is the violent, dangerous meme the McCain is attempting to spread, WorldNetDaily has published a screed by Hal Lindsey, entitled "How Obama Prepped World for Anti-Christ".

Who is Hal Lindsey? In right-wing Christian Evangelical and Dominionist Circles Hal Lindsey is a Big Deal. In the late Seventies Lindsey helped popularize the modern, Fundamentalist Christian interpretation of  the Book of Revelations and the Apocalypse with his book "The Late Great Planet Earth". This is the grand-daddy of the violent, homophobic, racist apocalyptic fiction of Lim LaHaye's "Left Behind" books and scores of other works attempting to interpret  The Book of Revelations for our times.

Hal Lindsey is largely responsible for the modern Fundamentalist Christian view of the Anti-Christ as a world leader who can unite the world and bring a temporary peace before the End of the World. The very same imagery and sophistry that McCain's The One ad plays up.

So I sincerely doubt it is mere coincidence that the same day McCain's Campaign puts out an ad with images of Barack Obama as a messianic figure Hal Lindsey writes:

Obama's world tour provided a foretaste of the reception he can expect to receive.

He will probably also stand in some European capital, addressing the people of the world and telling them that he is the one that they have been waiting for. And he can expect as wildly enthusiastic a greeting as Obama got in Berlin.

The Bible calls that leader the Antichrist. And it seems apparent that the world is now ready to make his acquaintance.

The lifetime Agnostics and Atheists, even the sane Christians, among us may find it easy to write this off as pure silliness, but no one should be quick to dismiss this new line of smear attack. Why? Because what seems silly nonsense to the rational is deadly serious to the true believers and the un-balanced. Having grown up in the Evangelical Church I can tell you that the Dominionist view of the Book of Revelation is real. Real to them as surely as the laptop you are reading this diary on and means nothing short of the End of the World.  

So put yourself in their heads, and ask what would you do to stop The End of the World?

The chill that just went up your spin is what makes the McCain Campaign's hamfisted attempt at smear something more than smear, something more than a attempt to rally his base. This is something incredibly dangerous. To compare Obama to the Anti-Christ, whether by implication as in McCain's Ad, or by direct accusation as with Lindsey's screed, is to invite violence against Barack Obama and incite every nutcase with a God Complex to take matters into his own hands.

Think it can't happen? Today the FBI released the name of a Doctor at Fort Dietrich, Bruce Ivins, who is possibly if not probably, responsible for the 2001 Anthrax attacks, who was both mentally unstable and a strict Catholic with Christian Dominionist predilections.

For the sake of decency McCain should pull his "One" Ad, and decline anymore attempts to prey on the End of Times delusions propagated by the Christian Fundamentalist movement. But, given McCain's current campaign, decency seems to be among the things found lacking.

Full Lineup and other goodies below...

(From the diaries -- Susan)

Conservative columnists have been trying to make a big deal about a paper that Barack Obama wrote when he was a student at Columbia University - they seem to think the fact that no one has a copy is a sign that Obama has something to hide. MSNBC's First Read has the whole story.

Here's the reality - which I happen to know as a Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University:

1. Colleges and universities do not usually keep or formally retain copies of undergraduate papers. If we do not return them to students at the end of the term, we might hold on to them in our offices for a few months into the next term, in case a student wants to come by and pick up the paper. That's it - they're gone after that (even in my messy office).

2. PhD dissertations and sometimes Masters theses are indeed kept on file both by universities, and by central repositories (such as University Microfilms - UMI). But Obama's paper was neither a doctoral dissertation or a masters thesis.

3. In fact, it would be a violation of a student's privacy for a professor to provide any journalist with a copy of a student paper.

4. Students are of course free to do with their papers as they please. But how many of you still have copies of your college papers? I don't (though for some reason I did keep a high school paper I wrote about Charles De Gaulle way back when. Go figure.) But there's no reason to think that Obama kept any of his college papers.

Hey, this whole subject is a good topic for a paper - maybe I'll assign it to my students at Fordham this Fall.

(From the diaries -- SusanG)

I hope you enjoyed Austin as much as I did.  I hope your memories of the panels, the events and of each other are as fond and fresh as mine are, and that you are as energized as I am (well, maybe after more sleep) to take what you've learned and convert it into action, and to take all those business cards and email addresses you've accumulated and turn them into lasting relationships.

Right now, there's something else I'd like you to do, and it's absolutely essential for the enduring success of this conference.  You need to tell us what worked, and what didn't work.  

As chairman of the board of directors for NN, I need to know what you think.  You are our stakeholders, our constituents, and your satisfaction is essential to our continued success.  There is no aspect of this conference which cannot be rethought, and no detail not worth mentioning.  And, obviously, we don't want to forget anything that worked out better than our wildest expectations, and want to capture as much of that now while it's still fresh in your minds.

We've got a few ways you can register this feedback.  First off, we've set up an Online Feedback tool that you can use to post your thoughts and receive direct feedback from our staff.

Secondly, um, here.  I think you know how to do that.

And thirdly, if you'd like to keep it private, email me at adam [at] netrootsnation [dot] org.  I will make sure every email gets to the appropriate person(s) on our staff, and that each receives a response.

Finally, if you didn't hear it yet: we're going to Pittsburgh next year!  I am so excited to bring Netroots Nation to the Northeast, for our greenest conference ever (also: union-friendly!), and yinz are going to love coming to the Keystone State.  We are so excited that we've already opened registration, and a limited number of $175 tickets are available.  Once they're gone, they're gone, and the price goes up to $225.  And then more.  So if you're ready to join us in Pittsburgh from August 13-16, 2009, then register now.

"Could I mention the presence of my friend, Congressman Steve Pearce, who I believe will be joining me in the United States Senate?"  -  John McCain in New Mexico this week.

It just gets worse and worse for John McSame and the gop.
Full lineup and other goodies below...

[From the diaries - BarbinMD]

Stupid is as stupid does.

The White House this afternoon accidentally sent to its extensive distribution list a Reuters story headlined "Iraqi PM backs Obama troop exit plan - magazine."

The story relayed how Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told the German magazine Der Spiegel that "he supported prospective U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's proposal that U.S. troops should leave Iraq within 16 months ... ‘U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes,'" the prime minister said.

The White House employee had intended to send the article to an internal distribution list, ABC News' Martha Raddatz reports, but hit the wrong button.

My take: The WH was obviously freaking out after the announcement that al-Maliki supports Obama's plan, and of course was planning to email this around internally get some some advice from advisers and get their talking points together. This also ensures additional coverage of this issue. The Obama camp of course has already pounced on this:

The national security adviser to the Obama campaign, Susan Rice, said the senator welcomed Maliki's support.

"This presents an important opportunity to transition to Iraqi responsibility, while restoring our military and increasing our commitment to finish the fight in Afghanistan," Rice said in a statement Saturday.

This is just starting to hit the media; unlike McCain leaking Obama's travel schedule, this is just too big to ignore. The implications are huge, when you consider what would have happened had the opposite occurred:

To really understand the importance of Maliki's comments, you need to consider their opposite. Imagine if Maliki had walked in front of the cameras and said, "at this stage, a timetable for withdrawal is unrealistic, and we hope our American friends will not bow to domestic political pressures and be hasty in leaving Iraq just as the country improves." It would be a transformative moment in this election. John McCain would talk of nothing else. The cable shows would talk of nothing else. Magazines would run thousands of covers about "Obama's Iraq Problem." Obama would probably lose the race.

Indeed.

Update: I just had to relay this post on what the al-Maliki statement means for McCain (per Ambinder):

Via e-mail, a prominent Republican strategist who occasionally provides advice to the McCain campaign said, simply, "We're fucked." No response yet from the McCain campaign, although here's what McCain said the last time Maliki mentioned withdrawal: "Since we are succeeding, then I am convinced, as I have said before, we can withdraw and withdraw with honor, not according to a set timetable. And I’m confident that is what Prime Minister Maliki is talking about, since he has told me that for many meetings we’'ve had."

DIGG IT UP!!

Has a presidential candidate ever had a worse week than John McSame just had?  Drowning in flop sweat, his campaign called Americans "whiners", social security "a disgrace", and had at least a dozen more flubs.  All of which deserve to be duly mocked.  As do reporters who think McCain "won the week."

Full Lineup and other goodies below..

(Promoted from the diaries. Bush's nomination on July 10 of one of the worst neocon hacks to the board that governs US broadcasting overseas is just the latest damage he's inflicted on the venerable VOA and related institutions. Though these broadcasts are for many millions of people worldwide the public face of America, the Bush administration's disastrous record of manipulating the BBG has largely gone unreported here. KingOneEye's excellent diary looks to be the first and only discussion on line so far of the nomination of NRO blowhard Clifford May. - smintheus)

The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) is the federal agency responsible for all U.S. government and government sponsored, non-military, international broadcasting. Its affiliates include the Voice of America, Alhurra, Radio Free Europe, and Radio and TV Martí. If its mission was not originally intended to be a purveyor of propaganda, the Bush administration has seen to it that that is what it has become.

Now President Bush has made his latest attempt to further mire the agency in disgrace by nominating Clifford May to the Board. May is a former Republican National Committee communications director and the President of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, whose list of directors and advisors reads like a who's who of neocon warmongers. He is an advocate of torture abroad, the suspension of civil liberties at home, and always the supremacy of America by virtue of its military might. As a writer for the National Review and a frequent guest on television news programs, he has a record of deliberately inflammatory and partisan rhetoric.

(More below the fold. -smintheus)

(From the diaries -- kos)

By now, most have read of the possibility that Obama would give an address before the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on July 24th.  Arguably, alongside Normandy Beach, no other location in the world still holds the same symbolism for America's historical commitment to freedom and democracy.  

An address there would be a historic opportunity not only to announce a new direction in foreign policy, but to demonstrate Obama's unique ability to restore America's reputation abroad.

(Obama currently leads McCain in German opinion polls by a staggering 72% to 11% --- leading with an even more staggering 86% among adults with at least a high school diploma.)

Instead, the event risks being trivialized by a domestic German political squabble, as the German government responds to political pressure from the Bush administration.

What happened?

This week, the media continued to bend over backwards to repeat whatever narrative McCain wants them to.  He even refurnished his airplane with a VIP section for the most obedient reporters.

Top McCain aide Mark Salter said "‘only the good reporters’ would get to sit in the specially-configured section for interviews. ‘You’ll have to earn it,’ he said." So how can these reporters "earn" a seat? Never challenge the Senator,

Full Lineup and lots of other goodies below...

Reporter: "When was the last time you pumped your own gas and how much did it cost?"

MCCAIN: "Oh, I don’t remember. Now there’s Secret Service protection. But I’ve done it for many, many years. I don’t recall and frankly, I don’t see how it matters."

Full Lineup and other goodies below...

h/t Thinkprogress and Dustbowl Observer.

[Promoted by DHinMI: Take a little time to read this diary (that started out on the "right side of the site") and ponder blueness' ruminations about clear-eyed commitment to principles, about being honest, but also about having a sense of proportion.]

Over here on the right side of the site things feed on frenzy, and so there have been several self-immolations of late occasioned by Barack Obama's serpentine pronouncements on FISA.

As we watch these Kossacks consume themselves in flames, we hear them roar that on FISA Obama has sounded a Retreat, on a Principle, one that is Not To Be Borne. Better, they snarl, to vote for Nader, or Barr, or no one at all, than to continue to fetch, roll over, play dead for such a man. Better to die like a lion, bay they, than to live like a dog.

Since that Saturday when Senator Clinton at last acknowledged defeat, this site has become increasingly aware that Obama is, uh, Not Perfect. It is going to be a long summer, and an even longer fall. And in that time, Obama will, many times, Disappoint.

What to do, what to do . . . .    

The most under-reported story of the campaign continues to be McSame flip-flopping on every issue that come out of his mouth.  Drilling offshore, tax cuts, immigration reform.

No issue is too wide for McSame to wrap his arms around every side of it.

Full Lineup and other goodies below...

THE LINEUP -

Meet The Press:  Brian Williams hosts.  Hopefully not for long.  Joe Biden (D-BULLSHIT!), Huckleberry Graham (R-McSame).  Very Serious Discourse John Harwood and Andrea Mitchell.

Tweety:  Jim Cramer, Andrew Sullivan, Katty Kay, Kathleen Parker.  Russert Tribute.

This Weak:  Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA), Big Oil CEO Red Cavaney, Columbia Univ. Earth Institute dir. Jeffrey Sachs.  Donna Brazile, former Bush enabler Matthew Dowd, relic Cokie Roberts and relic Sam Donaldson talk shop.

Face the Nation:  McSame 'Victory' chair Carly Fiorina, Bill Richardson and Clinton biographer/Politico Maestro John Harris.

Fake Noise:  Tom Daschle (D) and former PA Gov. Tom Ridge (R).

Late Edition with Wolf:  Bearded Richardson, Failed infrastructure Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R).  SuperPatriot Robert Wexler (D-FL), Eric Cantor (R-VA), Robert Reich, McCain econ adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin, some Pakistani journalist, CNN's Peter Bergen.  Gloria Borger, The Hotline's Amy Walter and Ed Henry weep for their lost Obama virginity because he let them down by refusing to be broke during the election 'cause he'd rather win.

60 Minutes:  US-funded Arab TV bashes Israel constantly, Anderson Cooper on PlumpyNut (heh), Salmon vs. Hydroelectic dams.

100 years ago this month, the United States held its first modern
Father's Day celebration in Fairmont, West Virginia.
In 2008, Presidential Nominee Barack Obama will spend it with his family at church, preaching the value and virtue of responsible fatherhood.  Many in the political world will spend it mourning the passing of Tim Russert.

Full Lineup and other goodies below...