The Nightowl Newswrap

The LA Times has been caught practicing something that resembles journalism While he bets big on Iraq and the *ahem* reduced violence *ahem* that has resulted from renting the temporary loyalty off insurgents with cash and guns and al Sadr ordering his militia to stand down since last August the (unsustainable) Surge™ that has succeeded in kicking the can down the lane for a year. The LA Times actually looks at all the stuff the McShame got wrong on Iraq for over a decade. His track record is pretty dismal, and I am betting that Bob Drogin isn't invited to the next bar-be-cue at Chez McCain, since he had the temerity to point out St. John's many failings.

The New York Times reminds us that the senator hasn't always been the bedrock conservative he presents himself as now. Twice this decade he has almost switched parties - first in 2001 and again in 2004 when there was talk about him becoming John Kerry's running mate.

The inimitable Glenn Greenwald takes on the issue of overt racism as it relates to movement conservative tribalism and applies the full Greenwald to the twisted jingoism of the soulless fucks on the right.

Chuck Hagel isn't endorsing McCain, at least not yet. In an interview on ABC's This Week he said he was not ready to endorse McCain because the two men are too far apart on issues of foreign policy, especially on the issue of Iraq. When asked if he agreed with the Democratic candidates on the issue of timelines for withdrawal, he said "we need a clear plan, and yes, withdrawal. We're going to have to start working our way out of this. How we do it must be responsibly. We're in a deep hole. I think we're in a quagmire. But at the same time, we have national interests there. We have allies there." Hell of a mess these morons have made, innit?

Are Senator McCain and presidential candidate McCain two different guys? First taxes and now climate change.

Will Airbus anger turn Kansas blue in November? With the economy of Kansas tied to aviation and the defense industry, anger over Boeing, which employs about 30,000 in it's Wichita plant, could put the state in the Democratic column this fall, for the first time in nearly half a century.

A Connecticut newspaper has apologized for endorsing Lieberman in 2006 - When The Day endorsed Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman for re-election in November 2006 it was supporting a candidate who demonstrated a history of pragmatic leadership and a willingness to seek bipartisan solutions...We wonder what happened to that senator...

My friend Steve Benen has some much needed context for the Jeremiah Wright controversy. I was one of those who made with the eyerolling when I first heard the context defense. I retract it. The context does matter and if you watch the video, I think you will agree that it casts the M$M in a pretty damned unflattering light.

Taiwan has elected a new president Ma Ying-jeou (roughly pronounced Ma ING-gee-oh) was elected president of Taiwan in Saturday's election, and when he is inaugurated May 20, he will take over a struggling economy during a global downturn. He created some pretty high expectations for himself during the campaign, and then there is the fact that his party has a long history of corruption and thuggery, and American conservatives are uneasy about his vow to move closer to Beijing.

Cecilia Sarkozy has moved on as well The ex-wife of French president Nicolas Sarkozy married a Morrocan-born PR executive named Richard Attias in a private ceremony in the world-famous Rainbow Room in New York City's Rockefeller Center. It was a very conspicuously secretive affair, right there in the middle of Manhattan - no word on why, if they wanted to be so secretive, they didn't wed in the Hamptons?