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Fox News has sunk to a new low. On Wednesday, the network displayed photos that its editors had doctored of two New York Times employees--reporter Jacques Steinberg, and editor Steven Reddicliffe. Media Matters has graciously provided us with the before-and-after evidence showing that Fox purposefully yellowed Steinberg's teeth, widened his nose and chin, and photo-shopped his ears stick out further.



Reddicliffe also received the yellow-teeth treatment, as well as dark circles under his eyes, and an exaggeration of his receding hairline.



Why has Rupert Murdoch's flagship television network stooped to such tactics? The Times had the audacity to run a piece about Fox's recent poor ratings performance.

Barack Obama unveiled his vision for re-tooling George W. Bush's "Office of Faith-Based Initiative." From the AP:

Taking a page from President Bush, Democrat Barack Obama said Tuesday he wants to expand White House efforts to steer social service dollars to religious groups, risking protests in his own party with his latest aggressive reach for voters who usually vote Republican.

The AP originally reported, then corrected, the assertion that Obama's program would "support their ability to hire and fire based on faith."

The move has pundits drawing comparisons, mostly favorable, to George W. Bush, but is being characterized by some as a rightward shift by the candidate. The preferred narrative these days is that, now that the primaries are over, Obama is making a sharp, rightward turn for the general election.

While the merits of the program are debatable, this is unquestionably smart politics by Obama. The move is consistent with everything that people know about him, so the pandering charge won't stick, and his program fixes, and builds on, Bush's flawed program.

For my part, I find myself mostly in agreement with Andrew Sullivan on this one.

When Senator Ted Kennedy returns to the Senate he plans to pass universal health care legislation. The Boston Globe reports that Kennedy began laying the groundwork while in Massachusetts undergoing treatment for brain cancer.

Kennedy's strategy for passing the legislation, which would be introduced shortly after Barack Obama is inaugurated if he wins the November election, would depend on finding common ground among a variety of groups such as political parties, business and labor interests. The strategy is based on the perception that previous attempts to pass major health care reform, especially during the Clinton administration, suffered from lack of consensus building.

If politics and his health allow, Kennedy will likely be a central figure in propelling healthcare reform. AARP policy director John Rother has been involved in the process and he told The Boston Globe, "You have got to think this will be the Ted Kennedy Health Reform Act, because he's a beloved figure and he's championed the issue for so long."

Obama is also expected to also work with former rival Hillary Clinton on the issue. The Obama campaign recently hired Neera Tanden, who was Senator Clinton's Senate legislative director and campaign policy director. Her title with the Obama campaign is domestic policy director but Tanden is expected to work on helping to develop the campaign's plans for health care reform.

The Washington Post reports that the Obamas received a discounted rate on their personal mortgage from Northern Trust Bank. The loan was on the Obamas' Georgian-style mansion that has been the subject of some controversy for the campaign. Obama received a $1.32 million loan from Northern Trust at a discounted interest rate of 5.625%, approximately three tenths below the average rate for similar loans in the Chicago area at the time. The Post reports that the Obamas paid no extra fees or discount points for receiving the lower rate.

While there are no allegations that the Obamas did anything wrong or received any special treatment due to his status as a U.S. Senator, the revelation could be damaging to the Obama campaign. Last month it was revealed that two prominent Obama backers, Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT) and Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), and a member of Obama's Vice-Presidential selection committee, Jim Johnson, received special deals from Countrywide Financial on their personal mortgages. Obama has spoken out against Countrywide and labeled the mortgage services giant, "the folks who are responsible for infecting the economy and creating, helping create a home foreclosure crisis."

At a press availability today, Sen. Barack Obama denied that he had repudiated General Wesley Clark's comments about Sen. John McCain's military service. Clark said on Sunday's Face the Nation that McCain's military service was not necessarily a qualification for the office of president. "I don't think that riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to become president," he said. The McCain campaign produced no fewer than eight press releases from former military supporters of McCain decrying Clark's comments and calling them an attack.

Yesterday, Sen. Obama gave a speech on patriotism which the major media reported contained a rebuke of Clark's harsh remarks. But Sen. Obama disagrees. Obama reportedly was referring to Clark in this passage from the speech:

For those who have fought under the flag of this nation – for the young veterans I meet when I visit Walter Reed; for those like John McCain who have endured physical torment in service to our country – no further proof of such sacrifice is necessary.

And let me also add that no one should ever devalue that service, especially for the sake of a political campaign, and that goes for supporters on both sides.

Many Republicans said that those remarks did not amount to a repudiation of Clark, since Obama did not mention Clark by name. Now, Obama has confirmed that his call to honor the service of all who have sacrificed for the country had nothing to do with the controversy over Clark's denigration of McCain's military record.

The New York Times reported yesterday that American advisers were involved in drawing up contracts between the Iraqi government and five oil companies. This report contradicts statements made by Bush administration officials that the government had no hand in the contracts.

Last week White house press secretary Dana Perino said, "[Iraq] can make decisions based on how it feels that it wants to move forward in its development of its oil resources and if that means that our companies here in the United States can compete and win business, then that's for them and the Iraqis to decide but I don't think the federal government of the United States needs to get involved."

A State Department spokesman expressly stated that the since the U.S. had no involvement in Iraqi contracts, the U.S. would not "block the Iraqi government from contracting in the way it sees fit."

Earlier this month Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Fox News, "The United States government has stayed out of the matter of awarding the Iraq oil contracts. It's a private sector matter."

The Times report, however, asserts that the State Department led the team of American advisers that helped create the contracts.

File this one under the category of "Things That Make You Go 'Hmmmmm.'"

The Washington Post has a story today about a former CIA operative who claims he tried to warn the agency about bad intelligence on Iraqi weapons programs and who now says CIA officials also ignored evidence that Iran had suspended work on a nuclear bomb.

The onetime undercover agent who worked for the agency for 22 years has filed a motion in federal court asking the government to declassify legal documents describing what he says was a deliberate suppression of findings on Iran that were contrary to agency views at the time. He filed a lawsuit in 2004 alleging the CIA fired him for fighting senior bosses to file reports that went against conventional wisdom about WMD in the Middle East.

"On five occasions he was ordered to either falsify his reporting on WMD in the Near East, or not to file his reports at all," the former operative's attorney, Roy Krieger, told the Post.

The Post says the former operative, a Middle East native and fluent speaker of both Farsi and Arabic, recruited an informant who revealed secret evidence that Tehran had halted its research into designing and building a nuke. But attempts to file that information were "thwarted by CIA employees," according to court papers. Later he was told to "remove himself from any further handling" of the informant, the Post notes. The operative later was the subject of two internal investigations involving alleged sexual relations with an informant and financial improprieties. His lawyer said in court papers those probes were a "pretext to discredit."

"It would be wrong to suggest that agency managers direct their officers to falsify the intelligence they collect or to suppress it for political reasons," a CIA spokesman told the Post. "That's not our policy. That's not what we're about."

Sooo good, with their dirty, dirty tricks. As I reported yesterday, John McCain maintains his scathing denunciation of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, yet he employs one of them on his newly formed "Truth Squad," formed to respond to comments by Wesley Clark.

Now, USA Today is reporting that McCain's embrace of the Swift Boat Vets extends well beyond that:

Republican John McCain, who four years ago condemned independent ads challenging Democrat John Kerry's military record, has accepted nearly $70,000 for his presidential campaign from the top donors of the group behind the attack ads and their relatives, a USA TODAY analysis shows.

McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds said in an e-mail that McCain accepted the money because the donors are "interested in supporting (his) agenda of reform, prosperity and peace."

Wow, when is he going to unveil that agenda? It sounds good!

John McCain's embrace of this group might be his biggest act of political whoredom to date, and his most idiotic. Even Republicans have to be shaking their heads at this latest, Bill Buckner-esque blunder. Instead of letting the media start the fireworks, he tried to set off his own display, and it blew up in his face.

Update: The Obama campaign Released the Following statement this afternoon, via email:

"Senator Obama had a terrific conversation with President Clinton and is honored to have his support in this campaign. He has always believed that Bill Clinton is one of this nation's great leaders and most brilliant minds, and looks forward to seeing him on the campaign trail and receiving his counsel in the months to come," said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton.

6/24/2008 - When Senator Hillary Clinton suspended her campaign, and offered her "full throated support" to Barack Obama, his future got so bright, he had to wear shades. Now, on the heels of news that she will be campaigning with him in Unity, N.H., this Friday, comes the endorsement that could bounce Obama right into the White House. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the former President of the United States, Mr. William Jefferson Clintoooon! (through a spokesmaaaaan.) From Reuters:

"President Clinton is obviously committed to doing whatever he can and is asked to do to ensure Senator Obama is the next president of the United States," Clinton's spokesman Matt McKenna told Reuters in a one-sentence e-mail.

Sen. John McCain, struggling to connect with conservative evangelical voters, paid a visit on two of the most influential and respected religious leaders in the Christian community today. He met with Rev. Billy Graham and the heir to his evangelical association, Rev. Franklin Graham, at the Grahams' family compound in North Carolina today. McCain needs to hold on to evangelicals, traditionally Republican voters, to win the White House. But he has not been fully embraced by them, and has even seen some resistance to his campaign from powerful Christian conservatives like Dr. James Dobson, the head of the evangelical group Focus on the Family.

The meeting did not produce an endorsement for McCain, but it is unclear whether the Arizona Senator was seeking one. Franklin Graham issued a statement praising McCain and saying that he was, "impressed by [McCain's] personal faith and his moral clarity on important social issues facing America today." Billy Graham publicly thanked McCain for his, "long and brave service" to the country. McCain had words of adulation for the Grahams as well, calling Billy Graham, "a man whose family is respected, incredibly respected," and noting that the Graham family, "transcends politics in America. McCain sought to downplay the possibility of an endorsement before meeting the Grahams, saying, "there certainly is no political aspect to the meeting that I will have."

Evangelical Christians have been a staple of Republican electoral victories since at least 1980, when President Ronald Reagan won his first of two terms. With Governor Mike Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister, running in the Republican primary, evangelicals have not really had a chance to connect with McCain or his campaign. Many also remember the speech McCain gave at the end of his failed bid for the Republican nomination in 2000. In that speech, McCain called out conservative Christian leaders like the late Rev. Jerry Falwell and Rev. Pat Robertson and accused them of undermining his campaign. McCain has since moved to patch up those old wounds, meeting with Falwell before his death and speaking at his Liberty University. The meeting with the Grahams is certainly designed to place McCain in the company of well-respected religious leaders in the hopes of putting any remaining animosity between the candidate and a potentially decisive block of voters to rest.