Required Reading

1) From the New York Times, "Iran Reports Missile Test, Drawing Rebuke" by Alan Cowell.

This piece is actually datelined July 10 - it's like peering into the future!

Naturally, the presidential candidates responded to Iran's claim of testing missiles that can reach Israel. John McCain offered sober bluntness, appreciating the threat and calling for missile defense systems.

As for Barack Obama, he ignored my freely (and I daresay) charitably given advice that he refrain from public pronouncements when a teleprompter isn't available to guide him. On the Today Show, Obama first highlighted the need "to gather up all the necessary intelligence." As others have noted, this is one instance where intelligence is hardly necessary since Iran's tests and its subsequent claims were executed in a highly public fashion. Perhaps he's just getting in the habit of making sure he has "all the necessary intelligence" before ordering the Joint Chiefs into action.

Later in the interview, Obama observed, "It's in nobody's interest, including Iran's, I believe, to have a nuclear weapon that could trigger a nuclear arms race in the region." Note that Obama wants to view Iranian desires through the prism of his own thought process. This comment makes as much sense as saying in the late 1920's , "It's in nobody's interest, including Stalin's, to launch a massive collectivization plan that will kill millions of his own citizens."

I've written before that Obama is an astonishingly inside-the-box thinker. Combine that characteristic with his oft-noted historical illiteracy, and the result is a remarkable inability to appreciate the fact that other global actors have entirely different values and interests than his own. It's swell that Obama doesn't believe that it's in Iran's interest to have a nuclear weapon. Too bad the mullahs won't give him a vote.

(Video of Obama stumbling on the Today Show without a teleprompter from HotAir.com)

2) From Gallup.com, "July Leader Lost in 6 of Last 9 Competitive U.S. Elections" by Lydia Saad

Take a gander at the graph:

So good news for McCain? Not exactly. As any stats-freak could tell you, a sample size of nine isn't very big. Indeed, speaking purely statistically, it's pretty much worthless. But it's not bad news for McCain, and that in itself is something of a cause for celebration.

Presidential elections are volatile things, and news cycles spin faster now than ever. Think about six months ago and the issues that bestrode the campaign like ugly colossuses - immigration and the purported quagmire in Iraq. The former is almost completely off the grid, and the other is on its way to political witness protection. With the voting still four months away, it's impossible to know what issues will dominate the public's mind come Election Day and what factors will be shaping the campaign's dynamic.

That said…

3) From the Wall Street Journal, "Democrats Open Door to a Deal On Expanded Offshore Drilling" by Ian Talley and Stephen Power
One of the Democrats in question is Dick Durbin, who is fearfully dipping his big toe into the sordid ocean of despoiling the environment. "I'm open to drilling and responsible production," Durbin declared. And then, according to the Journal, he offered several sops to the environmentalists he's preparing to cruelly betray:

Sen. Durbin said any compromise on drilling, however, would be contingent at a minimum on a requirement that oil and gas companies sitting on existing acreage either produce oil on those areas within a specified period or return the leases to the government.