Today’s edition of quick hits.
* A hint of progress, now that Bush won’t have to deal with the follow-through: “The United States joined its allies Tuesday in committing for the first time to try to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050, as the Group of Eight major industrialized nations approved a plan aimed at spurring a new worldwide treaty to limit global warming.” It’s still weak tea: “In a statement, President Bush and the other G-8 leaders said they would work with other countries to ‘consider and adopt’ the 50-percent reductions as part of a new United Nations treaty to be negotiated in Copenhagen at the end of 2009.”
* This is worth keeping an eye on: “The Federal Reserve will issue new rules next week aimed at protecting future homebuyers from dubious lending practices, its most sweeping response to a housing crisis that has propelled foreclosures to record highs…. Bernanke said the Fed may give squeezed Wall Street firms more time to tap the central bank’s emergency loan program.”
* Hagee is apparently feeling shy: “Late last week, with no prior notification, lawyers for the controversial evangelist John Hagee had a series of videos concerning the pastor removed from YouTube. The clips spanned from the contentious to the mundane; some included footage lifted from sermons Hagee had already made public, others involved documentaries made by filmmakers inside Hagee’s conventions. All told more than 120 videos were taken down in the abrupt sweep.”
* I know Mike Huckabee wants to be on the Republican ticket in the worst way, but this is just insane: “Yesterday, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee appeared on Fox News’s Hannity and Colmes to talk about Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) lack of ‘convictions.’ Huckabee held up the late conservative senator Jesse Helms as an example of someone Obama should aspire to be.”
* It appears John McCain really doesn’t like being questioned about, well, much of anything. When pressed on CNN to explain why his budget numbers don’t add up, McCain got more than a little annoyed.
* Disappointing the Republican establishment, consultant Mike Murphy announced today that he will not be part of McCain’s campaign operation. “I do not expect to join the campaign,” Murphy said. “They’re my friends, and I wish them well.”
* Waxman still wants answers: “House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) is wielding more than his gavel against Attorney General Michael Mukasey. In a letter to the AG today, Waxman brought out the big guns, stating that the Committee would vote to hold him in contempt on July 16, if he failed to produce a report on an interview with Vice President Cheney regarding the Valerie Plame leak scandal.”
* This was the subject of quite a bit of scuttlebutt: “Marcus Brauchli, whose appointment as the new executive editor of The Washington Post had been rumored for days, was officially named top editor late Monday, the Post reported on its Web site.”
* Former Senate aide Michael E. O’Neill doesn’t want a plagiarism controversy to interfere with his nomination for a lifetime position on the federal bench.
* Asked a year ago what he’d do if Maliki asked us to withdraw from Iraq, Bush said, “I don’t see how we could stay. It is his country.”
* Be still my heart — the NYT noted today that when it comes to Iraq policy, Obama has “wavered very little from the stance he took many months ago,” despite the fact that the “McCain campaign has labored hard to suggest that he is inconsistent on this issue.” Look, everyone! A reporter engaged in journalism! About the presidential campaign, no less!
* If you haven’t seen the Blue America/Color of Change full-page ad in the Washington Post today, be sure to take a look — top half, bottom half.
* For a very different perspective, consider Morton Halperin, the executive director of the Open Society Policy Center, who was on Nixon’s enemies list, and who argued today in an NYT op-ed that the FISA “compromise” isn’t that bad. “The compromise legislation that will come to the Senate floor this week is not the legislation that I would have liked to see, but I disagree with those who suggest that senators are giving in by backing this bill,” Halperin argued, adding, “As someone whose civil liberties were violated by the government, I understand this legislation isn’t perfect. But I also believe … that it represents our best chance to protect both our national security and our civil liberties. For that reason, it has my personal support.”
* On MSNBC, no McCain flip-flop is too obvious to be overlooked.
* And what has the AP stooped to? Running stories, and fielding polls, about the candidates and household pets. Seriously.
Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.