[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!!

This is just pathetic. The media has graciously kept the details of Obama's Iraq visit private, because of legitimate security concerns. So leave it to McCain try to blow that up by speculating on the details of Obama's visit.

DIGG IT UP!

Oh this is good. Finally we see Obama going on the attack BIG TIME, focusing on the nonsense McCain has been spewing for the past few days. This smackdown comes courtesy of Robert Gibbs. Read below for the takedown.

Delicious. The WSJ is reporting that Chuck Hagel will join Obama on his trip to Iraq. This is an excellent development sure to piss off the McCain camp. A nice poke in the eye for them, considering that they've been using Lieberman to such annoying effect.

This has to be the most absolutely pathetic response to a controversy I've seen recently. On the heels of Phil Gramm's boneheaded comments, McCain, after initially defending the comments, was forced to backtrack. Obama of course jumped on the comments as only he can. McCain's reponse: Oh you'll have to go below the jump to watch this jewel.

Image courtesy of Blue Jersey.

In what is possibly the most disgusting tactic of the election cycle so far, a Local New Jersey GOP Club has resorted to comparing Obama to an alleged murderer.

Now, this is not to get ahead of ourselves. We've got a long way to go, and a media that seems to be giving Barack Obama MUCH more scrutiny than McCain. But that is not to say that things are going swimmingly for Mr. McCain.

Rudy Giuliani is some special kind of stupid. Apparently not tired of having Joe Biden hand him his ass just about every time he speaks, he is now apparently trying to restart his campaign.

Obama's primary performance in West Virgina was by all accounts pretty pathetic. He didn't win anywhere (although he did only lose Jefferson County 49/46), and there has been a lot of discussion about his "problem" in that part of the country. Notwithstanding that, this story is heartening, so I bring it to you to brighten your day.

This is pretty stunning if true. There have been MULTIPLE reports, both on TV (above) and in print regarding Bill's...reluctance to get on  board the Obama train. But if this report is true, the rift may be impossible to repair.

Breaking news and it is very good. Obama has solid leads in four battle ground states.

CNN has a live video link.

MSNBC has the entire conference.

Breaking news, from ABC and CNN (via AC360).

This is just bizarre. In the wake of Obama's announcement to forego public financing, we got the predictable whining from McCain. Oh, but it doesn't stop there. Check below the jump for details.

It seems that Cindy McCain just can't help herself. Almost two months after getting caught lifting food recipes and calling them her own, Ms. McCain has gotten caught with her hand in the figurative cookie jar.

NBC's recent poll has gotten the pundits worked up over Obama's alleged problem with "suburban women." Although Obama leads among all women by whopping 19 points, NBC decided to dig real deep so they could find a problem for Obama. To prove the point, NBC points out that Obama is losing among this sub-group 44-38. The problem? The numbers are (1) misleading, and (2) wildly unreliable.

There is a lot of talk about Washington being merely a "lean Obama" state, even though most recent polls have given Obama a very solid lead. Now comes a Survey USA poll which simply says that McCain has no chance here.

Good for her. In the wake of the overwhelming pushback and criticism on what seemed to be a fairly brazen campaign to be the VP nominee, Hillary seems to have realized that (assuming she wants it) the campaign has backfired.