Politico-Right-wing provocateur and well-known Clinton antagonist David Bossie says he will premiere a documentary critical of presidential candidate Barack Obama in Denver on the Sunday before the Democratic National Convention.

Expected to recycle the “greatest hits” of cable TV clips that damaged Obama’s candidacy, from the wailing of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright to Michelle Obama’s “proud of my country” gaffe, the project from Bossie’s group Citizens United released an online trailer over the weekend and is being advertised on Fox News this week. It will be released on DVD nationwide Sept. 1.

The film will offer new sound bites of Wright, some material about Chicago developer Tony Rezko, interviews with Obama’s former classmates and “at least a couple of interesting stories that people have not heard,” said Bossie. “We found some good nuggets of new information about him.”

The documentary’s trailer appears patched together from footage of Obama’s appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” Democratic primary coverage, a Larry King segment with Stephen Colbert, as well as original interviews with Fox and MSNBC conservative contributors.

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USATODAY-It would have been interesting to be a fly on the wall in Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s office a few days ago when the call came from the U.S. Embassy, demanding that he “clarify” his endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s plan to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq in 16 months.

Not only did that boost the credibility of the Democrat’s plan, it contradicted President Bush’s position that there should be no timetable for a U.S. pullout. A few hours later, U.S. officials transmitted al-Maliki’s statement that his remarks to the German magazine Der Spiegel had been “misunderstood (and) mistranslated.”

Problem fixed? Apparently not. On Monday, as Obama visited Baghdad, al-Maliki’s spokesman defiantly repeated the timetable idea, in English this time, saying the Iraqis would prefer to have U.S. troops out of Iraq by the end of 2010.

This tense back-and-forth was a vivid reminder that as conditions improve in Iraq, the U.S. is losing its ability to dictate terms to the sovereign government it has worked so hard to put in place. Less noticed is that the rapidly shifting events are beginning to make the presidential candidates’ debate over Iraq seem oddly out of sync with reality.

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NPR-Supporters of maverick Rep. Ron Paul who are organizing a rally as an alternative to the Republican National Convention are moving their crosstown event to a larger venue.

The Rally for the Republic featuring Paul — the Texas conservative failed in his bid to win the GOP nomination for president — is scheduled for Minneapolis’ Target Center, home of basketball’s Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Target Center can accommodate at least 15,000 people for such an event. Planners for the Paul event had originally considered a college basketball arena that seats about 11,000 people.

Paul is scheduled to speak during the 10-hour rally on Sept. 2, local coordinator Marianne Stebbins said. That’s the second day of the four-day GOP convention.

“We have two different goals,” Stebbins said Tuesday. “They’re there for their political convention to nominate their candidate. We’re supplementing it. Liberty is getting short shrift right now. We’re giving our people a place to go for those days.”

The Republican National Convention is set for Sept. 1-4 at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center and is expected to culminate with John McCain’s nomination.

Minnesota Republican Party Chairman Ron Carey said, “The real action is going to be at the Xcel Center where one of the people who does have a chance to be president is going to be speaking and rallying the troops. When people come to St. Paul in September, they’re not going to be focused on Ron Paul.”

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This 10 min video is unrelated to the latest gaffe, but lays to rest the notion that McCain was critical of the execution of the war, as he has claimed. There are numerous other “McCain on Iraq” clips that I’m sure McCain’s campaign team would rather forget.

The budget office said there was a better than even chance that the rescue package would not be needed before the end of 2009 and would not cost taxpayers any money. But the office also estimated a 5 percent chance that the mortgage companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, could lose $100 billion, which would cost taxpayers far more than $25 billion.

The House is expected to act this week on housing legislation that includes the proposed rescue plan. Legislative language has not been finalized, but the Congressional Budget Office said its estimates were based on the plan by the Treasury Department and that it did not expect significant changes in the final bill.

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HP-On Friday, former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman called on John McCain to compel his informal adviser Karl Rove to testify before Congress, and to remove Rove from any and all campaign capacities.

“Sen. McCain should distance himself from Karl Rove,” said Siegelman. “And I think it is important and a smart political move [for him] to call on Rove to go and obey the law and to show up before the Judiciary Committee, to put his hand on the Bible, and to try to tell the truth - or at least plead the fifth.”

Siegelman, whose controversial trial for corruption contained many Rove fingerprints, would not go so far as to claim that by employing Rove as a consultant, McCain was sullying his own good-government credentials. “That’s a question that is left to the people and the electorate and they will have an opportunity to express themselves in November,” he said.

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HP-Health Care For America Now, which is a “national grassroots campaign organizing millions of Americans to win a guarantee of quality, affordable health care for all” has been joined in their fight by Public Service Administration - the satirists who last made news when they explored the colorful depths of John McCain’s vocabulary. The result of their collaboration? “Insurance Company Rules,” which re-imagines what the world would be like if we all lived our lives the way health insurance companies do. As you might imagine, that world would be indescribably hilarious if it weren’t so awful.

Politico-While the European leg of Barack Obama’s much-touted overseas trip will take him to nations where he’s vastly more popular than John McCain, Obama is not nearly as well-liked in Israel. Polls there show Israelis prefer John McCain by as much as 20 percentage points.

Obama’s Middle Eastern swing will also take him to Jordan and possibly to Iraq, but the electoral stakes may be highest in Israel, which has long played a prominent role in American foreign policy and domestic politics.

Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor downplayed the electoral significance of the senator’s Israel visit, saying the purpose is “to convey to Israeli leaders and the Israeli people his commitment to the special U.S.-Israel relationship and his strong personal feelings of friendship. He is deeply committed to Israel’s security.”

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And a youtube response: