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Nibbling at the edges of the MSM:  Imus laments that the Edwards L.C. story is "starting to become news."  ... And there's always the late-night comics' rabbithhole into public consciousness. ...

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As I noted earlier this week, the health insurance industry's Campaign for an American Solution  launched a "listening tour" on July 22 "to facilitate conversations about how to expand health care coverage to each American, reduce costs and increase the quality of care." How hard are the insurers listening? About as hard as they listen when you ask them to reconsider after they've denied your claim. On its Web site, the campaign invites citizens to "call us with your ideas at 800-289-1136." But when I phoned that number today, I got the following message: "Thanks for calling the Coalition for an American Health Care Solution. No one is available to take your call right now, so please leave your name and number and a short message. Thank you!" The recording didn't even bother with the usual (and usually insincere) promise that "someone will get back to you."

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Earlier this month, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki signaled support for a 16-month U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. In response, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) rejected Maliki’s call, disparaging the comments as the political rhetoric of “Iraqi leaders.”

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Interviewed yesterday by PBS’s Charlie Rose, however, Brookings Institution analyst and Iraq war cheerleader Ken Pollack recommended that Maliki, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), and McCain all have a similar vision of the future U.S. troop presence. McCain’s timeline for withdrawal is “pretty close” to Obama’s and Maliki’s, Pollack claimed:

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nWell, I actually think his timeline, Obama’s timeline, even McCain’s timeline are actually pretty close. Now that’s what you’ve seen over the last 18 months, that we’re now really debating months, maybe years, but really just months. Mr. McCain is basically saying he’ll begin some kind of a drawdown in 2011, 2012. Mr. Obama is saying it’d be more like 2009, 2010. And what Maliki seems to be saying is 2010, 2011 — somewhere in the middle.

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Watch it:

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It is wholly inaccurate to claim McCain’s “timeline” is “pretty close” to the others. Obama has proposed a 16-month timeline for withdrawal from Iraq. Similarly, Iraqi government spokesperson Ali Al-Dabbagh said the government wants U.S. troops out by 2010.

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In contrast, McCain rejects timelines for withdrawal and regularly lambastes the idea. He has vaguely claimed that the U.S. will leave Iraq “with victory.” In May, McCain stated the war could be over by 2013, but in January, he said notoriously multiple times that U.S. troops could stay in Iraq for “maybe a hundred” years.

Earlier this month, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki signaled support for a 16-month U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. In response, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) rejected Maliki’s call, disparaging the comments as the political rhetoric of “Iraqi leaders.”

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Interviewed yesterday by PBS’s Charlie Rose, however, Brookings Institution analyst and Iraq war cheerleader Ken Pollack suggested that Maliki, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), and McCain all have a similar vision of the future U.S. troop presence. McCain’s timeline for withdrawal is “pretty close” to Obama’s and Maliki’s, Pollack claimed:

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nWell, I actually think his timeline, Obama’s timeline, even McCain’s timeline are actually pretty close. Now that’s what you’ve seen over the last 18 months, that we’re now really debating months, maybe years, but really just months. Mr. McCain is basically saying he’ll start some kind of a drawdown in 2011, 2012. Mr. Obama is saying it’d be more like 2009, 2010. And what Maliki seems to be saying is 2010, 2011 — somewhere in the middle.

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Watch it:

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It is wholly inaccurate to claim McCain’s “timeline” is “pretty close” to the others. Obama has proposed a 16-month timeline for withdrawal from Iraq. Similarly, Iraqi government spokesperson Ali Al-Dabbagh said the government wants U.S. troops out by 2010.

n

In contrast, McCain rejects timelines for withdrawal and regularly lambastes the idea. He has vaguely claimed that the U.S. will leave Iraq “with victory.” In Might, McCain stated the war could be over by 2013, but in January, he stated notoriously multiple times that U.S. troops could stay in Iraq for “maybe a hundred” years.

A new poll put out by U.S. News and World Report asked respondents, “You just rented a vacation home on Martha’s Vineyard where the political and media elite go. Who is the last person you want as a summer neighbor?” A majority (53 percent) said right wing talker Rush Limbaugh. Fox News blowhard Bill O’Reilly came in second at 20 percent while MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann (14 percent) and Chris Matthews (13 percent) rounded out the bottom half.

Mad Men (AMC, Sundays at 10 p.m. ET) isn't just about marketing, it's also a triumph of it. You can set the matter of the show's near-excellence—its patient pacing and self-possessed performances, its yards of assertive style—on the Saarinen side table while considering the issue: The series, with its 16 Emmy nominations and 32 tons of media love, returns for its sophomore season preceded by a buzz promising down-to-The Wire thrills. How did this snazzy tiny chamber piece—set among the artful deceivers at an ad bureau in the early 1960s—achieve its aura of sliced-bread perfection?

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A daily video from Slate V.

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A front-page story in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal examined growing negativity directed at the Fuwa—the Beijing 2008 Olympic mascots. Polls show that a solid 40 percent of Chinese dislike the Fuwa (or at least espouse indifference toward them). Their creator has bitterly disowned them. And they are now being held responsible for all China's woes: The "Curse of the Fuwa" alleges that events such as the Sichuan earthquake, the Olympic torch protests, and recent disastrous flooding are all the inevitable, rotten fruit of Fuwa evil.

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