Politico

MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann gave a nearly 12-minute "Special Comment" last night on John McCain, devoting roughly the last five minutes to the campaign’s recent swipe at NBC News.

"Rick Davis’s argument is, in short, illegitimate," Olbermann said. "It is an attempt to pick a fight with the journalistic equivalent of chewing gum in class."

"Olbermanm said that "NBC and MSNBC do not have the power to seriously impact an election." And in conclusion: "Let’s have an adult campaign here, sir. In other words, and I am embarrassed to have to say this to a man who turns 72 at the end fo this month: Senator, grow up!

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During his years in the Bush Administration, former Counselor to the President Dan Bartlett was often at the forefront of major disputes between the White House and the Fourth Estate. 

And on a few notable occasions, that included his new employer, CBS.

The White House sparred with Dan Rather over his pre-invasion interview with Saddam Hussein in Baghdad. But the real battle began in September 2004, following Rather’s “60 Minutes II” report that hinged on alleged documents casting a negative light on President Bush’s Air National Guard service. After facing criticism over what became known as “Memogate,” CBS couldn’t authenticate the documents, and later apologized for the report.

“It’s a bit ironic,” Bartlett said this morning. “I was at the epicenter of that whole saga, for lack of a better word.”

“I think a lot has changed since then,” Bartlett continued, mentioning that there’s an “entirely new cast of leadership at CBS.”

Although he acknowledges there were disagreements with CBS, Bartlett said that things didn’t get personal. Indeed, the White House continued working with the network in the post-Rather period, including having President Bush sit down with anchor Katie Couric.

For CBS, Bartlett will now provide political analysis during the conventions and through November, typically alongside Joe Trippi, who will give the Democratic perspective.

“I think it’s good for the networks and other major news organizations to have balanced commentary during significant political moments,” said Barlett, who added that he expects the relationship to continue after the election.

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All three cable networks covered the joint appearances by John McCain and Barack Obama at Saddleback Church on Saturday night, but Fox came out on top.

In the 25-54 demo, Fox brought in 678,000 viewers, to CNN’s 556,000 and MSNBC’s 395,000. In total viewers, Fox led with 2,782,000. CNN followed with 1,916,000, and MSNBC with 871,000.

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Four years ago, YouTube didn’t exist, and Google wasn’t a major player at the conventions. That’s changed in 2008.

Yesterday, Google unveiled new political applications in front of a gathering of journalists in D.C., and today the Wall Street Journal reports that the company will set up a "two-story, 8,000 square-foot headquarters for hundreds of bloggers" at the Democratic Convention, with a similar set up at the Republican gathering.

With its financial support for the "Big Tent" blogger facility at the Democratic convention, Google stands to gain exposure and goodwill from 500 or so bloggers who paid $100 for access to the facility, run by a coalition of bloggers. Google’s software and services will be featured, including a kiosk in the public area of the tent where anyone can post videos on YouTube.

With the potential for a blogger around almost every corner and delegates with cellphone cameras everywhere, including private parties that shut out journalists and bloggers, privacy will be hard to come by.

If that’s not enough, Google’s also partnered with Vanity Fair on a much-hyped, end-of-the-convention bash.

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I’ve read enough Veepstakes articles today to know that Barack Obama is going to pick a running mate. The selection will happen at some point, likely with a "rollout," and possibly in the morning. Which morning? "Perhaps as soon as Wednesday morning," says the Times. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps….

In the Washington Post, Dan Balz writes on how jumpy everyone’s gotten in the press lately.

Nothing is certain, and one sign of how jittery everyone is about the timing and the choice came yesterday afternoon, when the gossipy Drudge Report posted an item that said, "Paper: Obama may announce VP in AM." That set off alarms in newsrooms across the country until Obama advisers shot it down — although it was not clear exactly what they were shooting down, other than that the announcement would come early this morning.

Guess I’m stuck relying on this thing.

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For the first week in nine months, the presidential election wasn’t the top media story of the week. That distinction goes instead to the conflict in Georgia, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism. With increased media interest came questions about how the candidates would react to this "3 a.m. crisis" in the Caucasus.

And while Obama continued to receive more coverage this past week, the difference wasn’t as great as in previous weeks, 63 to 50 percent.

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The Atlantic’s James Fallows was in China for the primaries, and missed all the action in real-time. So to catch up, he just watched all 47 Democratic and Republican primaries (and Obama’s 2004 debates with Alan Keyes) straight through, in order to get a sense of how the three upcoming presidential debates might play out.

Fallows writes quite a bit about the debating styles of Obama and McCain, while also paying attention to the 40-plus moderators, too.

Fallows found local reporters and those from NPR and PBS to be the "most respectful." Wolf Blitzer was "the most intrusive and self-aggrandizing," yet his CNN colleague Anderson Cooper showed a "nice combination of assertiveness and good-humored restraint." Brian Williams kept control while asking a lots of "meaty" questions. As for the late Tim Russert, Fallows described his "questioning mode" as "mostly unfortunate."

And what about the most controversial debate of the cycle?

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Helen Thomas doc leaves out columnist’s Israel criticism.

News & Observer editor breaks off the record agreement with Edwards.

Chuck Todd will always be on the air next week.

Kristol column gets tweaked for the web.

It was a Keller-ific weekend at the Times.

Who’s better on Obama: Dowd or Milbank?

Widow of Hunter S. Thompson hits the trail.

Dan Abrams and Geraldo Rivera put that whole MSNBC/ Fox News rivalry aside in the Hamptons.

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John McCain will appear on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" next Monday, the first night of the Democratic Convention, according to a network release.

McCain will be joined by Olympic silver medal swimmer Dara Torres and musical guest (and former Blake Babies member) Juliana Hatfield.

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Dan Bartlett, former counselor to President Bush and his longest-serving aide in the White House, joins CBS News as a political analyst.

The release, by way of TVNewser, after the jump.

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