SUNDAY ROUNDUP

With Russian forces overwhelming a northern Georgian province, Barack Obama is taking heat from conservative bloggers for belatedly condemning Russian aggression. Internal e-mails from Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (D-N.Y.) presidential campaign show that it was as rife with conflict as bloggers suspected. And President Bush resisted a potentially embarrassing situation, according to bloggers on the right.

Obama’s weekend statements about the Caucusus conflict showed him shifting from being an internationalist who wanted both Russia and Georgia to exercise restraint to being a “McCain-like warrior” who condemned Russia’s actions, writes Gateway Pundit. Obama showed that he isn’t ready to become president by issuing what John McCain had called a “meaningless statement” that equated victims, the Georgians, with victimizers, the Russians, according to Power Line’s John Hinderaker. But McCain’s statement showed that he’s too anxious to exacerbate war and fails to appreciate foreign policy nuance, writes Steve Benen at The Carpetbagger Report.

Clinton campaign e-mails show strategist Mark Penn advocated to portray Obama having a “limited connection to American values,” notes PunditMom, who urges Democrats to distance themselves from Penn before he further damages the party. The e-mails hurt Obama’s argument he’s being unfairly attacked by McCain, who can now point out that Obama’s fellow Democrats had similar concerns about the first-term senator, writes Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey.

Bush deserves a gold medal for restraint for bucking beach volleyball tradition and not slapping the behind of U.S. Olympian Misty May-Treanor, writes Robert Stacy McCain. Though May-Treanor asked Bush if he wanted to give a slap, “wanting to” isn’t the only consideration for someone in public life, writes the Top of the Ticket’s Andrew Malcolm, who notes that Bush did slap the small of her back.

FROM THE BLOGS:
Surprise! Obama Flip-Flops on Russian War – Gateway Pundit
‘Meaningless Statements’ – John Hinderaker, Power Line
Obama Turns More Hawkish – Cernig, Newshoggers
Russia, Georgia and McCain’s Belligerence – S. Benen, Carpetbagger
Brzezinski: Attack Reminiscent of Stalin’s – N. Gardels, HuffPo
Was Mark Penn Off His Meds? – PunditMom, MOMocrats
Hillary’s Campaign E-mails – DRJ, Patterico’s Pontifications
Fear and Loathing in the Dem Party – Ed Morrissey, Hot Air
I Am America and So Aren’t You – Kevin Drum, Political Animal
But He Gave Up Golf – Andrew Sullivan, The Daily Dish
Imagine What Clinton Would’ve Done – R.S. McCain, Other McCain
Bush Declines to Slap Bikinied Butt – A. Malcolm, Top of The Ticket

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
In Loose Style, McCain Leads A Camp Divided – New York Times
Clinton, M. Obama to Get Headline Spots – Washington Post