MORNING READ

Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan’s new memoir has earned him the ire of old colleagues and friends in the conservative blogosphere on Thursday. Barack Obama takes heat from conservative writers online for changing his positions on an Iraq trip and talks with Iran. And the pros and cons of Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) as Obama’s running mate are debated by bloggers on both sides.

McClellan is “worthy of contempt” for serving and defending the president at the highest levels for months while believing that the administration took the country to war on false premises, The Corner’s Mark R. Levin writes. McClellan’s predecessor Ari Fleischer notes that McClellan had told him in private that his publisher had “tweaked” passages for effect, notes Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey, who suggests that McClellan either lied to Fleisher or threw out his his principles in going along with his publisher.

McClellan has critics and defenders on the left. He should have raised his disagreements over the war five years earlier, when they could have made a difference, writes Arianna Huffington. But the Bush administration’s defenders are absurdly trying to insinuate that McClellan was the victim of a liberal ghostwriter or editor, writes The Plank’s Jason Zengerle.

Obama may now be considering a trip to Iraq, but he’s doing it only after John McCain shamed him into it and after his campaign had called McCain’s proposal for a joint trip “a political stunt,” writes Moe Lane at RedState. Obama has shown that he might have trouble standing up to rogue nations by backing away from his plan to meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the face of conservative criticism, according to RedState’s Erick Erickson.

With Webb and Congress enjoying a recess this week, blogs have turned to debating whether the first-term senator could help Obama as his ticket mate. By picking Webb, who is a strong supporter of the military and a skeptic of affirmative action and increased immigration, Obama could show the rest of the country that there’s room in his coalition for someone with views that aren’t in line with the “left-liberal” wing of the Democratic party, Ross Douthat writes. Webb, however, hasn’t taken any positions that go against the Democratic line since joining the Senate, notes Ramesh Ponnuru at The Corner. If Obama doesn’t want to hurt his chances with winning women voters, he should think about offering the job to Hillary Clinton before turning to Webb, Zengerle writes.

FROM OTHER BLOGS:
McClellan Worthy Of Contempt – Mark R. Levin, The Corner
Fleischer: Maybe His Publisher Wanted $ – E. Morrissey, Hot Air
Scotty Come Lately – Arianna Huffington, Huffington Post
The Manchurian Memoirist? – Jason Zengerle, The Plank
Obama Hopes To Change Course On Iran – E. Erickson, RedState
Obama May Go To Iraq After All – Moe Lane, RedState
Surprise: Obama Considering Iraq Trip – Allahpundit, Hot Air
Obama: A Legend In His Own Mind – Paul Mirengoff, Power Line
The Case Against Webb – Ross Douthat
Debating Webb – Ramesh Ponnuru, The Corner
More Webb Obsessing – Jason Zengerle, The Plank
McCain On ‘Nuclear Security’ – William Hartung, TPMCafe
Hillary Clinton’s General Election Strength – Todd Beeton, MyDD
Clinton’s (And Supporters’) Situational Ethics – kos, Daily Kos
Gay Marriage Headed For Political Dustbin – Devilstower, Daily Kos

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
Dem Panel Set To Resolve Clinton-Obama Delegate Dispute – LA Times
Florida And Michigan May See Delegates Halved – New York Times
On Policy, Obama Breaks Little New Ground – Washington Post
McClellan Says He Believed In Bush As War Started – Associated Press