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Prepping for Bush's arrival in Israel

The Israeli press is excited about President Bush's trip to Israel, much more so than the American press, as evidenced by the way US outlets have devoted most of their resources to the presidential primaries.

Inside the press pool in Israel

The Washington Times accompanied President Bush as he choppered from Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, en route to Jerusalem, after arriving in Israel.

American on Abbas talks: "It's just lunacy"

It was a long day in the press pool, with several presidential movements that lasted most of the day.

A midnight scene in Jerusalem

Below is a picture of CNN's Ed Henry doing a standup report from the rooftop of the Dan Panorama Hotel in Jerusalem, which is where the press is staying while President Bush is in Jerusalem (he's in the snazzier King David Hotel). It's about 12:18 a.m. local time on Thursday in this picture, but back on the East Coast it was seven hours earlier, just after 5 p.m.

Arriving in Ramallah

The White House press corps bus breezed through two Israeli checkpoints on our way to Ramallah, in advance of President Bush's visit to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Headed to Ramallah

The press corps boarded buses in Jerusalem early this morning, around 7 a.m., en route for Ramallah, in the West Bank.

Israel on his mind; a street poster not mincing words

KUWAIT CITY, KUWAIT — We've left Jerusalem, but until President Bush speaks to US troops tomorrow about the Iraq war, we'll still be thinking and talking about Israel.

What day is it, and where am I?

Today was the second long, long day in a row in the White House press corps accompanying President Bush on his trip to the Middle East.

POTUS arrives in Abu Dhabi

President Bush (President of the United States, or POTUS) arrived in the United Arab Emirates today and has been in and out of ornately decorated, lavish rooms at the airport and then at Al Mushref Palace.

Video: Russert vs. Hillary

UPDATE 2:25 p.m.:Here's Hillary saying Obama's record on the Iraq war is "fair game":Hat tip: Robert Greenwald.-- RSMUPDATE 2:05 p.m.:At least one pro-Clinton blogger scores today's "Meet the Press" session a win for Team Hillary. Christy Hardin Smith of Firedoglake:Whatever anyone may think of Sen. Clinton, she clearly prepared for this interview. She had a command of facts and voting records, and managed to slip in a "you can't just vote present" zinger at Sen. Obama with a smile on her face. . . . Her ability to turn Russert's policy and political strategy questions right back at him made me laugh out loud more than once. And his frustration at not making inroads with any of his carefully edited gotcha attempt clips was visible in the crestfallen and constipated look on his face throughout.-- RSMUPDATE 2 p.m.:Still looking for video. Meanwhile, Obama's firing back:Obama said Clinton misrepresented his record of consistent opposition to the war."What we saw this morning was why the American people are tired of Washington politicians and the games they play, said Obama, during a conference call, as he accepted the endorsement of Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri. "She started this campaign saying that she wanted to make history and lately she has been spending some time rewriting it."-- RSMUPDATE 1:50 p.m.:Jeremy Dibbell at the Moderate Voice:Hillary Clinton's "Meet the Press" appearance this morning was one of the most overt displays of the old Clintonian attack politics I've seen in this campaign. Her blatant and transparent attempts to blame Obama's campaign for"deliberately distorting" unfortunate remarks she, her husband, and others associated with her campaign have been making in recent days were, frankly, sickening and unworthy of a candidate for high national office.-- RSMUPDATE 1:40 p.m.:As predicted, the blogosphere goes wild. -- RSMUPDATE 1:30 p.m.:Still hunting the video, but here's the Associated Press account:Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton suggested Sunday that Barack Obama's campaign had injected racial tension into the presidential contest, saying her comments about Martin Luther King's role in the civil rights movement had been "distorted" by Obama's supporters. . . .Both New York Sen. Clinton and her husband, the former president, have engaged in damage control this week after black leaders criticized them for comments they made shortly before the New Hampshire primary last Tuesday.The senator was quoted as saying King's dream of racial equality was realized only when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, while Bill Clinton said Illinois Sen. Obama was telling a "fairly tale" about his opposition to the Iraq war.The former president since has appeared on several black radio programs to say he was referring to Obama's record on the Iraq war, not on his effort to become the nation's first black president.-- RSMEARLIER ...Oops, I don't have the video yet. Sorry. That was terribly unfair -- which is what Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign will likely say about Tim Russert's brutal pummeling of their candidate on "Meet the Press," today. I've checked Hot Air, Memeorandum and YouTube and still haven't found video, but it was a hard-hitting interview. Hotline On Call has some excerpts:HRC ... said a remark she made about Martin Luther King Jr.'s success turning on President Johnson's signing of the Civil Rights Act is also being mischaracterized."I think it such an unfair and unwarranted attempt to misinterpret and mischaracterize what I said," she told Russert.She said that, "This is an unfortunate storyline that the Obama campaign has pushed very selectively." . . ."If you are running for president based primarily on a speech you gave in 2002, and speeches you have given since most notably at the 2004 Democratic convention, then I think it is fair to say we need to know more beyond the words," she said.The blogosphere will go nuts over this. Whatever anyone says about Russert, it will be hard to accuse him of being "in the tank" for Hillary after this.Expect updates ...-- Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor, The Washington Times