Barack Obama [Daily Show]

• Cudmudgeonly uncle-anchor Jack Cafferty has disappointed millions of women everywhere by saying, "Viagra is used to treat a medical condition, erectile dysfunction. Birth control is a lifestyle choice," when discussing John McCain's little birth control gaffe. Jack, sweetie, birth control pills do treat medical conditions and there's a good economic argument (pregnancy is expensive) for covering them. Erectile dysfunction, however, is God's way of telling you to keep it in your pants, old man. [Crooks & Liars]
• John McCain has proved a disappointment to the Secret Service by letting slip details of Barack Obama's highly secret-for-his-own-safety trip to Iraq and Afghanistan. Man, he really will do anything to keep playing his commercial about how Obama's never been. [Talking Points Memo, The Atlantic]

• By the way, McCain also doesn't know if Obama is a Socialist or not. I don't know that John McCain doesn't drink Cindy's drug-filled urine as a sedative, either. What don't you know? [HuffPo]
• The full list of Starbucks closures is now available. Caffeinated Washingtonians rejoice: Only one in D.C.! [HuffPo]
• Harold Ford got booed at Netroots Nation because he used to work at Fox News, but not because he used to date Julia Allison. [HuffPo]
• The German government has decided to let Obama speak — at the Victory Column, not the Brandenburg Gate because the Bushies kinda asked them not to. Wankers. [HuffPo]
• Scott Peterson has a blog. I think we can finally call this blogging trend over; no one's ever going to believe we're normal people now. [CNN]
• Greta Van Susteren, like, totally swears that she knows someone who knows someone whose anti-Obama copy was watered down at CNN, not that it ever happened to her and she's totally got journalistic freedom (if not freedom from the plastic surgery requirement) at Fox News and is she up for a new contract soon or something? [Fishbowl NY]

Not all of the responses to Chacón are so blatantly sexist, though many traffic in deeply held stereotypes of women. Some are saying that the appointment of a woman who lacks military training is sending a pacifist message — you know, 'cause wimmins hate war. Maribel Montaño, secretary for equality during Zapatero's first term, says that "a woman in full womanhood [leading troops]...shows that the army doesn't just have to fulfill this masculine role of force. It can be more feminine, more humanitarian." Zapatero has a record of anti-war decisions, for instance, NATO has been trying to get him to increase the number of Spanish troops in Afghanistan. He has resisted, so far.

Spanish citizens are also curious about what will happen two months from now when Chacón gives birth (Spain gives women 16 weeks of maternity leave). No doubt her continued professional excellence will quiet the right wing critics who are calling the women of Spain's cabinet an "army of seamstresses", but we predict Chacón will be fighting a more personal war at home... that of new-mother sleep deprivation.

Spain's Pregnant Defense Minister [Time]
Women Dominate Spanish Cabinet [BBC]
An 'Armchair Feminist' Who Conquered Spain [Guardian]