Top Items:
George F. Will / Washington Post:
Time for the U.S. to Get Out of Afghanistan — “Yesterday,” reads the e-mail from Allen, a Marine in Afghanistan, “I gave blood because a Marine, while out on patrol, stepped on a [mine's] pressure plate and lost both legs.” Then “another Marine with a bullet wound to the head was brought in.
Discussion:
Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, The Corner on National …, Commentary, Think Progress, The Other McCain, Jules Crittenden, National Review Online, The Foundry, Politics Daily, Counterterrorism Blog, McClatchy Washington Bureau, Associated Press, Connecting.the.Dots, Top of the Ticket, BuzzFlash.org, Below The Beltway, The New Republic, The Politico, TPMCafe, The World Newser, The Page and ABCNEWS
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Mike Allen / The Politico:
W.H. fears liberal war pressure — White House officials are increasingly worried liberal, anti-war Democrats will demand a premature end to the Afghanistan war before President Barack Obama can show signs of progress in the eight-year conflict, according to senior administration sources.
Discussion:
The Swamp, Exurban League, AMERICAblog News, The Caucus, Washington Post and American Power
William Kristol / PostPartisan:
No Will, No Way — George Will is dismayed by American casualties in Afghanistan, unhappy about the length of our effort there, dismissive of the contributions of our NATO allies, contemptuous of the Afghan central government, and struck by the country's backwardness. — I share many of these sentiments.
Mike Allen / The Politico:
George Will calls for pull-out — George F. Will, the elite conservative commentator, is calling for U.S. ground troops to leave Afghanistan in his latest column. — “[F]orces should be substantially reduced to serve a comprehensively revised policy: America should do only what can be done from offshore …
Joe Klein / Swampland:
Glenn Greenwald — Twice in the past month, my private communications have been splashed about the internet. That such a thing would happen is unfortunate, and dishonorable, but sadly inevitable, I suppose. I ignored the first case, in which a rather pathetic woman acolyte of Greenwald's published …
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Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Beltway culture, checks on journalists and secrecy obligations — I'm ambivalent about whether even to acknowledge this obviously disturbed, Cheneyite rant from Joe Klein. On the one hand, I don't want to be dragged down into what is, for him, quite clearly a deeply emotional and personal matter …
Discussion:
TalkLeft
Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:
Please, Not In Front Of The Kids (Or The Sockpuppets... Or The Editors) — Joe Klein wastes his pixels and our time lighting into Glenn Greenwald. Whatev - Klein will never be able to move far enough left to placate his audience, as much as he tries - the Atrios/Greenwald screamers …
David Brooks / New York Times:
The Obama Slide — Two tides swept over American politics last winter. The first was the Obama tide. Barack Obama came into office with an impressive 70 percent approval rating. The second was the independent tide. Over the first months of this year, the number of people …
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Maggie Haberman / New York Post:
YOU CAN'T KEEP A BAD MAN DOWN — SPITZER IS EYEING A COMEBACK — Disgraced former Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been privately talking with friends about a possible comeback, and is considering a run for statewide office next year, several sources told The Post.
Washington Post:
Thesis Thrusts Va. Gubernatorial Candidate's Past Views Into Spotlight — The Virginia governor's race ignited Monday over Republican Robert F. McDonnell's 20-year-old graduate thesis: Democrats assailed him in e-mail blasts and interviews for what he wrote about working women, homosexuals and …
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Richard Cohen / Washington Post:
Torture's Ugly Dialogue — Call him Ishmael. — Call him a terrorist or a suicide bomber or anything else you want, but understand that he is willing — no, anxious — to give his life for his cause. Call him also a captive, and know that he works with others as part of a team …
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CBS News:
Most Americans Confused by Health Reform — CBS News Poll Finds Two Thirds of Population Scratching Heads Over Proposed Changes to Health Insurance System — (CBS) Most Americans find the health care reforms being discussed in Congress confusing and say President Obama has not clearly explained …
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Norman J. Ornstein / Washington Post:
Obama Takes Realistic Approach on Health Care — His Flexible Tactics Match Reform to Political Reality — The conventional wisdom is that President Obama and Democratic congressional leaders are on the run, that we seem to be heading for a replay of 1994, when the Clinton health-care plan went down in flames.
Discussion:
Slate, The Glittering Eye, Climate Progress, New York Times, AMERICAblog News and Washington Examiner
Charlie Savage / New York Times:
Justice Dept. to Recharge Enforcement of Civil Rights — WASHINGTON — Seven months after taking office, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is reshaping the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division by pushing it back into some of the most important areas of American political life …
Discussion:
Associated Press, Heritage Foundation, The Corner on National …, Commentary and The Page
Ernest Luning / Colorado Independent:
Bachmann: ‘Slit our wrists, be blood brothers’ to beat health care reform — U.S. Rep. Michelle Bachmann, a Minnesota Republican, chats with a supporter at an Independence Institute fundraiser in Denver on Aug. 31. (Photo/Ernest Luning) — DENVER — In a fiery speech …
Discussion:
pandagon.net, Washington Monthly, Minnesota Independent, Alas, a blog, The Washington Independent and Wonkette
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Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
GOP readies wave of objections to stall healthcare bill in Senate — Sen. Judd Gregg has hundreds of procedural objections ready for a healthcare plan Democrats want to speed through the Senate. — Gregg (N.H.), the senior Republican on the Budget Committee, told the Hill in a recent interview …
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KC Johnson / Durham-in-Wonderland:
Simply Extraordinary — Three Duke University students were the victims of the highest-profile fraudulent rape claim in modern American history. That fact alone should make the University particularly sensitive to the dangers of false rape allegations, and the need for a firm commitment …
Les Leopold / The Huffington Post:
Obama's Looming Health Care Disaster: Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places — “For the first time in American history, he wants to tax your health benefits. Apparently, Senator McCain doesn't think it's enough that your health premiums have doubled. He thinks you should have to pay taxes on them, too.”
Gateway Pundit:
CAUGHT ON TAPE: Obama HCAN Organizer Instructs Supporters How to Shout Down Opponents & Take Over Meetings — More Hope and Change— A Health Care for America Now (HCAN) organizer is caught on tape outside the meeting instructing supporters on how to shout down opponents who get up to ask …
Brad Jackson / The New Ledger:
Why Does Nancy Pelosi Have a Problem With Patriotic Music? — If you've ever been stuck on hold with a congressional office in the past, at least you've been able to enjoy some good patriotic music, as opposed to the lilting tones of generic smooth jazz that have been driving elevator users insane for decades.
The Politico:
House Dems plot health care comeback — In late July, Arkansas Rep. Vic Snyder was a fired-up partisan, declaring that health care was going to be transformed “under President Obama's leadership.” — By mid-August, the physician and moderate Democrat had been humbled …
Tom Shales / Washington Post:
‘This Week’: Talk Without The Discourse — Tom Shales On TV is a new weekly column by the Pulitzer-winning critic. He'll write not only on all things television but also about our culture and the forces that shape it. Look for him on Tuesdays. — As philosopher and pianist Chico Marx might …
John Bolton / Wall Street Journal:
Sanctions Won't Work Against Iran — The mullahs are addressing their vulnerability to a gasoline shortage. — Printer — Friendly — Last week, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Mohamed elBaradei attempted to whitewash Iran's nuclear weapons program by issuing …
Steve Kornacki / Politicker NY:
The New, Scary Mike Huckabee — I miss the old Mike Huckabee. No, not the circa-1998 porker who could have given John Madden a run for his money in a turducken eating contest; I mean the Mike Huckabee of 2007—the charming, warm-hearted country preacher who, it seemed …