Top Items:
Bob Woodward / Washington Post:
McChrystal: More Forces or ‘Mission Failure’ — Top U.S. Commander For Afghan War Calls Next 12 Months Decisive — The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan warns in an urgent, confidential assessment of the war that he needs more forces within the next year and bluntly states that without them …
Discussion:
msnbc.com, Washington Monthly, Weekly Standard, Politics Daily, Think Progress, Mudville Gazette, The New Republic, Wall Street Journal, TalkLeft, Guardian, democracyarsenal.org, Outside The Beltway, Hot Air, Wonk Room, FiveThirtyEight, Taylor Marsh, Don Surber, Weasel Zippers, Political Punch, SWJ Blog, Townhall.com, Commentary, Christian Science Monitor, MoJo Blog Posts, The Confluence, Jules Crittenden, Below The Beltway, PoliBlog, EU Referendum, ATTACKERMAN, LewRockwell.com Blog, Prairie Weather, The Page, Associated Press and Truthdig
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New York Times:
General Calls for More U.S. Troops to Avoid Afghan Failure — WASHINGTON — The top military commander in Afghanistan warns in a confidential assessment of the war there that he needs additional troops within the next year or else the conflict “will likely result in failure.”
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Matthew Yglesias, Donkeylicious, DownWithTyranny!, Guardian, MyDD and EU Referendum
Washington Post:
Changes in Afghanistan, Washington May Require Shift in U.S. War Strategy — From his headquarters in Kabul, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal sees one clear path to achieve President Obama's core goal of preventing al-Qaeda from reestablishing havens in Afghanistan: “Success,” he writes in his assessment …
Discussion:
TomDispatch, The Washington Independent, Newshoggers.com, Informed Comment, Firedoglake, The Hill and George's Bottom Line
Martina Stewart / CNN:
Obama: Afghanistan strategy is still a work in progress
Obama: Afghanistan strategy is still a work in progress
Discussion:
The Atlantic Politics Channel
Alessandra Stanley / New York Times:
For President, Five Programs, One Message — No one shifted an armchair, moved a flower arrangement or asked an unexpected question. — President Obama gave five back-to-back television interviews broadcast on Sunday that were as tightly choreographed — and eerily similar …
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Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
Obama's TV Blitz: On The Air, but Off His Game? — The White House doesn't buy the notion that President Obama, who appeared on five talk shows Sunday and is heading next for David Letterman's couch, could be wearing out his welcome on the tube. — Sure, this is a president …
Discussion:
Commentary
Ross Douthat / New York Times:
The Self-Correcting Presidency — Last week, the Census Bureau released a statistical report on the last year of George W. Bush's presidency. The numbers were brutal. On every indicator, Americans lost ground during the Bush era. The median income slumped. The poverty rate increased.
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The Huffington Post:
Bush In 2008: “I'm Not Going To Tell Some Gay Kid In The Audience That He Can't Get Married” — Speechwriter Matt Latimer's new book trains its gaze on the lunacy of the late-era Bush White House. And there was plenty of material. — Latimer, who first wrote speeches and congressional testimony …
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Obama open to newspaper bailout bill — The president said he is “happy to look at” bills before Congress that would give struggling news organizations tax breaks if they were to restructure as nonprofit businesses. — “I haven't seen detailed proposals yet, but I'll be happy to look at them …
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Frank Newport / Gallup:
Americans More Likely to Say Government Doing Too Much — Belief that government is over-regulating business is at high for decade — PRINCETON, NJ — Americans are more likely today than in the recent past to believe that government is taking on too much responsibility for solving …
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Wall Street Journal:
Obama's Nontax Tax — On a Sunday show, the President offers a revealing definition. — Printer — Friendly — President Obama didn't make much news on his round of five Sunday talk shows yesterday, with one notable exception. The President revealed a great deal about his philosophy …
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Scott / Power Line:
Sliming James O'Keefe: A case study — James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles are the young activists who have blown the lid off the criminal left-wing enterprise known as ACORN. If they were left-wingers exposing some conservative or religious organization, government-funded or not …
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Big Hollywood:
Pregame Report: The NEA Conference Call — On August 25th 2009, Big Hollywood's Patrick Courrielche broke the story of a conference call he attended with other “rising artist and art community luminaries”: … The email invite came directly from Yosi Sergant, then-Director of Communications …
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Reform or Bust — In the grim period that followed Lehman's failure, it seemed inconceivable that bankers would, just a few months later, be going right back to the practices that brought the world's financial system to the edge of collapse. At the very least, one might have thought …
Urban Infidel:
Glenn Beck Derangement Syndrome — Just a normal Sunday out in the park. — Took these today on a walk. I couldn't resist. — Glenn Beck is the new George W. Bush.
Brian Stelter / New York Times:
Doubts Fade and Couric Is Energized — For much of 2008, the TV cognoscenti assumed that Katie Couric would be anywhere but in the “CBS Evening News” anchor chair by now. — But despite some of the lowest ratings in the newscast's history, she says she will remain there until her contract expires in 2011.