Top Items:
Leslie H. Gelb / Wall Street Journal:
Obama's Befuddling Afghan Policy — Why is the president hesitating on more troops to fight his ‘war of necessity’? — Printer — Friendly — I'm lost on President Barack Obama's Afghanistan policy—along with most of Congress and the U.S. military.
Discussion:
Washington Post, New York Times, McClatchy Washington Bureau, The Greenroom, Commentary, Swampland, Stop The ACLU, Newshoggers.com, Villainous Company, Outside The Beltway, JustOneMinute, BLACKFIVE, neo-neocon, The Atlanticist, The Note, The Daily Dish, American Power, Comments from Left Field and The Long War Journal
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Jim Geraghty / National Review Online:
Democrats Never Meant What They Said About Afghanistan — By: Jim Geraghty — An astonishingly honest assessment — one that I fear is accurate — from the lefty blog Hullabaloo: … The average Democrat doesn't like fighting wars. They don't like using military force.
Bill Roggio / The Long War Journal:
McChrystal to resign if not given resources for Afghanistan — Within 24 hours of the leak of the Afghanistan assessment to The Washington Post, General Stanley McChrystal's team fired its second shot across the bow of the Obama administration. According to McClatchy …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Hot Air, Washington Post, The Politico, QandO, Wall Street Journal, RedState, The Daily Dish, At-Largely, Sister Toldjah, BLACKFIVE, Neptunus Lex, NO QUARTER, TalkLeft, Taylor Marsh, Flopping Aces, The Strata-Sphere, JustOneMinute, Below The Beltway, Newshoggers.com, Wizbang, Pajamas Media, Mudville Gazette and Weasel Zippers
Spencer Ackerman / The Washington Independent:
You're Never Going to Believe This, But the Kagans Want to Add …
You're Never Going to Believe This, But the Kagans Want to Add …
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, The Daily Dish, Washington Times, understandingwar.org, ATTACKERMAN and Newshoggers.com
Victor Davis Hanson / The Corner on National …:
Two-Front Wars — Theirs and Ours — By: Victor Davis Hanson
Two-Front Wars — Theirs and Ours — By: Victor Davis Hanson
Boston Globe:
Dukakis is the best choice to fill Senate vacancy — THE MASSACHUSETTS Senate could vote as early as today on a bill to let Governor Patrick name an interim replacement for Senator Edward Kennedy. State senators should pass the measure, and Patrick should be ready to make an appointment quickly.
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Matt Viser / Boston Globe:
Senate passes successor bill
Senate passes successor bill
Discussion:
The Fix, Ben Smith's Blog, Real Clear Politics, The Page, AMERICAblog News and Swing State Project
Funny or Die:
Protect Insurance Companies PSA — Credits: Will Ferrell, Jon Hamm, Olivia Wilde, Thomas Lennon, Robert Ben Garant, Masi Oka, Jordana Spiro, Linda Cardellini, Donald Faison — Produced by Chris Bruss, Lauren Palmigiano & MoveOn.org
Discussion:
Hot Air, The Atlantic Politics Channel, New Deal 2.0, National Review Online, Cogitamus, D-Day and Wilshire & Washington
Faiz Shakir / Think Progress:
Right-Wing Radio Host Mark Levin Lashes Out At Glenn Beck: He's 'Mindless, ‘Incoherent,’ ‘Pathetic’ — In an interview with Katie Couric for her new web-only show, Fox News pundit Glenn Beck said he thinks John McCain would have been a bad president because he's “this weird progressive like Theodore Roosevelt was.”
Discussion:
CBS News, The Huffington Post, The Other McCain, Mediaite, News Hounds, D-Day, AmSpecBlog and The Daily Dish
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Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Glenn Beck and left-right confusion — Last night during his CBS interview with Katie Couric, Glenn Beck said he may have voted for Hillary Clinton and that “John McCain would have been worse for the country than Barack Obama.” This comment predictably spawned confusion among some liberals and anger among some conservatives.
Hank Johnson / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
‘Fringe element’ could easily upend America's racial progress — When I invoked the Ku Klux Klan in my remarks supporting a resolution to rebuke Congressman Joe Wilson for his outburst during the president's health care address, I expected it to ignite a national debate. And it did.
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Ian Talley / Environmental Capital:
Steven Chu: Americans Are Like ‘Teenage Kids’ When It Comes to Energy — This post was updated Monday evening. — When it comes to greenhouse-gas emissions, Energy Secretary Steven Chu sees Americans as unruly teenagers and the Administration as the parent that will have to teach them a few lessons.
Discussion:
Don Surber, Hot Air, American Glob, Moe Lane, The Foundry, Stop The ACLU, Michelle Malkin, Cafe Hayek, Sweetness & Light, Gateway Pundit and Daily Pundit
Jerusalem Post:
PM: Israel, PA agreed to begin talks without preconditions — Article's topics: Binyamin Netanyahu, Barack Obama, Mahmoud Abbas — Israel and the Palestinians have agreed to relaunch peace negotiations without any preconditions, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu declared on Tuesday.
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Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Obama's message to Abbas, Bibi: 'I'm losing patience'
Obama's message to Abbas, Bibi: 'I'm losing patience'
Discussion:
Weekly Standard
Marcus Stern / ProPublica:
Mike Ross Raises Eyebrows With Healthy Haul — Arkansas Rep. Mike Ross — a Blue Dog Democrat playing a key role in the health care debate — sold a piece of commercial property in 2007 for substantially more than a county assessment (PDF) and an independent appraisal (PDF) say it was worth.
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Wall Street Journal:
When Speechwriters Kiss and Tell — A man I hired was not the star he thought he was. — Printer — Friendly — When the sun rises over our capital city this morning, its denizens will awake to a truly novel tale: The aggrieved ex-staffer—wait for it!—disillusioned by Washington.
The Huffington Post:
Whoops: Anti-ACORN Bill Ropes In Defense Contractors, Others Charged With Fraud — Going after ACORN may be like shooting fish in a barrel lately — but jumpy lawmakers used a bazooka to do it last week and may have blown up some of their longtime allies in the process.
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Project On Government Oversight / The Project …:
If Congress Attacks the Mighty Oak of Contractor Misconduct …
If Congress Attacks the Mighty Oak of Contractor Misconduct …
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Paterson blames weak Obama record for friction — Well, this is going to make David Paterson a lot of friends in the White House, as he tries to put himself in the president's shoes: … One of the things that has made the White House angriest at Paterson is his linking his woes to the president's.
Discussion:
Gothamist
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Manu Raju / The Politico:
Byrd admitted to hospital after fall — Ambulances and fire trucks were dispatched to the Northern Virginia home of Sen. Robert Byrd Tuesday morning, and the senator was later admitted to the hospital, where he is expected to be treated for a few days. — A neighbor of the 91-year-old …
Discussion:
ABCNEWS, Don Surber, Outside The Beltway, Gawker, The Washington Independent, The Page and Firedoglake
David Corn / MoJo Sections:
Clinton on Gore: “I Thought He Was in Neverland” — On Monday, USA Today ran a front-page article on the soon-to-be-released book chronicling a series of secret interviews Pulitzer Prize-winning author Taylor Branch held with President Bill Clinton throughout the Clinton presidency.
Discussion:
The Raw Story, Connecting.the.Dots, Achenblog, Taegan Goddard's …, USA Today and Top of the Ticket
John Tierney / New York Times:
To Explain Longevity Gap, Look Past Health System — If you're not rich and you get sick, in which industrialized country are you likely to get the best treatment? — The conventional answer to this question has been: anywhere but the United States. With its many uninsured citizens …
Stephen Labaton / New York Times:
F.D.I.C. May Borrow Funds From Banks — WASHINGTON — Tired of the government bailing out banks? Get ready for this: officials may soon ask banks to bail out the government. — Senior regulators say they are seriously considering a plan to have the nation's healthy banks lend billions …
Political Punch:
After ‘Inappropriate’ NEA Conference Call, White House Pushes New Guidelines — An August 10, 2009 National Endowment for the Arts conference call in which artists were asked to help support President Obama's agenda — a call that at least one good government group called “inappropriate” …
Nina Easton / Fortune:
Condi: The should-be face of the GOP — She's smart. She's experienced. She's worldly. Republican strategists worried about their party's future should take heed.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo, The Note, democracyarsenal.org, Townhall.com and LiveWire
Andrew Pierce / Telegraph:
Prince Charles urges people to abandon car in favour of walking and public transport — The Prince of Wales is urging people to give up their cars in favour of walking and public transport to try to reduce carbon emissions. — The Prince, who has two Jaguars, two Audis …
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
THEY'RE LAUGHING AT HIM, NOT WITH HIM.... We've seen plenty of examples of health care reform opponents trying to mislead the public at town-hall events. We haven't, however, seen many examples these opponents getting mocked by their audiences. — In this video, Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.) …
New York Times:
The Rights of Corporations — The question at the heart of one of the biggest Supreme Court cases this year is simple: What constitutional rights should corporations have? To us, as well as many legal scholars, former justices and, indeed, drafters of the Constitution …
Radley Balko / Reason:
The “Tenther” Smear — The American Prospect, The New Republic, and other left-of-center outlets are pushing the “Tenther” smear, aimed at lumping those who, horrors!, still take seriously the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in with the Obama birth certificate deniers and 9/11 truthers.