Top Items:
New York Times:
Obama Is Considering Strategy Shift in Afghan War — WASHINGTON — President Obama is exploring alternatives to a major troop increase in Afghanistan, including a plan advocated by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to scale back American forces and focus more on rooting out Al Qaeda there and in Pakistan, officials said Tuesday.
Discussion:
Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Laura Rozen's Blog, The Moderate Voice, The Note, Think Progress, D-Day, The Reaction, Associated Press, Obsidian Wings, BLACKFIVE, Wall Street Journal, Neptunus Lex, DownWithTyranny!, The Page, MyDD, Informed Comment, EU Referendum, The Plum Line, Jules Crittenden, Taylor Marsh, marbury, The Washington Independent, National Review Online, ATTACKERMAN, Reuters, McClatchy Washington Bureau and The Lede
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Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
At Pentagon's Request, Washington Post Delayed Story on Afghanistan Report — To Bob Woodward, it was the modern-day equivalent of the Pentagon Papers. But to Obama administration officials, the classified assessment of the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, if disclosed by The Washington Post …
Fred Kaplan / Slate:
It's Not About the Troops — Only a legitimate Afghan government can beat the Taliban. — The push is on for President Barack Obama to send more troops to Afghanistan, perhaps as many as 40,000 more. Boxing in Obama was almost certainly the aim of whoever gave the Washington Post's Bob Woodward …
Nile Gardiner / Telegraph:
The UN loves Barack Obama because he is weak — It is not hard to see why a standing ovation awaits Barack Obama when he addresses the United Nations General Assembly today, writes Nile Gardiner. — Barack Obama's Gallup approval rating of 52 percent may well be lower at this stage …
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Sharon Otterman / New York Times:Obama Calls for a New Era of Global Engagement
Discussion:
The Page
Mark McDonald / New York Times:
Palin Speaks to Investors in Hong Kong — HONG KONG — Sarah Palin, in what was billed as her first speech overseas, spoke on Wednesday to Asian bankers, investors and fund managers. — A number of people who heard the speech in a packed a hotel ballroom, which was closed to the media …
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BREITBART.COM:
Palin slams Obama's spending in debut speech in Asia — Former US vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin said the US government was wasting taxpayers' money and could aggravate poverty, said delegates at her first speech outside North America on Wednesday. — Palin, the former governor of Alaska …
Discussion:
Don Surber
The Huffington Post:
Conservatives Turn Their Sights On Health Care Reform's Most Obvious Provision — Democrats are bracing themselves for a new line of conservative attack against a provision in the health care legislation once considered so non-controversial that it was endorsed by several major Republican officials.
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Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
THE GOP REVERSAL ON INDIVIDUAL MANDATES.... In many cases, Republican lawmakers asked Democratic leaders to make specific concessions on health care reform. When Dems like Max Baucus agreed, the GOP balked anyway. — But there are other areas in which Democrats simply embrace policy ideas endorsed, or even created by, the right.
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:Washington Sketch: On Health Care, Republicans Aren't Listening
Discussion:
Think Progress
Mike Soraghan / The Hill:
Pelosi backs away from deal with Blue Dogs — Speaker Pelosi is backing away from a deal she cut with centrists to advance health reform, said a source familiar with talks. — Pelosi's decision to move away from the agreement that was made with a group of Blue Dogs to get the bill …
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Erica Werner / Associated Press:
Budget chief contradicts Obama on Medicare costs — WASHINGTON — Congress' chief budget officer is contradicting President Barack Obama's oft-stated claim that seniors wouldn't see their Medicare benefits cut under a health care overhaul. — The head of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office …
Discussion:
Villainous Company, Commentary, Wonk Room, cms.hhs.gov, Hot Air, The Politico, The Foundry, Michelle Malkin and Betsy's Page
Mike Lux / The Huffington Post:
Triggering a Democratic Civil War — Media reports and insider buzz make it increasingly clear that key people at the White House have become obsessed with Olympia Snowe on health care, and are willing to do pretty much whatever she demands in order to get her on board.
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh
Charlie Savage / New York Times:
Justice Dept. to Limit Use of State Secrets Privilege — WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is preparing to impose new limits on the government assertion of the state secrets privilege used to block lawsuits for national security reasons. The practice was a major flashpoint in the debate …
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Carrie Johnson / Washington Post:
Obama to Set Higher Bar For Keeping State Secrets — New Policy May Affect Wiretap, Torture Suits — The Obama administration will announce a new policy Wednesday making it much more difficult for the government to claim that it is protecting state secrets when it hides details …
Discussion:
The Washington Independent, The BLT, Law Blog, The Volokh Conspiracy, MoJo Blog Posts, Political Punch and The Page
Fox News:
Up to 24 More People Sought as NYC Tightens Security in Terror Probe — NEW YORK — Police in New York City stepped up their patrols and increased their random searches on subways and buses Wednesday following reports that as many as 24 more people are being sought in a suspected cross-country terror plot.
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Rasmussen Reports:
Election 2010: Missouri Senate — 2010 Missouri Senate: Blunt 46%, Carnahan 46% — Democrat Robin Carnahan and Republican Roy Blunt are dead even in the first Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 survey of the hotly contested race for the U.S. Senate in Missouri.
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Glenn Beck, Post-Modern Conservative — Buried in the cross-tabs of the new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll is a question that takes a temperature reading of Glenn Beck. Beck actually makes out pretty well. While just 24 percent of Americans have a favorable view of him (13 percent strongly so) …
Ryan Young / The Politico:
Cap-and-trade will depress home prices — Cap and trade is back in the news. By the end of this month, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) is expected to unveil new legislation along the lines of the Waxman-Markey bill, which passed the House on June 26.
Discussion:
Hot Air
Derrick Nunnally / Philly.com:
State rules Montco pool discriminated by banning campers — A state investigation found that a Montgomery County swim club racially discriminated against 56 African-American and Hispanic children in June when it revoked an agreement to allow a Northeast Philadelphia day camp to use its pool after the children' first visit.
Discussion:
Pam's House Blend
Wall Street Journal:
Delayed Foreclosures Stalk Market — Debra and Arthur Scriven were served notice in June 2008 that their mortgage lender, a unit of Citigroup Inc., was preparing to foreclose on their home. Fifteen months later, the Scrivens are still in their home near Columbia, S.C., and battling to stay there …
Discussion:
The Big Picture
Brian Faughnan / The Conservatives:
Union Boss Campaigns for Obama, Runs Union... from his Federal Office — It seems that no matter where you turn, there are federal government workers pushing a partisan agenda with taxpayer dollars: from the NEA, to ACORN, to union bosses campaigning for Barack Obama while on the job:
Discussion:
Riehl World View
Ashley Womble / Cosmopolitan.com Conversation Starters …:
Senator Is the Centerfold — Long before he was a politician, the Republican candidate vying for Ted Kennedy's U.S. Senate seat posed nude for the centerfold of Cosmo. Scott Brown won our “America's Sexiest Man” contest and appeared in the June 1982 issue.
CNN:
McCain blasts ‘disconnect’ between WH and military leaders — WASHINGTON (CNN) - Sen. John McCain questioned the Obama administration's approach in Afghanistan Tuesday, saying he has never seen such a “disconnect” between the White House and leaders of the U.S. military.
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