Top Items:
New York Times:
Brother of Afghan Leader Is Said to Be on C.I.A. Payroll — KABUL, Afghanistan — Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president and a suspected player in the country's booming illegal opium trade, gets regular payments from the Central Intelligence Agency, and has for much of the past eight years …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Think Progress, Democrats.com, Armchair Generalist, Politics Daily, Mudville Gazette, Sweetness & Light, The Washington Independent, At-Largely, ATTACKERMAN, Swampland, Informed Comment, Scholars and Rogues, Telegraph, Daily Kos, Taylor Marsh, The New Republic, Newshoggers.com, Washington Post, Prairie Weather, Wall Street Journal, Gawker, The Page and Boing Boing
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New York Times:
U.S. to Protect Populous Afghan Areas, Officials Say — WASHINGTON — President Obama's advisers are coalescing around a strategy for Afghanistan aimed at protecting about 10 top population centers, administration officials said Tuesday, describing an approach that would stop short …
Discussion:
The Caucus, BuzzFlash.org, The New Republic, The Page, George's Bottom Line, Commentary and Associated Press
Abu Muqawama:
The Most Important Article on Afghanistan You'll Read This Week — Why, you ask? Because if this is true, and if the CIA is empowering Ahmed Wali Karzai at the same time in which NATO/ISAF is saying abusive local power-brokers are a threat to mission success, then this is yet another example …
Discussion:
The Washington Independent
Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:
The CIA Is In Afghanistan — Here we go with another leak seemingly intended to undermine the notion that the US can succeed in Afghanistan: … The sources are described as “current and former American officials”, which is not particularly helpful. Is this an odd alliance of frustrated Bushmen and doves from Team Obama?
Discussion:
The Huffington Post
Matthew Mosk / Washington Times:
EXCLUSIVE: Democratic donors rewarded with W.H. perks — Offered access to bowling alley, movie theater — During his first nine months in office, President Obama has quietly rewarded scores of top Democratic donors with VIP access to the White House, private briefings with administration advisers …
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Bonnie Erbe:
Obama Not Comfortable With Women in Basketball, Golf ... or Anywhere Else — By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog — President Obama drew heat last week for a story that surfaced outing his private White House male-only b-ball games. The story was that even though two female members …
David Zurawik / Z on TV:
Another bad moment for White House in war on Fox — The White House keeps up its attack on Fox News as biased in this video with Valerie Jarrett, another senior adviser to President Obama making the claim. But watch how fast Jarrett folds when CNN anchor Campbell Brown asks her if pro-administration MSNBC isn't just as biased.
Jeff Zeleny / New York Times:Obama Isn't on the Ballot in Virginia Governor's Race, and Yet ...
Discussion:
msnbc.com
Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico:
Defections have Dems ISO Plan B — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's appeals for party unity landed with a thud Tuesday with the very group he needs for his public-option push to pay off: centrists who hold the key to health reform. — And not just any centrists but one who makes liberals see red …
Discussion:
The Note, Wizbang, Washington Post, Bloomberg, New York Times, Boston Globe, The Strata-Sphere and Newsweek Blogs
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CNN:
CNN Poll: 7 in 10 say Palin not qualified to be president — WASHINGTON (CNN) - More than seven in 10 Americans think Sarah Palin is not qualified to be president, according to a new national poll. — Seventy-one percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey …
Discussion:
Syracuse Post-Standard, Taegan Goddard's …, Left Coast Rebel, Dr. Melissa Clouthier and PoliBlog
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Andy Barr / The Politico:Fred to Newt: We're not ‘deaf, dumb’
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The Hill, The Atlantic Politics Channel, Politics Daily, American Power, Gateway Pundit, The Reaction and National Review
Bruce Drake / Politics Daily:
For First Time Under Obama, Majority Says U.S. Is on Wrong Track — While the stock market has picked up and the country appears to be pulling out of the recession, a majority of Americans - for the first time in the Obama presidency - says the U.S. is headed down the wrong track …
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Domenico Montanaro / msnbc.com:
FIRST THOUGHTS: BUSINESS AS USUAL — From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg — *** Business as usual: We're soon coming up on the one-year anniversary of Barack Obama's presidential win. And one of the messages he used during the two-year campaign …
Tim Redmond / Politics:
Arnold to SF: F**k You — It was hardly a bill of cosmic import, but Assemblymember Tom Ammiano's AB 1176 would have helped the Port of San Francisco with some financing issues. It's the kind of bill that legislators offer on behalf of their cities all the time — and generally, they are non-controversial.
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Wall Street Journal:
GMAC Asks for Fresh Lifeline — Lender in Advanced Talks for Third Slug of Taxpayer Cash — at Least $2.8 Billion More — In a stark reminder of how some battered financial firms remain dependent on government lifelines, GMAC Financial Services Inc. and the Treasury Department …
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John Koblin / New York Times:
Times Buyout Package Reveals More than Expected — Just over a week ago, every person in the Times newsroom was sent out a buyout package via UPS Next Day Air. If 100 staffers don't raise their hands by Dec. 7, there will be layoffs. — We got our hands on one of the thickish brown envelopes that went to employees' homes.
Michael Calderone / The Politico:
News gets worse for the MSM — There have been a lot of bad days recently for what's come to be known as the mainstream media — or MSM — but Monday was one of the worst. — New circulation figures showed that big city papers had lost as much as a quarter of their circulation in the past six months.
Josh Rogin / The Cable:
Hagel to lead Obama's intelligence oversight panel — Former Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel will soon have a new role in the Obama administration, he will be named co-chair of President's Intelligence Advisory Board. — In that capacity, Hagel will be charged with overseeing the work …
John McCain / CNN:
Why we can — and must — win the war in Afghanistan — Editor's note: John McCain is the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. — WASHINGTON (CNN) — For the first time since September 11, 2001, America is having a vigorous national debate about how to succeed in Afghanistan. This debate is entirely worth having.
USA Today:
Early reports: Job gains signal stimulus impact — WASHINGTON — States have reported using stimulus money to create or save more than 388,000 jobs so far this year, buttressing the Obama administration's claim that the $787 billion plan has had a significant impact on the economy.
Discussion:
Columns
Nick Valencia / CNN:
Police: Gang rape lasted over two hours — (CNN) — A California high school student who police said was gang raped in a two-and-a-half-hour assault outside a homecoming dance remained hospitalized in stable condition Monday, two days after she was flown from the attack scene in critical condition.
Discussion:
Neptunus Lex, Taylor Marsh, At-Largely, The Reaction, Shakesville, The Moderate Voice, Scared Monkeys and The Other McCain
San Francisco Chronicle:
Bay Bridge closed after repair falls apart — (10-27) 21:12 PDT SAN FRANCISCO — Three pieces of an emergency repair to the Bay Bridge's cantilever section made over Labor Day weekend snapped and crashed onto the upper deck of the span late Tuesday afternoon, striking three vehicles and forcing …
Paul Begala / Blogs and Stories:
Traitor Joe — Blogs and Stories — The ex-Democrat now says he'll join the GOP in a health-care filibuster. Paul Begala on Lieberman's latest and most shameless betrayal. — It's journalistic shorthand to note a politician's party identification and state after his or her name.
Discussion:
Glenn Thrush's Blog
Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Washington Sketch: A hostile climate for Sen. Inhofe the warming skeptic — It must be very lonely being the last flat-earther. — Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, committed climate-change denier, found himself in just such a position Tuesday morning as the Senate environment committee …
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