Top Items:
McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Obama plans to send 34,000 more troops to Afghanistan — WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama met Monday evening with his national security team to finalize a plan to dispatch some 34,000 additional U.S. troops over the next year to what he's called “a war of necessity” in Afghanistan, U.S. officials told McClatchy.
Discussion:
The Hill, Washington Post, Another Black Conservative, Hot Air, New York Times, The Note, Washington Monthly, Progressive Fix, Newshoggers.com, Taegan Goddard's …, Wizbang, Guardian, Informed Comment, Jules Crittenden, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Political Punch, Sister Toldjah, Blog entry, Shakesville, No More Mister Nice Blog, Neptunus Lex, TPMDC and Corrente
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Mike Allen / The Politico:
Obama makes a Ron Brownstein blog post mandatory reading for the West Wing — Heilemann/Halperin announce title — Fleischer's to defend BCS — Morrell b'day — BULLETIN: President Obama is expected to address the nation next TUESDAY (a week from today) on his new Afghanistan policy, likely in PRIME TIME, Playbook is told.
Mike Allen / The Politico:
Obama to address nation next week — President Obama is expected to announce his Afghanistan policy with an address to the nation next Tuesday, Dec. 1, likely in prime time, officials told POLITICO. — Obama held his ninth formal Afghanistan strategy session in the Situation Room on Monday night.
CNN:
CNN Poll: Americans divided over troop buildup in Afghanistan — Washington (CNN) - If President Barack Obama decides to send 34,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, a new national poll indicates Americans would be split over whether to support such a move.
Toby Harnden / Telegraph:
Barack Obama to host first state dinner in huge tent
Barack Obama to host first state dinner in huge tent
Discussion:
Obama Foodorama, JammieWearingFool, The Moderate Voice, Israel Matzav, Row 2, Seat 4, The Page and American Power
Jeff Zeleny / The Caucus:
Obama Plans Afghan Address Next Week
Obama Plans Afghan Address Next Week
Discussion:
Think Progress, Top of the Ticket, Danger Room, Hotline On Call, Stop The ACLU and Wall Street Journal
Andrew Bolt:
Even Monbiot says the science now needs “reanalyising” — Even George Monbiot, one of the fiercest media propagandists of the warming faith, admits he should have been more sceptical and says the science now needs to be rechecked: … Sure, Monbiot claims the fudging of what he extremely optimistically puts …
Discussion:
NewsBusters.org, Watts Up With That?, Stop The ACLU, Biased BBC, JammieWearingFool, Classical Values and TBR.cc
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George Monbiot / Guardian:
Global warming rigged? Here's the email I'd need to see — The leaked exchanges are disturbing, but it would take a conspiracy of a very different order to justify sceptics' claims — It's no use pretending this isn't a major blow. The emails extracted by a hacker from the climatic research unit …
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, Pajamas Media, QandO, Jules Crittenden, Climate Progress, NEWS.com.au, Tim Blair and The Corner on National …
George Monbiot / Monbiot.com:
The Knights Carbonic — The conspiracy which proves that manmade global warming is a scam — It's no use pretending that this isn't a major blow. The emails extracted by a hacker from the climatic research unit at the University of East Anglia could scarcely be more damaging(1).
Wall Street Journal:
1 in 4 Borrowers Under Water — The proportion of U.S. homeowners who owe more on their mortgages than the properties are worth has swelled to about 23%, threatening prospects for a sustained housing recovery. — Nearly 10.7 million households had negative equity in their homes in the third quarter …
Wall Street Journal:
Lieberman Digs In on Public Option — Sen. Joseph Lieberman, speaking in that trademark sonorous baritone, utters a simple statement that translates into real trouble for Democratic leaders: “I'm going to be stubborn on this.” — Stubborn, he means, in opposing any health-care overhaul that includes a …
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Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Dem: We will finish health bill by State of the Union
Dem: We will finish health bill by State of the Union
Discussion:
The Atlantic Politics Channel
Ezra Klein:
The small-d democratic case against the filibuster — “Are progressives really willing to take their chances with a future GOP-controlled Senate empowered to pass whatever they have 51 votes for?” asks Scott Winship. “With the Supreme Court nominees who could be seated (to say nothing of other judgeships)?
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David Brooks / New York Times:
The Values Question — It's easy to get lost in the weeds when talking about health care reform. But, like all great public issues, the health care debate is fundamentally a debate about values. It's a debate about what kind of country we want America to be.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, The Future of Capitalism, Beat the Press, Greg Mankiw's Blog and Prairie Weather
Alexander Burns / The Politico:
Dobbs mulls White House bid — Former CNN host Lou Dobbs fueled already rampant speculation about his political future Monday, sending the clearest signals yet that he's mulling a bid for president—and leaving third-party political operatives salivating over the possibility of a celebrity recruit for the 2012 campaign.
Matthew Dowd / Washington Post:
Yes, she can: Palin has a shot at the presidency — How Sarah Palin might win the White House — President Sarah Palin. To many pundits and late-night comedians, this sounds like a punch line, and to many die-hard Democrats it sounds like a reason to leave the country.
New York Times:
Conservatives Make a List to Measure Candidates' Commitment — WASHINGTON — A group of conservative Republican leaders is proposing a solution to the internecine warfare over what the party should stand for: a 10-point checklist gauging proper adherence to core principles …
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Peter Wallsten / Washington Wire:
Some Conservatives Push a ‘Purity Test’ for GOP Candidates
Some Conservatives Push a ‘Purity Test’ for GOP Candidates
Discussion:
RedState
Adam Liptak / New York Times:
Right and Left Join to Take On U.S. Over Criminal Justice — WASHINGTON — In the next several months, the Supreme Court will decide at least a half-dozen cases about the rights of people accused of crimes involving drugs, sex and corruption. Civil liberties groups and associations …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Gawker, SCOTUSblog, Cato @ Liberty, The Foundry, The Reality-Based Community and The Agitator
Noel Sheppard / NewsBusters.org:
Katie Couric Uses Christmas Poem To Campaign For ObamaCare — The advocacy on display Monday by “CBS Evening News” anchor Katie Couric was almost unimaginable. — In her “Notebook” video posted at CBSNews.com, Couric read a poem fashioned after Clement Clarke Moore's classic “The Night Before Christmas.”
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John Cook / Gawker:
Katie Couric's Forbidden Dance of Gin
Katie Couric's Forbidden Dance of Gin
Discussion:
Political Byline, Weasel Zippers, Pajamas Media, Hot Air, Dennis the Peasant and Joe. My. God.
Washington Times:
Top Republican lawmakers not attending State Dinner — While the White House is mum about who will be among the 300 or so lucky invitees to President Obama's first state dinner Tuesday night, word is already leaking out about who's not going to be there. — Chief among the non-attendees: top Republican lawmakers.
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Lynn Sweet / Politics Daily:
First Obama State Dinner: Lucky 400 at Tuesday Bash
First Obama State Dinner: Lucky 400 at Tuesday Bash
Discussion:
ABCNEWS, Scared Monkeys, Deadline.com, Lynn Sweet, Political Punch, Obama Foodorama, JammieWearingFool and Los Angeles Times
Andrew Ross Sorkin / New York Times:
Beware the Result of Outrage — The biggest news story of last week? — O.K., maybe it was Oprah Winfrey announcing she was going to call it quits with her daytime show in 2011. — But it's a close call. Though Oprah sucked up a lot of the media oxygen, last Thursday was an important …
Pamela Geller / American Thinker:
Free Speech Silenced at Columbia and Princeton — Nonie Darwish, the executive director of Former Muslims United and author of Cruel And Usual Punishment: The Terrifying Global Implications of Islamic Law, was scheduled to speak at Columbia and Princeton University last week …
Discussion:
Israel Matzav