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:
Washington Post, DISSENTING JUSTICE, The Hill, Hot Air, Firedoglake, New York Times, Washington Monthly, OpenSecrets.org, Another Black Conservative, NPR, Progressive Fix, The Note, Newshoggers.com, Jules Crittenden, Guardian, Informed Comment, Political Punch, MyDD, Mudville Gazette, TPMDC, Associated Press, Taegan Goddard's …, Wizbang, Blog entry, No More Mister Nice Blog, Sister Toldjah, Neptunus Lex, Shakesville 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.
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.
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Envoy to Telluride — As President Obama and a small circle of aides and advisers work out the scale, details, and optics of the American strategy in Afghanistan this week, one key figure will be out of town. — Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke — who met Afghan President Hamid Karzai …
Toby Harnden / Telegraph:
Barack Obama to host first state dinner in huge tent — A huge tent has been pitched on the White House lawn to accommodate 400 guests at Barack Obama's first state dinner. — An invitation to the event on Tuesday evening has become the most sought-after ticket in the US.
Discussion:
Obama Foodorama, The Moderate Voice, JammieWearingFool, Row 2, Seat 4, The Page, Israel Matzav and American Power
Mike Allen / The Politico:
Obama to announce Afghan policy
Obama to announce Afghan policy
Discussion:
Josh Gerstein's Blog, The Caucus, Politics Daily, The Page, The Washington Independent and Weasel Zippers
David Rogers / The Politico:
War surtax: ‘Pay as you fight’
War surtax: ‘Pay as you fight’
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, The Foundry, democracyarsenal.org, National Review Online, Weasel Zippers and Hot Air
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:
Power Line, NewsBusters.org, Watts Up With That?, Stop The ACLU, Biased BBC, JammieWearingFool, Climate Audit, Classical Values and TBR.cc
RELATED:
George Monbiot / Monbiot.com:
The Knights Carbonic — The conspiracy which proves that manmade global warming is a scam
The Knights Carbonic — The conspiracy which proves that manmade global warming is a scam
George Monbiot / Guardian:
Global warming rigged? Here's the email I'd need to see
Global warming rigged? Here's the email I'd need to see
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, QandO, Jules Crittenden, Climate Progress, Pajamas Media, NEWS.com.au, Tim Blair and The Corner on National …
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 …
Discussion:
Scared Monkeys, The Big Picture, Clusterstock, Associated Press, TigerHawk, The Page and Gawker
CNN:
RNC official resigns — Washington (CNN) - A senior aide to Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele has resigned his post less than one month after the GOP scored major victories by winning the governorships of New Jersey and Virginia, CNN has learned.
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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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Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Democrats Damned If They Do; Damnder If They Don't
Democrats Damned If They Do; Damnder If They Don't
Discussion:
Free exchange
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.
Paul Krugman:
Gee, that's De Pressing — Second estimate of third-quarter GDP out; growth rate marked down to 2.8%. — This is really quite grim. At this growth rate it's far from clear that we're doing anything to reduce the output gap — the gap between what the economy could produce and what it's actually producing.
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.
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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Andy Barr / The Politico:
Palin to Obama: Acknowledge troops — Former Alaska GOP Gov. Sarah Palin on Monday accused President Barack Obama of not acknowledging the sacrifices made by the men and women in the U.S. military. — “There's been a lack of acknowledgement by our president in understanding …
Adam Liptak / New York Times:
Right and Left Join Forces on 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 of defense lawyers have lined up on the side of the accused.
Discussion:
Washington Post, The Foundry, Gawker, SCOTUSblog, The Reality-Based Community, Cato @ Liberty and The Agitator
Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Inspector General: Rhee visited me to intervene for Johnson — On June 27, 2008, Michelle Rhee, head of the Washington, D.C., school system, paid a visit to Gerald Walpin, who was inspector general of the government volunteer organization AmeriCorps. — At the time, Walpin was investigating …
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Fiscally Responsible Stimulus With Front-Loaded Infrastructure Investments — Light rail construction in Seattle (cc photo by Oran Viriyincy) — On a call with bloggers earlier today to talk about job creation policies, Nancy Pelosi outlined a smart idea for “front-loading” …
Pat G. / Think Progress:
Pelosi warns of history repeating itself ‘if we pull our punch’ on job creation. — With the unemployment rate above 10 percent and states across the country facing budget shortfalls, Democrats in Congress are looking at various measures to spur job creation.
Zogby:
NY Senator Gillibrand Facing Tough Election Fight — Zogby International Poll Shows Senator Running Even with Giuliani and Leading Pataki in Potential 2010 General Election Match-ups — UTICA, New York—In what could be one of the most hotly contested Senate races in 2010 …