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:
DISSENTING JUSTICE, Firedoglake, Hot Air, The Hill, New York Times, About.com US Liberal Politics, Political Byline, Another Black Conservative, Washington Post, Guardian, NPR, Jules Crittenden, OpenSecrets.org, Newshoggers.com, Informed Comment, Progressive Fix, Political Punch, Washington Monthly, MyDD, BlueOregon, The Note, TPMDC, Wizbang, Associated Press, Mudville Gazette, Blog entry, No More Mister Nice Blog, Sister Toldjah, The Political Carnival, 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.
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, Row 2, Seat 4, The Page, Israel Matzav and American Power
David Rogers / The Politico:
War surtax: ‘Pay as you fight’
War surtax: ‘Pay as you fight’
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias, Ben Smith's Blog, The Foundry, democracyarsenal.org, National Review Online and Weasel Zippers
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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Lynn Sweet:
Obama State Dinner Official Food and Wine Menu — Place card at the Obama first state dinner (photo by Lynn Sweet) — Desert plate, Obama first state dinner (photo by Lynn Sweet) — Potato and Eggplant Salad — White House Argula with onion seed vinaigrette
Discussion:
Weekly Standard
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David Aaronovitch / Times of London:
Strip away the figleaf and reveal naysayers — Lord Lawson's foundation claims it wants a ‘balanced’ climate change debate. But really it wants to disprove the science — Yesterday in the late afternoon, after a day of leaving messages on someone's Orange answerphone (an unnamed someone) …
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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
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.
Discussion:
FiveThirtyEight, Hot Air, Weekly Standard, Left Coast Rebel, The New Republic, Bark Bark Woof Woof, marbury, FrumForum and Opinion L.A.
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:
xpostfactoid, Firedoglake, The Future of Capitalism, Beat the Press, Greg Mankiw's Blog and Prairie Weather
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 …
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.
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)?
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
The Failure Option — Josh Marshall puzzles over what's changed in American politics to make the 60 vote threshold so difficult to overcome, and argues that “we're also deluding ourselves if we do not figure in a large role for larger structural changes in our politics.
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.
Discussion:
PoliBlog, Texas on the Potomac, The Washington Independent, The Plum Line, Joe. My. God. and The Page
Elizabeth Williamson / Wall Street Journal:
Quietly, the President Finds That Golf Is No Slam Dunk — A Star on the Court, He's Called a Hacker On the Course; Fans Miss the ‘Original Guy’ — One day last summer, Gene Mulak, observing carnage in the sand trap, decided it was time to rescue the Leader of the Free World.
Tyler Cowen / Marginal Revolution:
How worried should we be about the deficit? — There have been many posts on this topic lately, start with Paul Krugman and Brad DeLong if you need to catch up. Today I have a few simple points: — 1. Even if “it is fine to borrow more” is the most likely scenario, it is not the only scenario.
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, Cato @ Liberty, The Reality-Based Community and The Agitator
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.
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 …
Chris Ariens / TVNewser:
Good Morning America Cancels Adam Lambert Concert — First on TVNewser: American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert won't be appearing on “Good Morning America” tomorrow. — TVNewser has learned ABC News canceled the concert after Lambert's sexually charged performance at the American Music Awards Sunday night.