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, Hot Air, VetVoice, Firedoglake, New York Times, Another Black Conservative, Guardian, About.com US Liberal Politics, Political Byline, Progressive Fix, The Hill, Washington Post, NPR, Newshoggers.com, OpenSecrets.org, Jules Crittenden, Political Punch, MyDD, Informed Comment, Wizbang, Washington Monthly, TPMDC, The Note, BlueOregon, Mudville Gazette, Blog entry, No More Mister Nice Blog, Associated Press, Sister Toldjah, Neptunus Lex, Shakesville, The Political Carnival 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.
Discussion:
The Foundry, The New Republic, Mediaite, Ben Smith's Blog, Corrente, The Washington Independent and National Review Online
Jeff Zeleny / The Caucus:
Obama Plans Afghan Address Next Week
Obama Plans Afghan Address Next Week
Discussion:
Josh Gerstein's Blog, VetVoice, Top of the Ticket, Danger Room, Stop The ACLU, Hotline On Call, Think Progress and Indecision Forever
CNN:
CNN Poll: Americans divided over troop buildup in Afghanistan
CNN Poll: Americans divided over troop buildup in Afghanistan
Discussion:
New York Times, The Caucus, The Atlantic Politics Channel, The Confluence and DownWithTyranny!
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
Carol E. Lee / The Politico:
Obama: I'll ‘finish the job’ in Afghanistan
Obama: I'll ‘finish the job’ in Afghanistan
Discussion:
Commentary, Washington Post, The Corner on National …, Politics Daily, The Page and Weasel Zippers
Robert Stacy McCain / The Other McCain:
NEWS ALERT: Kentucky State Police Will Announce Sparkman Investigation Result UPDATE: Official: It Was Suicide — UPDATE 2:15 p.m.: It's now official: Bill Sparkman committed suicide. So much for “Southern populist terrorism” — and the credibility of Andrew Sullivan.
Discussion:
Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, CBS News, The Jawa Report, RedState, WKYT-TV, AmSpecBlog, The Washington Independent and Confederate Yankee
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Michelle Malkin:
When will the Left retract the Kentucky census worker case smear? — Reminder: This was the smear graphic spread on far Left blogs that accuses prominent conservatives of contributing to the death of Kentucky census worker Bill Sparkman. Note the caption at the bottom: “He reaped what they sowed.”
Bill Estep / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Census worker in Kentucky killed self, officials conclude
Census worker in Kentucky killed self, officials conclude
Discussion:
Raw Story
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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Rowan Scarborough / Fox News:
Navy SEALs Face Assault Charges for Capturing Most-Wanted Terrorist — Navy SEALs have secretly captured one of the most wanted terrorists in Iraq — the alleged mastermind of the murder and mutilation of four Blackwater USA security guards in Fallujah in 2004.
The Huffington Post:
Alex Castellanos To Continue CNN Gig, Downplays New Post At RNC — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — Longtime Republican media strategist Alex Castellanos will continue to serve as an on-air personality for CNN despite recently taking on a consulting role for the Republican National Committee, the network confirms.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Plum Line, Talking Points Memo, TPMDC, Ben Smith's Blog and The Fix
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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:
RedState, Weekly Standard, FiveThirtyEight, The New Republic, Hot Air, FrumForum, marbury, Bark Bark Woof Woof, Left Coast Rebel 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.
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:
Gawker, The Corner on National …, Scared Monkeys, The Big Picture, Clusterstock, TigerHawk, Associated Press and The Page
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.
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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 …
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.
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)?
Iain Murray / Pajamas Media:
Three Things You Absolutely Must Know About Climategate — This could prove to be climate science's Vietnam. — They're calling it “Climategate.” The scandal that the suffix -gate implies is the state of climate science over the past decade or so revealed by a thousand or so emails …
Discussion:
Real Clear Politics, NewsBusters.org, Confederate Yankee, Tim Blair and The Corner on National …
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.
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.
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.
Joshua Green / Washington Monthly:
True Lies — The best recent memoir from Republican Washington is a hoax. That should tell you something. — I Am Martin Eisenstadt: One Man's (Wildly — Inappropriate) Adventures with the Last Republicans — by Martin Eisenstadt Faber & Faber, 366 pp.
Discussion:
The Huffington Post
Felix Gillette / New York Observer:
Doc Maker, Moore Collaborator, Shopping Film on Bush's Murky Military Service — Documentary filmmaker and longtime Michael Moore collaborator Meghan O'Hara is currently working on a feature-length documentary about George W. Bush's military service in the Texas Air National Guard, The Observer has learned.
Discussion:
The Political Carnival