Top Items:
Anahad O'Connor / The Caucus:
A Stylish State Dinner, With Typos — The White House pulled out all the stops in preparation for President Barack Obama's first state dinner on Tuesday night, hiring a new florist, selecting a renowned guest chef, and even inviting a number of high-profile musicians to perform.
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Rachel L. Swarns / New York Times:
Modern Flourishes as Obamas Host State Dinner — WASHINGTON — It is an old tradition, a White House dinner governed by ritual and protocol that happens to be this city's hottest social event. But at their first state dinner on Tuesday night, President Obama and his wife, Michelle …
Discussion:
The Swamp, The Politico, Sister Toldjah, DownWithTyranny!, Mediaite, TVNewser, blogs.telegraph.co.uk and The Caucus
The Caucus:
Obama Will Go to Copenhagen — President Obama will travel to Copenhagen next month for the United Nations meeting on climate change, a White House official confirmed Wednesday. — Mr. Obama, who had previously not committed to making an appearance at the summit, will deliver a speech …
Telegraph:
Bob Ainsworth criticises Barack Obama over Afghanistan — Bob Ainsworth, the defence secretary, has blamed Barack Obama and the United States for the decline in British public support for the war in Afghanistan. — Mr Ainsworth took the unprecedented step of publicly criticising …
Discussion:
Neptunus Lex, Ben Smith's Blog, Jules Crittenden, Gateway Pundit, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Mudville Gazette, Don Surber, The Fix, Hot Air and Power Line
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David E. Sanger / New York Times:
U.S. Strategy on Afghanistan Will Contain Many Messages — WASHINGTON—In declaring Tuesday that he would “finish the job” in Afghanistan, President Obama used a phrase clearly meant to imply that even as he deploys an additional 30,000 or so troops, he has finally figured out how to bring the eight-year-long conflict to an end.
Discussion:
JustOneMinute, USA Today, Commentary, marbury, The Nation, The Hill, Prairie Weather, Political Punch and The Politico
P.J. Gladnick / NewsBusters.org:
Climategate: MSM Writers Try to Ignore Scandal in Global Warming Stories But Readers Bring Them Back to Reality — An hilariously bizarre situation is happening in the wake of the growing Climategate scandal. Many of the mainstream media stories about global warming are simply pretending it doesn't exist.
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Peter Finn / Washington Post:
Key coordinator of detainee policy quits — A key official in the Obama administration's effort to remake detention policy and close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay has resigned. — Phillip Carter, who was appointed deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee policy in April …
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Carol Rosenberg / MiamiHerald.com:
Detainee policy appointee quits Pentagon post — The Pentagon's top detainee affairs policy appointee has quit the Defense Department just seven months into the job, a Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday. — Phillip Carter, a former Army captain and Iraq War veteran, had been an outspoken critic …
Peter Wallsten / Wall Street Journal:
Dobbs Reaches Out to Latinos — Former CNN anchor Lou Dobbs, pondering a future in politics, is trying to wipe away his image as an enemy of Latino immigrants by positioning himself as a champion of that fast-growing ethnic bloc. — Mr. Dobbs, who left the network last week …
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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.
Discussion:
And So it Goes in Shreveport, Jules Crittenden, Political Byline, Left Coast Rebel, MsUnderestimated, Gateway Pundit, Another Black Conservative, ThreatsWatch, Stop The ACLU, Tim Blair, Weekly Standard, Power Line, Townhall.com, The Jawa Report, Fausta's Blog, BLACKFIVE, Don Surber and JammieWearingFool
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Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Obama's Approval Slide Finds Whites Down to 39% — Support has declined much more among whites than among nonwhites — PRINCETON, NJ — Since the start of his presidency, U.S. President Barack Obama's approval rating has declined more among non-Hispanic whites than among nonwhites …
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Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
How Bad Could Obama Screw Up and Still Beat Sarah Palin?
How Bad Could Obama Screw Up and Still Beat Sarah Palin?
Discussion:
Public Policy Polling, The Atlantic Politics Channel, Don Surber, The Moderate Voice, Rumproast and RedState
Wall Street Journal:
The Uncertainty Economy — Tim Geithner is not the Democrats' biggest problem. — Printer — Friendly — Preparing to write about yesterday's downward revision in third-quarter GDP, we were tempted to say the Obama Administration has hit a speed-bump on its promised exit out of the recession.
Zachary Roth / TPMMuckraker:
Police: Sparkman Committed Suicide, Made It Look Like Murder For Insurance Scam — Census worker Bill Sparkman committed suicide and deliberately made it look like murder as part of an insurance scam, Kentucky state police have concluded. — State police, working with the FBI …
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Us Weekly:
EXCLUSIVE: Angelina Jolie Not a Fan of Obama — Barack Obama does not have Angelina Jolie's seal of approval. — “She hates him,” a source close to the U.N. goodwill ambassador, 34, tells the new issue of Us Weekly (on newsstands now). — “She's into education and rehabilitation and thinks Obama is all about welfare and handouts.
Discussion:
Gateway Pundit, NewsBusters.org, Don Surber, KURU Lounge, Hot Air and Real Clear Politics
Nick Schulz / The Enterprise Blog:
Help Wanted, No Private Sector Experience Required — A friend sends along the following chart from a J.P. Morgan research report. It examines the prior private sector experience of the cabinet officials since 1900 that one might expect a president to turn to in seeking advice about helping the economy.
Steve Kornacki / New York Observer:
Rudy Giuliani, Serial Rumor Monger — Rudy Giuliani, the big scoop went, had decided to challenge Kirsten Gillibrand for her U.S. Senate seat next year and would announce his candidacy “in the next 48 hours.” — 120 hours later (and counting), the world is still waiting to hear from Rudy.
David Colker / Los Angeles Times:
Google won't exclude distorted Michelle Obama image from its site — ‘We have, in general, a bias toward free speech,’ a Google spokesman says, explaining that offensiveness alone is not a reason to remove the image from the search index. — A crudely altered photograph of Michelle Obama …
Joe Klein / Time:
Obama's First Year Policies Need Time to Settle In — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates listen as U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at a Cabinet meeting at the White House — Over the past few weeks, Barack Obama has been criticized for the following …
Jim Tankersley / LA Times Environment Blog:
Breaking: Obama going to Copenhagen — Breaking news from Washington reporter Jim Tankersley: — President Obama will attend the international climate negotiations in Copenhagen next month, according to a senior administration official, a sign of the president's increasing confidence …
Discussion:
Environmental Capital
Erik Kain / American Tory:
How Glenn Beck Can Save the Right … Glenn Beck appears at a rally in Huntington, WV in May 2003 (Shaun Heasley/Getty) — As the Obama administration pushes its expensive healthcare reform agenda, tackles global warming head-on (sort of), and moves forward with its various stimulus projects and bailouts …
Discussion:
Riehl World View
Kevin Sack / New York Times:
From the Hospital to Bankruptcy Court — NASHVILLE — Some of the debtors sitting forlornly in this city's old stone bankruptcy court have lost a job or gotten divorced. Others have been summoned to face their creditors because they spent mindlessly beyond their means.
Frank Newport / Gallup:
In U.S., More Support for Increasing Troops in Afghanistan — Americans now tilt slightly toward sending in new troops as opposed to reducing number — PRINCETON, NJ — Americans over the last two weeks have become slightly more likely to favor sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan …