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Washington Post:
Obama's Afghan policy speech at West Point — Following is the transcript of President Obama's speech Tuesday at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. (The Post's report on the president's address is here.) — Thank you. Please be seated. — Good evening.
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Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:
This I Believe — Let me start with the bottom line and then tell you how I got there: I can't agree with President Obama's decision to escalate in Afghanistan. I'd prefer a minimalist approach, working with tribal leaders the way we did to overthrow the Taliban regime in the first place.
Discussion:
Michael Calderone's Blog
Gabor Steingart / Spiegel Online:
Searching in Vain for the Obama Magic — Never before has a speech by President Barack Obama felt as false as his Tuesday address announcing America's new strategy for Afghanistan. It seemed like a campaign speech combined with Bush rhetoric — and left both dreamers and realists feeling distraught.
Fred Barnes / Weekly Standard:
A Disappointing Speech in Support of the Right Policy — President Obama's speech on Afghanistan was disappointing. Yes, the policy is right: more troops, a counter-insurgency strategy, a stronger alliance with Pakistan. But the personal commitment of the president to pursue the war …
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Commentary, Hot Air, The Huffington Post, Politics Daily, Scared Monkeys, Betsy's Page, GlobalPost, CNN, Althouse and American Power
Sarah Palin / Facebook:
Finally, A Decision for Afghanistan: We're In It to Win It
Finally, A Decision for Afghanistan: We're In It to Win It
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Stop The ACLU
John Dickerson / Slate:
Obama's Afghanistan speech was confusing.
Obama's Afghanistan speech was confusing.
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The Atlantic Politics Channel, New York Times, The Note, The Politico, Open Left, Bloomberg, Lynn Sweet, Commentary and Guardian
Tiger Woods:
Tiger comments on current events — I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart. I have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves. I am not without faults and I am far short of perfect. I am dealing with my behavior and personal failings behind closed doors with my family.
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The Market Ticker, Mashable!, AmSpecBlog, ChattahBox News Blog, Mediaite, Sense of Events, Telegraph, NPR Blogs, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Gawker
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Jeff Poor / NewsBusters.org:
Matthews Calls West Point, Site of Obama Speech ‘The Enemy Camp,’ ‘Strange Venue’ — Either MSNBC “Hardball” host Chris Matthews let one slip tonight, or it was an extremely poor choice of words. — Following President Barack Obama's Dec. 1 speech, which he announced his intentions …
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Fred Kaplan / Slate:
But where does it end? — The war that President Barack Obama laid out at West Point Tuesday night—its rationale, strategy, tactics, and resources—is different, in ways large and small, from the war that George W. Bush fought (and didn't fight) in Afghanistan.
CNN:
McCain challenges Obama in private meeting — Washington (CNN) - Hours before he was set to address the nation on his new Afghanistan strategy, President Obama and members of his war council spent about an hour briefing senior members of Congress at a White House meeting that multiple sources described as businesslike and sobering.
Brad / Think Progress:
Lou Dobbs Explodes: ‘Who The Hell Does This President Think He Is!?!’ — Birther Lou Dobbs and climate denier Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) are concerned that President Barack Obama is trying to turn America into a monarchy. Appearing on Dobbs' radio show on Tuesday, Inhofe argued President Obama …
Ronald Bailey / Reason:
The Scientific Tragedy of Climategate — Can climate change science recover from the damage done by leaked emails? — Climategate. What a hot mess. Researchers at the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia and their colleagues around the globe may have fiddled …
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Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
THERE ARE 39 OTHER GOP SENATORS.... NBC News announced the line-up for this week's “Meet the Press.” Take a wild guess who'll be on. … I especially loved the “Exclusive!” with the exclamation point, as if this were a rare, special occurrence. — For those keeping score at home …
Josh Cohen / Google News Blog:
Google and paid content — As newspapers consider charging for access to their online content, some publishers have asked: Should we put up pay walls or keep our articles in Google News and Google Search? In fact, they can do both - the two aren't mutually exclusive.
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The Atlantic Business Channel, Bits, Post Tech, Mediaite, TechCrunch, Mashable! and Riehl World View
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Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
McCain Unveils Time Travel Strategy for Financing Afghanistan War — Stan Collender observes that for a veteran legislator, John McCain continues to be staggeringly uninformed about basic elements of public policy: … In an ideal world, someone at The Hill would have noticed that.
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Ezra Klein
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J. Taylor Rushing / The Hill:
Afghanistan war tax met with skepticism on Capitol Hill
Afghanistan war tax met with skepticism on Capitol Hill
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Capital Gains and Games blogs
Mark Zuckerberg / Facebook Blog:
An Open Letter from Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg — It has been a great year for making the world more open and connected. Thanks to your help, more than 350 million people around the world are using Facebook to share their lives online. — To make this possible …
Scott McLemee / Inside Higher Ed:
Decline of the West — Ten years ago, in the final pages of a collection of his selected writings, Cornel West gave readers a look at the work he had in progress, or at least in mind, for the years ahead. One would be “a major treatment of African-American literature and modern Greek literature.”
Discussion:
Ezra Klein
Jason / The Tolbert Report:
HuckPAC Resignation — As I mentioned this morning, I resigned my position as Arkansas coordinator for HuckPAC today where I served in a volunteer capacity. My departure was with a heavy heart but was done after serious prayer and consideration. Some have asked about the timing.
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog
The Hill:
Reid set to unveil new public option, breaking Senate impasse on healthcare — A new measure on the public option will be unveiled next week, which Senate Democratic leaders hope will break the logjam on healthcare reform. — Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), who has been tapped by Majority Leader Harry Reid …
John Koblin / New York Observer:
Watch Out, Times! Murdoch Plans $15 M. N.Y.C. Edition — “Good journalism is an expensive commodity,” said Rupert Murdoch at a Federal Trade Commission conference in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Dec. 1. — We'll say! — Mr. Murdoch is ready to roll out a budget of $15 million …