Top Items:
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.
Discussion:
Stop The ACLU, Ross Douthat, The Moderate Voice, Hot Air, Another Black Conservative, NewsReal Blog, The Huffington Post, The Washington Independent, Time, Financial Times, CNN, American Power, Daniel W. Drezner, PostPartisan, Taylor Marsh, Tom Watson, unbossed.com, The Reaction, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, SWJ Blog and The Democratic Daily
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Paul / Power Line:
What I heard tonight — Earlier today I wondered whether President Obama's speech about Afghanistan would sound more like a description of a war plan or a structured settlement of a legal dispute. What I heard tonight tilted decidedly in the latter direction.
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Live-Blogging West Point — 8.35 pm. “Not the deepest of fears but the highest of hopes.” — I confess I do not feel those highest hopes. I do not share his confidence in American military and civilian power to turn the roiling region of Afghanistan and Pakistan into something less threatening.
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 …
CNN:
Just In: Key Obama speech excerpts released — (CNN) - The White House just released excerpts of President Obama's prime-time televised speech where he will outline his strategy on Afghanistan.
Discussion:
Hot Air, Wellsy's World, Confederate Yankee, The Lonely Conservative, The Political Carnival and The Foundry
William Kristol / PostPartisan:
A war president — In his Monday open letter/cri de coeur to the man he supported for president, Michael Moore asked Barack Obama: … Well, it is so. President Obama went to West Point, said it was an honor to be with young soldiers who embody what's finest about our country …
Spencer Ackerman / The Washington Independent:
McChrystal Praises Obama, Strategy Review — So much for the “dithering” critique. Here is a statement just released by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, expressing full support and confidence in President Obama and the weeks-long strategy review.
New York Times:
Obama Adds Troops, but Maps Exit Plan
Obama Adds Troops, but Maps Exit Plan
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Althouse, Democracy in America, The Politico, Gawker, DownWithTyranny! and Jason Chaffetz
Laura Rozen / Laura Rozen's Blog:
Obama at West Point: I do not make this decision lightly
Obama at West Point: I do not make this decision lightly
Discussion:
The Note
Hotline On Call:
Tanner To Retire — Rep. John Tanner (D-TN), a leading Blue Dog Dem, will retire at the end of his current term, Dem sources tell Hotline OnCall. — [UPDATE: Tanner released a statement late tonight confirming the news. “Betty Ann and I had considered retiring in 2007 at the end of the 110th Congress …
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Associated Press:
UK climate scientist to temporarily step down — LONDON — Britain's University of East Anglia says the director of its prestigious Climatic Research Unit is stepping down pending an investigation into allegations that he overstated the case for man-made climate change.
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Michael Calderone / Michael Calderone's Blog:
Obama lunches with top political writers — On the day of his major Afghanistan speech, President Obama had lunch with a group of top political writers at the White House, according to a source familiar with the lunch. — There were some attendees today who write extensively on foreign policy …
Discussion:
The Lonely Conservative
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Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:
Lunch With The President: The Politics Of Obama's War Plan
Lunch With The President: The Politics Of Obama's War Plan
Discussion:
Michael Calderone's Blog
Christopher Soghoian / slight paranoia:
8 Million Reasons for Real Surveillance Oversight — Disclaimer: The information presented here has been gathered and analyzed in my capacity as a graduate student at Indiana University. This data was gathered and analyzed on my own time, without using federal government resources.
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 …
Megan McArdle:
ClimateGate III: The Mystery of the Missing Data — Over the weekend, I came in for some probably deserved criticism from Clive Crook over my initial, somewhat airy, reaction to ClimateGate. In my defense, he quotes my first post on the topic, not the follow up.
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James Fallows:
In praise of George W. Bush — Since the results of the 2008 election became clear, the 43rd President of the United States has behaved in a way that brings honor to him, his family, his office, and his country. By all reports he did what he could to smooth the transition to his successor …
Arianna Huffington / The Huffington Post:
Journalism 2009: Desperate Metaphors, Desperate Revenue Models, And The Desperate Need For Better Journalism — I was asked to give a speech this morning at a journalism conference in Washington, DC sponsored by the Federal Trade Commission. The topic, as it so often seems to be these days, is what can be done to save journalism?
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Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
Leaving the Right — It's an odd formulation in some ways as “the right” is not really a single entity. But in so far as it means the dominant mode of discourse among the institutions and blogs and magazines and newspapers and journals that support the GOP, Charles Johnson is absolutely right …
CODEPINK:
November 30, 2009 — There are news reports that on Decembers 1st, Obama will be at West Point to announce that he is sending tens of thousands more troops to Afghanistan, this despite our rallies, vigils, petitions, phone calls and e-mails saying NO to MORE WAR.
Discussion:
Conventional Folly
Max Blumenthal / Mondoweiss:
Gutsy progressive congressman Alan Grayson leads a double life — Since defeating an incumbent in Florida's Republican-heavy 8th congressional district last year, Rep. Alan Grayson has emerged as one of the progressive movement's most vocal champions. His attacks on Republican obstruction …
Ben Armbruster / Think Progress:
Grassley: 'I've lived off the public tit' as a congressman. — On C-SPAN's Washington Journal this morning, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) was asked if he thought the health care reform bill before the Senate amounted to socialism. “No,” Grassley said, but he then attacked the public option aspect of the bill, calling it “socialism.”