Top Items:
Joe Klein / Time:
Afghanistan: Can Obama Sell America on This War? — President Obama speaks at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on Dec. 1 — “If I did not think that the security of the United States and the safety of the American people were at stake in Afghanistan,” Barack Obama said …
Discussion:
The Swamp
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Eliot A. Cohen / Wall Street Journal: A Wartime President — Obama's commitment in Afghanistan means …
David Rogers / The Politico:
Afghanistan plan roils the Hill
Afghanistan plan roils the Hill
Discussion:
The Note, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Caucus, The Hill, Washington Post, New York Magazine and ABCNEWS
Tom Hayden / The Nation:
Obama Announces Afghanistan Escalation
Obama Announces Afghanistan Escalation
Discussion:
Salon, Jules Crittenden, Hullabaloo, Weekly Standard, MyDD, Pajamas Media and Spiegel Online
Michael O'Brien / The Hill:
Boxer: Hackers should face criminal probe over ‘Climategate’ — Leaked e-mails allegedly undermining climate change science should be treated as a criminal matter, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said Wednesday afternoon. — Boxer, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee …
Discussion:
Hot Air, Stop The ACLU, AmSpecBlog, Pajamas Media, Confederate Yankee, Gateway Pundit and Eschaton
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Evan Newmark / Deal Journal:
Mean Street: The Sham of a Mockery of an Obama Jobs Summit — What is it about Thursday's White House “jobs summit” that rubs me the wrong way? — All presidents engage in these sorts of elaborate PR stunts. Why not just dismiss it as another meaningless piece of Washington political theater?
Discussion:
Betsy's Page
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USA Today:
Mr. President, here's how to lift our economy — Today's White House jobs summit comes too late for millions of Americans who through no fault of their own have lost their jobs, their homes, their savings and, in many cases, the self-esteem and self-respect that come from work.
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The Caucus:
White House Blocks Testimony on Party Crashers — Updated | 10:22 p.m. The White House on Wednesday invoked the separation of powers to keep Desiree Rogers, President Obama's social secretary, from testifying on Capitol Hill about how a couple of aspiring reality television show celebrities crashed …
Discussion:
Time, Outside The Beltway, Commentary, Jules Crittenden, Balkinization, New Orleans Times-Picayune, American Power, Agence France Presse, Front Row Washington, PoliBlog, JammieWearingFool, Prairie Weather, Stop The ACLU, Washington Post, White House.gov Blog Feed, TPMDC and Michelle Malkin
Tim Arango / New York Times:
Comcast Gets NBC From G.E., Shaking Up TV Industry — After nearly nine months of negotiations, Comcast, the nation's largest cable operator, finally reached an agreement on Thursday to acquire NBC Universal from the General Electric Company. — The deal valued NBC Universal at about $30 billion.
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Business Wire:
Comcast and GE to Create Leading Entertainment Company — Positions Comcast and NBCU to Lead the Next Phase of Media Industry's Evolution — Builds on Diverse Cable Portfolio, Accelerates Digital Offerings and Expands Customer Choice — Entity Will Deliver Strong Cash Flow With Conservative Capital Structure
Edmund L. Andrews / New York Times:
Senator Moves to Hold Up Bernanke Confirmation — WASHINGTON — Senator Bernard Sanders of Vermont said on Wednesday that he would try to block the Senate from confirming Ben S. Bernanke to a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve. — The move is unlikely to derail Mr. Bernanke's reappointment …
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Robert Draper / New York Times:
It's Just a Texas-Governor Thing — “Now I think you're on to a better subject,” declared Gov. Rick Perry aboard a private plane as the topic turned to Texas. With relish, the longest-serving governor in the state's history recounted its uninhabitable past.
Discussion:
The Washington Independent
P.J. Gladnick / NewsBusters.org:
Huffington Post Suffers ClimateGate Panic Attack — Your humble correspondent has been checking the Huffington Post Green section every day since the ClimateGate scandal exploded. After all, that Green section is pretty much predicated on the theory that the earth is warming dangerously and that Man is the cause of it.
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Katherine Goldstein / The Huffington Post:
ClimateGate: The 7 Biggest Lies About The Supposed “Global Warming Hoax”
ClimateGate: The 7 Biggest Lies About The Supposed “Global Warming Hoax”
Jonathan Liew / Telegraph:
All men watch porn, scientists find — Scientists at the University of Montreal launched a search for men who had never looked at pornography - but couldn't find any. — Researchers were conducting a study comparing the views of men in their 20s who had never been exposed to pornography with regular users.
Discussion:
Outside The Beltway
Manu Raju / The Politico:
Franken fallout has GOP fuming — Republican senators feel burned by Al Franken — and not by his old jokes. — The Republicans are steamed at Franken because partisans on the left are using a measure he sponsored to paint them as rapist sympathizers — and because Franken isn't doing much to stop them.
Michelle Malkin:
Unbelievable update: The crappiest NYTimes column on Obamacare just got crappier; Update: Kristof's disingenuous non-response — Scroll for updates...Kristof non-responds...holes remain... Today, I did something that Pulitzer Prize-winning NYTimes columnist Nick Kristof apparently didn't do …
Erin Carlson / Silicon Alley Insider:
Anderson Cooper's Ratings Plummet — Anderson Cooper is fading in the ratings. — The respected CNN anchor has seen his numbers slip significantly through the past year. His 10 p.m. show, “Anderson Cooper 360,” has declined 62% in total viewers and 70% in adults 25-54 from November 2008, according to Nielsen figures.
Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:
Washington Times cuts in staff, coverage cue new era — The Washington Times, which gained a strong foothold in a politically obsessed city as a conservative alternative to much of the mainstream media, is about to become a drastically smaller newspaper. — Nearly three decades …
Discussion:
Michael Calderone's Blog, New York Times, TPM LiveWire, The Corner on National … and Gawker
Karl Vick / Washington Post:
N.Y. State Senate votes down gay marriage bill by wide margin — NEW YORK — Opponents of gay marriage celebrated a decisive vote in the New York State Senate, where a proposal to legalize same-sex marriage was defeated 38 to 24 on Wednesday. — The unexpectedly wide margin was delivered …
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Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:
New York State Senate Votes Down Gay Marriage Bill
New York State Senate Votes Down Gay Marriage Bill
Discussion:
City Room, Another Black Conservative, Joe. My. God., The Bilerico Project, Newsweek Blogs, Syracuse Post-Standard, The Reaction, The Awl, No More Mister Nice Blog, JammieWearingFool, Opinion L.A., The Daily Politics, Gothamist, Taegan Goddard's …, Prairie Weather, Capitol Confidential, AmSpecBlog, Think Progress, CNN, Hot Air, NY Daily News, nysenate.gov/blog, The Page, Lawyers, Guns and Money, Redhot, msnbc.com, Gawker, Towleroad News #gay, Truthdig, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Indecision Forever, TPM LiveWire, Washington Monthly and Feministe
K. Daniel Glover / Accuracy in Media:
Rep. Waxman Advocates Media Bailout — Rep. Henry Waxman trekked from Capitol Hill to Federal Trade Commission headquarters today to deliver a message to journalists and news consumers: All of you need to reach a consensus about working with the government in order to bail out the struggling news industry.
CBS News:
White House: July 2011 Is Locked In for Afghanistan Withdrawal — Posted by Chip Reid During the Senate Armed Services hearing today, Defense Secretary Robert Gates was pressed by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. on whether the July 2011 date for beginning to withdrawal troops is “locked in.”
Discussion:
The Politico, Mudville Gazette, Jules Crittenden, The Sundries Shack, Hot Air, JOSHUAPUNDIT, Taegan Goddard's … and USA Today
Alex Isenstadt / The Politico:
Coleman's re-emergence builds buzz — Former GOP Sen. Norm Coleman is gradually returning to the spotlight after months of near silence, a move that some insiders in Washington and Minnesota view as a precursor to a 2010 gubernatorial bid. — Five months after the conclusion of his bitter …
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …
James Pethokoukis:
Goldman Sachs 2011 forecast would be an absolute disaster for Dems — This would be New Normal with extreme prejudice. Bad for Democratic incumbents in the 2010 congressional midterms, but it should make the White House political team nervous as well for 2012. If Goldman Sachs is right, of course.
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System:
Consumer Spending and Tourism — Consumer spending strengthened since the last report, with sales of both general merchandise and autos improving across much of the country. Non-auto sales were reported to have picked up in the New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Richmond, Atlanta …