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Mark Landler / New York Times:
For Obama, Decision to Remove General Came Quickly — WASHINGTON — By the time he woke up Wednesday morning, President Obama had made up his mind. — During the 36 frenetic hours since he had been handed an article from the coming issue of Rolling Stone ominously headlined “The Runaway General …
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The Politico, Washington Monthly, Slate, The Huffington Post, Right Wing News, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Washington Post, No More Mister Nice Blog, Ben Smith's Blog, Room for Debate, Emptywheel, msnbc.com, Weasel Zippers, American Spectator, Outside the Beltway, Guardian, The Daily Beast, THEROOT.COM, Pajamas Media, European Tribune, News Desk, Swampland, Rolling Stone, Balloon Juice and Prairie Weather
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Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Online:
The Night Beat: Obama Borrows the Military Back — Good evening. — THE PRESIDENT'S POINT: Beginning in the early afternoon, a cadre of military and civilian soldiers loyal to Gen. Stanley McChrystal began to spread rumors throughout the capital city: that ground commanders in Afghanistan …
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Gates advocated keeping McChrystal, source says — Washington (CNN) — Defense Secretary Robert Gates backed keeping Gen. Stanley McChrystal on the job because he was vital to the war effort in Afghanistan, but Gates was overruled, a senior Pentagon official told CNN's Barbara Starr.
The Smoking Gun:
Al Gore A “Crazed Sex Poodle?” — Masseuse's claims read like R-rated vice presidential fan fiction — In a bizarre statement to police, the Oregon woman who claims that Al Gore fondled and groped her during a massage session described the former Vice President as a giggling “crazed sex poodle” …
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Prosecutor: Al Gore was focus of sex crime inquiry in Portland — The Multnomah County District Attorney's Office confirmed today that a woman who alleged unwanted sexual contact by Al Gore reported it to police in 2006, and the prosecutor's office was briefed by the Portland Police Bureau in late 2006 and January 2007.
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TalkLeft, National Enquirer, The Portland Tribune, Weasel Zippers, JammieWearingFool, Outside the Beltway, Wonkette, Marbury, Blogs of War, IMAO, Ben Smith's Blog, Wizbang and POWIP
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EXCLUSIVE: GORE SEX SCANDAL
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Big Journalism, RedState, Breitbart.tv, Pajamas Media, Gawker, Scared Monkeys, Don Surber, Weasel Zippers, The Jawa Report and Beltway Confidential
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
GOP POISED TO KILL TAX-EXTENDERS BILL.... For weeks, Senate Democrats have tried to pass what's called the “tax-extenders bill” — a key economic package that extends unemployment benefits, maintains popular tax breaks, protects doctors from Medicare cuts, and boosts state aid to prevent massive job layoffs in the states.
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Washington Post
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The Huffington Post:
Sheldon Whitehouse: Thank ‘Republican Debt Orgy’ For Current Deficit — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — A trio of Senate Democrats took the floor Tuesday evening to denounce the Republican party for its unwillingness to add the cost of extended unemployment benefits to the deficit.
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Crooks and Liars
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Confidence Wanes in Obama, U.S. Outlook — Americans are more pessimistic about the state of the country and less confident in President Barack Obama's leadership than at any point since Mr. Obama entered the White House, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.
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The Hill:
Liberal Dems' battle to cut defense spending reaches a turning point — A growing number of centrist Democrats say they're open to trimming Pentagon spending in the face of record budget deficits and mounting public debt. — Liberal Democrats for years have called for cuts to the massive defense budget to no avail.
Tim Fernholz / American Prospect:
Germany and the International Austerity Debate. — This weekend, President Obama will be in Canada for G-20 summit meetings of the largest world economies. There, the U.S. agenda will focus on a number of international issues, but among the most important will be encouraging other countries …
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Wall Street Journal
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Emily Goodin / Ballot Box:
Harry Reid's son leaves last name out of first campaign ad — Nevada gubernatorial candidate Rory Reid (D) is on the air with his first campaign ad and it's missing one thing: his last name. — Reid, the son of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), doesn't say his name at any point during the ad …
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Michelle Malkin, Left Coast Rebel, iOwnTheWorld.com, Rough Sketch, Weasel Zippers, The Powers That Be and Don Surber
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Molly Ball / American Prospect:
Reid's Angle — Sen. Harry Reid spent years engineering …
Reid's Angle — Sen. Harry Reid spent years engineering …
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Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Mandatory Bar Parking — I've complained often about the scourge of mandatory parking minimums and the damage they wreak on our economy, our communities, our public health, and our environment. Jonathan Hiskes raises the particularly absurd example of mandatory parking at bars:
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Focus U.S.A. / ‘The U.S. will have to confront Iran or give up the Middle East’ — Amitai Etzioni, professor of International Relations at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., believes the only option available to contain Iran's atomic ambitions is a series of assaults on its non-nuclear facilities.
Kirsten Grieshaber / Associated Press:
Group of youths attack Jewish dance group — BERLIN - A Jewish dance group was attacked with stones by a group of children and teenagers during a performance at a street festival in the Germany city of Hannover, police said Thursday. One dancer suffered a leg injury and the group then canceled their performance.
Gail Collins / New York Times:
General McChrystal's Twitters — Get short, timely messages from Gen. Stanley McChrystal on Twitter: — DAY 1 — In Paris with my Kabul posse — Bluto, Otter, Boon, Pinto, Flounder. Plus some newbie. Guys call him Scribbles. — ∗ — Suite's getting pretty crowded.
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BP Is Pursuing Alaska Drilling Some Call Risky — The future of BP's offshore oil operations in the Gulf of Mexico has been thrown into doubt by the recent drilling disaster and court wrangling over a moratorium. — But about three miles off the coast of Alaska, BP is moving ahead …
Joan McCarter / Daily Kos:
Senate ready to hang states, the unemployed, the economy out to dry — Harry Reid is going to try one more stab at passing the tax extenders/unemployment/aid to states bill. He filed for cloture last night and the vote will be Friday. A Democratic Senate aide tells me that “the outlook is grim” …
Thomas Beaumont / Des Moines Register:
It's official: Kim Reynolds of Osceola is Republican Terry Branstad's running mate for Iowa governor — Republican candidate for governor Terry Branstad named state Sen. Kim Reynolds of Osceola as his running mate today, elevating the southern Iowa freshman legislator to the statewide political stage.
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Council of Europe votes against ban on burka — MPs from 47 countries have unanimously voted against a general ban on the wearing of the burka in public. — The Parliamentary Assembly of Europe's human rights watchdog, the Council of Europe, passed a resolution warning that if governments imposed …
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Weasel Zippers
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Video-Rep. Kanjorski: ‘Finance bill will help good Americans, not minorities or defective people’ — Connie Hair at Human Events has posted this shocking video of Rep. Paul Kanjorski, Pennsylvania Democrat, at a Wednesday conference committee hearing to merge the House and Senate versions …
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Obama and the Woes of the Democrats — The president's low ratings mean he can't lift his party by campaigning. — Democrats are acknowledging they'll lose ground in the midterms. The only question is how much. Today, the evidence points to quite a lot. — The most important indicator is the president's job approval.