Top Items:
Andrew Exum / New York Times:
Getting Lost in the Fog of War — ANYONE who has spent the past two days reading through the 92,000 military field reports and other documents made public by the whistle-blower site WikiLeaks may be forgiven for wondering what all the fuss is about. I'm a researcher who studies Afghanistan …
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New York Times:
Document Leak May Hurt Efforts to Build War Support — WASHINGTON — The disclosure of a six-year archive of classified military documents increased pressure on President Obama to defend his military strategy as Congress prepares to deliberate financing of the Afghanistan war.
Mistermix / Balloon Juice:
Unimportant Yet Dangerous — Andrew Exum's Times' Op-Ed pretty much encapsulates the new conventional wisdom on Wikileaks' Afghanistan document dump. After laboring to show that there's nothing new or interesting in the revelations, he tells us how awful they were:
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
The Partisan Tools At Journo-List And Trig — Remember all those liberals and lefties huffily denouncing this blog's attempts to make sense of Sarah Palin's bizarre stories about the pregnancy and birth of her alleged fifth child? I was nuts, crazy, vile, disgusting, etc etc to indulge in what Dave Weigel …
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William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:
Journolist Trig Emails - All About The Story Line
Journolist Trig Emails - All About The Story Line
Discussion:
The Plum Line, Hot Air, The Daily Caller, Moe Lane, American Power and Conservatives4Palin.com
Guardian:
Tensions increase after revelation of more leaked files — Read the full story as the US, Pakistan and Afghanistan trade angry accusations after documents reveal more attempts by coalition to cover up civilian casualties
Washington Post:
Among House Democrats in Rust Belt, a sense of abandonment over energy bill — When Democratic Rep. John Boccieri went home to Ohio early this year to talk with voters in his Canton-based district, he figured he would have to do battle with at least some constituents over his support for health-care reform.
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Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Dems fear GOP oversight of Obama administration — Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn. (Alex Brandon/AP) — Speaking to a group of left-wing activists at the annual Netroots Nation convention in Las Vegas, Democratic Sen. Al Franken painted a bleak picture …
Discussion:
Betsy's Page
Washington Post:
BP names Robert Dudley, an American, as chief executive — BP announced Tuesday that it lost $17 billion in the second quarter of the year because of the mounting cost of halting and repairing damage from the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. — The company also said the executive …
Discussion:
Politic365, The Washington Independent, AMERICAblog News, Political Byline and Think Progress
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Stephanie Strom / New York Times:
Lawmakers Question Salaries at Nonprofits — State and federal officials are starting to take their knives to the pay of leaders of nonprofit groups they do business with to help share the pain of tighter budgets. — A provision in New Jersey's recently passed budget, for example …
Noel Sheppard / NewsBusters.org:
Paul Ryan Schools Chris Matthews on Tax Hikes, Budgets and Economics 101 — Chris Matthews on Monday got a much-needed lesson from Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) on how tax hikes impact the budget as well as the economy. — “Congressman Ryan, is there any tax role for reducing our $1.4 trillion …
Joe Battenfeld / Breaking Boston News …:
Kerry may need to pay $500k tax on yacht — (FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com) - There are new details in the controversy over Sen. John Kerry's brand new boat. — Kerry may still be on the hook for a half million dollars in excise taxes because he docked his yacht in Massachusetts less than six months after buying it.
Discussion:
Liberty Pundits Blog
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Jonathan Martin / Ben Smith's Blog:
Veteran GOP operative brought in to help Angle and other Sen candidates — With the GOP's hopes for reclaiming the Senate seeming to hinge increasingly on their success in the west, the NRSC is bringing in a veteran press operative to help Republican Senate candidates in three key races against longtime Democratic incumbents.
Chris Ariens / TVNewser:
Ed Rendell Criticizes Obama for Going on ‘The View,’ Compares it to Jerry Springer — Here's one thing Gov. Ed Rendell (D-Pennsylvania) and Pat Buchanan (R-everywhere) agree on: Pres. Obama should not go on ‘The View.’ — Rendell: I think there's got to be a little bit of dignity to the presidency.
Penny Starr / CNSNews:
Obama Won't Speak In-Person at Boy Scouts' 100th Anniversary Celebration But Will Appear on ABC TV's ‘The View’ — (CNSNews.com) - President Barack Obama, the honorary chairman of the Boy Scouts of America, will not speak in-person before the group on Wednesday at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia …
David Brooks / New York Times:
The Long Strategy — I was a liberal Democrat when I was young. I used to wear a green Army jacket with political buttons on it — for Hubert Humphrey, Birch Bayh, John F. Kennedy and Franklin Roosevelt. I even wore that jacket in my high school yearbook photo. — It's a magic green jacket.
Maggie Haberman / The Politico:
Rangel: ‘Trauma,’ ‘more alleged violations’ — After sounding defiant in his first round with reporters just now, embattled Rep. Charles Rangel sounded sad and seemed downcast and somewhat gaslit as he talked about how “traumatic” he had found the experience.
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Mark Schmitt / American Prospect:
What Will a Republican Majority Do Next? — We know Speaker Boehner's opening moves. But what will the GOP do after those fail? — If, as predicted, the Republicans take control of the House, or both houses of Congress, this November, will they: 1. shut down the government? …
Discussion:
Ezra Klein
Jeffrey Kofman / ABCNEWS:
BP Day 98: Where Did All the Oil Go? — As Size of Slick Shrinks, Experts Say Oil is Breaking Up, Staying Below Surface — For 86 days, oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico from BP's damaged well, dumping some 200 million gallons of crude into sensitive ecosystems.
A. G. Sulzberger / New York Times:
Former Body-Armor Executive on Trial for Fraud — Several years ago, David H. Brooks, the chief executive and chairman of a body-armor company enriched by United States military contracts, became fixated on the idea of a memory-erasing pill. — It was not just fanciful curiosity.
Jonathan Strong / The Daily Caller:
Heroes of Journolist: Dan Froomkin, James Surowiecki, Jeffrey Toobin, Michael Tomasky — and founder Ezra Klein — The Daily Caller has highlighted some of Journolist's worst moments — such as when liberal members of the media plotted to kill important stories about the presidential campaign.
Ernesto Londoño / Washington Post:
Pentagon can't account for how it spent $2.6 billion in Iraqi funds, audit finds — BAGHDAD — Because of poor record-keeping and lax oversight, the Department of Defense cannot account for how it spent $2.6 billion that belonged to the Iraqi government, according to the inspector general for Iraq reconstruction.
Frank Newport / Gallup:
Democrats Maintain Advantage on Generic Ballot, 48% to 44% — Republicans continue to be more enthusiastic about voting — PRINCETON, NJ — Democrats have a 48% to 44% advantage for the week of July 19-25 in Gallup tracking of registered voters' preferences for the 2010 congressional elections.
Amanda Carey / The Daily Caller:
Senator Barbara Boxer: serving in the military is like being a member of Congress — At a campaign event over the weekend in Inglewood, California, Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer seemingly equated being a politician to serving in the military — and an Iraq War veteran supporting Boxer's November opponent is calling on her to apologize.
Noam Scheiber / The New Republic:
Why Elizabeth Warren Will Likely Be Confirmed — Administration, Hill, and industry sources do the math on what could be the summer's most contentious confirmation battle. — Last week, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd aroused the ire of progressive activists …
Discussion:
Wonk Room, The Hill, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, The Washington Note, The Washington Independent and Angry Bear
Peter Wehner / Weekly Standard:
Baked in the Cake — Everything you needed to know about Obama could have been learned from his campaign. — During the 2008 campaign, it was clear that Barack Obama would govern as a liberal on several important issues. But it seemed possible that, at least in other areas …
Josh Rogin / Josh Rogin's blog:
Tea Party Caucus members endorse Israeli attack on Iran — Now that the congressional supporters of the Tea Party movement have formed their own caucus, their policy positions are becoming easier to track. Expanding their foray into foreign policy, 21 members of the new caucus have now come …