Top Items:

Bob Woodward book details Obama battles with advisers over exit plan for Afghan war — President Obama urgently looked for a way out of the war in Afghanistan last year, repeatedly pressing his top military advisers for an exit plan that they never gave him, according to secret meeting notes …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Creative Minority Report, The Foundry, Daniel W. Drezner, The Enterprise Blog, Political Byline, Newshoggers.com, Hot Air, Media Matters for America, PostPartisan, Outside the Beltway, Wonk Room, Questions and Observations, NO QUARTER, Gateway Pundit, FrumForum, Right Wing News, SWJ Blog, The Confluence, Danger Room, Politics Daily, Gawker, ChattahBox News Blog, Verum Serum, Federal Eye, The Nation, FP Passport, CNN, Salon, Firedoglake, No More Mister Nice Blog, Commentary, Weasel Zippers, The American Pundit, Nice Deb, Sweetness & Light, thedanashow.wordpress.com, JammieWearingFool, Telegraph, Neptunus Lex, Moonbattery, The Daily Caller, The Jawa Report, George's Bottom Line, Scared Monkeys, theblogprof, Liberty Pundits Blog, Guardian, The Washington Independent, JustOneMinute, The Awl, Weigel and Atlas Shrugs
RELATED:

Woodward Book Says Afghanistan Divided White House — WASHINGTON — Some of the critical players in President Obama's national security team doubt his strategy in Afghanistan will succeed and have spent much of the last 20 months quarreling with one another over policy, personalities and turf, according to a new book.
Discussion:
Weekly Standard, Guardian, YID With LID, TPMDC, The Daily Dish, BLACKFIVE, Ben Smith's Blog, Los Angeles Times, The Caucus, Outside the Beltway, The Atlantic Online, The Huffington Post, Informed Comment, Prairie Weather, New York Magazine, Think Progress, Taylor Marsh, No More Mister Nice Blog, Don Surber, Pajamas Media, neo-neocon, Unqualified Offerings, The Page, SWJ Blog, FrumForum, And So it Goes in Shreveport and Althouse


Emanuel, Eyeing Chicago Run, Could Leave the White House in October — White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel Olivier Douliery / Getty Images — White House aides are preparing for the possibility that Rahm Emanuel may step down as chief of staff as soon as early October if he decides …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, CNN, Firedoglake, Reuters, Swampland, The Political Carnival, NBC Chicago, The Page and FrumForum

Rahm Emanuel Could Leave White House as Soon as October
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and FOXBusiness.com

White House Reacts to (NYT Report About) Woodward Book
Discussion:
ABCNEWS, Associated Press, The Enterprise Blog, Sweetness & Light and Pajamas Media

The Carter-Obama Comparisons Grow
Discussion:
Hit & Run, Weasel Zippers, Eunomia and Don Surber

Paladino Trails Cuomo By 6 Points In New York Gov Race, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Small Tea Party Movement Backs Republican 4-1 — Republican Carl Paladino, aided by a 4 -1 margin among Tea Partiers, trails New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the Democratic candidate for Governor …
Discussion:
NY Daily News, ABCNEWS, Washington Wire, JammieWearingFool, Salon, New York Magazine, Left Coast Rebel, FiveThirtyEight, USA Today, Metropolis, Real Clear Politics, No More Mister Nice Blog, Capitol Confidential, Hot Air, Real Clear Politics, Libertarian Republican, TPMDC, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, The Empire and Politerati
RELATED:

Cuomo leads Paladino by six just points — Democratic gubernatorial nominee Andrew Cuomo, who had led the GOP field by thirty points for most of the year, is now leading Republican rival Carl Paladino by just six points among likely voters, an astonishing new Quinnipiac University poll shows.
Discussion:
CNN, Weekly Standard, Ben Smith's Blog, iOwnTheWorld.com, Weasel Zippers and FrumForum

Toomey Up 7 Points In Pennsylvania Senate Race, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Voters, Especially Independents, Disapprove Of Obama — Republican Pat Toomey has hit the magic 50 percent mark as he leads Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak 50 - 43 percent in the race for Pennsylvania's U.S. Senate seat …
Discussion:
Ballot Box, The Eye, The Fix, Pollster.com All Content and TPMDC


The awesome stupidity of replacing Larry Summers with a CEO — If Obama's advisors think the president has an “anti-business” problem, they should be fired — If the Obama administration appoints a corporate executive to replace Larry Summers as National Economic Council director …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Washington Post and naked capitalism
RELATED:


Woman CEO sought for Summers job — Larry Summers isn't leaving the White House until the end of the year but President Barack Obama's team already knows the ideal candidate to replace him on the National Economic Council - a woman CEO. — The pick doesn't have to fit that bill precisely …

Three Reasons You'll Miss Larry Summers
Discussion:
A plain blog about politics and The Atlantic Online

Larry and Harvard — A reader asks the following about Larry Summers:
Discussion:
Ezra Klein and Ben Smith's Blog

Angle: I made $236,000 off Rush Limbaugh, and Hannity was profitable, too — Remember those comments Sharron Angle made about how FOX interviews were different because she could use the network to raise money. She wasn't kidding. — Here's some audio of Angle at a house party this month, bragging about how profitable FOX can be:
Discussion:
Think Progress, TPMDC, Mediaite and msnbc.com
RELATED:

O'Donnell vows no more national media appearances
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Little Green Footballs, CNN, NewsBusters.org and Outside the Beltway

Following Palin's Playbook, O'Donnell Vows 'I'm Not Going To Do …
Discussion:
The Fix, The Politico, Wonkette and Indecision Forever

Andrew Breitbart Caught in Gay Scandal! — On September 19th, Andrew Breitbart and Glenn Beck headlined the Right Nation 2010 event in Hoffman Estates, IL. Outside, protesters from Organizing for America, Obama's sheep-herding initiative, gathered to scream at attendees - and spit on Breitbart.
Discussion:
iOwnTheWorld.com, Joe. My. God. and Verum Serum
RELATED:

Andrew Breitbart ‘Pissed’ at Glenn Beck? — Kausfiles Buries the Lede: Andrew Breitbart, a friend of mine,* gave a talk last night to a Republican club in Malibu. His brand-new right-wing media empire is coming off a string of minor victories—exposing the sordid reality of a politician …
Discussion:
Althouse, Riehl World View and Religion Dispatches

Murkowski punished over defiance; Burr to get top energy slot — Sen. Richard Burr (N.C.) is expected to take over as senior Republican on the Senate Energy panel after Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) lost the position Tuesday. — Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) was behind the switch.
Discussion:
The Note, The Hill, Ben Smith's Blog, The Washington Independent, Hotline On Call, CNN and Washington Monthly
RELATED:

Murkowski not stripped of committee leadership position
Discussion:
Washington Post and Hot Air


ONE OF THE MOST EFFECTIVE ADS OF THE CYCLE.... In a year filled with odd statewide candidates, I still have a hard time figuring out what California's Carly Fiorina is thinking. — The Republican Senate nominee is best known for her tenure as HP's chief executive, during which the company lost …
Discussion:
Mother Jones and Balloon Juice
RELATED:

Fred Davis, GOP's ad wizard spins tempting tales and viral videos for candidates
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog and Ballot Box


Ohio Democrat Chair Fires ‘F-Word’ At Tea Party — Chris Redfern Makes Emotional Speech Before Steel Workers — CLARINGTON, Ohio — In the midst of a heated general election cycle, Ohio's Democratic Party chairman is admitting he used some “colorful language” during a political event in Monroe County Monday night.
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, Libertarian Republican, New York Magazine, JammieWearingFool, msnbc.com and Gawker

Stuxnet malware is ‘weapon’ out to destroy ... Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant? — Cyber security experts say they have identified the world's first known cyber super weapon designed specifically to destroy a real-world target - a factory, a refinery, or just maybe a nuclear power plant.
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway and The Jawa Report

THE DRIVE TO BREAK FROM FORCED NEUTRALITY.... Peter Goodman, who's been a rising star at the New York Times, covering the economy and business news, agreed this week to leave the paper and sign on with the Huffington Post. Goodman's move, a coup for the online outlet, is a reminder …
RELATED:


Barack Obama seeks divine intervention on health care reform — With nothing else working, President Barack Obama is asking religious leaders to help him sell the public on health care reform. — POLITICO listened in to an Oval Office conference call Tuesday, where Obama …
Discussion:
CNN and The American Pundit
RELATED:

Here Thursday, Health Reform Confuses Many
Discussion:
CNN, Washington Post, The Note and Reuters

Republicans send message on spending — Republicans will try to block money requested by the Obama administration to implement Democrats' signature Wall Street and healthcare reforms in a stopgap spending measure expected to clear Congress next week. — The GOP is seizing …
Discussion:
Questions and Observations and Prairie Weather
RELATED:

Obama, Warren and The Imperial Presidency
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online

Lawsuits Accuse Megachurch Leader of Sexual Misconduct — ATLANTA — Two young men in Georgia said Tuesday that the pastor of a 33,000-person Baptist megachurch, Bishop Eddie L. Long, had repeatedly coerced them into having sex with him. — In two lawsuits filed in DeKalb County …
Discussion:
Speakeasy, ChattahBox News Blog, DownWithTyranny!, Pharyngula and New York Magazine

Obama: “Mexicans” Were Here “Long Before America Was Even An Idea” — “Long before America was even an idea, this land of plenty was home to many peoples. The British and French, the Dutch and Spanish, to Mexicans, to countless Indian tribes. We all shared the same land.”
Discussion:
culturekitchen, Outside the Beltway, TigerHawk, Scared Monkeys, The American Pundit and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS


Chris Christie ‘not ready’ for 2012 run — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who's captured the imagination of conservatives enthralled by his fiscal maneuvers to cut spending, said on Wednesday that any talk of him seeking the Republican presidential nomination is premature because he's “not ready.”
Discussion:
The Page, Outside the Beltway and FrumForum


Did Somebody Say “Fringe”? — Not so long ago, Rand Paul—son of Ron, “modern-day revolutionary,” and practicing ophthalmologist—would have been written off as a harmless political extremist. For believing that the Federal Reserve should be gutted. Or that the Civil Rights Act was unconstitutional.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Hill, Barefoot and Progressive, The Atlantic Online and TPMDC