Top Items:
Politico:
President Obama could lose big on Syria in House — If the House voted today on a resolution to attack Syria, President Barack Obama would lose — and lose big. — That's the private assessment of House Republican and Democratic lawmakers and aides who are closely involved in the process.
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Manu Raju / Politico:
AIPAC to go all-out on Syria — The powerful pro-Israel lobby AIPAC is planning to launch a major lobbying campaign to push wayward lawmakers to back the resolution authorizing U.S. strikes against Syria, sources said Thursday. — Officials say that some 250 Jewish leaders and AIPAC activists …
Discussion:
BuzzFeed, First Read, The Huffington Post and MJ Rosenberg
Ian Swanson / The Hill:
Obama needs game-changer to win House vote on Syria
Obama needs game-changer to win House vote on Syria
Discussion:
Daily Kos, The Reaction, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Impolitic
Justin Sink / The Hill:
Obama cancels LA trip as ‘no’ votes on Syria resolution pile up (Video)
Obama cancels LA trip as ‘no’ votes on Syria resolution pile up (Video)
Discussion:
Politico, gopthedailydose.com, Nice Deb, Right Turn, Hit & Run, The PJ Tatler, Jammie Wearing Fools and Post Politics
Washington Post:
Obama, from Russia, urges U.S. lawmakers to back strike on Syria
Obama, from Russia, urges U.S. lawmakers to back strike on Syria
Discussion:
Taegan Goddard's …, Post Politics and FP Passport
Wall Street Journal:
Iran Plots Revenge, U.S. Says — Officials Say Intercepted Message to Militants Orders Reprisals in Iraq if Syria Hit — WASHINGTON—The U.S. has intercepted an order from Iran to militants in Iraq to attack the U.S. Embassy and other American interests in Baghdad in the event of a strike on Syria …
Discussion:
Foreign Policy, Hot Air, Reuters, Right Wing News, NPR, Capitol Report, Telegraph, Weasel Zippers and The Raw Story
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Jodi Rudoren / New York Times:
Israel Backs Limited Strike Against Syria
Israel Backs Limited Strike Against Syria
Discussion:
rubber hose, The Dish and National Review
New York Times:
N.S.A. Able to Foil Basic Safeguards of Privacy on Web — The National Security Agency is winning its long-running secret war on encryption, using supercomputers, technical trickery, court orders and behind-the-scenes persuasion to undermine the major tools protecting the privacy …
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Guardian:
US and UK spy agencies defeat privacy and security on the internet — • NSA and GCHQ unlock encryption used to protect emails, banking and medical records — • $250m-a-year US program works covertly with tech companies to insert weaknesses into products
Bruce Schneier / Guardian:
NSA surveillance: how to stay secure
NSA surveillance: how to stay secure
Discussion:
Wired, io9, Boing Boing and protein wisdom
Dan Nowicki / Arizona Republic:
Critics of Syria intervention blast McCain during Phoenix town hall — FONT: — Sen. John McCain felt the heat of opposition to U.S. military intervention in Syria on Thursday during a town-hall meeting in Phoenix that exposed the emotions and ethic and religious tensions connected to crisis in the Middle East.
Discussion:
Politico
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Kevin Liptak / CNN:
McCain gets an earful from voters on Syria — (CNN) - Sen. John McCain, whose endorsement of President Barack Obama's plan to launch military strikes against Syria provided the president a key Republican backer, faced vocal opponents of military action during a town hall in Arizona Thursday.
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, Mediaite, Hot Air and Jammie Wearing Fools
Peggy Noonan / Wall Street Journal:
Why America Is Saying ‘No’ — Syria and Obama: Wrong time, wrong place, wrong plan, wrong man. — It is hard, if you've got a head and a heart, to come down against a strong U.S. response to Syria's use of chemical weapons against its civilian population.
Discussion:
No More Mister Nice Blog
msnbc.com:
‘This is not Iraq’: Video, transcript of Kerry's MSNBC interview — CHRIS HAYES, HOST: Mr. Secretary, thank you so much for making the time today. — I really appreciate it. — JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: I'm very happy to be with you. — HAYES: There's a — a pretty shocking video by “The New York Times” posted today.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, ThinkProgress, Real Clear Politics and The Huffington Post
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James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:
Did Obama even have a war plan for Capitol Hill?
Did Obama even have a war plan for Capitol Hill?
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Boston Globe, ABC News, National Review and New York Times
John Dickerson / Slate:
The Obama administration should stop pretending it's easy.
The Obama administration should stop pretending it's easy.
Discussion:
Washington Wire, Salon and Boing Boing
Steven Nelson / US News:
Rep. Alan Grayson: Syria Intelligence Manipulated — Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., who is aggressively lobbying against a military strike on Syria, says the Obama administration has manipulated intelligence to push its case for U.S. involvement in the country's two-year civil war.
Discussion:
Nice Deb, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Atlantic Online and American Prospect
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John Hudson / Foreign Policy:
Congressional Black Caucus Instructed to Hold Tongue on Syria — As an increasing number of African-American lawmakers voice dissent over the Obama administration's war plans in Syria, the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) has asked members to “limit public comment” …
Discussion:
The Last Refuge, The Right Scoop, Naked DC, Weasel Zippers, Jammie Wearing Fools and The Hill
New York Times:
Pentagon Is Ordered to Expand Potential Targets in Syria With a Focus on Forces — WASHINGTON — President Obama has directed the Pentagon to develop an expanded list of potential targets in Syria in response to intelligence suggesting that the government of President Bashar al-Assad …
William Kristol / Weekly Standard:
The Right Vote — The statesmanlike case for voting Yes on the congressional resolution to use force against the Assad regime has been made widely and well by conservative foreign policy thinkers. At the end, the case boils down to this: As a policy matter, a Yes vote may be problematic in all kinds of ways.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal and The Hugh Hewitt Show
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Peter Baker / New York Times:
White House Looks to Syria Vote as Rudder for Rest of Term
White House Looks to Syria Vote as Rudder for Rest of Term
Discussion:
Yahoo! News, The Daily Caller, Politico, The Hugh Hewitt Show and Washington Post
Timothy Egan / Opinionator:
The Bush Burden — He's there in every corner of Congress where a microphone fronts a politician, there in Russia and the British Parliament and the Vatican. You may think George W. Bush is at home in his bathtub, painting pictures of his toenails, but in fact he's the biggest presence in the debate over what to do in Syria.
Discussion:
The Other McCain and The Mahablog
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Charles M. Blow / New York Times:
The Era of Disbelief — This is a particularly bad time to sell …
The Era of Disbelief — This is a particularly bad time to sell …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Washington Monthly and The Huffington Post
Jonathan Allen / Politico:
Manchin, Heitkamp float alternative — The United States would give Syria 45 days to sign an international chemical weapons ban or face the wrath of American military might, under a draft resolution being circulated by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.).
Discussion:
The Hill, Washington Post, TalkLeft, Booman Tribune and Post Politics
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Years of Tragic Waste — In a few days, we'll reach the fifth anniversary of the fall of Lehman Brothers — the moment when a recession, which was bad enough, turned into something much scarier. Suddenly, we were looking at the real possibility of economic catastrophe. — And the catastrophe came.
Discussion:
Daily Kos
Justin Joseph / KDVR.com:
GOP lawmaker brings fried chicken to poverty hearing in ‘silent protest’ — DENVER — Two weeks ago, the last meeting of a Colorado task force on economic opportunity and poverty exploded into allegations of racism when Sen. Vicki Marble, a Republican, attempted to explain high poverty rates …
Josiah Ryan / Campus Reform the #1 Source …:
SUSPENDED: Michigan State removes prof who went on anti-Republican tirade — Michigan State administrators have suspended Prof. William Penn for the remainder of the semester, after he was caught on video going on an anti-Republican tirade on the very first day of his literature class.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Scared Monkeys, The Right Scoop and The Gateway Pundit