memeorandum: Obama Quit In Afghanistan (Tom Maguire/JustOneMinute)

11:45 PM ET, January 7, 2014

Top Items:

Robert Gates, former defense secretary, offers harsh critique of Obama's leadership in ‘Duty’ — In a new memoir, former defense secretary Robert Gates unleashes harsh judgments about President Obama's leadership and his commitment to the Afghanistan war, writing that by early 2010 …

Thom Shanker / New York Times:

In His New Memoir, Robert M. Gates, the Former Defense Secretary, Offers a Critique of the President — WASHINGTON — President Obama eventually lost faith in the troop increase he ordered in Afghanistan, his doubts fed by top White House civilian advisers opposed to the strategy …

Discussion: Politico, Yahoo! News, WorldViews, The Week, CNN, Hot Air, Talking Points Memo, Close Read, Post Politics, Mediaite, Weasel Zippers, ABC News, Liberal Values, NBCNews and Washington Free Beacon

Robert M. Gates / Wall Street Journal:

The Quiet Fury of Robert Gates — Bush and Obama's secretary of defense had to wage war in Iraq, Afghanistan—and today's Washington … All too often during my 4½ years as secretary of defense, when I found myself sitting yet again at that witness table at yet another congressional hearing …

Discussion: Washington Wire

Greg Jaffe / Washington Post:

Book review: ‘Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War’ by Robert M. Gates — Greg Jaffe covered the Pentagon for The Washington Post and is a co-author of “The Fourth Star: Four Generals and the Epic Struggle for the Future of the United States Army.” — Maybe it was the time of year, just before the Christmas holidays.

Evan McMorris-Santoro / BuzzFeed:

White House Defends Joe Biden Against Book By Former Defense Secretary — “Joe Biden has been one of the leading statesmen of his time, and has helped advance America's leadership in the world,” says the National Security Council spokesperson. — Tim Shaffer / Reuters / Reuters

Discussion: The Hinterland Gazette, The Right Scoop, NO QUARTER USA NET, Weasel Zippers and Mediaite

Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:

Obama Quit In Afghanistan — Tear out the front page! Here is a shocker from former SecDef Gates, as reported by Bob Woodward: — In a new memoir, former defense secretary Robert Gates unleashes harsh judgments about President Obama's leadership and his commitment to the Afghanistan war …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

TIME:
Gates Slams Biden in Memoir, Reveals He Nearly Quit

Discussion: Power Line, CNN, Weasel Zippers, Business Insider and Post Politics

Yahoo! News:
Obama backs repeal of law that green-lighted Iraq War

Discussion: emptywheel

Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:
McCain Thinks Obama Is The One Who ‘Blew The Whole Thing’ In Iraq

Discussion: Washington Post, The Heritage Foundation, Daily Kos and Lawfare

Robert Costa / Post Politics:

House GOP leaders coach rank-and-file on discussing unemployment — House Republican leaders sent a memo this week to the entire GOP conference with talking points designed to help rank-and-file Republicans show compassion for the unemployed and explain the Republican position on unemployment benefits.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Hot Air, Washington Post, Mediaite, The Fix, The Plum Line and Wonkblog

Burgess Everett / Politico:
In surprise, unemployment benefits advance

Discussion: Slate, Mediaite, New York Times, CNN, Taylor Marsh, Outside the Beltway and The Raw Story

John Bresnahan / Politico:
Michael Bloomberg gives $2.5M to Senate Majority PAC

Discussion: Washington Wire and Weasel Zippers

Patricia Murphy / The Daily Beast:
The Senate's Last Compassionate Conservative Tries to Help the Jobless

Discussion: NewsBusters and The Plum Line

Reid J. Epstein / Politico:
Obama hits House GOP on unemployment benefits

Discussion: CNN, The Hill and ThinkProgress

Catherine Taibi / The Huffington Post:

Rush Limbaugh's Polar Vortex ‘Hoax’ Comments Knocked Down By Weatherman (VIDEO) — Rush Limbaugh made headlines Monday when he called the “polar vortex” of dangerously cold conditions sweeping across the Midwest a “hoax,” but now an actual weatherman is saying otherwise.

Discussion: Daily Kos, Riehl World News, The Right Scoop and Politico

Alan Duke / CNN:
What the heck is a polar vortex?

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Talking Points Memo, Blogcritics and Rush Limbaugh

Kasey Babbitt / fox4kc.com:

Daisy Coleman hospitalized in Kansas City after suicide attempt — KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Maryville Mo., teenager, who has been at the center of a rape case which made national headlines, was in a Kansas City hospital on Monday night after attempting to take her own life.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Raw Story, Daily Mail and Washington Post

New York Times:

Biography Casts Critical Light on Fox News Chief — Roger Ailes was so eager to influence national politics that in the run-up to the 2012 presidential election, he told fellow Fox News executives point-blank: “I want to elect the next president.” — In the corporate thicket of News Corporation …

Discussion: Business Insider and The Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »

Hadas Gold / Politico:

Navy mistakenly sends FOIA plans to reporter — The Unites States Navy inadvertently sent a memo to a local NBC News reporter this week detailing how it intended to try and deter requests he had filed under the Freedom Of Information Act. — Scott MacFarlane, a reporter for NBC 4 in Washington …

Discussion: Hit & Run, Gawker, Mediaite and Business Insider, more at Mediagazer »

Theresa Vargas / Washington Post:

Agency rejects trademark of ‘Redskins Hog Rinds,’ calling term ‘derogatory’ — The same federal agency that will determine whether Washington's professional football team gets to keep its trademark registration recently struck down a request for a company to sell pork rinds with the name “Redskins.”

Discussion: ProFootballTalk, ThinkProgress and Deadspin

James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:

How value judgments cloud social thought. — City Journal's Kay Hymowitz weighed in over the holidays with a response to our Dec. 16 column, in which we faulted the premise of her earlier article titled “Boy Trouble.” She maintains that the main body of the article (which we described as …

Discussion: Shakesville

Austin Frakt / The Incidental Economist:

What happened to US life expectancy? — Here's another chart from the JAMA study “The Anatomy of Health Care in the United States”: — Why did the US fall behind the OECD median in the mid-1980s for men and the early 1990s for women? Note, the answer need not point to the health system.

Discussion: Wonkblog, Washington Center … and Firedoglake

Dan Merica / CNN:

Pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC posts substantial 2013 fundraising haul — Washington (CNN) - Who says you need a candidate to raise a bundle of cash? — Ready for Hillary, the grassroots Super PAC urging former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to run for president in 2016 …

Discussion: Politico

Mark Mazzetti / New York Times:

Burglars Who Took On F.B.I. Abandon Shadows — Stealing J. Edgar Hoover's Secrets: One night in 1971, files were stolen from an F.B.I. office near Philadelphia. They proved that the bureau was spying on thousands of Americans. The case was unsolved, until now.

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Raw Story, Hit & Run, BillMoyers.com, Guardian, NBCNews, Gawker, Business Insider, Yahoo! News, The Verge, Mashable, The Week, Talking Points Memo, Freedom of the Press …, Liberaland, Retro Report, Pressing Issues and Philly.com

CNN:

Angry Dennis Rodman defends North Korea basketball game — (CNN) — Dennis Rodman defended his visit to North Korea with a team of fellow former NBA players in a combative exchange Tuesday, saying the trip was a “great idea for the world.” — In an exclusive interview with Chris Cuomo of CNN's …

Discussion: Mediaite, Weekly Standard, Politico, The Heritage Foundation, Deadspin, Global Grind, The Hinterland Gazette, The Moderate Voice, Post Politics, Scared Monkeys, Business Insider, Liberaland, Hot Air, Gawker, KASW-TV, Towleroad News #gay, Guardian and The Daily Caller

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

Obamacare ads to hit the Olympic slopes — The Obama administration is planning an Olympic-size ad blitz to push health coverage during the Winter Games next month. — The Department of Health and Human Services confirmed Tuesday that it has bought advertising time in markets with high rates …

Discussion: CNN and Viking Pundit

Jelani Cobb / News Desk:

Melissa Harris-Perry and the Contrition Complex — A glance at the fraying tethers of our civic culture almost invites a nostalgia for the days when we imagined our troubles were a neatly bilateral conflict between red states and blue ones. These days, we have the civic amity of feuding rappers.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and The Right Scoop

Charlie Cook / NationalJournal.com:

Six-Year Itch Plagues Presidents in Midterms — History shows that midterm elections are usually bad for the president's party. — Second-term blues: Fatigue erodes a president's relationship with the electorate. (Kent Nishimura-Pool/Getty Images) — It is as certain as the sun coming up in the morning.

Discussion: American Power, First Read and Politico

Richard Pollock / Washington Examiner:

Surprise! Walmart health plan is cheaper, offers more coverage than Obamacare — WATCHDOG OBAMACARE HEALTH CARE ACCOUNTABILITY WALMART — New Obamacare health insurance enrollees may feel a pang of envy when they eye the coverage plans offered by Walmart to its employees.

Discussion: Ricochet Conversations Feed and TheBlaze.com

Bruce Schneier / The Atlantic Online:

How the NSA Threatens National Security — Our choice isn't between a digital world where the agency can eavesdrop and one where it cannot; our choice is between a digital world that is vulnerable to any attacker and one that is secure for all users. — Secret NSA eavesdropping is still in the news.

Discussion: Washington Post