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Text of Cheney's AEI Speech — THE WEEKLY STANDARD has obtained an advance copy of VP Cheney's remarks as prepared for delivery later this morning at the American Enterprise Institute. I've read it quickly. I think fair-minded people will find it very well-argued and powerful.
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The Atlantic Business Channel, The Washington Independent, TPMDC, Crooks and Liars, JustOneMinute, The Moderate Voice, AmSpecBlog, democracyarsenal.org, Hot Air, The Huffington Post, The Daily Dish, Taylor Marsh, The Foundry, Don Surber, Newshoggers.com, Politics Daily, Townhall.com and Firedoglake
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Text: Obama's Speech on National Security — Following is a text of President Obama's prepared speech on Thursday on national security issues. — These are extraordinary times for our country. We are confronting an historic economic crisis. We are fighting two wars.

Cheney vs. Obama: A Mismatch — I've read both speeches. — Obama's is the speech of a young senator who was once a part-time law professor—platitudinous and preachy, vague and pseudo-thoughtful in an abstract kind of way. This sentence was revealing: “On the other hand …

CNN Poll: Favorable opinion of Dick Cheney on the rise — WASHINGTON (CNN) — As Dick Cheney prepares to give a major speech on the battle against terrorism, a new national poll suggests that favorable opinions of the former vice president are on the rise. — But the CNN/Opinion Research …
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Washington Monthly, Matthew Yglesias, The Moderate Voice, neo-neocon, Say Anything, Taylor Marsh and Brutally Honest

Cheney vs. Obama — Two speeches, two very different men. Former Vice President Cheney seeks no political future. He speaks from the vantage of one who witnessed the killing of our fellow citizens, who deliberated and defined the strategy that would successfully prevent further murders of our fellow Americans.


Obama: U.S. went ‘off course’ on terror — President Barack Obama declared defiantly Thursday that the U.S. “went off course” in fighting terrorism over the past eight years, and said his policies will “better protect” the country against al Qaeda. — In a major address at the National Archives …

Obama's civil liberties speech — Obama's speech this morning, like most Obama speeches, made pretty points in rhetorically effective ways about the Constitution, our values, transparency, oversight, the state secrets privilege, and the rule of law. But his actions, in many critical cases, have repeatedly run afoul of those words.
Discussion:
The Daily Dish, White House Watch, Hullabaloo, BBC, Associated Press, Democrats.com and Newshoggers.com

Obama Is Said to Consider Preventive Detention Plan — WASHINGTON — President Obama told human rights advocates at the White House on Wednesday that he was mulling the need for a “preventive detention” system that would establish a legal basis for the United States to incarcerate terrorism suspects …

House rejects probe into Pelosi CIA claims — WASHINGTON (AP) - House Democrats on Thursday defeated a Republican push to investigate House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's claims that the CIA misled her in 2002 about whether waterboarding had been used against terrorism suspects.

A NOUN, A VERB, AND 9/11.... Now that it's over, Dick Cheney's speech …

Porter Goss Won't Say Whether He And Pelosi Were Told About Use Of Torture — Porter Goss, the former GOP Congressman who was in the room with Nancy Pelosi during their 2002 CIA briefing on interrogations, is declining through a spokesperson to say whether the two of them were told that enhanced interrogation techniques had been used.
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Obama ‘Distracted’ by Biden's ‘Indiscipline,’ Book Asserts — The president is so “distracted by his vice president's indiscipline” that he has been forced to rebuke privately Vice President Biden, according to a new book by Richard Wolffe. — FOXNews.com

Secure our future responsibly — Last year I supported Sen. John McCain for president. Despite these efforts, the American public chose Barack Obama as the person they wanted in the White House to confront the worst financial market turmoil since the Great Depression and the worst recession in a generation.
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Independents Take Center Stage in Obama Era — Trends in Political Values and Core Attitudes: 1987-2009 — Centrism has emerged as a dominant factor in public opinion as the Obama era begins. The political values and core attitudes that the Pew Research Center has monitored since 1987 show little overall ideological movement.
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Obama's Pronunciations — I don't have a problem with the fact that Barack Obama says “Pah-kee-stahn” when referring to the country to the west of India. Nor do I have a problem with the fact that Obama says “Afghanistan” in the customary American manner.
Discussion:
Think Progress


Congressman: We're going to Disney — Rep. Alan Grayson was standing in the middle of Disney World when it hit him: What Americans really need is a week of paid vacation. — So on Thursday, the Florida Democrat will introduce the Paid Vacation Act — legislation that would be the first …


The Nashville Effect — Two members of rock-n-roll royalty are getting married. A couple of weeks ago, news broke that White Stripes drummer Meg White and guitarist Jackson Smith (son of legendary MC5 founder the late Fred “Sonic” Smith and singer-songwriter Patti Smith) plan to tie the knot later this month.
Discussion:
Ta-Nehisi Coates


N.Y. Bomb Plot Suspects Acted Alone, Police Say — The four men arrested Wednesday night in what the authorities said was a plot to bomb two synagogues in the Bronx and shoot down military planes at an Air National Guard base in Newburgh, N.Y. were petty criminals who appeared to be acting alone …
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FBI arrest four in alleged plot to bomb Bronx synagogues, shoot down plane
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New York Times, City Room, New York Post, NBC New York, Associated Press, Obsidian Wings, Talking Points Memo, The Mahablog, Gates of Vienna, Newshoggers.com, At-Largely, Stop The ACLU, Washington Monthly, Atlas Shrugs, Yourish.com, Buck Naked Politics, Jihad Watch, The Jawa Report, Wake up America, Jules Crittenden, Confederate Yankee, No More Mister Nice Blog, MSNBC, Scared Monkeys, National Post, Sister Toldjah and JammieWearingFool

Replacing Justice Souter — With Supreme Court Justice David Souter set to retire next month at the end of the Court's current term, President Barack Obama faces one of the most important decisions of his tenure. Reason.com asked a panel of leading legal scholars and commentators for their views …
Discussion:
The Volokh Conspiracy

Live Blogging Obama Speech — 10:37 AM ... Obama's making a very powerful case for the familiar and powerful argument that setting aside our values to protect ourselves actually makes us less safe. Pulls in McCain, to make the point that both parties nominated candidates who opposed torture last year.
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RNC Hits Obama For Criticizing Slavery … RNC: as he prepares to deliver remarks in hall that holds the constitution, flashback obama: “constitution flawed” http://bit.ly/tFL7O #RNC [Twitter, 5/21/09] — FACT: Obama Explains The Constitution's “Fundamental Flaw” Was Slavery.
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AMERICAblog News