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McChrystal: More Forces or ‘Mission Failure’ — Top U.S. Commander For Afghan War Calls Next 12 Months Decisive — The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan warns in an urgent, confidential assessment of the war that he needs more forces within the next year and bluntly states that without them …
Discussion:
The Daily Dish, Washington Monthly, Weekly Standard, Think Progress, Mudville Gazette, The New Republic, Wall Street Journal, TalkLeft, Guardian, democracyarsenal.org, Outside The Beltway, Hot Air, FiveThirtyEight, Wonk Room, Don Surber, Weasel Zippers, Taylor Marsh, SWJ Blog, Political Punch, Commentary, Townhall.com, Christian Science Monitor, MoJo Blog Posts, The Confluence, Jules Crittenden, Below The Beltway, PoliBlog, EU Referendum, ATTACKERMAN, LewRockwell.com Blog, Prairie Weather, The Page, LiveWire, Associated Press and Truthdig
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General Calls for More U.S. Troops to Avoid Afghan Failure — WASHINGTON — The top military commander in Afghanistan warns in a confidential assessment of the war there that he needs additional troops within the next year or else the conflict “will likely result in failure.”
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Matthew Yglesias, Shakesville, Donkeylicious, BBC, DownWithTyranny!, Guardian, The Faster Times, MyDD, CNN and EU Referendum

FIRST THOUGHTS: OBAMA'S VERY BUSY WEEK — From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg — *** Obama's very busy week: In the Obama Era, every week has seemed to be busy, but this week is particularly so — and it has little to do with health care, at least at the presidential level.

Bush In 2008: “I'm Not Going To Tell Some Gay Kid In The Audience That He Can't Get Married” — Speechwriter Matt Latimer's new book trains its gaze on the lunacy of the late-era Bush White House. And there was plenty of material. — Latimer, who first wrote speeches and congressional testimony …
Discussion:
The Atlantic Politics Channel, Think Progress, The Moderate Voice, The Raw Story and LiveWire
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The Self-Correcting Presidency — Last week, the Census Bureau released a statistical report on the last year of George W. Bush's presidency. The numbers were brutal. On every indicator, Americans lost ground during the Bush era. The median income slumped. The poverty rate increased.


For President, Five Programs, One Message — No one shifted an armchair, moved a flower arrangement or asked an unexpected question. — President Obama gave five back-to-back television interviews broadcast on Sunday that were as tightly choreographed — and eerily similar …
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Obama's TV Blitz: On The Air, but Off His Game? — The White House doesn't buy the notion that President Obama, who appeared on five talk shows Sunday and is heading next for David Letterman's couch, could be wearing out his welcome on the tube. — Sure, this is a president …

Obama open to newspaper bailout bill — The president said he is “happy to look at” bills before Congress that would give struggling news organizations tax breaks if they were to restructure as nonprofit businesses. — “I haven't seen detailed proposals yet, but I'll be happy to look at them …
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Obama's Nontax Tax — On a Sunday show, the President offers a revealing definition. — Printer — Friendly — President Obama didn't make much news on his round of five Sunday talk shows yesterday, with one notable exception. The President revealed a great deal about his philosophy …
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Americans More Likely to Say Government Doing Too Much — Belief that government is over-regulating business is at high for decade — PRINCETON, NJ — Americans are more likely today than in the recent past to believe that government is taking on too much responsibility for solving …
Discussion:
Politics Daily
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New poll: Majority believe government is doing too much
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AmSpecBlog


Pregame Report: The NEA Conference Call — On August 25th 2009, Big Hollywood's Patrick Courrielche broke the story of a conference call he attended with other “rising artist and art community luminaries”: … The email invite came directly from Yosi Sergant, then-Director of Communications …
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Sliming James O'Keefe: A case study — James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles are the young activists who have blown the lid off the criminal left-wing enterprise known as ACORN. If they were left-wingers exposing some conservative or religious organization, government-funded or not …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post
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Reform or Bust — In the grim period that followed Lehman's failure, it seemed inconceivable that bankers would, just a few months later, be going right back to the practices that brought the world's financial system to the edge of collapse. At the very least, one might have thought …

Video of AFSCME's Gerald McEntee: Baucus Bill is “Bulls**t” — Last week at the AFL-CIO convention, it was reported that AFSCME President Gerald McEntee led the crowd in a derogatory chant about Max Baucus's Senate Finance Committee bill. But the video was nowhere to be found. — We found it:
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog


Hillary's Honduras Obsession — The U.S. is trying to force the country to violate its constitution. — Printer — Friendly — “The Supreme Court of Honduras has constitutional and statutory authority to hear cases against the President of the Republic and many other high officers of the State …

Secret interviews add insight to Clinton presidency — BALTIMORE — The call from the White House usually would come in late afternoon. President Clinton had a few hours open in the evening. Could he come over? — Taylor Branch, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and civil rights historian …


Obama Questions Plan to Add Forces in Afghanistan — President Barack Obama on Sunday voiced skepticism that more troops would make a difference in Afghanistan, suggesting he might not rubber-stamp military officials' expected request to send more forces to that country.
Discussion:
The Enterprise Blog, CNN, Pajamas Media, Moonbattery, Los Angeles Times and Christian Science Monitor
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