memeorandum: Obama keeps his Afghan promise, but Dems crumble (Byron York/Washington Examiner)

11:10 AM ET, December 1, 2009

Top Items:

Obama Sets Faster Troop Deployment to Afghanistan — WASHINGTON — President Obama has decided to expedite the deployment of 30,000 additional American troops to Afghanistan over the next six months, in an effort to reverse the momentum of Taliban gains and create urgency for the government …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, The Caucus, Swampland, Guardian, Neptunus Lex, TPMDC, Politics Daily and Greg's Opinion

Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:

The White House Takes On Politico — It's not just Fox News that's become subject of White House derision. The following is an excerpt from a joke e-mail that is circulating among White House staffers. It's a response, of sorts, to the analytical essay that Politico editor …

Discussion: AmSpecBlog, Raw Story and The Politico

Washington Post:

Obama to send 34,000 troops to Afghanistan — Other nations to be asked for more forces — President Obama will outline Tuesday his intention to send an additional 34,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan, according to U.S. officials and diplomatic sources briefed Monday as Obama began informing allies of his plan.

Discussion: Politics Daily, msnbc.com, Bloomberg, McClatchy Washington Bureau, Scared Monkeys, The Washington Independent, BLACKFIVE, The Politico, Associated Press, Financial Times, Big Hollywood and Weekly Standard

Michael Scherer / Swampland:

Piling On Desirée Rogers—Is The Social Secretary To Blame For Two Ticketless Boobs At The White House? — There is an unwritten rule in Washington: If you want to last, don't stand out. Those who do—think Tom DeLay with his cigars, Jack Abramoff with his restaurant—tend to get clipped before too long.

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, The Note, Washington Post, Lynn Sweet, Moraes on TV, American Power, Taylor Marsh, Obama Foodorama, Majikthise, Agence France Presse, The Daily Beast, Political Punch and Emptywheel

Los Angeles Times:

State dinner crashers exchanged e-mails with Pentagon official — The special assistant to the Secretary of Defense, who was appointed by Obama, said she clearly stated in correspondence with the couple that she could not extend any kind of invitation. — Reporting from Washington …

Discussion: The Swamp, Hot Air and Michelle Malkin

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Obama's exceedingly familiar justifications for escalation

Discussion: The Huffington Post, TalkLeft, Guardian, PERRspectives and Political Punch

Tony Romm / The Hill:
Gibbs: Despite research dispute, ‘climate change is happening’

Discussion: Gateway Pundit, Pajamas Media, Another Black Conservative, Wizbang, Wellsy's World and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

ABCNEWS:
Breaking: White House Says ‘Era of Blank Check’ Is Over for Afghan President Karzai

Discussion: Top of the Ticket, The Politico, TPMDC, Informed Comment, Pajamas Media, Political Punch, Mudville Gazette, The Note and Newshoggers.com

John F. Harris / The Politico:
7 stories Barack Obama doesn't want told

Discussion: Mediaite, The Atlantic Politics Channel and CBS News

Vidya Rao / msnbc.com:
Salahis: ‘We were invited, not crashers’

Discussion: Townhall.com, Mouth of the Potomac and Reliable Source

Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times:
Obama Issues Order for More Troops in Afghanistan

Discussion: The Politico, Washington Post, Mudville Gazette, Indecision Forever, DownWithTyranny!, Political Punch, The Moderate Voice, Connecting.the.Dots, Room for Debate, About.com US Liberal Politics, Slate, Chris Floyd, The Page, MyDD, The Corner on National …, Weekly Standard and Washington Monthly

Peter Wehner / Commentary:
The Unmasking of Barack Obama

Discussion: Sense of Events, Big Government, Pundit & Pundette and Wall Street Journal

Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Opts for Limited Surge

Discussion: Washington Wire, The Washington Independent and The Note

Little Green Footballs:

Why I Parted Ways With The Right — 1. Support for fascists, both in America (see: Pat Buchanan, Robert Stacy McCain, etc.) and in Europe (see: Vlaams Belang, BNP, SIOE, Pat Buchanan, etc.) — 2. Support for bigotry, hatred, and white supremacism (see: Pat Buchanan, Ann Coulter, Robert Stacy McCain, Lew Rockwell, etc.)

Discussion: The Other McCain, Outside The Beltway, Michael Calderone's Blog, The Strata-Sphere, Dennis the Peasant, The Moderate Voice, Israel Matzav, Pam's House Blend, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Wake up America, Riehl World View, Moonbattery, culturekitchen and Jihad Watch

Jules Crittenden:

Charles Johnson Explains The Crazy Hating — OK, not really. Little Green Footballs on why he flipped from right to left. The explanation is a little thin. It's more an illustration of how he's flipped out, from right to left. But apparently it works like this: If you disagree …

Discussion: The Jawa Report, JammieWearingFool and Althouse

The Politico:

Cheney slams Obama for projecting ‘weakness’ — Obama's decisions made for “small ‘p’ political reasons” make outspoken former VP nervous.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Jack & Jill Politics, Wake up America, The Caucus, Commentary, No More Mister Nice Blog, Emptywheel and Hotline On Call

Spencer Ackerman / The Washington Independent:

Why Would Anyone Think the Bush Administration Botched Afghanistan? — Politico reporters transcribe, you decide: … Right, and why follow that one up? It's not like a high-profile Senate report demonstrated over the weekend that the Bush administration allowed Osama bin Laden to escape …

Discussion: Boston Globe, TPMDC, The Hill and ATTACKERMAN

Seattle Times:

Lakewood police shooting suspect killed by Seattle police officer in South Seattle early this morning — Maurice Clemmons, the suspect wanted in slaying of four Lakewood police officers, was shot and killed in South Seattle early this morning. — Clemmons, who reportedly was armed …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, KING-TV, Times of London, The Other McCain, Riehl World View, Michelle Malkin, The Stranger … and CNN

CNN:
Police: Dead suspect had officer's gun

Discussion: Salon, Washington Monthly, The Bilerico Project, New York Times, Hot Air, Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Opinionator

Andy Barr / The Politico:
The right hammers Huck over shooting

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, PoliBlog, The Stranger …, First Thoughts, Associated Press, The Moderate Voice, TPMMuckraker, The Washington Independent, Seattle Times and PERRspectives

ABCNEWS:
Police: ‘Feeling of Relief’ After Alleged Cop Killer Shot

Discussion: Mediaite, Scared Monkeys and KOMO

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

Obama keeps his Afghan promise, but Dems crumble — At West Point tonight, when Barack Obama formally announces he is sending tens of thousands more American troops to Afghanistan, he'll be doing so against the wishes of an overwhelming majority of the Democratic Party.

Discussion: Power Line

Jared Allen / The Hill:
Afghanistan war upends deficit-spending

Discussion: The Foundry and Prairie Weather

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
The perils of being commander in chief

Discussion: The Mahablog

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Threat of reconciliation hovers over centrist Dems on healthcare — Talk about using budget reconciliation to pass healthcare reform in the Senate has faded from public view, but Democratic leaders continue to hang the threat over centrists in private. — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid …

New York Times:
No Big Cost Rise in U.S. Premiums Is Seen in Study

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Megan McArdle, National Review and The New Republic

Lori Montgomery / Washington Post:
Senate health bill wouldn't increase insurance costs for most, CBO says

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Guardian, Reuters, USA Today and The Note

Wall Street Journal:

Climategate: Follow the Money — Climate change researchers must believe in the reality of global warming just as a priest must believe in the existence of God. — Printer — Friendly — Last year, ExxonMobil donated $7 million to a grab-bag of public policy institutes …

Discussion: QandO, Betsy's Page, Sister Toldjah and TBR.cc

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:

LaHood Muses About Higher Gasoline Taxes — The federal gasoline tax doesn't bring in enough money to meet the country's transportation spending needs. What's more gasoline taxes are a good way of raising tax revenue—they're economically efficient and environmentally beneficial.

Discussion: Streetsblog Capitol Hill

Star-Telegram / Dallas Fort Worth traffic:
Congress must debate gas tax increase, transportation secretary says

Discussion: Firedoglake and The Hill

Haaretz:

New IDF unit to fight enemies on Facebook, Twitter — The Israel Defense Forces Spokesman's Office is to begin drafting computer experts with an eye toward establishing an Internet and new media department unit, Army Spokesman Brig. Gen. Avi Benayahu said Monday.

Discussion: The Jawa Report, TPMCafe and Israel Matzav

David Brooks / New York Times:

Clear, Hold and Duct Tape — In late 2006, Gen. David Petraeus and Gen. James F. Amos released a brilliant book with a thrilling title. It was called the “Army/Marine Corps Field Manual 3-24.” In its quiet way, this book helped overturn conventional wisdom on modern warfare and gave leaders …

Discussion: Commentary and Prairie Weather

Bob Herbert / New York Times:

A Tragic Mistake — “I hate war,” said Dwight Eisenhower, “as only a soldier who has lived it can, as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.” — He also said, “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft …

Discussion: Firedoglake and Boston Globe

Alice Schroeder / Bloomberg:

Arming Goldman With Pistols Against Public: Alice Schroeder — Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) — “I just wrote my first reference for a gun permit,” said a friend, who told me of swearing to the good character of a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker who applied to the local police for a permit to buy a pistol.

Discussion: naked capitalism and Taibblog