Morning Must Reads: McChrystal

By Adam Sorensen | @adamsorensen | June 22, 2010 | +

Official White House Photo

–You can read Rolling Stone‘s full piece on Stanley McChrystal here. The general and his inner circle were something beyond cavalier and insulted a lot of people, but probably the most troubling aspect to the White House is that the commander of American forces in Afghanistan brazenly impugned the president’s authority and judgment. He’s apologized, but Obama has called him to Washington to explain himself face-to-face, and it is unclear how things will shake out by the end of the week.

–There are runoffs in North Carolina, South Carolina and Mississippi today, plus a primary in Utah. Rep. Bob Inglis looks poised to be unseated in SC-04 and Nikki Haley is expected to beat Gresham Barrett for the Republican gubernatorial nod in South Carolina.

–First CBS and now ABC News is reporting the Justice Department will sue Arizona over its immigration law.

–Financial reform conference committee meetings continue today. The biggest remaining target is the Volcker Rule — specifically, exemptions that would allow banks to invest in hedge funds or a carveout for insurance companies and other asset management organizations. Interchange fees, consumer finance protection and derivatives are also on the agenda for this week.

–White House budget director Peter Orszag is set to depart.

–And the DNC still hearts Joe Barton.

What did I miss?

You can contact Adam at swampland@time.com.

@TIMEPolitics

Latest on Swampland

Closeup May 25, 2012

Political Picures of the Week, May 18-25

TIME’s photo editors bring you the best pictures of the past week from the Beltway and beyond.
From our Partners
Obama Administration Blocks Global Health Fund To Fight Disease In Developing NationsHuffPost Politics

The Cowardice of Colin PowellSlate
Ryan Crocker Says Cases Of Afghans Killing NATO Military Counterparts Can Be 'Personal'HuffPost Politics
2012 Election May 25, 2012

The Phony War: Obama and Romney Are Debating Character, Not Policy

More than five months from Election Day, the back-and-forth about Mitt Romney’s record at Bain already feels played out. Unfortunately, there’s good reason to expect the campaign continues in this vein indefinitely. Neither Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney are terribly interested in dwelling on policy platforms. Romney’s plan to slash spending and keep taxes low on the wealthy isn’t especially popular, at least not at any level of detail beyond a blithe promise to shrink the deficit. Meanwhile, Obama’s signature first-term achievements, like health care, the stimulus and Wall Street reform, are all unpopular or tricky to sell. (The Dodd-Frank bill is the most popular of these, but hyping it means offending wealthy donors.) So what we’re getting instead is a superficial duel about character–and, worse, one that’s based on the largely false premise that the better man can better “manage” the economy back to health.

grape_crush

What did I miss?

The Republican War on the Unemployed, aka: ‘Suck It, Losers’.

“It’s been remarkable to watch this unfold of late. One GOP congressman recently compared the unemployed to “hobos.” Several Republicans have blocked extended benefits for the unemployed. In the House, GOP lawmakers tried to eliminate a successful jobs program…

…And now Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul, in his infinite wisdom, wants the jobless to quit their bellyaching and ‘get back to work.’”
grape_crush

Paul interview here:

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/06/rand-paul-to-unemployed-quit-whining-and-get-back-to-work.php?ref=fpa

“As bad as it sounds, ultimately we do have to sometimes accept a wage that’s less than we had at our previous job in order to get back to work and allow the economy to get started again…”
grape_crush

And without the waterboarding, too.

“Wearing a white skull cap, prison smocks and a dark beard, Faisal Shahzad entered the plea in U.S. District Court in Manhattan just days after a federal grand jury indicted him on 10 terrorism and weapons counts, some of which carried mandatory life prison sentences. He pleaded guilty to them all.”
stuartzechman

F*ck Rand Paul.
.
He sounds as bad as Dianne Feinstein (before her staff got wind of the fact that her statements were reported):

Lurking beneath deficit concerns, for both Republicans and even some Democrats, is the suspicion that extended unemployment benefits discourage job-seeking. Rep. John Linder (R-Ga.) said last Thursday, for instance, that extended unemployment benefits are “too much of an allure” for people to look for work. Even Senate Democrats who voted in favor of the bill, such as Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), are starting to look toward winding down the programs.
.
“We have 99 weeks of unemployment insurance,” Feinstein said. “The question comes, how long do you continue that before people just don’t go back to work at all?”
.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/16/jobs-bill-bombs-in-senate_n_614292.html
m0mentom0ri

Oh, goody, the ‘Cadillac Driving Welfare Queen’ is back from the dead.
.
Sharon Angle joins in the resurrection: http://slashpolitics.lvcitylife.com/2010/06/angles-modern-day-welfare-queens-the-unemployed/
jsfox

The betting window is now open. Is McChrystal toast?
grape_crush

Holy Lack of Self-Awareness, BatKing!

“I’ve been through all kinds of controversy, and I always have to ask myself, ‘Did I say something that wasn’t founded in truth?’ No. ‘Did I say something that hurt someone’s feelings?’ I don’t think so” …

[later in the same speech]

…King said that under only one circumstance does he support amnesty for illegal immigrants: “Every time we give amnesty for an illegal alien, we deport a liberal.”
Paul-no not that one

Rolling Stone or Politico?
.
“One interesting thing about the Rolling Stone profile of Gen. Stanley McChrystal that has Washington in a tizzy today is that virtually all of the jabs at President Obama and other Administration officials came not from McChrystal himself, but from unnamed aides to the general.”
.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/06/most-jabs-in-mcchrystal-profile-came-from-generals-aides.php?ref=fpblg
nflfoghorn

He doesn’t care about US law either. Happy stay in Supermax for the rest of your life.
nflfoghorn

…with butter and jam on the side
nflfoghorn

I’d say the latter, which apparently has a thing for unnamed sources.
Paul-no not that one

I’m not a McChrystal fan but I have to be wary about unnamed sources.
.
Even more so when they are telling me something I am inclined to believe.
sevenoaks07

Agreed, Paul. But a general who tolerates poor staff work (garrulousness with the press???) needs to account for the way he handles staff. There is a bit of a ra-ra feel to the staff. Usually staff are busy peddling the greatness of the boss and don’t get engaged in political dissing.
rose83

But apparently McChrystal fact-checked the article, which is Rolling Stone’s policy. Also it’s very clear who the unnamed sources are, unlike in many Politico articles.
jsfox

And who is responsible for these aides?
grape_crush

Your Liberal Media at Work. (.pdf, page 6)

“A study of the concepts and rhetoric that found their way into the media narrative from June 2009 through March 2010 revealed that the opponents’ leading terms appeared almost twice as frequently (about 18,000 times) as the supporters’ top terms (about 11,000 times.) Boiled down to its essence, the opponents’ attack on big government resonated more in the media than the supporters’ attack on greedy insurance firms.”
Paul-no not that one

I’m not saying the story is inaccurate -McChrystal didn’t deny anything is his apology.
.
What I am saying is that, by default, I am not going to swallow whole a story with so many unnamed sources.
rose83

I know it’s OT to recommend a book here, but the McChrystal story reminded me once again of Imperial Brotherhood by Robert Dean: http://www.umass.edu/umpress/fall_03/deanpb.html

This passage in particular echoed strongly:

“He also set a manic pace for his staff, becoming legendary for sleeping four hours a night, running seven miles each morning, and eating one meal a day. (In the month I spend around the General, I notice him eating only once.) It’s a kind of superhuman narrative that has built up around him, a staple in almost every media profile, as if the ability to go without sleep and food translates into the possibility of a man single-handedly winning the war.”
Paul-no not that one

“But apparently McChrystal fact-checked the article, which is Rolling Stone’s policy.”
.
Politico got that wrong, too.
.
McChrystal didn’t fact check the article.
.
“So we followed up with Rolling Stone Managing Editor Will Dana who confirmed that McChrystal definitely was not given the article to read in advance but was rather dealt with as a fact-checking normally would — which is to say that McChrystal would have had the substance of his own quotes read back to him and be asked about specific factual assertions in the piece.”
.
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2010/06/how_much_did_mcchrystal_know.php#more
freeinpa

Free Market Obama telling health insurance companies how much they must spend on HC versus administrative costs. But he is a free market guy.

Add HC to banking and soon to be energy businesses that will be under government control while our economy tanks!
nflfoghorn

“…[S]leeping four hours a night, running seven miles each morning, and eating one meal a day” will make you a prime candidate for Type II diabetes.
apr2563

As a Californian, Feinstein is a never ending source of embarrassment.
apr2563

Lord I hope so.
apr2563

andrew@theatlantic.com
Paul, read the last paragraph, page 2 of this Politico article.
artraveler

I think we are paying Congress too much. We need to set up a two-tier system. New ones get $50,000 a year and 1 staff person in Washingtion and their mom and dad can handle the “home” stuff. Since people get addicted to making a living, we need to be sure our leaders learn how to live like “hobos” on $50K in Washington. I understand the Y has a pool.