Defense Secretary Robert Gates boards a C-17 after visiting U.S. troops at Forward Operating Base Howz-E-Madad in Kandahar Province in Afghanistan December 8, 2010. (REUTERS/Win McNamee)
–The Senate begins debate on Obama’s tax compromise today and Dems there are beginning to thaw. House Dems not so much; some
(White House/Chuck Kennedy)
–From the archives: What you didn’t know about the turkey pardon and what happens to the not-so-lucky ones.
–Obama pledges solidarity with South Korea, dispatches warship for exercises.
–Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and David Brock talk about the new Dem Super PAC.
–Re disclosure, Brock’s …
Ahmed Rashid, the Pakistani journalist who knows Afghanistan better than anyone, has scored a disturbing interview with Hamid Karzai, in which the Afghan leader really does seem to be getting tired of the American military strategy–specifically, the special operations night raids targeting Taliban leaders, which have been the most …
On Sunday McClatchy dropped its months-long investigation of U.S. construction projects in Afghanistan. The picture is not pretty and an unsettling metaphor for the nine-year war effort emerges:
A McClatchy investigation has found that since January 2008, nearly $200 million in U.S. Army Corps of Engineers construction projects in
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Meg Whitman, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jerry Brown appear at the Women’s Conference 2010 in Long Beach, California on October 26. (REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni)
–At the nifty new National Journal, Jeremy Jacobs reports the DCCC is making its last stand for the House, dumping $21.6 million on airtime in 66 districts. That includes a …
Dexter Filkins has a fascinating, if confusing, piece today about the negotiations that have begun between the Karzai government and high-level elements of the Taliban…but not including the highest-level element, Mullah Omar. What is unclear is whether Omar–who has been “cut out” of the negotiations–has authorized his deputies to …
Iran is participating in the Afghan contact group talks in Rome. There is precedent for this: Iran participated in the Bonn talks that created a new Afghan government in 2001–to good effect, I’m told. That might have been the beginning of a beautiful friendship, but the Bush Administration was more interested in constructing an Axis of
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The long-awaited battle for Kandahar Province has begun and Time’s Jason Motlagh is there, at the heart of the fight in the same Zhari district where I embedded last April. There is a larger story here, about a change in emphasis by General David Petraeus, from counterinsurgency toward counterterrorism, that Fred Kaplan laid out here …
–President Karzai is reportedly talking reconciliation with the Taliban.
—Nepotism reigns in Afghanistan.
–Mark McKinnon doubts the whispers of a last-minute Democratic revival before the midterms.
—Rich Lowry is very optimistic about the new crop of Republicans likely headed to Washington in November. Philip Klein not …
–President Obama will make a “personnel announcement” at 11:05 am from the East Room (Spoiler: As Michael noted, Emanuel is out and Pete Rouse is replacing him.)
—Ezra Klein has a thorough primer/link dump on the soon-to-be chief of staff.
–Max Boot critiques Bob Woodward’s “Obama’s Wars” as too far removed from the …
–President Obama has a long chat with Rolling Stone.
–Vice President Biden doesn’t mince words with the base.
–CNN reports Rahm Emanuel will pack his bags Friday and Pete Rouse will likely serve as interim chief of staff.
–Republican independent expenditure groups out gun Democratic ones.
President Obama speaks during the Millennium Development Goals Summit at the U.N. headquarters in New York September 22, 2010. (REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton)
–As Alex notes, House Republicans have unveiled their new governing platform a la 1994’s Contract With America. Chris Good pulls out some bullet-points. Marc Ambinder thinks it …
–Bob Woodward’s upcoming book has leaked and it’s full of every bit of White House palace intrigue one would expect from the Washington Post icon. Also, plenty of intra-administration sniping:
Mr. Biden called Mr. Holbrooke “the most egotistical bastard I’ve ever met.” A variety of administration officials expressed scorn for
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