memeorandum: White House Takes Aggressive Role in State Races (New York Times)

9:50 AM ET, September 22, 2009

Top Items:

McChrystal to resign if not given resources for Afghanistan — Within 24 hours of the leak of the Afghanistan assessment to The Washington Post, General Stanley McChrystal's team fired its second shot across the bow of the Obama administration. According to McClatchy …

Discussion: Jules Crittenden, The Strata-Sphere, Pajamas Media, BLACKFIVE and Weasel Zippers

Leslie H. Gelb / Wall Street Journal:

Obama's Befuddling Afghan Policy — Why is the president hesitating on more troops to fight his ‘war of necessity’? — Printer — Friendly — I'm lost on President Barack Obama's Afghanistan policy—along with most of Congress and the U.S. military.

Discussion: Washington Post, American Power, Commentary, The Cable and Marc Lynch

Victor Davis Hanson / The Corner on National …:

Two-Front Wars — Theirs and Ours — By: Victor Davis Hanson — Something is not quite right about the conventional wisdom about the Afghanistan war. For nearly eight years, yearly casualties in Afghanistan sometimes were less than a month's losses in the dire days in Iraq (e.g. …

Discussion: Dean's World and Dr. Sanity

Giles Whittell / Times of London: World Agenda: Is Afghan surge Obama's Cuba moment?

Josh Gerstein / The Politico:
Obama gets serious in late night

Discussion: Wilshire & Washington

Peter Spiegel / Wall Street Journal:
McChrystal Assessment Paints Dire Picture of Afghan War

Discussion: Washington Post, Politics Daily, McClatchy Washington Bureau, Newshoggers.com, Associated Press, The Daily Dish, At-Largely, LiveWire, Danger Room, ABCNEWS and The Foundry

Karen Travers / Political Punch:

Biden on 2010: If GOP Succeeds, It's ‘The End of the Road for What Barack and I Are Trying to Do’ — ABC News' Karen Travers reports: — Vice President Joe Biden said today that if Democrats were to lose 35 House seats they currently hold in traditionally Republican districts, it would mean doomsday for President Obama's agenda.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Outside The Beltway, Top of the Ticket, The Corner on National …, Wake up America, The TrogloPundit, Don Surber, Hot Air, JammieWearingFool, RedState, Wizbang, doubleplusundead and The Strata-Sphere

New York Times:

White House Takes Aggressive Role in State Races — WASHINGTON — The White House's intervention in the race for New York governor is the latest evidence of how President Obama and his top advisers are taking an increasingly direct role in contests across the country, but their assertiveness …

Discussion: The Note, msnbc.com, New York Post, Washington Post, Associated Press, Moe Lane, New York Times, DISSENTING JUSTICE, George's Bottom Line, City Room, NY Daily News and Political Punch

Reid Wilson / The Hill:

Biden: GOP wins would be “end of the road” — Vice President Joe Biden on Monday said if Republicans succeed in winning back the House in 2010, it would be the “end of the road” for the White House's agenda. — At a fundraiser for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), Biden said the prospects …

Discussion: Jules Crittenden, GayPatriot, The Political Carnival, Gateway Pundit, Weasel Zippers and Hot Air

Dana Loesch / Big Government:

Conference Call Transcript Implicates Fed Art Agency in Government Co-Opt of Arts Community — The White House is attempting to mimic Leni Riefenstahl by rounding up those in the arts and entertainment industry and using them as the vehicles through which President Obama can peddle his agenda.

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, Wake up America, Big Hollywood, The washington times Blogs, Ace of Spades HQ, American Power, alicublog, GayPatriot, Hot Air, thedanashow.wordpress.com, Patterico's Pontifications, AmSpecBlog, National Review Online, Dr. Sanity and The Anonymous Liberal

SEK / The Edge of the American West:
Conservatives are outraged over an actual outrage? Color me impressed.

Discussion: PoliGazette, The Confluence, Big Hollywood and American Glob

City Journal:
The Art of Corruption

Discussion: Power Line and The Greenroom

Rusty / The Jawa Report:
Astroturfing the NEA: Winner & Associates in on the Scheme? (UPDATED)

Discussion: protein wisdom, 24Ahead and Big Government

John / Power Line:
The Rest of the Story — In recent weeks, the Obama administration …

Discussion: Big Hollywood, The Greenroom, GayPatriot, Pajamas Media, kitsapsun.com, The Sundries Shack, Conservatives4Palin.com, NewsBusters.org, The Corner on National …, theblogprof, Don Surber, Big Government, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, QandO, Gawker, Liberal Values and The washington times Blogs

Stephen Labaton / New York Times:

F.D.I.C. May Borrow Funds From Banks — WASHINGTON — Tired of the government bailing out banks? Get ready for this: officials may soon ask banks to bail out the government. — Senior regulators say they are seriously considering a plan to have the nation's healthy banks lend billions …

Discussion: The Big Picture, Vox Popoli, The Raw Story and FT Alphaville

Peter Wehner / Commentary:

Glenn Beck: Harmful to the Conservative Movement — Unlike others associated with Time magazine, David von Drehle is a skilled, careful, and perceptive writer. So I was interested in his cover story on FOX News's Glenn Beck, who is considered to be a red-hot commodity these days.

Discussion: American Glob, The Other McCain, The Reaction, AmSpecBlog, Alex Jones' Infowars, Donklephant, Hot Air, Riehl World View and PostPartisan

CBS News:
Beck: McCain Would've Been Worse

Discussion: American Power, Newshoggers.com and The Political Carnival

CBS News:

Obama Tells Letterman: I Was Black Before the Election — Posted by Brian Montopoli Addressing suggestions that recent criticism of his health care reform efforts has been grounded in racism, President Obama this afternoon quipped, “I think it's important to realize that I was actually black before the election.”

Discussion: Gawker, Liberal Values, The Foundry, culturekitchen, Short Stack, Taylor Marsh and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

David Jackson / USA Today:
Obama to Dave: ‘I was actually black before the election’

Discussion: Mediaite, Washington Post, Gothamist and American Power

New York Times:

A Pragmatist, Gates Reshapes Policy He Backed — WASHINGTON — On his tenth day on the job, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates signed off on an ambitious if politically charged plan to build a new missile shield in Europe. Just two weeks later, he supported an even more wrenching decision …

The Politico:

Peter Wehner — Peter Wehner, former Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives, is a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. — Mr. Wehner served in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush Administrations prior to becoming deputy director …

Washington Post:

Sen. Baucus's Health-Care Bill Would Ease Financial Burden on Middle Class — Seeking to lock down votes before Tuesday's meeting of the Senate Finance Committee, Chairman Max Baucus began reworking his health-care overhaul to ease the financial burden on middle-class Americans who would be required …

Discussion: Chicago Tribune, msnbc.com, New York Times, The Washington Independent, Swampland, Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg, The Page, The Hill and Truthdig

Lewis Krauskopf / Reuters:
Health co-ops seen minor risk to HMOs, for now

Discussion: DownWithTyranny! and Firedoglake

New York Times:
Key Senator Says He Will Alter Health Proposal

Discussion: Think Progress, The New Republic, The Page, Prescriptions, msnbc.com, Hullabaloo, Firedoglake, TPMDC, Donkeylicious, Ezra Klein, Daily Kos, Wall Street Journal, MoJo Blog Posts and The Hill

Grant McCool / Reuters:

U.S. charges Obama fund-raiser in $290 million fraud — NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hassan Nemazee, a fund-raiser for Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and other Democrats, has been indicted for defrauding Bank of America, HSBC and Citigroup Inc out of more than $290 million in loan proceeds, U.S. prosecutors said on Monday.

Discussion: Redhot, Gateway Pundit and POWIP

La Gringa / La Gringa's Blogicito:

Zelaya says he is in Honduras — Chávez's Venezuelan Telesur TV reported this morning that Mel Zelaya had returned to Tegucigalpa, Honduras. In an interview on a local television channel (voice only, no video), Zelaya would not disclose his location but said that he will be giving …

Discussion: New York Times, 2.0, Fausta's Blog, RedState, CNN and Hot Air

BBC:
Ousted leader returns to Honduras

Discussion: FP Passport

Rasmussen Reports:

41% of Minnesota Voters Give Franken Positive Ratings — Democrat Al Franken has been a U.S. senator for less than three months, but 41% of Minnesota voters think he is doing a good or excellent job. — The latest Rasmussen Reports finds that 31% of voters in the state say Franken …

Discussion: Real Clear Politics, Weasel Zippers, Politics Daily, GayPatriot and GOP 12

Andrew Pierce / Telegraph:

Prince Charles urges people to abandon car in favour of walking and public transport — The Prince of Wales is urging people to give up their cars in favour of walking and public transport to try to reduce carbon emissions. — The Prince, who has two Jaguars, two Audis …

Michael Barone / Real Clear Politics:

Strangers to Dissent, Liberals Try to Stifle It — It is an interesting phenomenon that the response of the left half of our political spectrum to criticism and argument is often to try to shut it down. Thus President Obama in his Sept. 9 speech to a joint session of Congress told us to stop …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Sadly, No!, pandagon.net, Free Frank Warner, The Washington Independent and Roger Ailes

David Corn / MoJo Sections:

Clinton on Gore: “I Thought He Was in Neverland” — On Monday, USA Today ran a front-page article on the soon-to-be-released book chronicling a series of secret interviews Pulitzer Prize-winning author Taylor Branch held with President Bill Clinton throughout the Clinton presidency.

Discussion: Times of London, The Caucus and Top of the Ticket

Laura Washington / Chicago Sun Times:

Cheryle Jackson leaps into political name game — When Cheryle Jackson formally launched her campaign for the U.S. Senate last week, she kicked it off with a major name change. Cheryle Jackson is now Cheryle Robinson Jackson. — Family considerations were behind the switch, she tells me.

Discussion: Scorecard's Blog

Los Angeles Times:

Immigrant population in California declines — Survey data point to a dramatic shift in the nation and show the recession's effect on foreign-born residents. — Reporting from Los Angeles and Washington - More than three decades of rapid growth in the country's foreign-born population came …

Discussion: ImmigrationProf Blog

Mark Hamblett / LAW.com:

2nd Circuit Revives Suit Targeting Power Plant CO2 Emissions — Post a Comment Printer-friendly Email this Article Reprints & Permissions — Global warming lawsuits brought by New York State and others who challenged major utilities on carbon-dioxide emissions from coal-burning power plants …

Discussion: PointOfLaw Forum and The Volokh Conspiracy

Jeremy Wallace / Political Insider:

Jeb Bush on Rubio, Obama and running for president — Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush had plenty to say about a whole lot of different issues on Friday when he spoke to the Lakewood Ranch Republican Club. — I've already told you about his change of heart on oil drilling and his frustration …

Discussion: The Hill, The Fix, The Caucus, Weekly Standard, TPMDC and National Review Online