memeorandum: Canada to walk out on Ahmadinejad's UN speech (Steven Edwards/National Post)

4:20 PM ET, September 23, 2009

Top Items:

Obama's Speech to the United Nations General Assembly — Following is a text of President Obama's speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, as released by the White House. — Good morning. Mr. President, Mr. Secretary General, fellow delegates, ladies and gentlemen …

Discussion: Washington Post, Associated Press, The Huffington Post, WhiteHouse.gov Blog, Commentary, Newsweek Blogs, The Nation, The Confluence, TPMCafe and FP Passport

Nile Gardiner / Telegraph:

The UN loves Barack Obama because he is weak — It is not hard to see why a standing ovation awaits Barack Obama when he addresses the United Nations General Assembly today, writes Nile Gardiner. — Barack Obama's Gallup approval rating of 52 percent may well be lower at this stage …

Discussion: Top of the Ticket, Little Green Footballs, Atlas Shrugs, Jules Crittenden, Right Wing Nut House, QandO, Fausta's Blog, Gateway Pundit and The Corner on National …

Steven Edwards / National Post:

Canada to walk out on Ahmadinejad's UN speech — Ahmadinejad warned Western powers it was too late to stop Iran's nuclear programme, amid ... UNITED NATIONS — Canada will boycott Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech at the United Nations on Wednesday, saying his outbursts about the Holocaust and Israel are “shameful.”

Discussion: Reuters, CBC News, Moe Lane, Below The Beltway, Indecision Forever, Guardian, Gateway Pundit and Weasel Zippers

Washington Times:
Worst foreign policy ever

Discussion: Power Line and Taylor Marsh

Robert Costa / The Corner on National Review Online:
Bolton: 'A Post-American Speech By Our First Post-American President …

Discussion: democracyarsenal.org

Helene Cooper / New York Times:
At U.N., Obama Sets New Tone, but Problems Are Familiar

Discussion: CNN, Salon, Below The Beltway, The Page and Daily Kos

Paul Haven / Associated Press:
Fidel Castro praises Obama on climate change

Discussion: Sweetness & Light and New York Times

Jonathan Weisman / Wall Street Journal:
Obama, at U.N., Sets New Tone for U.S.

Discussion: Washington Wire and Indecision Forever

New York Times:

Obama Considers Strategy Shift in Afghan War — WASHINGTON — President Obama is exploring alternatives to a major troop increase in Afghanistan, including a plan advocated by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to scale back American forces and focus more on rooting out Al Qaeda there and in Pakistan, officials said Tuesday.

Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:

At Pentagon's Request, Washington Post Delayed Story on Afghanistan Report — To Bob Woodward, it was the modern-day equivalent of the Pentagon Papers. But to Obama administration officials, the classified assessment of the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, if disclosed by The Washington Post …

Discussion: The Caucus, Sweetness & Light, Mudville Gazette and Don Surber

Fred Kaplan / Slate:

It's Not About the Troops — Only a legitimate Afghan government can beat the Taliban. — The push is on for President Barack Obama to send more troops to Afghanistan, perhaps as many as 40,000 more. Boxing in Obama was almost certainly the aim of whoever gave the Washington Post's Bob Woodward …

Discussion: Washington Post, MoJo Blog Posts, JustOneMinute, marbury, Newshoggers.com and New York Times

Mark McDonald / New York Times:

Palin Speaks to Investors in Hong Kong — HONG KONG — Sarah Palin, in what was billed as her first speech overseas, spoke on Wednesday to Asian bankers, investors and fund managers. — A number of people who heard the speech in a packed a hotel ballroom, which was closed to the media …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Vanity Fair, DailyFinance, Don Surber, RealClearPolitics Video Log, Gawker, Conservatives4Palin.com and Riehl World View

Washington Wire:
Excerpts of Sarah Palin's Speech to Investors in Hong Kong

Discussion: The Swamp and Reason

Wall Street Journal:
Palin Addresses Asian Investors

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Washington Wire, Bloomberg, Real Time Economics, The Mudflats, FP Passport, On Deadline, Newsweek Blogs, TBogg, Wonkette, Indecision Forever, TPM LiveWire, James Pethokoukis and Swampland

Agence France Presse:
Palin slams Obama's spending in debut speech in Asia

Discussion: Think Progress, Townhall.com, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Pajamas Media

Faiz Shakir / Think Progress:

Sen. Roberts: We Need To Give Health Insurance Lobbyists ‘At Least 72 Hours’ To Read The Bill — During the Senate Finance Committee's mark-up session of the health care reform bill today, Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) — who has had a hard time staying awake during these meetings …

Discussion: Washington Post, Washington Monthly, The Hill, Prescriptions and TPM LiveWire

Associated Press:

Democrats nix putting pre-vote health bill online — WASHINGTON — Senate Finance Committee Democrats have rejected a GOP amendment that would have required a health overhaul bill to be available online for 72 hours before the committee votes. — Republicans argued that transparency is an Obama administration goal.

Discussion: JammieWearingFool and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico:
72-hour delay? Eh, Dems say

Discussion: AmSpecBlog and RedState

Jon Walker / Firedoglake:

Carper Publicly Defends Secret PhRMA Pact; Deal Made in Exchange for Support Ads — In a stunning moment during the Senate Finance Committee markup Sen. Tom Carper defended a secret deal that the White House, Baucus, and PhRMA had reached. The White House has long denied the deal.

Discussion: The Washington Independent, D-Day, RedState and No More Mister Nice Blog

Jim Geraghty / National Review Online:
Did Sen. Tom Carper Just Admit PhRMA and the White House Had a Laws-for-Ads Deal?

Discussion: Hot Air

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

Justice Dept. to Limit Use of State Secrets Privilege — WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is preparing to impose new limits on the government assertion of the state secrets privilege used to block lawsuits for national security reasons. The practice was a major flashpoint in the debate …

Discussion: American Prospect, The Atlantic Politics Channel, Emptywheel, Salon, The Caucus, D-Day, The Confluence, Prairie Weather, Sweetness & Light, The Impolitic and Truthdig

Carrie Johnson / Washington Post:
Obama to Set Higher Bar For Keeping State Secrets

Discussion: Townhall.com, Law Blog, TPMMuckraker, The BLT, The Volokh Conspiracy, The Washington Independent, Political Punch, The Page and MoJo Blog Posts

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Glenn Beck, Post-Modern Conservative — Buried in the cross-tabs of the new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll is a question that takes a temperature reading of Glenn Beck. Beck actually makes out pretty well. While just 24 percent of Americans have a favorable view of him (13 percent strongly so) …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Michael Calderone's Blog, Mediaite, Prairie Weather, CANNONFIRE, Philly.com and No More Mister Nice Blog

Michael Barone / Washington Examiner:

Obama's time warp: The U.S. is still the bad guy — Senior Political Analyst — In the early 1980s, while planning a vacation in Latin America, I went to bookstores to find histories of the region. All I could find were Marxist tracts arguing that “the people” were exploited …

Discussion: The Daily Dish, OpenMarket.org, Washington Times, alicublog and GayPatriot

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

STANDING ATHWART HISTORY.... There are plenty of discouraging poll numbers for Democrats that have been released lately, but there's little evidence that Republicans are capitalizing in any meaningful way. The party is still less popular than the Democratic majority, and the GOP is still less trusted …

Discussion: Washington Post and Hot Air

Ezra Klein:
Kamikaze Obstructionism — You guys like polls, right?

Discussion: TalkLeft, The Daily Dish, Daily Kos and msnbc.com

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

New poll: Democrat lead over GOP is smallest in five years; doubts about Obama continue to grow — The new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll asked respondents whether they would prefer to see next year's elections result in a Congress controlled by Democrats or a Congress controlled by Republicans.

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
ECONOMIC GROWTH VS. DEFICIT REDUCTION.... In the new NBC News …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias

New York Post:

Khadafy booted from Camp Trump — W'chester foils Trump guest — Unwelcome Libyan thug Moammar Khadafy briefly found a comfy spot to rest his foul head yesterday — at Donald Trump's palatial estate in suburban Westchester. — But town officials in tony Bedford put the kibosh …

Discussion: BBC, The New Republic and On Deadline

Emily Miller / Politics Daily:

Dancing Tom DeLay on Infighting in the ‘Leaderless’ GOP: ‘Even Rush and Hannity Are Doing It’ — LOS ANGELES — Walking out of a restaurant in Los Angeles last week, the former House Majority Leader was stopped by a stranger. — “Aren't you Tom DeLay?” the man asked. — “Yes, I am.”

Discussion: The Atlantic Politics Channel, The Daily Dish, Glenn Thrush's Blog and Salon

Mike Lux / The Huffington Post:

Triggering a Democratic Civil War — Media reports and insider buzz make it increasingly clear that key people at the White House have become obsessed with Olympia Snowe on health care, and are willing to do pretty much whatever she demands in order to get her on board.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, TPMDC, Firedoglake, The Plum Line, Democratic Strategist, Taylor Marsh and AMERICAblog News

David Cay Johnston / Firedoglake:

GOP Favors Public Option for Property, Not People — Atop the front page of The New York Times today is a color photo of Georgia homes flooded up to their rafters, an image that illustrates how when it comes to insurance our Congress applies two standards, separate and unequal, one for property and a lesser one for people.

Fox News:

Up to 24 More People Sought as NYC Tightens Security in Terror Probe — NEW YORK — Police in New York City stepped up their patrols and increased their random searches on subways and buses Wednesday following reports that as many as 24 more people are being sought in a suspected cross-country terror plot.

Discussion: Atlas Shrugs and GroupIntel