Obama's Afghan policy speech at West Point  —  Following is the transcript of President Obama's speech Tuesday at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. (The Post's report on the president's address is here.)  —  Thank you.  Please be seated.  —  Good evening.

Tiger comments on current events  —  I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart.  I have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves.  I am not without faults and I am far short of perfect.  I am dealing with my behavior and personal failings behind closed doors with my family.

Matthews Calls West Point, Site of Obama Speech ‘The Enemy Camp,’ ‘Strange Venue’  —  Either MSNBC “Hardball” host Chris Matthews let one slip tonight, or it was an extremely poor choice of words.  —  Following President Barack Obama's Dec. 1 speech, which he announced his intentions …

McCain challenges Obama in private meeting  —  Washington (CNN) - Hours before he was set to address the nation on his new Afghanistan strategy, President Obama and members of his war council spent about an hour briefing senior members of Congress at a White House meeting that multiple sources described as businesslike and sobering.

Lou Dobbs Explodes: ‘Who The Hell Does This President Think He Is!?!’  —  Birther Lou Dobbs and climate denier Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) are concerned that President Barack Obama is trying to turn America into a monarchy.  Appearing on Dobbs' radio show on Tuesday, Inhofe argued President Obama …

The Scientific Tragedy of Climategate  —  Can climate change science recover from the damage done by leaked emails?  —  Climategate.  What a hot mess.  Researchers at the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia and their colleagues around the globe may have fiddled …

THERE ARE 39 OTHER GOP SENATORS.... NBC News announced the line-up for this week's “Meet the Press.”  Take a wild guess who'll be on. … I especially loved the “Exclusive!” with the exclamation point, as if this were a rare, special occurrence.  —  For those keeping score at home …

Google and paid content  —  As newspapers consider charging for access to their online content, some publishers have asked: Should we put up pay walls or keep our articles in Google News and Google Search?  In fact, they can do both - the two aren't mutually exclusive.

McCain Unveils Time Travel Strategy for Financing Afghanistan War  —  Stan Collender observes that for a veteran legislator, John McCain continues to be staggeringly uninformed about basic elements of public policy: … In an ideal world, someone at The Hill would have noticed that.

An Open Letter from Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg  —  It has been a great year for making the world more open and connected.  Thanks to your help, more than 350 million people around the world are using Facebook to share their lives online.  —  To make this possible …

Decline of the West  —  Ten years ago, in the final pages of a collection of his selected writings, Cornel West gave readers a look at the work he had in progress, or at least in mind, for the years ahead.  One would be “a major treatment of African-American literature and modern Greek literature.”

HuckPAC Resignation  —  As I mentioned this morning, I resigned my position as Arkansas coordinator for HuckPAC today where I served in a volunteer capacity.  My departure was with a heavy heart but was done after serious prayer and consideration.  Some have asked about the timing.

Reid set to unveil new public option, breaking Senate impasse on healthcare  —  A new measure on the public option will be unveiled next week, which Senate Democratic leaders hope will break the logjam on healthcare reform.  —  Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), who has been tapped by Majority Leader Harry Reid …

Watch Out, Times!  Murdoch Plans $15 M. N.Y.C. Edition  —  “Good journalism is an expensive commodity,” said Rupert Murdoch at a Federal Trade Commission conference in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Dec. 1.  —  We'll say!  —  Mr. Murdoch is ready to roll out a budget of $15 million …