Iran’s in-your-face stance continues as it test fire short-range missiles, with some cable reports saying long range tests will come in coming months. The New York Times reports: Iran test-fired short-range missiles as its elite Revolutionary Guards began war games on Sunday aimed at boosting the Islamic Republic’s deterrent capabilities, official media reported. The missile maneuvers coincide with increased tension in Iran’s nuclear dispute with the West, after last week’s...

President Barack Obama’s weekly radio You Tube Internet address touches on the G20 — and the ongoing crisis with Iran:

Is the current crisis involving Iran just one more news cycle blip that will pass without triggering the worst case scenarios on each side? Or is this really “the Cuban Missile Crisis in slow motion” as one expert believes? Two things are thing is certain. 1. From the comments coming from each side at the end of the week, it’s clear that it’s No More Mr. Nice Guy — or at least polite guy — on the part of Washington and its allies and on the part of Iran (if Iran...

Barack Obama is now getting his first major new foreign policy test with the big news that Iran has now upped the ante with its admission that is has a secret uranium enrichment facility. Obama had tough words for Iran: The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed Friday that Iran admitted the existence of the “new pilot fuel enrichment plant,” prompting Obama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy to respond at the G-20 economic summit in Pittsburgh,...

Casual observers might conclude this week that the United Nations is a body that has as its key funciton providing an audience for fiery dictators who make speeches — some of them seemingly as long as the UN has been in existence. But is that what the UN is really about and how it really works — and does all of its work take place in the UN building itself? Daniel McGroarty, principal of Carmot Strategic Group, an international business advisory based in Washington, D.C., who served...

Saturday Night Live’s Thursday update lampoons President Barack Obama, his media blitz, and Glenn Beck: h/t The Huffington Post

A new New York Times/CBS News poll brings two bits of bad news for President Barack Obama — and two silver cloud lining bits of good news. The bad news is that public support for his handling of Afghanistan and health care is declining and his recent media and speech efforts seem to have done little to reverse perceptions. The good news: he still has strong personal numbers — and the Republicans are viewed even more negatively: Taken together, the poll reflects the crosscurrents buffeting...

The Daily News-Miner in Alaska has apologized to former Gov. Sarah Palin for a headline that would have been considered sexist and unacceptable 20 years ago, let alone in the early 21st century: The Daily News-Miner has had its agreements and disagreements with now-former Gov. Sarah Palin at various points during her time serving the state of Alaska. We have tried to maintain respect for the office of governor and to be generally civil when discussing Mrs. Palin, her policies and the actions she...

Over the next seven days I’ll either be posting a lot less or posting off and on with several days totally off. The reason: I’m on a major trip, driving through the American West and Northwest. Some drives between major stops entail 1100 mile drives. Sunday through Wed I will drive more than 1200 miles total during three days, ending with an appointment in LA, then driving 3 hours home to San Diego. Already several things have been glaring on this trip: 1. In some towns you can see businesses...

In the course of two days, President Barack Obama appeared on a slew of network Sunday interview programs and on Late Night With David Letterman — begging the question of whether a network would soon offer him his own daily show (bet it won’t be Fox). And raising the issue among TV-cable talking heads, new media pundits, talk show hosts and bloggers: Is Obama overexposing himself? A NBC/Wall Street Journal poll finds the answer is “NO” and it boils down to this: If you voted...

Our political Quote of the Day is from Nate Silver, who adds some perspective on rumblings within the conservative movement (which seemingly has already been split between the descendents of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan and the talk radio political culture conservatives) about talk show host mega-star Glenn Beck: 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...

This just in!!

The Afghanistan war issue is heating in the U.S. and Europe as the war reaches a fork in the road — and a decision point about the future: Ron Beasley looks at Obama and Afghanistan against the context of LBJ and Vietnam. Sen John McCain calls for more troops. Obama considers a strategy shift. NRO’s Jim Geraghty says the Democrats never really meant what was said during the campaign on Afghanistan. Reuters reports that if the U.S. asks Europe for more troops for Afghanistan it may find...

As Bugs Bunny used to say, “Of course you know, this means war!” But this time it’s verbal war: it’s rising conservative bombastic talker Mark Levin against Glenn Beck. As we noted in this earlier post, Beck is coming under fire now from some conservatives who feel he’s bad for the conservative movement. Beck is being seen by some to be a bad image for conservatives and Republicans overall. But could there also be some professional jealousy at work here? Beck seems...

Our political Quote of the Day comes from Commentary’s Peter Wehner, who took a hard look at Fox News’ talk show mega-star Glenn Beck in light of Time magazine’s cover story on Beck and asked himself whether Beck was good for conservatives. And what he sees, he says, should “worry the conservative movement.” I say that because he seems to be more of a populist and libertarian than a conservative, more of a Perotista than a Reaganite. His interest in conspiracy theories...

Here’s the video of President Barack Obama’s appearance last night with CBS’ David Letterman: Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that the Obama appearance coincides with Letterman deciding that he will do more politically oriented humor now. FOOTNOTE: Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist, ran these Top 10 Reason Why Barack Obama Should Appear On Letterman.

They must be popping open the champagne at the RNC’s fund raising office today because Vice President Joe Biden has now given them the perfect quote to stick in fundraising letters and in ads for campaign 2010. ABC News 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. Biden said Republicans are pinning their political strategy on flipping...

Our political Quote of the Day comes from President Barack Obama on the direction of 21st century America’s news media: I am concerned that if the direction of the news is all blogosphere, all opinions, with no serious fact-checking, no serious attempts to put stories in context, that what you will end up getting is people shouting at each other across the void but not a lot of mutual understanding.

The Huffington Post has some more tidbits from Speechwriter Matt Latimer’s new book about his days working for George Bush — and what went on at the White House. Here are a few tidbits. First the setup: Disclosure: Latimer’s bookis officially embargoed until Tuesday. I read it in manuscript form months ago and blurbed it on the back of the book, saying good things about it. But the following nuggets don’t come from the manuscript — they’re from a copy I purchased...

The controversy — with people lined up along party and ideological lines — rages on. But what is the real difference between the two plans? This makes it easier to understand…

The most notable fact about President Barack Obama’s Sunday morning media blitz has been that he is making the rounds of the networks’ news shows — except Fox News. This has led Fox News’ Chris Wallace to go after the White House for being a bunch of crybabies and being thin skinned. But if Wallace expected a sudden invitation from the White House — he is wrong. He has been met with a declaration from a White House official that Fox could get a Presidential news visit...

As President Barack Obama makes the rounds of network talk shows (except Fox) and the conventional wisdom is that his political fortunes are starting to sag at an alarming rate, a new CNN poll of polls finds that Obama’s poll numbers are holding remarkably steady: President Barack Obama’s approval rating is holding steady in the mid-50’s, according to a new CNN Poll of Polls. Fifty-five percent of Americans approve of how Obama’s handling his duties in the White House, according...

Andrew Sullivan ponders: from Irving Kristol to Glenn Beck?

Anyone who has worked in the media knows about a “fatal” in a story: it’s an error so big that if it isn’t corrected fast and prominently, it can discredit the info-outlet that carries it. This is the kind of error newspapers correct on the front page (versus some of the bigger ones buried inside). Fox News — the network that says it provides fair and accurate reporting — is now being blasted by CNN’s Rick Sanchez, ABC’s Jake Trapper and CBS News...

How did Rep. Joe Wilson yelling “You lie!” to President Barack Obama REALLY come about? Saturday Night Live, on its new Thursday show, has you this now-it-can-be-told this-just-in account: h/T Huffington Post