When one wants to get a sense of how people on the Afghan-Pakistan border feel about something, Pakistan’s Frontier Post, based in Quetta, Pakistan, is a good place to look. In this indignant editorial reaction to yesterday’s ill-fated NATO attack in Afghanistan’s Kunduz Province, the Frontier Post equates NATO forces with Taliban fighters, attacks the sincerity of the West’s stance...

Ostensibly because of this…. Keith Olbermann is going after Glenn Beck. Via James Joyner, “Somehow, this reminds me of Mad’s long-running Spy vs. Spy series.” [Link mine] KatRose calls it A Truly Worthy Cause. She goes on to use her academic access to quote local media accounts of Beck’s career as a morning zoo schlock jock. She finds “no smoking guns.” I find all of it...

That is essentially the question Josh Marshall asks about health care reform. And the answer is, when it comes to health care reform, half a loaf may well be worse than none:

The evolution of the health care debate has taken us on a wild ride. At first the goal was to have national health care, which sparked fear into conservatives based on the argument that innovation will be stifled by lack of competition. This led to a compromise between Democrats and Republicans which produced the public option. This way, the insurance companies were not directly cut out of the picture with...

The White House has just released the text of a controversial back-to-school speech that President Barack Obama will be making to our children tomorrow. The speech will be broadcast directly into the schools, mainlining into the minds of our vulnerable children in a brazen attempt to, in the guise of civics education, indoctrinate our young ones and to fill their little heads with communist propaganda. No...

WASHINGTON — President Obama’s health care speech on Wednesday will be only the second most consequential political moment of the week. Judged by the standard of an event’s potential long-term impact on our public life, the most important will be the argument before the Supreme Court (on the same day, as it happens) about a case that, if decided wrongly, could surrender control of our...

Consider this my first (and last) column on the entire Van Jones kerfuffle. Given how the story ended, somebody messed up on this one big time, and the only available suspect is the President himself. There are two possible ways that this was bungled, and we’ll look at them both in a moment. But first, let’s look at the list of “charges” against Jones by Obama administration critics. He’s...

See, it’s stuff like this that helps explain why Afghans — and many others — are convinced that the United States doesn’t believe Afghan lives matter all that much:

If you’re looking for holes in our national security, try San Antonio, Texas. Or Asheville, North Carolina:

I’m not gloating but two New York Times columnists agree with my assessment that U.S. military presence in Afghanistan is untenable although neither go as far as my desire to pull out all our troops. Normally, opinions by New York Times columnists are not those that sway the powers in Washington. But in the case of Afghanistan the White House and Pentagon should be taking notes. One columnist is Thomas...

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (08-205), the Supreme Court case that will decide whether the government has the right to restrict corporate political advocacy or whether such regulation is a violation of the First Amendment, is set for re-argument on Wednesday. The case originated in the past term. SCOTUS blog has a full argument preview. In a segment entitled Is McCain-Feingold Censorship? Bill...

If you happen to work for the Obama Administration and you’re reading these words, get ready for an earful. According to columnist Marcin Bosacki of Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza, Eastern European and particularly Polish discontent with the White House is high, and the reasons essentially boil down to the following: The decision to ditch the Bush-era anti-missile shield which was to be built in Poland...

Our political Quote of the Day comes from Democratic activist Joe Trippi on CNN’s State of the Union with John King: “They’re going to keep gunning,” Democratic strategist Joe Trippi said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union, referring to conservatives’ recent — and ultimately successful efforts — to target Obama’s green jobs adviser Van Jones over controversial comments he made before becoming...

Regarding Senator Joseph McCarthy: His primary achievement has been in confusing the public mind . . . We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason. -Edward R. Murrow Does that sound familiar at...

Does anyone still believe that the Republicans entered into negotiations on health care with a good faith belief that compromise could be achieved? Rudy Giuliani certainly does. On Meet the Press this morning, Giuliani explained why he believes it was President Obama who never made a good faith effort to bring Republicans on board. This clip shows Giuliani was given his due to explain his side of the debate....

White House environmental adviser Van Jones has now resigned in the latest installment of the nearly frenzied partisan skirmish between the Obama administration and political foes who are clearly battling it and Barack Obama himself every centimeter of the way. But can this one be blamed on the administration’s foes — or on poor, incredibly amateurish vetting by an administration which needs to...

Actually, the title for this column should have been, “In Defense of Obama,” but I finally rejected that for two primary flaws. First, regular readers here might have had some sort of disastrous coronary event seeing such a title with my byline attached. Second, the defense I offer will seem something less than enthusiastic enough for the Obama faithful. But, if nothing else, I assure you that it...

Anne Bayefsky of the National Review Online is having trouble breathing, and I think she might be about to pass out. And who can blame her, considering that she is writing about Pres. Obama, who once again is putting us all in mortal danger with his disgracefully irresponsible behavior (emphasis is mine):

Some of you may have seen references to a speech Bush 41 gave to schoolchildren in 1991. Jim Lindgren was curious enough to look into the matter further (emphasis in original):

Yes, here is proof that not all Republicans buy into or are part of the talk radio political culture. The AP reports: Republican Gov. Gary Herbert supports President Barack Obama’s plan to deliver a televised back-to-school speech to the nation’s students on Tuesday, saying he sees “nothing but good coming out of this.” Herbert said he favors letting students listen to the speech, and...

I have a story to tell that relates to the brewing controversy over President Obama’s speech to the nation’s school children next Tuesday. It was during the war years of 1943-45. Our grade school teachers made it a contest. Who could raise the most money for Infantile Paralysis. The money was for research to cure the disease that crippled President Franklin Roosevelt in the prime of his life. The...

That’s what Tim Rutten, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, says American children will be learning from the public hysteria about Obama’s planned speech to schoolchildren on Tuesday:

Ted Kennedy and then some By Taylor Jones Here’s the only “nice” caricature I’ve ever drawn of Ted Kennedy. Can’t publish the nastiest one. Don’t get me wrong: Like nearly everyone else, I regarded Edward Moore Kennedy as the greatest legislator of our time — ranking right up there in American history with Daniel Webster and Henry Clay. …You know, ordinary citizens could present a eulogy,...

Embattled as he now is, Barack Obama has not lost his rhetorical touch. In today’s weekly address, he uses the fourth anniversary of the Gulf hurricane as an image for American efforts to repair the economy, reform health care and overcome political division. “Government,” he says, “must be a partner–not an opponent-–in getting things done.” His description of hands-on efforts...

Our political Quote of the Day comes from White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on the furor over President Barack Obama’s upcoming speech to school kids, as conservatives around the country are calling districts and demanding that their kids not be forced to sit through what some of them are calling socialistic political indoctrination: “I think we’ve reached a little bit of the silly season...