Another Hasan Problem
Putting aside the whole was-he-a-terrorist debate, there's another troubling question about Nidal Hasan: namely, how did he manage to keep his job as an Army psychiatrist? This NPR report, about a memo written by a psychiatrist supervising Hasan's training at Walter Reed, is damning: On May 17, 2007, Hasan's supervisor at Walter Reed sent the memo to the Walter Reed credentials committee. It reads, "Memorandum for: Credentials Committee.
Under the Bus (cont'd)
Following up on Mike's post about the various people Obama has thrown under the bus, it does seem that there's an unusual amount of handwringing going on about Greg Craig, or at least about the manner in which he was thrown, through a series of well-orchestrated leaks. One of the most overwrought bits comes Steve Clemons who, in a Daily Beast piece titled "The Assassination of Greg Craig," writes: What just happened to Gregory Craig should not have happened in Obama Land.
Paging Maureen Dowd
By my count, it's been six months since your last Obama-Spock comparison, so here's some material to inspire you, from a Boston Phoenix interview with Leonard Nimoy: I’ve met Obama a couple of times. The first time, my wife and I went to a very modest luncheon, very early, when he was just starting to put himself out there as a candidate.
Connecting the Dots
In the process of trying to figure out who leaked the Eikenberry memos and why (her sources' best guess: the White House political operation which is trying to push back against a pushy Pentagon), Laura Rozen makes a point that hadn't occurred to me: Obama may have additional leverage to assert his continued Afghanistan deliberations against a pushy Pentagon right now, another Democratic foreign policy hand suggested yesterday. That's because of Fort Hood, and the emergence of numerous accounts that suggest the military sat on serious concerns raised about Maj.
The Most Telling Redskins Anecdote Yet
If you were a Redskins fan like I was during the team's golden era in the 1980s and early '90s, then there was one 'Skins anecdote that you cherished, as it said even more about the team than its impressive won-loss record--and that was that Joe Gibbs, the team's coach and savior, was so dedicated to his job that he slept in his office at Redskins Park.
Eikenberry v. McChrystal
What to make of the news that the U.S. Ambassador in Kabul, Karl Eikenberry, is arguing against an increase in troops because of his doubts about Karzai? Eikenberry is presumably in a better position than any other American official to assess Karzai's government. And if you take it as a given that a successful COIN approach depends on a credible Afghan partner, his doubts have to carry a lot of weight. Especially since it seems that McChrystal hasn't given the matter that much thought.
Mike Capuano's Profile in Courage
A day after blasting Martha Coakley, the frontrunner for Ted Kennedy's Senate seat, for saying she would have voted against the health care bill because of the abortion amendment, Mike Capuano, who voted for the bill, now says he did so only "to keep the health care debate alive"--and that he'll vote against a final bill that includes the abortion funding provision. The interesting question here, I suppose, is how would Kennedy have voted? Did he want health care reform badly enough to swallow the restrictions on abortion funding?
Why Does Jon Klein Want to Hurt America?
Look, it's one thing for CNN president Jon Klein to destroy his network, which he has steared steered to last place in the cable news sweepstakes. But now, with the news that Lou Dobbs is leaving CNN, Klein runs the risk of destroying America. Don't believe me? Allow me to explain. Until January, how many of you had heard of Glenn Beck? Not many, I bet. That's because from 2006 to 2008 Beck's show was on CNN's Headline News, where hardly anybody watched it. Which means that Beck couldn't do much damage.
Gordon Brown's Spelling (cont'd)
It looks like I underestimated the intelligence of the British public when I said that Gordon Brown's spat with the grieving mother of a dead British soldier was a no-win situation for him. Actually, he's winning: a new poll finds that 65 percent of British voters think that the attacks on Brown--which are being orchestrated by The Sun, the Murdoch-owned tabloid that's supporting David Cameron--are unfair. Alex Massie captures the sentiment: [T]here come moments when legitmate criticism crosses some kind of line and becomes bullying. This is one such instance.
Howard and Ned, Together Again
There seems to be an undercurrent of surprise that Howard Wolfson is now advising Ned Lamont in his Connecticut gubernatorial campaign, but it's worth remembering that this isn't the first time these two have teamed up. Come back with me to the crazy days of August 2006, when establishment Democrats, having tried (and failed) to defeat Lamont in his race against Joe Lieberman in the Democratic primary, were now rushing to Lamont's side--especially those Dems who were about to run for president.
