Beer Summit Goes Another Round
As someone who found the whole Crowley-Gates-Obama beer summit kind of absurd the first time around, I'm actually kind of impressed--not to mention surprised--by the news that Crowley and Gates met for a second round of beers (minus Obama and the cameras) at a Cambridge bar last night. Is it possible something good might come out of that whole media circus? READ MORE >>
What's the Matter With South Carolina?
Another day, another South Carolina Republican official doing something stupid--this time in a cemetery with an 18-year-old stripper, sex toys, and some Viagra. The official told the investigating police officer that the sex toys and the Viagra were things he always kept with him "just in case." He had a harder time explaining the stripper in the cemetery. READ MORE >>
One More for the Grayson Files
Alan Grayson, the Democratic Congressman from Florida who's rapidly making a name for himself as the sort of liberal analogue to Michelle Bachman, is in some more hot water for calling Linda Robertson, an adviser to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, a “K Street whore.” Anthony Weiner probably had the best line among the various Congressional Democrats rushing to distance themselves from Grayson: “Is this news READ MORE >>
Does the Name John Brady Kiesling Ring a Bell?
In case it doesn't and your memory needs refreshing, he's the career diplomat who resigned in protest from the State Department in 2003 on the eve of the Iraq War. READ MORE >>
John Kerry on Afghanistan, Karzai, and the Way Forward
It's 10 O'clock, Do You Know Where Your Kid Is?
Maybe it's because I hail from a socioeconomic class that treats parenting as a combination of professional and sacred duty, but the most shocking statistic I've encountered in a long time is buried deep within this fascinating NYT article about the increasing number of runaway children in the U.S.: READ MORE >>
Rory Stewart, MP
At the end of my piece on Rory Stewart in the current print issue, I mentioned that he was already plotting his leave from Harvard by running for parliament back in the U.K. READ MORE >>
Recessional
From One Veep to Another
Biden was asked about Cheney--and his criticism of the Obama administration's Afghanistan policy review--during an interview with the press pool in Prague: Vpotus pushed back against former VP Cheney’s criticisms this week, saying it was “absolutely wrong” to say the Obama administration is dithering on Afghanistan and that the review left behind by the Bush-Cheney White House was “irrelevant.” READ MORE >>
Is the Die Already Cast on Obama's Afghanistan Decision?
The NYT reports on the NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels, which featured a surprise appearance by General McChrystal: READ MORE >>
