Gates and Clinton Clarify Obama’s 2011 Deadline: There Is No Deadline
There’s been a bit of confusion over Obama’s announcement on Afghanistan this week—as far as when the troops will come home—with the president pinpointing a specific date of July 2011. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were on backpedal duty Sunday making the rounds on multiple shows, including this appearance on Meet the Press, where the two reiterated that the date is more of a transition target to begin withdrawal rather than a “ locked in,” “drop-dead deadline.”
Someone Actually Asks Karzai What He Thinks of Obama Plan
We’ve finally heard what President Obama thinks is the best way to handle the war in Afghanistan—more troops and a deadline to pull out in two years—but what does the president of Afghanistan think? President Hamid Karzai shared this thoughts with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour: Not so fast. While Karzai promised to try his best to take back the wheel in 2011, he hinted that it was not going to be easy.
Palin Pokes Fun at ‘Ragin’ Cajun’ Carville, Matalin Amused
Who’s the best bald man to manage a Sarah Palin campaign: Steve Schmidt or James Carville? Palin went even more “rogue” (yes, that’s possible) on her book tour Saturday with an attempt at standup comedy at the Gridiron Dinner. The former Alaska governor cracked a joke about Carville much to the amusement of his wife across the aisle, Mary Matalin, who says on State of the Union, that a “funny feminine feminist” is a lot to “pack into a beautiful package.” And Carville also admits that spending time with Palin wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
Sharon Waxman Ruins Jeff Zucker’s Sunday
With the news last week that Comcast and GE reached a deal for the cable giant to take majority ownership of NBC Universal, what does it mean for Jeff Zucker? The official word is that Zucker will keep his job, but The Wrap’s Sharon Waxman, appearing on Reliable Sources, tells Howard Kurtz that may be a smokescreen for Comcast’s real plans for the often-criticized president and CEO of NBC.
Gates: No Bin Laden Intel for Years
Obama kicked up the war effort in Afghanistan this week announcing a troop surge and an exit strategy, but does this mean we might finally capture Osama bin Laden? Not really, according to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. Gates says on This Week With George Stephanopoulos that we haven't had any solid intelligence on his location in a few "years." So if that’s true, where is National Security Adviser James Jones getting his information that bin Laden "is somewhere in North Waziristan?”
McCain All (Forced?) Smiles About Palin
On Meet the Press, David Gregory prodded Sen. John McCain about his former running mate and her future in the Republican Party. Despite claims in her book of being thrown under the bus, he says he’s nothing but “proud” of her. Proud, and entertained by the attacks on someone he says the media also considers “irrelevant.”
Does the Media Have a ‘Crashergate’ Exit Strategy?
Afghanistan is the talk of the political world this week, but right up there in the media’s coverage of the war was the infamous party-crashing couple Tareq and Michaele Salahi (to say nothing of a certain golfer’s domestic troubles). On This Week With George Stephanopoulos, Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel says she’s worried that coverage of the incident has gone a bit too far and someone needs to hold an intervention, because the media is “addicted to silliness.” To which the producers of This Week might add, “so is the audience.”
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