Pretty big load today, but there’s a bunch of folks I love writing over at Huffington Post, and I didn’t want to miss the chance to highlight them. But anyway, as always, I’ll start off with OpenLeft:
OpenLeft
David Sirota has a couple of pieces up with more on the Afghan escalation. The first, How Do You Ask A Man To Be The Last Man To Die For A President’s Political Image? brings up the disturbing (but I think very much worth considering- it’s not like this hasn’t happened to otherwise great presidents past) proposition that Obama’s decision had less to do with what’s best for Afghanistan, the “war on terror”, national security, and our troops’ safety and more to do with… political calculation. The second, Um, About Obama’s Afghanistan Campaign “Promise” addresses some commentators’ position that this escalation was exactly what Obama indicated during the campaign. Sirota claims we were misled as to the scale of the escalation. Digby (Fergawdsake) is no less frustrated with the announcement, but has some words for those, like me, who were once Obama fanboys who are shocked, shocked!, at the escalation. Joan Walsh at Slate (The Poster Boy For Progressive Self-Delusion) is also on point in this regard.
Chris Bowers (Senate Health Care Updates: Public Option, Stupak, Amendments, And Process) has a general overview of where we are in the Senate health care bill sausage-fest (get it, the Senate is overwhelmingly made up of corrupt ancient White males, and politics is as disgusting as sausage making!) Things aren’t looking great for both public option and Stupak, but we must soldier on (and kill that sucker if it contains Stupak in the final version).
FDL, Huffington Post, and Digby below the jump:
