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Results from new poll of GOP primary voters from Democratic firm Public Policy Polling: Newt Gingrich (28 percent), Herman Cain (25 percent), Mitt Romney (18 percent), Rick Perry (6 percent), Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul (5 percent), Jon Huntsman (3 percent), Rick Santorum and Gary Johnson (1 percent). One particularly interesting note from PPP: “There’s reason to think that if Cain continues to fade, Gingrich will continue to gain. Among Cain’s supporters 73 percent have a favorable opinion of Gingrich to only 21 percent with a negative one.”

I'm James Kvaal, the new policy director for President Obama's 2012 campaign. You'll be hearing from me occasionally about the President's policies and those of our opponents, and how we can all help bring about change for our country. Yesterday, we accomplished one major change when President Obama announced that all American troops in Iraq will be home before the holidays. With that action, the Iraq war will end. And one of the President's central promises will have been kept. Both as Americans and as supporters of President Obama, this is something for us to reflect on, and be proud...

Exposed: Ron Paul’s Foreign Policy Ignorance and Naivety Did it never occur to the congressman that al-Qaeda could be, um, lying when he regurgitates their talking points? September 15, 2011 by Raymond Ibrahim Among other qualities, a good presidential candidate must be knowledgeable and able to think outside the box; equally important, he must not be naive or gullible — certainly not swallow everything the enemy says hook, line, and sinker.During the recent Republican candidate debate, Congressman Ron Paul exhibited his ignorance and gullibility when the panel was asked: “Do you plan to decrease Defense spending, to balance spending, or...

Congressional Democrats are leading the criticism of President Barack Obama's plan for withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan, arguing that his timeline for bringing 33,000 home by next summer is too slow. Some Republicans worry that the drawdown will be too fast, however, and the nation's top military officer said Thursday the plan is riskier than he originally considered prudent. An initial drawdown of 10,000 troops is expected to take place in two phases, with 5,000 troops coming home this summer and 5,000 more by the end of the year. An additional 20,000-plus are to follow by September 2012.

NEAR THE IRAQ-KUWAIT BORDER — The last U.S. combat troops were crossing the border into Kuwait on Thursday morning, bringing to a close the active combat phase of a 7½-year war that overthrew the dictatorial regime of Saddam Hussein, forever defined the presidency of George W. Bush and left more than 4,400 American service members and tens of thousands of Iraqis dead. The final convoy of the Army’s 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, based at Fort Lewis, Wash., were about to enter Kuwait shortly after 1:30 a.m. (6:30 p.m. Wednesday ET), carrying the last of the 14,000 U.S. combat forces...

THE HAGUE, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Dutch troops ended Sunday it' s four years mission in Afghanistan and handed over the responsibility in the Afghan province of Uruzgan to the U.S. and Australia, makes the Netherlands the first NATO member to leave Afghanistan. According to the Dutch Defense Ministry, the Dutch troops had 24 casualties and 140 injuries during the last four years. "But we have brought the people of Uruzgan major improvements." "It hurts because it marks the end of the Dutch leading role in Afghanistan, I want to say goodbye to the people here we have intensive...

U.S. (ChattahBox) – Be prepared for more annoying copy/paste ‘Vote Ron Paul’ comments on every forum, message board, media site, and news source. Ron Paul has announced that he is official considering a 2012 run for president, CNN reports. The Texas Republican Rep. has run in the past, and he hasn’t gotten far. Though having a small group of extremely loyal supporters, most of which are Independent or Libertarian voters, he is unable to garner enough support for a GOP nomination. As for running on a third party docket, that has never gone well for any politician. It is doubtful...

Senate Votes to Condemn MoveOn for Ad Attacking General Petraeus Friday , September 21, 2007 WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a measure condemning MoveOn.org for a newspaper ad it ran last week attacking Gen. David Petraeus. The move came as President Bush accused Democrats of cowering to the liberal political action group. The measure passed in a 72-25 vote, with none of the Democratic presidential candidates supporting it. Sponsored by Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn, never one to shy away from forcing Democrats to go on record on politically sticky issues, the amendment to the defense authorization...

The White House is clinging to President Obama's ill-conceived pledge to begin withdrawing from Afghanistan in July 2011, regardless of how the war is going at the time. In dogmatically standing by that pledge, Mr. Obama is virtually guaranteeing he will preside over America's second lost war. The issue arose last week during congressional testimony when Central Command commander Gen. David H. Petraeus said that withdrawing from Afghanistan would be "based on conditions" and that "July 2011 is not the date where we race for the exits." Au contraire, according to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. "The July...

PARIS – French police have banned a street party whose organizers planned to serve alcoholic cocktails and pork sausages in a heavily Muslim neighborhood of Paris, authorities said in a statement Tuesday.Police said the party, called "Sausage and Booze," could have been viewed as a provocation in the Goutte-d'Or neighborhood of northern Paris, where many Muslims pray on the streets because there are not enough mosques. Alcohol and pork are forbidden by Islam and the party had been slated for just after Friday's main Muslim weekly prayers.Organizers said they were holding the party to protest Islam's encroachment on traditional French...

Four days late, Barack Obama will interrupt his Hawaii vacation and finally speak to the nation today about the Christmas Day terror attack on America. However, he will be hiding from the American people and a media that might (might) ask uncomfortable questions by releasing a taped statement rather than making a live address.Reports are that he will tape his remarks at the nearby Marine base he has been using for his gym workouts, golfing and beach outings. Obama is staying at a $8.9 million estate that rents for an estimated $4000 per night. The White House Web site still...

COPENHAGEN — Has Copenhagen collapsed? That seems to be the growing sentiment inside the city's Bella Conference Center, where officials, environmentalists and even delegates to the international climate conference began streaming out Friday evening. What began with excitement and anticipation two weeks ago ended Friday night with disappointment and anger for thousands. "This is a sad day for my country," said Mama Konate, chief delegate from the West African nation of Mali. "We have worked very hard to reach this agreement. And now it seems over. Without a deadline, I don't know if we will ever finish." The conference, the...

Lockerbie bomber, Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi has been misplaced. The terrorist was released by Scottish authorities back in April in a show of great compassion for the barbarian who slaughtered 270 innocent citizens in 1988. Based on the assertion that Megrahi was suffering from prostate cancer and had one foot in the land of seventy-two virgins, the savage was exempted from doing any more prison time contingent upon his pinky swear that he would behave himself and die forthwith. Even Barack Obama took a non-nurturing posture regarding this particular terrorist. Miraculously, the terrorist is still getting around months later. He’s...

President Barack Obama's attempt to clarify his July 2011 deadline for a US departure from Afghanistan has resulted in more confusion and will dilute Pakistan's commitment to fighting the Taliban, Senator John McCain has told The Daily Telegraph. Sen McCain, who has led criticism in Washington over the President's most controversial element said that senior administration officials had only contradicted each other when trying to explain how the timeline for the beginning of a US troop withdrawal would work in practice. "Since the President made his speech we have not had further clarification, in fact we have had further contradiction,"...

WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama's national security advisor said on Friday the United States hopes Canadian troops will "stay as long as they possibly can" in Afghanistan and encouraged NATO nations to avoid "summary announcements of total withdrawal" from the war zone. But retired General James Jones did not say if Washington had asked Ottawa to extend the Canadian combat mission past July 2011, the date on which the U.S. expects to start withdrawing its forces. "Canada has made such a huge contribution to the mission in Afghanistan for so long that it is a charter member of the effort. So...

Never before has a speech by President Barack Obama felt as false as his Tuesday address announcing America's new strategy for Afghanistan. It seemed like a campaign speech combined with Bush rhetoric -- and left both dreamers and realists feeling distraught. One can hardly blame the West Point leadership. The academy commanders did their best to ensure that Commander-in-Chief Barack Obama's speech would be well-received. Just minutes before the president took the stage inside Eisenhower Hall, the gathered cadets were asked to respond "enthusiastically" to the speech. But it didn't help: The soldiers' reception was cool. One didn't have to...

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan — Only a handful of the thousands of troops in the U.S. Marines' main base here thought it worth the effort to get out of bed for President Barack Obama's speech on Afghanistan, which began at 5:30 a.m. local time. In the workout gym — one of the few public places with TVs — only two Navy Seabee engineers were watching when the speech began, and they were sharply divided on the wisdom of the president's plan. "I didn't really hear a good reason," said E3 Steven Lewis, 23, of Boise, Idaho. "I think it's all gone...

Good evening. To the United States Corps of Cadets, to the men and women of our armed services and to my fellow Americans: I want to speak to you tonight about our effort in Afghanistan -- the nature of our commitment there, the scope of our interests and the strategy that my Administration will pursue to bring this war to a successful conclusion. It is an honor for me to do so here -- at West Point -- where so many men and women have prepared to stand up for our security, and to represent what is finest about our...

Washington (CNN) -- President Obama intends to conclude the Afghanistan war and withdraw most U.S. troops within three years, according to senior administration officials. Obama is sending 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan and ordering military officials to get the reinforcements there within six months, White House officials told CNN Tuesday. Obama will travel to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, later Tuesday to officially announce his plans. It would to be his second escalation of U.S. forces in the war-torn Islamic country since he came to power in January. The president also is seeking further troop commitments...

In a press release about his recent trip to Afghanistan, U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan asked the public for its views on American policy. Florida Veterans for Common Sense agrees with Buchanan that the Obama administration should consider all options for troop levels in Afghanistan. But our organization considers the recommendation of Gen. Stanley McChrystal to increase troop levels by 40,000 to be the worst option. We are extremely proud of our troops, and there is no doubt they are highly skilled and motivated. Yet, no matter how well our soldiers execute their orders, they cannot prevail if the mission is...

Cannot Post. Link is on Post#2

Barack Obama is to reject all of the options outlined for increasing troop numbers in Afghanistan in favour of revised plans which include a clear exit strategy, it has been claimed. The report came from a senior administration official close to the high-level deliberations Mr Obama is holding with his war cabinet over the refocusing of the Afghan war effort. The President is said to have raised questions at a meeting on Wednesday that could alter both the size of any possible troop increase and the length of time they are in the country before they can hand over to...

War On Terror: Sen. John Kerry, who was so wrong about Iraq, now says our commander in Afghanistan is "reaching too far, too fast" and that a "good enough" policy should suffice. It won't. Offering his advice on how to micromanage the war against the Taliban, Kerry said Gen. Stanley McChrystal, President Obama's hand-picked general to fight what he called a "war of necessity," is wrong in saying he needs 40,000 more troops to fight and win it. Speaking before the Council on Foreign Relations on Monday, Kerry advocated a "good enough" policy designed not to achieve victory in al-Qaida's...

When Obama stated that he was going to reach out to the Islamic world, he was not kidding. The weakness of Obama has lead to the Taliban getting stronger. He has even given the Taliban the OK to participate in the future political landscape of Afghanistan. Apparently none of this was enough though, and now Obama is willing to share power in Afghanistan with the Taliban thugs. This is straight out of the Twilight Zone. US Offers Taliban 6 Provinces for 8 Bases By Aamir Latif, IOL Correspondent

President Obama's lack of leadership is beginning to effect morale in the United States. Its been three months since General McCrystal sent his report on next steps for the War In Afghanistan. Since the President has been sitting on his military assets, confidence in the War on Terror has plummeted, and now the confidence is falling for both Iraq and Afghanistan. A Rasmussen study that reports that only 34% of voters say the United States and its allies are winning the War on Terror. That’s down nine points from a month ago and 14 points since McCrystal first filed his...

War On Terror: Sen. John Kerry, who was so wrong about Iraq, now says our commander in Afghanistan is "reaching too far, too fast" and that a "good enough" policy should suffice. It won't. Offering his advice on how to micromanage the war against the Taliban, Kerry said Gen. Stanley McChrystal, President Obama's hand-picked general to fight what he called a "war of necessity," is wrong in saying he needs 40,000 more troops to fight and win it. Speaking before the Council on Foreign Relations on Monday, Kerry advocated a "good enough" policy designed not to achieve victory in al-Qaida's...

According to an Associated Press story featured in the Chicago Tribune: "WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will not commit more U.S. troops to Afghanistan until he is convinced that the central government can be a credible and effective U.S. partner, a senior White House aide said Sunday." Obama’s hard line is interesting. If the American people would take such a stance against our own government, perhaps things would get accomplished, since our own president and Congress are neither credible nor effective. Video of this comedy available at the original article.

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama has no plans to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan. After eight years of war there, withdrawal is not among the options the administration is considering as it designs a new strategy. Also not being considered is any exploration of possible peace talks with the Taliban, the indigenous Islamic group that once controlled large swaths of Afghanistan. When asked whether the U.S. could withdraw from Afghanistan -- a country known as the "graveyard of empires" -- White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said: "That’s not something that has ever been entertained." "I don’t think we have...

Obama got this question last night at the presser in Pittsburgh on Afghanistan... Watch how hesitant he is with the answer, does this sound like a President who wants victory?...Listen Carefully

<p>Just announced by Jennifer Griffith in a live interview, WH has asked Pentagon for a formal assessment of a withdrawal from Afghanistan, that the Afghan Wart is no longer in our nations interest, blamed the Afghan elections.</p>

President Obama is exploring alternatives to a major troop increase in Afghanistan, including a plan advocated by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to scale back American forces and focus more on rooting out Al Qaeda there and in Pakistan, officials said Tuesday. SNIP The sweeping reassessment has been prompted by deteriorating conditions on the ground, the messy and still unsettled outcome of the Afghan elections and a dire report by Mr. Obama’s new commander, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal. Aides said the president wanted to examine whether the strategy he unveiled in March was still the best approach and whether...

It astonishes us how quickly Afghanistan is moving from being a "war of necessity" to "too tough to do." President Obama's comments over the weekend gave the clearest signal yet that his administration is seeking an exit strategy from a conflict he described in August as "not only a war worth fighting" but "fundamental to the defense of our people." Commitment to that fundamental defense is eroding.

WASHINGTON -- We are seeing the stirrings of a cross-ideological revolt against American military involvement in Afghanistan. On the right, some who accepted the Cold War as a great moral cause view the war on terror as a bother -- even as a dangerous excuse for global social engineering. Such tinkering, the argument goes, is particularly doomed in Afghanistan, brimming with warlords both primitive and invincible. And because Afghanistan is now Barack Obama's war, no partisan motive remains to support it. On the left, some view every conceivable war as a "war of choice" that should never be chosen. With...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CNN) -- Sarah Palin's not a quitter, she wants the public to know. "I am not a quitter. I am a fighter," Palin told CNN on Monday while on a family fishing trip, on the heels of her Friday bombshell announcement that she was resigning as Alaska's governor. Palin did her interview standing on the shores of Dillingham, Alaska, wearing hip waders. She granted 10-minute interviews to CNN and three other news networks Monday. She resigned because of the tremendous pressure, time and financial burden of a litany of ethics complaints in the past several months, she said....

Obama, Medvedev Call for Cut to 1,500-1,675 Nuclear Warheads Title only - story to follow

Sarah is now unelectable on a national stage. The “quitter” specter will hang around her neck like “swimmer” does to Ted Kennedy. You’ll be able to spot the realistic, clear thinking conservatives because they see and admit this early so we can put it behind us get on with identifying the candidates who can win in ‘12. BTW - This doesn’t rule out a tangential private career ala Newt or a run for a House or Senate seat (although I don’t know where at this point) but as a national candidate she is toast. That so many conservatives can’t see...

Richard at The Belmont Club is taking a hard look at the Obama Effort in Afghanistan and wondering if the President realizes what he's getting himself into. I think he does. I think he realizes what his needs are in Afghanistan. What he needs to do is end a war in an American defeat while being seen as "trying for a victory." To do that he has to engineer an American defeat. Iraq is already, in the public mind at least, in the win column. So how do we engineer an American defeat? It is simplicity itself. You begin, not...

Imagine that last fall before being elected, Barack Obama had outlined the positions he has embraced since being inaugurated as president. An honest campaign speech could have gone something like this: "As we approach Election Day, the American people should not waste the crisis we find ourselves in. "Consequently, if elected, I promise to get us over the Bush financial meltdown with a stimulus program that will borrow $787 billion -- which, of course, will add to the already sizable budget deficit (nearly $500 billion) projected in the Bush administration's last budget. "By March of next year, my new $3.6...

President Obama said the military was not winning the counter insurgency war in Afghanistan as he opened the door for peace negotiations. By persuading Iraqi Sunni insurgents to turn on al-Qaeda extremists, US commanders engineered a sharply drop in violence in Iraq. President Obama said deals similar to those implemented by General David Petraeus in Iraq could be cut in Afghanistan and Pakistan. "If you talk to General Petraeus, I think he would argue that part of the success in Iraq involved reaching out to people that we would consider to be Islamic fundamentalists, but who were willing to work...

President Barack Obama probably will scale back U.S. ambitions for troubled Afghanistan to redefine victory in a war that his closest military and foreign affairs advisers say cannot be won on the battlefield. Even before a planned doubling of U.S. forces in Afghanistan this year, the new administration is lowering its sights and lowering expectations. Although general agreement exists that the United States will be in Afghanistan for years to come, the new focus is on how to show even small security gains and development progress quickly. "That's clearly the message I'm getting is, 'what are the near-term goals going...

Cuba, Jan 22: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi advised President Barack Obama to give Osama bin Laden a chance to reform, telling the new president that America's most wanted man was looking for "dialogue". Gaddafi hailed what he called "positive signals" so far from the new Obama administration, including plans to close the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Speaking to students at Georgetown University via a satellite link-up from Libya, Gaddafi said Washington must review its approach to bin Laden, who is blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and tops the U.S. Most Wanted List. "Terrorism is a dwarf...

The leader of a jihadi group in Iraq argued Friday that the election of Barack Obama as president represented a victory for radical Islamic groups that had battled American forces since the invasion of Iraq. In his address, Mr. Baghdadi also said that the election of Mr. Obama - and the rejection of the Republican candidate, Senator John McCain - was a victory for his movement, a claim that has already begun to resonate among the radical faithful.

(CNSNews.com) – As the U.S. troop surge in Iraq has succeeded, leading to a dramatic decline in the number of U.S. casualties in that country, The New York Times’s coverage of the Iraq war also has declined, falling to an all-time low in the last two months, according to a CNSNews.com analysis of stories retrieved on the Nexis database. At The Washington Post, coverage of the war has been significantly lower this year than in previous years. In the months leading up to the 2004 and 2006 elections, when U.S. casualties were running higher in Iraq, coverage of the Iraq...

.....Kosachyov also said Obama's softer stance on the planned U.S. missile-defense system in Eastern Europe makes him Russia's preferred candidate....

It’s not the economy. Sure – if the economy was better, it would be good for Republicans. Everybody knows that, which is why the McCain campaign could never bet too many chips on the economy as part of a winning formula. Sure, the Democrats – including Barack Obama and Joe Biden – did cause the financial industry meltdown but what does it matter? There is a Republican in the White House and it’s easier to imagine that presidents rule with magic wands than to learn the basics of the American democratic system, let alone learn the modern history of financial...

The troop surge in Iraq has been more successful than anyone could have imagined, Barack Obama conceded Thursday in his first-ever interview on FOX News’ “The O’Reilly Factor.” As recently as July, the Democratic presidential candidate declined to rate the surge a success, but said it had helped reduce violence in the country. On Thursday, Obama acknowledged the 2007 increase in U.S. troops has benefited the Iraqi people. “I think that the surge has succeeded in ways that nobody anticipated,” Obama said while refusing to retract his initial opposition to the surge. “I’ve already said it’s succeeded beyond our wildest...

WASHINGTON – Republican Rep. Terry Everett of Alabama unleashed an unusually harsh attack on a House colleague, calling decorated Vietnam War veteran John Murtha, D-Pa., a cut-and-run idiot.

Senator Barack Obama Delivers the Democratic Radio Address This is Senator Barack Obama. This morning, I’d like to talk to you about why America needs to move in a new direction. In recent days, we’ve seen two stark examples of exactly what’s wrong with Washington, and what’s at stake in this election. First, we learned that the federal budget deficit could reach nearly half a trillion dollars next year. Eight years after we had a record surplus, we’re now faced with record deficits. This mortgaging of our children’s future is a direct result of the Bush Administration’s dangerously failed fiscal...

Freepers and other bloggers should be proud as we the members of the new media were able to get the early skinny on Nancy Pelosi shutting down the House and turning out the lights on a GOP Sponsored Drilling Bill. If not for the efforts of Freerepublic and other new media sites, Democrats would have gotten away with this mockery today. I got a call from Kristinn at 3 pm today and headed for the Hill, I arrived a bit after 3:30 and meet the staffers for 3 GOP Congressional Member, who gave me a quick SITREP. This is what...

NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN? | Gov offers to send state troopers and National Guard copters to fight gang violence Calling violence in Chicago "out of control," Gov. Blagojevich on Wednesday offered to lend state troopers and National Guard helicopters to the city to augment the Chicago Police. The governor is considering forming an "elite tactical team" to help the Chicago Police fight gang problems, a source said, adding that the unit could later be sent across the state to deal with gang problems at any city's request. It's fair to say that violent crime in Chicago is out of control....