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Lyndon Johnson

The "Goldilocks Principle" and Afghan War Options

Joseph A. Palermo | Posted 11.09.2009 | Politics

Read More: John McCain, George Ball, George Kahin, Rand Corporation, Afghanistan Occupation, President Barack Obama, Juan Cole, Lindsey Graham, The Nation, Peter Baker, Afghanistan War, William Polk, American War in Afghanistan, Nato, American Military Forces, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Goldilocks Principle, William Westmoreland, Richard Nixon, Vietnam War, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, New York Times, General Stanley McChrystal, Joe Lieberman, Afghanistan, Lyndon Johnson, Undersecretary of State George Ball, Helene Cooper, Robert Dryfuss, Vietnamization, Politics News
Joseph A. Palermo

General McChrystal's recommendation for more troops and material has a distinctly Westmorelandian flavor to it. If approved, it could create an additional $40 to$80 billion per annum in war costs.

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What Obama Is Up Against

Russ Baker | Posted 11.04.2009 | Politics

Read More: John F. Kennedy, Central Intelligence Agency, Henry Kissinger, Ronald Reagan, Military Industrial Complex, Harry Truman, President Obama, George W. Bush, Obama, Bob Woodward, Bush Administration Torture, Robert Gates, George H.W. Bush, Richard Nixon, National Security, Gerald Ford, Nancy Pelosi, Congressional Oversight, Fdr, Hamid Karzai, Bill Clinton, Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Afghanistan War, Iraq War, Bush Administration, Dwight Eisenhower, Cia, Military Spending, Stanley McChrystal, Jimmy Carter, Prescott Bush, Allen Dulles, Lyndon Johnson, Iraq, Torture, Politics News
Russ Baker

We Americans harbor a quaint belief that a new president takes charge of a government that eagerly awaits his next command. But that's not how things work at the top, especially where "national security" is concerned.

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Keeping Afghanistan Safe from Democracy

Robert Scheer | Posted 11.04.2009 | World

Read More: Robert Scheer, Insurgency, David Axelrod, Lyndon Johnson, Afghanistan, Matthew Hoh, Al-Qaida, Vietnam, Democracy, Hamid Karzai, Stanley McChrystal, Soviet Union, World News
Robert Scheer

The most idiotic thing being said about America's involvement in Afghanistan is that the best way to protect the 68,000 U.S. troops there now is by putting an additional 40,000 in harm's way.

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The Kennedy Assassination: New Details About the Transfer of Power

Steven M. Gillon | Posted 11.03.2009 | Books

Read More: John F. Kennedy, Politics, Lbj, Vice President, Warren Commission, Kennedy, Kennedy Dead, Kennedy Assassination, Jackie Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Jfk, President, JFK Assassination, Books News
Steven M. Gillon

Exactly when did doctors give up their efforts to save Kennedy's life? And when did Lyndon Johnson learn that JFK was dead?

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A New Wrinkle in the JFK Assassination Story

Steven M. Gillon | Posted 10.30.2009 | Books

Read More: John F. Kennedy, Kennedy Assassination, Lyndon Johnson, Dallas, Books News
Steven M. Gillon

A recently declassified oral history by Brigadier General Godfrey McHugh, President Kennedy's military aide on the Dallas trip, sheds new light on the critical hours after the shooting.

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Obama Should Tear Up Matthew Hoh's Afghan War Resignation Letter

Earl Ofari Hutchinson | Posted 10.27.2009 | World

Read More: Pentagon, Polls, Matthew Hoh, Afghanistan War, Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson, Bush, Truman, President Obama, World News
Earl Ofari Hutchinson

Matthew Hoh told Obama exactly what he needs to hear about Afghanistan: that the war is a failed, flawed, no-win war. That it's a sinkhole for billions of tax dollars and a death trap for US troops.

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Getting the Vietnam Analogy Right in Afghanistan

Leon T. Hadar | Posted 10.21.2009 | World

Read More: Nazi Germany, President Obama, Lebanon, Iran, Hitler, China, History, Muslim, Saudi Arabia, Nato, Vietnam War, John Kennedy, Chechnya, Munich, Analogies, Czechoslovakia, Syria, Xinjiang, West Germany, South Vietnam, Hamas, Soviet Union, Hizbollah, Afghanistan War, Al Quaeda, Kashmir, Shiites, Iraq War, Communism, North VIetnam, Taliban, India, Lyndon Johnson, Cuba, Ospolitik, Detente, World News
Leon T. Hadar

The ghosts of the Vietnam War seem to be hanging around the White House Situation Room as President Obama and his national security aides debate a new strategy for the war in Afghanistan.

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Wall Street Is More of a Threat to Obama's Domestic Agenda than Afghanistan

Joseph A. Palermo | Posted 10.20.2009 | World

Read More: Matt Taibbi, Bill Clinton, Pecora Commission, Treasury Department, Sec, Joseph P. Kennedy, President Barack Obama, Cdos, Collateralized Debt Obligations, Larry Summers, Federal Reserve, Credit Default Swaps, Newt Gingrich, Fdr, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Wall Street, Vietnam, Tim Geithner, Vice President Dick Cheney, Afghanistan, Timothy Geithner, Bear Stearns, Lyndon Johnson, Alan Greenspan, Securities and Exchange Commission, Too Big to Fail, President George W. Bush, Blue Dog Democrats, World News
Joseph A. Palermo

Whatever Obama decides to do in Afghanistan is of little consequence compared to Wall Street's ongoing "plutonomy."

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Health 'Opt-Out': Brilliant Maneuver or Crippling Compromise?

RJ Eskow | Posted 10.09.2009 | Politics

Read More: Health Insurance Monopolies, Nate Silver, Public Option, Sherrod Brown, Medicare, Lbj, Opt-Out, Lyndon Johnson, Chuck Schumer, Health Reform, Politics News
RJ Eskow

The opt-out is a hard blow to the public option, and potentially a crippling one. When a solution sounds too good to be true -- we can compromise and still get everything we want! -- it probably is.

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Because Bipartisanship Is Dead Until 2011: A Defense of Senate Moderates

John R. Bohrer | Posted 10.01.2009 | Politics

Read More: Ronald Reagan, Earl Warren, John Tower, Senate Republicans, 1964, Moderate Democrats, Joe Biden, Dscc, Bipartisan, 2011, Barack Obama, Thomas Kuchel, Economic Stimulus Package, 2010, Moderates, Bob Menendez, Joseph Alsop, 1965, Orrin Hatch, Bipartisanship, Lbj, Lyndon Johnson, Republicans, Barry Goldwater, Health Care, Politics News
John R. Bohrer

The GOP cannot even claim credit for bringing the bills to the middle of the road -- the Democrats are hogging all of it. And that is a good thing, despite what some may think.

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New Rule: If America Can't Get it Together, We Lose the Bald Eagle

Bill Maher | Posted 09.25.2009 | Comedy

Read More: Supreme Court, Wall Street, Ondemand, Jon Cryer, Cap-and-Trade, Washington, Max Baucus, Youtube, Medicare, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lyndon Johnson, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Ground Zero, Fdr, Bill Maher New Rule, Real Time With Bill Maher, Bill Maher, Comedy News
Bill Maher

If America can't get its act together, it must lose the bald eagle as our symbol and replace it with the YouTube video of the puppy that can't get up. As long as we're pathetic, we might as well act like it's cute.

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The Time The President Didn't Intervene

John R. Bohrer | Posted 09.25.2009 | New York

Read More: John v. Lindsay, Liberal Party, Robert F. Wagner Jr., David Paterson, New York Politics, Hubert H. Humphrey, Barack Obama, New York, Robert F. Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, Obama Paterson, Lyndon B. Johnson, New York Mayor, 1965, Lbj, Lyndon Johnson, Newsweek, John Lindsay, Robert Kennedy, New York News
John R. Bohrer

In the first year of his first elected term, Lyndon Johnson made the presidency look easy. Landmark bills on education, health care and civil rights were flying through Congress. But he stayed out of New York politics.

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To Succeed, Obama Needs to Channel His Inner LBJ

Steven Hill | Posted 09.22.2009 | Politics

Read More: Lbj, Senate, Barack Obama, Olympia Snow, Harry Reid, Ben Nelson, Lyndon Johnson, Max Baucus, Health Care, Politics News
Steven Hill

When it comes to Obama lining up votes from recalcitrant members of his own party, LBJ's brawling, Southern style of trench politics is the one best suited for the current health care reform challenge.

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Taylor Branch To Reveal "The Clinton Tapes"

GQ | Wil S. Hylton | Posted 09.17.2009 | Politics

Read More: John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton, 1964 Civil Rights Bill, Monica Lewinsky, Hillary Rodham Clinton, George W. Bush, Martin Luther King Jr., George Mcgovern, Fidel Castro, Richard Nixon, Vietnam War, Whitewater, Taylor Branch, Katherine Graham, Lyndon Johnson, Politics News

It has been nearly forty years since three young Democratic activists named Bill Clinton, Hillary Rodham, and Taylor Branch moved into a small apartme...

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Robinson: Obama Should Just Ignore "Spoiled First Graders" In GOP

Washington Post | Eugene Robinson | Posted 09.11.2009 | Politics

Read More: Watergate, Louie Gohmert, Richard Nixon, George W. Bush, President Obama, Blue Dogs, Obama Health Care Speech, Bipartisanship, Lyndon Johnson, House Republicans, Eric Cantor, Politics News

Anyone who watched Wednesday night as President Obama explained his health-care reform proposals to Congress saw a chief executive making what sounded...

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Weeping for the Kennedys

Reese Schonfeld | Posted 10.19.2009 | Politics

Read More: President John F. Kennedy, Ayatollah, Boss Hague, Ronald Reagan, Chappaquiddick, Dick Cheny, Donald Rumsfeld, Teddy Kennedy, Iran, Democrats, Tammany Hall, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Honey Fitz, Senator Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Al Smith, Lyndon Johnson, Nikita Krushchev, Berlin Wall, Jfk, Sam Leibowitz, Bobby Kennedy, Republicans, Politics News
Reese Schonfeld

The Kennedys knew how to strive for noble causes, step by step. They would make deals, but only to benefit the best causes.

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When Will GOP Leaders Denounce the Pyromaniacs?

Robert S. McElvaine | Posted 10.18.2009 | Politics

Read More: 1960s, Faux News, Rightwing Extremists, Lady Bird Johnson, Fox News, Kennedy Assassination, Glenn Beck, Lyndon Johnson, Barry Goldwater, Republican Party, Barack Obama, John Birch Society, Obama Assassination Threat, Extremism, Politics News
Robert S. McElvaine

The parallels between the hate speech of the early 1960s and today are numerous and disturbing. But there are also important differences. So, where does the Republican leadership stand on playing with matches?

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Why Democrats Are Losing on Health Care

Thomas Frank | Posted 10.18.2009 | Home

Read More: Epidemics, Lyndon Johnson, E Coli, Barack Obama, New Deal, Swine Flu, Health Care Reform, Wall Street Journal, Society, Democrats, Health Care, Calvinism, Middle Ages, Uncle Sam, Home News
Thomas Frank

If universal health insurance goes down to defeat, Democrats will have to live with the shame of having been beaten by arguments that a novice debater would have no trouble putting down.

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Obama's Meaningless War

Robert Scheer | Posted 10.17.2009 | Politics

Read More: Obama, Vietnam, Taliban, Lyndon Johnson, Afghanistan, Osama Bin Laden, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Communism, Obama War in Afghanistan, War in Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Politics News
Robert Scheer

Meaningless is the right term for the Afghanistan war, because our bloody attempt to conquer this foreign land has nothing to do with its stated purpose of enhancing our national security.

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It's Time for Barack Obama to Take a Lesson From Lyndon Johnson

Josh Rosenblatt | Posted 10.17.2009 | Politics

Read More: Dad, Lyndon Johnson, Democrats, Health Care, Barack Obama, Birthers, Health Care Debate, LBJ Toughness, Barney Frank, Democrats Health Care, Disappointment in the Democrats, Obamacare, Sarah Palin, Health Care Reform, Democrats Health Care Fight, Politics News
Josh Rosenblatt

Even with right and reason on their side; even with a filibuster-proof majority on their side, the Democrats have again found a way to lay down and cower.

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What's So "Public" About the Public Option?

Jeffrey Feldman | Posted 10.17.2009 | Politics

Read More: Medicare, Lyndon Johnson, Public Option, Town Hall Meetings, Health Care, Harry Truman, Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy, Politics News
Jeffrey Feldman

The shifting definition of "public option" is not accidental, but is emerging from the perception by Democrats in the House that the August recess caused them great damage.

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Remembering Ted Kennedy

Murray Fromson | Posted 09.30.2009 | Politics

Read More: John F. Kennedy, Moscow, Bangkok, Lyndon Johnson, CBS News, Ted Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Russia, Lbj, Chicago, Cold War, Politics News
Murray Fromson

None of my colleagues covering Ted Kennedy's early emergence on the national horizon in the 1960s bet on him as a promising young star.

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Just One More Example of Edward Kennedy's Service to His Country

Joseph A. Palermo | Posted 09.28.2009 | Politics

Read More: John F. Kennedy, Edward Kennedy, Senator Edward Kennedy, Vietnam, Vietnam War, Kennedy, South Vietnam, President Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Nguyen Van Thieu, President Johnson, Subcommittee on Refugees and Escapees, Robert F. Kennedy, Arvn, Thieu, Politics News
Joseph A. Palermo

Kennedy's role in ending the Vietnam War should be honored and remembered as a unique contribution he made to serving his country in a very difficult and polarized time.

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Command Decision

Tony Blankley | Posted 09.26.2009 | World

Read More: Lyndon Johnson, Afghanistan, Obama Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Afghanistan War, World News
Tony Blankley

Obama owes it to both himself and the many service members who soon may be shipping out to make a new, cold calculation of whether he believes that he can succeed in Afghanistan.

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The Afghanistan Gap: Press vs. Public

Norman Solomon | Posted 09.26.2009 | World

Read More: Al Qaeda, Escalation, Vietnam War, New York Times, Iraq, Afghanistan, Washington Post, News Media, Lyndon Johnson, Frank Rich, Barack Obama, World News
Norman Solomon

Increasingly, public opinion is not cooperating. While the media establishment and the political establishment appear to belong to the same pro-war affinity group, the public is shifting to the other side of a widening credibility gap.

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