by DemFromCT [courtesy of Daily Kos]

Reflecting on the last 24 hours' worth of media coverage of the Obama World Tour, what seems clear is that there are two clashing world views that are competing for attention.

On the one hand, there are the McCain supporters, including many reporters like David Gregory and Andrea Mitchell, who accept as gospel that the Surge Is Working®, that questioning of either the surge or General Petraeus is heresy, and that Obama's biggest sin is that he, as Commander in Chief, has the audacity to think he should be telling the Generals what to do and not the other way around. They are stunned that Obama doesn't agree, and offended at some core level whenever this narrative is challenged. A sputtering John McCain in NH:

He was wrong then, he's wrong now, and he still fails to acknowledge--he still fails to acknowledge that the surge succeeded. Remarkable.  Remarkable," McCain said.  "He's just received his first briefing ever from Gen. Petraeus.  And he declared his policy towards Iraq before he left, before he left."

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by John Bruhns [courtesy of Politics on HuffingtonPost.com]

If Americans who support this war aren't willing to put their own bodies where their rhetoric is, there can be no sustainability.

by Rand Beers [courtesy of Politics on HuffingtonPost.com]

Confirmation hearings tomorrow for Gen. Petraeus and Gen. Odierno will allow us to focus on Iraq as well as other critical national security questions: Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and the strain on the military.

by Spencer Ackerman [courtesy of Politics on HuffingtonPost.com]

Every army of liberation has a half-life after which it turns into an army of occupation...You can extend that half-life by being considerate of the population ... But over time, again, you are not one of them.

by The Huffington Post News Team [courtesy of Politics on HuffingtonPost.com]

While commanding the 101st Airborne Division during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, David H. Petraeus famously mused to journalist Rick Atkinson, "Tell me how this...

by The Huffington Post News Team [courtesy of Politics on HuffingtonPost.com]

Senator Robert Menendez, a key surrogate for Hillary Clinton, said on Thursday that it was time for the media to move on from the scandal...

by Greg Mitchell [courtesy of Politics on HuffingtonPost.com]

By now you have probably heard about what might be the mainstream news article in recent weeks, the front-page David Barstow epic in today's New...

by smintheus [courtesy of Daily Kos]

Just how badly did ABC trivialize the presidential debate in Philadelphia yesterday? Here is a thumbnail sketch of the questions that Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos believed the American public urgently needed to have answered before Pennsylvanians cast their votes. Here is what the elitists at ABC imagine Americans care about.

1. Process (VP running mate)

2. Bitter

3. Bitter/Process (can Obama win?)

4. Process (can Obama win?)

5. Process (can Clinton win?)

6. Wright

7. Wright

8. Wright/patriotism

9. Wright

10. Wright/patriotism

11. Bosnia/Clinton's honesty

12. Clinton’s honesty

13. Flag pin/patriotism

14. Ayers/patriotism

15. Iraq (would you ignore commanders?)

16. Iraq (do you know better than commanders?)

17. Iraq (would you ignore commanders?)

18. Iran/Israel (Iran will threaten to use nukes)

19. Pledge no tax increases (with McCain attack)

20. Capital gains tax rates

21. Gun registration

22. Guns/ D.C. law

23. Affirmative action

24. Gas prices

25. Foreign oil

26. Process (how would you use GWB?)

27. Process (superdelegates)

~ categories courtesy of georgia10, with slight modification

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by Jeff Morris [courtesy of Blog for America]

   As expected, there were no surprises in the testimony given by Gen Petraeus on Capital Hill. The purpose of his report to Congress was to give an honest assessment of the progress (or lack of) in Iraq. I was a bit struck by how the report was very close to nothing more than a re-cycled, re- print of his testimony of last year. He advised against any troop withdrawal, claimed the Military needs six more months, then wait forty five days, with an assessment to come in Sept. Identical to last years report. The plan is undoubtedly to keep U.S. troops in Iraq indefinitely, six months at a time.