Morning Must Reads — One more week until Afghan plan

Writers Michael Shear and Scott Wilson say that Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal and Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry have both been summoned to Washington next week to testify.

With Democrats threatening to levy special taxes to pay for the cost (Budget Director Peter Orszag attended the ninth session of the President’s war council on Monday) and the House speaker saying she could see no reason to expand the U.S. presence in Afghanistan, McChrystal and Eikenberry — reportedly longtime foes who disagree about the way forward now — are in for some tough testimony.

Republicans will join the firefight too, but only if the President keeps the same mission but calls for a surge too far below McChrystal’s original request of 40,000 more troops. Obama is widely expected to adopt a surge of 20,000 to 30,000 more troops, but with a twist — maybe a timetable for reforms in the Afghan government, more trainers from NATO, etc.

“Along with the timing of the Afghanistan announcement, it is also not clear how the White House plans to present the plan to the public, although the testimony by McChrystal and Eikenberry before Congress offers some clarity. Options being considered include an Oval Office address to the nation, a speech in front of an audience, or a prime-time news conference.”

Wall Street Journal — Lieberman Digs In on Public Option


How do you know there’s reason for concern about the Democrats’ health bill?

The drug industry is running TV ads against Joe Lieberman in Connecticut because he won’t support a new health-insurance entitlement.

Any time liberals and PhRMA are teaming up, watch your wallet.

Lieiberman, having improbably survived the 2006 election cycle after losing the Democratic primary and spoken at the Republican National Convention in 2008, seems to be rather enjoying the attention and each day becomes more adamant that he will not vote for a public option with a goat, or on a boat, in a box, or with a fox.

Writer Gerald Seib explains:

“Critics, of course, think Mr. Lieberman is merely protecting insurers from his home state of Connecticut. He, of course, insists otherwise, arguing that regulation and litigation are the traditional and more appropriate ways to keep the private market honest. The real risk he sees, he insists, is government debt.

Yet he still thinks that, somehow, health legislation will get done, probably not by Christmas but early next year. ‘At the end of the day,’ he says, ‘I feel strongly health-care reform will pass the Senate and the Congress.’”

The Hill — Side deals stack up as health bills move along

What’s a vote on the Reid health-care bill worth? To drug companies, labor unions, and plaintiffs’ lawyers, potentially billions of dollars.

Writer Mike Soraghan looks beyond Sen. Mary Landrieu’s $300 million “Louisiana Purchase,” at what other emoluments were already offered in the House to get the Pelosi bill passed (barely). Expect a reprise before the Reid bill comes to a vote.

“[The] best-known deal involved Reps. Dennis Cardoza and Jim Costa, two Blue Dog Democrats from the Golden State who secured funding for a medical school for California’s Central Valley.”

Washington Post — Nuclear power regains support

In a country of ever-increasing power demands where 1 percent of electricity comes from wind, solar and other Gore-approved resources and half comes from coal, greenies are coming to the conclusion that they need to offer a more viable alternative.

They belatedly have discovered nuclear energy – which already provides a fifth of the nation’s power supply from 104 plants.

But many of the same environmentalists spent decades blocking nuclear power since the 1979 release of “The China Syndrome,” two weeks before the scare at Three Mile Island.

The rest of the world is going nuclear fast, but because of the 30 years of opposition, the U.S. is having trouble catching up.

Writer Anthony Faiola looks at how a past environmental crusade is hampering a current one.

“Rather than deride the emphasis on nuclear power, some environmentalists are embracing it. Stephen Tindale typifies the shift.

When a brigade of Greenpeace activists stormed a nuclear power plant on the shores of the North Sea a few years ago, scrawling ‘danger’ on its reactor, Tindale was their commander. Then head of the group’s British office, he remembers, he stood outside the plant just east of London telling TV crews all the reasons ‘why nuclear power was evil.’

The construction of nuclear plants was banned in Britain for years after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in what was then the Soviet Union. But now the British are weighing the idea of new nuclear plants as part of the battle against climate change, and Tindale is among several environmentalists who are backing the plan.

‘It really is a question about the greater evil — nuclear waste or climate change,’ Tindale said. ‘But there is no contest anymore. Climate change is the bigger threat, and nuclear is part of the answer.’”

New York Times — Conservatives Make a List to Measure Candidates’ Commitment


Rather than scaring his challenger out of the race, the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s endorsement of Florida Gov. Charlie Crist for a Senate seat only seemed to encourage conservative Marco Rubio, who keeps gaining in the polls as the Obama-hugging governor sinks. It’s a replay of party feuds over moderate-liberal endorsees like Arlen Specter and Linc Chafee in recent years, but this time, the insurgent may really win and the party’s primary clout may be further eroded.

A litmus test would be a way to try to placate tea party people but still keep the national party in control.

A claque of Republican National Committee members think they may have a solution to preventing these kinds of problems – a ten-point position pledge on which candidates must agree with at least seven points to get party backing.

It’s an unnecessarily complex solution when a simple one will do: stop making primary endorsements and work with the winners.

“The resolution also calls for “Republican solidarity in opposition to Obama’s socialist agenda,” specifically citing the climate change “cap and trade” proposal and “government-run health care.”

The list was clearly influenced by the divisive Congressional race in upstate New York this fall, when conservative activists deemed the Republican nominee for the seat, Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, too liberal and instead supported a third-party candidate Douglas L. Hoffman.”

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