Obama’s Defense Secretary Nominee Provides Few Details on Afghanistan Withdrawals

Leon Panetta, the current CIA chief and Obama’s chosen replacement for outgoing Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, avoided getting too specific on the the size of next month’s planned withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan today when he appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee for his confirmation hearing. Both Panetta and the president have indicated the pullout of troops would be “substantial,” a stark contrast in tone with Gates, who has repeatedly warned about a “rush to the exits.”

There’s almost no chance that Panetta’s nomination will get rejected–he did, after all, oversee the CIA operation that resulted in the death of Osama Bin Laden. [NYT]

 

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North Carolina GOP's Extremist Nominees Excite Democratic Strategists

Michele Morrow

In 2020, Joe Biden narrowly missed capturing North Carolina’s 16 electoral votes, losing the state by a slim 1.4-percentage-point margin. But that was nearly four years ago. Before the Dobbs decision. Before Donald Trump’s 91 felony indictments. And before last week, when the state’s GOP voters nominated a guy who favorably quotes Hitler, has compared LGBTQ+ people to insects and larvae, and thinks a six-week abortion ban isn’t quite extreme enough for governor. Tar Heel State Republicans also nominated another extremist, Michele Morrow, for superintendent of the state’s schools.

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