White House Rips Sykes' 9/11-Limbaugh Joke

'We had no domestic attacks under Bush,' Giuliani says. Except...

(NEWSER) - Rudy Giuliani has some advice about terrorism for President Obama: Follow George W. Bush's example, because “we had no domestic attacks under Bush.” Dubbing American's Mayor "Mr. 9/11," Talking Points Memo points out that Sept. 11, 2001 was well into Bush’s tenure. As was shoe bomber Richard Reid's attempt to blow up a flight from Paris to Miami in December 2001. More»

Briefed military last night, will reveal number and other details tomorrow

(NEWSER) - After weeks of deliberation, President Obama has settled on a new strategy for the war in Afghanistan and ordered the military to carry it out. The exact size of the troop escalation has not been announced, but sources put the number in the neighborhood of 30,000 more troops. The president started informing military leaders last night and will explain his plan in detail in a national speech tomorrow from the US Military Academy at West Point. More»

(NEWSER) - Robert Gibbs said today Sonia Sotomayor regrets the way she phrased 2001 comments that have some Republicans calling the Supreme Court nominee a racist, the Hill reports. “I think she'd say that her word choice was poor,” the White House press secretary said. He suggested that Sotomayor was not trying to say Latina women make better judges than white men, but that “your experiences impact your understanding.” More»

(NEWSER) - Press Secretary Robert Gibbs may be best known these days for deflecting harsh questions in the briefing room, but his advisory role in the administration goes much deeper than that, writes Michael Scherer in Time. “There isn't a single decision that the president has formed in the course of his campaign or the presidency that Robert didn't weigh in on,” said Valerie Jarrett. And when Gibbs talks, to staff or press, they know they’re hearing from Obama. More»

President needs trash-talking surrogates ahead of election 2012: Michael Scherer

(NEWSER) - Amid press conferences and big speeches, President Obama spent his first two years in office as “his own messenger.” But expect that to change in the run-up to the next election, writes Michael Scherer in Time . In those first two years, Obama lacked a solid team of spokespeople; aides like Larry Summers and Rahm Emanuel weren’t up to the job. Now, “as the Obama team enters the most trying 14 months of a remarkably trying five-year blitz, they are getting their ducks in a row.” More»