SandBox Comments: LA Times "Swing county in Michigan isn't sold on batting for Obama"

(Maeve Reston, Reporting from Sterling Heights, Mich.)

"Macomb County's mercurial "Reagan Democrats" have long served as a barometer of the national mood. Their abandonment of their own party to support Ronald Reagan helped usher in GOP rule nationally. Three decades later, Barack Obama pulled them back into the fold, sweeping the county by more than 8 points and winning Michigan by the largest margin for a Democrat since 1964...."

SandBox Nanny is reminded of 'colegrayson' and his "I am a Real Democrat, therefore I now vote Republican" post over on Red State.

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"Truth goes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Then it is violently opposed. Finally, it is accepted as self-evident."

SandBox Comments: The Hill "Holder pushes back against GOP lawmakers over Fast and Furious"

"Attorney General Eric Holder is trying to get in front of the Fast and Furious controversy that has led to calls from conservatives for his resignation.

Holder has shed the low-key persona that sought to quietly deflect a torrent of mounting congressional criticism over his role in a botched gun tracking operation.

In its place, President Obama’s top law enforcement official has embraced a new strategy, actively confronting and rebuffing the serious concerns and disparaging remarks emanating from Capitol Hill while admitting mistakes made by his department, promising to hold officials accountable, and vehemently seeking to tell his side of the story...."
(Jordy Yager)

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SandBox Comments: Stars and Stripes "U.S. Marine Corps fights for its budget"

"Toward the end of his tenure, former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates encouraged the U.S. Marine Corps to redefine itself.

Amphibious landings have become less crucial than they were a few generations ago, when Marines stormed beaches from Iwo Jima, Japan, to Inchon, South Korea. There is no longer a pressing need, he and others would point out, for essentially "a second land army."

Marine Commandant Gen. James Amos responded by asserting that Marines could have a role as a light, fast and self-sustaining force that would take and hold an area while a larger force was being assembled.

With all the armed services now fighting to maintain a financial foothold in anticipation of a decade-long drive to trim the Pentagon budget by $450 billion, the Marine Corps seems especially under the gun to stay relevant, as Bloomberg Businessweek reports.

“Looking ahead," Gates said last year, "I do think it is proper to ask whether large-scale amphibious assault landings along the lines of Inchon are feasible....”
(Stars and Stripes)

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"Truth goes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Then it is violently opposed. Finally, it is accepted as self-evident."