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PUNCHLINES

The Democrats now have this insurmountable supermajority. I imagine soon we'll see socialist health care, gun-free cities and, I can only assume, government-run fetal farms and forced sodomy zones."

-- Jon Stewart mocking the hype behind Democrats reaching 60 votes in the Senate.

The Daily Show

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TRENCH WARFARE

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Late Night: We Interrupt This Program For a Word From God… Firedoglake

Fellow Republicans talk down Bachmann from her U.S. Census protest The Minnesota Independent

Health Care Reform-- Getting Serious And Personal In Arkansas DownWithTyranny!

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Promises, Promises…. Flopping Aces

“Man Burned at Burning Man Assumed Risk of Injury” Overlawyered

A Tale of Two Helens The Jawa Report

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BEYOND THE BELTWAY

Coleman Would Cast Long Shadow in Governor's Race Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Knowledgeable Hands Lifted Nagin's E-mail, Experts Say The Times-Picayune

Sununu Won't Seek Senate Return The Hill

State IOUs Loom as Foes' Battle Lines Harden Los Angeles Times

For an Insider, a Lonely Road to Senate Run New York Times

Path Clears for Federal Support of Fast Train to California Las Vegas Sun

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Page last updated: 10:12 a.m., July 2, 2009

39 Sanford trips | 68K troops in Afghan. by Dec. | $172K for top WH aides

A scheduling note: In honor of the Independence Day holiday, the Browser will not be browsing on Friday, July 3rd. We'll be back in action on Monday.

8 a.m. ET: For all the recent focus on the troop pullback in Iraq and post-election unrest in Iran, the fulcrum of the administration's foreign policy is Afghanistan, where "Obama's War" (think they like that label at the White House?) shifted into a new phase in the early hours of this morning.

Rajiv Chandrasekaran writes that U.S. Marines are today "mounting an operation that represents the first large-scale test of the U.S. military's new counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan." The Wall Street Journal similarly calls the push "the first significant operation" since Obama switched commanders there, and cites unnamed American officers who have doubts about the effectiveness of the new strategy. But the Los Angeles Times says American commanders "believe a greater concentration of U.S. and Afghan troops ... is beginning to change the equation," particularly in the previously lawless region along the Pakistani border.

Will voters back home also have doubts? A New York Times poll taken in mid-June showed that 30 percent of respondents thought the war in Afghanistan was going well, while 55 percent thought it was going badly. Those numbers don't necessarily reflect poorly on Obama -- they were similar last summer, when it was still "Bush's War" -- but today's offensive will likely help cement in the public mind the idea that Obama is in charge of Afghanistan now and making proactive decisions there, not just following or cleaning up after his predecessor's orders. He owns this conflict now, whether the headlines get better or -- as in the case of this morning's reported abduction of a U.S. soldier -- worse.

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STAFF PICKS

WHAT "THE SLEUTH" AUTHOR MARY ANN AKERS IS READING TODAY »

S.C. Governor Resists Pressure to Resign Washington Post | I can’t get enough of Gov. Mark Sanford, a man truly in love with love. Reading Philip Rucker’s story about the growing chorus of South Carolina lawmakers calling on Sanford to resign, I, too, fell in love – with this quote, from state Republican Sen. Larry A. Martin: "The very idea that he would be that candid, that frank, that brutally honest about his feelings for the woman in Argentina versus his wife versus the other girlfriends, I just find that incredible. Rational people don't do that…He doesn't need to be talking to reporters. He needs to go find him some professional help. That's just the facts."

Second Autopsy -- Carradine Death Accidental TMZ | TMZ has ruled the Michael Jackson coverage, but they managed to break the monotony by sneaking in an item updating us on David Carradine’s death. Nice.

Federal Drug Agents Asked to Join Michael Jackson Death Probe ABC News | Amazing that the Feds have now joined the investigation into Jackson’s death.

If Coleman goes for governor, he'll cast a long shadow Minneapolis Star-Tribune | Shall we start a pool? Will Norm Coleman now run for governor, even though the FBI is still investigating his ties to a controversial political donor?

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WHAT'D THEY SAY?

That's a troubled man.... You can see it in his eyes and his body language. I'm concerned about his mental well-being."

-- S.C. State Sen. Harvey Peeler, a longtime ally of Gov. Mark Sanford, worries about Sanford's mental state.

The State

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