How long? Not long.

U.S. troops taking up defensive positions in Nuristan Province, Afghanistan. (Getty Images)

David Corn of Politics Daily wonders how long the BP Gulf spill will serve Obama's interest by distracting us from the boondoggle in Afghanistan.

Bad timing.

Emanuel reaffirms the troops will be coming out of Afghan beginning July 2011, as promised, despite the Pentagon's aversion to "dates certain." 

Oh, and Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the Afghan commander, appears to have blotted his copybook, as the British say, one time too many. His career-eliminating decision was a too-candid profile in Rolling Stone.