SOMETHING BIZARRE GOING ON – AT 7:17 P.M. ET:  Either the White House is, or is not, in a new feud with Gen. Stanley McChrystal, our Afghanistan commander.  This is a mystery.  Consider, from the Politico:

The New York Times reports that the White House is disappointed with the slow pace of the Afghan surge and wonders if top Pentagon officials misled them about how quickly they could surge forces to Afghanistan:

"Senior White House advisers are frustrated by what they say is the Pentagon’s slow pace in deploying 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan and its inability to live up to an initial promise to have all of the forces in the country by next summer, senior administration officials said Friday.

"Tensions over the deployment schedule have been growing in recent weeks between senior White House officials — among them Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., Gen. James L. Jones, the national security adviser, and Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff — and top commanders, including Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the senior commander in Afghanistan."

Remember, in the fall, it was reported that the White House was displeased with McChrystal, its hand-picked choice, because he was publicly defending his request for more troops.  Conservatives criticized what they saw as the president's hectoring of its general.

The Politico updated its story:

UPDATE: Senior Defense Department spokesman Geoff Morrell writes, "There is no story here. As I told the Times, this is a totally contrived controversy fabricated by them and them alone.

Well, I must say....  That's an awfully serious charge against the leading in-the-tank-for-Obama paper in the United States.  We've accused The Times of many things here, but I doubt that it would totally manufacture a story like this.

There's something here.  I'm speculating, but I suspect that the faction that lost the Afghanistan "surge" debate is striking back.  This is a weak president, and he isn't inclined to stop these feuds, and obviously can't control them.  A story like this is a sign of an administration lacking internal discipline, a contrast with the very disciplined Obama political campaign.

January 9, 2010