Thursday Morning Quarterback: Appeasement!!

Item: WH won't build new BMD system in Poland and Czech Republic; says intel on Iran's missile development program is consistent with a different posture; 

QB: Politics of this suck, short-term. Without WH pre-cooking, right will spin this as appeasement to Vlad Putin. But this is as much Gates's decision as it is Obama's, and public opinion in Poland is more complicated. More on this as WH / DoD unveil more details later.

Item: Time cover: Mad Men: Is Glenn Beck Bad For America?

QB: I don't know, but Time's journalism will certainly help with his ratings. At Time, Jesus, Obama, women's health and Oprah covers sell... let's see if Glen's does, too.

Item: FBI to release new surveillance guidelines. 

QB: A battle between the FBI (and WH) and the Congress over the future of National Security Letters is shaping up. FBI wants to convince public that they're being transparent.

Item: Mitt Romney arrives in DC for a week of fundraising, think tank consulting, and values voter courting.

QB: Some Romney allies are hopeful that Romney will run, (if he does run) as a can-do pragmatist who has experience working with both sides of the aisle... and some long-time Romney aides have begun to admit that the run-to-the-right strategy in 2008 didn't work.

Item: C. Deeds and B. McDonnell meet in their first debate since McDonnell's grad school thesis put him on the defense. Meet's David Gregory is hosting at Fairfax Chamber of Commerce.

QB: Deeds has gained traction with women in Northern Virginia over past two weeks. McDonnell's folks claim that race was always gonna tighten up here.