The Newsroom - For all the Sturm und Drang from the Republican Senators on opening day, when all the cameras were rolling, by the afternoon of Elena Kagan's first day of questioning, it appeared that the Republicans were already pretty much giving up the fight.

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Reuters - President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan promised on Monday to take an impartial approach to the law after Republicans criticized her qualifications and objectivity on the first day of her Senate confirmation hearing.

Leading Republican senators on Sunday questioned whether Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan could be an impartial judge as they tried to inject some drama into her upcoming confirmation hearing.

Time.com - Independent voters distrust Democrats on national security, so why is House Speaker Pelosi blocking a bipartisan deal to pass the intelligence authorization bill months before the November elections?

AP - A retired Army general who drew criticism for church speeches casting the war on terrorism in religious terms is one of the GOP's witnesses against Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan.

AP - No more discord in the Afghanistan war command, President Barack Obama vows. With Gen. David Petraeus in charge, the president said Thursday he's assembled the team that will take the U.S. through the months ahead — by all expectations the make-or-break stage of the conflict.

Rep. Joe Barton has expressed remorse to his fellow Republicans for his remarks last week apologizing to BP chief executive Tony Hayward and will retain his position as the top GOP lawmaker on the Energy and Commerce Committee.

AP - A furious President Barack Obama weighed whether to fire his Afghan war commander at a perilous time in the conflict as he summoned Gen. Stanley McChrystal to Washington to explain disparaging comments about his political masters.

President Obama visited an arts and recreation campus in a low-income Washington neighborhood Monday to tout the importance of fatherhood, and announced a new effort to bring together children, famous dads and nonprofit groups to promote the father-child relationship.

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