Now that the media is “all Shirley Sherrod, all the time” (with a dash of Journolist thrown in as well), see if you can work your memory hard enough to picture the golden days of late June 2010, back when it was “all Gen. McCrystal all the time.” Yes, it was just about a month ago that Rolling Stone got their biggest publicity in years. Zeke Turner over at The New York Observer’s Media Mob (and a Mediaite alum, whoo!) got the crazy story today that the article that brought down a five star general was originally supposed to go to GQ.

Michael Steele attended a Republican Party fundraiser in Connecticut yesterday, and an amateur video camera captured comments made by the GOP National Committee chairman declaring that the war in Afghanistan “was a war of Obama’s choosing,” adding that America had not “actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in.” This was in reply to a question regarding General McChrystal’s recent resignation, which Steele called “very comical.” According to Talking Points Memo, “top Republicans” are already piling on Steele for the seemingly untoward gaffe.

And no it was not hyperbole. While guesting on The O’Reilly Factor tonight, Geraldo Rivera compared writer Michael Hastings (whose article in Rolling Stone published this week effectively brought down General Stanley McChrystal) with al Qaeda terrorists who killed US ally Sheik Massoud two days before the attacks of 9/11, who set back anti-Taliban efforts in Afghanistan.

Really? Former Speaker of the House, and current Fox News Analyst Newt Gingrich made a guest appearance on Fox and Friends this morning, and was asked by co-host Gretchen Carlson to opine on any correlation between President Obama‘s quick replacement of General McChrystal and his inability to stop the BP oil disaster, currently in its 67th day. Again…really? Yes really.

Newsflash: Rolling Stone has been doing war reporting – and political reporting, business reporting, news reporting – for decades now. And they’ve got the Ellies to prove it.

It’s official: exit General Stanley McChrystal. Enter stage right General David Petraeus. Following the controversial Rolling Stone article, President Obama announced this afternoon that he has regrettably accepted McChrystal’s resignation. While many said the General’s insubordination was unacceptable, Afghan leaders had warned against changing military leadership in Afghanistan.

In the eyes of Fox News anchor Geraldo Rivera, the real villain in the whole McChrystal controversy (which has lead to a rather dramatic change in command of the Afghanistan war) isn’t the chatty General (and his staff.) No, the real bad guy in all of this (according to Geraldo) is the writer of the investigative report, Rolling Stone magazine’s Michael Hastings. Say what?

Well we now know General McChrystal‘s fate. Reports have now surfaced claiming that President Obama has asked McChrystal to step down as commander of military efforts in Afghanistan. General David Petraeus , who helmed the very successful counter-insurgency efforts in the Iraq War, will now oversee a similar campaign in the Afghanistan theater of war.

Last night Bill O’Reilly took on the General McChrystal‘s harsh criticism of the Obama administration during an opening “Talking Points” segment entitled “Obama in Chaos.” The Fox News host proceeded to use the McChrystal controversy to illustrate yet another failing of the White House. He then had on two military experts who somewhat surprisingly disagreed with O’Reilly’s take on the brouhaha, siding with White House insiders who have privately claimed that McChrystal needs to go.

Yesterday’s news cycle started with the release of an explosive Rolling Stone article which portrayed Gen. Stanley McChyrstal (and his staff) harshly criticizing the Obama Administration. As the day progressed, it became clearer that McChrystal would have a hard time keeping his post, with reports of an offered resignation hanging in the air. President Obama is meeting with the General this morning, and, according to a report from ABC’s Jake Tapper, the maligned General may be preparing to fall on his sword.

For the first half of today’s White House briefing, Robert Gibbs was a bundle of barely retrained disgust and anger, as he fielded questions about Gen. Stanley McChristal‘s disastrous Rolling Stone interview. Since the McChristal horse was in a post-mortem heap by the time he got around to me, I thought I might be able to draw a reaction out of Gibbs with a carefully executed question. While that didn’t quite work out, in retrospect, Gibbs may have signaled a surprise ending to tomorrow’s McChrystal-Obama tete a tete

It’s beginning to look more likely that General Stanley McChrystal will have a hard time surviving the political blowback from his candid Rolling Stone interview that was so harshly critical of the Obama administration. But what’s more surprising than a decorated military official stepping down due to a lack of discipline with a Rolling Stone writer? That CNN’s Rick Sanchez was the first to interview Michael Hastings, the investigative journalist whose article has likely made an enormous impact on the Afghanistan War.

The recent criticism by General Stanley McChrystal of the Obama Administration’s policy in Iraq was a very hot topic during today’s White House press briefing. And judging by the grave tone and open responses of Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, the General’s future in his current role appears to be uncertain at best. When asked by CBS’ Chip Reid if removing the General from his position was an option, Gibbs’ tersely replied “I would say all options are on the table.”

How could General McChrystal have SAID all that? To a REPORTER? What was he THINKING? Turns out NBC’s Richard Engel has a pretty good explanation: Back when the Icelandic volcano ash cloud hit, reporter Michael Hastings ended up getting stranded with McChrystal in Paris for days. Et voila.

Earlier today Rolling Stone released an interview with General Stanley McChrystal in which the the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan criticized the Obama administration’s handling of Iraq. The conflict between US Army General stationed in the theater of war and the White House has been the top news story of the day, and already lead to speculation that McChrystal will be replaced, so claims his former colleague Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer on Fox News.

After all of the speculation that Barack Obama was going to be Time‘s Person of the Year for the second year in a row, the award went to … Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Since announcing the pick, Time has been sending signals that seem to say that President Obama, who was announced to be a finalist for the award on Monday, but was not really in contention after all:

Logan describes the experience for the troops there as “hostile in every sense” and the uphill battle on the very rocky terrain over there. Good discussion of response to McChrystal entreaties for more troops, and Karzai‘s legitimacy following the election. Thoughtful and useful report.