Video: President Rush Limbaugh, Vice President Ann Coulter  —  Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter play President and Vice President on Fox News' new satirical television show premiering Sunday Night at 10pm Eastern:  —  Listen to Rush talk about his appearance here.  —  Blowback

Skepticism Over Iraq Haunts U.S. Iran Policy  —  The specter of the war in Iraq — a war the Bush administration denied it was planning, supported by evidence that turned out to be false — looms large over administration policy toward Iran.  —  Skeptical members of Congress …

Press Conference by the President  —  THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for coming in on an icy day.  I have just finished a conversation with General David Petraeus.  He gave me his first briefing from Iraq.  He talked about the Baghdad security plan.  It's the plan that I described to the nation last January …

Mahdi army commanders withdraw to Iran to lie low during security crackdown  —  Senior commanders of the Mahdi army, the militia loyal to the radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, have been spirited away to Iran to avoid being targeted in the new security push in Baghdad, a high-level Iraqi official told the Guardian yesterday.

TERRORISM....A recent post from Glenn Reynolds about how we ought to be responding to Iran has been batted around quite a bit in the past few days.  Here's Glenn: … I imagine a lot of people agree with Glenn, but his recommendation really demonstrates the moral knot caused by George Bush's insistence …

Conscience and Soul  —  Reading through the interview with Vanderslice, who is one of the religious left political consultants, there's plenty I agree with.  I do agree that Democrats should reach out to religious voters and it's something they've been bad at doing, though they've been pretty bad …

Protector of the free world deserves better  — Anti-Americanism has a long pedigree, but that only makes it more irrational, writes Janet Albrechtsen  —  BY all means unfurl the banners, dust off the placards and prop up the distorted effigies of George W. Bush.

A Prewar Slide Show Cast Iraq in Rosy Hues  —  When Gen. Tommy R. Franks and his top officers gathered in August 2002 to review an invasion plan for Iraq, it reflected a decidedly upbeat vision of what the country would look like four years after Saddam Hussein was ousted from power.

America's view of Republicans crumbles in Iraq  —  According to the latest Gallup survey, Republican self-identification has declined nationally and in almost every American state.  Why?  The short answer is that President Bush's war of choice in Iraq has destroyed the partisan brand Republicans spent the past four decades building.

Adding Up the Reasons For Expensive Health Care  —  It's hardly an original point, but now that health-care reform is back on the political agenda, it's worth emphasizing: The reason the system has been so resistant to change is that lots of powerful interests do very nicely with things just the way they are.

LAWYER ADMITS LEAKING BALCO TESTIMONY  —  He agrees to plead guilty — prosecutors say they'll end effort to jail reporters  —  A lawyer admitted in court documents Wednesday that he provided a Chronicle reporter with transcripts of confidential grand jury testimony by Barry Bonds …

For Liberal Bloggers, Libby Trial Is Fun and Fodder  —  The perjury trial of I. Lewis Libby Jr., former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, has drawn every major news organization in the country to the federal courthouse in Washington.  But none has fielded a bigger team …