The Right's Second Look At McCain  —  With his non-announcement announcement of candidacy on Letterman Wednesday night, John McCain's getting some fresh media attention today, most notably Peggy Noonan's typically frothy take in the (subscription-only) Wall Street Journal.

Reading Hillary Rodham's hidden thesis  —  Clinton White House asked Wellesley College to close off access  —  Hillary Rodham, in a 1965 freshman photo when she was president of Wellesley College's Young Republicans, with the cover page of her senior thesis from 1969 on radical organizer Saul D. Alinsky.

Plame film in works at Warner Bros.  —  Studio sets movie about CIA leak scandal  —  Warner Bros. is developing a feature on the lives of Valerie Plame and Ambassador Joseph Wilson, the married couple drawn into a D.C. firestorm.  —  Plame's status as a CIA agent was revealed …

YouTube Oppo Of The Day  —  1. Sen. Barack Obama, speaking in a fairly impoverished Cleveland, saying he wants "everybody here to pony up five dollars, ten dollars for this campaign.  I don't care how poor you are, you've got five dollars."  —  2. An anti-Giuliani video, just in time for CPAC.

A new twist to an intriguing family history … WASHINGTON // Many people know that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's father was from Kenya and his mother from Kansas.  —  But an intriguing sliver of his family history has received almost no attention until now …

Lieberman On Appointment Of Kiley: 'It's A Good First Step'  —  This morning on his radio show, Don Imus questioned Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) about his reaction to the conditions at Walter Reed, saying, "If you're somebody who thought the war was such a wonderful idea, as you did, and continues to support this idiotic exercise...

Poll: The Politics Of Health Care  —  Most Americans Favor Universal Health Care, Give Democrats Edge On Improving System  —  (CBS) Americans think the U.S. health care system is in need of major repairs, according to a CBS News/New York Times poll.  —  Nine out of 10 say the system needs …

Self-Referential Feedback Loop  —  Let me respond to Ezra Klein's response to Justin Fox's delightful bit about us mainstream sorts trying to be bloggers.  —  Now, I like Ezra.  He's a smart guy.  We have the same last name and all...But he's wrong about this: … To which I can only say, what security?

Honey, I'm Dead!  —  HOW GOD REWARDS A FEMALE SUICIDE BOMBER.  —  A female suicide bomber detonated a vest filled with explosives at a university in Baghdad Sunday, killing more than 40 people.  If male martyrs can expect to find 72 virgin maidens in paradise when they die, what rewards can female suicide bombers expect?

When Dick Cheney Talks, Pakistan Listens  —  Brian Ross and Habibullah Khan Report:  —  Pakistan intelligence sources say a second high-ranking Taliban leader has been taken into custody, as the country appeared to be responding to Vice President Dick Cheney's showdown meeting with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

Shortages Threaten Guard's Capability  —  Nearly 90 percent of Army National Guard units in the United States are rated "not ready" — largely as a result of shortfalls in billions of dollars' worth of equipment — jeopardizing their capability to respond to crises at home and abroad …

Second Shift  —  The BBC reports: … "Gee," remarks Jessica Valenti, "wonder why that is."  Well, I like to wonder.  Later, the piece gives us the specific numbers: "an employed woman does 15 hours a week of housework when she lives with her employed partner, up from 10 hours when single."

Iraqi Troops, Tribesmen Kill 50 Suspected Insurgents  —  Fierce Battle in West Lasts Several Hours  —  Iraqi security forces backed by Sunni tribesmen killed dozens of suspected Sunni insurgents over several hours of fighting Wednesday in a village in western Iraq, Iraqi police officials said Thursday.

Immigration indigestion  —  It is often said that "politics makes strange bedfellows," but it is the immigration debate that is making even stranger bedfellows — causing otherwise conservative Republican members of Congress to clamor for draconian restrictions on businesses and for greater mandatory use of Social Security numbers.

Rice Names Critic Of Iraq Policy to Counselor's Post  —  Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has tapped Eliot A. Cohen, a prominent writer on national security strategy and an outspoken critic of the administration's postwar occupation of Iraq, as her counselor, State Department officials said yesterday.