Bill Clinton's Old Politics  —  I write this more out of sadness than anger.  Bill Clinton's ill-tempered and ill-founded attacks on Barack Obama are doing no credit to the former President, his legacy, or his wife's campaign.  Nor are they helping the Democratic party.

Let's Hear Some Straight Talk  —  BEGIN TRANSCRIPT  —  RUSH: A new California poll taken just after Fred Thompson's withdrawal from the Republican primary shows Mitt Romney as leading big over McCain in California when it comes to which candidate best represents the Republican Party.

Tentative Deal on Economic Stimulus Plan  —  WASHINGTON — House leaders and the White House on Thursday announced a tentative agreement on an economic stimulus package of roughly $150 billion that would pay stipends of $300 to $1,200 per family and provide tax incentives for businesses to encourage spending.

Kucinich abandons White House bid  —  CLEVELAND - Democrat Dennis Kucinich is abandoning his second, long-shot bid for the White House as he faces a tough fight to hold onto his other job — U.S. congressman.  —  In an interview with Cleveland's Plain Dealer, the six-term House member …

Jay Rockefeller's unintentionally revealing comments  —  As the Senate takes up “debate” today over granting the President new warrantless eavesdropping powers and granting immunity to lawbreaking telecoms, the individual who joined forces with Dick Cheney to get this ball rolling …

The Dems just gave away your stimulus check  —  According to AP, congressional leaders have reached a deal on those economic stimulus checks.  And rather than being geared towards helping the economy, they're apparently geared towards redistributing wealth (that would be our wealth) to the poor.

Bill backlash?  —  There's a fair amount of chatter today about whether Bill Clinton has gone too far, whether he'll trigger “backlash."  —  It's a plausible story, and the media is clearly sick of him.  But here's my question: Has anyone met an uncommitted voter, or one likely to support Hillary, who expresses this view?

Bill Gates Issues Call For Kinder Capitalism  —  Famously Competitive, Billionaire Now Urges Business to Aid the Poor  —  Free enterprise has been good to Bill Gates.  But today, the Microsoft Corp. chairman will call for a revision of capitalism.  —  In a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos …

‘Internal and External Threats’  —  But it also includes a provision that promises to maintain the stability of Iraq's government from “internal and external threats."  This sentence is raising alarms for some U.S. lawmakers.  —  Any such agreement would be considered a treaty by many legal experts.

Gibson Defends His Mockery Of Ledger's Death: ‘No Point In Passing Up A Good Joke’  —  On his radio show yesterday, Fox News host John Gibson responded to ThinkProgress' criticism of his comments mocking the death of Heath Ledger, saying that it was just “a little Brokeback Mountain joke” …

Bono confesses sins to ‘father’ Al Gore  —  Having climate campaigner Al Gore round to your house is to open yourself to a self-flagellating guilt trip, Irish rock star Bono confessed Thursday.  —  Sharing a stage with the former US vice president at the annual gathering of world movers …