The Governor Strikes Back: Five New Quotes from Sarah Palin  —  Last week, the former vice-presidential candidate lashed out at the media's coverage of her campaign.  In a brand-new “What I've Learned” interview with Esquire, excerpted here in advance of the March issue, Palin goes even further.

Senators Raise Questions About Geithner's Nomination at Treasury  —  Sen. Charles E. Grassley, ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, is raising questions about a housekeeper who worked briefly for Treasury Secretary-nominee Timothy Geithner without proper immigration papers …

AP: Clinton acted on concerns of husband's donors  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State appointee Hillary Rodham Clinton intervened at least six times in government issues directly affecting companies and others that later contributed to her husband's foundation, an Associated Press review of her official correspondence found.

Rollins: Bush still doesn't get it  —  Editor's Note: Ed Rollins, who served as political director for President Ronald Reagan, is a Republican strategist who was national chairman of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's 2008 presidential campaign.  —  NEW YORK (CNN) — One week from today …

Olmert Says He Made Rice Change Vote  —  WASHINGTON — In an unusually public rebuke, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel said Monday that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had been forced to abstain from a United Nations resolution on Gaza that she helped draft, after Mr. Olmert placed a phone call to President Bush.

House Judiciary Issues Scathing Report on Bush/Cheney Imperial Presidency  —  Post-it tabs via _ES.  Now where are my highlighters?  —  In a report just made public (PDF), the House Judiciary Committee issues a scathing report on the Bush/Cheney abuses against the rule of law.

My Dinners with Dubya  —  When a college drinking buddy invited C. Brian Smith to hang out with her parents, he tried not to sweat the fact that they lived in the White House.  He even had fun—until 9/11 made watching bad movies with the president feel like a guilty pleasure America couldn't afford.

Obama backed same-sex marriage in 1996  —  A document has emerged suggesting that Obama had taken more public, liberal stands in the past than had been revealed in the digging of reporters and opposition researchers over two years of campaigning, the latest of several pointing to a rightward shift as he moved into national politics.

Live from the Clinton Confirmation Hearing  —  Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio, a Republican who is retiring, just now love-bombed Clinton and Obama.  He notes that a couple of years ago he got to know retired Marine Gen. James Jones and wondered, “Why can't we get this guy in the administration?”

Nazi?  You?  —  Ever thought about how you would have reacted had you lived in Nazi Germany?  Ronald Bailey reflects on a famous experiment that meant to discover whether it could happen here, in America.  His conclusion is instructive: … In other words, American culture …

Steven Chu Eases Up on the Gas Price Pedal  —  Steven Chu, the Nobel laureate scientist who is President-elect Obama's choice to be energy secretary, said in testimony prepared for his Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday that high oil prices were a threat to the economy …

Duncan: Smart Is Cooler Than Ever  —  Arne Duncan, the Chicago schools chief, told the Senate on Tuesday that he would work for “real and meaningful change” in the nation's schools if confirmed as education secretary, and he said he hoped president-elect Barack Obama's own example as a model student …

Joe the Plumber plunges deeper: ‘Military should decide what information to give the media.’  —  Continuing his reporting from Israel, Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher tried to clarify his remarks criticizing media coverage of war, in a new Pajamas TV segment.

Obama inauguration to air in theaters  —  MSNBC pact puts coverage in 27 U.S. locations  —  NEW YORK — President-elect Barack Obama is on his way to the big screen, thanks to a deal between MSNBC and Screenvision that will put the news channel's inaugural coverage in 27 theaters around the country.

The Truthiest New Show on Television  —  The strongest case against the Department of Homeland Security is that it's not really about homeland security at all.  Rather than catch terrorists, DHS officers at the border spend most of their time arresting people for drug and immigration offenses instead.

Dem blasts Obama econ team's ‘mumbo jumbo’  —  A Democratic senator on Tuesday accused President-elect Obama's incoming director of the Office of Management and Budget of talking “mumbo jumbo” instead of offering hard details on the economy.  —  “I would think that in this era of freshness …

Does “Black Hawk Down” Portray an American War Crime?  —  At least nine hundred people, maybe half of them civilians, have been killed in Gaza so far, the overwhelming majority presumably killed by Israel (some people, more than we probably know right now, have been killed by Hamas, mainly Fatah activists in revenge killings).

Former GOP House Aide Nabbed Trying to Sell Inaugural Tickets  —  Selling inauguration tickets isn't illegal, not yet anyway.  But it was still embarrassing for one former congressional aide who now works at a powerful lobbying firm when she was caught this week trying to sell tickets …

Meghan McCain Sits Down With MMC To Talk Blogs, Bikers, Politics & Why She Only Takes Off Her High Heels To Swim  —  Meghan McCain is an American blogger and daughter of the 2008 Republican nominee for President, John McCain.  —  Most recently, Ms. McCain spent almost two years …

Obama's Solid Choice For FCC Chair  —  For one of the final appointments of the Obama transition, Julius Genachowski has been named FCC chair: … There are several things to like about this pick.  First, as an advisor to Barack Obama's presidential campaign, Genachowski helped to develop …

Mike Huckabee: The Laughing Man  —  It's funny, the nicest guy in a political party of not-very-nice guys is also its most unbending cultural samurai.  —  Early on in the 2008 presidential race, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee received the endorsement of conservative pundit Stephen Baldwin.

Europe Reimports Jew Hatred  —  The mythical Arab Street now reaches deep into Paris, London, Berlin and Madrid.  —  Give Giancarlo Desiderati credit for his unintellectual honesty.  While most left-wing detractors of Israel claim their animosity toward the Jewish state has nothing …