Iraq War Showdown: Bill Kristol Agrees to Debate Matt Damon After Actor's “Idiot” Slam  —  On Sunday afternoon Weekly Standard editor and New York Times columnist Bill Kristol — in an email exchange with Big Hollywood — agreed to debate Matt Damon on his Hollywood home turf after being informed …

President Obama Does First Formal TV Interview as President with Al-Arabiya  —  As special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell heads off to the region to begin work on negotiating a cease fire between Israel and the Palestinians, President Obama has sat for his first formal TV interview …

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009  —  CBO has released a cost estimate for H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which was introduced today in the House of Representatives.  A link to the full cost estimate can be found here.

Senate Confirms Geithner for Treasury Post  —  WASHINGTON — Timothy F. Geithner was sworn in as secretary of the Treasury on Monday evening, confirmed by a Senate majority that concluded that his experience in government and finance outweighed concerns about recent disclosures of some $34,000 in past tax delinquencies.

Prosecuting torture: ‘Hard to believe’  —  Eric Holder, President Barack Obama's nominee for attorney general, made plenty of people uncomfortable when he asserted, flatly, in his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, that water-boarding is torture.

Cheney's Veil Lifted on Vice President's Residence  —  Hope and change has come to Google Maps.  The official residence of the vice president, obscured until Dick Cheney's last days in office and residence, now shines in satellite sunlight.  —  A reader tipped us off that Google Maps …

Woodward Suggests Future Scandal For Obama White House  —  Appearing on the Chris Matthews Show Sunday, Bob Woodward offered a rather cryptic prediction of scandal that will plague the Obama White House.  —  “This may be tantalizing but vague,” said the Washington Post scribe.

Senate OKs 4-Month Delay to Digital TV Changeover  —  Senate votes to delay digital transition by 4 months to June 12  —  The Senate on Monday voted unanimously to postpone the upcoming transition from analog to digital television broadcasting by four months to June 12 …

Politico's Thrush invents Pelosi controversy  —  Glenn Thrush gets awfully creative in promoting the Right's attacks on Nancy Pelosi over her support for public funding for contraceptives.  —  Thrush writes: … Wow, really?  “One of her biggest political threats of the 111th” Congress?

Analysis: More power for police, more immunity for prosecutors  —  Analysis  —  In opinions so spare that the Supreme Court did not labor long to produce them, the Justices on Monday unanimously expanded the control that police can exercise at the scene of roadside traffic stops, and …

Obama begins reversing Bush climate policies  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama began reversing the climate policies of the Bush administration on Monday, clearing the way for new rules to force auto makers to produce …

GORE HEARING ON WARMING MAY BE PUT ON ICE  —  Al Gore is scheduled before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday morning to once again testify on the ‘urgent need’ to combat global warming.  —  But Mother Nature seems ready to freeze the proceedings.

How badly did Gaza poison the well?  —  The Israeli attack on Gaza during the last weeks of the Bush administration looks more than ever like Bush's “last gift” to Israel and to the region — carried out during the transition, with no American attempt to intervene, ending immediately before Obama's inauguration.

More to It Than Meets the Eye  —  The hidden coherence of Obama's recovery plan.  —  It grieves me to say so, but President Obama's conservative critics just don't get it.  The new president has put forward a plan for economic recovery that is more coherent than they are willing to admit.

The B.O. Republicans who voted for Geithner — and video of Inhofe's statement  —  Here is the roll call vote on the Geithner nomination:  —  And here are the 10 B.O. (Barack Obama/Bend Over) Republicans who sided with Obama and the Dems:  —  Corker (R-TN)  —  Cornyn (R-TX)  —  Crapo (R-ID)

Hired PR gun doomed Caroline, insiders say  —  Gov. Paterson's decision to go nuclear on Caroline Kennedy was a hatchet job run by a pricey out-of-state consultant who specializes in political scandals, disgruntled administration sources said.  —  Judy Smith, a Washington-based PR guru …

Fiscal Stimulus, Fiscal Inflation, or Fiscal Fallacies?  —  “Fiscal stimulus” is the proposition that by borrowing money and spending it, the government can raise the overall state of the economy, raising output and lowering unemployment.  Can it work?  Do the arguments for it make any sense?

Bill Bennett Takes Rush Limbaugh To Task For Saying He Hopes Obama Fails  —  It's a mild, polite rebuke but still it's a rare occasion when high-profile conservatives go after each other in the media.  Bill Bennett says Rush Limbaugh was wrong to hope President Obama crashes and burns …