RNC Chair Michael Steele on Limbaugh: 'Yes, it's incendiary.  Yes, it's ugly.'  —  Last night, RNC Chairman Michael Steele appeared on D.L. Hughley's show on CNN and disputed Hughley's statement that Rush Limbaugh “is the de facto leader of the Republican Party.”  “I'm the de facto leader of the Republican Party!”

AP Newsbreak: CIA destroyed 92 interrogation tapes  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — New documents show the CIA destroyed nearly 100 tapes of terror interrogations, far more than has previously been acknowledged.  —  The revelation Monday comes as a criminal prosecutor is wrapping up his investigation in the matter.

Moderate Dems confront Pelosi  —  In a private meeting last week, Speaker Nancy Pelosi laid down a challenge to her moderate members who were complaining about a provision in the housing bill.  Stand up and air your grievances, she said.  —  A handful of those moderate members did just that …

A Line Forms to Succeed Burris  —  CHICAGO — As Roland W. Burris, the junior senator from Illinois, took his first turn presiding over the Senate last week, hired staff members to fill his Washington office and announced co-sponsorship of a measure commemorating the role of slaves in building the Capitol …

NO PASTA.  JUST RICE.  —  Israel, it seems, has been denying shipments of pasta headed for Gaza.  Senator John kerry, who'd been visiting Israel, heard about the idle trucks filled with food aid and asked around.  “Israel does not define pasta as part of humanitarian aid,” he was told.

Upper-Income Taxpayers Look for Ways to Sidestep Obama Tax-Hike Plan  —  President Would Slap More Taxes on Those Who Make Over $250K to Fund Health Care  —  President Barack Obama's tax proposal - which promises to increase taxes for those families with incomes of $250,000 or more …

Web-Savvy Obama Team Hits Unexpected Bumps  —  Issues of Technology, Security and Privacy Slow the New Administration's Effort to Foster Instant Communication  —  The team that ran the most technologically advanced presidential campaign in modern history is finding it difficult to adapt that model to government.

Revenge of the Glut  —  Remember the good old days, when we used to talk about the “subprime crisis” — and some even thought that this crisis could be “contained”?  Oh, the nostalgia!  —  Today we know that subprime lending was only a small fraction of the problem.

‘Potential’ Disruption?  —  REP. DAVID R. Obey (Wis.) and other congressional Democrats should spare us their phony concern about the children participating in the District's school voucher program.  If they cared for the future of these students, they wouldn't be so quick as to try to kill …

Repudiating Bush  —  From his inauguration address forward, President Obama hasn't pulled any punches in criticizing the record of his predecessor, George W. Bush.  In that process—which reached a new peak with the release of the administration's budget plan last Thursday …

Iran Clenches Its Fist  —  The danger is that direct talks may facilitate, not reduce, threats to U.S. interests.  —  As Iran prepares to fire up its Bushehr nuclear reactor — and as the International Atomic Energy Agency governing board meets this week, again confronted with further progress …

EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Hatch's secret drug firm links  —  Drugmaker money to Utah senator's charity escaped disclosure  —  The pharmaceutical industry that long has benefited from Sen. Orrin G. Hatch's legislative efforts has directed large sums of money to a charity he helped found …

Covering Obama, Pushy Jake Tapper Presses His Points  —  One year after joining ABC News, Jake Tapper kept pushing his bosses — “annoyingly, irritatingly, incessantly,” he says — to let him cover the unfolding 2004 presidential campaign.  —  “I might not have been ready,” he admits now.

Failing the test  —  It's a depressing spectacle: on both sides of the Atlantic, policy-makers just keep falling short — and the odds that this slump really will turn into Great Depression II keep rising.  —  In Europe, leaders rejected pleas for a comprehensive rescue plan …

Obama taps DeParle as health czar  —  President Barack Obama is rounding out his health-care overhaul team Monday by naming Nancy-Ann DeParle, a veteran of the Clinton administration, as the White House health czar.  —  DeParle will be announced with Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius …

Japan's Crisis of the Mind  —  RECENT events mark Japan's return to the world's stage, or at least so it seems.  Tokyo was Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's inaugural overseas destination.  Last week, Prime Minister Taro Aso was the first foreign leader to visit the Obama White House.

Iran, the Jews and Germany  —  So a Jerusalem Post article says that I'm “hardly the first American to be misled by the existence of synagogues in totalitarian countries.”  —  The Atlantic Monthly's Jeffrey Goldberg finds me “particularly credulous,” taken in by the Iranian hospitality and friendliness that …

Obama faces test on gay military ban  —  It is precisely the sort of knife fight no president wants to get into, especially in his first 100 days.  But it seems that President Barack Obama is about to get dragged down the same dark alley as Bill Clinton when he was forced to confront …

A.I.G. Reports $61.7 Billion Loss as U.S. Gives More Aid  —  The federal government agreed Monday morning to provide an additional $30 billion in taxpayer money to the American International Group and loosen the terms of its huge loan to the insurer, even as the insurance giant reported a$61.7 billion loss …

Make My Filibuster  —  PRESIDENT OBAMA has decided to spend his political capital now, pushing through an ambitious agenda of health care, education and energy reform.  If the Democrats in the Senate want to help him accomplish his goals, they should work to eliminate one of the greatest …

How Washington can prevent ‘zombie banks’  —  Beginning in 1990, Japan suffered a collapse in real estate and stock market prices that pushed major banks into insolvency.  Rather than follow America's tough recommendation - and close or recapitalise these banks - Japan took an easier approach.

How The Insiders Failed Obama  —  President Barack Obama is on a roll — and Washington's pundits are struggling to keep up.  —  Commentators spent weeks body-slamming the administration's vetting and second-guessing Obama's legislative strategy.  One stimulus and a few polls later …