Rush to the President: Debate Me  —  BEGIN TRANSCRIPT  —  RUSH: It is on the record — thanks to Politico.com — since last fall, the White House, led by Rahm Emanuel, the chief of staff to Barack Obama, has been targeting me, your host, your harmless, lovable little fuzzball.

Cap-and-trade plan will sink Michigan  —  President Barack Obama's proposed cap-and-trade system on greenhouse gas emissions is a giant economic dagger aimed at the nation's heartland — particularly Michigan.  It is a multibillion-dollar tax hike on everything that Michigan does, including making things, driving cars and burning coal.

Rove, Miers to testify in prosecutor firings  —  Agreement on testimony of Karl Rove and Harriet Miers ends lawsuit  —  WASHINGTON - Former top aides to President George W. Bush agreed Wednesday to testify before Congress under oath about the firings of U.S. attorneys …

McCain, Dowd Substitute Mockery for Understanding  —  You understand why politics might get up to dumb gimmicks.  They're trying to get press, they're trying to get elected, whatever.  But even though lots of people do it, I genuinely don't understand why someone would go into political journalism despite …

President Barack Obama just plain rude to Britain.  Don't call us in future.  —  Why couldn't President Obama have put on more of a show for his British guests?  He looked like he simply couldn't be bothered.  —  Gordon Brown and Barack Obama  —  Number 10 may be content …

Thomas Friedman's Five Worst Predictions  —  In this morning's New York Times, columnist Thomas Friedman makes a grave prediction regarding Obama and the ongoing financial crisis: “I fear that his whole first term could be eaten by Citigroup, A.I.G., Bank of America, Merrill Lynch …

Steele won't back down on moderates  —  Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele on Wednesday refused to retreat on his pledge to back primary challengers against the three GOP senators who voted in favor of President Barack Obama's $787 billion stimulus.

In Defense of Democratic Starve-the-Beast  —  Ross Douthat charges President Obama with doing George W. Bush's budget strategy in reverse: … In the most important sense, this is completely wrong.  Obama's budget is not a net spender.  It would reduce the deficit by some $2 trillion over the next decade …

What Obama Could Learn from Watchmen  —  Ana Marie Cox does a webchat for The Washington Post: … I like the idea of the Ozymandias reference, but I'm not sure that I actually get it.  By contrast, though you shouldn't click the links unless you want an implicit Watchmen spoler …

FIRST THOUGHTS: A TALE OF TWO PARTIES  —  From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro  —  *** A tale of two parties: To paraphrase Dickens, the last six weeks have been the best of times for Obama and the Democrats, and the worst of times for the Republicans.

US Treasury secretary attacks oil, gas tax breaks  —  U.S. oil and natural gas producing companies should not receive federal subsidies in the form of tax breaks because their businesses contribute to global warming, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told Congress on Wednesday.

Miami abortion clinic owner threw live baby away, prosecutors say  —  MIAMI - An abortion clinic owner is accused of delivering a live baby during a botched procedure and then throwing the infant away.  —  Belkis Gonzalez, 42, was arrested Tuesday and charged with practicing medicine without …

Krauthammer's Take  —  From last night's All Stars.  —  On President Obama's secret letter to Russian president, Dmitri Medvedev proposing a deal on missile defense: … On the president's proposed cap-and-trade plan:

For Young President, Flecks of Gray  —  WASHINGTON — Well, that didn't take long.  Just 44 days into the job, and President Obama is going gray.  —  It happens to all of them, of course — Bill Clinton still had about half a head of brown hair when he took office but was a silver fox two years later …

Hidden Pension Fiasco May Foment Another $1 Trillion Bailout  —  The Chicago Transit Authority retirement plan had a $1.5 billion hole in its stash of assets in 2007.  At the height of a four-year bull market, it didn't have enough cash on hand to pay its retirees through 2013, meaning it was underfunded to the tune of 62 percent.

Whitehouse: ‘Blanket immunity’ that prevents prosecution of Bush officials is a ‘mistake.’  —  Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing on the creation of a “truth commission” to investigate Bush administration wrongdoings.  Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT) has suggested that the commission may grant …

Marriage rally draws 1,000  —  Aim is to stir support for an amendment that would ban same-sex marriage  —  RALEIGH — More than 1,000 people, many from Baptist churches across the state, stood on the ice-covered lawn outside the Legislative Building on Tuesday to demand that state legislators give …

Barbara Bush recovering from heart surgery  —  Operation was to replace a heart valve; family says procedure successful  —  Barbara Bush underwent heart surgery Wednesday at Methodist Hospital in Houston for a heart valve replacement, NBC News reported.  —  The surgery had been planned and was successful, NBC reported.

Voter's Remorse  —  I should have known better.  —  For those of you who have been following me, most of you know that I grudingly voted for Obama last November.  It was a ticket-splitting vote: voted for Obama and then voted GOP down the line.  I noted that I was going to cast my vote with some trepidation:

Ex-Bush lawyer talks about torture memos  —  Visiting Chapman professor wrote opinions on interrogation methods.  —  Recommend  —  ORANGE - John Yoo has brought attention to the Chapman University School of Law, where he is a distinguished visiting professor, with his experiences in the Office …

El Rushbo Invites Obama on Air  —  On his Wednesday show, the conservative radio host asks the president to join him for “an intelligent, open discussion” on their policy differences.  —  Says since he's been declared the GOP's leader and the administration wants bipartisanship, Obama has no reason not to accept.

If You're a Defense Lobbyist, It Might Be Time to Panic  —  It's really, really, really difficult to be optimistic about cutting Pentagon waste.  There is a massive amount of entrenched interests — in the services, on the Hill, among the hordes of defense firms just across the Potomac …

Islam bus ads sponsored by CAIR and ICNA roll into San Francisco  —  San Franciscans have recently been finding themselves in the uncomfortable position of riding around on public buses plastered with the words “ISLAM - Submission to God.”  I say “uncomfortable” because San Francisco …

Merrill's $10 Million Men  —  Top 10 Earners Made $209 Million in 2008 as Firm Foundered  —  As bad as 2008 was for Merrill Lynch & Co., it was very good for Andrea Orcel, the firm's top investment banker.  Although Merrill's net loss ballooned to $27.6 billion last year, Mr. Orcel …