Ross Douthat's New Perch  —  It's one step back for the Atlantic, but an order of magnitude forward for the country: my colleagues and I learned today that senior editor Ross Douthat will, in short order, become an opinion columnist for the New York Times.  —  Ross is a late-twenties-year …

Hersh: ‘Executive assassination ring’ reported directly to Cheney  —  Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh dropped a bombshell on Tuesday when he told an audience at the University of Minnesota that the military was running an “executive assassination ring” throughout the Bush years …

The Reconstructionist  —  Michael Steele, the embattled new head of the Republican Party, on whether he'd be in this job if he were white, why he left the seminary for the GOP, and where his diminished party goes from here  —  I met Michael Steele in his office at the RNC several weeks into his new job …

BRISTOL PALIN & LEVI JOHNSTON BREAK OFF ENGAGEMENT  —  Sarah Palin's 18-year-old daughter Bristol has reportedly broken off her engagement with Levi Johnston, the father of her 2-month-old son Tripp.  It's surprising because in an interview just last month with FOX's Gretta Van Susteren …

Flashback: Carville Wanted Bush to Fail  —  The press never reported that Democratic strategist James Carville said he wanted President Bush to fail before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.  But a feeding frenzy ensued when radio host Rush Limbaugh recently said he wanted President Obama to fail.

Blame the ‘Lobby’  —  FORMER ambassador Charles W. Freeman Jr. looked like a poor choice to chair the Obama administration's National Intelligence Council.  A former envoy to Saudi Arabia and China, he suffered from an extreme case of clientitis on both accounts.

Obama Signs Spending Bill, Calls for Earmark Guidelines  —  President Obama today signed what he called an “imperfect” spending bill to keep the government running even though it contains thousands of lawmakers' pet projects, but he called for more rigorous review of future projects …

LIBERAL HACKERS AT IT AGAIN  —  At the end of January, a hacker broke into Senator Norm Coleman's web site and gained access to information there about donors to the Coleman campaign.  Coleman's staff had a forensic analysis performed and were assured that the donor information had not been downloaded.

TSA Probing Vitter Incident  —  The Transportation Security Administration is examining Sen. David Vitter's much-reported decision to open the closed gateway door to his plane — even though he was warned against it by an airline worker.  —  “We will be reviewing the alleged incident,” …

Obama, Geithner Get Low Grades From Economists  —  U.S. President Barack Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner received failing grades for their efforts to revive the economy from participants in the latest Wall Street Journal forecasting survey.  —  The economists' assessment stands …

Rush Limbaugh Weighs Down Heavily on Republicans  —  Read the full memo:  —  Overview  —  With a national debate raging over the place of radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh in the Republican Party, a new national survey from Democracy Corps and Greenberg Quinlan Rosner finds that Limbaugh weighs …

“There is nobody there”  —  Barack Obama is too busy posing for magazine covers to actually do the job to which he was elected.  —  There is a price to be paid when a president throws a party every other night, weekends in Chicago or Camp David and poses for magazine cover after magazine cover.

Now-needy FDIC collected little in premiums  —  With fund going strong, banks didn't pay for decade  —  WASHINGTON - The federal agency that insures bank deposits, which is asking for emergency powers to borrow up to $500 billion to take over failed banks, is facing a potential major shortfall …

Cities' Plans to Swap Cash for Stimulus Are Stopped  —  LOS ANGELES — Suppose the federal government gave you and your neighbor $500 each to buy a new bike, but what you really wanted was a $250 shopping spree for running gear instead.  So you offered to sell your $500 federal check …

Ari Fleischer Battles Chris Matthews, Calls Him “Shameful” And “Disingenuous” (VIDEO)  —  In a clash between two of the loudest and most intrusive political talkers in the business, neither Chris Matthews nor former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer endeared themselves very well on Wednesday evening.

Jim Cramer Shorting Stocks, Manipulating Markets, Saying The SEC Doesn't Understand  —  In light of the current economic crisis, and with the hullabaloo ignited recently by Jon Stewart over the accuracy of CNBC's reporting, we thought it might be useful to revisit this shocking 2006 interview Jim Cramer gave …

NEW POLL: America Is Evenly Divided Between Progressives/Liberals And Conservatives/Libertarians  —  Our guest bloggers are John Halpin and Ruy Teixeira, fellows at the Center for American Progress.  —  For years, traditional public opinion polling has broken down Americans' political ideology …

Chafee Chides Obama Over Bipartisanship  —  One of Barack Obama's high-profile Republican endorsers during the campaign said he was “stunned” that the president could muster only three Republicans votes for his stimulus package and put the blame squarely at the president's feet.

Sacramento and Its Riverside Tent City  —  Renee Hadley covered her bicycles with a tarp outside her tent on Tuesday in Sacramento, Calif.  —  A tent city is burgeoning in Sacramento, Calif., prompting local officials to consider whether such an encampment should be made permanent, with plumbing and all.

Let Us Rally to Protect the Delicate Flower of Rugged Individualism!  —  Two recent versions of the same argument.  First, the simplified 800 word version, from Roger Cohen. … Second, the lengthier and more sophisticated variant from Clive Crook. … There is something very, very strange in my eyes about this kind of argument.