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 …

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 …

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 …

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 Makes Use of Signing Statements  —  WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama signed a $410 billion spending bill Wednesday that includes thousands of pet projects inserted by lawmakers, even as he unveiled new rules to restrict such so-called earmarks.  —  At the same time …

Alaska Gov. Palin's daughter, fiance break up  —  WASILLA, Alaska — Levi Johnston and Bristol Palin, the teenage daughter of Gov. Sarah Palin, have broken off their engagement, he said Wednesday, about 2 1/2 months after the couple had a baby.  —  Johnston, 19, told The Associated Press …

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.

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 …

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,” …

Second stimulus?  Never heard of it!  —  Nancy Pelosi said this week that she's keeping the door open for a second stimulus bill.  —  She may be the only one.  —  As the nation continues to shed jobs, an increasing number of economists are saying Congress will need to pump more money into the economy this year.

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 …

Pelosi Travel Abuse?  Case Not Proved  —  Watchdog Group Criticizes House Speaker for Travel Perks, but Records Don't Agree  —  The treasure trove of documents obtained by Judicial Watch from the Department of Defense regarding Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's use of military aircraft …

Obama's $80 Billion Exaggeration  —  Last week, President Barack Obama convened a health-care summit in Washington to identify programs that would improve quality and restrain burgeoning costs.  He stated that all his policies would be based on rigorous scientific evidence of benefit.