GOP Losses Span Nearly All Demographic Groups  —  Only frequent churchgoers show no decline in support since 2001  —  PRINCETON, NJ — The decline in Republican Party affiliation among Americans in recent years is well documented, but a Gallup analysis now shows that this movement away …

CNN Poll: Pelosi facing Gingrich-like approval ratings  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — As Nancy Pelosi continues to face a firestorm over what she may have known about aggressive government interrogation techniques, and when, a new survey has more unpleasant news for the House Speaker.

Huntsman strategist: If Palin and Limbaugh dominate, GOP ‘headed for a blowout’ in 2012  —  The Republican strategist who helped Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman prepare for a possible presidential run says the Republican party is in for a devastating defeat if its guiding lights are Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh and Dick Cheney.

The Supreme Court's stealth hard-liner.  —  Chief Justice John Roberts, in 2007.  Photograph by Steve Pyke.  —  KEYWORDS … When John G. Roberts, Jr., emerges from behind the red curtains and takes his place in the middle of the Supreme Court bench, he usually wears a pair of reading glasses …

U.S. to Issue Tougher Fuel Standards for Automobiles  —  WASHINGTON —The Obama administration will issue new national emissions and mileage requirements for cars and light trucks to resolve a long-running conflict among the states, the federal government and auto manufacturers, industry officials said Monday.

NYT defends Dowd in TPM flap  —  Last night, I reported on the plagiarism allegations leveled against New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd after a passage from a Talking Points Memo post by Josh Marshall ended up in her Sunday column without attribution.  —  On Sunday, Dowd told POLITICO …

‘US special squad killed Benazir’  —  NEW YORK (Online) - Former prime minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on the orders of the special death squad formed by former US vice-president Dick Cheney, which had already killed the Lebanese Prime Minister Rafique Al Hariri and the army chief of that country.

The Right's Torture Backfire  —  In a new Daily Beast column I argue that even though the right's effort to change the subject on torture away from “what did the Bush administration do?”, to “what was Nancy Pelosi briefed about?” has been an incredible tactical success, it stands a huge chance of backfiring:

Exclusive: Clinton to be named UN special envoy on Haiti  —  Former U.S. President Bill Clinton will be named a U.N. special envoy on Haiti this week, sources close to the United Nations tell The Cable.  —  A UN official confirmed to The Cable that there would be a formal announcement on this Tuesday.

Steelers' Harrison won't visit Obama … PITTSBURGH — James Harrison plans to pass on another trip to the White House with the Pittsburgh Steelers.  —  Harrison, the NFL Defensive Player of the Year, says he'll skip the Super Bowl champion's visit to the White House to meet President Barack Obama …

Poor?  Pay Up.  —  Having Little Money Often Means No Car, No Washing Machine, No Checking Account And No Break From Fees and High Prices  —  You have to be rich to be poor.  —  That's what some people who have never lived below the poverty line don't understand.

A Smaller But Better Newsweek?  —  Jon Meacham admits it is hard to explain, even to his own people, why chopping Newsweek's circulation in half is a good thing.  —  “It's hugely counterintuitive,” the magazine's editor says.  “The staff doesn't understand it.”

Airport security bares all, or does it?  —  ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) — Privacy advocates plan to call on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to suspend use of “whole-body imaging,” the airport security technology that critics say performs “a virtual strip search” and produces “naked” pictures of passengers, CNN has learned.

Public Opinion Snapshot: Millennials Are a Progressive Generation  —  It's a “New Progressive America” out there, as I argued in my recent Center for American Progress report, with a new demography and a new agenda.  The new demography refers to the array of growing demographic groups …

George Will's Irritable Mental Gestures  —  It's probably not fair to say that conservatives have no idea, but this entire George Will column is basically the same as the column he wrote about how he hates jeans, except this time it's about how he hates Portland.

Soak the Rich, Lose the Rich  —  Americans know how to use the moving van to escape high taxes.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  With states facing nearly $100 billion in combined budget deficits this year, we're seeing more governors than ever proposing the Barack Obama solution to balancing the budget: Soak the rich.

William Ayers, Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. headline Mideast peace rally  —  Oak Park forum features 2 figures associated with President Barack Obama  —  Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright and Dr. William Ayers are greeted by Rebekah Levin with the Committee for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine.

Introduction  —  I'm not one for long introductions.  This is a blog.  I'm a blogger.  We'll have fun.  You'll see.  —  But the overlords say it's good form.  So!  Our topic will be the politics and policy of the economy.  But that doesn't limit us to the latest unemployment numbers or the wreckage of a freshly collapsed bank.

Oh my: Jim Webb flip-flops, now opposes closing Guantanamo  —  To be more precise: He now opposes closing it anytime soon but naturally is A-OK with closing it at some murky, distant time in the future.  Which, as far as I can tell, means he holds the same position on it as George W. Bush or Dick Cheney.

GOP cashes in on The Boss  —  Bruce Springsteen campaigned aggressively for the past two Democratic presidential candidates, but that didn't stop Republicans from joining Democrats in cashing in on the Boss' Monday night concert in Washington.  —  At least 15 lawmakers and political committees …

Mark Sanford Whacks Lindsey Graham Over Libertarianism  —  The Ron Paul quarters of the GOP are buzzing about Sen. Lindsey Graham's (R-S.C.) speech to this past weekend's state party convention — a combative performance in which he took on conservative activists and Paul supporters.

North Carolina's Blue Cross Blue Shield Trying to Kill Key Plank of Obama Plan  —  One week after the nation's health insurance lobby pledged to President Obama to do what it can to constrain rising health costs, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina is putting the finishing touches …

As Wanda Sykes showed, comedians aren't funny when they try to flatter the president.  —  As a gnarled and grizzled veteran of the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner (it must be almost three decades since I first tuxed up and attended one), I see no reason to miss the chance to comment on the Wanda Sykes phenomenon.

91-Year-Old Sen. Byrd Hospitalized  —  91-year-old Sen. Byrd hospitalized with high temperature  —  Sen. Robert C. Byrd, 91 and the longest-serving senator in history, was hospitalized last Friday with a temperature spike evidently caused by a minor infection, his office announced Monday.