The 10 punches Dick Cheney landed on Barack Obama's jaw  —  The spectacle of two duelling speeches with a mile of each other in downtown Washington was extraordinary.  I was at the Cheney event and watched Obama's address on a big screen beside the empty lectern that the former veep stepped behind barely …

McCain: Cheney Endorses Spanish Inquisition Technique  —  I stopped by to see John McCain this afternoon in his Senate office.  I haven't seen him for several months, and was glad to see that he seemed rested and ready, if not tan.  He was in high spirits, and we talked …

Cheney's speech ignored some inconvenient truths  —  WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Dick Cheney's defense Thursday of the Bush administration's policies for interrogating suspected terrorists contained omissions, exaggerations and misstatements.  —  In his address to the American Enterprise Institute …

U.S. to Steer GM Toward Bankruptcy  —  Filing Expected as Chrysler Set to Emerge  —  The Obama administration is preparing to send General Motors into bankruptcy as early as the end of next week under a plan that would give the automaker tens of billions of dollars more in public financing …

Speed reader makes Hill debut  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — The congressional speed reader made his committee debut Thursday — but it looks like his brief taste of the limelight may mark his Capitol Hill swan song.  —  The top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce committee, Texas Rep. Joe Barton …

White House Reporter Protects Cheney, Accuses Gibbs Of Taking “Swipe”  —  One of the odder things we've seen from some members of the White House press corps this year is a kind of zealous over-protectiveness of the previous administration — Dick Cheney, in particular.

Bush: It's ‘liberating’ to be out of office  —  He gets warm welcome from group of graduating N.M. high school students  —  ARTESIA, N.M. - It was a humbling moment for the former commander in chief: President George W. Bush was walking former first dog Barney in his new Dallas neighborhood …

Animatronic Obama Going to Disney World With High-Tech Style  —  LOS ANGELES — Barack Obama was standing on a riser inside a warehouse here, delivering an inspirational speech about the blessings of freedom, when his left index finger began to twitch uncontrollably, unnerving his aides.

Yossi Melman / Obama quashed Israel military option against Iran  —  Israel's military option against Iran has died.  The death warrant was issued courtesy of the new U.S. administration led by Barack Obama.  —  All the administration's senior officials, from the president to his vice president …

Recession Turns Malls Into Ghost Towns  —  CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Malls, those ubiquitous shopping meccas that sprang up in the 1950s, are dwindling in number, with many struggling properties reduced to largely vacant shells.  —  On the low-income east side of Charlotte, N.C. …

Creigh Deeds for Democratic Candidate for Va. Governor  —  WHO IS the best candidate for Northern Virginia?  Judge by appearances and there are two obvious possibilities in the Democratic primary for governor: Brian Moran, the former Alexandria prosecutor who served a dozen years in the House of Delegates …

Neoliberalism is Alive, Alive!  —  The Chrysler Bailout is “capitalism at work,” writes private equity macher Scott Sperling in the WSJ.  Here are some of the more questionable sentences in his essay: … The cuts current union members were forced to accept were not impressive.

Behind Ed Liddy's Departure from AIG  —  AIG CEO Edward Liddy (C) talks with Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) (L) and AIG Vice Chairman for Legal Affairs Anastasia Kelly (R) during a break in testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee  —  Ed Liddy, the former head …

Climate Bill Clears Hurdle, but Others Remain  —  WASHINGTON — The House Energy and Commerce Committee, splitting largely along party lines, approved on Thursday the most ambitious energy and global warming legislation ever debated in Congress.  —  The bill's passage, on a 33-to-25 vote …

Bill in Congress Would Make 2010 ‘The Year of the Bible’  —  Georgia Republican Paul Broun has introduced a bill in the United States House of Representatives that would designate all of 2010 “The Year of the Bible.”  —  The bill does not sit well with many Congressional Democrats:

Blue Double Cross  —  That didn't take long.  Less than two weeks have passed since much of the medical-industrial complex made a big show of working with President Obama on health care reform — and the double-crossing is already well under way.  Indeed, it's now clear that even as they met …

Obama Curtails Bush Policy That Let Federal Rules Override State Laws  —  It Let Federal Rules Override State Laws  —  President Obama continued to reverse his predecessor's policies this week by undoing a controversial Bush administration rule known as “preemption” that used federal regulations …

Congressman: White House LGBT Announcements Imminent  —  California representative Howard Berman predicted in an interview Thursday that the White House would be presenting new information regarding LGBT policies sometime before annual pride celebrations in June.

History Is (Re)Written By The Winners  —  ... or at least, by the ad agencies.  —  The History Channel is a generally well-respected brand in the United States.  The shows routinely make “water-cooler” conversation at sites like Redstate.  Indeed, the sister networks like The Military Channel …

Poor would be hard hit by proposed California budget cuts  —  The governor suggests dismantling welfare programs for families and ending CalGrants for college students.  —  Reporting from Sacramento — With deficit forecasts growing darker by the day, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is considering …

Just 24% Favor Federal Bailout for California  —  Twenty-four percent (24%) of voters nationwide favor federal bailout funds for states like California that are encountering “serious financial problems.”  The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 59% are opposed to such bailouts.