Obama's Conundrum: Shunning Iran's Opposition  —  The turmoil in Iran since last week's election has confused the foreign policy debate here in the United States in interesting ways.  Supporters of President Obama, who until very recently had railed against the Bush administration's …

Bracing for New Protests, Iran Issues Media Warning  —  TEHRAN — Tehran braced for a possible third day of defiance by opposition supporters on Wednesday after Iran's leaders failed to halt huge demonstrations against last week's disputed election results.  —  Placed on the defensive …

Out of Washington, Edwards Finds Worries Remain  —  John Edwards says he has few illusions.  He knows the picture many Americans hold of him is not a pretty one.  He also knows that even before he was engulfed in tabloid scandal, his electoral appeal had limits.

ENSIGN, WHOA.... Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't much care what Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) does in his personal life.  What he does in his bedroom is his business.  —  But the larger context of this story matters a great deal.  Stupid personal mistakes are easily overlooked; breathtaking hypocrisy isn't.

Poll Finds Unease With Obama on Key Issues  —  A substantial majority of Americans say President Obama has not developed a strategy to deal with the budget deficit, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, which also found that support for his plans to overhaul health care …

Bachmann Boasts About Breaking The Law: I'm Refusing To Fill Out The Census  —  Next year, the 2010 Census will be sent to every American household, as required by the U.S. Constitution.  The far right has issued dire warnings of the Census; on a May 29th episode of Bill Bennett's radio show …

Fired AmeriCorps IG responds: White House charges are false  —  Fired AmeriCorps inspector general Gerald Walpin strongly denies the White House's claim that he was “confused, disoriented [and] unable to answer questions” at a May 20, 2009 board meeting of the Corporation for National and Community Service …

Barney Frank throws us under the bus.  Lauds incest brief.  Says language was appropriate.  —  Well, it seems a trip to the Oval Office is all openly gay congressman Barney Frank needs to stab his community in the back.  After criticizing the DOJ's anti-gay DOMA brief this morning …

Nathan Bedford Forrest Has Beautiful Eyes  —  Of the many reckonings that black people of honest political consciousness must endure, the appointment with black slavery is the most agonizing.  I don't mean the appointment with the notion of white people as the enslavers of our ancestors …

Healthcare CEOs Shoot Themselves in the Foot  —  Yesterday the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations decided to investigate the practice of recission.  This is when you pay your premiums for years to a healthcare insurer, then get sick, and then have your insurance cancelled.

Paul Krugman's Prophetic Prescience  —  Wow.  Just . . . wow. … As Arnold Kling says, there's a paragraph I'm sure glad I didn't write.

Healthcare: Hagan, Bingaman Holding Up Public Plan in HELP Committee  —  Healthcare reform advocates have been watching the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee and wondering why no public option component has been forthcoming — despite assurances that it would appear by Tuesday.

Maureen Dowd Thinks You're an Idiot  —  The New York Times' Maureen Dowd has written a piece that seems to indicate that President and Mrs. Obama are responsible for providing the rest of the nation with good examples of how we should eat.  —  Seriously.  —  Dowd writes:

Let's Call the Whole Thing Off  —  SADLY, AND TO my horror, I am divorcing.  This was a 20-year partnership.  My husband is a good man, though he did travel 20 weeks a year for work.  I am a 47-year-old woman whose commitment to monogamy, at the very end, came unglued.  This turn of events was a surprise.

Why are Iranian police markings written in English?  —  Post-election protests continued in Tehran for the fifth day on Wednesday.  In many photos, riot police wear uniforms with the English word police on them.  Ambulances, too, bear the word ambulance in English.

Weekly Standard sold to Washington Examiner parent company  —  Clarity Media Group CEO Ryan McKibben announced today that the company had acquired The Weekly Standard magazine, which he characterized as “one of the most highly respected publications of public policy and political commentary in America.”

‘I CAN HAVE 2 VOTES’  —  ESPADA'S DEADLOCK ‘SOLUTION’: GIMME SENATE SUPERPOWERS  —  ALBANY — Renegade Democratic Sen. Pedro Espada claimed yesterday he and his Republican allies are forging an explosive new plan to give him an unprecedented two votes to break the newly emerged deadlock in the state Senate.

Washington Whispers  —  Home > Nation & World > Washington Whispers  —  Conservatives Hit ABC News for ‘Obamamercial’  —  There's a growing controversy over ABC's plan to broadcast a healthcare special out of the White House next week.  Critics are calling the special an “Obamamercial.”

New honors for CNN's Crowley  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) - Tonight, a key member of the CNN political team will add an award to her already long list of honors.  —  Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley will be among the honorees at the Women's Media Center's first annual Media Awards at the Sackler Foundation in New York City.

Pence: US needs to show support for Iranian protesters  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — Republican Rep. Mike Pence, criticizing President Obama for not saying more in support of protestors in Iran, said Wednesday that he is taking another step to show solidarity for the dissenting citizens of the country.

The recession tracks the Great Depression  —  Green shoots are bursting out.  Or so we are told.  But before concluding that the recession will soon be over, we must ask what history tells us.  It is one of the guides we have to our present predicament.  Fortunately, we do have the data.

IRAN AND THE VEIL.  —  Photo from Tehran by Farhad Rajabali, via Flickr  —  The photos coming out of Tehran demonstrate, movingly and beautifully, that women are on the front lines of the protests taking place there, veils and all.  The images reminded me of President Obama's focus …

No name-calling  —  If you want to score a meeting with Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), know this: His scheduler/office manager, Elizabeth Becton, is to be addressed by her full name — not Liz or any other variant.  —  An executive assistant at McBee Strategic recently learned this the hard way.

I'm pretty sure this is why Juan Williams isn't allowed to associate himself with NPR when he appears on The O'Reilly Factor  —  If folks didn't see this clip from Monday night, it's a beaut.  Not only does the reliable O'Reilly backstop Juan Williams eagerly assure the host that he was right …

In huge change, Obama'd strip Fed of credit card oversight  —  Elizabeth Warren, who chairs the Congressional Oversight Panel overseeing bailout spending, talks to McClatchy reporters about the president's proposed regulatory changes.  —  WASHINGTON — Among the sweeping changes …