A Farewell to Harms  —  Palin was bad for the Republicans—and the republic.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  Sarah Palin's resignation gives Republicans a new opportunity to see her plain—to review the bidding, see her strengths, acknowledge her limits, and let go of her drama.

GOP support for Ensign dwindles as new details of affair emerge  —  Sen. John Ensign appeared to be losing support among his Republican base Thursday as the lawmaker disclosed that his parents, who made millions in the casino industry, paid the family of his affair partner $96,000 around …

The Stimulus Trap  —  As soon as the Obama administration-in-waiting announced its stimulus plan — this was before Inauguration Day — some of us worried that the plan would prove inadequate.  And we also worried that it might be hard, as a political matter, to come back for another round.

Whip Inflation Now  —  Over the past few decades, health care inflation has exceeded the general rise in prices by about 2.5 percent a year.  These inexorably rising costs are bankrupting the nation, walloping businesses and squeezing middle-class salaries.  —  Fortunately, the country now has an excellent opportunity to change that.

CNN Poll: Do Americans want Sotomayor confirmed?  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — Just three days before the start of Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings, a new national poll indicates that by a narrow margin, Americans would like the Senate to confirm her as the next Supreme Court justice.

“Pals Around With Terrorists”: Palin Wasn't That Rogue, After All  —  In the mail this morning was an advanced copy of Dan Balz and Haynes Johnson's extremely well-reported history of the 2008 presidential campaign: The Battle for America is what the two veteran Posties have called it.

Specter: Sestak a ‘flagrant hypocrite’  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) - Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter called his fellow Democrat, Rep. Joe Sestak, a “flagrant hypocrite” and accused his rival of registering as a Democrat “just in time to run for Congress.”  —  Sestak has said that he will challenge Specter …

Reporter: ‘We Took Sides, Straight and Simple’ Against Palin  —  On AOL Politics Daily, long-time White House reporter Carl Cannon bluntly declared that the political press gave Sarah Palin a raw deal in the 2008 campaign, and seriously failed to scrutinize Joe Biden, especially his fact-mangling …

Secret Program Fuels CIA-Congress Dispute  —  Democrats Accuse Agency of Pattern of Withholding Information From Lawmakers  —  Four months after he was sworn in, CIA Director Leon E. Panetta learned of an intelligence program that had been hidden from Congress since 2001 …

House overwhelmingly rejects signing statement  —  The House rebuked President Obama for trying to ignore restrictions to international aid payments, voting overwhelmingly for an amendment forcing the administration to abide by its constraints.  —  House members approved an amendment …

With Sale of Good Assets, G.M. Out of Bankruptcy  —  General Motors completed a major step in its turnaround on Friday and closed the sale of its good assets to a new, government-backed carmaker, at a speed unimagined by auto and bankruptcy experts even six months ago.

Roy Blunt: It would have been “best” if Medicare and Medicaid never existed  —  Today on The Eagle 93.9, Roy Blunt shared some pretty incredible thoughts on the problems of public health care.  —  Government health care programs are so awful, Blunt said, that it would have been “best” …

Watchdog group: Dozens of active-duty troops found on neo-Nazi site  —  WASHINGTON — It is the Facebook for the fascist set, and the typical online profiles of its members reveal expected tastes.  —  Favorite book: “Mein Kampf”  —  Favorite movie: the Nazi propaganda film “Triumph of the Will”

2 world leaders demonstrate the 2 ways of conspicuously gawking at a woman's ass.  —  I see a distinct difference between these 2 stances.  Yes, there are similarities.  Both are blatant and hilarious.  But the Sarkozy ass-gawking stance says: I admire but I must not act.

Exclusive: Emmett Till's casket left to waste at Burr Oak  —  Cemetery debacle grows worse with discovery of coffin of civil rights icon  —  Broken.  Rusted.  Battered.  The image of a glass-covered casket with the body of Emmett Till was shown around the world in the 1950s.

Why We'll Leave L.A.  —  The business climate is worse than the air quality.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  Los Angeles  —  If New Yorkers fantasize that doing business here in Los Angeles would be less of a headache, forget about it.  This city is fast becoming a job-killing machine.

When Will The Recovery Begin?  Never.  —  The so-called “green shoots” of recovery are turning brown in the scorching summer sun.  In fact, the whole debate about when and how a recovery will begin is wrongly framed.  On one side are the V-shapers who look back at prior recessions and conclude …

TAIL TO THE CHIEF  —  O-GLER PREZ JOINS 'KOZY FOR A SUMMIT REAR VIEW  —  Baby got Barack!  —  The leader of the free world and his French counterpart were caught sneaking a peek at a the pink-satin-draped booty of a 17-year-old junior G-8 delegate just moments before the summit's official group photo was snapped in Italy yesterday.

Honduras' non-coup  —  Under the country's Constitution, the ouster of President Manuel Zelaya was legal.  —  Honduras, the tiny Central American nation, had a change of leaders on June 28.  The country's military arrested President Manuel Zelaya — in his pajamas, he says — and put him on a plane bound for Costa Rica.

High-Priced F-22 Fighter Has Major Shortcomings  —  The United States' top fighter jet, the Lockheed Martin F-22, has recently required more than 30 hours of maintenance for every hour in the skies, pushing its hourly cost of flying to more than $44,000, a far higher figure than for the warplane it replaces …

Political opposition is not a hate crime  —  What's wrong with this picture?  The federal government spends billions on homeland security, but apparently can't stop foreigners from illegally crossing the border or overstaying their visas.  The Obama administration wants …

Obama Brings the Pope a Letter From Kennedy  —  Susan Davis reports on politics.  —  President Barack Obama hand-delivered a letter to Pope Benedict XVI from ailing Sen. Ted Kennedy during a private meeting at the Vatican today.  —  White House aide Denis McDonough confirmed to the Associated Press …