DEMOCRAT CARNAHAN DISMISSES BLACK MAN AT TOWNHALL  —  Yesterday, I attended a townhall meeting on healthcare with Representative Russ Carnahan, where he dissed this black constituent.  For those of you unfamiliar with Missouri politics, the new breed of Carnahans are those who are riding …

Internal RNC Memo: “Engage In Every Activity” To Slow Down Health Care Reform  —  A private memo distributed by the Republican National Committee calls for like-minded advocates to help defeat President Barack Obama's health care proposals by delaying its consideration.

Facing Blue Dog Rebellion, House Energy and Commerce Committee Cancels Markup for 2nd Day in a Row  —  At 5:54 pm ET the news came: “The Energy and Commerce Markup of H.R. 3200 - America's Affordable Health Choices Act for 7-22-09 has been CANCELLED.  —  Not a good sign for the Democrats trying …

Should The GOP Take The Birther Threat Seriously?  Rush Does....  That's the thesis of the First Readers of NBC News, after viewing this astonishing clip from a town hall meeting that Rep. Mike Castle held in Delaware for his constituents.  What's most notable, to me, at least …

Obama Wins Crucial Senate Vote on F-22  —  WASHINGTON — With some of his political capital on the line, President Obama won a crucial victory on Tuesday when the Senate voted to strip out $1.75 billion in financing for seven more F-22 jet fighters from a military authorization bill.

AP NewsBreak: Palin implicated in ethics probe  —  ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An independent investigator has found evidence that Gov. Sarah Palin may have violated ethics laws by accepting private donations to pay her legal debts.  —  The report obtained by The Associated Press says Palin …

Obama's birth: ‘Appeasing the nut-cases’  —  Listen to the cheers for the woman holding up her birth certificate and asking why the president won't share his.  —  Listen to the boos when a Republican congressman asserts rather assuredly that the president of the United States, a Democrat …

Gates Says He Is Outraged by Arrest at Cambridge Home  —  Prominent Black Professor Says He Will Use Experience to Further Academic Work  —  Henry Louis Gates Jr., one of the nation's most prominent scholars of African-American history, cast his recent arrest in his home in Cambridge …

Opposition to state budget deal mounts  —  L.A. County threatens to sue, a state workers' union considers a strike, and a GOP leader protests release of prison inmates.  —  Reporting from Sacramento — Less than 24 hours after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders announced …

Obama's Ominous Implication: Euthanasia of the Elderly May Be Necessary  —  Gee, socialized medicine sounds great — don't you think so, grandma and grandpa? … In other words, faceless bureaucrats in Washington — not your family — will decide whether your grandparents live or die.

Dobbs wonders whether President Obama is undocumented.  —  Today, Political Wire posted a clip of an episode of Lou Dobbs' radio show in which he not only questions President Obama's citizenship and promotes the bizarre right-wing “birther” theory, but also insinuates that Obama might be undocumented:

20 questions for the President's press conference  —  President Obama is scheduled to hold a press conference tomorrow (Wednesday) evening at 8 PM EDT.  —  I hope the questions are better than the one asked by Jeff Zeleny of the New York Times at the President's 100-day press conference on April 30th:

DeMint: Obama ‘Played Right Into My Hands’  —  Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) stands by his comment that health care will be President Obama's Waterloo, a comment Obama derided in a health care speech yesterday.  —  “I think he played right into my hands,” DeMint told Neil Cavuto on Fox News this afternoon …

Jackson Browne Defeats John McCain  —  (McCain: Face the Nation, Karin Cooper; Browne: AP, Matt Sayles)  —  Singer Jackson Browne has won his copyright battle against Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), getting an apology and an undisclosed sum of money from the 2008 presidential nominee …

Waterless urinals miss the mark?  —  State workers say new devices leading to splashes, stink  —  ALBANY — The Department of Environmental Conservation's effort to maintain eco-friendly bathrooms at its downtown headquarters has made quite a splash but not in the way the state intended.

IG-Gate UPDATE: Behind the Scenes of the Investigations  —  Behind closed doors on Capitol Hill last week, I asked a Republican source about the investigative efforts of Democratic staffers for the House Oversight Committee.  —  “Honestly?” the source said.  “They're useless.”

‘Huckabee to air Fox News show from disputed East Jerusalem site’  —  Former U.S. presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee plans to broadcast his weekend show on Fox News from the site of a disputed Israeli construction project in East Jerusalem, a New York politician has told Haaretz.

Romney on Obama's Push For Health Reform: Slow Down  —  In the last two weeks, political commentators have expressed doubts over President Obama's time frame for healthcare reform.  Meanwhile, even some Democrat lawmakers appear to be getting cold feet.  In response, Obama is relentlessly pitching his plan.

What am I bid?  Nothing!  Watergate Hotel fails to sell  —  An attempted auction of the Watergate Hotel, part of a Washington landmark made famous by a presidential scandal, has failed to attract any bids.  —  The opening price on the hotel was $25m (£15.2m), but none of the 10 people registered to bid did so.

Why American drivers should learn to love the roundabout.  —  Here is a narrative that has been playing out over the last several years in any number of American towns: Traffic engineers notice that a particular intersection has a crash problem or is moving traffic inefficiently.

Morning Bell: Obama Admits He's “Not Familiar” With House Bill  —  With the public's trust in his handling of health care tanking (50%-44% of Americans disapprove), the White House has launched a new phase of its strategy designed to pass Obamacare: all Obama, all the time.