Rove Had Heavier Hand in Prosecutor Firings Than Previously Known  —  Political adviser Karl Rove and other high-ranking figures in the Bush White House played a greater role than previously understood in the firing of federal prosecutors almost three years ago, according to e-mails obtained …

Obama's Ratings Slide Across the Board  —  The Economy, Health Care Reform and Gates Grease the Skids  —  Barack Obama's approval ratings have suffered major declines.  The president's overall job approval number fell from 61% in mid-June to 54% currently.

Pelosi lashes out at private health insurance ‘villains’  —  A day after formally delaying a vote on a healthcare bill and having to accept a further weakening of a public option to compete with private insurers, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) lashed out at the health insurance industry …

Dems warn Baucus with gavel threat  —  In an apparent warning to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), some liberal Democrats have suggested a secret-ballot vote every two years on whether or not to strip committee chairmen of their gavels.

U.S. Adviser's Blunt Memo on Iraq: Time ‘to Go Home’  —  WASHINGTON — A senior American military adviser in Baghdad has concluded in an unusually blunt memo that the Iraqi forces suffer from deeply entrenched deficiencies but are now capable of protecting the Iraqi government, and that it is time …

Officers Run Background Check On Obama; Placed On Leave  —  DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Two DeKalb County police officers have been placed on paid administrative leave after an investigation revealed they ran a background check on President Barack Obama.  —  A representative for the DeKalb County …

‘I Am Not A Racist,’ Says Cop Who Wrote Gates Slur  —  Justin Barrett Suspended From Police Department, National Guard  —  BOSTON — A Boston police officer who sent a racially charged e-mail protesting newspaper coverage of the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. apologized Wednesday night and said “I am not a racist.”

Disorderly Conduct: Conversation About Gates Arrest Precedes Arrest  —  A lawyer who moments earlier had been complaining to friends about police overreaction in the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., got a taste of the Gates treatment himself after loudly chanting …

Roseanne Barr Dressed as Hitler Bakes Burnt ‘Jew Cookies’  —  As NewsBusters has chronicled over the years, Roseanne Barr has a history of doing and saying some truly disgraceful things, but this one really takes the cake...or the cookie in this case.  —  Her most-recent tailspin …

Obama Speaks About Speaking  —  Time's Karen Tumulty has a very nice interview with Barack Obama.  This bit was especially striking: … I'm loath to be an armchair political strategist.  But I do know a little something about trying to explain McKinsey reports to people.

50-plus signatures on anti-Blue Dog letter  —  About 50 House liberals have signed on to a letter calling the deal struck between the Blue Dogs and House leadership “totally unacceptable” — and have vowed to vote against it on the floor.  —  The point may be moot: Democratic leadership …

Tax Burden of Top 1% Now Exceeds That of Bottom 95%  —  Newly released data from the IRS clearly debunks the conventional Beltway rhetoric that the “rich” are not paying their fair share of taxes and disproportionately benefited from the Bush tax cuts.  —  Indeed, the IRS data shows that in 2007 …

Report: Stormy Daniels's Adviser Has Car Bombed  —  A political adviser to Stormy Daniels, the porn star who's considering a Senate run in Louisiana, told a New Orleans TV station Monday that someone bombed his car.  —  Brian Welsh, who wasn't hurt in the incident, posted surveillance video of his car exploding on YouTube.

UPDATED: Hutchison site is loaded with hidden phrases—including two “Perry gay” references, which the campaign says it's removing  —  This morning, I came across a Web site for U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's gubernatorial campaign.  —  A provocative twist: The site may have been juiced …

The Suds Symposium: Playing Beer Pong With Barry  —  “Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk.  That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.”  —Ernest Hemingway  —  The informal meeting, where White House officials said Obama will drink a Bud Light, [Sgt. James] Crowley a Blue Moon and …

Are Liberal Netroots Groups Helping Obama Fail?  —  I've started deleting them as spam.  —  I'm not talking about the enlarge-your-penis emails or “You've Won the Lottery” notices.  —  I'm talking about the increasingly-urgent emails coming for weeks from liberal Netroots groups calling for a …

White Cops Are Always Right  —  That's been my experience as a citizen and as a reporter.  Back in the day, I used to write about the subject of racial profiling a bit, and and I'm reasonably sure, based on my reporting, that Sergeant Crowley of the Cambridge Police Department a) …

Right-Wing Florida Legislators Propose State Constitutional Amendment To Ban Federal Health Care  —  As the Obama administration and Congress work to pass legislation that would expand affordable coverage for all Americans, some state lawmakers are trying to preemptively undermine those efforts.

Exclusive: Earmark critic steered cash to blimp research  —  Rep. Pete Sessions — the chief of the Republicans' campaign arm in the House — says on his website that earmarks have become “a symbol of a broken Washington to the American people.”  —  Yet in 2008, Sessions himself steered …

Letter shows SC gov predicting public humiliation  —  COLUMBIA, S.C. — Less than a month before he traveled to Argentina to see his mistress, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford predicted in a letter to his spiritual adviser that “public humiliation” would follow revelations of his shattered marriage.

Suborned in the U.S.A.  —  Throughout the 2008 campaign, Barack Hussein Obama claimed it was a “smear” to refer to him as “Barack Hussein Obama.”  The candidate had initially rhapsodized over how his middle name, the name of the prophet Mohammed's grandson, would signal a new beginning in American relations with the Muslim world.

Ortiz and Ramirez Said to Be on 2003 Doping List  —  Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, the sluggers who propelled the Boston Red Sox to end an 86-year World Series championship drought and to capture another title three years later, were among the roughly 100 Major League Baseball players …

Tough on Israel  —  Why President Obama's battle against Jewish settlements could prove self-defeating  —  ONE OF THE MORE striking results of the Obama administration's first six months is that only one country has worse relations with the United States than it did in January: Israel.