Krauthammer's Take  —  From last night's All-Stars: On North Korea releasing U.S. journalists to President Clinton: Well, it's the return of hostages in exchange for stuff.  And we will learn about that stuff.  It's clear that this was wired in advance.  There probably was an apology [offered by President Clinton in Pyongyang].

CNN Poll: Americans split on Obama's health care proposals  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) - Americans appear split over President Barack Obama's health care reform proposals, according to a new national poll.  —  Fifty percent of those questioned in CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Wednesday morning …

Obama: ‘Left-wing groups’ should back off.  —  OBAMA WAVES OFF LIBERALS: On the same day that MoveOn.org announced a new wave of ads to pressure centrist ...  ... Democrats on health care reform, President Obama told Senate Democrats he wished “left-wing groups” would back off.

Liasson: ‘Cash for Clunkers’ program ‘is like a mini-Katrina.’  —  Last night, Fox News aired a clip of a woman at a Philadelphia town hall meeting over the weekend berating Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) about health care reform.  “What I see is a bureaucratic nightmare, senator. ...

Obama's Domestic Policies Are Having Immediate Effects on Race for Va. Governor  —  Some Voters Who Backed President Disillusioned Over Economic Pledges  —  The coffee was still brewing when Chris Ann Cleland got her first reminder of the day that voting for Barack Obama might have been a mistake.

House Orders Up Three Elite Jets  —  Last year, lawmakers excoriated the CEOs of the Big Three automakers for traveling to Washington, D.C., by private jet to attend a hearing about a possible bailout of their companies.  —  But apparently Congress is not philosophically averse to private air travel …

Shepard Fairey-designed Obama portrait on cover of upcoming Rolling Stone  —  Artist Shepard Fairey, whose iconic HOPE campaign poster of Barack Obama was a global sensation, is back with a new image that both questions and deifies the President.  —  Appearing on the cover of the Aug. 20 Rolling Stone …

Tea Party-bashers gone wild  —  Creators Syndicate  —  The activist Left can't stand competition.  Last week in Long Island, NY, opponents of the Democrats' government health care takeover legislation outnumbered Obama supporters ten to one.  The Tea Party activists toted American flags …

Mass. bashers take note: Health reform is working  —  PUNDITS and politicians who oppose universal healthcare for the nation have a new straw man to kick around - the Massachusetts reform plan that covers more than 97 percent of the state's residents.  In the myth that these critics have manufactured …

The Other  —  While I'm generally on the other side of the issue, Josh Marshall is one of several left-of-center bloggers I read because he's interesting, thoughtful, and generally fair.  But even he falls for a rather common trope: The belief that your opponents are crazy. … Now, none of that is wrong.

Buffett's Betrayal  —  When I was 14, Warren Buffett wrote me a letter.  —  It was a response to one I'd sent him, pitching an investment idea.  For a kid interested in learning stocks, Buffett was a great role model.  His investing style — diligent security analysis, finding competent management …

Blunt among birth certificate skeptics in online interview  —  “Birthers” continue to call for more proof of Obama's citizenship.  —  Tuesday was President Barack Obama's 48th birthday.  —  But the question taking root in the minds of a host of conspiracy theorists and some high-profile politicians is: Where did that birth occur?

Palin calls divorce report ‘made up’  —  Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin tells POLITICO that widespread blogosphere reports about a possible divorce from her husband, Todd, are “made up.”  —  In a brief telephone interview on Tuesday night, Palin quipped that she loves finding out “what's goin' on in my life from the news.”

Federal judges order California to release 43,000 inmates  —  Inmates squeeze into rows of bunk beds at San Quentin.  Federal judges have said California prisons are so crowded that they constitute cruel and unusual punishment.  —  Federal judges call conditions in the prisons ‘appalling’ and unconstitutional.

Joker Obama Flyers Show Up At George Washington University & Sioux Falls, South Dakota (Updated)  —  Supposedly, prior to yesterday, the Joker Obama posters had only shown up in LA and Atlanta.  Well, now a few hundred have shown up at George Washington University.  Here are a few pics I was emailed yesterday.

Sen. George Voinovich and the GOP as a Party of the South  —  Southern writer Walker Percy liked to poke fun at Ohioans in his novels, just to even things out a bit.  —  “Usually Mississippians and Georgians are getting it from everybody, and Alabamians,” he once explained to an interviewer.

Boxer: Protesters too well dressed to be sincere  —  Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) appeared on Hardball last night in support of the Left's attempt to discredit the people showing up to townhalls in protest of ObamaCare.  Boxer says she can tell that they're fakes, because they're too well dressed.

Rockefeller not a fan of ‘gang of six’  —  Sen. John Rockefeller is tired of being outside that conference room.  —  As one of many Finance Committee Democrats shut out of the “gang of six” negotiations on health care up on the fifth floor of the Hart Senate Office Building …

Jamie Kirchick: Pervasive Republican Birtherism is the Fault of Liberal Blogs  —  Jamie Kirchick is very upset about this terribly unfair birther rap that's dogging Republicans, and in today's Daily News, argues that it's mostly FDL's fault. … Jamie forgot to mention the ones …

Russian Subs Patrolling Off East Coast of U.S.  —  WASHINGTON — A pair of nuclear-powered Russian attack submarines has been patrolling off the eastern seaboard of the United States in recent days, a rare mission that has raised concerns inside the Pentagon and intelligence agencies …

Andrew Sullivan: Opposition to Cash-for-Clunkers Shows GOP Not Serious About Limited Government  —  Ideological shape-shifter and presidential benefit-of-the-doubt-giver Andrew Sullivan types the following words consecutively: … I'm nobody's conservative, but I'm pretty sure …

Fed study: Climate bill spells gloom for jobs  —  Spikes seen in energy costs  —  Despite President Obama's prediction that it would create new jobs, the climate change bill passed by the House will mean fewer jobs by 2030 than if Congress did nothing at all, according to the first comprehensive study …