Joyce Purnick: Mayor Bloomberg spent big exploring a run for president — Obama: Wall Street must take responsibility — Sen. Kennedy: what Sen. Byrd said during a private gays-in-the-military meeting  —  BIRTHDAYS: Will Nichols, who turns 2 today, celebrated in style last night with dinner at Sushiko …

CLEAN Conservatives vs FILTHY Liberals— A Photographic Essay  —  After the 2 million strong conservative freedom rally on 9-12:  —  And, here is the filth left for someone else to clean up after the Inauguration of Barack Obama:  —  Via Prisca  —  The democrats were obviously waiting for Big Government to clean up for them.

ACORN Video: Prostitution Scandal in New York, NY … So, we headed up to New York...  [There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed.  Visit the blog entry to see the video.]  —  [There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed.  Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Opposition to Obama's Health-Reform Plan Is High, but Easing  —  President Obama continues to face significant public resistance to his drive to initiate far-reaching changes to the country's health-care system, with widespread skepticism about central tenets of his plan, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Stiglitz Says Banking Problems Are Now Bigger Than Pre-Lehman  —  Sept. 13 (Bloomberg) — Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize- winning economist, said the U.S. has failed to fix the underlying problems of its banking system after the credit crunch and the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

US support for Israel led to 9/11: Bin Laden message  —  WASHINGTON — Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden told Americans in a new message that their support for Israel had prompted him to launch the September 11, 2001 attacks, a US-based terror monitoring group said.

Key senator rejects ‘trigger’ for public health insurance option  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) - A moderate Republican who has previously broken with her party to support President Obama's $787 billion stimulus bill said Sunday that she does not support the idea of using a so called “trigger” …

Kanye West Storms the VMAs Stage During Taylor Swift's Speech  —  Leave it to Kanye West to produce one of the most infamous moments in VMAs history before the 2009 show was even an hour old.  It happened after Taylor Swift's victory in the Best Female Video category for “You Belong With Me …

Unamplified, Beck's Voice Still Carries  —  Establishment Outlets Missed Van Jones Story  —  It has become a familiar chain reaction: Talk-show hosts whip up a noisy controversy, which hits higher decibels as it spreads to the establishment media, which costs some unfortunate soul his job.

Election trouble brewing for House Dems in 2010  —  NEW YORK (AP) - Despite sweeping Democratic successes in the past two national elections, continuing job losses and President Barack Obama's slipping support could lead to double-digit losses for the party in next year's congressional races and may even threaten their House control.

The Ghosts of 1994  —  There are obvious parallels between Barack Obama's push for health care reform and Bill Clinton's ill-fated attempt 16 years ago.  In both cases, an apparent legislative juggernaut hit a wall of public skepticism.  Both presidents saw their poll numbers wilt in the summertime heat.

Transcript: President Obama  —  60 Minutes' Steve Kroft Interviewed President Barack Obama on Friday, Sept. 11, 2009 … STEVE KROFT: What were you specifically hoping to accomplish with the speech this week?  —  PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Well, I think the most important thing was to make sure …

Updated: 9/12 Attendance Issues Addressed  —  Update 4: A relevant bit but I won't claim it as definitive.  Stacy was there when I got to DC.  I took a cab for the last leg and had to be dropped-off blocks up.  The mark we are looking at seems to be Constitution Ave from the Google aerial view of the area.

Only Decisive Force Can Prevail in Afghanistan  —  A middle path of muddling through is the real recipe for quagmire and loss of public support.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  Growing numbers of Americans are starting to doubt whether we should have troops in Afghanistan and whether the war there is even winnable.

Ex-Mayor of Memphis Starts Bid for Congress, Invoking Race in Campaign  —  MEMPHIS — A Congressional race in Tennessee has become freighted with racial overtones almost a year before the election, with a prominent black politician saying the white incumbent cannot properly represent black voters.

Some fear GOP is being carried to the extreme  —  The Republican establishment hopes cooler heads will prevail over strongly anti-Obama parts of the conservative base.  —  Reporting from Washington - Amid a rebirth of conservative activism that could help Republicans win elections next year …