In Edwards Scandal, a Chapter Winds Down  —  CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The story of the spectacular rise and fall of John Edwards, with its sordid can't-look-away dimensions, is moving slowly but deliberately to its conclusion here in North Carolina.  —  Mr. Edwards, the one-term senator …

Media Matters: This right-wing frenzy is reminiscent of Dallas 1963  —  Uh huh.  And we all remember what happened when a certain radical right-winger — who defected to the Soviet Union, married a Russian woman, and tried to assassinate a far-right anti-communist American general — got JFK in the crosshairs in Dallas.

Remembering Irving Kristol  —  I didn't know Irving Kristol well, but I knew him for a long time.  There are many people who can say the same thing.  He was the central figure in the post-Watergate revival of conservatism and the Republican Party.  Sadly, the “movement” that he created, neoconservatism, is pretty well dead.

G.O.P. Checks for a Pulse, and Finds One  —  WASHINGTON — Less than a year after an election that nearly wiped them out politically, conservatives are showing signs of life.  —  They are still searching for new leaders and new ideas.  Their victories have been more about taking advantage …

Are You A Racist?  —  These days it's hard to tell.  If you think government-run medicine is a bad thing, former President Jimmy Carter and many other Democrats say you're most likely a racist.  So Missourah.com explains everything in this handy chart; click to enlarge:

Memories of the Carter Administration  —  One of John Updike's novels was titled Memories of the Ford Administration; needless to say, it wasn't about Gerald Ford — basically it was about sex, because Updike remembered the Carter years as the golden age of extramarital affairs.

Papers Show Insurers Limited Coverage for Acne, Pregnancy  —  A proposal to make preexisting health conditions irrelevant in the sale of insurance policies could help not just the seriously ill but also people who might consider themselves healthy, documents released Friday by a California-based advocacy group illustrate.

Weekly remarks: Sue Myrick on healthcare costs, options; Obama on financial reforms  —  Weekly remarks by President Obama, as provided by the White House  —  Leaders of the world's largest economies will gather next week in Pittsburgh for the second time this year.

WATCH: CNN's Sanchez Slams Fox ‘News’: ‘You Lie!’  —  Some must-see video here.  CNN's Rich Sanchez stood up for his news organization on air today, against Fox “News” after they ran an add today in the Washington Post alleging that CNN didn't cover Glenn Beck's political rally last week in D.C.

Insane killer escapes on field trip to county fair  —  SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - A criminally insane killer from eastern Washington is on the run after escaping during a field trip to the county fair that his mental hospital organized.  —  Why such a dangerous person was out in public was a question many …

Brezinski Calls for Obama to Shoot Down Israeli Jets; “A Liberty in Reverse”  —  In a little noticed interview with the Daily Beast (presumably little noticed because serious people don't read the Daily Beast), Zbigniew Brzezinski suggests that Barack Obama do more than just refuse to support …

A Team Player Who Stands Apart  —  Tension Between Leading or Blending In Marks Clinton's Tenure at State  —  With the exception of former senator Edmund S. Muskie's brief turn as secretary of state at the end of the Carter administration, Hillary Rodham Clinton is the first politician …

Obama Rejects Race as Lead Cause of Criticism  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama said Friday that he did not believe his race was the cause of fierce criticism aimed at his administration in the contentious national debate over health care, but rather that the cause was a sense of suspicion …