Obama Is Considering Strategy Shift in Afghan War  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama is exploring alternatives to a major troop increase in Afghanistan, including a plan advocated by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to scale back American forces and focus more on rooting out Al Qaeda there and in Pakistan, officials said Tuesday.

Palin slams Obama's spending in debut speech in Asia  —  Former US vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin said the US government was wasting taxpayers' money and could aggravate poverty, said delegates at her first speech outside North America on Wednesday.  —  Palin, the former governor of Alaska …

Conservatives Turn Their Sights On Health Care Reform's Most Obvious Provision  —  Democrats are bracing themselves for a new line of conservative attack against a provision in the health care legislation once considered so non-controversial that it was endorsed by several major Republican officials.

Pelosi backs away from deal with Blue Dogs  —  Speaker Pelosi is backing away from a deal she cut with centrists to advance health reform, said a source familiar with talks.  —  Pelosi's decision to move away from the agreement that was made with a group of Blue Dogs to get the bill …

Glenn Beck becomes damaged goods  —  Editor's note: This is Part 2 in a three-part series on Glenn Beck's roots.  Read Part 1 here.  —  Glenn Beck, foreground.  In the background, the scene in Tripoli, Libya, on April 15, 1986, after an American attack.  —  Sept. 22, 2009 |

Justice Dept. to Limit Use of State Secrets Privilege  —  WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is preparing to impose new limits on the government assertion of the state secrets privilege used to block lawsuits for national security reasons.  The practice was a major flashpoint in the debate …

Election 2010: Missouri Senate  —  2010 Missouri Senate: Blunt 46%, Carnahan 46%  —  Democrat Robin Carnahan and Republican Roy Blunt are dead even in the first Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 survey of the hotly contested race for the U.S. Senate in Missouri.

A Mideast Handshake  —  THE SUMMIT President Obama convened Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas fell well short of the administration's hopes.  Mr. Obama had wanted to announce agreement on the opening of talks on the creation of a Palestinian state …

The UN loves Barack Obama because he is weak  —  It is not hard to see why a standing ovation awaits Barack Obama when he addresses the United Nations General Assembly today, writes Nile Gardiner.  —  Barack Obama's Gallup approval rating of 52 percent may well be lower at this stage …

Poll: Public pessimistic about Afghanistan  —  NBC/WSJ survey: Nearly six in 10 less confident about fate of war  —  WASHINGTON - As President Barack Obama weighs sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds that Americans are concerned about the progress of the conflict there.

Honduras leader ‘willing to talk’  —  Honduran interim leader Roberto Micheletti says he is willing to talk to deposed president Manuel Zelaya, barricaded in the Brazilian embassy.  —  But Mr Micheletti said Mr Zelaya must first accept presidential elections scheduled for November.

My Road to Smoother Transportation in Virginia  —  The first job of the next governor of Virginia is to restore confidence in our economy, and the best way to do that is through fixing our state transportation system.  —  Our transportation infrastructure is crumbling around us.

Whoops: Anti-ACORN Bill Ropes In Defense Contractors, Others Charged With Fraud  —  Going after ACORN may be like shooting fish in a barrel lately — but jumpy lawmakers used a bazooka to do it last week and may have blown up some of their longtime allies in the process.

At Pentagon's Request, Washington Post Delayed Story on Afghanistan Report  —  To Bob Woodward, it was the modern-day equivalent of the Pentagon Papers.  But to Obama administration officials, the classified assessment of the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, if disclosed by The Washington Post …

Senator Is the Centerfold  —  Long before he was a politician, the Republican candidate vying for Ted Kennedy's U.S. Senate seat posed nude for the centerfold of Cosmo.  Scott Brown won our “America's Sexiest Man” contest and appeared in the June 1982 issue.