Harry Reid abdicates his leadership role  —  Bill Frist never had 60 votes.  Bill Frist never cared.  Republicans ran the Senate as if they owned the place, even when enjoying razor-thin majorities.  —  Yet when Democrats took the chamber, the first thing Harry Reid did was complain …

When Your Neighbor Loses His Job It's A Recession.  When You Screw A Whore Behind Your Wife's Back, Get Caught, And Lose Your Job, It's A Catastrophic Economic Meltdown  —  Disgraced criminal Eliot Spitzer has for reasons unknown been occupying a columnist spot at Slate.com for some period of time.

Public Option Is Next Big Hurdle in Health Debate  —  WASHINGTON — As the White House and Congressional leaders turned in earnest on Wednesday to working out big differences in the five health care bills, perhaps no issue loomed as a greater obstacle than whether to establish a government-run competitor to the insurance industry.

Hillary Clinton Now More Popular Than Barack Obama  —  Secretary of state viewed favorably by 62% of Americans, president by 56%  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Hillary Clinton lost the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination to Barack Obama, but in one respect she now ranks ahead of Obama.

So Much for the Post-Racial America — By: Andy McCarthy  —  I'm hunkered down on some projects and just heard about the phony attacks on Rush by the race-hustlers extraordinaire, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.  I know Rush has big shoulders and he'll handle it just fine.

CNN Admits That On-Air Commentator Has Ties To Insurance Industry, Promises Full Disclosure  —  Looks like the insurance industry has another PR mess on its hands.  —  CNN has acknowledged in a statement to me that a high-profile Republican commentator who frequently discusses health care …

Maverick fallout: GOP won't retaliate  —  Mitch McConnell and his deputies in the Senate Republican leadership are responding very cautiously to Olympia Snowe's decision to become the first GOP vote for a Democratic health care reform bill.  —  That's about all they can do.

Profile of Anita Dunn, White House Communications Director  —  Interim Media Strategist Leads Salvo Against Fox  —  Earlier this week, Anita Dunn inserted two words into the conservative electronic echo chamber: Anita Dunn.  —  With her CNN appearance on Sunday attacking Fox News as …

Tonight... We Are All Rush Limbaugh  —  Earlier this evening, as most of you now know, one of our own, Rush Hudson Limbaugh, while taking withering fire, crashed and burned.  —  Tonight, Rush is no longer ‘just’ a radio personality.  —  Tonight, Rush is no longer ‘just’ a NFL owner denied

‘Dead’ al Qaeda terrorist surfaces for media  —  Doubts raised on drone tactics  —  A key al Qaeda military planner thought dead by the United States and Pakistan gave an interview this week to a Pakistani reporter, illustrating the uncertainties of a military strategy based on air strikes by unmanned drones.

French troops were killed after Italy hushed up ‘bribes’ to Taleban  —  When ten French soldiers were killed last year in an ambush by Afghan insurgents in what had seemed a relatively peaceful area, the French public were horrified.  —  Their revulsion increased with the news …

President Obama's Crucial Afghanistan Decision  —  Afghanistan could be the most important decision of Barack Obama's presidency.  Maybe that's why he is, in effect, making it twice.  —  What's odd about the administration's review of Afghanistan policy is that it is revisiting issues …

Why Joe Biden Should Resign  —  Joe Biden met with CENTCOM chief Gen. David Petraeus this morning to talk about Afghanistan — an issue that has pushed the vice president into the spotlight, landing him on the cover of the latest Newsweek.  —  I have an idea for how he can capitalize on all the attention …

Health Care for All?  Not Exactly  —  In late January 2007, fledgling presidential contender Barack Obama made an unequivocal pledge to redeem the dream that had animated Democrats since the days of Harry Truman.  Speaking at a Washington conference organized by the liberal advocacy group Families USA …

New book pins ‘debategate’ on Dem  —  In the annals of Washington scandals, “debategate” in 1983 may have set some sort of record for flare followed by fizzle.  It looked to some reporters, for a brief moment, like it could topple a CIA director, a White House chief of staff and maybe even a president.

Third-party pooper: GOP's N.J. dilemma  —  The surging campaign of third-party candidate Chris Daggett has turned the New Jersey governor's race into a dead-heat and left Republicans divided over the seriousness of the threat he poses to GOP nominee Chris Christie.

Gunmen, Bombers Hit 5 Sites in Pakistan; 38 Die  —  Pakistan came under a deadly, staccato series of attacks Thursday that left at least 38 people dead and raised questions about the ability of the nation's security and intelligence agencies to thwart a rising Islamist insurgency.

An Interview with Peter Godwin  —  Full article: An Interview with Peter Godwin  —  Sometimes the most effective COIN lessons are found in the strangest of places.  Some time ago, while researching Zimbabwe's staggering collapse under the Robert Mugabe regime, I stumbled upon When a Crocodile Eats …