In shift, GOP leaders embrace Hoffman  —  The House Republican leadership is prepared to welcome Doug Hoffman into its ranks, National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) said Thursday, a sign that the GOP establishment is recalibrating its approach toward …

Dozens in Congress under ethics inquiry  —  House ethics investigators have been scrutinizing the activities of more than 30 lawmakers and several aides in inquiries about issues including defense lobbying and corporate influence peddling, according to a confidential House ethics committee report prepared in July.

The Defining Moment  —  O.K., folks, this is it.  It's the defining moment for health care reform.  —  Past efforts to give Americans what citizens of every other advanced nation already have — guaranteed access to essential care — have ended not with a bang, but with a whimper …

'I'm not big on showing weakness'  —  Even before her bill reaches the House floor, health care reform has been a lesson in the limits of power for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — and in the immense challenge of managing disappointment on the left.  —  The bill rolled out Thursday is weaker …

The White House Stupidly Goes To War With Car Web Site Edmunds.com  —  It is an odd, and we'd say regrettable, pattern of this White House that it lets itself get dragged down into fights with specific media outlets.  —  George W. Bush experienced acrimony with the New York Times …

Deal Reached in Honduras to Restore Ousted President  —  MEXICO CITY — A lingering political crisis in Honduras seemed to be nearing an end on Friday after the de facto government agreed to a deal that would allow Manuel Zelaya, the deposed president, to return to office.

Brutal ruling quashes birthers' suit  —  A federal judge in California has issued a brutal ruling dismissing a closely-watched “birthers'” lawsuit challenging President's Barack Obama's qualifications to be president.  —  In a 30-page ruling issued Thursday morning, Judge David Carter used …

We're Governed by Callous Children  —  Americans feel increasingly disheartened, and our leaders don't even notice.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  The new economic statistics put growth at a healthy 3.5% for the third quarter.  We should be dancing in the streets.

They make their mark in mug shot history  —  (CNN) — Police say guilt was written all over their faces.  —  Police received a call Friday night that two men with hooded sweatshirts and painted faces had tried to break into a man's home in Carroll, Iowa.  —  When police stopped …

Fox News Viewed as Most Ideological Network  —  Swine Flu Tops Weekly News Interest  —  The Fox News Channel is viewed by Americans in more ideological terms than other television news networks.  And while the public is evenly divided in its view of hosts of cable news programs having …

A Senate Naysayer, Spoiling for Health Care Fight  —  WASHINGTON — Senator Tom Coburn's office is the rare Capitol Hill work space without a “me wall” — the display of photographs of a lawmaker standing beside presidents, foreign leaders and other dignitaries, all illustrating How Big a Deal he is.

The Tenacity Question  —  Today, President Obama will lead another meeting to debate strategy in Afghanistan.  He will presumably discuss the questions that have divided his advisers: How many troops to commit?  How to define plausible goals?  Should troops be deployed broadly or just in the cities and towns?

Evan Bayh: Hypocrisy on the Public Option  —  Stock quotes in this article: WLP , EMMS , LLY  —  WASHINGTON (TheStreet) — Evan Bayh, the junior senator from Indiana, is in the middle of a heated debate in the Senate on whether a public option should be included as part of President Obama's health care reforms.

Bayh reversal?  —  Hours after POLITICO posted results of a poll showing a possible backlash by Indiana Dems, Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) backed off of previous statement saying he was considering siding with the GOP on a public option filibuster.  —  A spokesman emailed me the following statement just now:

Parsing the Tuesday Election Returns — at Your Own Peril  —  Beware of the dreaded Only-Game-in-Town Syndrome.  Next Tuesday night — as actual statewide election returns flash across TV screens for the first time since Barack Obama's election — political junkies will face …

Daniels says Indiana is fighting back in recession  —  Governor talks to invitation-only crowd at Pendleton fire station  —  PENDLETON­ — Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels took a break from announcing some new Hoosier jobs on Wednesday to tell a Madison County crowd how the state is fighting …

Opt-out divides Schumer and Emanuel  —  Chuck Schumer and Rahm Emanuel, the architects of the Democrats' historic take-back of Congress in 2006, talk to each other nearly every day in abrupt, Morse code bursts stripped of hellos, goodbyes and thank-yous.  —  On the surface, everything seems normal.

BREAKING: Comprehensive List of Taxes In House Democrat Health Bill  —  H.R. 3962, the “Affordable Health Care for America Act” has been introduced—all 1990 pages of it.  This gargantuan beast contains thirteen new tax hikes.  Here they all are, with description and page number (PDF version):

Brooklyn Law Won't Proactively Rat Out Its Students  —  Yesterday we reported on this announcement by Brooklyn Law School: … This stance proved unpopular with BLS students, as well as ATL readers.  In a poll, about 75 percent of readers answered “yes” when asked, “Should Brooklyn Law School …

Disgraceful: In 8 Years, George W. Bush Never Greeted Fallen Troops  —  This is what a president does. … NPR notes that, … Why? … Bush also preferred to go bed early, but apparently, could never get his ass out of bed early enough to honor the soldiers he so recklessly sent off to die.

Boehner Won't Pledge To Offer GOP Health Care Plan, Refuses To Post It Online If He Does  —  Republicans have been insisting for months that Democrats are shoving a secret bill down the throats of the American public.  The health reform legislation “should be posted online for 72 hours …