The Best Speech Obama's Given Since...Maybe Ever  —  Today, at Ft. Hood.  I guarantee: they'll be teaching this one in rhetoric classes.  It was that good.  My gloss won't do it justice.  Yes, I'm having a Chris Matthews-chill-running-up-my- leg moment, but sometimes, the man …

Boxer: Senate Has Votes To Block Stupak Amendment  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  With Reporting By Ryan Grim  —  One of Congress's foremost champions of abortion rights said on Monday that the Senate did not have the votes to add a more restrictive anti-abortion amendment to health care reform legislation.

Dunn leaving White House, Pfeiffer takes over  —  White House communications director Anita Dunn will step down from her post at the end of the month and Dan Pfeiffer, her deputy, will take over, according to sources familiar with the move.  —  Dunn, a longtime Democratic media consultant …

Blackwater Said to Approve Iraqi Payoffs After Shootings  —  WASHINGTON — Top executives at Blackwater Worldwide authorized secret payments of about $1 million to Iraqi officials that were intended to silence their criticism and buy their support after a September 2007 episode …

Pat Robertson on Ft. Hood: Islam is ‘not a religion’ and Muslims should be treated like ‘some fascist group.’  —  This past weekend, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano warned against allowing “anti-Muslim sentiment” to emanate from the shooting at Fort Hood by Major Nidal Malik Hasan.

An Object Lesson on Not Being Jerks  —  The closing bits of this WaPo piece on the NY-23 affair really sums it all up: … The funny thing about all of this is that no matter how bad all their ideas are, no matter how disastrous their governance has been, no matter how many horrible things …

Clinton to Senate Dems: ‘We are winning’  —  Bill Clinton walks through Capitol Hill as reporters ask questions.  —  John Shinkle  —  With the issue he has positioned to be his crowning achievement as president at a crossroads, Barack Obama once again called on his former rival to help him follow through.

D.C. Sniper John Allen Muhammad Is Executed in Virginia  —  JARRATT, Virginia — John Allen Muhammad, the mastermind of the sniper attacks that terrorized the U.S. capital region for three weeks in October 2002, was executed Tuesday.  —  Muhammad died by injection at 9:11 p.m …

Hasan on Islam  —  Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, the Army psychiatrist believed to have killed 13 people at Fort Hood, was supposed to discuss a medical topic during gave a presentation to senior Army doctors in June 2007.  Instead, he lectured on Islam, suicide bombers and threats the military …

Obama's modest proposal: A Lieberman swap  —  A source at the White House for the president's meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reports that Obama ended the event with a modest proposal for the domestic politics of both men.  —  At the meeting's conclusion …

NEW YORK POST LAWSUIT: Shocking Allegations Made By Fired Employee  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  The New York Post editor fired after speaking out against a cartoon depicting the author of the president's stimulus package as a dead chimpanzee has sued the paper.

Tough future for Snowe as a Republican  —  It looks like Olympia Snowe could have a pretty hard time getting nominated for another term in the Senate as a Republican.  —  There are now more folks in her party who disapprove than approve of Snowe's job performance.

Democrats Raise Alarms Over Health Bill Costs  —  WASHINGTON — As health care legislation moves toward a crucial airing in the Senate, the White House is facing a growing revolt from some Democrats and analysts who say the bills Congress is considering do not fulfill President Obama's promise …

Carrie Prejean confirms ‘sex tape,’ but ...  Carrie Prejean, some might remember, is the California beauty queen who gained instant ignominy in some circles by agreeing with President Obama's ridiculous notion that marriage is a union between one man and one woman.

Confessions of an ObamaCare Backer  —  A liberal explains the political calculus.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  The typical argument for ObamaCare is that it will offer better medical care for everyone and cost less to do it, but occasionally a supporter lets the mask slip and reveals the real political motivation.

Tampa police: Marine reservist attacked Greek priest he mistook for terrorist  —  TAMPA — A Marine reservist armed with a tire iron beat and chased a man he thought was an Arab terrorist and even called 911 to say he was detaining the man, police said.  —  But the man he assaulted was actually …

Justice Dept. Asked For News Site's Visitor Lists  —  Posted by Declan McCullagh In a case that raises questions about online journalism and privacy rights, the U.S. Department of Justice sent a formal request to an independent news site ordering it to provide details of all reader visits on a certain day.

Climate bill's ‘emergency provision’ gives Obama strong-man powers  —  By: EXAMINER EDITORIAL HOT ZONE ALERT  —  Both the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade energy approved earlier this year and the version just okayed by Sen. Barbara Boxer's Senate Environment and Public Works Committee's Democrats …

Harvard Yard  —  Home of American heroes.  —  It's always easy to poke fun at the World's Greatest University across the Charles, all the more so in recent decades as, like much of academia, it sank in a wretched swamp of America-bashing leftism while continuing to survey the world down its superior nose.

Exclusive: Audio From ACORN Claims Jerry Brown Will Whitewash Investigation  —  On October 15th, local ACORN spokesman David Lagstein was the special guest of the East County Democrat Club in El Cajon, CA.  Lagstein is ACORN's chief organizer in the San Diego area.

Breaking: Rajiv Shah for USAID administrator  —  An administration official has confirmed that Rajiv Shah will be nominated to be the next administrator of USAID.  —  POLITICO reported yesterday that the 36-year-old USDA chief scientist and undersecretary for research, education and economics …

A haircut tip  —  I was always interested in candidate Obama's relationship with the dark(er) political arts and asked him at his first campaign press conference why he'd hired opposition researchers; he responded that they were to check out the candidate himself and to examine high-minded policy questions.

Text of Obama's interview with Reuters  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama, who leaves on Thursday for Japan, Singapore, China and South Korea, gave Reuters an interview in the White House Oval Office on Monday.  —  Here is the transcript:  —  QUESTION: You've described China as a partner of opportunity, not necessity.

EXCLUSIVE: Warner: Obama misplayed health care debate  —  Freshman Sen. Mark Warner, Virginia Democrat, said Tuesday that President Obama has misplayed his attempt to reform U.S. heath care by focusing on insurance coverage instead of explaining that the current system is headed toward a financial meltdown.

Medical association backs health system reform  —  HOUSTON — The American Medical Association on Monday rebuffed dissident members and voted to stick with support for ongoing health reform efforts, while reiterating wariness over proposals that threaten doctors' pocketbooks and independence.