The Same Old Washington Blame Game  —  There has been a lot of discussion online and in the mainstream media about our response to various critics of the President, specifically former Vice President Cheney, who have been coming out of the woodwork since the incident on Christmas Day.

Sources: Limbaugh Rushed To Honolulu Hospital  —  Conservative Radio Show Host Suffering From Chest Pains  —  HONOLULU — Conservative radio talk host Rush Limbaugh was rushed to a Honolulu hospital on Wednesday afternoon with chest pains, sources told KITV.

Exclusive: Details from Obama's probe  —  Information that would have kept a bomb off Northwest's Christmas Day flight from Amsterdam to Detroit was “vague but available” to intelligence agencies, according to officials involved in reviews ordered by President Barack Obama.

Poll: Americans most admire Obama, Clinton, Palin  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama is the man Americans admired most in 2009, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, while Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin are virtually tied as the most-admired woman.

Beleaguered Nelson to air TV ad tonight  —  As a fresh poll measured the political cost of Sen. Ben Nelson's health reform vote, he prepared Tuesday to take his case directly to Nebraskans during Wednesday night's Holiday Bowl game.  —  Nelson will air a new TV ad in which he attempts …

White House releases 25,000 more visitor names  —  The White House today released the names of an additionl 25,000 individuals who have visited the White House this year.  —  The new names include those who came to the White House between September 16th and September 30th.

Democratic commission recommends elimination of superdelegates  —  Eighteen months removed from a protracted presidential primary fight, a Democratic group convened to examine the nominating process has recommended that so-called superdelegates be eliminated.

Sausage is Delicious, Mediocre Legislation is Problematic  —  Various analogies between the legislative process and sausage-making are always in the air.  A hardy perennial of the American political discourse.  But when considering the prospects for legislative reform, it's worth considering some serious differences between the two.

And Better Still  —  Wow, this is getting pretty bad for the National Review and Marc Thiessen.  Thiessen of course said that we tried Richard Reid in a regular American court since that was “long before we figured out that we had other options than handing him over” to law enforcement.

Exclusive: Controversial Obama U.N. nominee withdraws for “personal reasons,” official says  —  Jide Zeitlin, the Obama administration's nominee to be America's point man for financial reform at the United Nations, has withdrawn himself from consideration for the job, an administration official tells The Cable.

Palibanned Per Todd Palin  —  I wrote about this last week, but now we have documents!  —  Sarah Palin's Wasilla book signing had a few rules.  “Per Todd Palin”, three of us were banned.  “Public servants” in their police uniforms at a “public event” in a “public building” had a list of “public citizens” not allowed in.

U.S. taking majority ownership of GMAC  —  The federal government said Wednesday it will take a majority ownership stake in the troubled auto lender GMAC, providing another $3.8 billion in aid to the company, which has been unable to raise from private investors the money it needs to stanch its losses.

Why We Blog  —  Blogging is an activity.  It's something you do either in your spare time or the first thing in the morning and the last thing at night.  If you are doing full-time political blogging, something is motivating you.  For most of us, that motivation was originally outrage …

Madden defends GOP's hypocritical attacks: Obama's in Hawaii, which ‘seems like a foreign place.’  —  On CNN this morning, host John Roberts asked former Romney spokesman Kevin Madden about the hypocritical “heat for this president from the Republicans” regarding the Obama administration's response …

Traficant Declares: 'I'm Going to Run'  —  YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — Former U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. revved himself up in typical fashion (WATCH VIDEO), then eased off as he spoke for 30 minutes before quietly telling a new business networking group last night that he will indeed make a bid for Congress in 2010.

Government-Caused Disaster  —  The Obama administration calls terrorism a “man-caused disaster,” but the biggest disasters are government-caused.  Only government has the ability to set us back a trillion dollars.  —  In today's Wall Street Journal, Peter Wallison has explosive …

Army History Finds Early Missteps in Afghanistan  —  In the fall of 2003, the new commander of American forces in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. David W. Barno, decided on a new strategy.  Known as counterinsurgency, the approach required coalition forces to work closely with Afghan leaders …

What's a Bailed-Out Banker Really Worth?  —  Last August, as midnight approached on a Friday, two Treasury Department staff members sat in a cramped basement office in the Treasury Building next to the White House and watched as their e-mail in-boxes filled up.

Sen. Bernie Sanders: Health-care bill could spark “a revolution in primary health care”  —  Tell me a bit about the provisions to expand community health centers that you added into the Senate bill.  —  In most areas of Vermont right now, you can drive to a community health center near …

Federal court restricts Taser use by police  —  Ninth Circuit ruling — allowing an officer to be held liable for injuries a man suffered after being Tasered — sets a precedent that may force agencies to revisit their policies.  —  A federal appeals court this week ruled that a California police officer …

The Public Option is Not Symbolic; It is Foundational  —  There is a myth that the public option was only a tiny idea blown out of proportion for symbolic reasons.  The public option was never going to be truly tiny, it was only going to be small at its inception.  It is not because it was “weak,” it was just strongly caged in.