National security adviser: Airline bomber report to ‘shock’  —  WASHINGTON — White House national security adviser James Jones says Americans will feel “a certain shock” when they read an account being released Thursday of the missed clues that could have prevented the alleged Christmas Day bomber from ever boarding the plane.

Steele Lashes Out: Critics Should ‘Get a Life,’ ‘Shut Up,’ ‘Fire Me ... or Get out of the Way’  —  ABC News' Aaron Katersky and Rick Klein report: RNC Chairman Michael Steele is lashing out his critics, with a series of blunt messages for prominent Republicans who have blasted him over his leadership for the Republican Party.

N.J. Senate rejects bill legalizing gay marriage … TRENTON — The state Senate rejected a same-sex marriage bill today, a major victory for opponents who contend the measure would infringe on religious freedom and is not needed because the state already permits civil unions.

Conservatives Finish 2009 as No. 1 Ideological Group  —  Uptick owing largely to more independents calling themselves conservative  —  PRINCETON, NJ — The increased conservatism that Gallup first identified among Americans last June persisted throughout the year, so that the final year-end …

Cadillac Flip Flop: Obama Was Against Health Plan Tax Before He Was For It  —  In a video that rings so true it hurts, Lee Stranahan-a former Obama supporter-gives us the aspiring president's own speech.  Only a month before the 2008 election, Obama makes it plain just how bad an idea the …

GOP Insiders Sour On Palin  —  A poll of GOP insiders suggests that ex-AK Gov. Sarah Palin (R) has little support among the party's professional class — and maybe that's just how she wants it.  —  In a survey of 109 party leaders, political professionals and pundits, Palin finished 5th …

Geithner's New York Fed Told AIG to Limit Swaps Disclosure  —  Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, then led by Timothy Geithner, told American International Group Inc. to withhold details from the public about the bailed-out insurer's payments to banks during the depths …

Nelson in “serious discussions” to extend deal  —  Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) has begun negotiations with Senate Democratic leaders to expand his special Medicaid funding deal to all states or to allow states to opt out of the Medicaid expansion in 2017, his spokesman told POLITICO Thursday.

Carlson Launches Right's Answer to HuffPost  —  The offices of The Daily Caller evoke a long-ago era of journalism, circa 2005 or 2006, before the Los Angeles Times closed its big-city bureaus, The Washington Times fired 60 percent of its staff, and magazines from Gourmet to Portfolio shuttered for lack of revenue.

Lieberman tanks  —  Want to know how far Joe Lieberman has fallen in the wake of the health care vote last month?  Barack Obama's approval rating with Connecticut Republicans is higher than Lieberman's with the state's Democrats.  —  81% of Democrats now disapprove of Lieberman's job performance …

Election 2010: Colorado Governor  —  With Ritter Stepping Down, Democratic Prospects Improve in Colorado  —  Now that Colorado Governor Bill Ritter has said he will step down rather than run for reelection, Democrats may be more competitive in this year's gubernatorial race.

Former White House lawyer charged with attempting to kill wife in New Canaan  —  NEW CANAAN — A prominent attorney and former White House lawyer was charged with attempting to kill his wife Wednesday night.  —  John Michael Farren, 57, of New Canaan, was charged with attempted murder …

Goodbye kiss provoked Newark airport scare: report  —  NEW YORK (Reuters) - The security scare that shut Newark airport for hours and delayed thousands of passengers was caused by a man who slipped into a secure area to give a woman one last goodbye kiss, a newspaper reported on Thursday.

Zeitgeist Patrol  —  Alone in our nation's capital last night, I decided to keep in touch with the culture by going to see Avatar in 3D.  I hadn't read much of the commentary about the movie, but the word of mouth was that it was visually spectacular—and yes, spectacular it was, especially in 3D …

Is Palin Getting $100,000 to Speak at the Tea Party National Convention?  —  This morning, I asked whether Sarah Palin's decision to speak at the Tea Party National Convention — while (so far) eschewing the much higher-profile Conservative Political Action Conference — had anything to with money.

Critics of Obama way off base on this one  —  Yes — the not-so-bright, would-be terrorist from Nigeria got though international and domestic security mechanisms supposed to have stopped him long before the jerk lit his underwear afire before landing in Detroit.

A defense of Obama  —  I get a lot of unsolicited e-mail and should probably publish more of it; this defense of Obama, sent in by someone named Ellie Light, seemed to crystallize a point his supporters have been trying to make for a while:  —  A year ago, if we had read in the paper …

Dick Morris sees two parties.  I see four.  —  I can't remember a more breathtaking 48 hours in politics since Barack Obama's election in November 2008.  Byron Dorgan is out; Chris Dodd is out; Bill Ritter is out.  Who would have thought that just one year into Obama's promising presidency …

Supermajority retention  —  Nate Silver thinks Democrats will probably lose some Senate seats in 2010.  But maybe they'll pick up a couple!  Or lose a bunch!  Hard to say.  I'll just note that Democrats will definitely lose their supermajority sooner than later.  If not, something is going seriously wrong in the system.

Attention Conspiracy Theorists: Read This Post  —  I tend to be skeptical of those who believe that the Federal Reserve is engaged in a massive conspiracy, for reasons known and unknown, to protect its turf and turn us all into serfs, but then I'll read a quotation like this, and I'll scratch my head.

The Butt Bomb  —  Al Qaeda's hidden weapon.  —  In the wake of the failed bombing attempt by Nigerian Al Qaeda operative Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, airport security experts are wringing their hands over how to stop the next underwear bomber.  X-ray machines don't detect the type of explosive …

Marriage Equality - We're going back to court  —  Live blog & tally of the Senate vote.  —  Snapshots and vignettes from an overflow room.  —  LIVE from the Gallery  —  It boggles the mind that the New Jersey Senate could vote down - and by wide margin - a bill recognizing the civil rights of its citizens.