Report: Shelby Blocks All Obama Nominations In The Senate Over AL Earmarks  —  Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) has put an extraordinary “blanket hold” on at least 70 nominations President Obama has sent to the Senate, according to multiple reports this evening.  The hold means no nominations …

‘Tea Party’ Fireworks: Speaker Rips McCain, Obama, ‘Cult of Multiculturalism’  —  Ex-Rep. Tom Tancredo Suggests ‘Civics, Literacy Test’ Would Have Foiled Obama's Election; High-Priced National ‘Tea Party’ Convention Stirs Debate Among Factions  —  The opening-night speaker …

Palin e-mails reveal a powerful ‘first dude’  —  Nearly 3,000 pages of e-mails that the first gentleman, Todd Palin, exchanged with state officials draw a picture of his influence on policy in the Sarah Palin administration.  Other e-mails are still being withheld by the state of Alaska.

Cornyn: No thanks to Obama Q & amp; A  —  Senate Republicans don't have much of an appetite to give President Barack Obama their version of question-and-answer time - not after seeing how Obama handled House Republicans last week.  —  “We're always happy to hear from the president …

Palin to Post: I'm not ripping Rush  —  Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is criticizing a report on a Washington Post blog claiming that she is going after conservative radio show host Rush Limbaugh.  —  On Thursday the Washington Post blog “The Plum Line” posted an item under the headline …

Patrick Kennedy: Scott Brown's candidacy ‘a joke’  —  Sen. Scott Brown's (R-Mass.) election has been shown to be “a joke,” the son of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) said Thursday.  —  Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) castigated Brown for having pushed to be sworn in ahead of schedule …

Why are liberals so condescending?  —  Every political community includes some members who insist that their side has all the answers and that their adversaries are idiots.  But American liberals, to a degree far surpassing conservatives, appear committed to the proposition that their views are correct …

Fiscal Scare Tactics  —  These days it's hard to pick up a newspaper or turn on a news program without encountering stern warnings about the federal budget deficit.  The deficit threatens economic recovery, we're told; it puts American economic stability at risk; it will undermine our influence in the world.

Obama Suggests Possibility That Health Reform May Not Happen  —  Maybe I'm misreading this.  But if you look at the transcript of Obama's remarks at a fundraiser last night, it seems like the President was at least raising the possibility that health reform may not happen.

Harold Ford Superstar  —  U.S. Senate wannabe's tour rider anticipates swarms of adoring fans  —  Like Jay-Z and Lady Gaga, Harold Ford, Jr. has a tour rider.  The former Tennessee congressman, who is now trying to carpetbag his way to a Senate seat in New York, banks about $20,000 …

Queens girl Alexa Gonzalez hauled out of school in handcuffs after getting caught doodling on desk  —  A 12-year-old Queens girl was hauled out of school in handcuffs for an artless offense - doodling her name on her desk in erasable marker, the Daily News has learned.

Clarification — and Mea Culpa — on James O'Keefe and ‘Race and Conservatism’  —  On Wednesday, I wrote a post reacting to Max Blumenthal's story “James O'Keefe's Race Problem” and was too quick with a description of the August 30, 2006 Robert Taft Club event on “race and conservatism.”

Obama attends CIA Khost memorial  —  As Washington scurried to prepare for a couple feet of snow, Barack Obama made a morning visit to the CIA to attend a memorial for the seven CIA officers killed by a Jordanian double agent in Khost Afghanistan late last year, Salon's Mike Madden reported for the White House press pool:

The great peasant revolt of 2010  —  “Iam not an ideologue,” protested President Obama at a gathering with Republican House members last week.  Perhaps, but he does have a tenacious commitment to a set of political convictions.  —  Compare his 2010 State of the Union to his first address to Congress a year earlier.