Obama's health reform gamble raises questions of judgment  —  On health-care reform, the strategy of President Obama and Democratic congressional leaders is psychologically understandable — as well as delusional.  —  It is easy to imagine the internal dialogue: “Well, they voted for me, overwhelmingly.

The Lunatics Have Taken Over the Salon  —  Vanity Fair colleague Michael Wolff, though not a licensed clinician or chiropodist, renders what seems to me an inarguable diagnosis of the current conservative condition, i.e., they've gone loco:  —  Having whipped themselves into dishrag fatigue …

Exclusive: W.H. privately plots 2012 campaign run  —  President Barack Obama's top advisers are quietly laying the groundwork for the 2012 reelection campaign, which is likely to be run out of Chicago and managed by White House deputy chief of staff Jim Messina, according to Democrats familiar with the discussions.

Miss Beverly Hills tries to one-up Carrie Prejean, says it's divine law that gays be put to death.  —  Last year, Miss California Carrie Prejean endeared herself to the right wing when she answered a question about same-sex marriage by saying that she believes marriage “should be between a man and a woman.”

Jeb Bush On Sarah Palin: If She Only Had A Brain...  (VIDEO)  —  Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has some advice for Sarah Palin: You'd be a great, if you only had a brain.  —  In a recent interview with Newsmax, Bush was asked whether he thought Palin was a viable candidate for president.

OBAMA & DEMS IN ‘05: 51 VOTE ‘NUCLEAR OPTION’ IS ‘ARROGANT’ POWER GRAB AGAINST THE FOUNDERS’ INTENT  —  Biden: “I pray God when the Democrats take back control we don't make the kind of naked power grab you are doing.”

Top Palin aide resigns  —  Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's senior adviser and spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton has resigned, POLITICO has learned.  —  Stapleton has been a Palin confidant since December 2006 and one of the governor's most trusted aides since she was vaulted onto …

Nabors to White House, Liebman moves up  —  The deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, Rob Nabors, is leaving the agency for a White House post, with a longtime Obama advisor, Jeff Liebman, moving up to take his place in an acting capacity.  —  Nabors, an administration source said …

One Of Obama's Great Achievements May Be Unraveling  —  Was it only two weeks ago that Joe Biden explained that Iraq was on track to become “one of the great achievements” of the Obama Administration?  Now Thomas Ricks, author of “Fiasco” and “The Gamble”, warns us of the fragile stability …

My Gift to the Obama Presidency  —  Though the White House won't want to admit it, Bush lawyers were protecting the executive's power to fight a vigorous war on terror.  —  Barack Obama may not realize it, but I may have just helped save his presidency.  How?

TEA Party folds when economy revives  —  The “TEA Party,” that anti-tax, anti big-government movement of people intent on turning out incumbents this year, will “disappear” as the economy improves.  —  So says Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Republican governor of California whom some in his own party view as a RINO.

US diplomats add a moat to their expenses at $1bn London embassy  —  The United States has unveiled plans for its new $1 billion high-security embassy in London — the most expensive it has ever built.  —  The proposals were met with relief from both the present embassy's Mayfair neighbours …

Contractors outnumber full-time workers at DHS; lawmakers ‘astounded’  —  Sens. Joseph Lieberman and Susan Collins call the hiring situation at the Department of Homeland Security ‘unacceptable.’.  —  Washington (CNN) - The Department of Homeland Security has more contractors working …

Exclusive: Ex-Bush adviser Dan Senor weighing run against Gillibrand as Republican  —  Dan Senor, the husband of CNN's Campbell Brown and a former Bush administration foreign policy adviser, is eyeing a run as a Republican against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, The Knickerbocker has learned.

Son of Hamas founder spied for Israel for more than a decade  —  The son of one of Hamas's founding members was a spy in the service of Israel for more than a decade, helping prevent dozens of Islamist suicide bombers from finding their targets, it emerged today.

Serious threat to the web in Italy  —  In late 2006, students at a school in Turin, Italy filmed and then uploaded a video to Google Video that showed them bullying an autistic schoolmate.  The video was totally reprehensible and we took it down within hours of being notified by the Italian police.

Poll: Americans place blame for partisanship  —  Washington (CNN) — Two-thirds of Americans think that the Republicans in Congress are not doing enough to cooperate with President Obama, according to a new national poll.  —  But a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey, released Wednesday …

Harry Reid Launches New “Vote For Me Or The Wife Gets It” Campaign  —  Just hours after revealing that unemployed men in Nevada “tend to be abusive” toward their wives and facing the prospect of joblessness himself with an election this fall, Harry Reid has launched a bold new …

Health Care No Stranger To Reconciliation Process … text sizeAAA  —  To reconcile or not to reconcile — when it comes to a health overhaul bill, that seems to be the biggest argument of the moment.  —  At issue is a process called budget reconciliation.

Here's Why Government Stimulus Does Not Work  —  Here's why the government stimulus worked: it kept hundreds of thousands of Americans at work, at least.  It added percentage points to GDP.  It sent billions of dollars to unemployed and low income Americans to prop up private demand as consumption was ready to fall off a cliff.