Collins Tries to Stop Bunning Filibuster  —  Senate Republicans sought Tuesday to insulate themselves from the damage caused by Sen. Jim Bunning's (R-Ky.) filibuster of a bill that would extend unemployment and health benefits and highway programs.  —  Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) …

Health care by Easter?  —  With AP suggesting that nine “no” Democrats in the House could switch to “yes,” Inside Health Policy has a timeline:  —  According to [a] Democratic memo, the timeline may be: Step one: The House passes the Senate's health reform bill by March 19.

Feel the Kausmentum  —  With the valuable Glenn Reynolds and Jonah Goldberg endorsements in hand, Mickey Kaus' bid for a Democratic Party primary win is looking more solid than ever.  —  That said, I'm going to go counter-counterintuitive here and say that if some weird process put Mickey Kaus …

Hotheaded Emanuel may be White House voice of reason  —  Rahm Emanuel is officially a Washington caricature.  He's the town's resident leviathan, a bullying, bruising White House chief of staff who is a prime target for the failings of the Obama administration.

Coffee Party Parasites  —  The New York Times and Washington Post are promoting a group called the “Coffee Party” organized by filmmaker Annabel Park.  —  The Coffee Party is a political parasite which presents itself as something it is not.  As reported in the NY Times [see update below] …

Liz Cheney group accused of McCarthyism  —  My colleague Ben Smith has word this morning of a video from the Liz Cheney-backed group Keep America Safe questioning the loyalty of Justice Department attorneys who previously represented Guantanamo detainees.  —  The video provocatively calls …

Ford bolts; Zuckerman rises  —  Harold Ford gave many reasons for his decision not to launch a primary challenge against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, but he didn't mention a decisive one: The emergence of a richer, stronger center-right challenger whom many of Ford's potential supporters …

Justices signal they're ready to make gun ownership a national right  —  A high court majority reviewing a handgun ban in Chicago indicates that it sees the right to ‘bear arms’ as national in scope, and can be used to strike down some state and local gun regulations.

Lincoln's Challenger: I Support Public Plan, And It Will Be Issue In Campaign  —  There's been some question about whether Blanche Lincoln's challenger, Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter, really backs liberal priorities, such as the public option and the Employee Free Choice Act.

‘The View’ Couch Not So Cozy for Romney  —  ABC News' Teddy Davis reports:  —  Mitt Romney bounded onto the set of ABC's “The View” this morning, perhaps expecting a light chat about his new book and possible presidential run.  —  But once the former Massachusetts governor settled onto the couch …

Roger Ebert takes to Twitter to give tea party followers a thumb's down  —  The film reviewer is aiming barbs at Sarah Palin and other conservatives.  —  Who's the biggest scourge of the tea party movement these days?  It might be film critic Roger Ebert, who lately has been tossing brickbats …

Another American media failure  —  In the years after the the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the subsequent failure to find WMD, the American media flagellated itself publicly over its lack of skepticism of Bush administration cassus belli claims.  We endured reams of essays about the supine nature …

Same-sex marriage leads Catholic Charities to adjust benefits  —  Employees at Catholic Charities were told Monday that the social services organization is changing its health coverage to avoid offering benefits to same-sex partners of its workers — the latest fallout from a bitter debate …

Debunking Some Emerging ACORN Liberal Myths  —  This post debunks several liberal myths about ACORN that have emerged in recent weeks — many from Eric Boehlert of Media Matters and Brad Friedman.  —  POSING AS PIMP AT ACORN  —  Liberal Myth: James O'Keefe did not pretend to be a pimp inside ACORN.

The Immigration Dilemma  —  Now that the opinion polls are pointing - for the time being at least - towards a hung parliament, there's much chuntering in Tory circles.  Broadly speaking, the argument is between the modernisers and the traditionalists.  Labour's core argument …