The Limits of Rahmism  —  AS A DOZEN or so top White House officials gathered in Rahm Emanuel's corner West Wing office one morning in early January, the president's political director, Patrick Gaspard, reported on the latest poll numbers in Massachusetts.  With less than two weeks until …

Sarah Palin heads north.  Er, south.  Er, to Calgary.  - UPDATED  —  It was little surprise that Sarah Palin's first visit to our home and native land (of public health care and gay marriage) would be in Calgary.  It also shouldn't be surprising that she was able to curry favour …

Cheneyites Lose Stimson, Rivkin, Casey in al-Qaeda Shark-Jump  —  David Rivkin and Lee Casey are an op-ed-writing team of former GOP legal officials who defend practically every terrorism-related policy pushed by the Bush administration.  Here they are saying that warrantless surveillance “has always been on firm legal ground.”

Conservative California state senator comes out  —  California State Sen. Roy Ashburn, a conservative Republican with a solidly anti-gay voting record, came out as gay today on a Bakersfield radio station talk show.  Ashburn's sexual orientation had been the talk of Sacramento since …

CONCERN TROLLING GONE AWRY (AGAIN).... You know who's really looking out for congressional Democrats' electoral fortunes?  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).  While you and I might think, “Wait, isn't that the guy trying to destroy Democrats as part of his drive for power?” …

Obama-Bush Same Mistakes: President Repeats Stumbles  —  Who would have thought that one of Barack Obama's biggest missteps as President would be repeating some of the bad habits of George W. Bush?  No single factor was more instrumental in Obama's 2008 victory than his pledge to completely reverse …

The story behind Oscar's “Kanye moment”  —  We talk to the two filmmakers whose personal fight became one of the ceremony's weirdest moments … People are already saying you “pulled a Kanye.”  What happened?  —  BURKETT: What happened was the director and I had a bad difference …

Updated: Dan Rather Said that Obama 'couldn't sell watermelons'?  UPDATED, Video with Audio UPDATED Again: Transcript, Dan Rather/Watermelon Statement  —  Rush Limbaugh just mentioned that he has audio of Dan Rather saying that Obama 'couldn't sell watermelons' or some such thing.

Obama To Dems: Reform Will Kick In This Year.  This Year.  This Year.  —  One striking thing about the speech Obama just gave at the big health care rally in Pennsylvania is how many times he stressed that if reform passes, voters will begin enjoying the benefits this year.

Business Lobbyists Push to Revive Estate Tax They Tried to Kill  —  Lobbyists for small businesses, construction companies, manufacturers and other trade groups are racing the clock to convince Congress to reinstate the federal estate tax they've fought for years to abolish.

Where are Obama's foreign confidants?  —  I recently asked several senior administration officials, separately, to name a foreign leader with whom Barack Obama has forged a strong personal relationship during his first year in office.  A lot of hemming and hawing ensued.

Déjà vu all over again … A Republican on Capitol Hill points out that we're going through a health care press coverage time warp.  In each of the following four headline pairs, one is from this morning.  The other is from last year.  See if you can guess which is which.

Alabama Dem lawmaker will break from campaign trail to oppose health reform  —  Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.), who opposed the House version of the healthcare reform bill last year, will make sure to take a break from his campaign for governor to travel to Washington to vote against the final version of the bill.

Health Care Reform And Our Myopic Polity  —  One day, I hope, we will look back at the health care debate as a low point in our national political psyche.  The Obama administration and its allies in Congress are on the cusp of bringing some measure of reason to the health care system …