‘They Just Want This Over’ — By: Robert Costa  —  Sitting in an airport, on his way home to Michigan, Rep. Bart Stupak, a pro-life Democrat, is chagrined.  “They're ignoring me,” he says, in a phone interview with National Review Online.  “That's their strategy now.

The Democrats' scam becomes more transparent  —  A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about what seemed to be a glaring (and quite typical) scam perpetrated by Congressional Democrats: all year long, they insisted that the White House and a majority of Democratic Senators vigorously supported a public option …

Why don't honest journalists take on Roger Ailes and Fox News?  —  One question has tugged at my professional conscience throughout the year-long congressional debate over health-care reform, and it has nothing to do with the public option, portability or medical malpractice.

Texas Conservatives Win Vote on Textbook Standards  —  AUSTIN, Tex. — After three days of turbulent meetings, the Texas Board of Education on Friday voted to approve a social studies curriculum that will put a conservative stamp on history and economics textbooks, stressing the role …

Op-Ed Columnist: What Obama Stands For  —  Who is Barack Obama?  —  If you ask a conservative Republican, you are likely to hear that Obama is a skilled politician who campaigned as a centrist but is governing as a big-government liberal.  He plays by ruthless, Chicago politics rules.

Tea parties stir evangelicals' fears  —  The rise of a new conservative grass roots fueled by a secular revulsion at government spending is stirring fears among leaders of the old conservative grass roots, the evangelical Christian right.  —  A reeling economy and the massive bank bailout …

SEIU Warns Dems: If You Don't Back Reform, We Won't Back You  —  Hardball time.  —  In what seems intended as a shot across the bow of House Dems wavering on health reform, top officials with the labor powerhouse SEIU have bluntly told a Democratic member that they will pull their support for him …

Fox News Plucks ‘Back Wax’ Ad From YouTube  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  Fox News Channel has forced YouTube to take down a Democratic National Committee Web ad that mocks Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio for spending $130 on a haircut saying that the spot illegally uses network footage.

Reid's wife has neck surgery  —  Landra Gould Reid, the wife of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, had neck surgery Friday after she was seriously injured from a major car accident just outside Washington Thursday.  Sources said the surgery appeared to be successful, and will likely be the only surgery she'll need.

Beck vs Social Justice  —  I'm surprised there hasn't been more attention paid lately to Glenn Beck's attacks on the idea of social justice: … If this is meant seriously—and Beck's sounded the theme in three consecutive shows so I think it is—this seems to me like when McCarthy decided to go after the Army.

Student Loan Bill Opposed by Group Packed With Ex-Clinton Aides  —  “This wasteful spending was first identified by President Bill Clinton,” Representative George Miller, Democrat of California and chairman of the Education and Labor Committee, declared at a news conference in the Capitol on Thursday.

GOP member: White House ‘clowns’ are ‘punishing’ lawmakers after security flub  —  Members of Congress are being “punished” as a result of the notorious “gate crashing” security breach at the White House last year, according to a Texas Republican.  —  Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) …

Birther Non-Denial Denials from Republican Senate Candidates  —  Et tu, Rob Portman?  Ye of sensibility and rectitude?  Ye of maturity and political resolve?  Despite inquires from the Cincinnati Enquirer and Plain Dealer, Portman's campaign won't directly answer the question of whether …

Health Reform Myths  —  Health reform is back from the dead.  Many Democrats have realized that their electoral prospects will be better if they can point to a real accomplishment.  Polling on reform — which was never as negative as portrayed — shows signs of improving.

Yeas & Nays reporter booted from Sean Penn event  —  A Yeas & Nays reporter was publicly berated and threatened to be escorted out by police on Thursday night when the reporter asked actor Sean Penn a controversial question about his humanitarian work in Haiti.

Widening Sex-Abuse Scandal in German Catholic Church Enmeshes Pope Benedict XVI  —  BERLIN — A widening child sexual abuse inquiry in Europe has landed at the doorstep of Pope Benedict XVI, as a senior church official acknowledged Friday that a German archdiocese made “serious mistakes” …

Petraeus to New Hampshire!  Petraeus to New Hampshire?  —  News that Gen. David Petraeus is venturing out of his Centcom comfort zone late this month to the state of New Hampshire is catnip for a certain chunk of obsessives who believe that Petraeus wants to run for president (and be nominated as vice president) in 2012.