Frum thinks critique of GOP led to boot — 2 big bipartisan bashes — Chris Matthews, cornered — HHS Secretary is vastly more powerful — Jackie Calmes to White House beat — Kimberly Dozier to AP  —  FIRST LOOK: Valerie Jarrett is Jake Tapper's exclusive guest Sunday as he begins four months of interim-hosting of “This Week.”

Road rage, accident centers on Obama bumper sticker  —  NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A Nashville man says he and his 10-year-old daughter were victims of road rage Thursday afternoon, all because of a political bumper sticker on his car.  —  Mark Duren told News 2 the incident happened around 4:30p.m. …

Maddow takes full-page ad in Boston to say she's still not running  —  An ad slated for the Boston Globe.  (Click for full jpg or pdf.)  —  People in Massachusetts picking up their morning papers today may spot an open letter from Rachel Maddow.  The full-page ad explains that she's …

Bullet that hit Cantor office was randomly fired  —  RICHMOND — A bullet that hit a window in Republican U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor's office building was fired randomly into the air, police said Thursday.  —  Cantor announced at a Capitol Hill news conference Thursday that a shot had been fired into his Richmond campaign office.

SKorean navy ship sinks in waters near NKorea  —  SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Military officials say a South Korean navy ship has sunk off an island not far from North Korea.  —  An official with the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said early Saturday that the ship sank some four hours after it began taking on water.

Tea Party Advocates Who Scorn Socialism Want a Government Job  —  Tea Party activists, who are becoming a force in U.S. politics, want the federal government out of their lives except when it comes to creating jobs.  —  More than 90 percent of Tea Party backers interviewed …

Why I wrote the ‘Stupak amendment’ and voted for health-care reform  —  When I saw that Kathleen Parker's March 24 op-ed, “Stupak's original sin,” defined me as a “backstabber,” it reminded me of a Bible verse.  Matthew 7:3 asks, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye …

Going to Extreme  —  I admit it: I had fun watching right-wingers go wild as health reform finally became law.  But a few days later, it doesn't seem quite as entertaining — and not just because of the wave of vandalism and threats aimed at Democratic lawmakers.

Obama Refuses to Dine With Jewish Leader  —  Do you remember when Jesse Jackson said that under Obama Jews would lose all of their clout?  —  He was right.  —  (Top left clockwise) Barack and Michelle Obama and radical Leftist anti-Israel Professor Edward Said at a May 1998 Arab community event …

2,000 House staffers make six figures  —  Nearly 2,000 House of Representative staffers pulled down six-figure salaries in 2009, including 43 staffers who earned the maximum $172,500 — or more than three times the median U.S. household income.  —  Starting salaries on Capitol Hill are still low …

In Upset, Allawi Bloc Wins Iraq Elections  —  BAGHDAD—Ayad Allawi's predominantly Sunni alliance has won Iraq's national election, narrowly edging out Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki's list to become the largest bloc in the country's next parliament.  —  The upset threatens to end the lock …

AP: Say, guess what we just found in ObamaCare!  —  Congress passed the bill without knowing what was in it.  Barack Obama signed it without reading it.  Now it looks as though the Associated Press reported on ObamaCare without comprehending its content.  Readers will have to scroll far …

CBO report: Debt will rise to 90% of GDP  —  President Obama's fiscal 2011 budget will generate nearly $10 trillion in cumulative budget deficits over the next 10 years, $1.2 trillion more than the administration projected, and raise the federal debt to 90 percent of the nation's economic output by 2020 …

JPMorgan, Lehman, UBS Named as Conspirators in Muni Bid-Rigging  —  JPMorgan Chase & Co., Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and UBS AG were among more than a dozen Wall Street firms involved in a conspiracy to pay below-market interest rates to U.S. state and local governments on investments …

Beneath the Obama agenda, the Obama agenda  —  Last night, the House of Representatives passed the reconciliation fixes.  “And oh, by the way,” writes Jon Cohn, “they managed to completely revamp the student loan program along the way.  At any other time in recent memory, that would have been a huge accomplishment all its own.

Harsanyi: Masters of distraction  —  The mob is furious.  And while it hollers on about “killing” bills, Republicans stoke the fury by calling on citizens to “target” races in “battleground” states.  —  Get it?  “Target.”  The violent intentions are palpable.

Personal Income Drops Across U.S.  —  Personal income in 42 states fell in 2009, the Commerce Department said Thursday.  —  Nevada's 4.8% plunge was the steepest, as construction and tourism industries took a beating.  Also hit hard: Wyoming, where incomes fell 3.9%.

Political Tide Could Wash Away Republican Utah Senator  —  SALT LAKE CITY — Senator Robert F. Bennett parked his white Acura, walked through the doors of Bryant Middle School and stood alone as he began the obstacle course that will determine his political fate.  —  “Do you need my ID?”

THE LIMITS OF AN EXTREME IDEOLOGY.... The Washington Post ran a profile of Mike Vanderboegh, a 57-year-old former militiaman from Alabama, who disapproves of the new Affordable Care Act.  Vanderboegh, who describes himself as a “Christian libertarian” and has been part of various clandestine militia groups …

Court strikes limits on contributions to independent political groups  —  A federal appeals court on Friday handed another victory to conservative opponents of campaign-finance restrictions, striking down limits on individual contributions to independent groups who want to use the money for or against candidates in federal elections.

Gingrich Says Democrats ‘Have To Take Some Moral Responsibility’ For Far-Right Death Threats  —  Since Congress's health care debate, lawmakers have recieved countless death threats, had their buildings vandalized, have had white powder mailed to their offices, and have had to get police protection.

Sharp momentum shift back to the Democrats after passing health bill  —  Political momentum has shifted so fast over the last week that it has given Republicans whiplash.  —  Democrats are heading into the two-week Easter recess in high spirits after passing the most sweeping domestic policy …

What do conservatives believe about health care?  —  Conservative strategist Patrick Ruffini has a searching and skeptical post on his party's approach to health-care reform.  “On health care, I have no idea what our basic guiding principle is,” he writes.  “Seriously, I don't.”

The Return of History  —  Some brilliant scholar has to write a comprehensive history of modern economics because the evolution of this field is clearly one of the most consequential things happening in the world today.  —  Act I in this history would be set in the era of economic scientism …

Modes of Dissent  —  The most surprising thing about David Frum's apparent parting of ways with the American Enterprise Institute is the extremely mild nature of Frum's heterodoxy.  What he's been doing for the past week has been to primarily offer a tactical critique of congressional Republicans' approach to health reform.