Obama, McCain clash at GOP lunch  —  President Barack Obama battled with Senate Republicans in a tense closed-door meeting Tuesday, facing tough criticism from his GOP adversaries — including John McCain — on issues ranging from health care to border security.

The decisive action Obama can take  —  As I noted this morning, there's been a palpable shift in the tone of media coverage of Obama's handling of the Gulf spill, with newly-aggressive news orgs raising more questions about whether the admistration has ceded too much control to BP.

National Guard to Help Secure Southwest Border  —  LOS ANGELES — President Obama will send up to 1,200 National Guard troops to the Southwest border and seek increased spending on law enforcement there to combat drug smuggling after demands from Republican and Democratic lawmakers that border security be tightened.

Folks says Haley campaign consulted him on breaking silence about ‘inappropriate sexual relationship’  —  Blogger Will Folks said Tuesday that GOP gubernatorial candidate State Rep. Nikki Haley and her campaign asked him for advice on how they should handle the news of their inappropriate relationship when he broke it.

Annals of journalistic enterprise  —  Sarah Palin, guerilla Facebook warrior, turns the tables a bit on the author Joe McGinniss — best known for his Nixon campaign account, The Selling of the President, and for the murder investigation Fatal Vision — who, she says, has rented the house next door.

Mitch McConnell to Rand Paul: Shut your yapper!  —  The continuing implosion, better known as Rand Paul's post primary campaign, will be taking a break from self-immolation it appears.  —  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is telling fellow Kentuckian Paul to shut his pie hole.

Rush Limbaugh's Conservative Charge … In the early 1970s, if you were a resident of McKeesport, Pa., who turned your radio to WIXZ-FM in the morning, you might hear a voice belonging to a DJ named “Bachelor Jeff” Christie giving you the weather report in between Top 40 tunes.

Obama heckled over 'Don't ask, don't tell' — again  —  President Barack Obama was heckled by a protester Tuesday night while at a fundraising event for Sen. Barbara Boxer (D) in San Francisco.  —  The protester was upset with the pace of the repeal of the “Don't ask, don't tell” policy barring openly gay military service members.

Experts Propose Plugging Oil Leak with BP Executives  —  WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) - At a conference of oil leak experts in Washington today, attendees proposed plugging the massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico with executives of BP, the company responsible for the catastrophic spill.

GOP Rep. Slams Fox News: 'I Don't Know What They're Doing At Fox News, But They Should Stop Smoking It'  —  This morning, Fox and Friends characterized Sen. Bob Casey's (D-PA) Create Jobs & Save Benefits Act as a “$165 billion bailout” of union pensions.  “It has been decades since you've seen …

BP CEO walks on oil covered beach, barks orders to media  —  So who died and made Tony Hayward the king?  Yes, that's the BP CEO yelling “get 'em out of there, get 'em out of there” to the media who is filming him as he “works” on the oil slick cleanup.  The last time I checked, we don't live in the United States of BP.

Vaughn Ward: Worst Candidate Ever?  —  Meet Vaughn Ward.  He's running in today's Republican primary in Idaho's 1st Congressional District.  He's an Iraq War veteran.  A former CIA operations officer.  A fourth-generation Idaho native.  Heck, Sarah Palin supports him.

U.S. Pledges to Stand With South Korea ‘Always’  —  SEOUL — With political and military tension increasing daily on the Korean peninsula, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Wednesday that Washington would stand beside Seoul as it seeks redress at the United Nations Security Council …

Private pay shrinks to historic lows  —  Paychecks from private business shrank to their smallest share of personal income in U.S. history during the first quarter of this year, a USA TODAY analysis of government data finds.  —  At the same time, government-provided benefits …