Voters' support for members of Congress is at an all-time low, poll finds  —  As voters head to the polls Tuesday for a crucial set of primary elections, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds antipathy toward their elected officials rising and anti-incumbent sentiment at an all-time high.

Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?  —  Self-identified liberals and Democrats do badly on questions of basic economics.  —  Who is better informed about the policy choices facing the country—liberals, conservatives or libertarians?  According to a Zogby International survey that I write …

The sad farewell of Helen Thomas  —  Afew months ago, White House reporters settled on a system for preserving the sanctity of Helen Thomas's front-row-center seat in the briefing room.  On those frequent occasions when the 89-year-old legend didn't show up for a briefing …

Pelosi delivers speech over screams of health-care activists  —  Raucous demonstrators greeted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) at a gathering of progressive activists in Washington on Tuesday morning, forcing her to yell her 28-minute policy speech over their loud and uninterrupted protests.

Obama: I would've fired BP chief by now  —  Ex-EPA lawyer brands oil company as ‘recurring environmental criminal’  —  msnbc.com staff and news service reports  —  President Barack Obama would have fired BP's CEO Tony Hayward over controversial comments downplaying the Gulf oil spill — if the executive had been working for him.

The gathering storm, cont'd  —  William Shawcross is the son of Winston Churchill's lawyer, the prominent former Nuremberg prosecutor and Labor MP Sir Hartley Shawcross.  He thus provides something of a living link to Churchill whom we are especially proud to claim as a friend of our site.

Art Laffer: Make Up Your Own Facts Here  —  To a man whose only tool is a hammer, pretty soon everything begins to look like a nail.  —  I couldn't help but be reminded of that aphorism as I read the most popular article on WSJ.com yesterday — Tax Hikes and the 2011 Economic Collapse …

Health law could ban low-cost plans  —  Part of the health care overhaul due to kick in this September could strip more than 1 million people of their insurance coverage, violating a key goal of President Barack Obama's reforms.  —  Under the provision, insurance companies will no longer …

‘A Very Deep Hole’  —  I know the president has a lot on his mind, but the No. 1 problem facing the U.S. continues to fester, and that problem is unemployment.  —  The jobs report for May, released on Friday by the Labor Department, was grim.  President Obama tried to put the best face on it …

Just 19% See White House Job Offers As Anything Unusual  —  Voters express only modest concern and hardly any surprise about the secret job offers made by the Obama White House to Democratic politicians in Colorado and Pennsylvania in hopes of getting them to drop their primary challenges of incumbent senators.

Charlie Crist Removes Pro-Life Section of Campaign Web Site, Rubio Complains  —  Tallahassee, FL (LifeNews.com) — In the latest development in the race for the open U.S. Senate seat in Florida, Governor Charlie Crist is coming under fire for removing the pro-life section of his campaign website.

Mitch Daniels Makes the Rounds  —  Mitch Daniels is clearly raising his profile and leaving the door open to a 2012 presidential run.  COMMENTARY contributor Andrew Ferguson's story is as comprehensive a piece on his views and persona as we have seen.  Daniels is in Washington …

KICK-ASS CONTEXT.... I've seen some mild criticism of President Obama this morning, from those wondering if the “whose ass to kick” line on the “Today” show was excessive bravado.  Adam Serwer noted, for example, that Americans are “not going to be happier because the president has pulled out his Bruce Willis impression.”

Boehner ridicules Obama's healthcare town hall with seniors as PR gimmick  —  House GOP leader John Boehner (Ohio) went on the offensive Tuesday against an event in which President Barack Obama will promote his signature healthcare reform law to seniors.  —  Boehner ridiculed an online town hall …

Leftist Tali Fahima converts to Islam  —  Woman who had affair with al-Aqsa Brigades commander Zubeidi, served time for aiding terrorists converts to Islam at Umm al-Fahm mosque.  ‘From now on she is a full-fledged Muslim,’ sheikh says  —  Sheikh Yusuf Albaz confirmed that Fahima converted.

Washington Whispers  —  Home > Nation & World > Washington Whispers  —  CNBC Host Says Obama Sullied Office With ‘Ass to Kick’ Line  —  Becky Quick slapped Obama for using unpresidential language  —  Not everybody was pleased with President Obama's uncharacteristic line on the Today Show …

Bill Clinton calls La. senator ‘sinner’ in fundraising letter  —  Former President Clinton has sent out a fundraising letter on behalf of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee under his own name warning that Republicans are trying to “derail' President Obama's agenda.  —  Not much unexpected there.

Daring to Discuss Women in Science  —  The House of Representatives has passed what I like to think of as Larry's Law.  The official title of this legislation is “Fulfilling the potential of women in academic science and engineering,” but nothing did more to empower its advocates …

White House is directing agencies to cut budgets  —  The White House is directing agencies to develop plans for trimming at least 5 percent from their budgets by identifying programs that do little to advance their missions or President Obama's agenda.  —  The request, made amid rising public anxiety …

America's Future Now: The Surliest Conference In America  —  Surly is about the best word to describe this conference in Washington after the first day.  Speaker after speaker excoriated the trajectory from the political sphere as too accommodating, too solicitous, and not enough.