Petraeus briefly collapses at Senate hearing on Afghanistan  —  Gen. David Petraeus, the head of Central Command, briefly collapsed at a Senate Armed Services hearing on progress in Afghanistan.  —  Petraeus was about to answer a question when he went silent and passed out in front of the microphone.

NPR Poll Shows Tough Road Ahead For Democrats  —  A new public opinion survey for NPR shows just how difficult it will be for Democrats to avoid big losses in the House this November.  —  Democrat Stan Greenberg and Republican Glen Bolger conducted the first public battleground poll of this election cycle.

66% of Voters Are Angry At The Media  —  Sixty-six percent (66%) of U.S. voters describe themselves as at least somewhat angry at the media, including 33% who are Very Angry.  —  A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 31% say they are not angry at the media …

Rep. Bob Etheridge gets vicious in viral video — but who filmed it and why?  —  So, what really happened when Rep. Bob Etheridge ran into a couple of self-described “students” on the streets of D.C. last week?  The video confrontation between the obscure seven-term North Carolina Dem …

Efforts to Repel Gulf Oil Spill Are Described as Chaotic  —  GRAND ISLE, La. — Deano Bonano, the emergency preparedness director for Jefferson Parish, marched from a motor home being used as a command center to an office across the street filled with BP officials.  —  It was late May.

Key Dem says votes lacking to include climate change in energy bill  —  There aren't enough votes to include climate change rules in a Senate energy bill, a top Democrat said Tuesday.  —  Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), a senior member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee …

Obama to name oil recovery ‘czar’ in first Oval Office address  —  PHOTOS ( 1 )  —  US President Barack Obama speaks as Coast Guarad Admiral Thad Allen looks on after touring the Theodore Staging Facility June 14, 2010 in Theodore, Alabama.  —  WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama …

I admit it: I was wrong to have supported Barack Obama  —  In three and a half years of blogging, this has been my single most unpopular post.  There's little point, I know, in reminding readers that my support for Barack Obama was qualified; that I simultaneously endorsed GOP Congressional candidates …

Obama May Go ‘Middle Big’ in BP Address  —  I'm pulling this out of last night's Night Beat with a bit of augmentation.  —  Aside from regulation, a strong confrontational tone against BP, and an acknowledgment of reality, the White House is remaining mum on whether the President will use …

Angle works to soothe nervous GOP  —  Sharron Angle is coming to Washington for two days of meetings designed to reassure worried Republican leaders that she will not let Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid define her as an eccentric right-wing extremist before her campaign against Reid even gets off the ground.

Glenn Beck's paranoid thriller, “The Overton Window”  —  THE OVERTON WINDOW by Glenn Beck Threshold.  321 pp.  $26 The success of Glenn Beck's novel, “The Overton Window,” will be measured not by its literary value (none), or its contribution to the thriller genre (small), or the money it rakes in …

Haley's path to Christianity leaves some evangelicals uneasy  —  In the wake of Nikki Haley's swift rise, her religious journey has become an increasingly common topic of discussion in churches, at community gatherings and online.  —  (CNN) - Whispers about Nikki Haley's Sikh heritage burst …

Another day, another Waxman inquisition  —  Henry Waxman, the Witch Hunter of Capitol Hill, is in nirvana today — lining up all the oil execs for one of his trademark public floggings: … Waxman's underlying, longtime agenda: War on Big Oil. … Silly companies.  There's no appeasing Torquemada.

Paypal Called, Paypal Caved  —  Paypal backed down.  Excelsior!  —  As many of you know, on Friday of last week, my paypal account was “restricted.”  After a recent review of my account they said, “it has been determined” that I was “currently in violation of PayPal's Acceptable Use Policy.

Washington Sketch: Clinton finally ahead of Obama in popularity  —  It's about two years too late, but Hillary Clinton has finally pulled ahead of Barack Obama.  —  By any measure — favorability ratings or job approval — Americans by a sizable margin have warmer views of the secretary of state than they do of the president.

Bank babe busts out big guns  —  Too-hot-to-bank stunner Debrahlee Lorenzana is pulling out the heavy artillery, hiring media-savvy feminist lawyer Gloria Allred and a high-powered New York attorney after The Post ripped into the beauty yesterday.  —  Allred — whose other high-profile clients include …