McConnell: Medicare recess appointment is ‘truly outrageous’  —  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday blasted the White House for its plan to sidestep Congress in appointing Donald Berwick to lead Medicare.  —  “As if shoving a trillion-dollar government takeover …

Obama Job Approval Rating Down to 38% Among Independents  —  Overall job ratings for the president continue to be below majority level  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Thirty-eight percent of independents approve of the job Barack Obama is doing as president, the first time independent approval of Obama …

Something Is Happening In Palinland  —  From Mercede Johnston's blog: … That's a very good question.  So is the question of how Palin finally put the screws on Levi.  In Palinland, no one knows what's really going on.  But I wonder if this is a somewhat panicked response …

America's most unlikely politician  —  Last month, an unknown, unemployed former soldier astonished America by becoming the Democratic nominee for South Carolina's upcoming senate election.  How on earth did he do it?  —  The journey to the home of one of the most enigmatic figures to emerge …

Retirement Age Follies  —  John Boehner wants to cut my Social Security benefits while leaving his benefits intact.  —  Brian Beutler has a good reported piece on growing enthusiasm on Capitol Hill for cutting Social Security via the mechanism of raising the retirement age for younger workers.

A New Generation, an Elusive American Dream  —  GRAFTON, Mass. — After breakfast, his parents left for their jobs, and Scott Nicholson, alone in the house in this comfortable suburb west of Boston, went to his laptop in the living room.  He had placed it on a small table that his mother …

Democrats digging harder than ever for dirt on Republicans  —  The Democratic Party is moving faster and more aggressively than in previous election years to dig up unflattering details about Republican challengers.  In House races from New Jersey to Ohio to California …

Mob shoots fireworks at police, firefighters  —  ALTON - First responders from the Alton Fire Department and five officers from the Alton Police Department were attacked by a crowd of several hundred people in the Oakwood Housing Complex who shot large bottle rockets at them.

Tipper Gore Isn't Buying Masseuse's Story  —  According to the tabloids, the last straw in Al and Tipper Gore's 40-year marriage was massage therapist Molly Hagerty's claim the former Vice President demanded sexual favors during a 2006 massage in his Portland, Ore. hotel room.

Why I am blacklisted by MSNBC  —  In case you were wondering why you haven't seen me on MSNBC recently, it seems that Joe Scarborough, he of the lowest rated morning show in cableland, has blackballed me.  And Phil Griffin, the alleged president of MSNBC, is going along with it.

Mitt Romney's dumb critique of Obama's New START nuke treaty.  —  In 35 years of following debates over nuclear arms control, I have never seen anything quite as shabby, misleading and—let's not mince words—thoroughly ignorant as Mitt Romney's attack on the New START treaty in the July 6 Washington Post.

Darrell Issa Emerges as Obama's Annoyer-in-Chief  —  WASHINGTON — As a sign of the pride Representative Darrell Issa takes in annoying the Obama administration, consider his account of a recent exchange with Rahm Emanuel, a former congressman and now the White House chief of staff.

There is no ‘free’ lemonade  —  In giving drink away, girls ignore rules of economics — and sum up what's wrong with U.S.  —  This column is a true story — every word of it.  And I think it very appropriate to consider around the Fourth of July, Independence Day spirit.

Rep. Capito wants November special election for Byrd seat  —  Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) weighed in Wednesday on the succession process for the late-Sen. Robert Byrd's seat for the first time.  —  Capito called for a special election this November to fill the seat.

Steps Point to Possible Swap of Spy Suspects With Russia  —  MOSCOW — The mother of a Russian scientist convicted of spying for the United States said Wednesday that her son had been moved to Moscow from a penal colony in preparation for a possible trade involving the Russian spy suspects detained last month in the United States.

Why Isn't Investment Higher?  —  Truly, we live in a time of mass delusion — or maybe make that elite delusion — where there are lots of things that everyone believes, without a shred of evidence to back that belief.  Here's one more: everywhere you go, you encounter the claim that businesses …

Senator David Vitter Calls Case of Violent Aide Old News  —  Louisiana Senator Brushes Off Questions About His Decision to Retain Staffer After Arrest  —  Louisiana Sen. David Vitter today offered his first public response to questions about the behavior of his longtime aide …

Head Of 'World's Largest Interactive Christian Website' Calls Out Beck's ‘Deception’ About His Mormonism  —  Glenn Beck often speaks about faith on his radio show and Fox News program, but he almost never mentions his own faith — Mormonism.  Beck's audience largely consists of conservative Christians …

Good news: Michigan school district effectively bans white teachers from being hired  —  UPDATE: On second thought, it is interesting that liberals want to beat conservatives over the head with a legal shovel when it suits their purposes.  But when the law is against their ideological goals, they flip it the finger.

Obama Asks Court to Reinstate Ban on Deepwater Drilling  —  WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has asked a federal court in Louisiana to reinstate the ban on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, saying the moratorium was a rational response to the unprecedented emergency of the BP oil spill.

Colorado Pols Responds to Newspaper Legal Threats  —  UPDATE: Check out this note we received from David Mastio, Deputy Editorial Page Editor at The Washington Times: … You might have noticed that the principal authors of Colorado Pols have not cited The Denver Post, or several other newspapers in the state, for some weeks.