Why President Obama loses by winning  —  The imminent passage of financial reform, just a couple months after the passage of comprehensive health care, should decisively end the narrative that President Obama represents a Jimmy Carter-style case of naïve hope crushed by the inability to master Washington.

VIDEO: Yes, there is racism in the Tea Party movement.  —  After months of racist incidents and rallies filled with hateful signs disparaging President Obama's ethnicity and other minorities, the NAACP has passed a resolution officially condemning racism in the Tea Party movement.

My Biggest Mistake in the White House  —  Failing to refute charges that Bush lied us into war has hurt our country.  —  Seven years ago today, in a speech on the Iraq war, Sen. Ted Kennedy fired the first shot in an all-out assault on President George W. Bush's integrity.

Does Sarah Palin Really Have a Chance?  —  The music swells and then picks up tempo.  Sarah Palin is talking about how 2010 will be the year that “commonsense conservative women get things done for our country.”  She's worried about “these policies coming out of D.C. right now …

Companies pile up cash but remain hesitant to add jobs  —  Corporate America is hoarding a massive pile of cash.  It just doesn't want to spend it hiring anyone.  —  Nonfinancial companies are sitting on $1.8 trillion in cash, roughly one-quarter more than at the beginning of the recession.

Senate VIP Loans Mount  —  Countrywide Dealt With More Lawmakers and Staffers Than Previously Known  —  Angelo Mozilo, former Countrywide Financial chairman  —  U.S. senators or Senate employees received 30 loans—far more than had previously been known—under a controversial lending program …

Democrat Bart Stupak Accuses Pro-Life Groups of ‘Politicizing’ Abortion Issue to Undermine Health Care Reform  —  (CNSNews.com) - Several Democrats say pro-life conservatives have it wrong: They say the $160 million taxpayer dollars going to fund Pennsylvania's new high-risk insurance pool …

Fund-Raising Before House Vote Draws Scrutiny  —  WASHINGTON — Lawmakers take contributions every day from corporate executives and lobbyists hoping for their votes.  The question of whether that represents business as usual in Washington or an ethics breach is at the heart …

MSNBC Host Calls Reid ‘Ball-less’  —  ANOTHER MELTDOWN  —  Libtalker: ‘Shove Those (GOP) Bastards Into The Dirthole’  —  All week, the big question has been whether Democrats are truly imploding, or simply projecting that image to reduce electoral expectations and create complacent Republicans.

Reid: Unemployment Benefits Extension Vote On Tuesday  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Wednesday that the Senate would vote move forward with reauthorizing unemployment benefits on Tuesday morning, after the replacement for the late Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) has been sworn in.

Romney holds wide lead in PAC money over Republican contenders  —  Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's political action committees (PACs) have raised more than $1.8 million combined in the second quarter and doled out nearly $350,000 to Republican candidates.

U.S. home foreclosures reach record high in second quarter  —  Bank repossessions increased 38% in the second quarter from the same period a year earlier for a record total of 269,952, according to data to be released Thursday by RealtyTrac.  —  Short sales are one way lenders have been striving to avert foreclosures.

Biden, Sen. Graham to huddle Thursday  —  Vice President Joe Biden will meet one on one with GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham at the White House on Thursday following a series of meetings with Democratic leaders on the agenda before the August recess.  —  The South Carolina senator has negotiated …

Researcher Says Scott McInnis Lied  —  Rolly Fischer: I Didn't Know He Was Making Money On Articles  —  Tom Burke and Arthur Kane and John Ferrugia , CALL7 Investigators  —  GLENWOOD SPRINGS — The man Scott McInnis blamed for the plagiarized material in an article on water rights told …

Economics Behaving Badly  —  IT seems that every week a new book or major newspaper article appears showing that irrational decision-making helped cause the housing bubble or the rise in health care costs.  —  Such insights draw on behavioral economics, an increasingly popular field …

Memo to media: Pamela Geller does not belong on national television  —  Numerous mainstream media outlets have recently hosted right-wing “Atlas Shrugs” blogger Pamela Geller to discuss the controversy surrounding a proposed Islamic community center set to be built blocks away from Ground Zero.

Megyn Kelly's minstrel show  —  I don't really get a chance to watch TV in Unalaska, and the one thing I miss is Megyn Kelly of Fox News.  The last week or so of her work — her one woman crusade against the New Black Panther Party — has been truly riveting television.

When Does Fox News' Ugly Race Baiting Become The Story?  —  Chasing the phony New Black Panther mirage, the conservative movement is now wallowing in the kind of unapologetic race-baiting that mainstream American politics hasn't seen in decades, if not generations.  —  But the press pretends otherwise.

Argentina legalises gay marriage  —  Debate continued until the early hours of Thursday  —  Argentina has become the first country in Latin America to legalise gay marriage after the Senate voted in favour.  —  The country's Chamber of Deputies had already approved the legislation.

Gay rights enter immigration debate  —  Trying to broaden support for immigration reform, key Democratic lawmakers on Thursday will endorse legislation that would grant gay and lesbian Americans the ability to legally bring their foreign partners to the United States.

In Dodging a Budget Vote, Dems Take Reconciliation Off the Table  —  Decision Could Preclude a Jobs Bill Next Year … On Tuesday, the Treasury Department announced that the country's deficit had hit the $1 trillion mark just nine months into the fiscal year.

Mitch McConnell previews Republican message for the fall  —  1. In a speech to a group of young Republicans today, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) will cast the GOP as the party of change and checks and balances — a preview of the Republican message heading into the fall campaign.

18th-Century Ship Found at Trade Center Site  —  In the middle of tomorrow, a great ribbed ghost has emerged from a distant yesterday.  —  On Tuesday morning, workers excavating the site of the underground vehicle security center for the future World Trade Center hit a row of sturdy …

Pollution fight cools climate talks  —  Closed-door meetings between a select group of environmentalists and a handful of electric utility executives may determine the fate of climate change legislation in the Senate.  —  Majority Leader Harry Reid's top energy aide, Chris Miller …