New Dem message: ‘Improve’ health care, don't talk cost  —  Key White House allies are dramatically shifting their attempts to defend health care legislation, abandoning claims that it will reduce costs and deficit and instead stressing a promise to “improve it.”

Moral myopia at Ground Zero  —  It's hard to be an Obama sycophant these days.  Your hero delivers a Ramadan speech roundly supporting the building of a mosque and Islamic center near Ground Zero in New York.  Your heart swells and you're moved to declare this President Obama's finest hour, his act of greatest courage.

Obama has himself to blame for Muslim problem  —  In 1985, Barack Obama had just arrived in Chicago for his new job as a community organizer when he headed to Smitty's Barbershop, a tiny storefront on the South Side.  As Smitty cut his hair, Obama listened to the men in the shop talk politics and racial grievance.

U.S. Persuades Israel That Iran's Nuclear Threat Is Not Imminent  —  WASHINGTON — The Obama administration, citing evidence of continued troubles inside Iran's nuclear program, has persuaded Israel that it would take roughly a year — and perhaps longer — for Iran to complete …

Obama now blames poor job numbers on congressional inaction.  Wait!  His party runs Congress  —  Just a few minor things to catch up on for the weekend now that the Fundraiser-in-Chief has gone on another vacation (Don't worry though.  White House chef Sam Kass went along, so the first family need not eat ordinary human food.)

Appeasing the Bond Gods  —  As I look at what passes for responsible economic policy these days, there's an analogy that keeps passing through my mind.  I know it's over the top, but here it is anyway: the policy elite — central bankers, finance ministers, politicians who pose as defenders …

EXCLUSIVE: ‘Be More Aggressive’: Tom DeLay Says GOP Needs to Go After ‘Obama Agenda’ Even Harder  —  Former GOP Leader Says He Still Speaks to Abramoff; Won't Rule Out Return to Politics  —  Despite the corruption and lobbying scandals that ensnared Republicans in Congress and triggered …

The right stuff  —  Indiana's governor is a likeable wonk.  Can he save the Republicans from themselves and provide a pragmatic alternative to Barack Obama?  —  CLAY COUNTY  —  THE governor does not like to keep people waiting.  On a recent morning this small man leapt out of a trooper's Toyota …

And now: The stealth Obama ocean grab  —  For the past few months, I've been spotlighting the Obama administration's War on the West, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's War on Jobs,  —  and the White House land lock-up (Part 1, Part 2).  Today's column exposes the next Obama environmental power grab — into the sea.

Academic scientists say oil from gulf spill is not going away quickly  —  Academic scientists are challenging the Obama administration's assertion that most of BP's oil in the Gulf of Mexico is either gone or rapidly disappearing — with one group Thursday announcing the discovery of a 22-mile …

Jeffrey Goldberg's fabrication on NPR  —  This is really quite strange.  Yesterday, my inbox began filling up with email telling me that Jeffrey Goldberg had gone on NPR and, when asked about my critiques of his Atlantic article on bombing Iran, claimed I had “retracted” part of what I had written.

President Obama's winning streak  —  This is a radical break from journalistic convention, I realize, but today I'd like to give credit where it's due — specifically, to President Obama.  Quiet as it's kept, he's on a genuine winning streak.  —  It's hard to remember that the inauguration was just 19 months ago.

Dean: ‘Some’ Dems demonizing N.Y. mosque opponents  —  Former DNC Chairman Howard Dean said Thursday that some members of his party have “demonized” opponents of the Lower Manhattan mosque.  —  Dean — who surprised many political observers this week by saying that the planners should move …

Dems hit at Bush in new cable ad  —  Democrats again used former President George W. Bush as a foe in their latest TV ad campaign, driving home the point Republicans would restore policies that helped create the economic downturn.  —  The Democratic National Committee (DNC) …

Obama's energy meltdown  —  The decision by congressional Democrats to not try to pass a major energy bill in this Congress, while receiving a modest amount of media attention, actually constitutes one of the sharpest rebukes to a sitting president in recent memory.

Republican primary bruises not healing quickly  —  Three days after losing a race for a Republican Senate nomination in Washington state, former pro football player and “Tea Party” favorite Clint Didier plans to reveal today whether he'll get behind the winner, Dino Rossi.

Arizona prison escapee, fiancée-cousin caught  —  Pair on lam since July 30, accused of killing elderly Oklahoma couple  —  Escaped inmate John McCluskey and his fiancée-cousin Casslyn Welch were captured in the northeast Arizona's Apache County, the U.S. Marshals Office said late Thursday.

The new battle: What it means to be American  —  It's a classic case of be careful what you wish for.  President Barack Obama wanted to end the baby boomer-era culture wars — and he's done it.  —  But along the way, Obama has sparked an even more visceral values debate about whether he's moving …

New images indicate moon may be shrinking  —  The moon may be shrinking, scientists say.  —  But not to worry.  It won't disappear anytime soon.  —  NASA scientists studying images sent back to Earth from a spacecraft orbiting the moon have found curving lines of small cliffs on the surface …

The Most Sexist Ad, Well, Ever  —  In an act of shockingly retro, sexist stupidity, a local unit of the Republican Party of Minnesota has broadcast a new reason you should vote Republican: GOP women are hot, and Democratic women are not.  —  The group has made a web video contrasting photos of attractive …

Oil spill and Iraq combat over, Obama takes break  —  VINEYARD HAVEN, Mass. - Finally, President Barack Obama can relax on vacation.  —  The Gulf oil leak is plugged.  The last combat troops are out of Iraq.  And Congress is on its own summer break.  —  Still, doubts remain about the strength …

Head of Mosque Plan Near Ground Zero Visits Mideast  —  CAIRO — Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the organizer of the planned Muslim community center in Lower Manhattan, arrived in Bahrain on Thursday to begin a three-country tour of the Persian Gulf sponsored by the United States State Department.

At Treasury, Geithner Struggles to Escape a Past He Never Had  —  WASHINGTON — Timothy F. Geithner has been misidentified as a former Wall Street insider from Goldman Sachs so many times since he became the Treasury secretary that he and his advisers had taken to joking about it.  Then the joke backfired.

Obama makes four recess appointments  —  President Obama made four recess appointments Thursday for nominees that have waited an average of 303 days for confirmation, the White House said.  —  “At a time when our nation faces so many pressing challenges, I urge members of the Senate …

Carnahan joins Blunt in backing tax cut extension  —  SEDALIA, MO.  —  In a change from her previous position, Democratic Senate candidate Robin Carnahan said Thursday that she now supports the extension of all tax cuts enacted during the administration of President George W. Bush.

Foreclosures Grind On  —  There is a lot of grim economic news out there, including Thursday's report that initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to half a million people last week.  The news on housing — where the financial crisis began — is also bad.