Ex-aides unload on Christine O'Donnell  —  By pulling off arguably the biggest upset of the primary election season Tuesday, Christine O'Donnell shocked the Republican establishment and political pundits who didn't think her campaign for the Delaware GOP Senate nomination had a chance.

The Backlash Myth  —  Many of my liberal friends are convinced that the Republican Party has a death wish.  It is sprinting to the right-most fever swamps of American life.  It will end up alienating the moderate voters it needs to win elections.  —  There's only one problem with this theory.

The Tax-Cut Racket  —  “Nice middle class you got here,” said Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader.  “It would be a shame if something happened to it.”  —  O.K., he didn't actually say that.  But he might as well have, because that's what the current confrontation over taxes amounts to.

Mao's Great Leap Forward ‘killed 45 million in four years’  —  Mao Zedong, founder of the People's Republic of China, qualifies as the greatest mass murderer in world history, an expert who had unprecedented access to official Communist Party archives said yesterday.

Romney Unleashed … That's how Mitt Romney, potential presidential candidate, begins his speech to the Values Voter Summit here in Washington today.  The rest of the speech is much less temperate than anything I've heard Romney give this year.  Romney has the fundamentals for a presidential bid down pat …

Fighting to Protect Consumers  —  Over the past several weeks, the President and I have had extensive conversations about the vital importance of consumer financial protection.  —  The President asked me, and I enthusiastically agreed, to serve as an Assistant to the President and Special Advisor …

Stimulus funds failed to create enough jobs: LA City Controller  —  The Los Angeles City Controller said on Thursday the city's use of its share of the $800 billion federal stimulus find has been disappointing.  —  The city received $111 million in stimulus under American Recovery and Reinvestment Act …

Bayh Says Poverty Increase Means Congress Should Ignore ‘Fairness’ And Cut Taxes For The Rich  —  Yesterday, the Census Bureau released a report showing that one in seven Americans is currently living in poverty, and that the median income decreased by nearly five percent during the last decade.

Comedians Stewart and Colbert plan Oct. 30 rally on the Mall  —  Comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert plan a pair of rallies on the National Mall shortly before Election Day.  —  Stewart said he was organizing a “Rally to Restore Sanity” in Washington on Oct. 30, billed as a …

Where Have All the Deficit Hawks Gone?  —  I noticed that earlier this year we were overwhelmed by a wave of anti-deficit grandstanding throughout the Democratic Party while the Catfood Commission was sending up trial balloons about cutting Social Security benefits, raising the retirement age …

Pope visit: Five suspected Islamist terrorists arrested over assassination plot  —  Police have arrested five suspected Islamist terrorists, working as street cleaners in London, over an alleged plan assassinate the Pope.  —  The men were arrested during raids at 5.45am at a rubbish depot …

When Dems take the low road  —  It isn't every day that Democrats target Latino challengers with nasty anti-immigrant ads, but these are apparently desperate times for certain embattled Dems.  —  Check out this remarkably vicious new ad from Blue Dog Dem Walt Minnick of Idaho …

Huckabee Supports Denying Coverage For Those With Preexisting Conditions  —  1 hour and 42 minutes ago — Chris Harris  —  Today marks the start of the religious right's Values Voter Summit in Washington, DC.  After a rousing multi-verse rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee took the stage.

Palin Endorses Continetti  —  THE WEEKLY STANDARD has obtained an advance copy of the new paperback edition of The Persecution of Sarah Palin by (THE WEEKLY STANDARD's) Matthew Continetti.  As you can see on the cover, the book carries with it the official endorsement of none other than Sarah Palin herself.

A Meme Is Born: ‘Dude, You Have No Koran’  —  As with so many things in America these days, a planned Koran-burning in Texas last week that seemed as if it might end in tears, instead ended in Auto-Tuning.  —  While much of the planet was focused on the possibility that the pastor …

Dinesh D'Souza Digs Himself in Deeper  —  Some more criticism of Forbes's disastrous Obama cover story  —  Dinesh D'Souza has responded to my, uh, criticism of his smear piece that, shamefully, made the cover of Forbes with its claims that Obama is directed by a “Kenyan, anticolonial” …

Documentary?  Better Call It Performance Art  —  CASEY AFFLECK wants to come clean.  —  His new movie, “I'm Still Here,” was performance.  Almost every bit of it.  Including Joaquin Phoenix's disturbing appearance on David Letterman's late-night show in 2009, Mr. Affleck said in a candid interview …

Fenty wins!  (As a GOP write-in)  —  D.C. Democrats may have rejected Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's bid for a second term at the polls on Tuesday, but the city's tiny Republican minority doesn't want to see him go.  —  A whopping 822 Republicans penned in Fenty's name on the write-in spot on the GOP ballot …

Can the U.S. Negotiate Peace in Afghanistan?  —  What's Your Reaction:  —  A major contribution of the “inside experts” Afghanistan Study Group report (read here; send to your reps in Congress here), released last week to spur Washington debate towards de-escalating the war at the next fork …

The Rout Is On.  —  Campaigns hate it when I suggest they have their races won, so let's include all the traditional caveats.  In a New York minute, everything can change; every candidate is one gaffe away from self-destruction, October surprises may abound, the only poll that matters …