Colbert appearance causes mixed feelings  —  Comedian Stephen Colbert's scheduled appearance on Capitol Hill Friday elicited mixed reactions from lawmakers, with some grateful for his participation and others incensed he had been invited in the first place.  —  The star of Comedy Central's …

Downhill With the G.O.P.  —  Once upon a time, a Latin American political party promised to help motorists save money on gasoline.  How?  By building highways that ran only downhill.  —  I've always liked that story, but the truth is that the party received hardly any votes.

SENATE POLL: Senate race in dead heat between Reid, Angle  —  Race remains knotted with six weeks until election  —  U.S. Sen. Harry Reid and GOP challenger Sharron Angle tied with 43 percent of the vote in a new poll that suggests most Nevadans won't gamble on half a dozen other little known contenders.

Christopher Coates takes the stand  —  Former Department of Justice voting rights section chief Christopher Coates testified this morning before the Civil Rights Commission regarding the department's disposition of the case against the New Black Panther Party.

Soros revealed as funder of liberal Jewish-American lobby  —  The Jewish-American advocacy group J Street, which bills itself as the dovish alternative to the influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) lobby, has secretly received funding from billionaire George Soros despite previous denials …

Liberal media goes on attack against GOP's Boehner  —  Tweet  —  The heat is on Republican leader John Boehner.  —  Liberal media outlets are trying to smear the highest-ranking Republican in the House just weeks before the midterm elections with a deal-breaking scandal before he has a chance …

Politically savvy Senators wanted middle class tax cut vote  —  Here's a depressing postscript to yesterday's decision by Senate Dems to postpone the vote on extending the middle class tax cuts: The most politically savvy Senators, the ones who are most involved in the politics of holding the Senate …

CNN's Klein: ‘I Got Shot’  —  CNN president Jonathan Klein didn't come into work this morning.  —  “I didn't want to put people in an awkward situation,” he told me.  Two days ago, he learned he was out of a job.  —  On Wednesday afternoon, CNN Worldwide president Jim Walton …

Zucker Announces Departure From NBC  —  Jeff Zucker, the chief executive of NBC Universal, told the company's employees in an e-mail Friday morning that he would step down from his position upon the completion of the takeover of NBC by Comcast.  —  The fate of Mr. Zucker …

Liberal blogger directly confronts David Axelrod, accuses White House of “hippie punching”  —  Top Obama adviser David Axelrod got an earful of the liberal blogosphere's anger at the White House moments ago, when a blogger on a conference call directly called out Axelrod over White House criticism …

Hidden Under Tax-Exempt Cloak, Political Dollars Flow  —  Alaskans grew suspicious two years ago when a national organization called Americans for Job Security showed up and spent $1.6 million pushing a referendum to restrict development of a gold and copper mine at the headwaters of Bristol Bay.

Visigoths at the gate?  —  When facing a tsunami, what do you do?  Pray, and tell yourself stories.  I am not privy to the Democrats' private prayers, but I do hear the stories they're telling themselves.  The new meme is that there's a civil war raging in the Republican Party.

Obama team uses flimflammery to inflate job numbers  —  Are you a financial adviser?  You may not know it, but you've got a green job.  Are you a wholesale buyer?  You've got a green job, too.  Or maybe you're a newspaper reporter.  You, too, have a green job — at least according to the Obama administration.

U. of Ill. denies William Ayers emeritus status  —  URBANA, Ill. — The University of Illinois on Thursday denied 1960s radical William Ayers emeritus faculty status after trustees Chairman Christopher Kennedy noted Ayers dedicated a book to, among others, the man who killed Kennedy's father, Robert F. Kennedy.

Now He's Lost Margaret Carlson  —  Obama's problem goes far deeper than his insolent style.  —  If he's lost Margaret Carlson, he's lost Middle America.  Sorry if you disagree, but somehow, to our mind, that joke just never gets old.  Carlson, a fixture at Time magazine before jumping …

TRENDING: CNN Poll: Obama at all time low  —  (CNN) - President Barack Obama is contending with the lowest approval rating of his 20-month presidency, a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll finds.  —  The president's approval rating now stands at 42 percent - an all time low in CNN polling …

Morning Jay: Goodbye to the Clinton Majority, Those Lucky Dems, and More!  —  1. Goodbye To The Clinton Majority?  Recently, Franklin & Marshall College put out a poll of Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District, in the Philadelphia suburbs, that shows incumbent Democrat Patrick Murphy …

Iconography of the Pledge  —  The visual iconography of the Pledge to America is fascinating.  It's full of photos of what I think are Republican members of Congress meeting with real Americans to better understand their problems and their burning desire for large deficit-financed tax cuts for rich people.