At Flagging Tribune, Tales of a Bankrupt Culture  —  In January 2008, soon after the venerable Tribune Company was sold for $8.2 billion, Randy Michaels, a new top executive, ran into several other senior colleagues at the InterContinental Hotel next to the Tribune Tower in Chicago.

Obama-Clinton ticket ‘on the table,’ Woodward says  —  (CNN) - Some called a Barack Obama-Hillary Clinton pairing the “Dream Ticket” in 2008.  It didn't happen.  —  But what about 2012?  —  “It's on the table,” veteran Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward told CNN's John King in an interview Tuesday on John King, USA.

Internal Emails Suggest Palin to Run for President  —  What's Your Reaction:  —  ~Sarah Palin addresses the Conservative Patriots Group rally in Wasilla, Alaska on 9/11/10  —  It has long been speculated that former Alaska governor and Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin would mount a bid for the White House in 2012.

Arnold Schwarzenegger: Obama will win in 2012  —  California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger predicted that President Barack Obama will win re-election in two years, especially if the Republican Party re-takes control of the House of Representatives in the November midterm elections.

Truth about the public option momentarily emerges, quickly scampers back into hiding  —  (updated below)  —  As I've noted before, the column of mine which produced the greatest level of hate mail and anger in the last year — both in terms of intensity and quantity — was this one from August …

Obama Strains to Get Liberals Back Into Fold Ahead of Vote  —  WASHINGTON — With four weeks until Congressional elections that will shape the remainder of his term, President Obama is increasingly focused on generating enthusiasm within the base that helped put him in the White House two years ago …

POLL: GOP leads widely, Dems in danger but race for House tight  —  In a poll of 12 hotly contested races that could decide who controls the House in the 112th Congress, Republican challengers are beating freshman Democrats in 11 — and in the last one, the race is tied.

Taliban in high-level talks with Karzai government, sources say  —  Taliban representatives and the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai have begun secret, high-level talks over a negotiated end to the war, according to Afghan and Arab sources.  —  The talks follow inconclusive meetings …

Top 100 most influential Right-wingers: 25-1  —  The final part of our list looking at who wields power on the Right of British politics.  —  Compiled by Iain Dale and Brian Brivati  —  Former Prime Minister  —  It took the election of a new Conservative Prime Minister to finally nail …

Rick Sanchez apologizes to Jon Stewart for calling him a ‘bigot’  —  Tweet  —  Former CNN anchor Rick Sanchez apologized to comedian Jon Stewart for calling him a “bigot” in radio interview last week, Sanchez's wife revealed Monday.  —  “Rick apologized to jon stewart today,” Sanchez's wife …

Presidential seal falls off podium as Obama speaks  —  WASHINGTON (AP) - The presidential seal has fallen off President Barack Obama's podium and clattered to the stage as Obama delivered a speech to a women's conference.  —  The president was joking with the audience and getting some laughs when he realized what happened.

Beck On Family's Home Burning Down As Firefighters Watched: ‘We Are Going To Have To Have These Things’  —  As ThinkProgress reported yesterday, last week South Fulton Fire Department firefighters from Obion, Tennessee, stood by and watched as the Cranick family's home burned down …

MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell: Michael Steele is dancing for his GOP ‘master’  —  I don't believe in reading racial tea leaves just for political gain, but what was Lawrence O'Donnell thinking?  Here's how he described RNC Chairman Michael Steele on his MSNBC program tonight:

‘Likely’ Voters: How Pollsters Define And Choose Them  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  We have seen the “likely voter” polling problem rear its head several times in recent weeks, but few examples have been as vivid as three national surveys released in the last 24 hours.

Green Supremacists  —  An environmentalist fantasy of violent totalitarianism.  —  What kind of people blow up children?  —  White supremacists, for one example.  On the morning of Sept. 15, 1963, members of a Ku Klux Klan “splinter group” set off dynamite under the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church …

The Incidence of Unemployment and Underemployment, by Income  —  As we ponder the plight of the over-$250K household income group (see the poignant story here), I think it worthwhile to examine the unemployment and underemployment rates for lower-income households.

Limbaugh Calls President Obama a ‘Jackass’  —  ABC News' Steven Portnoy reports:  —  Derision of the president on his program is nothing new, but Rush Limbaugh's tone today may have struck the ears of regular listeners as particularly disdainful, taking his contempt of the president to a new level.

Krugman Gets Pay-to-Spray Wrong  —  The steady stream of e-mails on the South Fulton fire story — 70/30 disagreeing with me — continues, as if issuing from the working end of a fire hose located anywhere else but in South Fulton, Tennessee.  —  I don't have much more to add …

Palin: Abortion ‘essential’ issue in midterm elections  —  Houston, Texas (CNN) - Sarah Palin starkly framed the midterm elections on Tuesday as a choice between political candidates who favor a “culture of life” and those on the opposite side of the issue wanting to implement “a culture of death.”

Tea Parties Forge Alliances in Bid to Advance Agendas  —  RICHMOND, Va.—The tea-party movement is turning more professional.  —  Around the country, tea-party groups are building increasingly sophisticated political organizations and overcoming early bickering to push legislative platforms …

Dems turn on Obama over Iraq, Afghanistan, Gitmo  —  It's pretty clear that Democrats are less enthusiastic about voting this year than Republicans.  The latest evidence comes from Gallup, which reports that Republicans' 3 percent edge in congressional voting among registered voters increases …

Florida Lawmaker Is a Proud Firebrand  —  ORLANDO, Fla. — Calling voters on behalf of Alan Grayson, the Florida congressman and Democratic firebrand, can require the finer arts of persuasion.  —  Even Democrats occasionally ask: Must he be so negative?  Labeling Republicans “knuckle-dragging Neanderthals” as he did last year?

The Socialist  —  Every age seeks visionaries to leave, in the wake of their genius, a changed world - but rarely are they found without a few strikeout also-rans getting a crack first.  In 2008, millions of Americans thought they had found the real thing.  —  Over the subsequent two years …

W.H. on bomber: System worked  —  The White House touted the life sentence imposed on Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad on Tuesday as evidence that the criminal justice system is capable of meting out swift and severe punishment in terrorism cases, notwithstanding Republican complaints …

‘Sexual element’ in Saudi prince's servant killing  —  CCTV of Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser al Saud and his servant was shown at the Old Bailey  —  A Saudi prince murdered his servant in an attack which had a “sexual element”, the Old Bailey has heard.  —  Bandar Abdulaziz, 32 …

Oliver Stone: Sarah Palin's a Moron, Know-Nothing; Compares Her to KKK  —  Perhaps this will be a nightly feature on CNN's new, Parker-Spitzer Show.  Last night it was Aaron Sorkin calling Ms. Palin an “idiot” and tonight Oliver Stone has a turn.  He then compares her political success to the …

Moe Tucker, Velvet Underground Drummer, Stuns Fans With Tea Party Support (VIDEO)  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  It's safe to assume that most Velvet Underground fans never imagined that “All Tomorrow's Parties” would end up referring to Tea Party rallies in Georgia.

Female lobbyists cry foul as Republican lawmakers keep their distance on the Hill  —  Rep. Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.) won't meet with women behind closed doors on Capitol Hill, fearing how staffers and aides could perceive it.  —  “It was Bill Graham's policy, and if it's good enough for Billy Graham, it's good enough for me,” Wamp said.