Centrist Dems rip ‘tone-deaf’ White House  —  In the wake of the party's worst election drubbing since 1994, the deep frustration felt by many centrist Democrats toward the White House and the national party is now out in the open.  And it's being aired in the battleground state that's the biggest prize in presidential politics.

Lawrence O'Donnell vehemently denies his own words  —  On Friday morning, I had a somewhat contentious discussion on Morning Joe with MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell regarding the criticism I wrote of his election-night comments.  Salon posted the video last night — it's here for those who haven't seen it …

Bloomberg: Stop Blaming The Chinese, America  —  Mayor Bloomberg attends courtesy visit with Hong Kong Special Administration Region Chief Executive Donald Tsang.  And he's tall!  (Photo Credit: Kristen Artz)  —  At the C40 conference in Hong Kong yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg urged the heads …

On cable news and cable not-news  —  As you may have heard today, Keith Olbermann has been temporarily suspended from his job hosting Countdown on this network, because he made three personal political donations to candidates in this last election cycle.  The reason for Keith's suspension …

Pleading Sanity  —  At his Rally to Restore Sanity, Jon Stewart complained about the shrieking tone of cable news.  Were you watching when a montage juxtaposed footage from your news show with that of Glenn Beck's?  —  I saw that.  I was sitting at home, with my notebooks for the election …

Exporting Our Way to Stability  —  AS the United States recovers from this recession, the biggest mistake we could make would be to rebuild our economy on the same pile of debt or the paper profits of financial speculation.  We need to rebuild on a new, stronger foundation for economic growth.

Black and Republican and Back in Congress  —  WASHINGTON — For the first time in over a decade, the incoming class of Congress will include two black Republicans, both of whom rode the Tea Party wave to victory while playing down their race.  —  One of them, Allen West …

Obama calls for compromise, won't budge on tax cuts  —  Days after Democrats received a self-described “shellacking” at the polls, President Obama called for an end to campaigning and an embrace of compromise.  —  But he signaled no willingness to bend on the first challenge likely to face …

Bernanke And The Shibboleths  —  Everyone hates quantitative easing.  The inflationistas believe that it's the end of Western civilization (but as a correspondent points out, we want them to believe that; similar beliefs about the end of the gold standard helped recovery in the 1930s); …

Caliphate on the Range?  The Shariah Precedent in American Courts  —  What's Your Reaction:  —  Judging by how Oklahoma voted in the recent election, one might conclude that despite its tiny Muslim population, Oklahoma was on the verge of becoming an Islamic caliphate in Middle America.

Murkowski confident with strong write-ins as Miller challenges loom  —  With a contentious fight over the legitimacy of write-in ballots looming in Alaska, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) enters the process seemingly confident she has an insurmountable lead over Republican Joe Miller.

Come Saturday Morning: Thanks, Teabaggers!  —  To quote Bill Clinton: “It's the economy, stupid.”  And if Barack Obama had pushed for the original stimulus plan using reconciliation, instead of stupidly seeking bipartisanship with Republicans determined to wreck America for political gain …