West says racism allegations against Tea Party by liberals didn't work  —  Florida's first black Republican congressman credited the Tea Party with standing up against allegations of racism from the left in supporting his successful candidacy.  —  “So I think that the …

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 …

Mark Shields: Palin Quitting As Governor Is Like Kennedy's Chappaquiddick  —  PBS's Mark Shields on Friday said Sarah Palin's decision to resign as the governor of Alaska is “like Ted Kennedy's Chappaquiddick.”  —  This astonishingly came moments after he called Nancy Pelosi …

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.

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.

Obama to use teleprompter for Hindi speech  —  Namaste India!  In all likelihood that will be silver-tongued Barack Obama's opening line when he addresses the Indian parliament next week.  But to help him pronounce Hindi words correctly will be a teleprompter which the US president uses ever so often for his hypnotising speeches.

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 …

While Warning About Fat, U.S. Pushes Cheese Sales  —  Domino's Pizza was hurting early last year.  Domestic sales had fallen, and a survey of big pizza chain customers left the company tied for the worst tasting pies.  —  Then help arrived from an organization called Dairy Management.

The Grizzly Manifesto  —  I think it is time to take back the mama grizzly.  —  “In real life, they are famous for their reproductive freedom,” said Gloria Steinem over the phone.  —  This is one of the many things I love about Steinem.  When things are darkest, she will come …

Would we be better off under a President Hillary Clinton?  —  As I sat in the East Room last week watching a forlorn President Obama account for his shellacking, I listened with concern as he described the presidency as a “growth process” and suggested that the midterm setback was somehow inevitable.

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); …