Jet contrails from some angles look like missile trails  —  [Edit - This post was originally from Jan 19th, 2010.  I've updated it with information about the “Mystery Missile” contrail of Nov 8, 2010, at the bottom of this post.  Clearly it's the same thing]

Bush: “I probably won't even vote for McCain”  —  George W. Bush's bombastic return to the world stage has reminded me of my favourite Bush anecdote, which for various reasons we couldn't publish at the time.  Some of the witnesses still dine out on it.  —  The venue was the Oval Office.

Miller sues to force exact spelling rule for write-in votes  —  JUNEAU — GOP nominee Joe Miller is asking a federal judge to keep the state from using discretion in counting write-in ballots in Alaska's hotly contested Senate race.  —  The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, comes …

Republicans Maneuver to Oust Their Leader  —  WASHINGTON — Turning their attention to the 2012 presidential election, Republican leaders are digging in for a battle over control of the Republican National Committee, judging that its role in fund-raising, get-out-the-vote operations and other tasks …

Democrats want leadership elections delayed  —  (CNN) - Two House Democrats are circulating a letter asking Democratic leaders to push their party's leadership elections for the next Congress until December.  —  Reps. Marcy Kaptur (D- Ohio) and Peter Defazio (D-Oregon) say in the letter that the …

Bryan Fischer: A hot dog on two legs - time for open season on Yellowstone grizzlies  —  One human being is worth more than an infinite number of grizzly bears.  Another way to put it is that there is no number of live grizzlies worth one dead human being.  If it's a choice between grizzlies and humans, the grizzlies have to go.

Inspector General: White House skewed drilling-ban report  —  The White House rewrote crucial sections of an Interior Department report to suggest an independent group of scientists and engineers supported a six-month ban on offshore oil drilling, the Interior inspector general says in a new report.

House Republicans Name Program That Already Expired As First Spending Item They Would Cut  —  ThinkProgress has been documenting the struggles that House Republicans have been having as they attempt to claim the mantle of fiscal responsibility without laying out any real spending cuts to which anyone might object.

Presidential Power Rankings  —  The Hotline assesses which potential White House contenders are most likely to win the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.  —  Welcome to The Hotline's inaugural edition of Presidential Power Rankings.  —  Who is best positioned to win the 2012 Republican presidential nomination?

LIFESTYLES OF THE RICH, THE FAMOUS, AND THE NEW JERSEY GOVERNORS.... New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), a media darling and favorite of many Republican activists, has a penchant for complaining about wasteful government spending and public employees who abuse the system and fail to respect the taxpayers footing the bills.

The Myth of Record-High Gold  —  2:14 p.m. |  Updated with more detail  —  “Gold sets record high amid economic fears,” The Associated Press recently wrote.  “Gold surges to record high,” CNN said.  Gold closed Monday “at a record $1,402.80 per troy ounce,” the front page of The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

First Salvo In Social Security Fight: OweNo, A $20 Million Campaign Launched With Bayh, Conrad As Allies  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? … WASHINGTON — In what may be the first major move of the forthcoming Social Security debate, the Peterson Foundation launched on Tuesday a $20 million TV ad campaign …

Wiggins takes lead in WA Supreme Court race  —  Charlie Wiggins took a slim lead Tuesday over incumbent Justice Richard Sanders after trailing him for nearly a week of vote counting in the race for state Supreme Court.  —  Wiggins had a 3,517-vote lead following the vote count update from King County …

Carlson sent fake ‘Olbermann’ emails to Philly columnist  —  Tucker Carlson boasted in July that his site, the Daily Caller, had bought the domain name for liberal MSNBC host Keith Olbermann.  Carlson, a conservative journalist and pundit, even said he would start using the email address keith@keitholbermann.com as a gag.

Alvin Greene mulls presidential bid  —  'Maybe.  I'll have to see,' Alvin Greene said about running for president.  —  Alvin Greene might run for president.  —  Greene, the unlikely Democratic Senate nominee in South Carolina who lost overwhelmingly to Republican Sen. Jim DeMint last week …

The Big Lie  —  It seems to me that the last year or so in America's political culture has represented the triumph of untruth.  And the untruth was propagated by a deliberate, simple and systemic campaign to kill Obama's presidency in its crib.  Emergency measures in a near-unprecedented economic collapse …

As Book Tour Begins, George W. Bush's Favorable Rating at 44%  —  Nearly two years after leaving office, Bush's image remains more negative than positive  —  PRINCETON, NJ — As he begins promoting his new memoir “Decision Points,” former President George W. Bush receives a 44% favorable and 53% unfavorable rating from Americans.

Olbermann's First Words Back On Air: “Oh, Hi! ...  So, What's New?”  —  A camera lingers on a darkened, seemingly empty set.  There are a few long seconds of tense silence.  Then, from off-screen, we hear a familiar voice: “Oh, hi! ...  So, what's new?”  —  That's how Keith Olbermann opened …

Progressives don't really get progress, but the American people do  —  Progressives claim to have a monopoly on progress - designed by intellectuals who ‘know better’ and brought about by a big, beneficent government.  But Americans voted in last week's elections that this brand …