'Sarah Palin's Alaska' Breaks TLC Ratings Record  —  Sarah Palin's documentary / travelogue / reality / biopic shattered TLC ratings records Sunday night.  —  The debut of Sarah Palin's Alaska delivered a whopping 5 million viewers.  —  The first episode of the eight-part series was the most-watched program launch in TLC's history.

The rest of the 2012 polls...  PPP's final six state level 2012 GOP primary surveys, conducted right before this month's election, find Mitt Romney strong in another key early state, Sarah Palin weak at home, and Newt Gingrich's only first place finish out of the 18 states we polled.

McConnell bows to right on earmarks  —  As he worked the phones over the past week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell concluded he was in a no-win situation over earmarks.  —  The Kentucky Republican could dig in and fight a proposed ban on earmarks, opening him up to attacks …

House Panel Says Facts in Rangel Case Are Undisputed  —  In an ominous sign for Representative Charles B. Rangel, the House ethics committee on Monday said the facts presented by a prosecutor accusing Mr. Rangel of violating Congressional rules were not in dispute and that the congressman himself had not refuted the charges.

Virginia Thomas stepping down as head of Liberty Central  —  Virginia Thomas, political activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, has decided to relinquish control of Liberty Central, the conservative group she founded less than a year ago, so that the organization can escape the …

Top Republican: Hoyer is ‘the only one we really talk to’  —  Outgoing House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) is the GOP's primary source of contact within the Democratic leadership, a top Republican said Monday.  —  Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the incoming chairman of the House Budget Committee …

Vicious Infighting at NBC News  —  MSNBC's president vowed to fire Keith Olbermann after he threatened to take his case to other networks.  Howard Kurtz on the civil war that has NBC brass—and his own staff—fuming.  —  Keith Olbermann was having dinner with his manager at an Upper East Side restaurant …

Harry Reid creates special leadership job for Chuck Schumer  —  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid plans to overhaul the Senate Democratic leadership next year, handing New York Sen. Chuck Schumer an expanded role spearheading the party's messaging efforts.  —  In a letter obtained by POLITICO …

Wow!  HUNDREDS OF RIDERS WITH US FLAGS Escort Cody Alicea to School Today (Video)  —  Hundreds of American Legion Riders and fellow patriots escorted Cody Alicea to Denair Middle School this morning.  They all had American Flags on their bikes.  —  A veteran brings Cody to tears when he gives …

Tea party groups push GOP to quit culture wars, focus on deficit  —  In a letter to Republican leaders, tea party members advise the GOP to avoid culture-war social issues such as gay rights and abortion and to focus on reducing deficit and role of government.

Westboro protesters face jeers and slashed tires  —  Related Story: McAlester soldier mourned  —  McALESTER - Members of a Kansas church that protests at military funerals may have found themselves in the wrong town Saturday.  —  Shortly after finishing their protest at the funeral of Army …

CNN Poll: Election not a mandate for GOP  —  Washington (CNN) - Americans approve of the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives in the midterms, but only one in six say the election results were a mandate for the GOP, according to a new national poll.

Kalpen Modi Returns To White House Job After Leaving To Film ‘Harold & Kumar’ Sequel  —  ABC's Michael Falcone reports:  —  After a brief hiatus to film a sequel to the popular “Harold & Kumar” movie, the actor, Kalpen Modi (also known as Kal Penn), is returning to a job in the White House

Obama shares dreams for his kids in book on 13 Americans  —  President Obama's picture book for kids, Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters (Knopf, $17.99), pays tribute to 13 Americans whose traits he sees in his own children.  —  The 31-page book, for kids ages 3 and up …

Full Frontal Nudity Doesn't Make Us Safer: Abolish the TSA  —  The Republicans control the House of Representatives and are bracing for a long battle over the President's health care proposal.  In the spirit of bipartisanship and sanity, I propose that the first thing on the chopping block …

Amidst National Islamophobic Upheaval, Arizonans Protest Mosque That's Actually A Church  —  In an era saturated with absurd moments of anti-Muslim fear-mongering, mosques have become a touchstone for Islamophobia.  Even unbuilt mosques have set off a wave of anti-Muslim sentiment in Tennessee …

Is America bribing Bibi or blackmailing him?  —  THE way the New York Times reports it, you might think that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are treating Israel's prime minister with more solicitude than he deserves.  If he will only agree to freeze Israeli settlement building in the West Bank …

The best campaign of the 2010 election  —  The Fix spends an inordinate amount of time thinking and talking about campaign politics.  —  Given that, we like to think of ourselves as connoisseurs of the political game — we know what's good, what's bad and what's just plain odd.

Obama Blames Himself for Tone in Washington  —  Just 20 days after his inauguration, with Republicans trying to block his stimulus bill, President Obama refused to acknowledge that he had underestimated how hard it would be to change the way Washington works.

2 Dems claim Huffington stole website idea  —  Two Democratic consultants are accusing Arianna Huffington and her business partner of stealing their idea for the powerhouse liberal website Huffington Post.  —  Peter Daou and James Boyce charge that Huffington and partner Ken Lerer designed …

Open Letter to Ben Bernanke  —  The following is the text of an open letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke signed by several economists, along with investors and political strategists, most of them close to Republicans:  —  We believe the Federal Reserve's large-scale asset purchase plan …

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