The new comeback kid  —  If Barack Obama wins reelection in 2012, as is now more likely than not, historians will mark his comeback as beginning on Dec. 6, the day of the Great Tax Cut Deal of 2010.  —  Obama had a bad November.  Self-confessedly shellacked in the midterm election …

PolitiFact's Lie of the Year: ‘A government takeover of health care’  —  In the spring of 2009, a Republican strategist settled on a brilliant and powerful attack line for President Barack Obama's ambitious plan to overhaul America's health insurance system.

$1.1 trillion spending bill collapses as GOP senators yank support  —  Senate Democrats have given up on their plan to pass a $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill in the face of unified Republican opposition.  —  The bill's collapse will take with it more than 6,000 earmarks …

Exclusive: Sarah Palin on 2012 Plans, Double Standards for Women  —  Palin Says Thinking About Presidential Run Is a ‘Prayerful Consideration’  —  Sarah Palin is surveying the lay of the land to consider whether to make a presidential run in 2012, she told “Good Morning America” …

Snub for Obamas as Royal sources reveal they will not be invited to Prince William's wedding  —  President Obama and his wife Michelle will not be invited to Prince William's wedding next year.  —  Because Prince William is not yet heir to the throne, his wedding to Kate Middleton is not classed …

HPD knows names of 2 slain robbers  —  In the back room of a humble jewelry store and pawn shop in Houston's East End Thursday afternoon, a gunman tied Eva Castillo's wrists tightly — too tightly.  She complained of the pain, so he loosened the bindings.  Then Castillo's husband was ordered …

How Would President Romney Govern?  —  “Sincerity is everything - once you can fake that, you've got it made.”  —  There's Mitt Romney's problem in 1 sentence.  He cannot fake sincerity.  His insincerity is blatant, inescapable, clumsy and off-putting.  Ross Douthat phrased the indictment …

Breaking?  Study Finds Fox News Viewers Are The Most Misinformed  —  To perhaps nobody's surprise, a study released this week finds that Fox News viewers are the most misinformed of any news consumers.  —  The University of Maryland study, called “Misinformation and the 2010 Election,” …

Feds Force Okla. Bank To Remove Crosses, Bible Verse  —  Federal Examiners Say Religious Decoration Inappropriate  —  PERKINS, Okla. — A small-town bank in Oklahoma said the Federal Reserve won't let it keep religious signs and symbols on display.  —  Federal Reserve examiners come every four years …

Wall Street Whitewash  —  When the financial crisis struck, many people — myself included — considered it a teachable moment.  Above all, we expected the crisis to remind everyone why banks need to be effectively regulated.  —  How naïve we were.  We should have realized …

The Limits of the Taxing Power  —  An interesting question emerges from one of my comment threads on whether or not congress should be able to use the taxing power to get over limits on its enumerated powers.  —  1) Can Congress enact a $50,000 tax on second term abortions?

Columbia U. vs. the little guy  —  Tweet  —  We often hear politicians and pundits denounce property rights.  Property rights, we're told, protect the fat cats against the needs of the public.  They're a tool for keeping the little guy down.  —  Like a lot of what we hear from politicians and pundits …

Why is Obama leaving the grass roots on the sidelines?  —  In the wake of President Obama's deal to extend the Bush tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans, pundits have focused on how Obama has alienated the left.  But the issue isn't the left - it's the list.

With a star-studded guest list, ‘Larry King Live’ signs off for the last time  —  Lurching awkwardly between classy gestures and underwhelming torpor, “Larry King Live” breathed its last on CNN Thursday night, even if its star and founding father kept reminding viewers that though his program was ending …

NOW goes after Hooters for catering to kids  —  (12-16) 17:51 PST SAN FRANCISCO — The National Organization for Women filed complaints against local Hooters restaurants Thursday, but not for exploiting its scantily clad waitresses by subjecting them to leering and groping customers.

In Seconds Before Blast, the Making of a Hero  —  BALAD RUZ, Iraq — As the suicide bomber clutched the detonator to his explosive belt, preparing to spray fire and shrapnel into a religious procession here, an Iraqi police officer named Bilal Ali Muhammad faced a choice between his own life and something larger.

Bigger Is Easier  —  President Obama faces an enormously difficult challenge over the next few weeks.  —  On the one hand, this moment is ripe for fundamental change.  There is a pervasive sense that the nation is at a Sputnik moment when it either rises to face the international competition or it does not.

Why I Am Donating $50,000 to WikiLeaks' Defense Fund  —  What's Your Reaction:  —  Let's get something straight: Julian Assange is a journalist.  You can argue that he is not practicing journalism the way you think it should be practiced — releasing classified U.S. State Department documents — but he's a journalist nonetheless.

Banana Republic Watch: New York City More Unequal Than Chile  —  A newly released report, “Grow Together or Pull Further Apart?  Income Concentration Trends in New York,” by the Fiscal Policy Institute (hat tip reader Thomas R) gives a picture of how New York City is now at Latin American levels of income disparity.

Tax and Spend  —  I'm a tax enthusiast, in part thanks to the work of Lane Kenworthy.  But taxes are unpopular.  So unpopular, in fact, that a combination of political opportunism and psychic revulsion from advocating for tax hikes leads progressives to spend a lot of time dreaming up ways …

An incoherent Congress  —  The tax deal passed last night, and without changes.  Liberals don't really like it.  Conservatives don't really like it.  Even people who supported the deal — myself included — don't really like it.  It's tempting to say that this broad spectrum …

Senate Dems Set To Talk Filibuster Reform With Eye Toward Finalizing Package  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? … WASHINGTON — Some Senate Democrats leading the push for filibuster reform say they plan to discuss possible rule changes during a full caucus meeting, likely to be held on Friday …