Sen. Corker Threatens Reid: If You Bring DADT Repeal For A Vote, We'll Walk Away From START  —  This afternoon, as momentum began to build for repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) threatened that if Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) brings up a vote to repeal the ban …

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.

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,” …

How They Learned to Start Worrying and Stop Appropriating  —  The omnibus spending bill died in the Senate last night, and the death was a long time coming.  It started to bleed in 2006, when a series of rule changes and the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act were passed …

Judge Hints He May Rule Against Health Law  —  PENSACOLA, Fla. — A federal judge asserted on Thursday that it would be “a giant leap” for the Supreme Court to accept the Obama administration's defense of a central provision of the new health care law, suggesting he may become the second judge to strike it down as unconstitutional.

Republicans embrace ObamaCare, call it Ryan-Rivlin  —  If you're looking for a description of the Ryan/Rivlin Medicare reforms that have gained so many admirers on the right, Matt Yglesias has a good write-up of the idea.  But I'd add another way of explaining the proposal: The Ryan-Rivlin plan basically turns Medicare into Obamacare.

Obama brand remains surprisingly strong  —  Some interesting — and unexpected — results in The Washington Post's big post-election poll.  First, Obama's position against the Republicans in Congress is much stronger than that of his predecessors.  The following polls were all taken …

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 …

Mitt Romney and Olive Garden  —  As a fan of David Frum, and of Mitt Romney, and of Olive Garden analogies, I'm primed to endorse this defense of Romney's flip-flopping: … Ezra Klein points out some problems with this line of thought.  But I think the real issue here has to do with character.

CNN and Tea Party Express to host 2012 debate  —  CNN said Friday that it is joining forces with the Tea Party Express — a political action committee that played a key role in the 2010 midterm elections — to co-host a Republican presidential debate.  —  The debate is scheduled for Labor …

Pakistani Role Is Suspected in Revealing U.S. Spy's Name  —  WASHINGTON — The Central Intelligence Agency's top clandestine officer in Islamabad was pulled from the country on Thursday amid an escalating war of recriminations between American and Pakistani spies, with some American officials convinced …

Captain Beefheart, a.k.a. Don Van Vliet, dies at 69  —  Avant-garde rock legend and visual artist Don Van Vliet, who performed under the name Captain Beefheart, passed away today at age 69.  A representative of New York City's Michael Werner Gallery, which showed his paintings, confirms the sad news to EW.

Assange condemns investigations  —  Beccles, England (CNN) — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said Friday that the sexual misconduct charges against him are little more than an effort to discredit him and his organization.  —  “This has been a very successful smear campaign so far …

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 …

Reapportionment Preview: Mapping Out States “On the Bubble”  —  House Editor David Wasserman kicks off the Cook Political Report's in-depth coverage of Redistricting 2012, which you can also follow via Twitter handle @Redistrict as the remap gets underway.  Over the next year …

Why Is This Tax Different From All Other Taxes?  —  I'm getting two arguments about the insurance mandate a lot.  First, I'm hearing that it's like car insurance, which is silly.  Car insurance is liability insurance requiring you to, effectively, post a bond in exchange for the privilege …

Our view: Pawlenty wishes he'd have run again; will he pursue the presidency?  —  Outgoing Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty didn't even hesitate.  “Yes,” he answered when asked by the News Tribune editorial board this week whether, after the Republicans took control of the Minnesota Legislature …