Mubarak Leaves Cairo as Crowds Surge  —  CAIRO — President Hosni Mubarak left the Egyptian capital for his resort home in Sharm el-Sheik, amid indications that a transfer of power was under way, Western officials said Friday.  State television said Mr. Mubarak would issue a statement later.

Crisis Flummoxes White House  —  President Mubarak's Refusal to Step Down Signals a Loss of Western Influence; Sense of ‘Disbelief’ After Speech  —  WASHINGTON—The defiant tone taken by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak—and widespread confusion about the meaning of his speech …

Paul Supporters Hijack Cheney-Rumsfeld Reunion (Video)  —  ***LIVE UPDATES FROM CPAC ON TPM's CPAC 2011 WIRE***  —  Dick Cheney just popped up here at CPAC to introduce his old pal and Bush administration colleague Donald Rumsfeld.  Fans of Ron Paul turned what should have been a friendly moment …

Paul Ryan's Limited Imagination  —  Everyone knows that Ron Paul has some crank notions about monetary economics, but Paul Ryan's own crankitude on this score is badly underrated.  Will Wilkinson, for example, flags this alarming quote from Ryan's participation in a recent committee hearing with Ben Bernanke:

Utah Sen. Mike Lee says he won't back Orrin Hatch in GOP Senate primary  —  Sen. Mike Lee (R) said Friday that he wouldn't endorse fellow Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch (R) for reelection in the 2012 GOP Senate primary.  —  Lee, a freshman senator allied with the conservative Tea Party movement …

Do straw polls matter?  —  Washington (CNN) - OK.  We admit it.  We, along with the rest of the national political press corps, will be fixated Saturday on the results of the presidential straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference.  —  Balloting will be open …

Oprah wants ‘respect’ for Obama  —  Oprah Winfrey (left) and Barack Obama attend a campaign event in Dec. 2007.  AP Photo  —  Oprah called on President Obama's critics on Friday to “show some level of respect.”  —  “I feel that everybody has a learning curve, and I feel that the reason …

Sen. Cornyn running for No. 2 spot in GOP leadership, aide says  —  Sen. John Cornyn (Texas) will run to become the next Senate GOP whip, a senior aide to the senator said Friday.  —  Cornyn, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, has begun reaching out to colleagues …

After hard week, GOP has ‘group hug’  —  House Republicans emerged from an emergency meeting about the budget Thursday night sounding unified around a newfangled stop-gap spending measure that would achieve cuts of $100 billion.  —  Freshmen, once again, were the driving force that sent …

Robert Fisk: As Mubarak clings on... What now for Egypt?  —  The fury of a people whose hopes were raised and then dashed  —  To the horror of Egyptians and the world, President Hosni Mubarak - haggard and apparently disoriented - appeared on state television last night to refuse every demand …

From freedom agenda to freedom doctrine  —  Today, everyone and his cousin supports the “freedom agenda.”  Of course, yesterday it was just George W. Bush, Tony Blair and a band of neocons with unusual hypnotic powers who dared challenge the received wisdom of Arab exceptionalism …

Multiculturalism has failed, says French president  —  PARIS (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy declared Thursday that multiculturalism had failed, joining a growing number of world leaders or ex-leaders who have condemned it.  —  “My answer is clearly yes, it is a failure,” …

De Pasquale's Dozen: Andrew Breitbart  —  I have endeavored in this column to pull back the curtain a bit on the pop culture sensibilities of some of the most serious political players of our day—to show that even kings and kingmakers, amid long afternoons with important Economist articles …