NPR executives caught on tape bashing conservatives and Tea Party, touting liberals  —  A man who appears to be a senior National Public Radio senior executive, Ron Schiller, has been captured on camera savaging conservatives and the Tea Party movement.  —  “The current Republican Party …

Freshman Democrat Joe Manchin: Obama has ‘failed to lead’ on budget  —  West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin is planning to rip President Barack Obama on his budget proposals in a Senate floor speech Tuesday, a rare rebuke from a freshman Democrat who's clearly worried about the politics …

Drive to recall Wisconsin GOP senators gaining steam, Dems say  —  So how's the drive to recall Wisconsin GOP state senators going?  If these new numbers the Wisconsin Democratic Party shares with me are accurate, it's already exceeding expectations in a big way.

Republicans divided over Muslim hearings  —  The top two House Republican leaders are divided over how to handle the bubbling controversy surrounding Homeland Security Chairman Peter King's hearing into “radicalization” in the American Muslim community.  —  Majority Leader Eric Cantor …

GOP Sen. Lugar says he'll support House Republican spending cuts  —  Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.), who faces a Tea Party-backed challenge in his 2012 primary, has withdrawn his stated opposition to House-passed spending cuts.  —  Lugar said Tuesday afternoon that he made a mistake …

Intruder calls 911, afraid homeowner may have gun  —  (CNN) — This time it was the intruder who called 911.  —  A man who broke into a house in Portland, Oregon, called police — afraid the homeowner may have a gun.  —  The suspect, Timothy James Chapek, was in the bathroom taking a shower …

After Praising 2009 Town Hall ‘Outrage,’ Sensenbrenner Overwhelmed By Progressive Town Hall Protesters  —  against Democrats who supported the health care overhaul, raucously disrupting the town hall meetings of these members of Congress.  —  One of the Republican members of Congress …

Can Any One Of These People Beat President Obama?  —  To do so, one of these candidates has to win the 2012 GOP presidential nomination.  What follows is a cheat sheet of the strengths and weaknesses of each of the GOP presidential candidates and a quick assessment of where they stand now.

Florida Republicans Are at Odds With Their Leader  —  TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Rick Scott, the conservative Republican billionaire who plucked the governor's job from the party establishment in November with $73 million of his own money and the backing of the Tea Party, vowed during his campaign …

‘Gang of 6’ senators launch public campaign to support deficit reduction  —  RICHMOND - While Washington bickers noisily over cutting a small slice of the federal budget, Sens. Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, and Saxby Chambliss, a Georgia Republican, launched a campaign Monday to convince …

Drawing U.S. Crowds With Anti-Islam Message  —  FORT WORTH — Brigitte Gabriel bounced to the stage at a Tea Party convention last fall.  She greeted the crowd with a loud Texas “Yee-HAW,” then launched into the same gripping personal story she has told in hundreds of churches, synagogues and conference rooms across the United States:

Israel Considers Military ‘Upgrade’  —  JERUSALEM—Israel will need to boost military spending and may seek an additional $20 billion in U.S. security assistance to help it manage potential threats stemming from popular upheavals in the Arab world, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Monday.

Trump Fires Back and Puts Senator in his Place  —  Real estate magnate Donald Trump fired back at Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.,Tuesday after the senator said the entrepreneur has no business being president.  —  “There's always someone like Donald Trump who runs who has absolutely no chance of winning,” Alexander said over the weekend.

NPR, PBS campaigns to keep federal funds called unlawful  —  NPR and PBS stations nationwide are rallying their audiences to contact Congress to fight against Republicans' proposed spending cuts, but some affiliates' pleas may violate laws preventing nonprofits or government-funded groups from lobbying.

Obama Misery Index hits a record high  —  The unemployment rate has just fallen one-tenth of a percent, from 9 percent to 8.9 percent.  Of course, it is indeed progress, and it is being celebrated in the White House as such.  But the celebrations bring to mind what a wit once said: An …

Caterpillar's Problem With Peoria  —  Why an American icon is looking beyond Illinois for its future.  —  Just over 100 ago, the company we know as Caterpillar began building track-type tractors at a plant on the banks of the Illinois River.  From these humble origins in East Peoria …