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 Dick Lugar (R-Ind.), who faces a Tea Party-backed challenge in his 2012 primary, has withdrawn his stated opposition to House-passed spending cuts.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 …

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.

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 …

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:

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 …

Hundreds of council tax protesters storm courtroom in attempt to make citizens' arrest of judge  —  Hundreds of protesters stormed a courtroom and attempted to make a citizens' arrest on a judge in support of a man challenging his council tax bill.  —  In chaotic scenes …