2012 and the Republican rescue fantasy  —  Chief Political Correspondent Follow Him @ByronYork  —  COLUMBIA, S.C. - Talk to enough people around this key primary state and you'll learn two lessons, over and over again.  One is that there is absolutely, positively no unity among Republicans …

Whose Foreign Policy Is It?  —  For those with eyes to see, the daylight between the foreign policies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama has been shrinking ever since the current president took the oath of office.  But last week made it official: When the story of America's post-9/11 wars is written …

Home Market Takes a Tumble  —  Turnaround More Distant After 3% Drop, Steepest Quarterly Decline Since 2008  —  The U.S. housing market's 1Q 2011 decline was the steepest in three years.  Additionally, a Zillow.com survey indicates nearly 30% of borrowers owe more than their homes are worth.

Why I Will Not Support Jon Huntsman.  Ever.  —  “I cannot tolerate a man serving as our ambassador to our chief strategic adversary in the world plotting, while in that capacity, to run against the President of the United States.”  —  Ambassador Jon Huntsman is gearing up now to run for President of the United States.

US's Bin Laden deal with Pakistan  —  US forces were given permission to conduct unilateral raid inside Pakistan if they knew where Bin Laden was hiding, officials say  —  The US and Pakistan struck a secret deal almost a decade ago permitting a US operation against Osama bin Laden …

The Unwisdom of Elites  —  The past three years have been a disaster for most Western economies.  The United States has mass long-term unemployment for the first time since the 1930s.  Meanwhile, Europe's single currency is coming apart at the seams.  How did it all go so wrong?

Trump: ‘I Am The Least Racist Person There Is’ Because A Black Guy Won The Apprentice Six Years Ago  —  Potential presidential candidate Donald Trump has often found himself in hot water for making racially-tinged comments — saying in the span of a single press conference, for example …

Support for Third U.S. Party Dips, but Is Still Majority View  —  Fifty-two percent believe a third political party is needed  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Fifty-two percent of Americans believe the Republican and Democratic parties do such a poor job of representing the people that a third party is needed.

Heller takes Senate oath  —  Republican Dean Heller of Nevada was sworn into the Senate Monday by Vice President Joe Biden, replacing embattled Sen. John Ensign who resigned last week over a sex scandal involving a former aid.  —  Heller was joined at the dais by Majority Leader Harry Reid …

Osama Bin Laden Tapes Show ‘Pathetic’ Side of Al Qaeda Leader: Experts  —  Osama bin Laden speaks in this undated image taken from video provided by the U.S. Department of Defense and released on Saturday, May 7, 2011.  The videos show bin Laden watching himself on television and rehearsing for terrorist videos.

Democrats See Strategy to End Big Oil Tax Breaks  —  WASHINGTON — Linking two of the politically volatile issues of the moment, Senate Democrats say they will move forward this week with a plan that would eliminate tax breaks for big oil companies and divert the savings to offset the deficit.

Over 100 Michigan Law Students Walk Out Of Own Graduation To Protest Anti-Gay Speaker Rob Portman  —  Over 100 newly-minted lawyers walked out of their own graduation at the University of Michigan Law School on Saturday to protest the ceremony's commencement speaker, anti-gay Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH).

WHERE PEOPLE GO, HOW THEY GET THERE AND WHAT LURES THEM AWAY  —  Whatever the future of journalism, much of it depends on understanding the ways that people navigate the digital news environment—the behavior of what might be called the new news consumer.  —  Despite the unprecedented level …

Primary Election 2012: Conservative Fears Of Permanent Welfare State May Create Wild Ride … COLUMBIA, S.C. — At this weekend's South Carolina GOP convention, Republican lawmakers warned that a second term for President Obama would kill America's independent spirit and guarantee a permanent big government welfare state.

Falsehood?  Or Mostly Accurate Prediction?  —  Washington Post fact checker Glenn Kessler isn't so enamored with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius after she made this claim last week: … Kessler gives Sebelius three “Pincocchios” (out of a possible four) and offers this explanation:

Gay donors fuel President Obama's 2012 campaign  —  President Barack Obama's reelection campaign is banking on gay donors to make up the cash it's losing from other groups of wealthy supporters who have been alienated and disappointed by elements of Obama's first term.

Boehner: Debt-ceiling hike without deep cuts would be ‘arrogant’  —  House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) plans to call for spending cuts that are deeper than the increase in borrowing authority Congress is expected to approve in the coming months.  —  In an economic address in New York on Monday evening …

Bristol Palin Reality Show: Palin, Massey Brothers In New BIO Channel Show … Bristol Palin , Bristol Palin Bio Channel , Bristol Palin Kyle Massey , Bristol Palin Reality Show , Entertainment News  —  Bristol Palin is making it a reality show hat trick.  —  The daughter of former Alaska …

Unspoken Truths  —  Until cancer attacked his vocal cords, the author didn't fully appreciate what was meant by “a writer's voice,” or the essential link between speech and prose.  As a man who loved to talk, he turns to the masters of such conversation, both in history and in his own circle.

Staten Island mom ‘hit’ boyfriend over head with cooking pot  —  Maybe he should buy flowers next time.  —  A Staten Island mom allegedly whacked her baby daddy over the head with a cooking pot yesterday — because she was furious that he hadn't bought her a Mother's Day gift.

Midair security scares on 3 U.S. flights  —  American Airlines passenger subdued, cuffed after banging on cockpit door day after 2 other flights diverted  —  SAN FRANCISCO - Crew members and passengers wrestled a 28-year-old man to the cabin floor after he began pounding on the cockpit …