President Obama abruptly walks out of talks  —  President Barack Obama abruptly walked out of a stormy debt-limit meeting with congressional leaders Wednesday, a dramatic setback to the already shaky negotiations, according to GOP sources.  —  “He shoved back and said 'I'll see you tomorrow' and walked out …

McCaskill: GOP looks like ‘hot, sloppy mess’  —  Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) slammed Republicans, claiming their internal divisions were impeding the ongoing debt-ceiling negotiations.  —  “I don't know what [House Speaker John] Boehner (R-Ohio) has going on in his caucus,” she said on MSNBC's Morning Joe on Thursday.

The Republican Case for Compromise  —  I HAVE always been a conservative Republican, and I subscribe to the ideas of less government, lower taxes, innovation and entrepreneurship.  But I also believe that, in the face of a possible debt default by the federal government, Republicans need to embrace the principle of compromise.

Bush trumps Barack in the Arab world: President Obama is proving an embarrassing flop in the Middle East  —  Today's eye-opening Zogby poll for the Arab American Institute Foundation should be a wake-up call to the White House on its failing foreign policy.  After two and a half years of bashing Israel …

Graham: GOP has no one ‘to blame but ourselves’  —  South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham conceded Wednesday that he and his fellow Republicans are now eating their own words as they try to convince the country they are working to stave off a federal default.  —  “Our problem is we made a big deal about this for three months.

Ron Paul ads hitting airwaves in Iowa, N.H.  —  Ron Paul is hitting the airwaves for the first time in Iowa and New Hampshire with a spot that warns ominously against raising the federal debt limit, POLITICO has learned.  —  The 60-second spot, made with all the flare of a Hollywood movie preview …

Religious right rushes to Bachmann's defense following ‘ex-gay’ reports  —  Several religious right groups — including those listed as anti-gay hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center — rushed to Michele Bachmann's defense following reports that she and her husband Marcus' Christian …

Book Challenges Obama on Mother's Deathbed Fight  —  The White House on Wednesday declined to challenge an account in a new book that suggests that President Obama, in his campaign to overhaul American health care, mischaracterized a central anecdote about his mother's deathbed dispute with her insurance company.

Michele Bachmann's Church Says the Pope Is the Antichrist  —  The Iowa front-runner for the GOP nomination was a longstanding member of a strict Lutheran synod with controversial views of Catholicism  —  Michele Bachmann is practically synonymous with political controversy …

The Bain of Mitt Romney's campaign  —  A company that laid off hundreds of employees.  A federal “bailout” to rescue a failing bank.  Mitt Romney, at the center of it all.  —  It's a story line from a tough Democratic ad that was teed up for use against Romney in his 1994 Senate campaign in Massachusetts.

From Italy to the US, utopia vs reality  —  In the eurozone, the fiscal crisis is lapping on Italy's shores.  In the US, the administration declares it will run out of funding early next month if the debt ceiling is not raised.  Far fewer Europeans than Americans believe public sector defaults are beneficial.

3rd straight Iowa poll has Bachmann at top  —  (CNN) - Call it a polling hat trick.  For the third time this week, a survey of likely Iowa GOP caucus goers has Republican presidential candidate and Rep. Michele Bachmann at the top.  —  According to a new poll from Mason Dixon Polling and Research …

Dollar in full retreat, NZD storms 30-year peak  —  (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar was on the run in Asia on Thursday after a ratings warning from Moody's and a hint of further policy easing from the Federal Reserve unleashed a wave of panic selling, much to the relief of the hard-pressed euro.