Rick Perry And Texas Job Numbers  —  Full disclosure: I don't like Rick Perry for our next president.  I have my reasons that aren't worth going into here.  However, when I was watching the GOP debate and pro-Perry people started bringing up Rick Perry's job numbers as a cudgel against other candidates …

NBC News Caught Red Handed ‘Selectively Editing’ & ‘ Doctoring’ Video to Smear Gov Perry as Racist  —  Ed Schultz used a deceptive edit to misinform his audience about the content of Gov. Rick Perry's speech in Iowa yesterday.  Schultz claimed that Gov. Perry was calling President Obama a …

GOP Primary: Perry 29%, Romney 18%, Bachmann 13%  —  Texas Governor Rick Perry, the new face in the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, has jumped to a double-digit lead over Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann with the other announced candidates trailing even further behind.

Wirch, Holperin win Senate recalls; GOP retains 17-16 majority  —  By Tom Tolan, Patrick Marley and Jason Stein of the Journal Sentinel  —  The six-month saga that was Wisconsin's state Senate recall movement ended Tuesday with Democrats retaining two seats - and Republicans still in possession …

Stephen Colbert loses treasurer to Rick Perry  —  No joke: Presidential candidate Rick Perry and comedian Stephen Colbert, who last week barraged Iowa voters with advertisements urging voters to support “Rick Parry,” shared the same political committee treasurer - until they didn't.

Crashing the Tea Party  —  GIVEN how much sway the Tea Party has among Republicans in Congress and those seeking the Republican presidential nomination, one might think the Tea Party is redefining mainstream American politics.  —  But in fact the Tea Party is increasingly swimming …

Silicon Valley billionaire funding creation of artificial libertarian islands  —  Pay Pal founder and early Facebook investor Peter Thiel has given $1.25 million to an initiative to create floating libertarian countries in international waters, according to a profile of the billionaire in Details magazine.

Herman Cain: Impeaching Obama would be ‘a great thing’  —  Asked on a conference call with bloggers this evening why Republicans can't just impeach Barack Obama, Herman Cain answers that it's mostly a matter of legislative politics, POLITICO's Elizabeth Titus reports:

Harry S. Obama?  —  Pundits have lately been comparing Barack Obama to Jimmy Carter, suggesting he is a likely loser in 2012.  But my American Enterprise Institute colleague Norman Ornstein, writing in the New Republic, compares Obama to Harry Truman, suggesting he might outperform the polls and win.

The Civil War Isn't Tragic Cont.  —  Anyone who's going to deal in Civil War studies really needs to take a moment to grapple with James McPherson's This Mighty Scourge.  I doubt that this was McPherson's intent, but the first essay in the book is really what set me on the path of questioning the …

It's the Aggregate Demand, Stupid  —  Bruce Bartlett held senior policy roles in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations and served on the staffs of Representatives Jack Kemp and Ron Paul.  —  With the debt limit debate temporarily set aside, the Obama administration is talking …

Fresh Plan for Europe Crisis  —  Merkel, Sarkozy Push for Euro Chief, Tighter Budget Controls as Growth Sputters  —  Germany and France presented a broad plan to better coordinate economic policy across the 17-nation euro zone, amid growing fears that a slowdown in the region could accelerate …