The frontrunner has no clothes  —  The applause identified Rick Perry as the crowd favorite when he took the stage in Tampa for Monday night's Tea Party debate, greeting his lesser rivals as “fellas.”  —  But two hours later, those fellas - and a gal from Minnesota - had made some serious …

Bachmann: Gardasil causes “mental retardation”  —  Earlier today, I noted that Michele Bachmann finally scored points on Rick Perry by hitting him on his ties to Merck and linking that to the Gardasil mandate Perry imposed through executive order in Texas.  This is a fair point on Perry's record …

Axelrod: 'We're not in a negotiation' on Obama $447B jobs package  —  Obama's top political adviser David Axelrod said Tuesday that the administration was unwilling to break up the president's $447 billion jobs plan if Republicans were only receptive to passing certain elements.

Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2010  —  Summary of Key Findings  —  The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that in 2010, median household income declined, the poverty rate increased and the percentage without health insurance coverage was not statistically different from the previous year.

Weiner flees amid Dem panic over vote today  —  Disgraced former Rep. Anthony Weiner did his fellow Democrats no favors yesterday — moving out of his district just as his panicking party struggled to hold on to his endangered congressional seat.  —  Winer took the last ramining items …

Militants Launch Attack on U.S. Embassy in Kabul  —  KABUL, Afghanistan — Insurgents launched a complex assault against the American Embassy and the nearby NATO headquarters on Tuesday, pelting the heavily guarded compounds with rockets in an attack that raised new questions about the security …

Iran's president says he intends to release, ‘pardon’ U.S. hikers  —  View Photo Gallery — Laura Fattal kisses son Josh after a news conference in Tehran in May, 2010.  Josh Fattal and fellow hiker Shane Bauer will be released this week after more than two years in detention, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday.

Some real Shock and Awe: Racially profiled and cuffed in Detroit  —  Silly me.  I thought flying on 9/11 would be easy.  I figured most people would choose not to fly that day so lines would be short, planes would be lightly filled and though security might be ratcheted up …

TPM2012  —  Tea Party Debate Audience Cheers Idea Of Letting Sick Man Without Insurance Die (VIDEO)  —  The last two Republican presidential debates have been some of the most macabre on record.  Last time around, at the Reagan Library, the crowd gave the biggest applause of the night …

Rep. Issa hit with ethics allegations  —  A liberal advocacy group is filing an ethics complaint against Rep. Darrell Issa, alleging that the California Republican has repeatedly used his public office for personal gain.  —  The group, American Family Voices, is planning to file the complaint …

Stop and frisky  —  The NYPD has launched an investigation after a raunchy YouTube video surfaced featuring uniformed officers gyrating and rubbing their crotches against semi-nude women at the violence-racked West Indian Day Parade in Brooklyn.  —  The explicit footage shows the cops wildly bumping …

Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jay Carney and OMB Director Jack Lew, 9/12/2011  —  MR. CARNEY: It's your lucky day.  Before I get started and tell you why I have Jack Lew here, I just wanted to give you a sense of where this week is headed for the President.

How to Raise Revenue Without Violating the Tax Pledge  —  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.  —  The biggest barrier to reducing the budget deficit is the Republican insistence …