The GOP can no longer avoid its Rush Limbaugh problem.  —  IN A DEMOCRACY, standards of civil discourse are as important as they are indefinable.  Yet wherever one draws the line, Rush Limbaugh's vile rants against Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke crossed it.

BREAKING: Mitt Romney Urged Obama to Embrace the Individual Mandate  —  Had Michigan not been as close, the Democrats would have waited to spring this on us in the general election.  Luckily we have it now and I hope Ohio voters are paying attention.  —  In July 2009, Mitt Romney wrote …

Edwards asks that sex tape not be destroyed  —  GREENSBORO, N.C. — Ahead of his federal trial involving alleged campaign finance violations, John Edwards is asking a judge to keep a sex tape involving him and his mistress from being destroyed.  —  In a request filed Friday in U.S. District Court …

Bob Kerrey bid causes left to lash out  —  Bob Kerrey took a lonely position against banning gay marriage in the 1990s.  He opposed a ban on flag desecration, voted against welfare reform and ran up high Americans for Democratic Action scores while serving as the senator from one of the most conservative states in the nation.

Santorum and the Sexual Revolution  —  Rick Santorum wants to bring sexy back ... to the 1950s, when he was born.  —  That is because Santorum seems to have an unhealthy fixation with, and passionate disdain for, the 1960s and the sexual freedoms that followed.

In meeting, Obama to warn Netanyahu against military strikes on Iran  —  President Obama plans to caution Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu next week against attacking Iran's nuclear facilities in the coming months, urging patience while international economic sanctions take full effect.

Syria: Climate Change, Drought and Social Unrest … by Francesco Femia & Caitlin Werrell, in a Center for Climate & Security repost [Addendum by Joe Romm]  —  Syria's current social unrest is, in the most direct sense, a reaction to a brutal and out-of-touch regime and a response …

Republicans sing the home-state blues  —  CARROLLTON, Ga. —For presidential candidates, it's not necessarily safe to come home again.  —  On Tuesday, Newt Gingrich is staking his entire presidential race on winning Georgia — a state he represented in Congress for over 10 terms.

Judge rules eavesdropping law unconstitutional  —  A Cook County judge today ruled the state's controversial eavesdropping law unconstitutional.  —  The law makes it a felony offense to make audio recordings of police officers without their consent even when they're performing their public duties.

‘Die, Die, Foreigners!’  —  Say what you like about Afghans, but they're admirably straightforward.  The mobs outside the bases enflamed over the latest Western affront to their exquisitely refined cultural sensitivities couldn't put it any plainer:  —  “Die, die, foreigners!”  —  And foreigners do die.

Obama Will Speak at Commencement at Barnard College  —  President Obama will deliver this year's commencement address at Barnard College, officials at the college and the White House announced on Saturday.  —  Word of Mr. Obama's appearance comes as the White House and Democrats have seized …

Judge may throw Rep. Altmire off primary ballot for lack of signatures  —  Rep. Jason Altmire (D-Pa.) may be barred from running in the Democratic primary against fellow Rep. Mark Critz (D-Pa.), a move that would make it all but impossible for him to return to Congress next fall.

Rick Santorum faces bigger Ohio problem than previously known (updated)  —  WASHINGTON — Rick Santorum was already known as starting from a deficit, delegate-wise, in Ohio.  He failed to qualify for any district delegates in three Ohio congressional districts because he didn't turn in delegate names there.

Santorum Leads in Three of Five YouGov Super Tuesday Polls  —  Romney and Gingrich lead in their home states, but trail Santorum in Ohio, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.  —  Five days before the crucial Republican primaries on “Super Tuesday” (March 6), former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum holds narrow leads …