In Exclusive Interview, Paul Ryan Distances Self From Todd Akin  —  CARNEGIE (KDKA) — In Congressman Paul Ryan's first interview in Pennsylvania, Mitt Romney's vice presidential pick reacted strongly to Congressman Todd Akin's comment than women who are raped rarely get pregnant.

Marco Rubio on how he learned he wasn't Romney's VP pick; kind words for Nelson, harsh ones for Akin  —  Republican Sen. Marco Rubio told a Forum Club of the Palm Beaches luncheon crowd today about the phone conversation he had with Mitt Romney the day before Romney announced Paul Ryan as his running mate.

Signs of divine intervention for Republicans?  —  Has God forsaken the Republican Party?  —  Well, sit in judgment of what's happened in the past few days:  —  A report comes out that a couple dozen House Republicans engaged in an alcohol-induced frolic, in one case nude, in the Sea of Galilee …

Texas Judge Suggests He Will Join ‘Civil Unrest, Civil Disobedience, Civil War Maybe’ If Obama Is Reelected  —  Judge Tom Head, a county judge in Lubbock, Texas, announced on a local television station that he would personally join the resistance against a United Nations' takeover of American sovereignty …

Like a Boss  —  When it comes to being a rich guy, Mitt Romney should own it  —  What do women want?  The conventional biological wisdom is that men select mates for fertility, while women select for status — thus the commonness of younger women's pairing with well-established older men but the rarity of the converse.

CBO warns of deep recession if Congress fails to avert ‘fiscal cliff’  —  The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on Wednesday warned the economy will enter a recession next year if the country goes over the so-called fiscal cliff.  —  In its most dire warning yet about the fiscal cliff …

Networks may miss Ann Romney speech  —  Ann Romney may not make primetime during next week's Republican National Convention.  —  The three major television networks — NBC, ABC, and CBS — are not airing primetime coverage of the RNC on Monday, the opening night of the convention and the night …

Costs Seen in Romney's Medicare Savings Plan  —  WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney's promise to restore $716 billion that he says President Obama “robbed” from Medicare has some health care experts puzzled, and not just because his running mate, Representative Paul D. Ryan, included the same savings in his House budgets.

The Tax Returns are Hurting Romney, Badly  —  I didn't mention this in my previous post, but in addition to the aforementioned questions, NBC News and the Wall Street Journal asked respondents about the recent controversies over Bain Capital and Mitt Romney's tax returns to gage whether they affected support for the Republican nominee.

Get Lost  —  So, as you might have heard, Michael Mann of Climategate infamy is threatening to sue us.  —  Mann is upset — very, very upset — with this Mark Steyn Corner post, which had the temerity to call Mann's hockey stick “fraudulent.”  The Steyn post was mild compared with other things …

Video: Obama Says He's “Pro-Choice” on Third-Trimester Abortions  —  The Washington Post reports that President Obama is running his reelection campaign as a “culture warrior,” trying to cast his opponents as extremists on such issues as abortion in the case of rape and requiring religious institutions to pay for contraception.

Team Romney calls out Obama for misspelling ‘Ohio’ at campaign stop  —  President Obama needed a do-over to spell “Ohio” correctly on the campus of Ohio State University this week.  —  Although Obama and several students at a campaign stop Tuesday morning at Sloopy's Diner on the campus …

Advice Regarding Akin  —  My advice, for what it's worth, to conservatives and Republicans desperate to see Todd Akin off the ballot in Missouri: You've made your point.  You've bewailed and denounced and threatened.  Now it's time to hearken to the words of Lincoln, in his great Temperance Address …

GOP Votes To Toughen Penalties On Rule-Breaking States  —  Watch out Florida!  —  The Tampa Bay Times Forum, where the Republican National Convention begins next week.  —  Image by Tim Boyles / Getty Images  —  TAMPA, Florida — The Republican National Committee's Rules Committee unanimously voted …

Seniors  —  Grandma isn't scared of Paul Ryan.  —  A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows 41 percent of Americans view the new GOP vice presidential nominee favorably, while 37 percent rate him unfavorably — slightly improved from last week's polling.  —  Among seniors, though …

Dempsey ‘disappointed’ by anti-Obama campaign by ex-military members  —  The United States' top military official criticized a group of former military and intelligence operatives for its aggressive campaign against President Obama, telling Fox News that he is “disappointed” by such political activity, which he called “not useful.”

We Need a ‘Conservative’ Party  —  There has been lots of talk that Paul Ryan's nomination ensures that we'll now have a “real” debate about the role of government.  That's actually funny.  The bar for this campaign is so low that we celebrate the fact that it might include a serious debate …

Box Office Report: Anti-Obama Doc Drawing Big Crowds, Even in New York City  —  Already the No. 2 grossing documentary of the year, “2016: Obama's America” expands nationwide this weekend.  —  An anti-Obama documentary based on conservative author Dinesh D'Souza's book The Roots of Obama's Rage …