John Boehner's big bet  —  House Speaker John Boehner has dug in.  —  If the let-the-cuts-happen approach on the sequester seems risky — especially with President Barack Obama blaming Republicans for everything from kids not getting vaccines to long lines at the airport — the alternative for Boehner is worse.

Republicans Sign Brief in Support of Gay Marriage  —  WASHINGTON — Dozens of prominent Republicans — including top advisers to former President George W. Bush, four former governors and two members of Congress — have signed a legal brief arguing that gay people have a constitutional right to marry …

GOP Seen as Principled, But Out of Touch and Too Extreme  —  Images of the Parties: A Closer Look  —  OVERVIEW  —  At a time when the Republican Party's image is at a historic low, 62% of the public says the GOP is out of touch with the American people, 56% think it is not open to change and 52% say the party is too extreme.

John Boehner: Let Senate get ‘off their ass’ this time  —  House Speaker John Boehner told Republicans in a closed meeting Tuesday that the House doesn't need to pass a third sequester replacement bill before the “Senate gets off their ass and passes it once.”

Entry 4: Forget Seth MacFarlane's sexist jokes.  This was the End of Men Oscars.  —  To: Dan Kois and Troy Patterson  —  We're one reproductive-technology breakthrough away from not needing men at the Oscars  —  I promise to spare you a long-form exegesis of Seth MacFarlane's opening number …

Illinois 2 Special: The Real Range of Gun Control  —  Tuesday's special election in Illinois' 2nd District has been dominated by gun control — an issue magnified by the $2.2 million Michael Bloomberg's political action committee has dropped into the Chicago contest to attack two candidates.

Right cheers Bob Woodward ‘fact check’  —  Conservatives in the media have found themselves armed with political ammunition in their battle with President Barack Obama over the impending sequester from a surprising source — Bob Woodward.  —  The journalism icon's fact check on the sequester …

Our Second Adolescence  —  In Friday's column, I wrote that the Obama administration has no plan to avoid the sequester save raising taxes on the rich.  That was unfair.  The White House approach is not what I would like, but it is more balanced than I described.  —  Humiliation is a good teacher.

It's Time to See Joe McCarthy For the Hero He Was  —  Freshman Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is just the latest in a long series of public figures to be reviled for “McCarthyism” following his recent questioning of Chuck Hagel, President Obama's nominee for secretary of defense.  The response?

Edward Blum defies odds in getting cases to Supreme Court  —  The odds are daunting: Last term, 8,952 cases were filed at the Supreme Court.  The justices agreed to schedule a mere 79 for oral argument.  —  That's a 0.88 chance of having your case reviewed.

CPAC to feature potential presidential candidates, GOP internal battle, and no Christie  —  Just months after their losses in the 2012 election, Republicans and conservatives are setting a vibrant — and crowded — stage at next month's closely watched political cattle call.

DOJ to Federal Judge: We Can Force Your Wife to Violate Her Religion  —  (CNSNews.com) - While presenting an oral argument in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia last fall, a lawyer for the U.S. Justice Department told a federal judge that the Obama administration believed …

Walter Jones, GOP Congressman, Hits Dick Cheney Over Iraq War  —  Dick Cheney, Video, HuffPolitics Blog, Walter Jones, Dick Cheney Water Jones, Walter Jones Dick Cheney, Walter Jones Iraq, Walter Jones Iraq War, Politics News  —  Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.), an outspoken critic of the war in Afghanistan …

Gaza rocket slams South for first time since truce  —  Grad explodes in Ashkelon; first such attack by terrorists in Gaza since the ceasefire following Operation Pillar of Defense.  —  Palestinian terrorists broke a three month ceasefire on Tuesday and fired a rocket from Gaza into southern Israel.

Robertson: Worth Praying Over Clothes to Rebuke Demons  —  Today on the 700 Club, televangelist Pat Robertson said that demons can attach themselves to material goods and therefore it's not a bad idea to rebuke them before bringing them into your home.  —  After a viewer, Carrie …

Former surgeon general C. Everett Koop dead at age 96 … Koop was surgeon general from 1982 to 1989.  —  C. Everett Koop, the former surgeon general who brought frank talk about AIDS into U.S. homes, has died at his home in Hanover, N.H., officials at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth said Monday.