Escort says Menendez prostitution claims were made up  —  View Photo Gallery — Sen. Robert Menendez: Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) has been embroiled in a controversy involving his relations with a Miami campaign contributor and the awarding of a security contract at a port in the Dominican Republic.

Theatrical Slut Shaming: Daily Caller Attacks Ashley Judd For Nude Scenes  —  It's a sign of how anxious the right wing is about the possibility that Ashley Judd might run for Senate against Minority Leader Mitch McConnell that the attacks on her have geared up before she's even formally entered the race.

GOP sniping over 2012 still going strong  —  Four months after taking an electoral pounding, Republicans can't agree on what went wrong in 2012 — let alone on a path to recovery.  —  Each week brings a new diagnosis of the party's woes.  Karl Rove says it's candidate quality.

Jeb Bush's Immigration Flip Flop Stuns Reformers  —  After years of building a reputation as the “good” Republican on immigration, Jeb Bush shocked the reform community on Monday by ruling out a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, a position solidly to the right of prominent GOPers like Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL).

Chairman Rogers Introduces Continuing Resolution to Prevent Government Shutdown, Protect National Defense and Veterans  —  House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers today introduced a Continuing Resolution (CR) to prevent a government shutdown and continue government operations until the end …

Obama job approval tumbles  —  President Obama's job approval rating took a hit over the weekend, falling to its lowest level in the Gallup three-day average since his reelection.  —  His approval rating was 46 percent between Feb 29 and March 2, down from 53 percent a week earlier.

Pundits blowing it on sequester debate  —  Republicans are waving around a column by the New York Times' Bill Keller that pins the blame for the sequester on the President.  The title is “Obama's fault,” and Keller's effort is reminiscent of plenty of other punditry we've seen that adopts …

Obama's Thirteen Words  —  Remember George W. Bush's famous “16 words”?  They came from Bush's 2003 State of the Union speech, where Bush said: “The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.”

The Bi-Sexual T**d in the Gay Wedding Punchbowl  —  The next time you're at a “gay ' wedding with political, media or other important pro-gay-marriage celebrities, and one of them gets up with a glass of wedding punch to toast Partner A and Partner B for their courage to “be themselves,” …

The White House Agrees: It's Time to Legalize Cell Phone Unlocking  —  Two weeks ago, a petition asking the White House to act on a recent Library of Congress decision that restricted consumer use of cell phones reached the required threshold for a response.

Michelle Obama: American Dogs need balanced diets, exercise too … During her Google Hangout today, First Lady Michelle Obama reminded the audience that dogs need a proper diet and exercise, just like children do.  —  The First Lady admitted that President Obama liked to tease their own dog …

Senators strike deal on gun trafficking  —  Gun trafficking and purchasing firearms with the intent of transferring them to someone else would become federal crimes under the bipartisan plan.  —  A bipartisan group of senators signed onto legislation that would strengthen gun trafficking …

Urk, Charlie Rose Edition  —  Well, we'll see how it comes out after editing, but I feel that I just had my Denver debate moment: I was tired, cranky, and unready for the blizzard of misleading factoids and diversionary stuff (In 1997 you said that the aging population was a big problem!

GOP Congresswoman: I Opposed Domestic Violence Bill Because It Protected Too Many Groups  —  Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) on Monday openly admitted that she opposed the latest reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) because it included protections for LGBT, Native American, and undocumented victims of domestic violence.

Gov. Chris Christie fumes over sequester  —  New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Monday ripped Washington, D.C., for failing to get a deal to avert the sequester, charging “real leadership” was AWOL.  —  “I don't understand it, I don't understand why they haven't fixed it already.

Qualified Private Activity Bonds Come Under New Scrutiny  —  The last time the nation's tax code was overhauled, in 1986, Congress tried to end a big corporate giveaway.  —  But this valuable perk — the ability to finance a variety of business projects cheaply with bonds that are exempt …

Florida Medicaid expansion suffers legislative setback  —  (Reuters) - Florida Governor Rick Scott's plan to expand Medicaid coverage to cover about 1 million more poor people suffered a setback on Monday when the proposal failed to make it out of a key state legislative committee hearing.

The Reverse-Joads of California  —  Low- and middle-income residents are fleeing the state.  Sacramento's liberal policies may bear much of the blame.  —  During the Great Depression, some 1.3 million Americans—epitomized by the Joad family in John Steinbeck's “The Grapes of Wrath”—flocked to California from the heartland.

Bill Cosby Slams Republicans Who Sat Through SOTU: As Bad As Civil Rights-Era Segregationists  —  One of the key issues currently being decided by the Supreme Court is whether or not racism has ended sufficiently to gut the Voting Rights Act, or as conservative hero Justice Antonin Scalia calls it, “racial entitlement.”

Napolitano promises to release more illegals  —  WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano promised to release more illegal immigrants into the United States, saying the budget sequester has left her no choice.  —  Several hundred detainees have already released because of the sequester, she insisted.