Buck Stops With Obama on Rocky Rollout of Health Care Plan  —  The HealthCare.gov debacle has been thoroughly dissected so far by America's best health journalists and policy analysts.  To be sure, every major rollout of a new or changed social policy, including Medicare itself, is rough and takes weeks or months to resolve.

ObamaCare website contractors blame Obama administration  —  Principal contractors hired to build the ObamaCare website HealthCare.gov are hitting back at the Obama administration for the site's overwhelming technical problems.  —  The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) …

Ted Cruz's Wife Confirms He's Covered Under Her Blue-Chip Health Plan  —  The wife of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who led a vocal effort to defund the Affordable Care Act, confirmed in a New York Times interview published Wednesday that the senator receives health care coverage through her blue-chip employer insurance plan.

Obama wants Marines to wear ‘girly’ hats  —  A change to the Marine Corps' uniform hats could take the hard-nosed Leathernecks from the Halls of Montezuma to the shops of Christopher Street.  —  Thanks to a plan by President Obama to create a “unisex” look for the Corps …

Why Obamacare Is Like Three Mile Island  —  I've been blogging a lot over the past week or so about the risk of an insurance market “death spiral” — where young people stay away, so the only people buying insurance are old and sick, causing the cost of insurance to rise over time and pushing ever …

What makes HealthCare.gov so complicated?  —  Building a website in 2013 should be as easy as U-R-L, so what's the deal with HealthCare.gov?  —  The White House billed the Obamacare portal as the Kayak.com of health coverage — only instead of plane rides, it was selling health insurance.

Inside the Messy but Moneyed Republican Plan to Neutralize the Tea Party  —  The business-friendly GOP establishment is putting its cash to work in skirmishes across the country that might reshape the 2014 elections.  —  It took a tea party insurrection that disabled the federal government …

GOP reconsiders Obamacare tactics  —  Some Republicans say a unified focus on spending levels could prove to be the strongest ground on which to fight.  Democrats loathe sequester-level spending — their 2014 budget totaled $1.058 trillion.  If all Republicans demand a clean government funding bill …

Hillary Clinton speaks at UB, is heckled … AMHERST, N.Y. (WIVB) - Former First Lady and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke to a large crowd at the University at Buffalo Wednesday night, as part of the university's Distinguished Speaker Series.

Gansler says breaking up teen party was not his job  —  Attorney general has advocated against underage drinking  —  Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler (white shirt with cell phone, right of center) is seen in a photo posted to Instagram from a senior week party in Delaware this summer.

Darrell Issa to introduce immigration bill  —  Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is planning to release legislation next week that would provide legal status for six years to undocumented immigrants in the United States, he said in an interview Wednesday.  —  Issa, an influential Republican …

Health Care Law Fails to Lower Prices for Rural Areas  —  As technical failures bedevil the rollout of President Obama's health care law, evidence is emerging that one of the program's loftiest goals — to encourage competition among insurers in an effort to keep costs low — is falling short for many rural Americans.

Secret memos reveal explicit nature of U.S., Pakistan agreement on drones  —  Despite repeatedly denouncing the CIA's drone campaign, top officials in Pakistan's government have for years secretly endorsed the program and routinely received classified briefings on strikes and casualty counts …

GOP bill would prevent national park closures in next shutdown  —  Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) has introduced legislation that would prevent national park closures during any future government shutdown.  —  The bill, titled the “Provide Access and Retain Continuity Act” (PARC) …

Obamacare hearings: Oversight or heckling?  —  There's congressional oversight that answers everyone's most urgent questions - and then there's just heckling from the partisan peanut gallery.  —  Over the next few weeks, Republicans are going to have to decide which path they're …

The Cry of the True Republican  —  I AM a genetic Republican.  —  Five generations of Tafts have served our nation as unwaveringly stalwart Republicans, from Alphonso Taft, who served as attorney general in the late 19th century, through William Howard Taft, who not only was the only person …