Obama blames ‘bad apple insurers’ for canceled insurance plans  —  President Obama tried a new tack Wednesday as he fought back against criticism of his Obamacare claims.  —  Fact-checkers and journalists have ruled that Obama wasn't being truthful when he claimed that people who liked their insurance could keep it.

NBC/WSJ poll: Obama approval sinks to new low  —  President Barack Obama's approval rating has declined to an all-time low as public frustration with Washington and pessimism about the nation's direction continue to grow, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

Reid: Cruz nomination would destroy GOP  —  Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says if Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) won the Republican nomination for president, it would destroy the GOP.  —  In an interview on MSNBC's “The Rachel Maddow Show” Wednesday night, Reid discussed fallout from the 16 …

In Wake Of Zimmerman Case, Florida City Bans Guns For Neighborhood Watch  —  Just months after George Zimmerman was acquitted of murder in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, the Florida city where the incident occurred intends to ban neighborhood watch members from carrying guns, The Orlando Sentinel reports.

Book: Obama asked Hillary Clinton to stay  —  President Barack Obama asked Hillary Clinton several times to stay on as his secretary of state during a Nov. 2012 ride aboard Air Force One, but she told him it was time for her to move on, a new book reveals.  —  “Would you reconsider, perhaps stay another year?

NSA infiltrates links to Yahoo, Google data centers worldwide, Snowden documents say  —  The National Security Agency has secretly broken into the main communications links that connect Yahoo and Google data centers around the world, according to documents obtained from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden …

Deficit was $680 billion in 2013  —  The federal budget deficit for fiscal 2013 was $680 billion, the Treasury Department reported Wednesday.  —  This is the first time that the deficit has fallen below $1 trillion during President Obama's time in the White House.

TED CRUZ: THE MASK OF SINCERITY  —  When Ted Cruz lies, he appears to be praying.  His lips narrow, almost disappearing into his face, and his eyebrows shift abruptly, rising like a drawbridge on his forehead into matching acute angles.  He attains an appearance of supplication …

Anthony Weiner vs. The New York Times  —  When the former Congressman told our Marshall Sella that he'd “probably get elected mayor” of New York if the Internet didn't exist, he was actually onto something.  Now it appears Weiner has a bone to pick with the Paper of Record, too.

America's new hunger crisis  —  In the 22 years that Swami Durga Das has managed New York's River Fund Food Pantry, he has never seen hunger like this.  Each Saturday, hundreds of hungry people descend on the pantry's headquarters, an unassuming house on a residential block.

Republicans Demonstrate No Strategy or Desire to Win at Sebelius Hearing  —  RUSH: Okay, so let me ask you a quick question.  Have you been watching the Sebelius hearings today?  Good.  Tell me what you think.  Off the top of your head, what is your reaction to what you're watching?  Just tell me.

Patrick Leahy: ‘Insurmountable’ Push For Filibuster Rules Change If GOP Blocks Obama Nominee  —  WASHINGTON — Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, predicted Tuesday that things could get ugly if Republicans block a vote this week on one of President Barack …

Obama Costume at Kentucky Medical Center Event Spurs Debate, Diversity Training  —  HOPKINSVILLE, KY.—A picture of a Jennie Stuart Medical Center employee wearing a President Barack Obama mask and straitjacket at the hospital's annual costume party has stirred debate.

Ted Cruz criticizes DOJ for arguing international treaty can trump the Constitution  —  BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL TED CRUZ CHEMICAL WEAPONS BASHAR ASSAD JUSTICE DEPARTMENT  —  Justice Department attorneys are advancing an argument at the Supreme Court that could allow the government …

Henninger: Progressive Government Fails  —  Obama's ideology is the politics of the personal cram down.

A brief history of blackface just in time for Halloween  —  It's Halloween again and, evidently, it's the season for people around the world to put on blackface.  —  Blackface first made the news this holiday season when a former Dancing with the Stars participant darkened her skin to …

In health care mess, Obama reaps what he sowed  —  BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL WHITE HOUSE BARACK OBAMA OBAMACARE SENATE PRESIDENT HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES REPUBLICAN PARTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY HEALTH CARE  —  Given the Affordable Care Act's multiple crises in its first month of implementation …