Republicans Calling for Super-Supermajority for Health Care  —  In order to become law, a health care bill needs to secure a majority on the House Ways & Means Committee and also the House Energy & Commerce Committee and also the House Education & Labor Committee and, of course, the full United States House of Representatives.

Tom Ridge on National Security After 9/11  —  Tom Ridge, the first head of the 9/11-inspired Department of Homeland Security, wasn't keen on writing a tell-all.  But in The Test of Our Times: America Under Siege...and How We Can Be Safe Again, out September 1, Ridge says he wants to shake “public complacency” over security.

Obama Ally: Dem Majority Is History If Health Reform Fails  —  ABC News' Teddy Davis reports:  —  A top Obama ally predicted Wednesday in an interview with ABC News that Democrats will lose their congressional majority in next year's midterm elections if they fail to put a health-care reform bill on President Obama's desk.

Charlie Cook: Dem situation has ‘slipped completely out of control’  —  Charlie Cook, one of the best political handicappers in the business, sent out a special update to Cook Political Report subscribers Thursday that should send shivers down Democratic spines.

Kennedy, looking ahead, urges that Senate seat be filled quickly  —  Seeks law change for interim post  —  Senator Edward M. Kennedy, in a poignant acknowledgment of his mortality at a critical time in the national health care debate, has privately asked the governor and legislative leaders …

Righty bloggers slam MSNBC over ‘gun’ clip; network responds  —  Several conservative bloggers, including Hot Air, RedState, and NewsBusters, have taken MSNBC to task for not identifying a man with a gun at an Obama event as an African-American in a segment that discussed the “racial overtones” …

Who's Crazy Now?  —  A series of posts at Reason illustrates that the liberal rage at right-wing loonies is starting to sound, well, a little loonie:  —  From Jesse Walker: “The social construction of the brownshirt menace, chapter DXXIII: … Here's the video:

Obama admin. to end cash for clunkers on Monday  —  WASHINGTON — The Obama administration will bring to an end the popular $3 billion Cash for Clunkers program on Monday, giving car shoppers a few more days to take advantage of big government incentives.  —  The Transportation Department …

The GOP Has Become a Party of Nihilists  —  In one of those awful collisions between public policy and real life, I was in the midst of an awkward conversation about end-of-life issues with my father when Sarah Palin raised the remarkable idea that the Obama Administration's attempt to include …

Glenn Beck Off This Week: Vacation or Something More?  —  First on TVNewser: Tipsters inside Fox News tell us Glenn Beck's vacation this week from his Fox News show was not planned.  We hear Beck was told to take this week off to let some of the heat surrounding him die down.

New Poll: 77 Percent Support “Choice” Of Public Option  —  Read More: Poll Public Option, Public Option Poll.  Nbc Poll, Public Plan, Survey Usa, Survey Usa Poll, Politics News  —  More than three out of every four Americans feel it is important to have a “choice” between …

The Madman Theory Of Political Bargaining: Part 4  —  Matt Yglesias does not like being equated with Blue Dogs: … I do not think Matt, or Ezra Klein, or Kevin Drum, or Paul Starr are closet Blue Dogs, but I DO think, in terms of political bargaining, they DO represent well why Democrats …

ABC's Charles Gibson to Cindy Sheehan: Thanks for your sacrifice.  Now get lost.  —  In an appearance August 18 on WLS radio in Chicago, ABC News anchor Charles Gibson was asked about anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan's plans to travel to Martha's Vineyard next week, where she will protest …

Terminally ill Lockerbie bomber lands in Libya  —  GREENOCK, Scotland (CNN) — The man convicted of murdering 270 people by blowing up Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, two decades ago received a boisterous welcome when he landed in his native Libya on Thursday.

An Odd Silence on Gay Marriage  —  Why won't leading opponents of same-sex marriage go on the record with their predictions?  —  Opponents of same-sex marriage reject it on religious and moral grounds but also on practical ones.  If we let homosexuals marry, they believe …

Rumor has it that Palin's moving to Rhode Island … It's only a rumor and even the writer says in the article that it's probably not true.  But for anyone who hasn't heard, the latest word on former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is that she's moving to Rhode Island.

Bachmann: No Government Control Over My Body!  —  Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), who is a a staunch champion of the religious right and an opponent of President Obama on all things under the sun, has a new line against the Democrats on health care: Keep the government off my body!

DNC Admits Barack Obama WAS Collecting Information on People Via Flag@Whitehouse.gov  —  Greg Sargent, doing his part as a mouthpiece for the online left, is trying his best to deflect concerns over flag@whitehouse.gov, but in the process reveals that Democrats are now admitting …

Elizabeth Edwards: I expect a paternity test on Hunter's child  —  (CNN) — Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, told CNN she believes a DNA test will be conducted to confirm the paternity of the child of Rielle Hunter, with whom her husband conducted an affair.

Coleman headed to Harvard  —  (CNN) — Former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman has a new gig — at successor Al Franken's alma mater.  —  Harvard University's Institute of Politics announced Thursday that the former Republican senator will be part of its latest class of teaching fellows.