Top Items:

Secret Joint Raid Captures Taliban's Top Commander — WASHINGTON — The Taliban's top military commander was captured several days ago in Karachi, Pakistan, in a secret joint operation by Pakistani and American intelligence forces, according to American government officials.
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin, Washington Monthly, Politics Daily, Informed Comment, Raw Story, Sister Toldjah, The Long War Journal, ABCNEWS, The Washington Independent, Los Angeles Times, Registan.net, democracyarsenal.org, Scared Monkeys, NPR Blogs, Daily Kos, Another Black Conservative, And So it Goes in Shreveport, msnbc.com, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Guardian, Flopping Aces, Washington Post, Betsy's Page, Financial Times, MyDD, TigerHawk, The Corner on National …, Newshoggers.com, Wall Street Journal, Hot Air, PoliBlog, Prairie Weather, News Hounds, Power Line, JustOneMinute, The Daily Dish, FP Passport, The Moderate Voice, Political Punch, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Vail Spot, Outside The Beltway, AMERICAblog News, RedState, Taylor Marsh and New York Magazine
RELATED:

It's Extremely Important We Don't Torture Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar — The Taliban's military commander has been captured in a joint Pakistani-U.S. intelligence raid. A high-five to Langley: this is one serious motherf**king success. Now it's really important we don't screw it all up by abusing Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.


Bayh to Obama: take this job and shove it — Millions of Americans long to tell their bosses “take this job and shove it.” Hardly any have the power and money to do so, especially in these recessionary times. Sen. Evan Bayh (D) of Indiana, however, is the exception.
Discussion:
Commentary, ATTACKERMAN, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Left in the West, The Bilerico Project, Gawker, The Confluence, Pajamas Media, Hot Air, Firedoglake, Taylor Marsh, Althouse, MyDD, Cassy Fiano, Lawyers, Guns and Money, Macsmind, The Huffington Post, Blue Crab Boulevard, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, CBS News and Mad Kane's Political Madness
RELATED:

Sen. Bayh: ‘Too Much Brain-Dead Partisanship’ in Congress — Indiana Senator Rules Out 2012 Presidential Run, Mum on 2016 Ambitions — Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, whose retirement announcement Monday stunned the political world, today assailed partisanship in Congress and said he can achieve …


New poll: Now, signs of real vulnerability for California's Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer — So, is California's brittle Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer about to become the next Harry Reid? Which is to say, embattled at home. — As Reid worked the wallets of San Francisco on Presidents …
Discussion:
GayPatriot, Daily Kos, Another Black Conservative, Commentary, Washington Times, Don Surber and Weasel Zippers


Five ways to lose the Senate majority — Sen. Evan Bayh's stunning decision Monday to pass on a reelection campaign in Indiana is the latest blow to a Senate Democratic majority that is suddenly within striking distance for the GOP. — While the retirements of Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) …
Discussion:
Don Surber

Democrats Reel as Senator Says No to 3rd Term
Discussion:
Ta-Nehisi Coates, New York Post, The Note, Salon, The Politico, Washington Post, Connecting.the.Dots, Real Clear Politics, msnbc.com and Washington Times

Democratic Indiana candidate says White House secretly backing Baron Hill


Democratic Sen. Bayh of Indiana won't run for reelection
Discussion:
NY Daily News, The Fix, protein wisdom, Gawker, PostPartisan, John Stossel, OpenSecrets.org, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Lynn Sweet and Ezra Klein

Bayh's Retirement — Fox News is reporting that Sen. Evan Bayh …

Lane on Bayh — I have several more months in which to kick him around.
Discussion:
TalkLeft

Evan Bayh Disses Washington on Way Out
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, CNN, New York Magazine, The Politico, Mediaite, Commentary, theblogprof, Scared Monkeys, Politics Daily, Blogcritics, Wizbang, Truthdig and The Hill


Tea party leaders will meet with Steele and other Republican operatives — About 50 leaders of the grass-roots “tea party” movement will meet in Washington on Tuesday with Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele and other top GOP operatives to discuss campaign strategies and conservative principles.
RELATED:


Tea Party Movement Lights Fuse for Rebellion on Right — Less than a year ago, Pam Stout was new to protest politics. Now she runs a Tea Party group in Sandpoint, Idaho. More Photos > — SANDPOINT, Idaho — Pam Stout has not always lived in fear of her government.

FIRST THOUGHTS: BYE, BAYH — Democrats, including Bayh, run for the hills when Obama's approval is at ... 50%?... More on Bayh's stunning announcement yesterday... The GOP now has at least eight legitimate Senate pick-up opportunities... The combined number of Dem and GOP retirements …


U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg is taken to area hospital after fall … U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg was taken by ambulance tonight from his Cliffside Park home after suffering a fall, his spokesman said. — The 86-year-old New Jersey Democrat was conscious when he was taken to the hospital …
Discussion:
TPMDC
RELATED:


New Jersey senator suffers fall — Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-New Jersey, was hospitalized Monday after taking a fall, his spokesman said. — (CNN) - Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-New Jersey, was hospitalized Monday after taking a fall, his spokesman said. — The 86-year-old Lautenberg …
Discussion:
The Political Carnival

Now IPCC hurricane data is questioned — Open science: Got Excel? Debunk this — More trouble looms for the IPCC. The body may need to revise statements made in its Fourth Assessment Report on hurricanes and global warming. A statistical analysis of the raw data shows that the claims …
Discussion:
theblogprof, Gateway Pundit, Hot Air, Orange County Register, YID With LID, The Strata-Sphere, EU Referendum and GayPatriot

Let's Get Real: Barbara Mikulski Does Not Fear a Loss This Year. — By: Jim Geraghty — Many, many readers are excited about the rumor, eminating from The Vail Spot blog, that Sen. Barbara Mikulski will retire. — Mike Memoli of RealClearPolitics and Chris Cillizza of the Post …
RELATED:

Senator Mikulski of Maryland to Retire
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Open Left, Doug Ross, DownWithTyranny!, Conservatives4Palin.com and The Lonely Conservative

Romney threatened on flight out of Vancouver — Republican politician Mitt Romney was physically threatened by a violent passenger on an Air Canada flight leaving Vancouver this morning. — Mr. Romney, who has been in Vancouver since Friday for the Olympic Winter Games, did not respond to the attack.


FAIL... Just 6% of Americans Believe Obama's $787 Billion Stimulus Created Jobs — In December the Obama Administration announced they had “saved or created” 1.1 million jobs. — In January the Obama Administration announced they had “saved or created” 2 million jobs.


Wisconsin Billboard Calls for Obama's Ouster — Billboard will remain until June — Somebody in Wisconsin doesn't like President Barack Obama all that much. — An unnamed company has paid for a billboard along Highway 41 in Oshkosh that reads, “Impeach Obama.”


U.S. looks to reluctant foreign investors to help fund the housing market — As the U.S. housing market boomed in the past decade and fueled a bull market in mortgage investments, Norway's government-owned fund went along for the ride — and the fall. — After that fund recorded …
Discussion:
Clusterstock

Republicans Spurn Once-Favored Health Mandate — For Republicans, the idea of requiring every American to have health insurance is one of the most abhorrent provisions of the Democrats' health overhaul bills. — “Congress has never crossed the line between regulating what people choose …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly

Is There Life in Health Care Reform? — In politics, as in life, there's often a very fine line between a fluke and an earthquake. They can even be mistaken for each other. In many ways, Scott Brown's upset victory over Martha Coakley on January 19 for the Senate seat long held by Edward M. Kennedy …
Discussion:
The New Republic


Amy Bishop Killed Minorities: Leftists Silent on ‘Racist’ Rampage; Victims' Families Ask, ‘Why Was She Still Teaching?’ — I just noticed something about the Amy Bishop case: Her victims were minorities. From left to right at the photo: Dr. Adriel Johnson Sr., Dr. Gopi Podila, and Dr. Maria Davis.