For those who misunderstood my joke today, here's my quest for forgiveness...  Last week my joke at the Conservative Political Action Conference generated laughter and media attention.  Today on Andrea Mitchell's show, my aspirin joke bombed as many didn't recognize it as a joke but thought …

Exclusive: Feds arrest man allegedly heading to U.S. Capitol for suicide mission after sting investigation  —  Authorities have arrested a man allegedly on his way to the U.S. Capitol for what he thought would be a suicide attack on one of the nation's most symbolic landmarks, Fox News has learned exclusively.

Gingrich to get another $10 million from casino backer - sources  —  Sheldon Adelson, left, and Newt Gingrich, right  —  Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's faltering campaign is about to get another shot in the arm, CBS News has learned.  —  Billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson plans …

Top GOP Senator Says ‘If Romney Loses Michigan, We Need a New Candidate’  —  A prominent Republican senator just told me that if Romney can't win in Michigan, the Republican Party needs to go back to the drawing board and convince somebody new to get into the race.

The Jeremy Lin Problem  —  Jeremy Lin is anomalous in all sorts of ways.  He's a Harvard grad in the N.B.A., an Asian-American man in professional sports.  But we shouldn't neglect the biggest anomaly.  He's a religious person in professional sports.  —  We've become accustomed …

Blacklisted, But Not Beaten  —  My days as a political analyst at MSNBC have come to an end.  —  After 10 enjoyable years, I am departing, after an incessant clamor from the left that to permit me continued access to the microphones of MSNBC would be an outrage against decency, and dangerous.

A Syllabus for the ‘Occupy’ Movement  —  Conservatives are wrong to deride college courses on the anti-Wall Street protests.  Here's a lesson plan and possible reading list.  —  Schools from New York's Columbia to Chicago's Roosevelt University are offering courses on the “Occupy” movement.

Congress passes extension of payroll tax cut  —  Congress passed a $150 billion economic package Friday, extending for the rest of the year a payroll tax holiday for 160 million workers and unemployment benefits for millions of others.  —  On a 293-132 vote, a bipartisan House coalition supported …

The Myth of Runaway Health Spending  —  The growth rate of national health expenditures has been declining for a decade, driven by better medical care and consumer choice.  —  New data show that health spending over the past several years has been normalizing toward the rate of general inflation …

U.S. Unemployment Increases in Mid-February  —  Underemployment also up, to 19.0%  —  PRINCETON, NJ — The U.S. unemployment rate, as measured by Gallup without seasonal adjustment, is 9.0% in mid-February, up from 8.6% for January.  The mid-month reading normally reflects …

Al Sharpton's SUV impounded at La Guardia Airport  —  Can I get a witness?  —  The Rev. Al Sharpton tried to move heaven and earth yesterday to keep his SUV from being towed at La Guardia Airport — but no amount of preaching could stop Port Authority cops from impounding the vehicle.

Charles Koch, employees reveal e-mailed threats from past year  —  Charles Koch, his brother and employees have in recent months been getting death threats, hundreds of obscenity-laced hate messages, and harassment from some far left-wing groups, Koch said on Thursday.

Ethics panel members recused in Maxine Waters case  —  Six members of the House Ethics Committee - including all five Republicans on the secretive panel - have recused themselves from the long-running case involving Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters (Calif.), an unprecedented move that raises …

At Work in Syria, Times Correspondent Dies  —  Anthony Shadid, a prize-winning newspaper correspondent whose graceful dispatches for both The New York Times and The Washington Post covered nearly two decades of Middle East conflict and turmoil, died, apparently of an asthma attack …

Over-regulated America  —  The home of laissez-faire is being suffocated by excessive and badly written regulation  —  AMERICANS love to laugh at ridiculous regulations.  A Florida law requires vending-machine labels to urge the public to file a report if the label is not there.

Is birth control fight a Terri Schiavo moment?  —  The respected Dem firm Democracy Corps has just published an important polling memo that gets right to the heart of why the birth control battle could matter so much in this year's elections.  —  The firm's poll finds that one of the most …

Obama's White Whale  —  How the campaign's top-secret project Narwhal could change this race, and many to come.  —  On Jan. 22, a young woman in a socially conservative corner of southwestern Ohio received a blast email from Stephanie Cutter, a deputy campaign manager for Barack Obama.

Virginia's Proposed Ultrasound Law Is an Abomination  —  Under the new legislation, women who want an abortion will be forcibly penetrated for no medical reason.  Where's the outrage?  —  This week, the Virginia state Legislature passed a bill that would require women to have an ultrasound before they may have an abortion.

Maine GOP: Results went to spam  —  Maine Republican Party chairman Charlie Webster has admitted that the state party made numerous clerical errors in counting the state's caucus results — even omitting some votes because emails reporting tallies “went to spam” in an email account.