The GOP handling of party-switching Representative Parker Griffith was a sharp contrast with the Democrats’ treatment of Sen. Arlen Specter.   more

Here are a list of words and phrases that are likely to appear in tonight’s speech. Arrange them 5×5 in a standard bingo format and play along at home to make the speech go faster. Usually, everyone’s a winner.  more

In a recent interview, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) accused the White House and Democrats of pressuring him to not speak out about the abortion language in the Senate health care bill.  more

Earlier this week, critics jumped on Fox News for airing older footage of Sarah Palin at a 2008 campaign rally during a report about her current book tour. For anyone familiar with live television, this could have happened quite easily by mistake.   more

A press release has come our way from the office of Senator Foghorn Leghorn of Texas…   more

In Westchester County, New York, Republican candidate John Cronin rode to a big win by presenting himself as moderate, focusing on the issues and addressing issues the GOP often ignores.  more

The mishandling of the swine flu national emergency — the long lines and shortages of the vaccine — is a taste of how things will be when the federal government is in charge of healthcare.  more

The Nobel Committee has created a pretty little problem for White House counsel Greg Craig this morning. The value of the gift is $1.4 million, and technically, it’s a “Foreign Official Gift.”  more

Insider loves a good conspiracy theory as much as anyone else, so here’s one: What if the White House actually knew beforehand that Chicago was going to lose its Olympic bid?  more

Today’s Politico reports that a coalition of groups supporting President Obama’s health reforms have hired the former firm of Obama adviser David Axelrod.  more

A Huffington Post piece on the Sotomayor hearings, reports that: “As [Senator Leahy] spoke, a Democratic operative passed on some observations and talking points that are being pushed around in Sotomayor’s defense.” Does anyone believe for a minute that those talking points were not written before the hearings began today?  more

The shocking news that Chief Judge of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, Karen Williams of South Carolina has retired effective immediately means that the balance of judges appointed by Republicans and Democrats on the Circuit will change even more dramatically and quickly than had been expected.  more

According to this story in The Hill today, Democrat Chairman Edolphus Towns (D-NY) refused to join ranking Republican Darrell Issa (R-CA) in seeking documents related to the “Friends of Angelo” program.  Makes one wonder what Chairman Towns’ reaction might be if it were two Republican senators who received sweetheart mortgage deals from Countrywide instead of   more

I guess he was admissible after all.  more

Will Governor Bill Richardson (the former designee for Commerce Secretary) attend the town hall with President Obama?  If so, how close together will the two men stand?   more

The National Council for a New America launched its “listening tour” at a pizza parlor in Arlington, Virginia on Saturday, May 2. Who are the Republicans leading the NCNA? Besides the Congressional leadership, the group’s “national panel of experts” includes former Governor Mitt Romney, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, former Governor Jeb Bush, Governor Bobby Jindal, Governor   more

Very revealing article written by Craig Becker, President Obama’s announced “intention to nominate” Democrat candidate for the National Labor Relations Board.  On page 500, at the end of the paragraph continuing over from the preceding page is a telling comment: “[I conclude] that employers should be stripped of any legally cognizable interest in their employees’   more

One of my many sarcastic liberal friends recently emailed me a Politico story titled “GOP stumbling in health care fight.” After generically outlining the various reasons that Republicans have been largely silent in the health care debate, the story casually mentions that the “[healthcare] void on the right has been so vast that a millionaire health   more

At the time of the Bush/Gore recount in 2000, there was a persistent rumor that Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor had angrily let slip that she would have to stay on the Court for four more years if Gore won, to give a Republican president a chance to appoint her successor. For the moment, put   more

The World Health Organization has raised their swine flu alert to Level 5.  The WHO’s formal definition of a Level 5 designation is sustained human-to-human transmission “in two countries in one WHO region” (there are six regions worldwide; the US is in the Americas region).  So the “two countries” must be the United States and Mexico.
One can argue that the designation was   more