In the wake of New York's tumultuous 23rd district special election, a political neologism has arisen: "Scozzafavaed." It started popping up on blogs this week after Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava was forced out of the race by low polling numbers...  Comment

Congressman Nathan Deal, who is currently polling third in the sixseven-person race among Republicans for the GOP nomination for Georgia Governor, says he will demand to see Barack Obama’s birth certificate: U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, now a Republican candidate for governor, this morning declared himself in sympathy  Comment

This Wednesday former Hewlett-Packard CEO and John McCain presidential adviser Carly Fiorina announced her candidacy for US Senate. Her candidacy, Fiorina hopes, will have her take on longtime and proud liberal California Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer in the conservative Orange County. While her campaign kicked off with a day-time talk show looking logo...  Comment

Referendum 71 in Washington State, which I had been working a little bit, was called last night by the AP for the Yes side (i.e. the good guys won) with 52.05% of the vote (county-by-county results are here). Josh Friedes, the campaign manager, told ...  Comment

The White House is strongly denying a story claiming that White House officials privately threatened to retaliate against a Democratic strategist for appearing on Fox News — a claim generating a big stir on the right as the latest example of the White House’s victimization of the network.  Comment

When it's a choice between strengthening the Patriot Act, or showing up for the Tea Party Patriots, what's a GOP lawmaker to do? We'll give you one guess... Several Republican members of Congress yesterday blew off votes on the signature anti-terror legislation...  Comment

This morning, on a conference call with reporters, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) warned that “action on a health care overhaul could slip past a planned Saturday evening vote into Sunday — or even Monday or Tuesday...  Comment

BIG VOTE TOMORROW NIGHT -- MAYBE.... The stage is set for a historic vote tomorrow night in the U.S. House on health care reform. This morning, however, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) conceded that it's not definitely going to...  3 Comments

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he will not seek reelection, adding a new element of uncertainty to the Middle East peace process. “I have told my brethren in the P.L.O. that I have no desire to run in the forthcoming election,...  1 Comment

U.N. inspectors have found “nothing to be worried about” in their first report after visiting a previously secret uranium-enrichment site south of Tehran. The clean assessment, which described the site as a “hole in a mountain,̶...  Comment

Reports are out that Mahmoud Abbas is telling people he won’t run for re-election as head of the Palestinian Authority: “The aides said Abbas received calls earlier today from Israel’s president and defense minister...  Comment

Saudi Arabia attacks rebels inside Yemen Top Story: The Saudi air force has launched attacks on rebel bases inside Yemen in response to a cross-border raid by the rebels, according to local media reports. The Saudi government has confirmed only that...  Comment

There is very little need to tell anyone what happened at Fort Hood yesterday. A Major who specialized in treating soldiers with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder went on a shooting rampage killing 13 and wounding 30 more. This is a tragedy in many ways, for the families of the dead...  Comment

Mossad reportedly used a Trojan to hack into a Syrian official's laptop while he stayed in a London hotel. The information extracted was used to plan a bombing raid at a suspected nuclear reactor facility in Syria, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports.  Comment

Before he allegedly killed a dozen and wounded 31 more at Ft. Hood, Maj. Nidal Hasan may have gone online to praise suicide bombers. “If one suicide bomber can kill 100 enemy soldiers because they were caught off guard that would be considered a strategic victory,”  Comment

Traditionally the United States has had a strong relationship with Pakistan’s military. And Pakistan’s military has had a proclivity for overthrowing the civilian government, and for operating itself autonomously even while civilians are formally in charge.  Comment

The defeat of same-sex marriage in Maine is prompting marriage foes in New Hampshire -- which now has same-sex marriage -- to try again:  Comment

Fox News reported this morning that Speaker Nancy Pelosi was working on her own draft of the health care bill -- which a Pelosi aide tells us is false. Fox had a breaking news item: "We are learning this morning that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is working on her own draft of the health care overhaul - including another push for government-run health insurance." Again, we repeat: A Pelosi aide confirms to us that this is false...  Comment

It's all right for Fox News, I guess -- it isn't as if they pretend not to be Fox News. Original tape after the jump...  6 Comments

Education Secretary Arne Duncan feels that “we’re lying to our children” when we accept low student achievement standards, a policy that sees many states promoting children to the next grade...  Comment

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will be the Republican speaker at the Gridiron Club's Winter Dinner on Dec. 5, the club announced Friday. Gridiron Club President Dick Cooper told club members  1 Comment

I’m not so much surprised that Cheney, once again, used a public speaking opportunity to bitch and moan that Eric Holder is nodding briefly (but very ambivalently) toward the requirement to investigate the use of torture.  Comment

Thousands of protesters came to Capitol Hill yesterday for Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-MN) protest against health care reform, capping months of fear-mongering about the dangers of so-called “socialized” medicine.  1 Comment

See that picture? That looks like a million people to G. Gordon Liddy's producer: (T)oday’s anti-health care reform rally has been much more sparsely attended (than the 9/12 protests, but) that hasn’t stopped conservatives from inflating ...  2 Comments