Analysis: Election's lessons shaping 2010 campaign
Washington -- What we learned from the off-year Elections: The president's influence is limited, independents rule, incumbents beware, issues trump ideology and, once more, "It's The Economy, stupid." Also: Republicans can win -- even if they lack a leader and their base is cracked. And this certainly isn't the Democratic-friendly political environment of 2006 and 2008 when the party captured control of Congress and The White House. The first Election Day of Barack Obama's presidency...

Obama's Frightening Insensitivity Following Shooting: PHOTO
In the wake of this week's Elections, The White House needs to ask if it it has overextended its political operation as much as it has its policy agenda in Congress.

Nancy Pelosi Is Such A… Pirate (?) For Making All Those Moderate Republicans Agree With Her: VIDEO
So here’s this new affecting radio spot from the American Future Fund, in which Nancy Pelosi is a pirate, right?, because her last name begins with “P”. No, wait. Nancy Pelosi is like the Speaker of the House pirate who is forcing all the other Congress pirates to walk the plank, even though they’re her own crew members. It’s like actual pirates do, yeah? [ YouTube ]

The Most Important Question No One Is Asking about 'Stimulus Jobs' -- By: NRO Staff: PHOTO
Those dissecting The White House claim that the $200 billion spent on the Stimulus has created or saved 650,000 jobs have focused on the arithmetical errors in counting the hirings. They are ignoring a much more fundamental issue. Before Congress could inject $200 billion into The Economy, they had to borrow $200 billion out of The Economy. So the more central question is thus: If injecting $200 billion into The Economy supported 650,000 jobs, then how many jobs were lost by first borrowing...

'Noisy Rally' By 'a Few Thousand' Matched by 'Powerful' AARP and AMA Endorsements: PHOTO
Despite the mass shooting at Fort Hood, the ABC, CBS and NBC newscasts Thursday night squeezed in full stories pegged to a “kill the bill” anti-Pelosi/ObamaCare rally outside the U.S. Capitol attended by “angry protesters” as all the stories a lso stressed how President Obama got a “boost” from “big,” “powerful” “key” and “major” endorsements from the AARP and AMA. NBC's Brian Williams contrasted “big endorsements by two influential groups” with “a big, noisy...

Buried: NY Times Plunks GOP Protest In Middle of A-15 Story Titled 'House Democrats Seek Allies for Health Care Vote': PHOTO
While the Washington Post ran a full news story by Philip Rucker on the conservative Capitol Hill rally on page 4 on Friday, The New York Times buried it with just six paragraphs

The Day John Boehner (and the GOP) Went Nuts
At today's small Tea Party rally on Capitol Hill, as a few thousand right wing activists railed against the emerging Health Care reform legislation, Republican House minority leader John Boehner came before the angry crowd (and its signs declaring the president a "red" and a "traitor") and declared that the Health Care bill is the "greatest threat to freedom that I have seen." The greatest? Greater than Hitler's Nazism? Greater than Soviet Communism? With this...

Religion is not a choice but being gay is, GOP leader's spokesman says
You were born a Christian, not born gay. Religion is not a choice. Or so the spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) would have you believe. Questioned about why the House's top Republican opposes a hate crimes bill penalizing violence against gays, his spokesman said he "supports existing federal protections (based on race, religion, gender, etc) based on immutable characteristics," just not protections for things like being gay -- which conservatives occasionally claim is a...

Boehner: Obama Is Out of 'Excuses' in Delaying Afghanistan Troop Decision
Now Abdullah Abdullah has dropped out of the Afghan presidential race, handing the election over to Hamid Karzai for another five-year term, lawmakers are urging President Obama to finalize his overhaul of America's war strategy.  President Obama has run out of "excuses" for delaying a decision on whether to send more U.S. Troops to Afghanistan, House Minority Leader John Boehner said Monday after Afghan President Hamid Karzai was declared the winner of his nation's presidential election by...

Coming Up: A 'This Week' Exclusive: Kaine vs Steele
This Sunday, an exclusive interview with Republican Chairman Michael Steele and Democratic Chairman Tim Kaine, in a head-to-head debate between both party leaders on the impact of the Elections, The Economy, and Health Care. ABC News' George Stephanopoulos reports on politics, The White House, and Congress for his online column, George's Bottom Line and blogs the latest news from ABC's pre-eminent Sunday talk-show and public affair program This Week with George Stephanopoulos. George covers...

Maddow Wrongly Claims 'Constitution Doesn't Have A Preamble': VIDEO
Did you know the United States Constitution doesn't have a Preamble? Well, that's what the oh so arrogant, high and mighty MSNBC host Rachel Maddow told her audience Thursday night. In a segment attacking the attendees of yesterday's "House Call" Protests on Capitol Hill, Maddow chided Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Oh.) for claiming he was quoting from the Preamble of the Constitution (video embedded below the fold with partial transcript, relevant section at 2:05, file photo):...

Obama to sign homebuyer, jobless bill assistance - Yahoo! News
Washington – President Barack Obama is set to sign a $24 billion economic Stimulus bill providing tax incentives to prospective homebuyers and extending Unemployment benefits to the longtime jobless who have been left behind as The Economy veers toward recovery. The White House signing ceremony Friday comes a day after the House, displaying rare Bipartisan agreement over the seriousness of the jobless situation, voted 403-12 for the measure. The Senate approved it unanimously on...

Fox News advances false claim that "House Call" protest was "spontaneous"
Fox News has repeatedly advanced, and in Sean Hannity's case adopted, Rep. Michele Bachmann's (R-MN) false claim that her November 5 House Call protest in opposition of Health Care reform was "organic" and "spontaneous."  In fact, the protest was organized by House Republicans in collaboration with conservative activist groups, and was promoted by right-wing media outlets in advance of the actual event. Fox News advances false claim that "House Call" protest was "spontaneous," "organic,"...

'Kill the bill,' protesters target health care
WASHINGTON — Chanting "Kill the bill," thousands of conservatives incensed over the Democrats' Health Care overhaul protested at the Capitol on Thursday, arguing that the legislation amounts to a government takeover of the nation's medical system. The crowd, invited on national TV by Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., was staunchly anti-government — "Politicians lie, people die," read one sign — but loudly cheered the House Republicans who hosted the event. The protest attracted...

Obama signs homebuyer, jobless bill assistance - Yahoo! News
Washington – President Barack Obama signed into law a $24 billion economic Stimulus bill providing tax incentives to prospective homebuyers and extending Unemployment benefits to the longtime jobless who have been left behind as The Economy veers toward recovery. The bill-signing at The White House Friday came a day after the House, displaying rare Bipartisan agreement over the seriousness of the jobless situation, voted 403-12 for the measure. The Senate approved it unanimously on...

Boehner: Obama has "No More Excuses" on Afghanistan: PHOTO
(AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe) House Republican leader John Boehner released a statement Monday saying that President Obama has "no more excuses" for not announcing a decision on his strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan now that presidential challenger Abdullah Abdullah (left) has pulled out of the Afghan runoff election , guaranteeing that Hamid Karzai will continue as the country's president. "Now that it is clear that President Karzai will remain in office, The White House has no further...

Boehner On Lack Of GOP Health Care Bill: We Have 8 Or 9 Ideas
The Republican Minority Leader in the House was pushed on Sunday to explain just why the party had not introduced a counter-proposal to Democrat-led efforts to overhaul the Health Care system. Rep. John Boehner's (R-Ohio) reply was to direct viewers to the GOP's House website, where they could "see our eight or nine ideas about how to make our current Health Care system better." In a contentious interview with CNN's "State of the Union," Boehner insisted that the Republican Party would produce...

The Party of Bachmann
In the GOP civil war , moderates seemed to gain ground this week as center-leaning Republicans won two governors' races, while the conservative candidate lost in NY-23. But days later, in the far right came out again big. Thousands heeded Rep. Michele Bachmann's call to fill the National Mall and protest Democratic Health Care reform. Commentators say Thursday's rally--which included signs comparing the Health Care bill to The Holocaust--is proof that the Republican Party is embracing its right...

Thousands of protesters pay -House call'
Conservative protesters chanting “Kill that bill!” stormed the Capitol on Thursday as Republicans launched a last-ditch effort against the Democrats' healthcare bill. The protesters from around the country entered House office buildings after attending the “House Call” rally on healthcare, largely the brainchild of Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.).

Why GOP Leader Opposes Hate Crimes Protections for Gays: PHOTO
(AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari, File) Last week, House Republican Leader John Boehner objected to House passage of a bill that would expand hate crime laws and make it a federal crime to assault people on the basis of their sexual orientation. "All violent crimes should be prosecuted vigorously, no matter what the circumstance," he said. "The Democrats' 'thought crimes' legislation, however, places a higher value on some lives than others. Republicans believe that all lives are created equal, and...

Ireland's labor unions march against government plans for `brutal cut' in spending, work force
DUBLIN — Tens of thousands of workers marched Friday through Dublin and seven other Irish cities in protest against government plans to impose an emergency budget and rein in the nation's soaring deficit. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions, the umbrella body for unions representing a third of Ireland's 2 million-member work force, said its "national day of action" was designed to pressure the government to reduce its budget-cutting plans in favor of running even deeper deficits. But Prime...

Boehner: 'Political rebellion' under way
WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- There is a "political rebellion" going on in America that the Republican Party is hoping to speak for, the U.S. House minority leader says. Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, speaking Sunday on CNN's "State of Union," said an incident in which a GOP-endorsed New York congressional candidate withdrew from an election under pressure from Republican conservatives showed that "we're in the middle of a political rebellion going on in America." Boehner said, "This rebellion are by...

Alma Thomas and the Fight Over Art in the White House
Who knew that 2009 was going to be the year that modern art got high-profile political again? Just a few months back, we had Glenn Beck telling us about the evil communist indoctrination elements found within the exterior of Rockefeller Plaza and now we have the decision not to hang painter Alma Thomas ' "Watusi (Hard Edge)" piece in Michelle Obama 's office . Thomas' work had come under attack when it was mentioned that the First Lady would like to hang some of her work in The White House ....

Obama Will Delay Asia Trip For Ft. Hood Memorial: Gibbs
By Frank James President Barack Obama was supposed to leave for his first trip to Asia as president on Wednesday but the mass shootings at Ft. Hood Army Base have caused The White House put its schedule in "flux" according to The White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. The president will attend a Ft. Hood memorial service whenever it occurs, Gibbs said, and he indicated Obama will do so even if it means pushing back Obama's departure for China. Indeed, Gibbs told reporters that The White...

Obama wants more time on Afghanistan, but it is running out fast
Why is it taking President Obama so long to decide what to do in Afghanistan? There are a lot of reasons, a few good, but most are the consequence of past mistakes. The first is the sheer amount of information pouring into The White House, from the State Department, The Pentagon and Afghanistan. It is beyond the ability of any single person to read it all, said one who is witness to the flood. That is a result not just of the deteriorating situation — as General Stanley McChrystal...