Too Bad  —  President Bush has torn the conservative coalition asunder.  —  What political conservatives and on-the-ground Republicans must understand at this point is that they are not breaking with the White House on immigration.  They are not resisting, fighting and thereby setting …

Top Bush Aide Leaving White House  —  WASHINGTON — Dan Bartlett, one of President Bush's most trusted advisers and his longest-serving aide, said Friday he is resigning to begin a career outside of government.  —  The move was announced on Bartlett's 36th birthday.

One Place Where Obama Goes Elbow to Elbow  —  Last Christmas, Senator Barack Obama flew to Hawaii to contemplate a presidential bid in the peace of his childhood home.  But there, on a humid playground near Waikiki Beach, he found himself being roughed up by some of his best friends.

RNC faces donor falloff, fires solicitors  —  The Republican National Committee, hit by a grass-roots donors' rebellion over President Bush's immigration policy, has fired all 65 of its telephone solicitors, The Washington Times has learned.  —  Faced with an estimated 40 percent falloff …

Aide Says Edwards Misspoke on Reading Classified Iraq Report  —  Former Senator John Edwards, a Democratic presidential candidate, told an interviewer on Wednesday that he had read the classified October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate before voting to authorize force in Iraq, but his campaign retracted the statement yesterday.

Sunni Insurgents Battle in Baghdad  —  Residents of Western Neighborhood Join Groups' Fight Against Al-Qaeda in Iraq  —  Sunni residents of a west Baghdad neighborhood used assault rifles and a roadside bomb to battle the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq this week …

German brain drain at highest level since 1940s  —  For a nation that invented the term "guest worker" for its immigrant labourers, Germany is facing the sobering fact that record numbers of its own often highly-qualified citizens are fleeing the country to work abroad in the biggest mass exodus for 60 years.

Senate Panel Questions C.I.A. Detentions  —  The Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday questioned the continuing value of the Central Intelligence Agency's secret interrogation program for terrorism suspects, suggesting that international condemnation and the obstacles it has created …

Get in Line, Einstein  —  Beware legislative behemoths.  Beware "comprehensive immigration reform."  Any bill that is 380 pages long is bound to have nooks and crannies reflecting private deals, quiet paybacks and ad hoc arrangements that you often don't learn about until it's too late.

Kyl Unmasked as 'Senator Secrecy' on FOIA Reform; Defends Big Government's First Line of Defense  —  Sen. Jon Kyl, R-AZ, has conceded that he is the senator behind the secret hold on the proposed Open Government Reform Act of 2007, which would provide much-needed improvements in the federal Freedom of Information Act.

Conservative Catholics Organize To Sink Rudy  —  The early success of Rudy Giuliani's presidential bid has provoked a groundswell of opposition from disparate forces including conservative Catholics, remnants of Pat Buchanan's presidential campaigns and regional political operatives seeking to break into the Republican firmament.

I Present to You: Saint Libby  —  Warning: Do not read this on a queasy or otherwise weak stomach.  —  Did I say we had reached the PR phase of this defense?  Sure looks like it, from the job Comstock Team Libby did on the sentencing memorandum.  Here's how it starts. … "Beyond question"?