Lynch Will Appoint Republican If Obama Nominates Gregg  —  Gov. John Lynch (D-NH) indicated today he'll appoint a Republican to replace Sen. Judd Gregg if Obama nominates the New Hampshire senator to be Secretary of Commerce.  In a statement, Lynch said that Gregg made it clear …

Renditions Buffoonery  —  In a breathless piece of reporting in the Sunday Los Angeles Times, we are told that Barack Obama “left intact” a “controversial counter-terrorism tool” called renditions.  Moreover, the Times states, quoting unnamed “current and former U.S. intelligence figures,” …

Is a top Dem stirring Daschle trouble?  —  Tom Daschle will tell his old Senate colleagues Monday that he made an honest mistake when he failed to pay taxes on the use of a limousine and a driver — and that he considered the services to be a gift from an old friend rather than income he had to report to the IRS.

Just how bad off is the Republican Party?  —  Republicans know what they're against: Barack Obama.  They're still figuring out what they're for.  —  Michael Steele speaks after being elected Republican National Committee chairman in Washington Jan. 30, 2009.

Bailouts for Bunglers  —  Question: what happens if you lose vast amounts of other people's money?  Answer: you get a big gift from the federal government — but the president says some very harsh things about you before forking over the cash.  —  Am I being unfair?  I hope so.

STRAIGHT OUTTA HOOVERVILLE  —  It gets better.  The latest from RNC Chair Michael Steele: “Not in the history of mankind has the government ever created a job.”  —  This is such transparent nonsense it's hard to know where to start; but I guess it builds on the DeMint nonsense.

Poll: Republicans Want Party To Be Like Palin  —  A new Rasmussen poll further demonstrates that the GOP could be in for a long stretch in the wilderness: A majority of GOP voters now say that the party should be more like Sarah Palin.  —  The numbers: 55% of Republicans say the party should be like Palin …

Did POTUS diss Jessica Simpson?  —  A comment at the end of Matt Lauer's interview has left people wondering whether Obama called pop singer Jessica Simpson fat:  —  “Mr. President: Didn't Michelle teach you to never, ever comment on a woman's weight - even if you are just reading a headline off an entertainment magazine?”

OMB Draws Line on Defense Budget  —  The Obama administration has given the Pentagon a $527 billion limit, excluding war costs, for its fiscal 2010 defense budget, an Office of Management and Budget official said Monday.  —  If enacted, that would be an 8 percent increase from the $487.7 billion allocated …

Holder confirmed as Obama's attorney general  —  Eric Holder was confirmed by a wide bipartisan Senate vote on Monday to become the nation's first black attorney general.  —  The Senate voted 75-21 to confirm Holder, who overcame early concerns raised by Republicans regarding his role …

35 years later, Jerry Brown runs for governor again  —  The ‘reformed reformer’ wants to be governor again — 35 years after first winning the post.  —  It was 1974 when Jerry Brown ran for governor as a dashing 36-year-old reformer, the embodiment of change in Watergate's aftermath.

Bailed Out Bank of America Sponsors Super Bowl Fun Fest  —  Morgan Stanley Hosts Conference at 5-Star Resort in Palm Beach  —  Despite a near collapse that required $45 billion in federal taxpayer bailout funds, Bank of America sponsored a five day carnival-like affair just outside …

Justice Dept. Under Obama Is Preparing for Doctrinal Shift in Policies of Bush Years  —  WASHINGTON — The Justice Department, probably more than any other agency here, is bracing for a broad doctrinal shift in policies from those of the Bush administration, department lawyers and Obama administration officials say.

The Man Who Made Obama  —  Campaign manager David Plouffe got the first black president elected.  Now he's moving on to something even more difficult, and potentially more important.  —  Plouffe with Obama at the second presidential debate last October.  The prep was serious, he says, “but we had fun.

How Quickly Will the Stimulus Kick In?  —  You may recall how, the week before last, Republicans were up in arms over a CBO report showing that under 40 percent of the estimated $350 billion in stimulus spending projects would hit the economy in the first two years.

Deadly Force  —  What a SWAT team did to Cheye Calvo's family may seem extreme.  But decades into America's war on drugs, it's business as usual.  —  Payton swung his big, goofy head onto the bed, worked his snout under a pillow and gave a gentle bump.  The mayor's wife, nudged awake, opened her eyes and smiled.

US-IRAQ: Generals Seek to Reverse Obama Withdrawal Decision  —  CENTCOM commander Gen. David Petraeus, supported by Defence Secretary Robert Gates, tried to convince President Barack Obama that he had to back down from his campaign pledge to withdraw all U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 16 months at an Oval Office meeting Jan. 21.

Obama voices concern about freed Guantanamo inmates  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said in an interview aired on Monday he worried that detainees freed from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo, Cuba, might resume attacks on the United States.

DIM BRODER  —  I'm watching Andrea Mitchell interview David Broder in what's amounting to a sort of parody of High Broderism.  But setting aside the unsupported a priori assumption that a bill with input from both parties is necessarily better than a bill put forward by a single party …

Wells Fargo — A Dividend In Our Favor  —  Good news out of the failing financial sector, finally.  Wells Fargo Bank reports it will pay back the federal government $371.5 million in its first quarterly bailout installment.  —  Wells Fargo is believed to be the first major bank receiving TARP …

How Can the World Be Blind to Israel's Existential Threats?  —  I heard Benjamin Netanyahu, the person who could soon become Israel's new prime minister, speak this week at the Jerusalem Conference.  The most pressing point that he talked about was that under no circumstances should Jerusalem be divided.

ElBaradei: 'I'm Not Taking Sides' on the Destruction of Israel  —  In an interview with the Washington Post, the leader of the UN's blind, toothless International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei (on whose watch Iran's nuclear weapons program has been able to advance almost unhindered) …

Oh, c'mon, laugh!  Pres. Obama does have big ears  —  Breaking News: President Obama spoke in public Sunday and did not utter one newly depressing economic statistic.  Not one.  —  He said nothing about us living in the worst economic times since Joe Biden invented television during the Hoover admi nistration.