Steele, under fire, walks back ‘choice’ remark  —  RNC Chairman Michael Steele said today that despite telling an interviewer he supports “individual choice” and state-level decisions on abortion, he in fact opposes abortion and supports a Constitutional ban.  —  Steele said in a statement through an RNC spokesman:

The Country's Loss  —  The Obama administration has just suffered an embarrassing defeat at the hands of the lobbyists the president vowed to keep in their place, and their friends on Capitol Hill.  The country has lost an able public servant in an area where President Obama has few personal credentials …

FBI raids office of D.C. CTO, Obama appointee  —  Federal agents this morning are searching the office Washington, D.C.'s Chief Technology Officer.  —  The search of the office at 1 Judiciary Square is part of “an ongoing investigation,” said a spokeswoman for the FBI's D.C. Field Office, Lindsay Gotwin, said.

Madoff Life in Prison Means Inmates Who Blame Money Man for Crash  —  Bernard Madoff, scheduled to plead guilty today to masterminding the largest Ponzi scheme in history, may have to fight off prison inmates who want to squeeze him for money or blame him for the Wall Street crash.

Recession Thinned Ranks of Washington Lobbyists Last Year  —  WASHINGTON — The recession has hit K Street, home of the Washington influence business.  —  The number of active lobbyists declined 2% in 2008 to 15,900, recording its first yearly drop in seven years, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of public records.

Young Miss Palin  —  A mere ten weeks or so after the birth of their baby, Bristol Palin and her co-parent, Levi Johnston, have split up.  There will be no marriage.  According to the AP, and Mr. Johnston, it was a mutual decision.  The same article manages to note that Bristol is devastated.

Obama's honeymoon bliss fading  —  President Obama's honeymoon is beginning to fade.  —  Members of Congress and old political hands say he needs to show substantial progress reviving the economy soon.  —  Some Democrats have started to worry that voters don't and won't understand …

New Limbaugh billboard slogan announced - creativity was not considered  — E-mail a friend - Print this - Letter to the Editor - Republish - - Get e-mail alerts - RSS  —  Setting a world record today for beating a dead horse, the Democratic National Committee will announce they've selected …

Paved With Magnificent Intentions  —  Charles Dickens, who visited in 1842, described Washington as a “city of magnificent intentions” because of the incongruity between the city's grand aspirations and muddy, swampy actuality.  Today Washington's discrepancy is not architectural but political.

Iraqi Shoe-Thrower Sentenced to Three Years in Prison  —  The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at former U.S. President George W. Bush during a farewell visit to Baghdad has been sentenced by an Iraqi court to three years in prison.  —  The trial of Iraqi journalist Muntader al-Zaidi …

Obama: Troop move to Mexican border under consideration  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama weighed in Wednesday on the escalating drug war on the U.S.-Mexico border, saying that he was looking at possibly deploying National Guard troops to contain the violence but ruled out any immediate military move.

Obama Makes Use of Signing Statements  —  WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama signed a $410 billion spending bill Wednesday that includes thousands of pet projects inserted by lawmakers, even as he unveiled new rules to restrict such so-called earmarks.  —  At the same time …