The Unstoppable Sarah Palin  —  Chris Matthews sees Palin inflicting an “early knockout” in the primaries.  Larison, still betting against her, argues that the GOP establishment will quash her candidacy: … Contra Kornacki, Bernstein finds the comparison off: … Kornacki responds.

GOP leaders let demagogues set tone, lawmaker says  —  WASHINGTON - Too many Republican leaders are acquiescing to a poisonous “demagoguery” that threatens the party's long-term credibility, says a veteran GOP House member who was defeated in South Carolina's primary last month.

Ginsburg: Roe will hold  —  ASPEN, Colo. — Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg declared Thursday that abortions would continue to be available to women regardless of the legal challenges now being waged by opponents of Roe v. Wade.  “Over a generation of young women have grown up …

Family Says Nephew of Justice Clarence Thomas Was Beaten, Tased at West Jeff Hospital  —  MARRERO - The nephew of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas says he was tased and beaten at West Jefferson Medical Center.  —  24 year old Derek Thomas was admitted to West Jeff Thursday afternoon.

The Obama-Pelosi Lame Duck Strategy  —  Union ‘card-check,’ cap and trade, and so much more.  —  Democratic House members are so worried about the fall elections they're leaving Washington on July 30, a full week earlier than normal—and they won't return until mid-September.

55 Percent of Likely Voters Find ‘Socialist’ an Accurate Label of Obama?  —  The latest poll by Democracy Corps, the firm of James Carville and Stan Greenberg, has Republicans leading on the generic ballot among likely voters, 48 percent to 42 percent.  —  Deep in the poll, they ask, “Now …

Headless bodies and other immigration tall tales in Arizona  —  Jan Brewer has lost her head.  —  The Arizona governor, seemingly determined to repel every last tourist dollar from her pariah state, has sounded a new alarm about border violence.  “Our law enforcement agencies have found bodies …

Income Gap Between Rich and Poor Is Highest in Decades, Data Show  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  The gap between the wealthiest Americans and middle- and working-class Americans has more than tripled in the past three decades, according to a June 25 report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Obeying President Obama's dictum that it's always educational to check in with what the other side is saying, I checked in with MSNBC's Countdown the other night.  —  Sure enough, there was Keith Olbermann himself barking up I will admit, interesting leftist views on issues A, B …

Election 2010: West Virginia Senate Special Election  —  West Virginia Senate: Manchin (D) 53%, Capito (R) 39%  —  A special Senate election this November to replace the late Robert Byrd is still awaiting the green light from West Virginia's attorney general, but popular Democratic Governor Joe Manchin …

Monkeys trained as battlefield killers in Afghanistan  —  Afghanistan's Taliban insurgents are training monkeys to use weapons to attack American troops, according to a recent report by a British-based media agency.  —  Reporters from the media agency spotted and took photos of a few …

The selective modesty of Barack Obama  —  Remember NASA?  It once represented to the world the apogee of American scientific and technological achievement.  Here is President Obama's vision of NASA's mission, as explained by administrator Charles Bolden: “One was he wanted me to help re-inspire children …

Christie looks to privatize motor vehicle inspections, other services  —  New Jersey would close its centralized car inspection lanes and motorists would pay for their own emissions tests under a sweeping set of recommendations set to be released by the Christie administration today.  —  Buy this photo

Yes, The Government Creates Jobs  —  As I was saying to a friend last night, one of the most frustrating things about the Obama administration is the tendency of its leaders and communicators to project a message that's absolutely demoralizing to progressive political activists.

Tremble, Banks, Tremble  —  The key to financial recovery: restoring the rule of law on Wall Street.  —  The financial crisis in America isn't over.  It's ongoing, it remains unresolved, and it stands in the way of full economic recovery.  The cause, at the deepest level, was a breakdown in the rule of law.

Washington Post and transparency: total strangers  —  (updated below - Update II)  —  Earlier this week, I noted — with multiple illustrative examples — how media outlets crusade for the virtues of transparency while frequently exempting themselves.  Establishment news organizations are …

Chamber Of Commerce Rents Its Roof To Fox News, Fox News Refuses To Critically Report On The Chamber  —  In a profile piece on U.S. Chamber of Commerce president Tom Donohue, the Washington Monthly's James Verini reveals that, despite spending hundreds of millions on right-wing pro-business …

Emmer In Damage Control Mode: Meeting Waiters After Claiming They Made $100K In Tips  —  Minnesota state Rep. Tom Emmer, the presumptive Republican nominee for governor, appears to be going into damage control mode in the wake of his proposal to lower the minimum wage for waiters by crediting …

White House declines comment;  —  Political implications could be enormous  —  The gay rights law group that convinced a federal district court judge Thursday to strike down a federal ban on gay marriage has told the New York Times they “fully expect” the Justice Department to appeal the decision …

Battle brews over nominee for ambassador to Turkey  —  A behind-the-scenes clash is playing out over President Obama's nominee to be the next U.S. ambassador to Turkey, a key Middle East post at a time of tense relations between Washington and an increasingly independent-minded Ankara.