Bush: “I probably won't even vote for McCain”  —  George W. Bush's bombastic return to the world stage has reminded me of my favourite Bush anecdote, which for various reasons we couldn't publish at the time.  Some of the witnesses still dine out on it.  —  The venue was the Oval Office.

Miller sues to force exact spelling rule for write-in votes  —  JUNEAU — GOP nominee Joe Miller is asking a federal judge to keep the state from using discretion in counting write-in ballots in Alaska's hotly contested Senate race.  —  The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, comes …

More federal workers' pay tops $150,000  —  The number of federal workers earning $150,000 or more a year has soared tenfold in the past five years and doubled since President Obama took office, a USA TODAY analysis finds.  —  The fast-growing pay of federal employees has captured the attention …

Room at the top?  Not for young Dems  —  A younger generation of Democrats is chafing at being asked to stand aside and let a triumvirate of elders keep their leadership positions in the wake of a catastrophic midterm election result.  —  Barring an unexpected shake-up …

Republicans Maneuver to Oust Their Leader  —  WASHINGTON — Turning their attention to the 2012 presidential election, Republican leaders are digging in for a battle over control of the Republican National Committee, judging that its role in fund-raising, get-out-the-vote operations and other tasks …

Carlson sent fake ‘Olbermann’ emails to Philly columnist  —  Tucker Carlson boasted in July that his site, the Daily Caller, had bought the domain name for liberal MSNBC host Keith Olbermann.  Carlson, a conservative journalist and pundit, even said he would start using the email address keith@keitholbermann.com as a gag.

Jet contrails from some angles look like missile trails  —  Note to the media - since this was almost certainly Flight AWE808 from Hawaii to Phoenix, why not have a camera crew somewhere in the vicinity (does not need to be exact, or a chopper), at around 5-5:30 today, and if the weather is right you'll see the same trail again.

First Salvo In Social Security Fight: OweNo, A $20 Million Campaign Launched With Bayh, Conrad As Allies  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? … WASHINGTON — In what may be the first major move of the forthcoming Social Security debate, the Peterson Foundation launched on Tuesday a $20 million TV ad campaign …

Interior inspector general: White House skewed drilling-ban report  —  The White House rewrote crucial sections of an Interior Department report to suggest an independent group of scientists and engineers supported a six-month ban on offshore oil drilling, the Interior inspector general says in a new report.

Beck disappears Soros' support for pro-Western, anti-Communist political movements in order to further conspiracy theory  —  As examples, Beck cited Soros' purported roles in the Rose Revolution (Georgia), the Orange Revolution (Ukraine) and the Velvet Revolution (Czechoslovakia), as well as “coups” in Croatia and Yugoslavia.

Bryan Fischer: A hot dog on two legs - time for open season on Yellowstone grizzlies  —  One human being is worth more than an infinite number of grizzly bears.  Another way to put it is that there is no number of live grizzlies worth one dead human being.  If it's a choice between grizzlies and humans, the grizzlies have to go.

In Message to G-20 Leaders, Obama Aims to Calm Tensions  —  SEOUL, South Korea — President Obama, marking the start of a summit meeting that has already tested the limits of international cooperation, implored other world leaders on Wednesday to shift global economic demand away …

Watchdog wants probe of Google's ‘unusually close’ ties to Obama  —  As House Republicans plan an ambitious oversight agenda for the next session of Congress, a watchdog group is calling for a probe into a company that it says is far too cozy with the Obama administration: Google.

Obama officials moving away from 2011 Afghan date  —  WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has decided to begin publicly walking away from what it once touted as key deadlines in the war in Afghanistan in an effort to de-emphasize President Barack Obama's pledge that he'd begin withdrawing U.S. forces …

Dayton, Emmer preparing for the long count  —  Both sides are establishing war rooms and plans for fundraising for what could be a nasty recount battle.  —  On the surface, all is quite civil and orderly in Minnesota's lingering race for governor: DFLer Mark Dayton and Republican Tom Emmer hustled …

The Myth of Record-High Gold  —  2:14 p.m. |  Updated with more detail  —  “Gold sets record high amid economic fears,” The Associated Press recently wrote.  “Gold surges to record high,” CNN said.  Gold closed Monday “at a record $1,402.80 per troy ounce,” the front page of The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

Why Rush to Cut Nukes?  —  THE sweeping Democratic midterm losses last week raise serious questions for President Obama and a lame-duck Congress.  Voters want government brought closer to the vision the framers outlined in the Constitution, and the first test could be the fate of the flawed …

Extending Tax Cuts, but With a Catch  —  Top Democrats Link Keeping Bush-Era Breaks to an Overhaul of Tax Code; Republican Aides Say They Are Open to the Idea  —  WASHINGTON—Two top Senate Democrats floated the idea Tuesday of extending the Bush-era income-tax rates for a limited time only …

Obama lauds Indonesia as a model of religious tolerance  —  Jakarta, Indonesia (CNN) — Indonesia and the United States share principles of unity and tolerance and both can benefit from strengthened ties that will bolster trade and combat terrorism, President Obama said in a highly anticipated speech Wednesday.

House Republicans Name Program That Already Expired As First Spending Item They Would Cut  —  ThinkProgress has been documenting the struggles that House Republicans have been having as they attempt to claim the mantle of fiscal responsibility without laying out any real spending cuts to which anyone might object.

The Big Lie  —  It seems to me that the last year or so in America's political culture has represented the triumph of untruth.  And the untruth was propagated by a deliberate, simple and systemic campaign to kill Obama's presidency in its crib.  Emergency measures in a near-unprecedented economic collapse …

The GOP can't be led by Sarah Palin.  But can it live without her?  —  Despite its considerable gains in the midterm elections, the GOP has a problem looming in the margins named Sarah Palin.  —  She who can rouse the base like none other is now She to Whom Respect Must Be Paid.  Like it or not.