Outside the Beltway

Topics include the Kagan hearings, the Dave Weigel brouhaha, and Russian spies.

After 69 years fighting crime in a star-spangled bathing suit, Wonder Woman will get a super hero costume.

Michael Gerson argues that the source of our polarization isn’t the Democrats and the Republicans but the Ugly Party and the Grown-Up Party.

Stanley McChrystal will be allowed to retire as a four-star general rather than suffer the indignity of being reduced to his permanent grade.

Africans are rallying around the Ghanaian World Cup team, putting aside stark differences. Should we be surprised?

The most shocking news about Larry King’s retirement announcement was the realization that he was still on the air.

Honest pollsters should deposit their raw data with the Roper Center to improve transparency.

George Will has some real questions for Elena Kagan. Too bad nobody’s going to ask them.

For the first month of Ricardo and Felicity’s affair, they greeted one another at every stolen rendezvous with a kiss — a lengthy, ravenous kiss, Ricardo lapping and sucking at Felicity’s mouth as if she were a giant cage-mounted water bottle and he were the world’s thirstiest gerbil.

Elena Kagan is not telling the truth when she says her politics are “completely separate” from her judging.

The testiest exchange during today’s hearings in the Senate came when Jeff Sessions tried to confront Elena Kagan over military recruiting at Harvard Law School, and failed miserably.

If you know where the JournoList archive is, Andrew Breitbart has got some cash for you.

The House GOP Leader is proposing that we get serious about Social Security reform.

California’s idea to have flashing ads on license plates may have some down side.

Congrats to Steve Clemons, whose “Washington Note” has been named one of TIME’s Best Blogs of 2010.

Google is getting serious about launching a Facebook competitor. Is it too late?

Markos Moulitsas gets a lesson in caveat emptor from his former pollster.

Elena Kagan’s interest in vigorous and open confirmation hearings ended roughly the moment she was sworn in by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Rick Moran is noticing an odd pattern in political discourse.

Ten Russian agents posing as Americans and living in the suburbs of DC, New York, and Boston for a decade to glean valuable intelligence have been arrested by the FBI.

If one wants to be a US Senator, one is going to have to learn to talk to the press.

Miss yesterday’s opening round of the Kagan hearings ? You didn’t miss much.

The late Senator Robert Byrd’s legacy as the master of pork barrel spending is secure.

Dave Weigel lands on his feet as a contributor for MSNBC.

Is political office in Stan McChrystal’s future?

Thanks to a rather odd interpretation of West Virginia law, there won’t be an election to fill Robert Byrd’s Senate seat until November, 2012.

Once again, the Supreme Court affirmed today that there is no Constitutional right to receive public funds.

Is the blog bubble bursting? Only if you’re innumerate.