Outside the Beltway

President Obama was a rock star on college campuses during the 2008 campaign, but that popularity has not necessarily turned into loyalty to the Democratic Party.

The United States Army has granted case-by-case exceptions to three Sikh soldiers, allowing them to serve while wearing beards and turbans.

The first ad of the 2012 presidential cycle has aired, by some dentist touting Hillary Clinton. She’s not running. Could she?

The August jobs numbers may be “better than expected,” but they still aren’t all that great.

How long will we stop annual commemorations on the anniversary of that horrible day?

Facing a difficult economy and a very bad November, the Obama administration is considering a tax cut proposal to spur hiring.

Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas’ new book, AMERICAN TALIBAN: HOW WAR, SEX, SIN, AND POWER BIND JIHADISTS AND THE RADICAL RIGHT, continues a long tradition in political polemics.

Did you know that more Christians than Muslims were victims of hate crimes in America? Did you also know that there are a lot more Christians? Oh. Never mind, then.

The world’s smartest scientist says there is no god. Or, at least, no need for one.

NY Post is apparently out to embarrass non-public figure Maria McCormack with its story “Dodge Charger owner upset vehicle crushed by suicidal fall.”

The AP will now start mentioning bloggers whose work they use in their stories. Fat lot of good that will do.

Another political analyst is out with a 2010 prediction that should make Democrats very nervous.

The new tea party candidate in Delaware seems to be a rather odd bird.

Civilian control of the military means, oddly, that civilians control the military. And it means precisely that the military does not get to decide which civilians run the country.

Discovery channel gunman James Lee was shot at 4:48 p.m., because even the SWAT team doesn’t want to fight rush hour traffic

Tonight’s topics: President Obama’s speech, Tony Blair’s book, Glenn Beck’s rally, and the GOP’s steady rise in the polls.

32 Democratic incumbents are running even or behind their Republican challengers in one or more public or private polls. At this point in 2006, when Republicans lost control of Congress, only 11 GOP incumbents were running even or behind.

The Pentagon, responding to obvious flaws in its security revealed by the WikiLeaks debacle, is working on a data mining program that will monitor employee behavior for suspicious activity.

The idea that we are in the middle of an illegal immigration crisis is not supported by the evidence.

The president has declared an end to combat operations in Iraq. But soldiers assigned there still draw combat pay.

David Corn tweets, “Can I write the Hurricane-Earl-Is-Obama’s-Hurricane-Katrina piece? Or do I have to wait for Earl to make landfall? What’s protocol?”

If Republicans stick to their current (apparent) game plan and just run on not being Democrats, they will have neither a mandate to repeal Obamacare, et al, nor the will.

A case out of Texas demonstrates quite aptly the absurdity of the current patchwork quilt approach to same-sex marriage in the United States.

Aging Vietnam vets are being treated for diabetes and other ailments unrelated to their service on the taxpayers’ dime. We can’t afford it.

President Obama didn’t use the words “Mission Accomplished” last night, but the message was the same.

If there’s an area where our attitudes and behaviors have changed more radically in my lifetime than gender equality, I can’t think of it.