Outside the Beltway

The health care reform law faced it’s first legal test in a Courtroom in Virginia yesterday.

A survey of historians ranks Obama as the 15th best president ever, ahead of Ronald Reagan and behind Bill Clinton.

If people feel the need to evoke Reagan, it would be nice if they would evoke the real one, rather than an alt reality version.

South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham sees the beginning of the end of the Tea Parties, and he’s probably right.

Lindsey Graham ain’t gay, dang it.

Not surprisingly, Elena Kagan finished her testimony without giving any real ammunition to the Republicans.

The Democratic Senate primary in Arkansas may have been influenced by questionable poll results from Research 2000.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

The Supreme Court resolved a 100+ year old Constitutional ambiguity today, but the legal issues surrounding gun control remain as murky as ever.

As Elena Kagan’s confirmation hearings begin, Senate Republican’s seem to have very little to hold against her.

Senator Robert Byrd has died at 92, after years of poor health.

Contrary to popular belief, Adolf Hitler didn’t come to power by democratic means or because of his ability to whip the public into a frenzy.

Are new war strategies putting too much strain on commanders in the field ?

The public is growing tired of America’s Longest War.

San Francisco’s gay pride parade celebrates its 40th anniversary with Nancy Pelosi, the Backstreet Boys, and some dudes riding bike’s nekkid.

Press can assert all he wants that his call to suppress Beck’s rights “has nothing to do with freedom of speech,” but that’s transparent hokum.

LSU is facing some potential deep cuts in its budget.

The Governator will not be missed, apparently.

Does it matter if the controversial McChrystal comments were “off the record” ? No, it doesn’t.

Senator Jon Kyl is distancing himself from earlier comments that he made accusing the President of holding border security “hostage.”