Outside the Beltway

A desperation move by NBC News?

A man who brought joy and laughter to millions has ended his own life because he was too depressed to go on.

Fairly or not, the President has created the impression that he is not a good leader, and there’s not much he can do about it at this point.

The first episode of “Seinfeld” aired 25 years ago yesterday.

According to some surveys, Americans are getting a lot more sleep than they think they are. Really?

A step up from The Colbert Report.

Apparently, there is an off ramp on the Appalachian Trail

An opportunist ruins a good joke and hijacks an important discussion.

The First Daughters are approaching dating age and the First Papa has some thoughts on the matter.

The Emmys will honor Cory Monteith but not Jack Klugman or Larry Hagman. Where in that sentence you said “Who?” will tell us how old you are.

The Chain Gang Edition OTB Caption Contest^TM is now over.

Scott Walker could be the GOP’s surprise candidate in 2016.

Bill Clinton is on Twitter for reals.

Emily DePrang looks back at “‘Baghdad Bob’ and His Ridiculous, True Predictions.”

Jokes aren’t funny if you have to explain them. Explaining how the joke got written can be marginally funny.

Mitt Romney won the debate last night, but it’s not at all clear that this will matter at all.

Not surprisingly, Romney campaigns staffers don’t seem to want to take responsibility for Clint Eastwood’s performance last night.

There’s a wee bit more to the “Progressive defended my sister’s killer” story that went viral yesterday.

Figuring out how much of the opposition to a black president is based on racism is . . . complicated.

Sure, he routinely uses gender-specific slurs against conservative women. But he’s not a misogynist!

Virtually everything Stephen Colbert is doing was legal before Citizens United.

Andy Rooney, best known to recent generations as the cranky old man at the end of “60 Minutes,” has died at 92.

My first piece for CNN has been posted at Fareed Zakaria’s Global Public Square.

The treasurer behind “Rick Parry with an ‘A’ for America” has left to work with Rick Perry

Rupert Murdoch was attacked by a man with shaving cream 2 hours into Parliamentary testimony.

The Stephen Colbert Super PAC that began as a satire has now been blessed by the real FEC. What exactly this means is not yet clear.

Daily Show host Jon Stewart spent 15 minutes on yesterday’s Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace trying to explain why he thinks Fox is a propaganda machine.

Don’t confuse moderation in tone with moderation in beliefs.

Sarah Palin has commissioned a film to bolster her reputation. This is very intriguing on a number of levels.

Stephen Colbert has been running an ongoing shtick in which he’s trying to start a political action committee, gets letters from his Viacom bosses poo-pooing the idea, and then inviting his lawyer on to explain ways to get around these concerns.

A comedian-turned-Senator makes some strong points about how America goes to war.

An aide’s compliment about the president “leading from behind” has generated controversy.