Outside the Beltway

Is the West’s string of luck about to end?

Bernie Sanders took to the floor of the Senate yesterday to rail against President Obama’s tax cut deal. It was history in the making, but it’s not clear that it actually accomplished anything.

Amid signs that Democrats in Congress might rebel against the tax cut deal he struck with Republicans, President Obama took to the airwaves today to defend it at the same time that his base is rebelling against it.

After days of hype, National Opt-Out Day fizzled. It’s a classic collective action problem.

Are the American people finally waking up to the absurdity of TSA security theater? One can only hope they are.

Yet another sign that the GOP’s biggest nightmare may actually end up coming true.

The two episode suspension of Keith Olbermann lends credence to the theory that the whole thing was a publicity stunt designed to support MSNBC’s assertion that its opinion shows are somehow more pure than the shows on FOX.

Those images on your Facebook page may come back to haunt you if you decide to run for office someday.

Nancy Pelosi is strongly considering staying in Congress as Minority Leader. It’s her job if she wants it.

Ezra Klein argues that Sarah Palin’s Twitter account isn’t very popular. But that misses the point.

Newt Gingrich for President ? You might want to think twice about that, Republicans.

It only seems fair to take an entire tweet, lengthy though it may be, into account when reacting.

Being a political blogger during election season is getting to be rather infuriating, especially if all you want to do is check your email.

Sarah Palin is causing headaches among fellow Republicans regarding her 2010 endorsement activities.

Sarah Palin and the Tea Party aren’t as clueless as their detractors think.

Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo has dedicated his Nobel Peace Prize to the victims of the June 1989 massacre in Tianamen Square. Proving again that the events of that day still live on in the memory of many Chinese people.

Three lives intersected last week at Rutgers University, but one person didn’t make it out alive.

Meghan McCain canceled an appearance at Juniata College with only three days’ notice, citing “several unforeseen professional responsibilities.” She tweeted that she was “headed to sin city with my favorite crew of sinners instead.”

Facebook’s 26-year-old founder, Mark Zuckerberg, is one of the wealthiest men in America. Most of his work force is unpaid.

What’s so wrong with saying that America will survive even if al Qaeda manages to hit us again ?

In yet another sign of how rapidly the media landscape is changing, longtime Newsweek stalwart is leaving for the Huffington Post.

In comments this morning, Justice Stephen Breyer seemed to suggest that Koran burning might not necessarily be Constitutionally protected.

It is impossible to read Dirty, Sexy Politics and come away with the impression that you have read anything other than the completely unedited ramblings of an idiot.

Taking a short trip back in time via Instapundit’s archives reveals a September 11th post that turned out to be prophetic.

The Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart is suffering a little New Media embarrassment after writing a blog post based on comments by a Congressman who doesn’t exist.

Comments sections on larger blogs seem inevitably to turn into cesspools. Is it worth trying to stop it happening?

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

CNN’s Rick Sanchez has apologized after referring to Barack Obama as the “cotton-picking president of the United States,” which some have termed “racially tinged.”

Lisa Murkowski’s one chance at political survival if she loses the ongoing vote count in the Alaska GOP Senate Primary has gone out the window.

Your Tweets, Facebook wall posts, and FourSquare announcements obviously provide a lot of insights into your life. But so does what you’re not posting.

House Minority John Boehner is getting a lot of attention for calling for mass firings at the White House. The real news, though, is that his speech is shifting the focus of the political conversation back to the economy. Which is just what the GOP needs.

Technology guru Leo Laporte had been using Google Buzz to aggregate his social media presence for a few weeks and discovered that his feed had stopped going out and discovered that nobody gave a damn.

Sarah Palin’s decision to jump to the defense of “Doctor” Laura Schlessinger has many Republicans confused as to what her plans for the future are.