From my profile of Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman, in the next issue of TIME magazine: Hours after the lowest point of his boss’s first two weeks in office, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs ended the first chapter of the Obama presidency and launched the second. At the end of his morning staff meeting [...]

We would have a lot more cryptic gobbledygook like this to read: An article published on February 21, 2008, about Senator John McCain and his record as an ethics reformer who was at times blind to potential conflicts of interest included references to Vicki Iseman, a Washington lobbyist. The article did not state, and The [...]

This is typically excellent work by Fred Kaplan, especially these two paragraphs: President Obama and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates have said that their limited mission in Afghanistan is to keep that country from becoming a safe haven for terrorists who want to attack the United States and its allies or to destabilize the region. [...]

Take a look at this Drudge front page, all red and crazy. Over a CNBC commentary? It’s obvious that Drudge, like Rush Limbaugh, is rooting for Obama to fail. But this sort of, well, crap, is downright pestilential. Real human beings have real investments–401ks, homes, small businesses–that are on the line. Again and again, I’m [...]

I am a huge Zadie Smith fan. Her novels have a hurtling, tossed-off humanity, an overstuffed joy to them. Here she tries to pin down the transcendence of Barack Obama. I don’t anybody has quite nailed it yet, but she comes close. In any case, it’s enormous fun to watch her think and speak in [...]

On Time.com today: The U.S. Catholic Church’s all-out war against an abortion bill that doesn’t exist and wouldn’t pass even if it did. Or, Why I Don’t Want to Hear Another Word About FOCA.

From my travels. Jet-lag receding, I hope to resume less foggy blogging today…or maybe tomorrow. Response: Several commenters approve of the criticism leveled by sgwhiteinfla below. Let me respond. The commenter makes two points. He says I’m snarky about Joe Biden because he sometimes says things like, “Vladimir Putin, Lord love ‘im.” Actually, I love [...]

Nancy Pelosi, who is leading a congressional delegation to Italy (the economy may be tanking but the co-dels must go on!), popped by the Vatican today for a chat with Pope Benedict. Anti-abortion advocates are pleased to hear that the Holy Father took the occasion to remind Pelosi that he does not believe Catholic politicians [...]

Huffpost reports that the House GOP members, who had so many wonderful things to say about the stimulus package was wending through the Congress, are now trying to take advantage of it. Politics 101 dictates the following: They should pay the price for their latter-day Hooverism. As little money as humanly, legally possible should go [...]