Iran has again thumbed its nose the U.S. and other countries that want to halt its nuclear program with its latest defiant move: it has started the higher enrichment process: Iran says it has begun enriching uranium to a higher level, defying international efforts to curb its nuclear activity. Iranian state television quoted officials who said the process started Tuesday at Iran’s Natanz facility in the presence of International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors. Iran told the IAEA Monday of...

Arizona Sen. John McCain’s blunt spoken daughter Meghan McCain gives us our political Quote of the Day in her response to the Tea Party convention — particularly former Rep Tom Tancredo’s remarks that a lot of the voters who voted for Barack Obama couldn’t spell the word “vote” or say it in English…and that it would have been worse if John McCain had won the election. On Monday, Meghan McCain fired back. “People were saying that this is the new movement...

Or so Fox News now seemingly suggests. What truly is stunning is how in recent years partisans will jump through all kinds of mental hoops to try and excuse things that people on their side do that they berated others on the other side for doing. You could say “mind-boggling” but now this is the norm. Outrage and ridicule is only directed at those who you seek to politically defeat, but you look the other way or play defense attorney if your own side does it. As noted in another post,...

Our political Quote of the Day comes from independent commentaror John Avon’s take on the Tea Party convention in Nashville, which he attended. He begins it this way: As the National Tea Party Convention concluded this weekend, it’s clear that the Tea Partiers are propelled by two competing claims — a principled commitment to fiscal conservatism and a serious case of Obama Derangement Syndrome. The first group remains true to the roots of the movement as it emerged almost one year...

Much comment about Sarah Palin’s performance at the Tea Party convention (including from yours truly on a CNN panel) noted that her speech did contain some substance and that she is a political force who GOPers hoping to run for President (and Democrats) may have to contend with. But did she also show that she has limited talents and a seeming unwillingness to grow?

A conservative’s perspective.

And House Democrats push back.

Are rocky times ahead for the United States and China? Ted Galen Carpenter, vice-president for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute, thinks so and explains why in a must-read post on RealClearPolitcs. Here is the beginning of it: A nasty spat has erupted between Washington and Beijing over the Obama administration’s arms sales to Taiwan. As soon as the US made the official announcement of the US$6.4 billion package last Friday, Beijing responded with both harsh words and...

There are rumblings now that New York’s Gov. David Paterson will resign once a New York Times expose about a purported sex scandal involving him is published.

And so the 24/7 media jumps into the fray. Some images of Sarah Palin at the Tea Party Convention have now emerged that she probably wishes didn’t and some others that won’t spark debate but, rather, provide more context for the environment in which she made her speech. THE FIRST GROUP qualifies a bit of an eyebrow raiser. Did Palin have crib notes on her hand? It looks that way. GO HERE. So does this mean those who keep using the Obama teleprompter line will ignore yet another politician...

Our political Quote of the Day comes from a must-read-in-full column by Nashville Post Politics’ Kleinheider on the Tea Party movement, Sarah Palin and the GOP. Here’s the first part of his piece: The tea party movement is dead. The one I was familiar with anyway. Judson Phillips held it down and Sarah Palin drove a stake right through its heart live last night on C-Span in front of an unsuspecting audience. Sarah Palin didn’t give a tea party speech last night. She gave a partisan...

How Did Sarah Palin Do Among Independent Voters In Her Tea Party Convention Speech? Here’s a CNN discussion (I was on this one with independent voter analyist Nicole Kurokawa) that aired after her speech last night: GO HERE to view her whole speech and decide for yourself.

One of the most dramatic moments of campaign 2008 was when Republican candidate Senator John McCain announced that he was suspending his campaign and immediately flying to Washington due to the seemingly collapsing economy, in a take charge imagery moment. But in Henry Paulson’s new book, On the Brink, now excerpted in the Wall Street Journal, the ex-Treasury Secretary gives an insider’s account that contends McCain really did not have any plan at all.

As the Tea Party movement holds its first big convention this weekend — amid talk about it consolidating and expanding its constituency, becoming a potent force in American politics, and awaiting a big speech by former Arkansas Gov. Sarah Palin — a new poll finds that to many Americans the movement is still a yet-to-be-completely-defined, kind of blank slate: So the question becomes: will what those Americans who are yet to make up their minds see and hear coming out of the convention...

As someone who was a huge supporter of John McCain in 2000 and who registered as a Republican to vote for him in the 2000 California primary, I second the views of THIS COLUMN by Dana Milibank.

On Superbowl Sunday there will be a huge audience watching the games — and the ads. This has led to highly anticipated and creative “super ads” that DO have an impact: Reuters notes that this year’s advertisers are going for the FUNNYBONE: Some of this year’s ads are already being “advanced” on the Internet via You Tube: Here’s the upcoming Gatorade ad: And Dr. Pepper’s (Dr. Pepper has set this one up on You Tube so it cannot be embedded...

First NBC looked silly (and intelligence challenged) for creating the widely publicized Jay Leno-Conan O’Brien mess. Now there’s a less publicized tidbit that raises some eyebrows again — although this is a smaller part of NBC. UPDATE: The controversial sign was removed.

Right now the Demmies are coming under a lot of (justified) criticism for some of the ugly dealmaking that occurred with the big push to try and get health care reform, their addiction to earmarks and over the years some GOPers such as Senator John McCain and talk show hosts have blasted the Democrats on earmarks as well. Now read THIS: Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) has reportedly now blocked ALL Obama nominations until he can get some earmarks. Some more on this here and here. I’m sure McCain...

President Barack Obama’s overall sagging popularity can be seen graphically via this poll composite from Pollster.com: And among crucial independent voters? A sign of the times: in New Hampshire, Obama is reportedly losing independent voters in droves.

Political eyes and ears are now focused on the Tea Party convention whose big weekend speaker will be former Alaska Gov. and likely 2012 Presidential aspirant Sarah Palin. But there are now some big squabbles and divisions in Tea Partyland.

File this increasingly popular You Tube in your OOPS!!! file. Here’s a video of a banker caught looking at nude women on hits computer screen on a live Australian newscast. Note the guy at the computer to the left of the reporter’s screen.

The question of the day now becomes: despite officials statements, is President Barack Obama’s actual leadership role in efforts to salvage health care reform lacking? According to a report by The Huffington Post’s Sam Stein it is: Despite urging Democratic senators on Wednesday to forge ahead on health care reform, President Obama and his aides have been largely hands-off in guiding the legislative process, Senate aides tell the Huffington Post. And on Thursday a leading Senate progressive...

Is Mel Gibson beyond a p.r. handler’s help? He’s a great actor whose work seems to improve the older he gets, but someone whose real life is likely to cut down on some of his box office draw. To wit: , Gibson has issues. Note his comment to reporter Sam Rubin (who happens to be Jewish): Attn. Mel: There are people who “have a dog in this fight” who will refrain from going to to theaters to watch your films or buying your DVDs. It’s likely they will watch it for free...

Tension is building between Iran and Israel. One sign of the tensions is this piece in Ha’aretz in Israel: In the sea of brainwashing, intimidation and cliches surrounding us, it’s sometimes worthwhile to listen to a voice from the outside, a voice no less proficient than the Israeli “experts” on security matters and Iran. The voice of reason. Such was the voice of the senior European diplomat who had served as an ambassador in Tehran for about five years and was visiting...

Jay Leno is taking over this blog starting February 15th. (We’re looking into posting on the Fox News site.) ————— image added/ dr.e/ (I loved this image of Jay, captures his wild soul, I think)