By most measures, Hezbollah’s Man in Iran Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour should be a hero — yet he now faces some severe critics and staunch enemies there. Why? In a must-read piece on RealClearWorld, Meir Javedanfar, RCW’s Iranian-Israeli Middle East analyst and a regular contributor to RealClearWorld and co-author of The Nuclear Sphinx of Tehran: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the State of Iran, says its due to a factor that underscores the complexities of modern Iran: Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour...

A sign of the times: New Zealand is now poised to become the latest country to enter the space rase, 3News reports: New Zealand is about to enter the space race with a private venture which aims to cash in on the market for scientific research. A Kiwi company has not only built its own rocket, but designed the fuel to blast it 120km straight up. In a bunker in Parnell, Auckland, ATEA-1 is preparing to rise to the occasion. The six-metre rocket will see New Zealand become the 13th member of the space...

The great American composer Cole Porter also knew how to perform and sell his own songs. Here he is singing one of his clever “list lyric” songs, “You’re the Top,” composed for the 1934 Broadway show “Anything Goes.” This You Tube has a great “visual guide” to his list lyric. Enjoy:

Before you read this story, play this video below to set the proper mood: Now read this poll: Losing NY-23 candidate Doug Hoffman became the latest in an increasingly long line of conservative politicians to blame his problems on ACORN yesterday despite the complete lack of evidence the organization played any role in his defeat. The Republican base is with him though. PPP’s newest national survey finds that a 52% majority of GOP voters nationally think that ACORN stole the Presidential election...

There’s the cliched phrase: “It’s like watching a train wreck.” In “Terror in Mumbai,” which airs tonight 8 pm ET/PT on HBO, you get to see what no documentary has shown before: a “360 degree view” of a multi-pronged terrorist act, seen partly and genuinely from the terrorists point view. The reason: “Terror in Mumbai” uses actual cell phone instructional conversations during the attack given to the terrorists in the field by a shadowy...

This time when talking about the crowds Sarah Palin is attracting. (Oops!)

And who better to extricate us (for a while) from the name-calling of modern politics than the Three Stooges (who now seem civilized in comparison): FOOTNOTE: A lot of their work is available on DVD.

Our political/diplomatic Quote of the Day comes via Professor John Brown’s must-read Public Diplomacy and Press Blog – where he points us to a post by Steven W. Lewis on the Baker Institute Blog dealing with President Barack Obama’s bow to the Japanese Emperor. This bow became the target of (what else?) a political controversy in the United States where Obama’s critics accused him of displaying weakness, deferring too much to an Emperor, displaying incompetent diplomacy. Etc....

Some Christian conservatives are now praying for God to kill Barack Obama.

Palin reportedly doesn’t rule it out, although it was an idea prompted by Newsmax.com… Now, that would REALLY expand the GOP’s existing base, and attract moderate Democrats, independent voters, moderate Republicans and Latino voters. If he’s not available, why use the same approach to expand the GOP’s base by inviting Rush Limbaugh? Actually a ticket like this would make sense: Palin is the quintessential politician who reflects the current talk radio political culture...

President Barak Obama has now crossed the “danger zone” threshold: according to a new Quinnipiac Poll, his approval rating has now fallen below 50 percent for the first time in the latest poll that shows a gradual declining trend as he loses the support of a chunk of independent voters. The poll also finds that support for the war in Afghanistan has slipped — which suggest that if Obama’s long awaited policy announcement is to send more troops he could be caught in a political...

He came. He saw. His charisma was controlled. That in a nutshell seems to be the emerging verdict on President Barack Obama’s trip to China: China kept the famous Obama charisma in check in a visit that won’t be seen as a turning point. AFP paints a portrait of a visit that was more zzzz than pizazz: Something got lost in transit in US President Barack Obama’s visit to China — the charismatic rhetoric and dominance of mass communication that took him from nowhere to the...

You’ve heard of a concession speech? Now there’s an unconcession: Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party candidate in the special NY 23 election, has withdrawn his concession. Hoffman, who jumped in the race in response to the “liberal” positions of the Republican Party candidate, state Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava — a decision that ultimately forced Scozzafava out of the race — conceded to Democrat Bill Owens on election night. At the time, Hoffman trailed Owens...

The bad news for President Barack Obama today isn’t only economic: his ratings have declined again, amid further signs that he is losing independent voter support. His overall approval rating has dropped to 53 percent, a CBS news poll finds. Approval for Mr. Obama’s handling of the situation in Afghanistan has dropped as well as more Americans now disapprove than approve. However, a majority of Americans still approve of the way Mr. Obama is handling his job as president, but this percentage...

The U.S. has a big new bomb that can penetrate some 60 feet of concrete:

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin may have won the hearts of GOPers, conservative pundits and conservative bloggers, but a recent CBS News poll indicates she most assuredly isn’t the favorite of those who may not be fans of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, or Glenn Beck: She may be among the biggest names in politics at the moment, but former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is not exactly America’s sweetheart. Just 23 percent of those surveyed in a new CBS News poll have...

Our political Quote of the Day comes from Dick Polman, who in a post that needs to be read in full contrasts what some Republicans used to say about trying terrorists in federal court before a Democrat was in the White House. Here’s a small part of it: But never mind the ample track record of civilian-court prosecutions, and never mind whatever Giuliani said in the past. The real problem is his current argument (shared by the usual anti-Obama suspects), which suggests that the U.S. courts are...

The Obama administration’s approach was often likened to Abraham Lincoln’s “Team of Rivals,” coupled with vows of transparency and vows that an Obama administration would operate differently than George W. Busjh’s. But Steve Clemons, writing in The Daily Beast, suggests that the ouster of Greg Craig indicates such hopes have been dashed. Here’s how he starts his piece: The White House counsel was done in by a scurrilous leaks campaign. So much for the Obama team’s...

Sarah Palin’s magical mystery book tour has begun — a media blitz in which she’ll appear far and wide, and get interviewed by all and sundry. The immediate, short-term goal: to hype up interest in her new book and sell a zillion copies. She’ll be appearing with the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Rush Limbaugh — the ying and yang of modern American media. You can rest assured that many conservatives will defend, call her fascinating and say those who criticize her are afraid...

…with the McCain camp. There is yet another controversy associated with the McCain-Palin ticket in which McCain’s associates are saying Palin is factually challenged. UPDATE: The AP gives this list of specifics about how Palin’s book may be at variance with the facts.

Fox News’ Sean Hannity got a little egg on the right side of his face recently. He ran a segment about a recent conservative protest in Washington that was by all accounts not a mega-attended event and used some footage from an early tea party protest that showed far bigger crowds. And Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart caught him on it and noted the footage discrepancies (little things like the color of leaves being different at different times of year) on his show. So Hannity apologized…and...

Lou Dobbs’ departure from CNN has had many new and old pundits speculating that there is a job for him at Fox News or Fox Business news in his future, even though it’s denied by Fox bigwigs. But could that denial be correct? Salon’s Joe Conason believes Dobbs may have his eye on a different future course: on running for President as an independent candidate in 2012, a Ross Perot type candidacy that could hurt the GOP: The evening of Nov. 11, when Lou Dobbs formally ended his career...

Former Miss California USA Carrie Prejean lost her cool on CNN over a question, labels it “inappropriate” and takes off her microphone. A note to politicians, celebrities et. al: When you do an interview or broadcast and there is an elephant-in-the-room question the way to handle it isn’t to walk off or turn off your microphone. As a longtime former reporter, I can attest that when a news source in a forum where it is not on background or off the record says “No comment”...

When President Barack Obama gave a speech at the memorial service for the 14 people murdered by Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan at Fort Hood, it was one of those moments Presidents don’t relish but that can linger beyond the moment. Was this one of them? The context was a thorny one. Controversies still swirl over which intelligence agency seemingly dropped the ball on the warning signs that Hasan was a potential security threat. Some are now fanning the flames of resentment and against all Muslims...

President Barack Obama today spoke to a crowd of 15,000 at memorial service for the Fort Hood Massacre in which 14 people were killed. Details of the event are HERE. Here’s the full text of his address, via the White House website: To the Fort Hood community; to Admiral Mullen; General Casey; General Cone; Secretary McHugh; Secretary Gates; most importantly, to family, friends and members of our Armed Forces. We come together filled with sorrow for the 13 Americans that we have lost; with...