Mike Huckabee has responded to the killing of four police officers in Washington State by saying that if the suspect in the case — a man whose sentence Huckabee commuted in 2000 — is found responsible, “it will be the result of a series of failures in the criminal justice system in both Arkansas and Washington State.”
Huckabee’s statement, posted late last night on the Web site of his PAC, downplays any agency on the governor’s part in commuting the 95-year prison sentence of Maurice …

Leading Democrats on Sunday said they expect Congress to pass a major healthcare reform backed by President Barack Obama, but supporters may have to accept legislation that falls short on some issues.
The U.S. Senate on Monday is set to begin debate on the sweeping overhaul of the $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare system amid growing concerns about the cost of the legislation that aims to provide medical coverage for millions of the uninsured.
“We want to cover the uninsured, yes, but we don’t want to do …

Randall Terry is giving a tour of his office, a small room on the ground floor of the $1.3 million home he rents in northern Virginia. The room is packed. Every inch of wall space is taken up by books or personal treasures–stones “liberated from places where Muslim armies destroyed Christian churches,” the complete works of Winston Churchill, the complete works of Theodore Roosevelt, small metal busts of the men themselves. Terry reaches to a top shelf and grabs one volume of Muhammad al-Tabari’s …

No Wonder He’s Hispanic’s Favorite Pundit

After years of slamming anyone who proposed any sort of “amnesty” for “illegal aliens,” former CNN host Lou Dobbs has apparently changed his tune. On Friday, he told the Spanish-language TV station: “We need the ability to legalize illegal immigrants under certain conditions.”
Dobbs recently left CNN, reportedly with an $8 million payoff, after Latino and immigrants’ advocates campaigned the network to oust him for vilifying Latino immigrants on his nightly news show. In announcing his departure, Dobbs promised to …

Sarah Palin appeared at Fort Bragg today, promoting her book, “Going Rogue” to the military. Palin had promised to limit herself to signing books, no politicizing her visit, amidst general concerns that her signing would violate Federal Law (Titles 10, 2, and 18, United States Code), Department of Defense (DOD) Directives, and specific military regulations strictly limit a military active duty person’s participation in partisan political activities.

A U.S. Census worker found dead in a secluded Clay County cemetery killed himself but tried to make the death look like a homicide, authorities have concluded.
Bill Sparkman, 51, of London Kentucky, might have tried to cover the manner of his death to preserve payments under life-insurance polices that he had taken out. The policies wouldn’t pay off if Sparkman committed suicide, state police Capt. Lisa Rudzinski said.
“We believe it was an intentional act on his part to take his own life,” said …

Who? Me!

Republican South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, a conservative seen as a presidential contender before a sex scandal wrecked his reputation, faces 37 possible ethics violations, the state ethics commission said on Monday.
The commission said it had determined there was probable cause to support allegations that Sanford used taxpayer money to fly business class when he should have been in coach, used state planes for personal travel and campaign funds for personal expenses.
A committee of South Carolina lawmakers was expected to begin formal …

Gov Mark Sanford (R-SC)

South Carolina lawmakers will next week take up impeachment proceedings against disgraced governor Mark Sanford.
House Judiciary committee chair Jim Harrison told the AP that an ad hoc panel of four Republicans and three Democrats will begin meeting Tuesday. Harrison said he expects a resolution to impeach will be ready before Christmas. That would then be considered by the full committee.
Earlier this week, four Republicans filed an impeachment resolution against Sanford, a fellow GOPer, alleging that he was in …

Residents of the C Street Christian fellowship house will no longer benefit from a loophole that had allowed the house’s owners to avoid paying property taxes.
Previously, the house — despite being home to numerous lawmakers — had been tax exempt, because it was classified as a church. That arrangement had allowed the building’s owner, the secretive international Christian organization The Family, to charge significantly below market rents to its residents. In recent year, Senators John Ensign (R-NV), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Sam Brownback …

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) is ramping up his campaign to use the Fort Hood shootings to paint the Obama administration as soft on terrorism.
At a press conference today, where he was joined by several GOP colleagues, Hoekstra, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence committee, called for an immediate congressional investigation into the shootings, to determine whether the intelligence community needs enhanced tools to combat terror. Hoekstra and his colleagues also suggested, without citing evidence, that the administration had restricted the use of …