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President Barack Obama said the political cost of overhauling the health care system turned out to be higher than he had expected. And he admits that he gets discouraged at times when dealing with the economy. In an interview airing Sunday night on CBS' 60 Minutes, Obama said the health care system itself is huge and complicated and that changing it eluded previous presidents because it was so difficult. "I made the decision to go ahead and do it, and it proved as costly politically as we expected — probably actually a little more costly than we expected, politically," he...

Speaker Nancy Pelosi's aim to remain the leader of House Democrats is an indication the party is ready to go to war with Republicans in the next Congress, not cut deals across the aisle. The California Democrat is a radioactive figure in many districts across the country, where Republicans parlayed her unpopularity to pick up seats in Tuesday's landslide elections. But she's also a master at energizing the Democratic base, and her liberal resolve, some Democrats say, will draw much sharper distinctions between the two parties than that of more conservative members who might otherwise assume the leadership spot. "The...

Keith is a liberal, so am I. There are other people on this network whose political views are shared openly with our viewers. We are not a political operation. FOX is. We are a news operation. The rules around here are part how you know. Keith Olbermann attracted the ire of the right-wing and raged against what he saw as the errors and sins of the previous administration. Keith was also the one who brought to light FOX News' water-carrying role for the Bush administration," Rachel Maddow said in defense of her MSNBC colleague on her show Friday night.

HE WEEKLY STANDARD was already in good cheer after Tuesday’s election. But then came the news at the end of the week, as the magazine went to press, that Nancy Pelosi has decided to try to retain her position as the top House Democrat, and will stand for House minority leader in January. />Now there are those, of a churlish disposition, who would note that Speaker Pelosi has presided over the largest loss of House seats by a party in a midterm election in 62 years. There are second-guessers who would question her strategy and tactics on the stimulus, cap...

President Barack Obama will assume some responsibility for voters' frustrations that boiled up in elections that cost Democrats dearly. A person familiar with the president's thinking says Obama at a White House news conference Wednesday won't be defiant, and will address the message sent by voters. The White House sees that message as a call for lawmakers to put partisanship aside and solve the problems facing the country. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to speak ahead of the president. Republicans scored sweeping victories in Tuesday's midterm elections to take a commanding majority in the House...

Texas Democrats have lost their state House leader and several longtime incumbents. The biggest loss for the Democrats came when 14-year veteran Rep. Jim Dunnam of Waco, the longtime Democratic House leader, fell to retired rancher Marva Beck. Republican House Speaker Joe Straus of San Antonio, considered a moderate in the now staunchly conservative chamber, could face a stiff race for a second term as leader of the chamber. But Straus claimed, in a news release distributed early today, that he has enough pledges from incoming members to prevail in the internal speaker election, which will be held in January....

House Democrats who voted for the 2009 bill to cap greenhouse gas emissions – dubbed cap-and-tax by GOP opponents – had a terrible night. Over two dozen lawmakers who favored efforts to clamp down on heat-trapping emissions were swept away on Tuesday's anti-incumbent wave, ushering in a new class of Republicans who doubt global warming science and want to upend President Barack Obama's environmental and energy policies. Democrats who voted for the controversial House climate bill were slaughtered at the ballot box, including Rep. Rick Boucher, the 14-term Virginian who helped broker some of the key deals instrumental to its...

Raises may be small and bonuses a distant memory of better times, but one workplace number isn't frozen: Employees can expect a double-digit percentage increase next year in the cost of health insurance they get through the office. This year's health care overhaul combined with other factors will push the average cost per Houston employee to $4,946 next year — 12 percent more than this year — according to Aon Hewitt, a human resource consulting firm that tracks medical costs. The figure includes insurance premiums and insurance-related expenses such as co-pays and deductibles. The firm surveyed 350 large employers nationwide,...

Brett Favre's wife talks about finding her way through personal struggles and she briefly talks about how she is getting through her ordeal right now. Click on link for the interview: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Books/video/deanna-favre-finds-faith-cure-chronic-life-11935206&tab=9482930&section=1206852&playlist=11128087

Link here:http://gretawire.blogs.foxnews.com/fnc-james-rosen-emails-me-npr-internal-memo-on-juan-williams-here-it-is/

Democrat Bill White said Friday that he doesn't think Gov. Rick Perry shows enough respect to President Barack Obama. White told the online Texas Tribune that he doesn't think Perry should be referring to Obama in his television ads without using his title. "As a citizen I call him president. President Obama," White said. "Whoever is the commander in chief, whether it be George W. Bush or President Obama, you need to refer to our president as our president." Later, speaking to reporters outside the studio where the interview was being taped, White referred to the TV ad in which...

Republicans could keep their promises to stop healthcare reform even if they cannot repeal it, simply by blocking legislation needed to pay for it, one expert argued. Control of one house of Congress could give the Republicans power to cripple the law, creating "zombie legislation," healthcare expert Henry Aaron of the Brookings Institution wrote in a commentary in the New England Journal of Medicine. Healthcare reform is President Barack Obama's signature policy. The Affordable Care Act passed in March without a single Republican vote. It is supposed to get health insurance to 32 million Americans who currently lack it, help...

Good news for opponents of the new healthcare law: The Supreme Court is likely to overturn key elements of it, says Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., the third-ranking House Republican, The Hill reports. "It's going to the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court's going to decide whether or not the Constitution of the United States permits the government to order the American people to purchase goods or services, whether they want them or need them or not," says Pence, who opposes Obamacare, just like nearly all Republicans. Mike Pence, healthcare, Obamacare, Supreme CourtAnd what will the court decide? "I rather like...

Confident of keeping a seat, Senate Republicans are canceling $4 million in TV ads for Florida's Marco Rubio to put more money toward winning a trio of Democratic-held seats — in California, Pennsylvania and Illinois — where polls show races tightening. The moves are just the latest in a constantly shifting battleground as Republicans seek to take advantage of a political tail wind by broadening their footprint. Democrats are narrowing their focus to places they must win to keep their Senate and House majorities. With little more than two weeks before Nov. 2, both sides are making decisions hourly about...

Going after the youth vote, President Barack Obama got a grilling Thursday from a mostly under-30 crowd of adults, who sternly challenged him across his economic and social agenda and showed little hesitation to press him for greater results. The tone at the president's latest town hall was set from the start when a woman identifying herself as a Republican asked Obama about his inability to foster his promised bipartisanship, and then a man disaffected with the state of the economy asked Obama: "Why should we still support you?" What emerged was a sharp, genuine question-and-answer session, not the easy...

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez reached a deal with Russia on Friday to build a nuclear power plant in the South American country and negotiated several other agreements in energy and other areas. Russia has cultivated close ties with Chavez's government as part of its efforts to expand its global clout and counter U.S. influence in Latin America. President Dmitry Medvedev said the nuclear deal would help Venezuela develop modern energy sources in addition to its hydrocarbon riches. "Our intentions are absolutely pure and open: we want our partner Venezuela to have a full range of energy possibilities," Medvedev said. "Even...

White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett apologized to the gay community Thursday after she referred to homosexuality as a "lifestyle choice" during a discussion about the wave of recent teen suicides. "I meant no disrespect to the LGBT community, and I apologize to any who have taken offense at my poor choice of words," Jarrett said in a written statement. The Obama confidante made the off-hand comment in an interview Wednesday with The Washington Post. She was talking about a speech she delivered Saturday to the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights group, on teens who've killed themselves after being...

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice staunchly defended outgoing Washington, D.C., chancellor of schools Michelle Rhee on Wednesday morning, saying her departure in the face of union-motivated political attacks marks "a sad day" for school children in the nation's capital. During her controversial tenure as head of Washington's school system, Rhee shook up entrenched bureaucratic interests. Fox News reports she closed 24 schools and let go 98 central office employees. michelle,rhee,condi,rice,fenty,teachers,union,resignation,mayor,race,waiting,for,supermanHer reforms helped boost students' test scores, and narrowed the gap between white and African-American students. But it also earned her the enmity of the teachers' unions, which reportedly spent...

Bill Miller can't remember when he took his last vacation, works 13 to 14 hours a day every day of the week and is on the road constantly. And he couldn't be happier. Miller, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's national political director, is spearheading one of this election cycle's highest-profile and possibly most successful campaign drives as the largest business group in America tries to undo what it considers an "anti-business" agenda in Washington. Boosted by generous member contributions that have expanded the Chamber's revenue to an estimated $240 million, the influential group is on track to spend $75 million...

The controversy: After moving up a scheduled trip to India next month, President Obama will be leaving for Mumbai on November 4, just two days after the midterm election — which at least one blogger has interpreted as "more evidence Obama knows there will be a Democratic bloodbath at the polls." Obama, says Thomas Lifson at The American Thinker, clearly wants to "get out of Dodge" to avoid "recriminations." Obama will also visit Indonesia, Japan, and South Korea during the 12-day trip, one of the longest tours in his presidency so far. The reaction: Where's "the most dangerous place to...