The Hollywood Liberal

A look at Trump’s ‘birther’ statements
(AP Photo/Jim Cole)

Sure, she can dance. But can Beyonce move Obama’s youth vote to the polls?
On the 2008 campaign trail, Barack Obama was a rock star. Three years later, he’s more of a superfan.

White House Correspondents’ dinner guests: Why’d they get invited?
The White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday will include the usual suspects — the president, top officials, politicians, and the people who cover them. Plus, the growing cluster of celebrities who shine outside the political bubble. And. . . a few newsmakers you may have heard a lot from lately. An explainer of some of the night’s more colorful personalities.

Nevada governor to appoint Rep. Dean Heller to Ensign’s Senate seat
Nevada Rep. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) , far right, will be the Senate’s newest member, after Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) announced Wednesday that he had picked Heller to replace resigning Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.). (Charles Dharapak — AP)

House panel probes background of S&P decision on U.S. credit
A House investigative committee is inquiring about discussions held by Treasury Department officials with Standard & Poor’s before the credit rating agency lowered its outlook on the United States last week.

The Real Budget Battle to Watch
Doyle McManus, Los Angeles Times

Kermit Gosnell Is the Canary in the Mineshaft
Tim Dalrymple, Patheos
My little girl is afraid of thunder, and storms come often to Georgia in the spring months. When thunder crackles and booms over the house at night, I walk into her room and invariably find her awake and hiding underneath her blanket. She asks me to lie down, so I stretch out beside her and she pulls my arm across her like a safety belt. I tell that we"”sheltered, hidden, warmly enfolded"”are like the little boy growing even now in her mother's womb. She smiles, tucks her head into my chest, and drifts back to sleep.Last week, the last time I…

The President Turns Left
Dick Morris, The Hill
Two months ago, Washington was abuzz with speculation that Obama was going to follow Bill Clinton's reelection strategy and move to the center, forsaking the liberal agenda that cost him control of the House in 2010. Now it is evident that he has decided to come down hard left and wage his reelection fight from his liberal bunker, firing shots at Republican cuts in Medicare, pushing tax increases on the rich, and attributing the gas-price increase to speculators.Very possibly the decision to tack to the left was not entirely voluntary. With the Republicans constantly confronting him with…

Durbin’s Campaign-Finance Bill Doesn’t Pass Muster
George Will, WaPo
Top BlogsTop BlogsTop BlogsTop BlogsTop BlogsMemo to Democratic senators eager to vote themselves campaign subsidies in the name of combating corruption: You really should not cloak your self-serving crusade in a claim that could be called intellectual corruption. A Senate subcommittee chaired by Dick Durbin, the Illinois Democrat, recently held a hearing “" only Democrats attended “" on his legislation to provide government funding for Senate campaigns. Durbin's Web site advertised the bill as “a comprehensive response to Citizens United,”� a…