This is the anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, a legendary Wall Street firm that got no billion-dollar bailout from Washington. President Obama has invited leading financial figures and progressive advocacy groups to Federal Hall in the heart of Wall Street, home to the first U.S. Congress, for a midday speech Monday designed to lay claim to success, and boast that the time has come to begin winding down the recovery program that saved other investment houses, banks, and insurance giants at... (more)

Boy, was I wrong. I can remember telling Glenn Reynolds during CPAC that these Tea Party demonstrations were rinky-dink and going nowhere. Barely more than a half-year later, they’re putting two million people on the Washington Mall. Wow! If I were Obama & Co., I’d be afraid, I’d be very afraid. And no doubt they are. They bobbled the ball big time and I wouldn’t be surprised if heads are going to start to roll – and not just the obvious (and relatively inconsequential) ones like Van Jones. Rah... (more)

The last two elections (2006 and 2008) were a rebuke to a Republican party that was running amok, and utterly without coherence, vision, or leadership. They deserved to be ousted, and their overheated rhetoric and deliberate misstatements about the new administration demonstrate that they are nowhere near ready to return to power; they need far more time in the political wilderness... (more)

Senators “must move legislation to raise the federal debt limit beyond $12.1 trillion by mid-October, a move viewed as necessary despite protests about the record levels of red ink,” The Hill reports. The move will highlight the nation’s record debt, which has been central to Republican attacks against Democratic congressional leaders and President Barack Obama. The year’s deficit is expected to hit a record $1.6 trillion. The ceiling “already has been hiked three times in the past two years, and the H... (more)

Next week the Obama administration will revise its 10-year cumulative budget deficit projection to around $9.1 trillion, up from its earlier projection of $7.1 trillion, an official at the Office of Management & Budget told ABC News on Friday. (more)

There was precious outrage in some mainstream media quarters Friday over the Obama administration’s pusillanimous reaction to Scotland’s release of PanAm 103 bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi. But what were they expecting? (more)

Three key Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee have launched a barrage of letters targeting dozens of insurers with requests for information on salaries, board compensation, entertainment expenses and profits in what industry sources describe as an attempt at intimidation. (more)

Iraq's prime minister has ordered a security review after the deadliest series of attacks in the country this year left 95 people dead in Baghdad. (more)

Warren Buffett, legendary investor and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, warned of the dangers the "mountain of debt" piling up in the U.S. will cause. Namely, he says the U.S. economy is in danger of becoming a banana republic. Buffett is generally a supporter of Barack Obama, and as an investor, he actually benefits from the bailouts, so his soapbox mount comes from his heart. (more)

Reporting from Washington - Robert Novak, the longtime syndicated columnist and television commentator who was at the center of a furor late in his career as the first journalist to disclose the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame, died today. He was 78. (more)