Panetta: From Washington Insider to CIA Outsider

For Leon Panetta, the CIA’s presumptive new boss, the hard part is yet to come. A confirmation hearing by the Senate Intelligence Committee was hardly the trial-by-fire that some had predicted for President Barack Obama’s nominee, and since he has been unanimously confirmed by the panel, his ratification by the full Senate is expected to be uncomplicated. But Panetta must now take charge of an agency battered by years of controversy and scandal, ranging from failure to anticipate the 9/11 attacks and faulty intelligence about Saddam Hussein’s weapons programs to the torture of terrorism suspects and, most recently, allegations of rape by the agency’s Algeria station chief.

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Calling a Truce on the Octuplets Mom

Let me get this straight. When the McCaughey septuplets were born in 1997, President Clinton called to congratulate the parents, who were given a free 12-passenger van, Pampers for life, furniture, food and a custom-built house

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Congress’s New Love Affair with Twitter, for Better or Worse

In today’s carefully stage-managed Washington, the last thing anyone expects from members of Congress is candor or spontaneity. So perhaps it’s not all that surprising that Representative Pete Hoekstra unwittingly triggered a maelstrom of criticism last weekend when he Twittered about his trip to Iraq

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Obama’s Stimulus Address Shows His Power at the Pulpit

In the final years of his second term, it was not unusual to find George W. Bush’s motorcade routes lined with protesters chanting their objections or spelling them out on handmade signs. On Monday, President Barack Obama traveled to one of the most economically imperiled parts of the country — Elkhart, Ind

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Stimulus bill snag worked out, sources say

Negotiators have worked out a disagreement between the Senate and House over education funding that threatened to throw a last-minute roadblock in front of the economic stimulus bill, Democratic leadership sources said Wednesday evening. Details on how they settled it were not immediately available. But a Democratic source said leaders have come up with an agreement that House Democrats and moderate Senate Republicans can live with.

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Homeless woman’s plea to Obama draws flood of support

She’s being hailed as the "face of the economic crisis," and now Henrietta Hughes has become something of a media star after reaching out to President Obama on Tuesday in an emotional plea for help. Her message: My son and I are homeless, and we need immediate help

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