Petraeus is Obama’s political insurance policy. Absolutely no one on the right will criticize the war while Petraeus is running it. The right’s only line of criticism on the war is that July 2011 is an ill-conceived deadline. But Petraeus backs the July 2011 “inflection point” on the condition that troop withdrawals after the date occur very slowly, and by picking Petraeus, Obama signaled his assent to that interpretation of his date. Still, Petraeus will testify on Tuesday, as he did last week, that he supports the date.

57-41 was the final vote. Every Republican who voted opposed, along with Ben Nelson. There are no plans to take up the jobs bill again. It’s increasingly hard to argue with Debbie Stabenow’s contention that the GOP wants to wreck the economy for political gain.

On Tuesday, Steny Hoyer (D. Md), the House Majority Leader, gave what was billed as in important speech on the economy and the federal budget. After reading this speech, I now understand why recent polls show Americans increasingly disillusioned by the Democrats’ timid economic stewardship.

By a vote of 219-206, the DISCLOSE campaign finance disclosure bill just passed the House of Representatives.

Pete Peterson isn’t stupid — he’s going to try and block any rabble-rousers from entry to the America Speaks town halls, and turn these events into infomercials. But at least MoveOn, among the largest progressive groups out there, is taking this on directly. I’m told the AFL-CIO will also pitch in.

I think a campaign to put bluefin tuna on the endangered species list would be beneficial for a number of reasons.

46 percent of those surveyed are enthusiastic or comfortable voting for a candidate who is independent and is not affiliated with either political party, while only 23 percent have reservations or would be uncomfortable with it.

I keep hearing that the Teabaggers lean libertarian and are supposedly the future of the GOP – but apparently no one’s told the Republican Party of the nation’s second-largest state.

Who is allowing BP to just burn oil at the surface of the water? You guessed it, the Minerals Management Service, which authorized burning up to 12,000 barrels.

Environmental groups announced a major ad campaign targeting “key Senators” to support a climate and energy bill. But while the outcome is uncertain, the main bill on the table would likely either eliminate completely a carbon cap or substitute it with a utilities-only cap.