National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chairman John Cornyn said Monday that his endorsement of Gov. Charlie Crist in Florida's GOP Senate primary was "selfish" and that the committee will not stand in Marco Rubio's way.

Cornyn (R-Texas) said he stuck by the endorsement, but he also began minimizing it, now that it looks like Crist may well lose the primary. Recent polls have shown Rubio stealing virtually all the momentum in the race and opening a lead over Crist.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/gop-primaries/85425-cornyn-walks-back-crist-endorsement

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Misleads on Abortion Funding in Health Care Bill

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 8, 2010

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius contradicted herself on abortion funding in the Senate health care bill in a Sunday interview on NBC's "Meet the Press." Sebelius applauded the Senate language before and talked about mandatory abortion fees, but now she claims there is no funding.

Sebelius also appeared to contradict herself within the interview, saying at one point that abortion funding is a part of the government-run health care bill.

Sebelius was asked whether the Senate bill would be fixed to top the massive abortion funding it contains and other pro-abortion problems.

"There is no federal money paying for abortions," President Barack Obama's top health care spokeswoman maintained. "That's just not my statement, it is what, you know, a legal analyst who has looked at the Senate bill, it's what the fact checkers who look at the statements say."

Yet, when she spoke with ABC's "This Week" program yesterday, she said "Yes, abortion services are provided" under the Senate health care bill.

She tried to qualify her answer by adding, "people will pay out of their own pockets, in both the Senate and the House, but they do it in slightly different ways."

But in an interview on December 21 with Morra Aarons-Mele of the pro-abortion web site BlogHer, Sebelius praised the Senate language that funds abortions and talked about how everyone would be forced to pay for them.

http://www.lifenews.com/nat6083.html

Crist Poll Preview

We are going to have absolutely brutal numbers out on Charlie Crist tomorrow.

Here's a little preview: among Republican primary voters 19% would like to see him as Governor a year from now, 14% want him in the Senate, and 56% want him out of elected office.

http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com/2010/03/crist-poll-preview.html

Sean Penn Suggests Prison Time for Journalists Who Call Hugo Chavez a Dictator

By Tim Graham
Mon, 03/08/2010 - 08:21 ET

At the end of a discussion of Haiti on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, actor Sean Penn went on a rant in defense of Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez, suggesting prison time for American journalists: "every day, this elected leader is called a dictator here, and we just accept it! And accept it. And this is mainstream media, who should – truly, there should be a bar by which one goes to prison for these kinds of lies."

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tim-graham/2010/03/08/sean-penn-suggests-prison-time-journalists-who-call-hugo-chavez-dictator

Eric Massa to Rip Democrats on Glenn Beck’s Fox News Show

Rep. Eric Massa’s (D-N.Y.) scorching attack on Democrats — while a lot of attention is going to a silly story about Rahm Emanuel, he accuses his party of trying to “shove the [health care] bill down our throats” — will be amplified tomorrow with a full-hour interview on Glenn Beck’s Fox News show.

In roughly 12 hours, Massa has changed his narrative from “congressman resigning in disgrace” to angry, Howard Beale-esque truth-teller who’d simply had enough and will take his party to the woodshed. Left unsettled: the incredibly important issue of whether he’ll resign today, as he said he would, or he’ll try to bring down the health care bill by staying in Congress.

http://washingtonindependent.com/78652/eric-massa-to-rip-democrat-on-glenn-becks-fox-news-show

Via Ed Morrissey:

MILWAUKEE – Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen announced today that the Milwaukee Election Fraud Task Force has brought additional electoral fraud cases against five Wisconsin residents.  The Department of Justice, acting as Special Prosecutor for Milwaukee County, has filed felony charges against Maria Miles, Kevin Clancy, Michael Henderson, Herbert Gunka, and Suzanne Gunka, all alleging election fraud arising out of the November 4, 2008, Presidential Election.

“The integrity of elections is dependent upon citizens and officials insisting they be conducted lawfully. Wisconsin’s citizens should not have to wonder whether their vote has been negated or diminished by illegally cast ballots,” Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said.

According to the criminal complaints, Miles and Clancy served as Special Registration Deputies (“SRD”) for the City of Milwaukee in advance of the 2008 Presidential Election.  Each worked for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (“ACORN”).  Miles and Clancy are each charged with the felony offense of Falsely Procuring Voter Registration as Party to a Crime.  The complaint alleges that Miles and Clancy submitted multiple voter registration applications for the same individuals, and also were part of a scheme in which they and other SRDs registered each other to vote multiple times in order to meet voter registration quotas imposed by ACORN.

Henderson is charged with one count of Voting by a Disqualified Person and one count of Providing False Information to Election Officials, both felonies.  The complaint alleges that Henderson registered to vote at the polls on November 4, 2008, thereby certifying that he was a qualified elector.  It also alleges that he then cast a ballot.  At that time, Henderson was on an active period of probation for felony convictions from Rock County.  A felon on an active period of supervision for a felony offense is prohibited by state law from voting in any election.

Herbert and Suzanne Gunka are each charged with the felony offense of Double Voting.  The complaint alleges that they each voted in the November 2008 election by casting absentee ballots before the election.  The complaint also alleges that after casting absentee ballots, they each voted in person at their polling place on election day.

Each individual charge carries a potential penalty of imprisonment up to 3 ½ years and a $10,000 fine.  All defendants are ordered in for an initial appearance on April 20, 2010, at 1:30 p.m.

Dems go to talking-terrorism school

By KASIE HUNT | 3/8/10 4:48 AM EST

House Democrats have found a way to address Republicans’ polling advantage on national security: Teach candidates a better way to talk about the issue.

While President Barack Obama still outpolls congressional Republicans on national security, a new Third Way/Greenberg Quinlan Rosner poll out Monday gives the GOP the edge in a generic Republican vs. Democrat matchup on the issue. And the problem is particularly acute for Democratic women: A study to be published in the Journal of Women, Politics & Policy shows support for Democratic women drops 11 percent when public fear of terrorism is high.

To combat the problem, House Democrats have asked Third Way, the centrist Democratic think tank, and California Rep. Jane Harman, a leader on intelligence issues in the House, to help lead training sessions on the issue.

“The Democratic approach on security — or at least my approach — is that we know how to be tough and smart, not tough and reckless,” said Harman, a Blue Dog whose district is home to an enormous Air Force base and a number of intelligence contractors. “For some Democrats, this is difficult.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/34045.html

N. Korea Says It Is Ready to 'Blow Up' U.S.

Monday, March 08, 2010

SEOUL, South Korea —  North Korea's army said Monday it is ready to "blow up" South Korea and the U.S., hours after the allies kicked off annual military drills that Pyongyang has slammed as a rehearsal for attack.

South Korea and the U.S. — which normally dismiss such threats as rhetoric — began 11 days of drills across South Korea on Monday morning to rehearse how the U.S. would deploy in time of emergency on the Korean peninsula.

The U.S. and South Korea argue the drills — which include live firing by U.S. Marines, aerial attack drills and urban warfare training — are purely defensive. North Korea claims they amount to attack preparations and has demanded they be canceled.

The North's People's Army issued a statement Monday, warning the drills created a tense situation and that its troops are "fully ready" to "blow up" the allies once the order is issued.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,588342,00.html

Lawmaker Pushes Congress to Take 5 Percent Pay Cut

FOXNews.com

With approval ratings south of 20 percent, Congress isn't exactly acing its performance review -- and one congresswoman thinks it's time the American people started docking members' pay.

Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz., last week introduced a bill to cut pay for members of Congress by 5 percent. She said it hasn't made her the most popular person in the House of Representatives, but it's starting to gain bipartisan support. 

"I'll tell you, there is nothing like asking the people you work with to take a cut in pay and see the concern on their faces," Kirkpatrick told Fox News on Monday. 

The first-term congresswoman said she's hopeful, given the enormous fiscal challenges facing the country, the measure can pass. She said she's already started handing over 5 percent of her pay every month -- or $870 -- to help chisel away at the national debt. The monthly payment would have been less, but Kirkpatrick is, according to her office, paying extra to make up for the two months of 2010 she missed.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/08/lawmaker-pushes-congress-percent-pay-cut/

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/03/08/massa_rahm_emanuel_would_sell_his_own_mother_for_votes.html

Iraq poll turnout tops 60 per cent despite attacks

Oliver August in Baghdad and Philippe Naughton

Turnout in yesterday's parliamentary election in Iraq reached 62.4 per cent despite a concerted effort to intimidate voters and scare them away from polling stations.

Hamdiyah al-Husseini, a senior official with the Independent High Electoral Commission, released the figure at a press conference in Baghdad. The figure is lower than the 76 per cent turnout for the the parliamentary election of December 2005 but higher than last year's provincial elections when just over half of voters cast ballots.

Turnout is an important measure of success for the election. To be credible and effective, Iraq's next government will need the backing of a large number of people in the deeply divided country.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article7053938.ece

Illinois Democrat Lipinski Will Switch from Yes to No if Health Bill Lacks Stupak Amendment

BY John McCormack

Massa Will Resign Monday as Planned

Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) will follow through with his resignation, scheduled to take effect at 5 p.m. Monday, his chief of staff confirmed.

Massa suggested to a New York radio station on Sunday that he could rescind his resignation after asserting that an ethics investigation into allegations that he sexually harassed an aide may have been orchestrated by Democratic leaders to get him out of office before the health care vote.

“The comments on the radio came from constituents calling in, saying, ‘You should rescind.’ And that’s how that fire got fed. He addressed them by thanking them for the comments, but the resignation is still effective,” Massa Chief of Staff Joseph Racalto said in an interview outside the New York Democrat’s office in the Longworth House Office Building.

http://www.rollcall.com/news/43924-1.html

Massa Implicates Emanuel, Dem Leaders

Embattled Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) lashed out in an emotional radio appearance Sunday, accusing Dem leaders of what he suggested was an orchestrated campaign to force his resignation.

"There's a reason that this has all happened, frankly one that I had not realized," Massa said on WKPQ radio on Sunday. "Mine is now the deciding vote on the health care bill, and this administration and this House leadership have said, quote unquote, they will stop at nothing to pass this health care bill. And now they've gotten rid of me and it'll pass."

Massa addressed rumors circulating on blogs about his personal behavior, including incidents during an informal Navy ceremony in '83 on the USS New Jersey and one that occurred in a state room later during his Navy career. He insisted he had done nothing uncommon, insisting his sin was foul language.

A complaint before the House ethics committee, he said, stemmed from a wedding Massa attended over New Years, when he made an inappropriate comment to an aide, according to Roll Call, which first reported the radio program.

Massa maintained his comments were inappropriate, but he blamed "political correctness" and accused Dems of a setup. Massa voted against health care legislation in Nov., and he has not been a reliable vote for Dem leadership. That, he said, has put a target on his back.

http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2010/03/massa_implicate.php