The Dems must be pretty bummed the Republicans have finally managed to put the Civil War, slavery and segregation behind them. Oh, right. Nevermind.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour comes to the defense of his fellow Republican, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell. According to Barbour, McDonnell did not make a mistake by omitting any reference to slavery from his Confederate History Month proclamation because, you see, everyone already knew slavery was bad. The whole controversy “doesn’t amount to diddly,” he grumbled in an interview on CNN. Watch.

Can Tina Fey still be ironic after gracing the cover of Vogue? You be the judge as she reprises her Sarah Palin impression for SNL. Watch.

In the three months he’s been in office, Virgina Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has quickly become the darling of the far right wing of the Republican Party.

Hutaree Christian militia member to stepmom: I don’t need a job — I already have one preparing for “the war.”

Michael Steele’s allies rallied to his defense late last week, drafting a letter of support that was ultimately signed by 58 RNC members — enough votes to overcome any effort to remove him as chairman and tamp down the Steele death watch. Christina Bellantoni looks at how that letter materialized.

You have read about the tragic plane crash which killed a swath of the highest ranking leadership of the Polish Republic over the weekend, including the incumbent president, Lech Kaczynski. Here’s a small part of that story I just read about.

If you’re familiar with the history of World War II, you probably know that somewhat like General Charles de Gaulle’s Free French Forces, there was a Polish government-in-exile operating in London during the war. Indeed, the ‘Government of the Republic of Poland in exile‘ had much more continuity with the pre-war Polish government and functioned much more like a government than the entity set up by General de Gaulle.

What I did not know is that the Polish government-in-exile continued in existence in London until 1990, with an unbroken succession of presidents and prime ministers-in-exile going back to 1939. And according to wikipedia, until the end, it maintained regular cabinet meetings every two weeks at its headquarters in London. Read More

The mining tragedy in West Virginia this past week has focused attention on Don Blankenship of Massey Energy, the hard-charging CEO notorious for systemic safety lapses at his company’s mines. Things could be looking up for Blankenship, though. One of his very close friends (with a history of having Blankenship’s back) is running for Congress against incumbent Rep. Nick Rahall (D).

Down at the conservative hoe-down in New Orleans, they just released the results of the straw poll and it’s Mitt by a single vote. Ron Paul a single vote behind.

Defending his conservative purity today at the big GOP conference, former Sen. Rick Santorum made an interesting claim about Sen. Specter (D-PA). Santorum said he agreed to endorse Specter in 2004 only after “I got a commitment from Arlen Specter that no matter who George W. Bush would nominate [to the Supreme Court], he would support that nominee.”

Now, Santorum clearly has a strong, even multiple motives for making Specter’s alleged commitment seem as firm as possible and Specter as craven as possible. But in a knock-down fight between Specter and Sestak, I’m sure this is going to be tossed around pretty good.

Late Update: Sen. Specter is strongly denying Santorum’s charge.