Politico got some great quotes from Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) popping the Harold Ford for Senate trial balloon with withering humor.

TPMmuckraker has been poking around on the new murder case against (now former) Blackwater operatives in Afghanistan. Today, we have the defendants’ side of the story, including photographs of the wrecked Land Cruiser that was involved (either directly or indirectly, depending on which side you’re on) in the shooting incident that led to the murder charges.

Politicians shouldn’t tell lies. But they especially shouldn’t tell really silly lies that can be easily proven with Google or a few craft TPM Readers. As Christina Bellantoni noted yesterday, Republican senate candidate Scott Brown said yesterday (see “Late Update” below) that he wasn’t even familiar with the Tea Party movement, let alone a part of it. But then last night our readers found pictures and video of Brown from his own website addressing Tea Party events back in April.

And now it turns out he was the guest of honor at an official Tea Party “Breakfast with Brown” only a week and a half ago.

Late Update: Alas, it seems the Boston Globe just had it wrong in the original report. Brown ducked the question of his ties to the Tea Party movement. But he didn’t really say he wasn’t familiar with it.

The numbers are so staggering as to be almost meaningless, but the Red Cross is tackling the disaster in Haiti based on an estimate of 45,000-50,000 dead and 3 million injured or homeless.

After a marathon eight-hour White House session yesterday to close the deal on health care reform, word this morning is that negotiators will have a final package ready by this weekend.

Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter charged in Internet sex sting involving cop posing as 15-year-old girl.

Gov. Rick Perry withdraws Texas from federal program offering up to $700 million in education grants: “We would be foolish and irresponsible to place our children’s future in the hands of unelected bureaucrats and special-interest groups thousands of miles away in Washington.” That and the day’s other political news in the TPMDC Morning Roundup.

New poll of Connecticut Senate race: Democrat Richard Blumenthal is crushing Republican front-runner Rob Simmons, 62-27.

Massachusetts Senate candidate Scott Brown told reporters today that he’s “unfamiliar” with the “Tea Party movement.” But TPM Reader NM just showed us that his own campaign site features at least two pictures of Brown addressing Tea Party events.

Not only is Scott Brown not a member of the Tea Party Movement — he says he’s never even heard of it.