“So the minute the executive raises the specter of foreign policy, national security,” Judge Sotomayor asked the lawyer, Jonathan F. Cohn, “it is the government’s position that that is a license to torture anyone?”

Mr. Cohn managed to get out two and a half words: “No, your hon—— .”

Judge Sotomayor cut him off, then hit him with two more questions and a flat declaration of what she said was his position. The lawyer managed to say she was wrong, but could not clarify the point until the chief judge, Dennis G. Jacobs, stepped in, asking, “Why don’t we just get the position?”

To supporters, Judge Sotomayor’s vigorous questioning of the Bush administration’s position in the case of the Canadian, Maher Arar, showcases some of her strengths. She is known as a formidably intelligent judge with a prodigious memory who meticulously prepares for oral arguments and is not shy about grilling the lawyers who appear before her to ensure that she fully understands their arguments.

Michael Steele says he takes no offense to [sic] President Obama's teasing at last week's White House press corps dinner.

"That was just good love between two brothers," the chairman of the Republican National Committee explained Sunday.

Obama ribbed Steele, who is also black, at the correspondents' dinner for his frequent use of slang and attempts to bring a hipper approach to the Republican Party.

"Michael Steele is in the house tonight, or as he would say, 'in the heezy.' What's up?" Obama said at the dinner, to uproarious laughter. "Michael, for the last time, the Republican Party does not qualify for a bailout. Rush Limbaugh does not count as a troubled asset, I'm sorry."

Asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" if he felt he was being mocked, Steele said no.

"I really appreciate the president throwing me a shout-out," Steele said. "It took me totally by surprise, and so this morning I just wanna say 'what's up' right back at ya'."

Gov. Sarah Palin has signed a book deal with HarperCollins Publishers for what is described as her memoir.

"There have been so many things written and said through mainstream media that have not been accurate and it will be nice through an unfiltered forum to get to speak truthfully about who we are and what we stand for and what Alaska is all about," Palin said in an interview today in which she announced the deal.

Palin and HarperCollins would not say how much she was being paid. Asked why, the governor and former Republican nominee for vice president said she didn't want to distract from the substance of the book.

"The idea is to focus on the content of the book and what's coming in terms of me being able to tell my story unrestrained and unfiltered," Palin said.

The governor said details will be disclosed as required under Alaska law when her annual financial disclosures are due next March. Her advance from the publisher is likely to be paid in stages, though, and it's not clear if she has to disclose the full amount on that report or only the portion received in 2009, according to the state public offices commission.

The book is to be published sometime in the spring of 2010. Palin will collaborate on the book with a professional writer, who is expected to be chosen soon. The governor said she wants to do a lot of the writing herself, and that it will be her story and her words.

"It will be nice to put my journalism degree to work on this and get to tell my story, Alaska's story. There have been so many unauthorized books and publications that have spoken to somebody else's opinion of who I am what my family represents and what Alaska is all about," she said.

Published reports this winter suggested Palin was pursuing an $11 million advance. She called that figure "laughable" in January but has never provided another. Palin she'd give a portion of the book money to charities, although she hasn't decided how much or which ones.

Meanwhile, State Representative Marco Rubio, 37, a Miami Republican and former House speaker, announced last week that he would run for the Senate with a tough appeal to conservatives. “Some believe the path to security and prosperity is a larger government involvement in our economy,” Mr. Rubio said in a videotaped statement. He added, “The majority of us don’t agree with that view.”

The president in his State of the Union address Tuesday night left out a tiny little suffix that means a whole lot to some people. He did it so subtly you could have missed it. Just a little "-ic." What's in an "-ic"?

Bush started the speech on a bipartisan note, honoring the first Madam Speaker, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, and calling on the country to come together.

Then: "I congratulate the Democrat majority," he said, dropping the last two letters from "Democratic."

Bush does this a lot, and while it's hard to say if the omission was intentional in this instance, it is a semantic tactic that's been part of Republican warfare for decades. It's a little thing, a means of needling the opposition by purposefully mispronouncing its name, and of suggesting that the party on the left is not truly small-"d" democratic. The president's pronunciation was all the more striking because it was apparently not what Bush was supposed to say. The prepared speech that the White House distributed beforehand retained that precious "-ic."

...

But for those who see a big symbol in two little letters, the question becomes: Is a man who can't say "-ic" capable of being bipartisan?