“Arizona” on The Daily Caller

In 2008, teacher assistant Johanna Munoz helped her Orlando-area fourth-graders on the state achievement test. (more)

In an exclusive, in-depth interview with E! Online’s Giuliana Rancic, “Dancing With the Stars” finalist Bristol Palin talked about running for public office “further down the road,” son Tripp, ex-boyfriend Levi Johnston, her new boyfriend, and being a Maricopa, Ariz. homeowner. (more)

Jersey Shore reality star Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi participated in ample political discussion at Monday’s Washington Auto Show. She said former President George W. Bush ‘was pretty cute for an old man,’ talked about her support for Ariz. Sen. John McCain, and even discussed how she’d handle being Commander in Chief. (more)

Jared Loughner’s question for Gabrielle Giffords was utterly incomprehensible. When the Arizona representative couldn’t makes sense of Loughner’s nonsense during a 2007 rally, it set the alleged Tucson gunman off (“Can you believe it, they wouldn’t answer my question“). Loughner felt ignored and then the questions stopped. (more)

“Dancing With the Stars” finalist Bristol Palin will address Washington University as the keynote speaker for next month’s Sexual Responsibility Week, the university newspaper Student Life reported Wednesday. (more)

1.) Deficit commission gets no respect during SOTU address — “Wait for the deficit commission.” That’s what the White House told Reuters’ James Pethokoukis whenever he asked about Pres. Obama’s strategy for dealing with America’s debt problem. “Obama’s panel has come and gone,” Pethokoukis wrote after the SOTU address. “And in his speech last night, he failed to explicitly endorse any of its budget-cutting recommendations.” After 10 months of deliberation and town halls across the country to the tune of $500,000, and a contentious fight over which commission faction’s proposal was the best proposal, Obama has essentially scrapped the whole thing. “I don’t agree with all their proposals, but they made important progress,” Obama said last night. “To put us on solid ground, we should also find a bipartisan solution to strengthen Social Security for future generations.” Never mind that Obama has endorsed exactly zero of the commission’s ideas, but as Pethokoukis points out: “Did Obama not check his in-box? His bipartisan commission gave him a Social Security fix.” (more)

Maricopa, Ariz. homeowner and “Dancing with the Stars” finalist Bristol Palin has moved on from baby daddy Levi Johnston, at least according to an interview Palin did last week with “The Bob and Mark Show.” (more)

Daniel Hernandez Jr., one of the heroes of the mass shooting in Tucson, Ariz., two weeks ago, tells ABC News that he will be sitting, along with his father, Daniel Hernandez Sr., with Michelle Obama at the State of the Union on Tuesday, which happens to be his 21st birthday. (more)

1.) White House reporters ask first truly tough questions in two years — Pres. Obama was inaugurated two years ago today, which means it only took the White House Press Corp members one year, 11 months, and 29 days to find their spines. “Could you explain to the American people how the United States could be so allied with a country that is known for treating its people so poorly, using censorship and force to oppress its people?” asked AP reporter Ben Feller. He then turned to China’s Hu Jintao and asked, “How do you justify China’s record and do you think that’s any of the business of the American people?” When a mixup with the translator prevented Hu from hearing Feller’s question, Bloomberg’s Hans Nichols used his turn to ask Feller’s question again. But no amount of tough questioning could force either Obama or Hu to answer honestly. And in front of God and everyone, the 2009 Nobel Prize winner claimed that the country which is keeping the 2010 Nobel Prize winner under house arrest has made “enormous progress” on human rights which has been “widely recognized in the world.” The ensuing cognitive dissonance threw the Washington Post for a spin. Both headlines appeared in this morning’s paper: “President Obama makes Hu Jintao look good on rights”; “Obama presses Chinese leader on rights.” (more)

1.) Obama writes editorial against regulatory excess, can name only one excessive regulation — Overly schoolmarmish regulations have to go, Pres. Obama writes in an op-ed in the morning’s Wall Street Journal. In it, Obama pays lip service to America’s semi-free market system as the source of “dazzling ideas and path-breaking products” and “the greatest force for prosperity the world has ever known.” The op-ed is a curtain-raiser for this afternoon, when Obama will sign an executive order that “requires that federal agencies ensure that regulations protect our safety, health and environment while promoting economic growth,” as well as “a government-wide review of the rules already on the books to remove outdated regulations that stifle job creation and make our economy less competitive.” But do not get your hopes too high: Apparently, the only regulatory excessiveness that Obama could think of was artificial sweetener: “The FDA has long considered saccharin, the artificial sweetener, safe for people to consume. Yet for years, the EPA made companies treat saccharin like other dangerous chemicals. Well, if it goes in your coffee, it is not hazardous waste. The EPA wisely eliminated this rule last month.” Meanwhile, a spox for Rep. Eric Cantor wishes Obama had released this executive order in 2009, when House Republicans proposed it first. (more)

A victim of last week’s Tucson shooting rampage allegedly made threats against Republican Ariz. Rep. Terri Proud and Tucson Tea Party spokesman Trent Humphries at a town hall meeting Saturday. (more)

Police officials said Friday that they’ve obtained photographs of the accused gunman in Saturday’s shooting rampage, Jared Lougher, posing in bright red g-string with a Glock 9mm pistol next to his bare buttocks. (more)

A survivor of Saturday’s shooting rampage in Tucson blamed Fox’s Glenn Beck, former Alaska gov. Sarah Palin, and former senatorial candidate Sharron Angle for the actions of alleged schizophrenic Jared Loughner. (more)

Michelle Obama has a message for America’s parents in the wake of Saturday’s Tucson shooting rampage: Teach your children about tolerance. (more)

In spite of all the recent death threats she’s received, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will speak in Nevada later this month at the Safari Club International’s annual convention. (more)

N.J. Republican Gov. Chris Christie had positive words for President Barack Obama on Thursday’s episode of “Good Morning America.” Christie said Obama’s Tucson memorial service speech and trip to southern Arizona were “excellent” and in line with how presidents should handle a difficult time. (more)

1.) Catty Hill Dems can’t resist spinning a tragedy — Here are two good ways to win votes and influence people: Hours after a national tragedy, phone a reporter and spin the event this way: The Obama White House “need[s] to deftly pin this on the tea partiers….Just like the Clinton White House deftly pinned the Oklahoma City bombing on the militia and anti-government people.” When Pres. Obama instead says before a crowd in Tucson, “What we can’t do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on one another….Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations,” the next best thing Democrats can do, apparently, is personally attack Rep. John Boehner for not flying to Tucson to hear Obama discourage personal attacks. Different aide, different day, same moral depravity: “Don’t you think they could have worked with the White House on timing to make sure he got on AF1?,” a senior congressional aide told The Daily Caller’s Jon Ward on Thursday. “Hell, as speaker, he could have taken a delegation to Arizona on military air.” When it was pointed out that Boehner was already attending a memorial, in Washington, the aide argued that the speaker was skipping Tucson for an RNC event. “Tell these guys to give me a break. Bottom line: he’s not there and he’s Speaker of the House. He’s not there and is at an RNC event tonight. Period.” The aforementioned statements have nothing to do with why House Democrats are in the minority, but are two good reasons why they should stay there. (more)

UPDATE (5:30pm): The Center for Public Integrity responds to inquires made by TheDC. (more)

Former Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle condemned Tucson shooter Jared Loughner and expressed concern about the politicized placement of blame in a statement her office released Wednesday. (more)

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin released a video Wednesday of her first long-form statement on Saturday’s Tucson, Ariz. shooting that left six dead, many wounded, and Ariz. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in critical condition. (more)