Outside the Beltway

President Obama’s job approval numbers have fallen off from their post-election highs. But, does it matter?

The New York Post reports that Today host Matt Lauer is the leading contender to replace Alex Trebek on Jeopardy.

The Hagel confirmation, like Obama’s election, was big news to some avid news consumers.

Here we go again.

For the moment, Republicans appear to be blocking Chuck Hagel’s nomination to be Secretary of Defense but they don’t seem to know why they’re doing it.

Chuck Hagel will be confirmed, but the campaign against him tells us much about the current state of Republican foreign policy

The NRA is calling President Obama an “elitist hypocrite” for opposing armed guards in schools while sending his own girls to school with armed guards.

In “Veterans and Senate Buddies, Until Another War Split Them,” Elisabeth Bumiller profiles the relationship between Chuck Hagel and John McCain:

President Obama is taking some heat over the fact that his Second Term cabinet selections have been very white and very male.

Arab news giant Al-Jazeera is buying Al Gore’s failing Current TV network, hoping to get a bigger presence in the US cable market.

The Tea Party guys had a bad year.

General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, commander during Operation Desert Storm, has died at the age of 78.

Alex Pareene’s annual hack list omits an obvious candidate: Alex Pareene.

Jake Tapper is moving to CNN, where he’ll host a daily show and run their political coverage.

After an independent investigation blasted State Department leadership for lax security in Benghazi, three officials have resigned.

Almost a decade ago, Roger Ebert wondered if making mass murderers famous doesn’t provide a perverse incentive.

Apparent tragedy at a Connecticut Elementary School.

From a political point of view, the GOP’s position on taxes makes no sense at all.

More signs of cracks in the wall of GOP resistance to tax increases.