The president's interest in capturing Osama bin Laden has evolved over time. After the al Qaeda leader orchestrated the attacks of 9/11, Bush pledged to get bin Laden "dead or alive." Six months later, after bin Laden proved to be elusive, the president said, "I truly am not that concerned about him."

So it should come as no surprise that the CIA unit dedicated to getting bin Laden is no more.

The Central Intelligence Agency has closed a unit that for a decade had the mission of hunting Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants, intelligence officials confirmed Monday.

The unit, known as Alec Station, was disbanded late last year and its analysts reassigned within the C.I.A. Counterterrorist Center, the officials said.

The official response is that there are still plenty of officials responsible to tracking bin Laden and that the terrorist remains a "high priority." But I'm curious, if President Kerry had allowed the CIA to disband the intelligence unit tasked with hunting bin Laden, would conservatives just shrug their shoulders?

-- Guest Post by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report

It's frustrating to see evidence that religious prejudices linger in such large numbers. The traditional bigotry is fading -- but has been replaced with newer animus towards other minority faiths.

Most traditional barriers to religion in presidential elections have toppled, a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll has found. In particular, the survey released today shows that anti-Semitism and anti-Catholicism are fading among voters.

But uneasiness about some religions persists. Thirty-seven percent of those questioned said they would not vote for a Mormon presidential candidate, and 54% said no to the prospect of a Muslim in the White House.

In all, 21% said they would not vote for an evangelical Christian, 15% said no to a Jewish presidential candidate, and 10% said they wouldn't back a Catholic candidate.

The ill will towards Mormons is of particular interest now in light of Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's likely campaign. As Amy Sullivan recently explained, the GOP's religious-right base tends to look at Mormanism as "a cult." (The Constitution insists there can be no "religious test of public office," but there's nothing stopping Republican primary voters from imposing one of their own.)

I guess it could be worse; there are no atheists running for president. Religious minorities can be unpopular, but non-believers are really disliked by the public.

-- Guest Post by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report

With Joe Lieberman announcing that he plans to pursue an independent Senate campaign if he loses the Democratic primary, the question now shifts back to the party establishment.

DSCC Chairman Chuck Schumer has hinted that he's likely support Lieberman, even if Lieberman loses to Ned Lamont, and the New York senator wouldn't speculate at all on the subject when asked on Meet the Press yesterday. But what about other party leaders? According to Jane Hamsher, one very high-profile Democrat has stepped up and shown some leadership.

Despite this, sources say that Hillary Clinton believes that it's important to respect the will of Connecticut voters and that she will commit to support the Democratic candidate -- whoever that is -- in November. It should be interesting to watch and see if others follow suit.

It sure will. Clinton is taking the responsible, democratic -- both big "D," and little "d" -- approach, arguing that voters will decide the Democratic candidate, and that she, as a Democratic leader, will honor their wishes. Good for her.

It's a shot across the bow to the rest of the establishment: the party should support the party's candidate, as chosen by the party's voters. It's really as simple as that. Clinton appreciates that principle; her colleagues should too.

-- Guest Post by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report

If you haven't read Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens' (R-Alaska) explanation for his opposition to net neutrality, you're missing out on a deeply disconcerting perspective. He asked, for example, "what happens to your own personal internet" when someone else tried to download 10 movies at the same time.

"I just the other day got, an internet was sent by my staff at 10 o'clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday. Why? Because it got tangled up with all these things going on the internet commercially. [...]

"They want to deliver vast amounts of information over the internet. And again, the internet is not something you just dump something on. It's not a truck. It's a series of tubes."

Now, Ted Stevens is 85 years old, so it stands to reason that he won't fully understand the Internet. But as Christy Hardin Smith noted, Stevens, as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, "is in charge of the bills that, among other things, control the internet."

Stevens is not only commenting on key issues like net neutrality without understanding the issue, he's shaping the government's policy.

The audio is here. It ain't pretty.

-- Guest Post by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report

Sen. Joe Lieberman has been in a tough spot for a while now. He's committed himself to running in the Democratic primary against Ned Lamont, but he's repeatedly said he'd consider running as an independent if Lamont beats him the Aug. 8 primary.

But that's not as easy as it sounds. Given the deadline for an independent candidate's petition signatures, Lieberman would have to collect 7,500 signatures literally over night, immediately after a humiliating primary defeat. It's created an awkward dynamic: Lieberman would have to start collecting signatures before the primary, just in case, but that would further annoy Connecticut Democrats who aren't thrilled with him anyway.

What to do? Start the process the day before a major national holiday.

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman is to announce today he will petition for a place on the November ballot as an "independent Democrat," giving him a chance to stay alive politically should he lose an Aug. 8 primary for the Democratic nomination.

Primary voters tend to be the most loyal, active members of both parties. As a rule, they have made a sincere commitment to the party, and more often than not, like candidates who feel the same way. If many Connecticut Democrats are concerned that Lieberman's values and priorities have strayed too far from the party's mainstream, how does Lieberman suppose these people will react to word that he's already begun taking steps to give up on the party altogether?

-- Guest Post by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report

Campaign-related news items that wouldn't generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:

* Not only is Katherine Harris (R) struggling badly in her Senate campaign in Florida, but she's also having trouble breaking through with Republicans. In the latest Quinnipiac poll, Harris trails Sen. Bill Nelson (D), 59% to 26%. According to the poll, only 35% of Florida Republicans want Harris as their Senate nominee.

* In Maryland, a Washington Post poll shows former Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D) pulling ahead in the Dem Senate primary against Rep. Ben Cardin (D), 31% to 25%. In the general election, however, Cardin seems to be in a stronger position, leading Lt. Gov. Michael Steele (R) by 10 points, while Mfume is ahead of Steele by three.

* The AP had an interesting report out of Washington state today on Sen. Maria Cantwell (D), who is struggling in her re-election effort, in part because of her support for the war in Iraq and the consternation it's causing among the state's progressive voters. Unlike Joe Lieberman, however, Cantwell's two primary opponents are largely unknown and have very limited financial resources.

* According to a report in Roll Call, a poll conducted for Jim Webb's (D) Senate campaign in Virginia shows the challenger pulling to within seven points of incumbent Sen. George Allen (R). In the Benenson Strategy Group poll, Allen leads, 46% to 39%.

* And in Minnesota, the two latest Rasmussen polls offer Dems good news in both of the state's major statewide contests. In the open Senate, Rasmussen shows attorney Amy Klobuchar (D) with a narrow lead over Rep. Mark Kennedy (R), 47% to 44%. In Minnesota's gubernatorial race, state Attorney General Mike Hatch continues to lead incumbent Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R), 47% to 42%.

-- Guest Post by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report

Jonathan Weiler raised a great point about the media after seeing "An Inconvenient Truth."

Gore noted that in an exhaustive study of almost every piece of research published on global warming in scientific journals, a sample of 928 articles was examined. Every single one of those 928 studies concluded that global warming was happening and that human activity was substantially responsible for it. In other words, as Gore has noted, the scientific debate about global warming and its sources, is over. In a parallel study of 636 news accounts of global warming, by contrast, 53% suggested that there was no scientific consensus on the question of global warming and its causes.

Any questions?

Well, no. That about sums it up.

-- Guest Post by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report

Accusations about plagiarism have dogged Ann Coulter for weeks, but now it's far more serious for the syndicated anti-American columnist and author.

Well, Ann Coulter may be "liberal" in one respect, anyway. The New York Post reported Sunday that author/columnist Coulter "cribbed liberally in her latest book" and also in several of her syndicated columns, according to a plagiarism expert.

John Barrie, creator of the iThenticate plagiarism-probing system, claimed he found at least three examples of what he called "textbook plagiarism" in the new Coulter book "Godless" after he ran its text through the program.

He also discovered verbatim copying in Coulter's weekly column, which is syndicated to more than 100 newspapers by Universal.

I hate to get optimistic about such things, but this could be a career killer. News outlets don't mind giving a forum to a far-right bombthrower who recommends killing war heroes or jokes about murdering Supreme Court justices, but editors and publishers tend to disapprove when writers steal other writers' words. It's usually a deal-breaker.

-- Guest Post by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report

You may have heard that recently-adopted policies are going to make it harder for students with college loans. Apparently, over the weekend, it became official.

Students across the nation will have to pay thousands more in college loans beginning Saturday, according to a series of reports released [Friday] by the research arm of the Campaign for America's Future. College students and graduates will be pushed deeper into debt as interest rates on Stafford loans -- the basic student loan -- rise from 5.3 percent to 7.14 percent on old loans and to 6.8 percent on new loans at the end of this week.

Parents that take out PLUS loans to help their children pay for an undergraduate education also face rising interest rates. This Saturday, rates on PLUS loans will increase from 6.1 percent to nearly 8 percent for existing loans and to 8.5 percent on new loans, costing the average parent nationally an extra $3,000 and $3,953 respectively.

It's perfect timing, too, in light of the fact that tuition costs have increased 40% since Bush took office.

No wonder the president has been lying about student loans for months.

-- Guest Post by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report