Republicans

From Talking Points Memo:

The new national poll from Public Policy Polling (D) has an astonishing number about paranoia among the GOP base: Republicans do not think President Obama actually won the 2008 election -- instead, ACORN stole it.

                                 This week's Newsweek                                                                                 Sarah Palin reportedly is upset with the photograph that appears on the cover of this week's Newsweek.

And maybe with good reason.

The photo, of Palin in jogging togs, is an image that was apparently lifted from a Runner's World photo shoot months ago.

Former Gov. Sarah PalinFewer than three in 10 Americans think that former Gov. Sarah Palin is qualified to be president, a new poll concluded.

But two-thirds of the public thinks Hillary Clinton is qualified.

By DAVID GOLDSTEIN

The Star's Washington Correspondent 

WASHINGTON | Republican Rep. Sam Graves, a farmer from a rural northwest Missouri congressional district, was once a consistent supporter of easing trade and travel restrictions on Cuba.

But a campaign watchdog group said he began accepting campaign contributions from an anti-Castro, pro-trade embargo political action group and eventually reversed field on Cuba.

Public Campaign, a nonpartisan, nonprofit reform group that backs public financing of campaigns, said in a report released today that Graves cast seven votes between 2003 and 2005 to ease the trade embargo and other sanctions on Cuba.

Then on three subsequent Cuban trade votes, he withdrew his backing and opposed lifting the sanctions, according to the report.

from TODAYshow.com

A lot of folks would pay good money to be a fly on the wall at this coffee klatch. In her upcoming memoir “Going Rogue,” former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin says she would welcome a sit-down with ex-Democratic presidential challenger Hillary Clinton.

NBC’s Mike Viqueira offered eye-opening, exclusive excerpts from Palin’s new book on TODAY Sunday, two days before the book’s official release. “Going Rogue” is already a hit out of the gate, with a massive first printing of 1.5 million copies and advance orders putting it at, or near, the top of best-seller lists.

While Palin offers readers a front-row seat to the ups and downs of Campaign 2008, and goes into detail over her continual bumping of heads with John McCain’s staff, the former Alaskan governor offers an invite of sorts to Clinton in her book. Clinton lost a hard-fought battle for the Democratic nomination to Barack Obama, who later named her his Secretary of State.

If you've got a copy of the new book and can give us a reaction, holler.

I'm at 816.234.4312.

The book 

from people.com

If Levi Johnston would like a piece of the Palin family turkey, Sarah Palin will save him a seat at her Thanksgiving table.

"It's lovely to think that he would ever even consider such a thing," the former Alaska governor, 45, tells Oprah Winfrey in an interview to air Nov. 16, the day before the publication of Palin's memoir, "Going Rogue."

From Sen. Kit Bond's office:

WASHINGTON – After months of warning his colleagues in Congress and Administration officials about the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) looming financial problems, an independent report released today on the agency’s cash reserves confirmed Bond’s warnings.

 Are the elephants stampeding?

A new CNN poll shows that more Americans would prefer to vote for the Republican candidate for Congress as opposed to the Democratic contender.

One solace for Ds: The finding is within the poll's margin of error.

The result appears to be a shift from other recent national polls.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A California publicist and two co-authors have terminated a book deal with a former aide of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

 San Diego-based Releve Marketing and PR announced Tuesday it will no longer represent or co-author Frank Bailey’s upcoming book “Renegade: Sarah Palin’s Hatchet Man.”

 Christiana Grace, company co-owner and one of the co-authors, says she can’t elaborate on the reasons for the termination. But she adds it was not a falling out with Bailey, her close friend since college.

from washingtonpost.com

WASHINGTON - President Obama retreated briefly to the serenity of Camp David this weekend, leaving behind seven days that showcased both the promise and the limits of his presidency.

The respite lasted fewer than 24 hours, and his return to the White House was marked by a victory for the ambitious agenda he has embraced. His allies in Congress had secured — if only by a hair — a historic milestone on the march toward comprehensive health-care reform.

"Moments like this are why they sent us here," Obama said, back in the Rose Garden Sunday afternoon. "To finally meet the challenges that Washington has put off for decades."

WASHINGTON (AP) — Delay is rarely good for politicians trying to pass legislation. The possibility that Congress might not complete action on a major health care bill this year is another frustration for President Barack Obama and his allies.

 Even if it doesn’t sink the health care effort, a delay would raise new uncertainties and push other domestic priorities further back. It also would give opponents a chance to pick off nervous Democratic lawmakers eyeing their November 2010 re-election campaigns.

 Even some House Democrats with safe seats don’t like the idea of voting on a contentious bill until it’s clear that the Senate will follow suit.

nyt analysis

WASHINGTON - The Republican victories in the races for New Jersey and Virginia governors put the party in a stronger position to turn back the political wave President Obama unleashed last year, setting the stage for Republicans to raise money, recruit candidates and ride the excitement of an energized base as the party heads into next year’s midterm elections.

But a Democratic victory in an upstate New York Congressional district — after an ideologically pitched battle between moderates and conservatives over how best to lead Republicans back to power — signaled that the Republican Party faces continued upheaval. The Democratic victory came over a conservative candidate who, with the enthusiastic backing of national conservative leaders and well-financed grass-roots organizations, had forced out a Republican candidate who supported abortion rights and gay rights.

 UPDATE, 1:40:  The Republican alternative is attached in full below.

  WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans have produced a health care bill to offer as an alternative to legislation by majority Democrats, focusing more on lowering costs than expanding coverage.

 The bill is 230 pages long, compared with Democrats’ 1,990-page measure. Unlike the Democrats’ legislation it has no requirement for people to buy insurance and no prohibitions against insurance companies denying coverage to people with pre-existing medical conditions.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald famously declared in the Valerie Plame affair that “there is a cloud over the vice president.” Last week’s release of an FBI interview summary of Dick Cheney’s answers in the criminal investigation underscores why Fitzgerald felt that way.

 On 72 occasions, according to the 28-page FBI summary, Cheney equivocated to the FBI during his lengthy May 2004 interview, saying he could not be certain in his answers to questions about matters large and small in the Plame controversy.

 The Cheney interview reflects a team of prosecutors and FBI agents trying to find out whether the leaks of Plame’s CIA identity were orchestrated at the highest level of the White House and carried out by, among others, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Cheney’s chief of staff.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Beware the math.

 Some Republican lawmakers critical of President Barack Obama’s stimulus package are using grade-school arithmetic to size up costs and consequences of all that spending. The math is satisfyingly simple but highly misleading.

 It goes like this: Divide the stimulus money spent so far by the estimated number of jobs saved or created. That produces a rather frightening figure on how much money taxpayers are spending for each job.

 On Friday, the White House released estimates that $160 billion in stimulus spending created or preserved 650,000 direct jobs.

from msnbc

WASHINGTON - About 650,000 jobs have been saved or created under President Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan, the White House said Friday, saying it is on track to reach the president's goal of 3.5 million jobs by the end of next year.

New job numbers from businesses, contractors, state and local governments, nonprofit groups and universities were scheduled to be released publicly later Friday. White House economic adviser Jared Bernstein said the figures will show that, when adding in jobs linked to $288 billion in tax cuts, the stimulus plan has created or saved more than 1 million jobs.

from politico 

A conservative Iowa group’s effort to lure Sarah Palin to its banquet next month has had an unintended effect: Rather than exciting conservatives about the prospect of a visit from the former Alaska governor, the group’s plan to raise a six-figure sum to bring her to the state has GOP activists recoiling at the thought of paying to land a politician's speaking appearance.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (CBS/AP) Deputy assistant attorney general Roland Corning said he was on his lunch break when a police officer found him with a stripper, a Viagra pill, and sex toys in his sports utility vehicle, according to Corning's boss.

Now Corning is looking for a new job.

The 66-year-old former state legislator was in a secluded part of a downtown cemetery when an officer spotted him Monday, according to a police report obtained by The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act.

As the officer approached, Corning sped off, then pulled over a few blocks away. He and the 18-year-old woman with him, an employee of the Platinum Plus Gentleman's Club, gave conflicting stories about what they were doing in the cemetery, Officer Michael Wines wrote in his report, though he did not elaborate.

Former Gov. Sarah PalinMore than seven in 10 Americans think Sarah Palin is not qualified to be president, according to a new national poll.

Seventy-one percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Wednesday morning believe the former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee is not qualified to be president, with 29 percent saying she does have the credentials to serve in the White House.

Republicans appear split, with 52 percent saying she's qualified and 47 percent disagreeing with that view.