Lunchtime Links

As President Obama plans to send 34,000 more troops to Afghanistan, a new poll finds the public split on the deployment.
Palin 2012: the apocalyptic film, as envisioned by SNL.
Steele: Palin has the “gravitas” to be president.
The conservative 60 Plus Association launches a $2 million ad campaign in nine states to scorch health care reform.
But most [...]

Health care lobbying has almost doubled in 2009.
The gun lobby claim that the Senate health bill would allow the government to crack down on gun ownership.
The weak public option compromises in the House and Senate bills could be bad politics.
Blanche Lincoln’s Website doesn’t exactly clarify her stance on the public option.
Glenn Beck plans an anti-Obama [...]

What drives Obama’s approval ratings? It’s the economy, stupid.
Reid makes concessions to Landrieu and Nelson to win their support for Saturday’s health reform procedural vote.
These Senate centrists, in turn, make no secret of their jockeying for leverage.
Saturday’s vote could foreshadow the prospects for health reform’s eventual passage.
Latino leaders blame Rahm for anti-immigrant provisions in health [...]

TPM compiles the many untruths in “Going Rogue.”
Palin has some trouble keeping her Middle East nations straight.
More Americans consider the Fort Hood massacre “murder” than “terrorism.”
Palin, of course, disagrees, and she’ll pay a visit next month.
Three-quarters of Americans like Obama as a person, but fewer than half like his policies.
What’s Doug Hoffman thinking by challenging [...]

Palin argues for expanded West Bank settlements because Jews “will be flocking to Israel in the days and weeks and months ahead.”
She also thinks we should “profile” Muslims to save “innocent American lives.”
Nate Silver lays out 10 reasons why she might win the 2012 GOP nomination.
Is terrorism making a comeback as a political issue?
A record-low [...]

One poll reveals a sharp divide over health reform; another shows broad support for taxing the wealthy to finance the overhaul.
The Post profiles embattled senator and health care swing vote Blanche Lincoln.
Obama urges China to talk with the Dalai Lama.
Fox News is finally getting the interview it’s been waiting for.
The Republican Governors Association took a [...]

Drug companies have been raising prices at the fastest rate since 1992.
President 2.0 Barack Obama has never used Twitter.
Karl Rove rips into Obama for his bow to the Japanese Emperor.
The energy industry targets Lindsey Graham for supporting cap-and-trade — and sends a message to climate fence-sitters.
CNN gave Lou Dobbs $8 million to leave the network.
Hillary [...]

A McCain adviser denies that Palin did the Couric interview out of pity.
Also out of pity? A preview of Palin’s interview with Oprah.
And another “Going Rogue” fib: Palin claims she was billed for her vetting; McCain officials deny it.
David Brooks pitches John Thune as a 2012 presidential candidate.
A judge orders a U.S. Attorney to collect [...]

A “beef with McChrystal” may have led Eikenberry to leak his own cables.
Are Vitter’s ties to the formaldehyde industry behind his block of an Obama EPA nominee?
A defiantly smug Sean Hannity apologizes to Jon Stewart.
Obama visits Alaska today, briefly, for the first time.
The Obama presidency is more LBJ than JFK, and it’s taking its toll [...]

A battle heats up between Rahm and Brookings.
And Bill Clinton appears to side with Rahm.
How to interpret the mercurial public mood on Afghanistan?
Franks says DADT will be in next year’s Defense authorization bill.
Most Americans are worried about a backlash against Muslims in the military after Fort Hood.
Dyslexics, take heart: Gordon Brown emerges unscathed from his [...]