U.S. Open to Deal on Health Plan  —  WASHINGTON — The White House signaled a willingness Monday to compromise on details of a public plan to compete with private insurance companies as negotiators sought ways to advance health-care legislation.  —  A senior administration official …

The Establishment's Palin Panic  —  I like Sarah Palin (though I don't know her well).  I respect her (though I'm aware of some of her limitations).  I wish her well (though I'm not convinced she should be the 2012 Republican presidential nominee).  —  I am convinced, though …

Obama trips up over Russian leadership tandem  —  MOSCOW (Reuters) - In a slip of the tongue, U.S. President Barack Obama described Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday as president, echoing the widely held view that he remains Russia's most powerful man.

Sanford survives: Gov. rides out storm  —  The South Carolina Republican Party voted to censure Gov. Mark Sanford Monday—rather than call for his resignation—an outcome that makes it likely the GOP governor will be able to weather the storm surrounding his extramarital affair and remain in office.

WaPo Finally Begins to Admit Pay2Play Details  —  The WaPo is finally beginning to reveal the true details of the pay to play dinner Katharine Weymouth was throwing.  Surprise surprise, the dinner was pretty far down the road of selling access to their pay to play event.

Big Banks Don't Want California's IOUs  —  A group of the biggest U.S. banks said they would stop accepting California's IOUs on Friday, adding pressure on the state to close its $26.3 billion annual budget gap.  —  The development is the latest twist in California's struggle to deal with the effects of the recession.

New climate strategy: track the world's wealthiest  —  Source: Reuters  —  * World's richest emit about half of Earth's carbon  —  * Tracking the wealthy could break climate impasse  —  * New method would follow individual greenhouse emissions  —  To fairly divide the climate change …

Commentary: Galloway on McNamara: Reading an obit with great pleasure  —  “I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure.”  —Clarence Darrow (1857-1938)  —  Well, the aptly named Robert Strange McNamara has finally shuffled off to join LBJ and Dick Nixon in the 7th level of Hell.

Mousavi Promises Protests Over Iran's Election Will Continue  —  Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, appearing in public for the first time in nearly three weeks, vowed Monday that protests against the disputed reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad “will not end” …

Having It Both Ways  —  This Radley Balko's post is being used to defend Ross:  —  It is possible that Sarah Palin was both unfairly mistreated and personally attacked by the media and many on the left, and that her family was rather ruthlessly and mercilessly run through the [ringer] …

Democrats Admit That Their Cap and Trade Bill Is a Job Killer  —  By Peter Roff, Thomas Jefferson Street blog  —  In her remarks bringing the debate over the climate bill to a close, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California urged her colleagues to vote in favor of the cap and trade bill …

Michael Jackson Fans Raise Money To Defeat Peter King  —  There is, it turns out, a political price to pay when you make bold statements calling out Michael Jackson for some of the nefarious moments of his personal history.  —  Fans of Jackson are mobilizing to raise money for an opponent …

Centrists threaten Obama's agenda  —  Half a dozen members of the Senate Democratic Conference pose the biggest threat to President Obama's agenda, giving Senate Republicans a fighting chance to block the administration's major expansions of government.  —  GOP leaders have begun reaching …

Republican report puts blame for housing on Fannie, Freddie  —  Republicans on the House Oversight panel are trying to re-energize debate over the role Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac played in causing the housing crisis continuing to ripple through the U.S. economy.

We The Common Trash  —  Michael Shaw, publisher of the visual politics blog, BAGnewsNotes, posted an article at The Huffington Post entitled, “Reading The Pictures: Palin Proud To Be Trash”.  —  Mr. Shaw's bio indicates he is a clinical psychologist—an analyst of visual journalism—an interpreter of political images.

‘Obama Is Like a Chess Player’  —  Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, 86, discusses the painful lessons of the Treaty of Versailles, idealism in politics and Obama's opportunity to forge a peaceful American foreign policy.  —  SPIEGEL: Dr. Kissinger, 90 years ago …

John Boehner was wrong about Ohio stimulus spending  —  WASHINGTON — When U.S. House Minority Leader John Boehner told a newscaster Sunday that not a single stimulus-funded road contract in his home state of Ohio had been let, he was wrong.  —  The Ohio Department of Transportation …