Without Public Option, Enthusiasm for Health Care Reform, Especially Among Democrats, Collapses  —  Just 34% of voters nationwide support the health care reform plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats if the so-called “public option” is removed.

More See White House and GOP Leaders at Odds  —  Democratic Favorable Ratings Slide  —  Americans are in an increasingly sour mood about Washington.  Barack Obama's approval ratings continue to inch downward and a growing proportion of Americans (63%) think that the president and Republican leaders …

The LaRouche Cult and the Health Care Protests  —  After noting that the disturbed woman who accused Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) of supporting a “Nazi policy” was a LaRouche cultist, I checked out the trove of videos that LaRouche's Virginia-based organization has made available since …

New Rx for Health Plan: Split Bill  —  The White House and Senate Democratic leaders, seeing little chance of bipartisan support for their health-care overhaul, are considering a strategy shift that would break the legislation into two parts and pass the most expensive provisions solely with Democratic votes.

Unreal: MSNBC edits clip of man with gun at Obama rally to support racism narrative  —  I missed this yesterday at Newsbusters but Treacher, rightly aghast, tipped me to it this afternoon.  Never will you see a starker example of MSNBC getting away with the sort of deception for which Fox News …

Bachmann: Health Care Reform Is Unconstitutional  —  Speaking on Fox News last night, right-wing Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN) claimed that health care reform is unconstitutional: … Watch it:  —  Bachmann, however, is wrong about both the contents of the health care plan and the requirements of the Constitution.

NY dealers pull out of clunkers program  —  NEW YORK (AP) - Hundreds of auto dealers in the New York area have withdrawn from the government's Cash for Clunkers program, citing delays in getting reimbursed by the government, a dealership group said Wednesday.

Is there really a boycott of Glenn Beck?  Update: Law of unintended consequences?  —  We've heard about the boycott of the Glenn Beck Show on Fox News Channel, one where as many as 20 advertisers have dropped their spots, thanks to pressure from left-wing groups angry at ... well, their latest anger du jour.

A deeper look at the birthers  —  After we conducted polls over the last couple of weeks finding significant numbers of ‘birthers’ in North Carolina and Virginia, we decided to take the question national but also drum down more specifically on where exactly the people who think Barack Obama …

Poll Shows Most Americans Oppose War in Afghanistan  —  A majority of Americans now see the war in Afghanistan as not worth fighting, and just a quarter say more U.S. troops should be sent to the country, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.  —  Most have confidence in the ability …

Dem investigators target insurers  —  House Democrats are probing the nation's largest insurance companies for lavish spending, demanding reams of compensation data and schedules of retreats and conferences.  —  Letters sent to 52 insurance companies by Democratic leaders demand extensive documents …

Whole Foods Devotees Lash Out at CEO  —  Customers, Angry Over His Health-Care Views, Share Feelings of Betrayal on Web  —  Whole Foods aficionados who assumed the company's management was as crunchy as the brand are feeling betrayed.  —  They have stormed Twitter, Facebook and the blogosphere …

TV News Giant Don Hewitt Dies At 86  —  CBS News Legend And “60 Minutes” Creator's Career Spanned 60 Years  —  (CBS) Don Hewitt, recognized as a father of modern television news and the creator of the medium's most successful broadcast, “60 Minutes,” died Wednesday after battling pancreatic cancer.

C.I.A. Sought Blackwater's Help in Plan to Kill Jihadists  —  WASHINGTON — The Central Intelligence Agency in 2004 hired outside contractors from the private security contractor Blackwater USA as part of a secret program to locate and assassinate top operatives of Al Qaeda, according to current and former government officials.

Mom of Bristol Palin's Ex Cops Plea  —  Mother of Bristol Palin's Former Fiance Pleads Guilty to Possession with Intent to Deliver Painkiller  —  (AP) The mother of the man former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol had planned on marrying has reached a plea deal in her drug case.

The Greenback Effect  —  IN nature, every action has consequences, a phenomenon called the butterfly effect.  These consequences, moreover, are not necessarily proportional.  For example, doubling the carbon dioxide we belch into the atmosphere may far more than double the subsequent problems for society.

Legislature to vote on sweeping prison reforms  —  SACRAMENTO — Democratic lawmakers and Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger are poised as soon as today to enact a package of far-reaching prison reforms that would allow some prisoners to serve the last 12 months of their sentences under house arrest …

The Death Book for Veterans  —  Ex-soldiers don't need to be told they're a burden to society.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  If President Obama wants to better understand why America's discomfort with end-of-life discussions threatens to derail his health-care reform, he might begin with his own Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

Senate bid dogged by Fiorina's failure to vote  —  (08-18) 19:51 PDT — Republican Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO, took her first formal step Tuesday to challenge incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer - but does she pass the Citizenship 1o1 test?

New poll finds that 39 percent of Americans want government to ‘stay out of Medicare.’  —  As ThinkProgress has noted before, conservatives have frequently obscured the fact that Medicare is a government-run single-payer program.  Constituents appearing at health care town halls have even demanded …

A call with the rabbinate  —  From the Washington Jewish Week, and confirmed just now by Gibbs:  —  President Barack Obama needs some outside help pushing health care reform, and he's turning to rabbis to get it.  —  In a morning conference call with about 1000 rabbis from across the nation …

Harriet Miers Takes Another Crack at the U.S. Supreme Court  —  Former White House counsel Harriet Miers once aspired to serve on the Supreme Court, a bid that failed in 2005.  Now, back in private practice, she's angling to argue a case before the high court.