memeorandum: Americans Divided on Sending More Troops to Afghanistan (Jeffrey M. Jones/Gallup)

11:00 AM ET, October 8, 2009

Top Items:

The GOP Is Winning the Health-Care Debate — Gallup says independents now favor Republicans by nine points. — Printer — Friendly — Passing health-care reform could be harmful to the health of congressional Democrats. — Just look at how President Barack Obama's standing has fallen as he has pushed for reform.

Discussion: Jules Crittenden, The Mahablog, National Review, The Strata-Sphere, Jezebel, Commentary, George's Bottom Line, Gateway Pundit and The Note

Douglas Elmendorf / Director's Blog:

Preliminary Analysis of the Senate Finance Committee Chairman's Mark As Amended — CBO and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) have just issued a preliminary analysis of the Senate Finance Committee Chairman's mark for the America's Healthy Future Act of 2009 …

William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion:

THERE IS NO BAUCUS BILL — The internet is alive with the sound of people analyzing the CBO's “scoring” of the Max Baucus aka Senate Finance Committee Health Care Bill. Before everyone gets too deeply into their thoughts, please keep in mind the following (get ready, all CAPS, bold, indented signifies a really important concept):

Discussion: Wizbang, The Foundry, The Hill, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Maggie's Farm, Fausta's Blog, Gateway Pundit, The Sundries Shack, Washington Examiner, Riehl World View and Pundit & Pundette

New York Times:

Health Care Bill Gets Green Light in Cost Analysis — WASHINGTON — The Senate Finance Committee legislation to revamp the health care system would provide coverage to 29 million uninsured Americans but would still pare future federal deficits by slowing the growth of spending on medical care …

Discussion: The Note, The Faster Times, Wonk Room, The Caucus, The Hill, Indecision Forever, Prescriptions, Prairie Weather and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Martin Feldstein / Washington Post:
A Better Way to Health Reform

Discussion: Economist's View and EconLog

Washington Post:
Budget Report: Senate Finance Panel's Health-Care Bill Wouldn't Raise Deficit

Discussion: The Fix, USA Today, Time and Reuters

Wall Street Journal:
New Math Boosts Health Plan

Discussion: Slate, Donald Marron, Capitol Briefing, Los Angeles Times, Erick's blog, Newsweek Blogs, Oregonian, Bloomberg, Washington Post, msnbc.com and Prescriptions

Mike Soraghan / The Hill:
Left claims 218 in sight

Discussion: US News, Blog entry and Firedoglake

David M. Halbfinger / New York Times:

Corzine Points a Spotlight at His Rival's Waistline — It is about as subtle as a playground taunt: a television ad for Gov. Jon S. Corzine shows his challenger, Christopher J. Christie, stepping out of an S.U.V. in extreme slow motion, his extra girth moving, just as slowly, in several different directions at once.

Discussion: Clusterstock, Jeffrey Goldberg, msnbc.com, Taylor Marsh, Gothamist, New Jersey Online, City Room, National Review Online and JammieWearingFool

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:

Corzine Attempting “Juvenile Schoolyard Taunts” Strategy — Um, really? … On the one hand, this seems like it couldn't possibly work. Who's going to be anything but repulsed from Corzine by these tactics? On the other, it does often seem that prejudice against the overweight …

Discussion: TalkLeft, Perfunction and New Jersey Online

Rajiv Chandrasekaran / Washington Post:

Civilian, Military Officials at Odds Over Resources Needed for Afghan Counterinsurgency — In early March, after weeks of debate across a conference table in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, the participants in President Obama's strategic review of the war in Afghanistan figured …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, Commentary, The Foundry, democracyarsenal.org, ATTACKERMAN, BernardFinel.com, Hot Air and The Washington Independent

New York Times:
Afghan War Debate Now Leans to Focus on Al Qaeda

Discussion: Washington Post, The New Republic, The Reaction, msnbc.com, Guardian, Time, USA Today, Reuters, ABCNEWS and BAGnewsNotes

Rep. Eric Cantor / The Politico:
Message to Obama on Afghanistan

Discussion: The Plum Line

Barb Shelly / Midwest Voices:

Bob Dole outs naysayer Mitch McConnell — Bob Dole supports health care reform. — “This is one of the most important measures members of Congress will vote on in their lifetimes,” the former Republican Senate majority leader and presidential candidate told an audience in Kansas City today.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Another Black Conservative, Christian Science Monitor, Daily Kos, The Moderate Voice, Salon, The Politico, The Swamp and The TrogloPundit

Erick Erickson / Erick's blog:
Senate GOP Folding Over Health Care Reform [updated]

Discussion: CNSNews, The Other McCain, theblogprof, Michelle Malkin, humanevents.capwiz.com, Hot Air, Suburban Guerrilla, Raw Story, NewsBusters.org, Daily Pundit, Riehl World View, Weasel Zippers, Taegan Goddard's …, YID With LID and RedState

Dave Helling / KansasCity.com Prime Buzz:
Dole: Health care reform coming late this year or next; “you lost” …

Discussion: Wonk Room, Prescriptions, MyDD, The Huffington Post, The Huffington Post, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Glenn Thrush's Blog and Liberal Values

Steve Farley / PennLive.com:

Gun-toting soccer mom is shot dead … Meleanie Hain, the pistol-carrying Lebanon mom who received national attention for taking a loaded gun to her daughter's soccer game, was shot to death Wednesday night with her husband in an apparent murder-suicide, police said.

Discussion: Whiskey Fire

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

Washington Sketch: A Cross in the Desert — Question: If a cross rises in the desert and no one knows about it, does it make a sound? — Answer: Only in Washington. — In 1934, veterans erected a cross on a rock in a remote part of the Mojave Desert on what is now national park land …

Discussion: Flopping Aces, Los Angeles Times and Prairie Weather

Dahlia Lithwick / Slate:
The high court looks again at religious symbols on public lands.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Unfogged, CNN, The BLT and SCOTUSblog

Adam Liptak / New York Times:
Religion Largely Absent in Argument About Cross

Discussion: SCOTUSblog, Washington Post, CNN, The BLT, The Reality-Based Community and Associated Press

David Aaronovitch / Times of London:

American troops in Afghanistan losing heart, say army chaplains — Martin Fletcher at Forward Operating Base in Wardak province, Afghanistan — American soldiers serving in Afghanistan are depressed and deeply disillusioned, according to the chaplains of two US battalions that have spent nine months …

Discussion: The Jawa Report, LewRockwell.com Blog, Gateway Pundit and Mudville Gazette

Rachel D'Oro / Associated Press:

Father of Palin's grandson to pose for Playgirl — ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Levi Johnston is going for the ultimate exposure—his bare body. — Posing nude for Playgirl is next for the 19-year-old father of Sarah Palin's grandchild. Johnston's attorney, Rex Butler …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, Another Black Conservative, Liberal Values, Gateway Pundit, Daily Pundit and Weasel Zippers

The Huffington Post:

Dems Discussing Public Option With Opt-Out Clause: The Silver Bullet? — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — Senate Democrats have begun discussions on a compromise approach to health care reform that would establish a robust, national public option for insurance coverage but give individual states the right to opt out of the program.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Washington Monthly, Daily Kos, Ezra Klein, The Plum Line, Open Left, Hot Air, The Greenroom, TPMDC, The Huffington Post, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!, AMERICAblog News and Wonk Room

Ann Scott Tyson / Washington Post:

Army Officers Criticize Rebuke of Gen. McChrystal — Army officers gathered at a convention in Washington this week said senior White House officials should not have rebuked Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, for saying publicly that a scaled-back war effort would not succeed.

Discussion: Commentary

Wall Street Journal:
Gates Requests More Afghan Troops

Discussion: Pajamas Media

Michelle Malkin:

Fort Carson's heroes — Please take time to read the profiles of the American soldiers who died in the siege at Kamdesh. — The Colorado Springs Gazette tells their stories here and here. — Many were fathers. All were patriots. They were stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado.

Discussion: Gazette, KVOA-TV and Daily Pundit

Emanuella Grinberg / CNN:
Soldiers remembered as devoted dads, heroes

Discussion: Sweetness & Light and Gazette

Wall Street Journal:

Intelligence Fiasco Footnote — The authors of the 2007 Iran NIE have some explaining to do. — Printer — Friendly — When it comes to politicized intelligence in the Bush years, the critics may finally have a point. Perhaps the work of America's intelligence agencies was manipulated …

Discussion: Israel Matzav, Time and Salon

New York Times:

In First Lady's Roots, a Complex Path From Slavery — WASHINGTON — In 1850, the elderly master of a South Carolina estate took pen in hand and painstakingly divided up his possessions. Among the spinning wheels, scythes, tablecloths and cattle that he bequeathed to his far-flung heirs …

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Room for Debate, Gawker, Townhall.com, Jezebel, msnbc.com, No More Mister Nice Blog and Brilliant at Breakfast

Daily Mail:

Thugs attack two transvestites... who turn out to be cage fighters wearing fancy dress — Two thugs who attacked what they thought were a pair of transvestites picked on the wrong men - when their intended victims turned out to be cage fighters on a night out in fancy dress.

Discussion: The Corner on National …, Gateway Pundit, Moe Lane, Pundit & Pundette, #gay and JammieWearingFool

Quinnipiac University:

American Voters Oppose Obama Health Care Plan, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; GOP Gets Lowest Grades Since Obama Elected — American voters oppose 47 - 40 percent President Barack Obama's health care reform plan, and don't want an overhaul that only gets Democratic votes …

Discussion: Politics Daily, Washington Wire, TPMDC, The Plum Line and Real Clear Politics

Kenneth P. Vogel / The Politico:

ROMAN POLANSKI BACKERS GAVE $34K TO BARACK OBAMA, DNC — Movie industry types calling for the release of director Roman Polanski last year gave $34,000 to Obama's presidential campaign and the Democratic Party, FEC records show. — Polanski's arrest late last month by Swiss authorities …

New York Times:

Leader Ousted, Honduras Hires U.S. Lobbyists — WASHINGTON — First, depose a president. Second, hire a lobbyist. — In the months since soldiers ousted the Honduran president, Manuel Zelaya, the de facto government and its supporters have resisted demands from the United States that he be restored to power.

Discussion: Midwest Voices, Chris Floyd and A Tiny Revolution