Temporary Beltway Sanity  —  The doctor fix blows up in the Senate, no thanks to the AMA.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  Yesterday saw some rare good news on the health-care front, with the stealth Democratic plan to move $247 billion in ObamaCare costs off the books collapsing in the Senate on a procedural vote of 47 to 53.

Obama administration to cut executive pay at 7 bailed-out firms  —  NEW YORK — The Obama administration plans to order companies that have received exceptionally large amounts of bailout money from the government to slash compensation for their highest-paid executives by about half on average …

Maddow/Olbermann Invited to White House Chat with Obama, But Fox Isn't a News Organization?  —  Here's a curious turn in the White House vs. Fox News fight.  —  On Monday, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow were among several people who attended an off-the-record briefing with Pres. Obama at the White House.

Prelude to Republican fratricide  —  GOP candidates in New York and New Jersey should be cruising to victory this November.  But angry conservatives would rather hand power to Democrats than help moderate Republicans win.  —  At the beginning of the summer, most observers expected Republicans …

Obama Goes Wobbly on Afghanistan  —  The president can sustain bipartisan support for the war if he demonstrates his personal commitment.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  In an interview with CNN's John King on Sunday, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said President Obama …

There's No Substitute for Troops on the Ground  —  “I HOPE people who say this war is unwinnable see stories like this.  This is what winning in a counterinsurgency looks like.”  —  Lt. Col. William F. McCollough, commander of the First Battalion, Fifth Marine Regiment …

Cheney's Speech Tonight  —  Dick Cheney that is, who will be speaking at the Center for Security Policy tonight.  The speech is a real humdinger.  Check back here at 6 for the full text of the former vice president's remarks.

Daggett getting into Ventura territory in polls  —  It might be time for Chris Daggett to bust out the pink feather boa.  —  New polling shows the independent New Jersey Governor candidate is about where former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura (I) was at this point in his 1998 race …

Attention, Sarah Palin bashers: Lookalike book ‘Going Rouge’ is coming!  —  We know that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin can hunt, and even field-dress a moose, but how will she take to poachers on her book sales?  Start-up publisher OR Books has announced plans to publish Going Rouge …

Leaders Confident on Health Bill Vote  —  House Democratic leaders sounded bullish Wednesday after launching an all-hands-on-deck effort to win support for a “robust” public insurance option in their health care bill.  —  “We think we have the votes now,” Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson (Conn.) told reporters.

‘Die quickly’ congressman creates namesofthedead.com; GOP cries foul  —  Rep. Alan Grayson, whose “die quickly” remark gained him much attention, has created a new website based on his meme called “namesofthedead.com.”  —  On the site, visitors can log the names and stories of friends …

Iran, Israel attend secret nuclear meet in Cairo  —  Israeli and Iranian representatives recently took part in a conference in Cairo on nuclear non-proliferation in the Middle East, the Israel Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) said Thursday, but Tehran said the report on the meeting was untrue.

7 Months After Stimulus 49 of 50 States Have Lost Jobs  —  America Now Over 6 Million Jobs Shy of Administration's Projections  —  The table below compares the White House's February 2009 projection of the number of jobs that would be created by the 2009 stimulus law (through the end of 2010) …

Tzipi Livni Shows Prime Ministerial Stuff on J Street Conference  —  The more I listen to Congressional Opposition chief John Boehner as of late, the more I wish he could find the dignity and common ground for big objectives that Israel's Opposition Party Leader, Kadima Party chief Tzipi Livni …

Republicans Overtweet  —  Twitter shuts down 33 fake accounts created by state Republicans in an attempt to lambast Dems  —  Barack Obama's victory last year left many Republicans bemoaning their party's ineptitude when it came to political exploitation of the Web.