Defections have Dems ISO Plan B  —  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's appeals for party unity landed with a thud Tuesday with the very group he needs for his public-option push to pay off: centrists who hold the key to health reform.  —  And not just any centrists but one who makes liberals see red …

Brother of Afghan Leader Is Said to Be on C.I.A. Payroll  —  KABUL, Afghanistan — Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president and a suspected player in the country's booming illegal opium trade, gets regular payments from the Central Intelligence Agency, and has for much of the past eight years …

CNN Poll: 7 in 10 say Palin not qualified to be president  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) - More than seven in 10 Americans think Sarah Palin is not qualified to be president, according to a new national poll.  —  Seventy-one percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey …

Arnold to SF: F**k You  —  It was hardly a bill of cosmic import, but Assemblymember Tom Ammiano's AB 1176 would have helped the Port of San Francisco with some financing issues.  It's the kind of bill that legislators offer on behalf of their cities all the time — and generally, they are non-controversial.

Pathetic: Jarrett backtracks from Fox News bias claim when asked about MSNBC  —  Credit CNN here.  Not only did Campbell Brown follow up with a question about MSNBC after this sorry hack went into Fox-bashing mode but CNN.com actually posted a write-up noting her lame retreat when confronted.

For First Time Under Obama, Majority Says U.S. Is on Wrong Track  —  While the stock market has picked up and the country appears to be pulling out of the recession, a majority of Americans - for the first time in the Obama presidency - says the U.S. is headed down the wrong track …

Times Buyout Package Reveals More than Expected  —  Just over a week ago, every person in the Times newsroom was sent out a buyout package via UPS Next Day Air.  If 100 staffers don't raise their hands by Dec. 7, there will be layoffs.  —  We got our hands on one of the thickish brown envelopes that went to employees' homes.

Pro-Israel, Pro-Peace  —  I was debating with Jon Chait at a J Street panel this morning on the subject of “what does it mean to be pro-Israel?”  As expected, we disagreed on a number of points, most of which I was right on and he was wrong on.  But one thing he said in his opening remarks …

News gets worse for the MSM  —  There have been a lot of bad days recently for what's come to be known as the Mainstream Media - or MSM - but Monday was one of the worst.  —  New circulation figures showed that big city papers had lost as much as a quarter of their circulation in the last six months.

Police: Gang rape lasted over two hours  —  (CNN) — A California high school student who police said was gang raped in a two-and-a-half-hour assault outside a homecoming dance remained hospitalized in stable condition Monday, two days after she was flown from the attack scene in critical condition.

GMAC Asks for Fresh Lifeline  —  Lender in Advanced Talks for Third Slug of Taxpayer Cash — at Least $2.8 Billion More  —  In a stark reminder of how some battered financial firms remain dependent on government lifelines, GMAC Financial Services Inc. and the Treasury Department …

Ex-Chief of AMD Is Linked to Galleon  —  One of the technology industry's highest-profile executives has become ensnared in an alleged insider-trading case that is shaking the corporate and financial worlds.  —  A criminal case filed by the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office earlier …

Letterman and Me  —  One of the few women ever to write for Late Night with David Letterman, the author (a longtime V.F. contributor) remembers a hostile, sexually charged atmosphere.  What's to be done?  Start by breaking late night's all-male gag order.  —  At this moment …

Washington Sketch: A hostile climate for Sen. Inhofe the warming skeptic  —  It must be very lonely being the last flat-earther.  —  Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, committed climate-change denier, found himself in just such a position Tuesday morning as the Senate environment committee …