memeorandum: If conservatives ran health care . . . (Maggie Mahar/Washington Post)

12:10 PM ET, November 16, 2009

Top Items:

Gary Langer / The Numbers:

Sarah Palin: Rogue for President? — Gary Langer is director of polling at ABC News, where he's covered the beat of public opinion for nearly 20 years - conducting and analyzing ABC News polls, evaluating data from other sources and setting the news division's standards for poll reporting.

Discussion: The Hill, Townhall.com, Right Wing Nut House, Confederate Yankee, Mouth of the Potomac and The Page

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:

The most important number in (Palin) politics today — That's the percentage of people who had a strongly favorable (20 percent) or strongly unfavorable (34 percent) view of Sarah Palin in a new Washington Post/ABC News poll, the latest piece of data that suggests the intensity …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

An Open Dish Challenge To Palin — Well, she has now thrown down a gauntlet that the Dish will be very eager to take up in the next few days. — Yesterday the AP ran a story describing some of the contents of the book, and arguing that many assertions in it are, like so much of what Palin has said, empirically untrue.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Other McCain, Get Energy Smart!, theblogprof, MyDD and Riehl World View

Jon Cohen / Behind the Numbers:

Sarah Palin: new chapter, same challenges — If Sarah Palin's book tour is an opening salvo in a run for the presidency in 2012, she faces a steep uphill climb: a majority of Americans in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll say they would “definitely not vote for her.”

Discussion: Front Row Washington, The Washington Independent, Boston Globe and TPMDC

Melanie Kirkpatrick / Wall Street Journal:
Her Side of the Story — McCain aides kept her out of the loop …

Discussion: The Note, American Power, Say Anything, The Trentonian, Wake up America, Texas for Sarah Palin, Facebook and Hot Air

Rasmussen Reports:
59% of GOP Voters Say Palin Shares Their Values

Discussion: Politics Daily, Taegan Goddard's …, race42008.com and Weasel Zippers

Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:
Sarah Palin back on the trail: What to watch for

Discussion: Politics Daily, Texas for Sarah Palin and Los Angeles Times

Walter Shapiro / Politics Daily:
How Palin Could Win the 2012 GOP Nomination

Discussion: The Reality-Based Community and George's Bottom Line

Kate Snow / ABCNEWS:
Game On: Palin Book Blitz Begins

Discussion: The Note and TPM LiveWire

Faiz Shakir / Think Progress:

Rove Attacks Obama For Bowing: He Should Do What All Presidents Have Done And ‘Not Bow To Monarchies’ — This morning on Fox & Friends, former Bush adviser Karl Rove appeared on the program to bash President Obama for paying a respectful bow before the Japanese Emperor.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Telegraph and Scared Monkeys

Political Punch:

On President Obama's Bow to the Japanese Emperor, An Academic Friend Writes That Both the Left and the Right Are Wrong — An old friend — an academic with expertise about the Japanese Empire, and in general a supporter of President Obama — sends me the following note …

Discussion: BBC, The Glittering Eye, American Power, Mediaite, Jules Crittenden, Commentary, Gateway Pundit, Say Anything, JustOneMinute, Hot Air, YID With LID, Wake up America, Macsmind, Riehl World View and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Japan expert to ABC: Yes, Obama's bow made him look like an idiot

Discussion: Gateway Pundit, GayPatriot, QandO, Maggie's Farm, Scared Monkeys, Weasel Zippers and Macsmind

New York Times:

Obama Pushes Rights With Chinese Students — SHANGHAI — He didn't explicitly call on China's leaders to lift the veil of state control that restricts Internet access and online social networking here. But President Obama did tiptoe — ever so lightly — into that controversial topic …

Discussion: Time, Politics Daily, Wonkette, The Caucus, Washington Post, Commentary, Associated Press, Mashable!, China Digital Times, Los Angeles Times, The Huffington Post and The Page

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

World Out of Balance — International travel by world leaders is mainly about making symbolic gestures. Nobody expects President Obama to come back from China with major new agreements, on economic policy or anything else. — But let's hope that when the cameras aren't rolling Mr. Obama …

Discussion: NPR, Daniel W. Drezner, Outside The Beltway, The Confluence, MoJo Blog Posts, Calculated Risk, Pacific Views, Villainous Company and Washington Post

John Yoo / Wall Street Journal:

The KSM Trial Will Be an Intelligence Bonanza for al Qaeda — The government will have to choose between vigorous prosecution and revealing classified sources and methods. — Printer — Friendly — 'This is a prosecutorial decision as well as a national security decision," …

Discussion: Emptywheel, Sister Toldjah, The Washington Independent, And So it Goes in Shreveport, Commentary, Pundit & Pundette, Wake up America, The Other McCain and The Corner on National …

Josh Kraushaar / Scorecard's Blog: The politics of terrorism trials

Kate Zernike / New York Times:

A Florida Republican Becomes a Right-Wing Target — NEWBERRY, Fla. — In retrospect, even Charlie Crist admits that “the optics” of The Hug are not great. — It was in the glow of a new day in politics last February when Mr. Crist, this state's popular Republican governor …

Discussion: Democratic Strategist, Commentary, The Hill and No More Mister Nice Blog

Denicarmon / The Carmon Report:
Exclusive: Rubio Campaign Plagiarizes from Obama Campaign

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, The Page and The Washington Independent

David Frum / CNN:
Republicans heading for a spectacular bloodbath in Florida

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Democratic Strategist, The Politico and FrumForum

Sudarsan Raghavan / Washington Post:

Cleric says he was confidant to Hasan — In Yemen, al-Aulaqi tells of e-mail exchanges, says he did not instigate rampage — SANAA, YEMEN — In his first interview with a journalist since the Fort Hood rampage, Yemeni American cleric Anwar al-Aulaqi said that he neither ordered nor pressured …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, The Jawa Report, The Strata-Sphere, Hot Air, Sweetness & Light and Commentary

John Schwartz / New York Times:
Experts Outline Hurdles in Trying to Defend Hasan

Discussion: The BLT and Prairie Weather

Robert Barnes / Washington Post:

Supreme Court refuses to hear Redskins' naming case — The Supreme Court on Monday declined to revive a lawsuit on behalf of Native American activists who claimed that the Washington Redskins' team name is so offensive that it does not deserve trademark protection.

Discussion: Law Blog

Lyle Denniston / SCOTUSblog:
Court adds one new case

Discussion: Sentencing Law and Policy

Michael D. Shear / Washington Post:

Opponents of health-care effort look to fund a critical economic study — The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and an assortment of national business groups opposed to President Obama's health-care reform effort are collecting money to finance an economic study that could be used to portray …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Politics Daily, The Hill, The Huffington Post, Washington Monthly, Ezra Klein and Swampland

Emily Pierce / Roll Call:
Reid Fixated on Health Timing

Discussion: CBS News, Bloomberg and The Page

Boris Johnson / Telegraph:

We should worry that Tracey Emin Hugh Osmond and Michael Caine are fleeing the 50p tax rate — The 50p tax rate will be a disaster for the economy - taking us back to the dark days of the 1970s, says Boris Johnson. — Not everyone will miss her as much as I will.

Discussion: Townhall.com, Samizdata.net, Guardian and Fausta's Blog

Duff Wilson / New York Times:

Drug Makers Raise Prices in Face of Health Care Reform — Even as drug makers promise to support Washington's health care overhaul by shaving $8 billion a year off the nation's drug costs after the legislation takes effect, the industry has been raising its prices at the fastest rate in years.

Discussion: The Awl, Guardian and Prairie Weather

Michael Shain / New York Post:

Source: CNN wanted Lou out — CNN ‘wanted him out’ — CNN was so sick of Lou Dobbs, it gave him an $8 million severance package to leave, The Post has learned. — “They wanted him out,” according to a source. — Dobbs, who a source said had a year and a half to go on his $12 million contract …

Discussion: Michael Calderone's Blog, Silicon Alley Insider, Mediaite and Wonk Room

Johanna Blakley / The Politico:

Can Winfrey, Palin save each other? — Were there ever two women who needed each other more but whose political differences were so starkly different? Can Sarah Palin help stanch Oprah Winfrey's slipping ratings? Can Winfrey come to the rescue of Palin's tattered political reputation?

Discussion: The Swamp, Outside The Beltway and The Page