FDL Statement on Senate Combined Health Care Bill  —  The Senate Health Care Reform Bill (photo by roemerman)  —  It is encouraging that Senator Reid respected the will of the American people and included a public option in the merged Senate bill.  However, the addition of a state opt …

NPR Shocker: Attorney General Holder Stumped By Lindsey Graham  —  During Wednesday's Justice Department oversight hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) stumped Attorney General Eric Holder on what should have been a fairly routine question for America's top law enforcement official.

FOX rolls wrong video, heads may roll  —  FOX has done it again, and this time, once again, FOX says its misplay of the wrong crowd video was another regrettable mistake.  —  Today, FOX News host Gregg Jarrett was talking about Republican Sarah Palin's book tour and the crowd she is drawing …

To Our Readers, An Update  —  This Dish will resume as normal tomorrow morning.  We apologize for the lacuna.  And I suppose some will say we've gotten this book and the issues it raises out of perspective.  But since the last campaign, we have raised many questions about Palin …

Hoffman: ACORN, unions, Dems tampered with NY-23 election  —  With his prospect of winning the 23rd Congressional District race now almost zero, Conservative Party candidate Douglas L. Hoffman suggested Wednesday in a letter that “ACORN, the unions and the Democratic Party” “tampered” with results to deny him victory.

American Voters Like Obama, But Not His Policies, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Support For Public Option, But Not Overall Health Plan  —  Three-quarters of American voters - 74 percent - like President Barack Obama as a person, but only 47 percent like most of his policies …

Hasan's Supervisor Warned Army In '07 … text sizeAAA  —  Two years ago, a top psychiatrist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center was so concerned about what he saw as Nidal Hasan's incompetence and reckless behavior that he put those concerns in writing.  NPR has obtained a copy of the memo …

Corps' operation of MR-GO doomed homes in St. Bernard, Lower 9th Ward, judge rules … In a groundbreaking decision, a federal judge ruled late Wednesday that the Army Corps of Engineers' mismanagement of maintenance at the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet was directly responsible for flood damage …

The Senate's Health Care Calculations  —  CRITICS of the health care reform plan often refer to it derisively as “ObamaCare.”  On the policy merits, this is highly questionable: the White House has taken a hands-off approach toward the legislation that recently passed in the House and the version that is being worked out in the Senate.

The Breast Brouhaha  —  Everyone has been trying to come up with a good nickname for the 10 years we're concluding next month.  Terror Era really sounds like too much of a downer.  How about the Decade of Medical Backtracking?  —  Somewhere between the reports that Pap smears and tests …

Texas' gay marriage ban may have banned all marriages  —  AUSTIN — Texans: Are you really married?  —  Maybe not.  —  Barbara Ann Radnofsky, a Houston lawyer and Democratic candidate for attorney general, says that a 22-word clause in a 2005 constitutional amendment designed …

The cost of on-the-job training  —  During the presidential campaign, many Americans thought that Barack Obama's lack of leadership experience would not prevent him from being an effective president.  His eloquence, his insistence that, yes, he could solve any problem and his image …

House Dem: ‘Growing’ liberal consensus to dump Geithner  —  A Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) member said there's “growing consensus” among liberals that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner should step down.  —  {mosads}Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) said Wednesday that he and other liberal House members …

White House aides: No Afghan decision before Thanksgiving  —  SEOUL — President Barack Obama will not announce his decision on sending more troops to Afghanistan before the Thanksgiving holiday, senior aides said on Thursday.  —  The news came as the president greeted 1,500 troops …

Obama rewards big donors with plum jobs overseas  —  He may have promised to change Washington, but President Barack Obama is continuing one of its most renowned patronage traditions: bestowing prized ambassadorships on big donors.  —  Of the nearly 80 ambassadorship nominations …

SENATE SHAKE-UP, 2010  —  Now that we've put the 2009 races to bed, we can start to focus heavily on 2010.  Since our last update in June (available here), some critical Senate contests have undergone a transformation of sorts.  We still don't know the status of them all, since a few critical candidacy decisions remain to be made.

To Create Jobs, Voters Say Cut Taxes and Stop Spending  —  As the policy debate has unfolded in Washington this year, voters have consistently believed that tax cuts would do more than increased government spending to stimulate the economy and create jobs.  Now that the nation's unemployment rate …