Gore Vidal: 'We'll have a dictatorship soon in the US'  —  The grand old man of letters Gore Vidal claims America is ‘rotting away’ — and don't expect Barack Obama to save it  —  A conversation with Gore Vidal unfolds at his pace.  He answers questions imperiously, occasionally playfully, with a piercing, lethal dryness.

Roman Polanski: backlash as Whoopi Goldberg says director didn't commit ‘raperape’  —  Whoopi Goldberg is facing a fierce backlash after saying that film director Roman Polanski didn't commit “rape-rape” when he had unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl.  —  Goldberg, star of The Color Purple …

Senators turn back ID requirement for immigrant healthcare  —  Senate Finance Committee Democrats rejected a proposed a requirement that immigrants prove their identity with photo identification when signing up for federal healthcare programs.  —  Finance Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley …

Where Did ‘We’ Go?  —  I hate to write about this, but I have actually been to this play before and it is really disturbing.  —  I was in Israel interviewing Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin just before he was assassinated in 1995.  We had a beer in his office.  He needed one.

Sarah's lectures a tough sell  —  SARAH Palinis said to have pocketed a $7 million advance for the 400-page memoir she turned in four months early, but she might not have such an easy time on the lecture circuit.  —  After quitting as governor of Alaska in July, Palin signed …

Grayson: GOP wants ‘you to die’  —  Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., warned Americans that “Republicans want you to die quickly” during an after-hours House floor speech Tuesday night.  —  His remarks, which drew angry and immediate calls for an apology from Republicans, were highlighted by a sign reading …

Court to rule on gun rights, terrorism law  —  Taking on a major new constitutional dispute over gun rights, the Supreme Court agreed on Wednesday to decide whether to apply the Second Amendment to state, county, and city government laws.  In another major case among ten new grants …

What Obama won't say about the Afghan war today, at least publicly  —  This is a messy time for the nation's politics.  And this seemingly serene autumn day is quietly crucial.  —  Despite all the excitement and promise of a fresh Barack Obama administration cleaning house from eight years …

Goldberg Calls Out Fox News Hosts ‘Pretending To Be Journalists’...On Fox News  —  Something happened on Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor last night that rarely occurs in cable news - criticism of a network, on that network.  FNC Contributor and weekly Factor guest Bernie Goldberg was on with Bill O'Reilly …

Olympia Snowe: The Political Problems of Stopping Health Care Reform  —  Olympia Snowe enjoys broad support in her home state, but she faces significant political problems if she opposes President Obama's health insurance reform.  A Snowe vote against health insurance reform results …

Special Health Care for Congress: Lawmakers' Health Care Perks  —  Little Known Office on Capitol Hill Provides Quality Medical Care for Low Price  —  This fall while members of Congress toil in the U.S. Capitol, working to decide how or even whether to reform the country's health care system …

Sex, scorn and videotape  —  When John Edwards returned to North Carolina in the course of his long quest for the presidency, Andrew Young always met him at the airport in Edwards's big black Chevy Tahoe.  Young drove, and Edwards rode shotgun, silently raising his left hand whenever he wanted a Diet Coke …

Bette Midler Warns Glenn Beck Could Set Off a Rwanda-Like Civil War in U.S.  —  Update at bottom (2:03 p.m.): Beck fires back  —  It's just what the primetime cable news lineup needed - another hour-long program tilted toward left-of-center politics with character assassination on conservatives.