Lauren Bacall and Shimon Peres are first cousins.

Out earlier this evening from White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs ...

On Tuesday, September 22, President Obama will host a trilateral meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The trilateral meeting will be immediately preceded by bilateral meetings between President Obama and the two leaders. These meetings will continue the efforts of President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Special Envoy George Mitchell to lay the groundwork for the relaunch of negotiations, and to create a positive context for those negotiations so that they can succeed.

"It is another sign of the President's deep commitment to comprehensive peace that he wants to personally engage at this juncture, as we continue our efforts to encourage all sides to take responsibility for peace and to create a positive context for the resumption of negotiations," said Special Envoy Mitchell.

This comes after George Mitchell had reportedly been unable to secure such a meeting.

A dinner with Sarah Palin sells for $63,500 at an eBay auction. That and other political news in today's TPMDC Saturday Roundup.

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC)

After Joe Wilson's outburst on the House floor almost two weeks ago, the question of the Obama opposition and race suddenly became germane for public discussion. And the ensuing debate predictably settled down on two equally ludicrous propositions: it's all about race or none of it is. Certainly there are myriad legitimate, non-racial reasons to oppose President Obama. And one need only have lived through the 1990s to know having black skin is by no means a necessary condition for the right to go positively berserk over your presidency.

For my own part, I would say that race plays a role for a significant number of Obama's opponents on the right. That isn't to say that they wouldn't be opposing him anyway if he were white -- but the character of the opposition is tinged by race. And even those who probably were just as against Bill Clinton cannot seem to help expressing their opposition in racialized language. For many it gives their opposition a special intensity -- particularly for many anti-Obama voices from the South.

To that end, historian Doug Brinkley was on Hardball Friday afternoon. And he gave what strikes me as the best explanation I've yet heard for just what happened and why when Joe Wilson famously blew his stack during the president's speech. Watch the video here.

I told you earlier that the MSNBC reporter at the Values Voter Summit got harassed by some attendees. And while that was happening he said the crew from Fox was getting the same treatment. But we hadn't seen the video, which is even weirder than the MSNBC clip.

The guy basically overawes the Fox reporter by insisting on hovering over him and mumbling until he relents. By the end of the encounter the Fox guy looks like one of those freaked out, hollow souled guys from Heart of Darkness. The whole Fox crew was trying to do its best to push the Value Voters event. But this dude just wouldn't cut them any slack. Take a look.

The same judge who tossed one of Orly Taitz's birther lawsuits earlier this week is about to hold her in contempt and fine her $10,000 after she asked him to reconsider the dismissal. (In case you missed it, Taitz was on MSNBC earlier today where Dylan Ratigan showed about as much patience for her as this judge.)

Late Update: There's something reassuring and refreshing about seeing the birther movement subjected to the rigors of objective reason and logical argument, as the judge does in his order. You can read it here.

MSNBC's Brian Mooar was doing a live shot from the back of the auditorium at today's Values Voters Summit down in Washington when he was heckled and then accosted by a series of event planners random ill-tempered members of the audience telling him to get lost on live TV. Not quite sure what to make of it. But if your thirst for the freak show still isn't quite slaked, you'll want to see.

Late Update: A couple of readers think the Values Voters attendees, who got on the reporter's case and then were subsequently ejected by event security, were the ones in the right. There's definitely a decent argument to be made. And that's why I said, "Not quite sure what to make of it." It's an interesting tableau, several different culture clashes at once. It's pretty clear that the reporter was set up for a live shot right where the event coordinators wanted the cable net folks to be.

Later Update: Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, the sponsoring organization, just went on stage and apologized to MSNBC for the incident. It was an entertaining moment. But there's something the whole turn of events illustrates. And that is that the event planners from FRC and the cable net folks are basically the same people. Each part of the same business, the same game. They know each other, understand each others rules, etc. It's the incensed attendees who are the ones who are sort of out of the loop. I'm not sure who that puts in a better or worse light. But that's what I mean by at least one of the culture clashes.

Fox News Late Update: It turns out the Fox News crew got the same treatment at the same time. Only the guy giving the Fox News reporter a hard time was a bit creepier. By the end of the encounter the Fox guy looks like one of those freaked out, hollowed souled guys from Heart of Darkness. The whole Fox crew was trying to do its best to push the Value Voters event. But this dude just wouldn't cut them any slack. Go to the post and scroll to the bottom for the Fox vid.

The Denver man suspected of involvement in a New York terrorism plot has admitted to having ties to Al Qaeda, according to ABC News, citing an unnamed senior law enforcement official, but the man's attorney says the report is "completely unfounded."

I will not even try to explain the arguments or the data. But public opinion and polling expert Professor Charles Franklin, a Professor at the University of Wisconsin, has posted a fascinating analysis of a ton of recent polling data on health care reform. And the upshot is that contrary to what I would imagine most of our expectations would be, the decline in support for reform began slowing in August and has now basically stopped. Meanwhile, support for reform firmed up and started to grow at around the same time. In other words, the inflection point seems to have been during the heat of the townhall craziness, and in advance of the presidential speech.

If he's right, the history of August was very different from what we thought. This is a very interesting read.

It's tough being a former Bush administration official trying to practice law.

Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales wasn't able to find work as a lawyer until Texas Tech gave him a sinecure (disgraced high-profile types being a Red Raider specialty, see, e.g. Bobby Knight). Gonzales' former chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, had to go to court to gain admission to the DC bar after he was initially rejected because the admissions committee was wary of the criminal investigations of Sampson from his time at DOJ.

And now TPMmuckraker learns that Scott Bloch, another former Bush official, was admitted to the DC bar thanks to a goof by the DC appeals court even though, like Sampson, he is under criminal investigation.

So there's a Baucus bill out of Senate Finance. And a few different, more liberal bills in the House. So what happens between here and actually having a single bill that will go to a final vote? Not the pros and cons of different bills. But what are the mechanics and order of events between here and there. Brian Beutler explains.

Carrie Prejean, former Miss California, at the 2009 Values Voter Summit

A touching Value Voters Summit moment, as Carrie Prejean, the former Miss California, recalled her controversial night at the Miss USA pageant: "Even though I didn't win the crown that night, I know that the Lord has so much of a bigger crown in heaven for me."

SNL explains the real story behind Joe Wilson's "You lie!" outburst (including a brief appearance by Kristen Wiig as Michele Bachmann).

Late Update: The James Carville impersonation towards the end is pretty good, too.

Israeli Defense Minister (and former PM) Ehud Barak has told one of Israel's leading dailies, Yedioth Ahronoth, that an Iran with nuclear weapons would not pose an existential threat to Israel. And PM Netanyahu, albeit cautiously and more opaquely, says he agrees with him.

The argument is pretty elementary. Whatever nuclear capacity Iran may have, Israel's deterrent capacity is so overwhelming that it can deter any nuclear attack. It's what most people already think. But having it said by the Israeli Defense Minister sounds a very different note.

Robert Reich on why Sen. Snowe should reject the Baucus plan.

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME): I won't let my party dictate my vote on health care reform.

Are Boehner (R) and Cantor (R) really worried that Rep. Michele Bachmann is sullying the Republican brand with all her ridiculousness?

Gov. Sanford stands up for fellow South Carolinian Joe Wilson.

The big annual conservative conference called the "Value Voters Summit" kicks off today in Washington and runs through the weekend. We'll have photos from the event, and I hope to find time to swing by myself to sample the fare. Speakers at the event are a who's who of conservative glitterati, including Michele Bachmann, Mike Huckabee, Gary Bauer, Tony Perkins, John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Ed Meese and Phyllis Schlafly. (Sarah Palin is scheduled to speak but as we've seen lately, Palin manages to miss a lot of the events she's supposed to attend.)

Republicans still operate like the old Hollywood studio star system, whereas Democrats would rather be caught dead than venerate their has-been leaders. But what jumped out to me about the VVS this year were the titles for the breakout sessions they're having:

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Democrats are clambering over each other in a mad dash away from ACORN. That and the day's other political news in the TPMDC Morning Roundup.

Hopping around Twitter I just noticed that Lauren Bacall has a Twitter page. How can you top that? Alas.

TPM Reader ND is pulling her hair out:

Is former Asst. Secretary Sauerbrey representative of the historical ignorance now pervasive in former Republican policy hands?

Obama is a moderate liberal committed to the democratic institutions of this country, so nothing could be more ludicrous than he being accused by these historically unaware poseurs of being both an economic fascist and a communist. I guess us academics -- the learned elites and therefore unreal Americans -- have dedicated our lives to studying tyranny and dictatorship world wide erroneously thinking that there were actual ideological differences between Communism and Fascism. Was WWII just one big ooops of ideological confusion? Stop the presses and notify the British, French, Italians, Russian and Germans. I am sure they will want to know about it so they can alter the historical record to reflect au courant Republican thinking.

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Ellen Sauerbrey, an assistant Secretary of State in the last Bush administration, tells TPMDC that Obama's economic policies are fascist and comparable to the policies of Adolph Hitler and Juan Peron but that she has not -- as a local newspaper reported -- compared Obama himself to Hitler or Peron. Glad we cleared that up.

Orly Taitz

The long-standing ethics rules that bar lawyers from disparaging the integrity of judges and the courts are increasingly breached and rarely enforced. But in an interview yesterday with TPM birther queen Orly Taitz went so far over the line -- calling a federal district court judge a "puppet" of the Obama regime who should be tried for treason -- that a complaint has now been filed against her with the California bar by a fellow lawyer.

New CNN article. Obama as Loin Cloth Wearing Witch Doctor: Racism or powerful satire about the Public Option.

More health care Kabuki from the new health care gang on the street -- this one with four members: Nelson of Nebraska, Snowe, Lieberman and McCaskill. More shortly.

Jeb Bush was a special guest at a Chris Christie fundraiser last night. Only Christie says he had no idea Bush would be there with him at the event. No one told him.

Pelosi: 2010 will be toughest midterm elections ever for Democrats.

Today's news that the Obama administration is scrapping the Missile Defense system that the Bush administration had planned to build in Eastern Europe doesn't have the political charge of health care reform for a mass political audience. But it's a very big deal to neoconservative intellectuals and agitprop-meisters as well as a big deal on the far right.

To summarize the US planned to build a missile defense system notionally tied to the threat of Iranian missile strikes again Europe, particularly Eastern Europe but, to basically anyone who was paying attention (including the Russians) focused on Russia and deterring any Russian plans to overawe and intimidate its former client states in Eastern Europe.

I noticed on Drudge today that the headline was Obama 'abandoning Europe.' But of course this would be abandoning in the essence of taking away the missile defense the Europeans have mainly been asking us for years not to build. So it's 'abandon' in a very specialized sense.

In any case, look for a lot of appearances from John Bolton on Fox and other such outlets explaining that we're letting down our guard against the Russians just as the Russian threat is declining to virtual non-existence. And watch for this to become a big 'soft on defense' cudgel for the right, particularly for folks with 2012 ambitions.

Tea partiers complain that the DC subway system wasn't prepared for last weekend's rally and that some protesters were forced to rely on free market solutions (i.e., taxis) to get to the demonstration.

About What You Would Expect Update: The congressman complaining about the DC Metro voted against the stimulus package that boosted funding for the subway.

The politically charged Texas Board of Education has kicked off hearings today on whether school textbooks should have a more conservative slant. Things began auspiciously when one member of the public got up to announce that she is a 56-year-old virgin.

The bill that returns to the governor the power to appoint interim senators in Massachusetts may make it out of the state House today. That and the day's other political news in the TPMDC Morning Roundup.

The Mary of Peter, Paul and Mary fame has died of cancer.

Fresh for the fall roll-out, Obama unsheathes light saber for health care denouement.

If you must know, it's the Chicago Olympics 2016 Slideshow from today's event at the White House.

Birther queen Orly Taitz tells TPM that the federal judge who threatened her with sanctions is a "puppet" of the Obama regime and should be tried for treason, but that, like Nelson Mandela, she will fight on to prove Obama is illegitimate.

Rockefeller tells Baucus and Conrad that co-ops are a sham, public option is a must.

Federal judge bounces one of Orly Taitz's birther lawsuits seeking a ruling that Obama is not legitimately President -- and threatens her with sanctions if she tries this stunt again.

I despair for my country when I realize it's now worthwhile to write articles examining the roots of Glenn Beck's worldview.

Pelosi offers mild criticism of Baucus bill.

Rove on Family Guy cameo: "I play myself, meaning the son of Satan, the spawn of evil," Rove said."

1/3 of conservatives believe Obama could be the anti-Christ. 18% are certain. 17% think it's possible.

Republicans really came through for Max Baucus.

Central Asia just not having a good year on the clean elections front.

Obama started it.

Daniel Bogden, fired by President Bush in the great U.S. attorneys purge of 2006-07, has been re-confirmed by the Senate to resume as U.S. attorney for Nevada.

Uppity Negro Alert: Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) assails President Obama's address to Congress. "He says we're making wild claims," said Gohmert. "That's no way to act when you're invited into somebody else's house." That and the day's other political news in the TPMDC Morning Roundup.

Rep. Steve King (R-IA): Obama "threw the first punch" in rumble with Rep. Wilson (R-SC).

Today's "disapproval" resolution in the House was overwhelmingly a party line vote. But not entirely so. And I actually found the roll call list oddly inspiring because the folks who didn't vote with their party were not, in most cases, responding to obvious political imperatives.

So for example on the Democratic side, you had twelve Dems voting against. And those included Bill Delahunt (MA), Jim McDermott (WA) and Dennis Kucinich (OH). Not sure Kucinich surprises me that much. But whatever. Among those voting present -- sort of a silent protest -- was Barney Frank (MA). Interestingly, of the 17 Dems who voted 'no' or 'present', 5 were from New York state.

Then on the Republican side, seven voted in favor of the resolution. Whatever his heart of hearts told him Joseph Cao (LA) had an obvious political rationale. He represents the overwhelming Democratic and African-American 2nd District and only won it last year because he was running against the already-disgraced Bill Jefferson. But then you have the very conservative Jeff Flake (AZ), Wilson's South Carolina colleague Bob Inglis -- also very conservative but has already shown his disapproval of tea party freakery -- and even Dana Rohrabacher (CA). I'll confess, I didn't see that last one coming.

See how others voted here.

POLITICO: Mainstream media increasingly out of touch with Glenn Beck, Drudge, et al.

Here's the text of the resolution of 'disapproval' of Rep. Wilson (R-SC) the House just passed.

House comes down on Rep. Joe Wilson for the "You lie!" outburst with a resolution of disapproval -- the parental equivalent of "Don't you EVER do that again!" -- that passed along mostly party lines: 240 yes, 179 no, 5 present.

The breakdown: 12 Democrats voted no; 7 Republicans voted yes; and 5 Democracts voted present.

Limbaugh blames Obama for black high schoolers beating up white classmate.

Another armed protester at an Obama rally. This time it was at the President's health care event in Minneapolis on Saturday, though it didn't get reported until today apparently. But rest assured. This guy just got out of jail a month ago on assault charges.

Not even a stress fracture in his foot can keep Tom Delay from Dancing With the Stars.

Sen. Max Baucus says there's a "very good chance" a significant number of Republicans will support the compromise health care reform legislation. Mitch McConnell sets him straight.

Turning a corner? In today's TPM Slideshow: Obama's September So Far

Note Drudge's blaring headline: "White Student Beaten on School Bus; Crowd Cheers."

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D) and Rep. Joe Wilson (R) come from adjoining districts in South Carolina. And Clyburn has been the driving force pushing for a formal admonishment of Wilson. We look into the history between the two.

This issue comes up every so often. But since we're always getting new readers, we need to address it afresh now and again. Lots of readers have written in with tones ranging from bemusement to outrage because ads are currently running on TPM trying to raise money for Rep. Joe Wilson, despite the fact that, obviously, we've taken a rather negative view of his antics on the site. (Actually, at this moment there are ads running both for and against him.)

The simple version is that we believe preserving our editorial independence and integrity requires a firm division between the editorial and business sides of our operation. For the more detailed version and an explanation of the reasoning, see our ad policy (which has been in place since 2003.)

Fmr. State Rep. Steve Nunn (R-KY)

We told you last week about the tragic circumstances in Lexington, where the ex-fiance of a well-known Kentucky politico was murdered. The whole thing is rather baroque. Steve Nunn, a former legislator and one-time gubernatorial candidate, had a history of violence toward Amanda Ross, including one incident where after beating her he threw a glass of bourbon in her face. He is 57; she was 29. Ross, a state employee, got a restraining order against him, and to her credit had it enforced.

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Fellow House Republican from South Carolina, Bob Inglis, tells Joe Wilson he should go to the well of the House and apologize.

Rep. Joe Wilson has a new web ad up featuring his wife who is there to defend him, in theory, but who admits that after Obama's speech last week, she asked her husband, "Joe, who's the nut that hollered out, 'You lie?'"

Vice President Biden has arrived in Iraq this morning on a previously unannounced visit. That and the day's other political news in the TPMDC Morning Roundup.

One of the things that struck me in Rep. Joe Wilson's (R-SC) day-after comments about "You Lie!" incident was that, notwithstanding his anti-illegal immigrant politics, he actually used to be an immigration lawyer. Well, turns out he was never an immigration lawyer.

There's an interesting poll I wanted to flag about the NJ governor's race. This new Monmouth poll showed Christie over Corzine by 8% among likely voters but Corzine over Christie by 1% among registered voters.

Now, that's no big consolation for Corzine since a well-executed 'likely voter' screen means the people who are actually going to vote. But that's a big likely-to-registered spread. And it shows how big a deal intensity is playing in this election -- a vast turnabout from a year ago.

After the weekend I wanted to get one of our reporters piecing through whatever meaningful data there was about crowd size at the Tea Party protest in DC. The latest is that Freedom Works has down-revised their estimate from a completely crazy 1.5 million to a 1/2 completely crazy estimate of between 600k and 800k, which nevertheless appears to be at least ten times what independent observers estimate.

One complicating factor is that there are no official estimates. And when Eric Kleefeld called the DC Fire Department to ask about their unofficial estimate of between 60k and 70k, they told Eric that whoever had released that estimate to ABC hadn't been authorized to do so. So even they're running for cover.

Eric has the details.

You may or may not have seen the reports that FBI agents raided several residences in Queens today as part of counter-terrorism investigation. Authorities say there was no specific plot in progress and, according to the Times, a law enforcement official said they had "only a hazy view of the group, its operations and goals, but decided to act fearing that undercover surveillance had failed to detect plans that might be developing."

There are very few details about just what this is about, other than the suggestive clue that senior members of Congress have been briefed on the investigation. But it's precisely the dearth of information that caught my attention.

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Slideshow: Bernie Madoff's NYC penthouse is on the market for a cool $9.9 million.

FreedomWorks cuts its crowd estimate for the 9/12 rally it organized by a whopping one-half. Which means only 5 trillion people were in attendance.

Jody Powell, Press Secretary for President Jimmy Carter

ABC News is reporting that former Carter White House press secretary Jody Powell died today of an apparent heart attack.

Powell was a member of Carter's "Georgia Mafia," that blew through Washington in what was supposed to be a cleansing storm that ultimately proved to be short-lived. Powell stayed on in Washington, making frequent TV appearances as a political analyst and co-founding the public relations and consulting firm Powell Tate, where he was chairman at the time of his death.

From TPM Reader RD ...

What to call the Teabaggers gathering in DC this past weekend--the 2009 Birthing Man Festival!

It only *seems* like you've dropped acid.

I generally like my reader emails a tad more elaborated and not so sloganly. But there's enough of a germ of something here that I wanted to share it with you. There is unmistakable counter-culture, performance art aspect to the thing. Even the revolt against numeracy.

Max Blumenthal hits the 9/12-Tea Party March with his video camera.

There's so much stuff in today's slideshow of the weekend's Tea Party protest it was a bit difficult for me to know which picture to feature on the front page. There's this picture with a sign that says "Keep Pushing Us ... Find Out What Happens". That's a good conversation starter. And this poster of Obama that reads "When we smell the burning flesh from the ovens it will be too late for us all."

In the end I chose this one.

Crowd size controversies are as American as apple pie when it comes to major political events and protests. Let's start by stipulating to that fact. But I don't think I've ever seen one of quite these dimensions -- where the reasonable and disinterested estimates (mid-to-high 5-figures) are so dramatically dwarfed by the fantasies of the organizers and participants (1.5 to 2 million).

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I think this must be just really hasty or poor word choice ('native' for 'ancestral'?). But TPM Reader AH just flagged for us that in his column today Howie Kurtz refers to Kenya as President Obama's "native country."

Back in Kenya

The Boston Globe has an interesting piece from Obama's native country on attempts to cash in:

"The price of land here has skyrocketed because of rampant speculation about an Obama family museum that the Kenyan Ministry of Tourism has promised to build. And there have been some modest, but tangible, signs of progress that seem tied to the village's new notoriety. Within a week of Obama's election victory last year, the government began to pave the main road to town. It also brought in an electricity and water lines to Obama's step-grandmother's compound.

Late Update: As I suspected, poor word choice. Kurtz explains.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)

Kudos to Maureen Dowd for going there. 'There' being some public recognition of what should be inescapable by now: that a lot of the more electric and intemperate reactions to President Obama come from people who cannot or will not accept that a black man is the President of the United States.

I think Dowd was right to see it behind Wednesday night's outburst from Rep. Joe Wilson (R) of South Carolina, a man previously best known as one of the last hold-outs for keeping the confederate flag flying over the Capitol in South Carolina. And you didn't have to wait for the night of the speech though. The day before the speech, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R) of Georgia said Obama needed to show some "humility" when he showed up on Capitol Hill Wednesday night. I've heard presidents criticized, pilloried, even villified for lots of things. But I don't think I've ever heard one warned to show some humility.

It's no accident that both comments came from white men from the Deep South in their early to mid-60s. I won't say because I don't think this is all the GOP, just as I don't think that all the opposition to Obama is rooted in atavism and paranoia. But it is a big chunk of it. And it's the 'chunk' that's got the voice at the moment and increasingly seems to be calling the shots.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)

We've gotten several emails in recent days from readers asking why all the focus is on Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) when it comes to a compromise on public option while her GOP colleague, fellow Mainer and often-kindred spirit Sen. Susan Collins goes unmentioned. The reason: Collins is a firm no on public option or even a triggered public option, putting her vote out of play. She asserted as much yesterday on CNN. Watch.

Sen Tom Harkin (D-IA): I will carry the torch on a strong public option.

As you know, Sen. Kennedy's posthumous memoir comes out today. And we've obtained an exclusive excerpt where he blasts the Bush administration for the selling and execution of the Iraq war. Take a look.

Last night 60 Minutes aired its interview with President Obama, taped on Friday. Watch.

Obama marks the first anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers today with a major speech in New York City on the financial crisis. That and the day's other political news in the TPMDC Morning Roundup.

Special Tom DeLay video dance preview.

See the excerpts from Obama's interview tonight on 60 Minutes.

From TPM Reader CJ ...

I went down to the protest on the mall today just to have a look. The crowd was actually pretty impressive. I didn't have a good vantage point of the whole crowd, but I would say there were easily tens of thousands, maybe upwards of 50 thousand. But I was amused to hear more than one person really inflate those numbers. I overheard a guy on his cell phone saying there were two million people there, and another woman say a million and a half.

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TPM Reader AG went too ...

I was at the Lawn with all of the red shirted, white, angry Beck loving neo-patriots and there in no way it was a million people or even close. There were small groups huddled around the Glen Beck inspired flags and the usual disaffected white males wandering in groups with the American flag desecrated by being incorporated into clothing. Having been to the exact same location for the Obama Inauguration and other large political events, this was small fry in comparison. However, it was an angry group with a real sense of absolute entitlement. Something not focused on by many. This sense of entitlement that they deserve to be the dominant deciders and that it's being taken away.

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From TPM Reader KC ...

I attended the Tea Baggers' rally in Washington today and observed the crowd as it marched down Pennsylvania Avenue and again once it filled in the first and part of the second blocks on the mall. I cannot reliably estimate the size of the crowd, but I can compare it to anti-war rallies in Washington from 2003 to 2005.

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