Pumpkin Dies, but Pecan Still Gobbles

By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

Each year, a presidential pardon saves the National Thanksgiving Turkey and his "alternative" from the holiday oven. This year will be no different. President Obama gets his chance with the national gobbler on Wednesday.

Sadly, death typically comes soon afterward, because turkeys are bred to be so heavy that they generally live just 18 weeks (or would, if they weren't already on store shelves before then). Breeders say it's just too hard to get around the fact that the birds' legs and organs aren't made to take care of a Biggest Loser-sized turkey.

Will Rudy or Won't Rudy Run?

By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

Suggestions that former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani won't run for governor but is interested in challenging Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand are being met with skepticism among his allies.

Whispers reached out to key Giuliani insiders on the rumors, all of whom said that Giuliani had not told them of his Senate plans. Senate Republicans eager for a strong candidate in that seat would be pleased to have Giuliani in the race but say that the 9/11 governor has not talked to them about it. "Obviously, it would be great if he did it, but we're still having a hard time believing it," said a Senate GOP leadership aide.

Health Reform Plans Fail in 7 State Polls

By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

Despite coming under attack from the White House, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is not letting up in its bid to change the Democratic healthcare reform proposals moving through Congress, the latest being Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's plan unveiled yesterday. To bolster its campaign, the chamber has just wrapped up polling in seven key states and found that the plans are not popular even in red states that Obama turned blue in 2008, such as Virginia and Indiana. The polling was conducted November 8-10 by the respected firm of Ayres, McHenry & Associates. In none of the states polled—Alaska, Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Nebraska, North Carolina, and Virginia—did support for the proposals top 40 percent. And in Arkansas and Louisiana, where two Democratic senators face a tough re-election bid next year, nearly 2 of 3 voters opposed the healthcare plans. "The polls show that in these states with key senators, voters—including majorities of independents in each of these states—oppose the current reform packages. These voters don't think the current approach will reduce costs and think their taxes will be increased under the reform plans in front of Congress," says Chamber of Commerce spokeswoman Blair Latoff.

See the poll here.

Turmoil Heightens at 'Washington Times'

By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

The turmoil at the Washington Times, long the city's conservative voice, is heightening this week over an ownership squabble and a legal fight with a former editorial page editor who Whispers reveals was having his wages garnished by his former book publisher.

Richard Miniter, the ousted editor, made headlines this week claiming that he was "coerced" into attending a Unification Church mass wedding conducted by church's leader, Rev. Sun Myung Moon. He also claimed age discrimination—he's 42—and has said that the Times didn't want to pay his high salary. His complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was reported first by Talking Points Memo.

Sorry, Bubba, But It's Over

By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

The public still loves Bill Clinton. But not so much that the rules should be changed to let him run again.

Just a few weeks ago, Clinton was talking about his days in the White House as the best in his life. He even suggested that he would have stayed until defeated at the polls or carried out in a coffin. His comments raised anew questions about political term limits and whether the presidential limit should be changed from the current two four-year terms.

Palin to Hannity: Profile Terrorism Suspects

By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

Sarah Palin tells Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity that she thinks the Fort Hood slayings of 13 soldiers was an act of terrorism and that the alleged shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, should have been profiled. "I am going to use the word—profile this guy, profile in the sense of finding out what his radical believes were," she tells the host in an interview airing tonight at 9 p.m.

In the wide-ranging interview, highlighted below, Palin says she realizes that her support of profiling will lead liberals to bash her. "But I say profiling in the context of doing whatever we can to save innocent American lives. I'm all for it then."

Palin is promoting her 2008 campaign book, Going Rogue, which many see as a prelude to a 2012 presidential campaign. With Hannity, she didn't shut the door, and in fact she joked that her critics, like TV's Tina Fey, should plan on having some good material for a very long time.

"You're going to hear a lot from me," said Palin, who said she'd like to help causes dedicated to kids with special needs. And, she added, "the haters are going to have a whole lot of material. Tina Fey, she may have a whole lot of material coming up."

Below are excerpts of Palin's interview with Hannity provided to Whispers:

Running With Polar Bears

By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

The panda is the icon of the World Wildlife Fund, but it was 24 polar bears in the Arctic that grabbed the attention of CEO Carter Roberts last week. Roberts was in Canada, west of the Hudson Bay, participating in the Olympic Torch relay, a prelude to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. "There's a strong environmental message in the Winter Olympics," he says, and WWF is huge in Canada. And ferrying the torch through polar bear country, he adds, is symbolic of his group's efforts to save the species's climate-challenged environment. "There are symbols and signs that the world can come together," he says, "but we need to take action, too."

Burping Over Soda Taxes

By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

There's more proof that the administration is high on soda taxes as a way to curb obesity and fund healthcare reform. Two pro-free-market groups have discovered a $1 million stimulus grant to the University of Illinois to fund a study of the relationship between fat taxes and food consumption, diet quality, and obesity. Of concern is that the study results might be preordained.