* Perhaps taking a cue from her most rogueish guest, Oprah Winfrey has decided she will no longer be shackled behind her talk show.

* The Senate takes up its version of the health care bill tomorrow morning. Harry Reid needs 60 votes just to proceed with debate, because the Republicans do not want to deal with this thing at all. If they filibuster, let us hope they forgo the phonebooks and pledge allegiance to the flag for twelve hours straight. (Eat your heart out, Todd Akin!)

* Said health care bill is 2,074 pages long. Tony Perkins and his fightin' evangelicals have released something called "The Manhattan Declaration," which manages to cover "the sanctity of life, traditional marriage and religious liberty" in just 4,700 words.

* President Obama will make a decision about Afghanistan troop levels after Thanksgiving, assuming he's not in a food coma.

"It really doesn't matter how President Obama divides the Afghan baby, how he splits the difference between McChrystal and Biden. Because the war has been lost," Thompson said on his radio show today.

(Barack Obama has a secret Afghan baby??!!?!??)

Ahem. Now, if Fred Thompson had heard Fred Thompson saying that the war has been lost, Fred Thompson would have been outrageously outraged to an outrageous degree. Because here's what Fred Thompson told Sean Hannity in 2007 when Harry Reid suggested that the war in Iraq had been lost…

I [Fred Thompson] asked [a former Army captain] what she thought about this. She said, "How in the world can anyone, any one of our leaders, declare war, declare that the war has been lost when we've got troops in the field? My friends are over there in the field. I know what they think about this."

And, of course, it's just like all other Americans think. The very idea that they would do this and undercut our efforts over there is unprecedented. And it's not only unprecedented; it's awful politics.

But this is different, you see, in so many ways.

When Fred Thompson tells us that the war in Afghanistan has been lost, he's making a legitimate if controversial criticism of specific decisions being made (or not made) by the Obama administration.

Whereas when Harry Reid did that, he was being a Democrat.

The interview continues below.

The Daily Show airs Monday through Thursday at 11pm / 10c.

The overnight trip was not announced in advance. The president, wearing a dark suit and long overcoat, left the White House at 11:44 p.m. A small contingent of reporters and photographers accompanied Mr. Obama to Dover, where he arrived at 12:34 a.m. aboard Marine One.

As the Commander-in-chief stood on the darkened tarmac and saluted, the flag-draped case was unloaded from the cargo plane in what the military calls a "dignified transfer," as six soldiers in white gloves and camouflage fatigues carried the remains in precision. Mr. Obama and uniformed officers stood at attention as the case was placed in a white mortuary van parked nearby.

The transfer of the bodies — a solemn, 15-minute proceeding — took place after Mr. Obama spent nearly two hours meeting privately with several family members in the chapel of the Air Force base.

What a disgraceful circus.

Say what you will about George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, but none of them would have done such a thing.

Claiming that the president was preying on the public's fear of contracting a fatal disease last week when he declared the H1N1 virus a national emergency, Republican leaders announced Wednesday that they were officially endorsing the swine flu…

Other prominent Republicans opposing Obama's declaration of emergency include Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, who urged residents of his state to continue not washing their hands, and radio host Rush Limbaugh, who made a point of dying of the virus during his show on Wednesday.

I don't think there's anything to add to that. We can probably all just go home now.

See also: U.S. Continues Quagmire-Building Effort In Afghanistan

The Daily Show airs Monday through Thursday at 11pm / 10c.

So, while we're all waiting for everything in the world to get better and political power to be doled out fairly according to those who have earned it, let's watch some Daily Show clips…

September 17, 2009: Voter Fraud in Afghanistan

The Daily Show airs Monday through Thursday at 11pm / 10c.

June 15, 2009: Irandecision 2009 – Election Results

November 29, 2004: Anarchy in the Ukraine

October 27, 2004: Election 2004 Fiasco Preview – Fraud

December 9, 2003: Indecision 2003 – Russia Votes

October 15, 2002: Headlines – Iraq the Vote

September 27, 2000: Headlines Block the Vote

The Daily Show airs Monday through Thursday at 11pm / 10c.

The Colbert Report airs Monday through Thursday at 11:30pm / 10:30c.

Palin published a note on her Facebook page Tuesday that encourages President Barack Obama to grant a request for the tens of thousands of additional troops reportedly requested by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in the country.

Good call. The president always refreshes his Facebook news feed before making any major military decisions, so this will be very helpful, I'm sure.

"Now is not the time for cold feet, second thoughts, or indecision," Palin wrote on the site.

Hey now. HEY NOW. Perhaps you meant 'indecisiveness,' Sarah? Or 'MSNBC'?

Quick, let's all express our displeasure with Sarah Palin by sending her a message she can understand. Using the English language is probably a terrible idea, so… superpoke or de-friend, your choice.