Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine is the only Republican in the Senate who has publicly said she could support a government run public health insurance option if the market fails to adequately insure everyone.

That’s not exactly on the same page as President Obama and Democrats, who want a public option right off the bat. And in recent weeks, Snowe has veered toward a proposal by the moderate Democrat Kent Conrad to create a series of regional, non-profit insurance co-ops to compete with for-profit insurance companies instead of a public insurance option.

But hers will be an extremely important vote if either Sen. Teddy Kennedy, D-Mass., or Sen. Robert Byrd, D-WV, are too ill to make a health care reform vote.

Snowe has been locked in intense, closed-door negotiations with Conrad and other moderate Democrats, as well as Republicans like Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, Orrin Hatch of Utah and Mike Enzi of Wyoming in search of a bipartisan plan.

But beyond policy, Snowe and other moderates are bristling at the time table set by President Obama – he wants bills passed through the House and Senate before the bodies leave for their August recess on August 7.

Write to Senator Snowe. Be respectful and supportive. Tell her she’s right, and to stick to her guns.

And write to your senators, even if you think they’re going to vote for ObamaCare. If enough of us tell them we don’t want his healthcare reform, they will back off.

Update: She refused to be bullied into rushing the legislation. Writing to her is more important than ever. Tell Senator Snowe that ObamaCare is not the answer.

And now, even the Paper of Record is admitting that it’s a load of crap.

It was among the juicier post-election recriminations: Fox News Channel quoted an unnamed McCain campaign figure as saying that Sarah Palin did not know that Africa was a continent.

Who would say such a thing? On Monday the answer popped up on a blog and popped out of the mouth of David Shuster, an MSNBC anchor. “Turns out it was Martin Eisenstadt, a McCain policy adviser, who has come forward today to identify himself as the source of the leaks,” Mr. Shuster said.

Trouble is, Martin Eisenstadt doesn’t exist. His blog does, but it’s a put-on. The think tank where he is a senior fellow — the Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy — is just a Web site. The TV clips of him on YouTube are fakes.

And the claim of credit for the Africa anecdote is just the latest ruse by Eisenstadt, who turns out to be a very elaborate hoax that has been going on for months. MSNBC, which quickly corrected the mistake, has plenty of company in being taken in by an Eisenstadt hoax, including The New Republic and The Los Angeles Times.

Those of you who believed it: You think you were in good company? No excuse. Not if you read this blog. I have a pretty fine-tuned bullshit detector. I have been taken in by exactly two hoaxes since I started blogging. And I only wrote about one of them (the naked paintball hoax). Next rumor that comes along, you just might want to wait before hopping on the bandwagon. Especially one as obviously fake as this one.

Or maybe you should just believe me when I tell you you’re falling for pure bullshit. As for Fox News and MSNBC: They should be ashamed. But you know they won’t be.

I talked to Steve Biegun, the former Bush NSC aid who briefed Sarah Palin on foreign policy, and he considers the leaks against her on the international stuff “absurd.”

He says there’s no way she didn’t know Africa was a continent, and whoever is saying she didn’t must be distorting “a fumble of words.” He talked to her about all manner of issues relating to Africa, from failed states to the Sudan. She was aware from the beginning of the conflict in Darfur, which is followed closely in evangelical churches, and was aware of Clinton’s AIDS initiative. That basically makes it impossible that she thought all of Africa was a country.

On not knowing what countries are in NAFTA, Biegun was part of the conversation that led to that accusation and it convinces him “somebody is acting with a high degree of maliciousness.” He was briefing Palin before a Univision interview, and talking to her about trade issues. He rolled through NAFTA, CAFTA, and the Colombia FTA. As he talked, people were coming in and out of the room, handing Palin things, etc. She was distracted from what Biegun was saying, and said, roughly, “Ok, who’s in NAFTA, what’s the deal with CAFTA, what’s up the FTA?”—her way, Biegun says, of saying “rack them and stack them,” begin again from the start. “Somebody is taking a conversation and twisting it maliciously,” he says.

Still believe it? Or can you admit that Sarah Palin is not as stupid as you’d like to believe she is?

A longtime aide to Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin is lashing back at anonymous critics within the McCain-Palin presidential campaign, telling ABC News they are attacking the former vice presidential candidate with distortions.

Meg Stapleton offers an explanation of some of the more stinging criticisms that have come out in recent days since the McCain-Palin defeat.

Regarding the $150,000 worth of clothing the campaign bought Palin, Stapleton says a New York stylist was given a blank check and told to go and make Palin look presidential.

As to the charge that Palin is so stupid that she doesn’t know Africa is a continent: You can read for yourself how it was a verbal slip in the article. Or you can read these two paragraphs from a chat with the Washington Post reporter who wrote a profile of Palin:

Anyway, I’m curious to know if, in addition to her former coach, you tried to speak with any of her old teachers. What kind of student was she? What kind of grades did she make? How did she score on her SATs? Her athletic accomplishment and prowess as a huntress are on display here, but I would hope that there was something else that set her apart from her peers back then. Perhaps not. Perhaps she was just an ordinary, hard working kid.

Sally Jenkins: Good questions. I don’t know her SAT scores, but she was an honor student in high school. The Heaths didn’t tolerate poor grades. Her brother Chuck Jr. brought home one D, and it was like, the worst grade anyone ever got. His father read him the riot act. They were good high school students, very disciplined. Beyond that, I don’t know. I did talk with one of her college roommates, Kim Tillyy Ketchum, who was surprised to discover how sort of keen Palin was when they took a Political Science class, and another revelation was how unintimidated Palin was in a public speaking course.

We are asked to believe that Sarah Palin worked her way up to governor of her state, beating the incumbent, but she doesn’t know which nations make up NAFTA—in spite of living in one, and governing a state that borders a second. We are asked to believe that Palin is so effing stupid, she thinks Africa is a country. That’s right, honor students in Alaska aren’t taught anything at all about Africa the continent vs. Africa the country.

I think that anyone who believes this crap is telling us far more about himself than about Sarah Palin. It’s like a Rorschach test for non-critical thinkers. and people who fall for email scams.

Yeah, tell me again how you believe the reports because she’s “intellectually lazy.” But first, prove it. Not with a few minutes of interviews with Katie Couric and Charles Gibson. Find me evidence. Because right now, I’m calling bullshit on these lies, and frankly, calling anyone who believes them , well, let’s just use the phrase “intellectually lazy.”

Does anyone think it will start before he takes office? My guess is they’ll wait for him to become president, then slam him as his promises don’t come to fruition by, oh, June. Wait. When are the first 100 days up? Then.

I wasn’t gracious in 2000, when George W. Bush “stole” the election from Al Gore. And even though I came to believe that he didn’t steal it—notably after even the New York Times recount showed that Bush won Florida, and I started saying, “Y’know, if Gore had won Tennessee, he’d have won the election”—but I wasn’t gracious then.

I doubt I’ll be gracious now. I’ve never been a good loser.

Am I happy that an African-American is going to be our next president? Yes and no. I still don’t believe Obama is qualified enough to be president, and frankly, I’d be much happier if I were celebrating the first female president. I’d be gracious for Hillary, I think, because of that. In fact, if it had been Hillary, odds are high I would have voted for her in the end. In which case, there’d be no need for graciousness.

So if you’re looking for me to take the high ground, well, you are on the blog that has a category titled “Juvenile Scorn.” And one called “Evil Meryl.” Perhaps you may want to look elsewhere for the grace in defeat. I don’t think I’ve ever had that quality.

If we came together as Democrats and Republicans in 2008, why can’t we remain cooperative in 2009 and all years going forward? All of us are willing — will you join us? We won’t agree on everything, but if we keep looking for common ground, and starting there, we bet we’ll accomplish more together than anyone else has in a VERY long time.

Everyone at HillBuzz saw first hand that Republicans are good people who love this country — they differ than us in some matters, and those are strong differences at times, but at the end of the day, when America needs them, Republicans stand tall and answer that call. Democrats like us feel that way too. We might be a little different culturally, but we are all Americans.

We will no longer ever stand for Republican-bashing in liberal Democratic circles. Democrats can and should disagree with Republicans respectfully on matters of policy and practice, but the emphasis should be on respectfully. No more rancor. No more name-calling. No more hate. We now have Republican friends we want in our lives for keeps. And we would never allow anyone to talk badly of our friends. We’re so proud of Senator McCain and Governor Palin and the campaign they have run. We genuinely like them both, as well as all of their supporters who’ve stopped by here at HillBuzz. You can count on us to tell any Democrat who starts partisan namecalling that, “Hey, we know some pretty great Republicans, and you’re talking about our friends there. Disagree with them, but then tell us how you think we can work together to do what’s right for America.”

We just hope some of you out there start doing the same thing for Democrats, in your own circles.

This we can do. Just don’t ask us to do it for the Obamacrats.

Looks like Obama is going to be the nation’s most inexperienced president ever.

And I promise to give him just as much respect as the Daily Kos denizens have given to President George W. Bush these last eight years.

On the bright side, I’m going to have tons of material to blog about. Are you ready for King Obama the First?

Meantime, back to work for me.

That’s how I’m reading the votes tonight. I don’t care who calls what for whom, with the exception of the states we all know were going one way or the other, such as the west coast all going for Obama. The toss-up states are the ones to watch carefully for every vote. If I have any Florida readers, I’d love to have them watch Florida and put up reports from time to time in the comments here. Go to Hot Air and click on your state on the map. Pay close attention to the percentage of votes counted, and which precincts are reporting in. And pay attention to the vote total. McCain was up by 118,000 at one point. That’s now 73,000. It’s significant, but not a killer—yet. Depends on how Loudon, Fairfax, and Prince William break.

Don’t fall for the hype. Watch the numbers.

As of this moment, with 30% of precincts reporting, McCain is up by 118,000 votes. Fairfax hasn’t reported in yet. That’s a big one, with about half a million votes. But so far, it’s McCain country here in Virginia.