Eli Clifton, Think Progress joins Thom Hartmann. The Taliban has ceased talks with US officials in Afghanistan. Should we accept this as the last straw and withdraw from the country?

The millionaire lobbyist and anti-tax master of the Republican Party may be losing his grip on power. Today - Freshman Republican Representative Rick Crawford is introducing legislation in the Tea Party-controlled House to raise taxes on millionaires and billionaires. Crawford's legislation mirrors what Democrats in the Senate have been trying to do for months - add a small surtax on anyone who makes more than $2 million a year. One aide close to Representative Crawford said about the legislation, "If we're going to make any progress in addressing the deficit and the debt eventually, then we need to find compromise." So it looks like at least one voice in the Republican Party is waking up to the reality of the situation - that Republicans can't ride a rich-people-only agenda to an election victory in 2012 - although they seem eager to try. As Vice President Joe Biden said in Ohio today - Republicans are about, "protecting the privileged." But it wasn't always this way...In the old days of the Republican Party - there wasn't just one voice willing to make the super rich sacrifice just a little bit more to protect the middle class - it was in fact a Party platform. Here's the big picture....

Brian Darling, Human Events & David Martosko, Daily Caller join Thom to talk about derivatives, Iran, Voter ID laws and Palin vs. Obama. --- Anyone else thinks Santorum is Sarah Palin in a suit? -- So when are Republicans going to come clean and admit that when there's a Republican in the White House they spend like drunken sailors to make the economy work, and when there's a democrat in the White House they do everything they can to scream about debt and block spending? -- When Pharmaceutical companies make a new drug - it takes 8 years to approve, trial after trial, test after test. When Wall Street make a new financial instrument - they just sell it. What's up with that? -- Iran: It seems that a decade of failed wars has helped the American public to understand that this country can't afford to start another one. -- Aren't the chances of being struck by lightning greater than the likelihood of someone committing voter fraud? -- Quickfire! Wracked by a week of bad press - Gubernatorial quitter Sarah Palin took to her Facebook page to challenge President Obama to a debate, she wrote, "I'm more than happy to accept the dubious honor of being Barack Obama's 'enemy of the week'...[and] debate him on the issues American are actually concerned about." We know that Sarah Palin likes to prep by writing her notes on her hand - so what might she scrawl on her palm before going toe-to-toe with President Obama?

Neal Asbury, host-"Truth for America" joins Thom Hartmann. India is changing its patent laws - making access to life-saving drugs more affordable for it's citizens. I'll explain why Thomas Jefferson would have applauded this decision.