Top Items:
Washington Post:
Palin Billed State for Nights Spent at Home — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has billed taxpayers for 312 nights spent in her own home during her first 19 months in office, charging a “per diem” allowance intended to cover meals and incidental expenses while traveling on state business.
Discussion:
Firedoglake, The Corner, The Swamp, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Emptywheel, www.redstate.com, Weekly Standard, The RBC, The Moderate Voice, Jack & Jill Politics, The Jed Report, MSNBC, The XX Factor, Pam's House Blend, The Sundries Shack, Neptunus Lex, Liberal Values, Political Machine, Daily Kos, Ace of Spades HQ, The Washington Independent, D-Day, Outside The Beltway, Flopping Aces and The Caucus
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CNN:
McCain and Palin once again play ‘Barracuda’ — LEBANON, Ohio (CNN) - The rock band “Heart” may have asked John McCain and Sarah Palin stop playing their song “Barracuda” at their rallies, but the campaign is apparently paying no heed. — The track — played at the Republican National Convention …
Michael Kinsley / Time:
Sarah Palin's Alaskonomics — Sarah Palin thinks she is a better American than you because she comes from a small town, and a superior human being because she isn't a journalist and never lived in Washington and likes to watch her kids play hockey. Although Palin praised John …
Discussion:
QandO
James Bennett / Telegraph:
Sarah Palin is not such a small-town girl after all
Sarah Palin is not such a small-town girl after all
Discussion:
Chicago Boyz
Amanda / Think Progress:
Palin repeats Bridge to Nowhere lie. — Today at a rally with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) in Ohio, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) once again repeated the lie that she opposed the infamous Bridge to Nowhere in Alaska: … Watch it: — ThinkProgress has been keeping track of how many times the McCain campaign is repeating this lie.
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Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
MEME TAKING HOLD? — We've now had a week of blaring headlines and one-liners about Sarah Palin as the mavericky, pork-busting reformer from Alaska. But we seem to be witnessing the first stirrings of a backlash and a dawning realization that the ‘Sarah Palin’ we've heard …
Michael Crowley / The New Republic:
About that Bridge.... WSJ: … I wondered about this yesterday.
About that Bridge.... WSJ: … I wondered about this yesterday.
Discussion:
Jonathan Martin's Blogs
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Koch backs Obama, calls Palin ‘scary’ — Former New York Mayor Ed Koch, who endorsed and worked for George W. Bush in 2004, is endorsing Obama today, NY1 first reported. — I asked Koch just now what prompted the move. — “The designation of Palin to be vice president,” he said. “She's scary.”
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Associated Press, NY1, Washington Monthly, Pajamas Media, Top of the Ticket and Reuters
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Andy Barr / The Hill's Blog Briefing Room:
Biden: Palin Would Be ‘Backward Step for Women’
Biden: Palin Would Be ‘Backward Step for Women’
Discussion:
Real Clear Politics
Wall Street Journal:
We'll Protect Taxpayers From More Bailouts — The bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is another outrageous, but sadly necessary, step for these two institutions. Given the long-term mismanagement and flawed structure of these two companies, this was the only short-term alternative …
Discussion:
The Foundry, Hot Air, Think Progress, Political Punch, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room and pandagon.net
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New York Post:
O PASTOR IN SEX SCANDAL — REV. WRIGHT DONE ME WRONG: CHURCH LADY — By SAMUEL GOLDSMITH in Dallas and JEANE MacINTOSH in NY — He almost wrecked Barack Obama's presidential dreams, and now firebrand pastor Jeremiah Wright has helped destroy a Dallas church worker's marriage - and her job, The Post has learned.
Lydia Saad / Gallup:
McCain Now Winning Majority of Independents — Majority of independents now prefer him over Obama, 52% to 37% — PRINCETON, NJ — John McCain's 6 percentage-point bounce in voter support spanning the Republican National Convention is largely explained by political independents shifting …
Discussion:
Commentary, The Swamp, The Moderate Voice, Reuters, Hot Air, Scared Monkeys, Taylor Marsh, Wake up America, NO QUARTER and Vox Popoli
Marc Ambinder:
Quietly, Obama Campaign Calls In The Cavalry — There's been a spurt of 527 activity on behalf of Sen. John McCain, but Barack Obama campaign has suddenly gone silent on the subject. — That's because, after of year of telling donors not to contribute to 527 groups, of encouraging strategists …
David Brooks / New York Times:
Surprise Me Most — None of us have ever lived through an election at a time when 80 percent of voters think the country is headed in the wrong direction. But now that we're in the thick of it, a few things are clear. From voters, the demand is: Surprise Me Most. For candidates, the lesson is: Weirdness Wins.
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias, Political Perceptions, The Next Right, marbury, Balkinization, The Glittering Eye, Commentary and Sadly, No!
Reuters:
World wants Obama as president: poll — US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama may be struggling to nudge ahead of his Republican rival in polls at home, but people across the world want him in the White House, a BBC poll said. — All 22 countries covered in the poll would prefer …
Marc Ambinder:
Andrew Sullivan — Lots of e-mails asking about Andrew's whereabouts. I checked in with him; he's fine. He's taking a few days off. Worry not, fans.
Natalie Gewargis / Political Punch:
In a Not-Remotely-Comic Strip, Bill Ayers Weighs In on What He Meant By 'We Didn't Do Enough' to End Vietnam War — In a four-panel not-even-remotely-comic strip, William Ayers, the former member of the Weather Underground and associate of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., weighs in on his blog on some of the controversy he's been causing.
Richard Cohen / Washington Post:
Too Cool to Fight? — Thank God for Sarah Palin. Without her jibes, her sarcasm, her exaggerations, her smug provincialism, her hypocrisy about family and government, her exploitation of mommyhood, and her personal attacks on Barack Obama, the Democratic base might never be consolidated.
Randi Kaye / CNN:
Pastor: GOP may be downplaying Palin's religious beliefs — WASILLA, Alaska (CNN) — For more than two decades, vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin was a practicing Pentecostal. — She belonged to the Wasilla Assembly of God church in her hometown of Wasilla, Alaska.
Bob Herbert / New York Times:
Hold Your Heads Up — Ignorance must really be bliss. How else, over so many years, could the G.O.P. get away with ridiculing all things liberal? — Troglodytes on the right are no respecters of reality. They say the most absurd things and hardly anyone calls them on it. Evolution?
Discussion:
D-Day
Jeffrey Goldberg / New York Times:
On Nov. 4, Remember 9/11 — THE next president must do one thing, and one thing only, if he is to be judged a success: He must prevent Al Qaeda, or a Qaeda imitator, from gaining control of a nuclear device and detonating it in America. Everything else — Fannie Mae, health care reform …