Obama: ‘Lipstick on a pig’  —  Amie Parnes reports from Lebanon, VA: … The crowd apparently took the “lipstick” line as a reference to Palin, who described the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull in a single word: “lipstick.”  —  UPDATE: The McCain campaign is now saying Obama called Palin a pig, which he didn't.

As Campaign Heats Up, Untruths Can Become Facts Before They're Undone  —  From the moment Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin declared that she had opposed the infamous “Bridge to Nowhere,” critics, the news media and nonpartisan fact checkers have called it a fabrication or, at best, a half-truth.

Warned by the Court  —  A judge repeatedly told Palin and family not to badmouth her sister's ex  —  An Anchorage judge three years ago warned Sarah Palin and members of her family to stop “disparaging” the reputation of Alaska State Trooper Michael Wooten, who at the time was undergoing …

New McCain Ad Falsely Suggests Obama Wants Kids To Learn “About Sex Before Learning To Read”  —  The McCain campaign is up with a new ad attacking Obama on education that makes some rather strong insinuations about sex:  —  There's a lot to chew on here.  But we want to focus on one particularly pernicious aspect of it.

From the Gut  —  If John McCain can win this election race with a 50-pound ball called “George W. Bush” wrapped around one ankle and a 50-pound ball called “The U.S. Economy” wrapped around the other, then he deserves to represent America in the next Olympics in any race he wants — swimming …

The world's verdict will be harsh if the US rejects the man it yearns for  —  An America that disdains Obama for his global support risks turning current anti-Bush feeling into something far worse  —  The feeling is familiar.  I had it four years ago and four years before that: a sinking feeling in the stomach.

Lehman Sees $3.9 Billion Loss and Plans to Shed Assets  —  The investment bank Lehman Brothers, in an all-out fight for its survival, said Wednesday morning that it expected a loss of $3.9 billion, or $5.92 a share, in the third quarter after $5.6 billion in write-downs.

Palin bounce has Democrats off balance  —  Some fear Obama's more aggressive tone could enhance her appeal among white, blue-collar voters.  —  The emergence of Sarah Palin as a political force in the presidential race has left many top Democrats fretting that, just two weeks …

Comedy gold: Lefty radio hosts crestfallen as Palin defended by ... Mike Gravel  —  You don't hear their hearts actually start to break until he says, “Troopergate is going to come out in her favor.”  Although the most traumatic part, surely, must have been the exchange about how the mayor …

Living to Bomb Another Day  —  “AMONG all the bombs, explosives and guns, the number of martyred dead is rising.  Though this is the will of Allah, it is nevertheless possible to cause the enemy greater damage without exposing the Muslims to danger.  How is it to be done?”

The Obama Campaign's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day  —  So let me get this straight, in one day:  — Joe Biden, intentionally or not, insinuates that Sarah Palin doesn't care about special needs kids because of conservative objections to stem cell research (and the objections of Biden's own religion, natch).

Whither Al-Qaeda in Iraq?  —  Hello there.  I want to thank Phil Carter for inviting me to be part of the team pinch-hitting for him while he's away.  For my first post, I wanted to say a few words about Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI).  —  Bob Woodward claims in his new book The War Within that …