memeorandum: Greenspan: Country can't afford McCain's tax cuts (Glen Johnson/Associated Press)

9:45 AM ET, September 14, 2008

Top Items:

As Mayor of Wasilla, Palin Cut Own Duties, Left Trail of Bad Blood — WASILLA, Alaska — On Sept. 24, 2001, Mayor Sarah Palin and the City Council held their first meeting after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The council condemned the attacks and approved a $5,000 gift to a disaster relief fund.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, Sadly, No!, Electoral-vote.com and TIME.com

New York Times:

Once Elected, Palin Hired Friends and Lashed Foes — WASILLA, Alaska — Gov. Sarah Palin lives by the maxim that all politics is local, not to mention personal. — So when there was a vacancy at the top of the State Division of Agriculture, she appointed a high school classmate …

Jennifer Rubin / Commentary:

Is This It? Really? — The New York Times does the all-so predictable Sarah Palin bill of indictment for its Sunday front page. It certainly sounds compelling in the paragraph called the “nut graf”: … But what is so remarkable is how little there is in the page after page of minutiae thrown against the wall by the Times.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Other McCain, Fausta's Blog and NewsBusters.org

Tom Smith / The Right Coast:

First report from Alaska back to the NY Times Tom Smith — First report from Alaska back to the NY Times — You have to check this out. It looks like the reporters the NY Times sent up to Alaska to dig up what they could on Palin have sent back their first missive. I would say the great Klondike strike, it ain't.

Washington Post:

Group With Swift Boat Alumni Readies Ads Attacking Obama — A new group financed by a Texas billionaire and organized by some of the same political operatives and donors behind the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign against Sen. John F. Kerry in 2004 plans to begin running television ads …

Frank Rich / New York Times:

The Palin-Whatshisname Ticket — WITH all due deference to lipstick, let's advance the story. A week ago the question was: Is Sarah Palin qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency? The question today: What kind of president would Sarah Palin be?

Discussion: Christian Science Monitor and Althouse

Gateway Pundit:

Palimania Spreads— 10,000 Show Up For 3,500 Seats in Carson City — Governor Sarah Palin bid farewell to Alaska today... Then it was off to Nevada for one of her first solo campaign appearances. — The People of Nevada Were Psyched to see Sarah— A swarm of Palin fans hoping …

Discussion: Jonathan Martin's Blogs and Macsmind

Kathleen Hennessey / Associated Press:

Palin sticks to the familiar in first solo outing — CARSON CITY, Nev. - Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin made her first solo campaign appearance outside her home state Saturday, sticking largely to a speech that has boosted her popularity among Republican faithful but drawn criticism for having misstatements.

Discussion: TheZoo

Barton Gellman / Washington Post:

Conflict Over Spying Led White House to Brink — This is the first of two stories adapted from “Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency,” to be published Tuesday by Penguin Press. Original source notes are denoted in [brackets] throughout. — A burst of ferocity stunned the room into silence.

Discussion: RADAMISTO

Tim Shipman / Telegraph:

Barack Obama under fire for ignoring advice on how to beat John McCain — Barack Obama and his senior advisers are under fire for ignoring the advice of Democratic senators and governors who are concerned that they do not know how to beat John McCain. — The Democratic presidential candidate's slump …

Discussion: Stop The ACLU, Samizdata.net, Swords Crossed, TigerHawk and Pajamas Media

Glen Johnson / Associated Press:

Greenspan: Country can't afford McCain's tax cuts — WASHINGTON (AP) — Alan Greenspan says the country can't afford tax cuts of the magnitude proposed by Republican presidential contender John McCain — at least not without a corresponding reduction in government spending.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, TheZoo, Daily Kos and PoliBlog (TM)

Cernig / Crooks and Liars: McCain's Economist: We Need Tax Increases

Scott Lanman / Bloomberg:
Greenspan Says McCain Tax Plan Needs Corresponding Budget Cuts

Discussion: The Swamp

Bob Von Sternberg / Minneapolis Star Tribune:

Minnesota Poll: Obama, McCain are dead even in state — With 51 days before Election Day, Barack Obama and John McCain are tied with 45 percent support, raising the stakes in the campaign. — Minnesota has become a battleground in a presidential campaign that has dramatically tightened nationwide.

Discussion: Hot Air, BrothersJudd Blog and Dirty Harry's Place

Houston Chronicle:

Powerless: More than 99 percent of region in the dark — Comments Recommend — Daybreak today in Hurricane Ike's wake only revealed what Houston area power providers already knew — the lights are out for roughly 5 million people, and getting the juice flowing again will be a painstaking process that could take weeks.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Tropical weather and Off the Kuff

CNN:
Ike wears itself out beating up on Texas

Discussion: Facing South, Shakesville, Truthdig and Austin American-Statesman

Mark Murray / MSNBC:

WHEELS COME OFF STRAIGHT TALK EXPRESS? — From NBC's Mark Murray — For a candidate who prides himself in “straight talk” — and whose political image in part is based on that truth-telling reputation — Saturday proved to be a brutal day for John McCain and his campaign.

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Riehl World View, TalkLeft, Talking Points Memo, Macsmind, The Moderate Voice, Daily Kos, The Volokh Conspiracy, FOX Embeds, Liberal Values, MyDD, The Gun Toting Liberal, Political Machine and Washington Monthly

CNN:

Obama aide: McCain camp ‘sleaziest’ in modern history — MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (CNN) — Sen. Barack Obama's spokesman on Saturday accused Sen. John McCain of “cynically running the sleaziest and least honorable campaign in modern presidential campaign history.”

Discussion: Chicago Sun Times and Liberal Values