Top Items:
Karen Tumulty / Swampland:
McCain Plays the Race Card — When politicians interject race into a campaign, they seldom do it directly. Consider McCain's new ad, which the campaign says it will be airing nationally: This is hardly subtle: Sinister images of two black men, followed by one of a vulnerable-looking elderly white woman.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, The Corner, Perfunction, Pajamas Media, The Daily Dish, Weekly Standard, Marc Ambinder, Washington Post, The Raw Story, Hot Air, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Liberal Values, pw, Firedoglake, Riehl World View, Macsmind, Booman Tribune, JammieWearingFool, Outside The Beltway, USS Neverdock, Betsy's Page, Media Blog, Don Surber, Spin Cycle, Patterico's Pontifications, Althouse and QandO
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Rush Limbaugh / Wall Street Journal:
Obama Is Stoking Racial Antagonism — I understand the rough and tumble of politics. But Barack Obama — the supposedly postpartisan, postracial candidate of hope and change — has gone where few modern candidates have gone before. — Mr. Obama's campaign is now trafficking in prejudice of its own making.
Discussion:
protein wisdom, MoJoBlog, The Corner, Hot Air, Hullabaloo, NewsBusters.org, Booman Tribune, Confederate Yankee and The Strata-Sphere
Washington Post:
‘Always for Less Regulation’? — TO LISTEN to Sen. Barack Obama, Sen. John McCain is a Johnny-come-lately to the cause of regulating financial markets. “He has consistently opposed the sorts of common-sense regulations that might have lessened the current crisis,” Mr. Obama said in New Mexico yesterday.
Wall Street Journal:
McCain's Scapegoat — John McCain has made it clear this week he doesn't understand what's happening on Wall Street any better than Barack Obama does. But on Thursday, he took his populist riffing up a notch and found his scapegoat for financial panic — Christopher Cox, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Matthew Yglesias, Marc Ambinder, EconLog, Kevin Drum, Jonathan Martin's Blogs, DownWithTyranny! and Salon
Michael Dobbs / Washington Post:
OBAMA'S FANNIE MAE ‘CONNECTION’ … AN ALREADY NASTY PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN IS GETTING NASTIER. THE MELTDOWN ON WALL STREET HAS TOUCHED OFF FRANTIC ATTEMPTS BY BOTH THE MCCAIN AND OBAMA CAMPS TO SECURE POLITICAL ADVANTAGE AND INDULGE IN GUILT BY ASSOCIATION.
USA Today:
From McCain, an erratic response to crisis — As Wall Street's roller-coaster week unfolded, John McCain's views on the economy went through about as many gyrations as the Dow Jones industrial average. Brace your neck for a quick recap. — Monday: Speaking at a rally in Jacksonville …
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
WHAT FLAILING LOOKS LIKE.... Is it me, or has John McCain's message become completely incoherent this week? — Yesterday, he got things started by insisting he would fire SEC Chairman Christopher Cox if president, which was odd since a) Cox isn't really to blame; and b) the president can't fire the SEC chair.
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:McCain ad: “Jim Johnson”
Discussion:
Swampland, Right Wing News, www.redstate.com, Ace of Spades HQ, JammieWearingFool and Classical Values
Mike Allen / The Politico:
Breaking: Paulson plan could cost $1 trillion — Congressional leaders said after meeting Thursday evening with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that as much as $1 trillion could be needed to avoid an imminent meltdown of the U.S. financial system.
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Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Drafts Sweeping Plan to Fight Crisis As Turmoil Worsens in Credit Markets — Paulson Briefs Congress on Idea to Buy Bad Assets From Banks, Insure Money-Market Funds; Stocks Rebound Sharply — WASHINGTON — The federal government is working on a sweeping series of programs …
New York Times:For Rivals, Finance Crisis Is Posing on-the-Fly Tests
Discussion:
The Crypt's Blogs, MSNBC, The Swamp, The Politico, Washington Post, Ben Smith's Blogs, The Caucus, TIME.com and DealBook
Gallup:
Gallup Daily: Obama Now Leads McCain by 5 Points — At 49%, support for Obama is near his record high for the year — PRINCETON, NJ — Gallup Poll Daily tracking from Tuesday through Thursday finds Barack Obama with a five percentage point lead over John McCain in the presidential preferences of registered voters, 49% to 44%.
CNBC.com:
Where Next for the Dollar? 18 Sep 2008 — Is the U.S. government's proposal to take on bad bank assets a good move? Sharada Selvanathan, currency strategist at BNP Paribas gives her take on how this will affect the dollar, with CNBC's Maura Fogarty & Stephen Sedgwick.
John R. Emshwiller / Wall Street Journal:
McCain Wins Endorsement of Democrat — As Barack Obama and John McCain battle for the Hispanic vote, a leading Latino backer of Hillary Clinton is crossing party lines to support the Republican presidential nominee. — In an interview Thursday, Miguel D. Lausell, a Puerto Rican businessman …
Kevin Bogardus / The Hill:
Palin won't say whether veep is an executive post — Vice President Dick Cheney has said his office only partially belongs to the executive branch. Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden disagrees and Republican rival Sarah Palin isn't saying. — Sen. Biden (Del.) …
Telegraph:
Baroness Warnock: Dementia sufferers may have a ‘duty to die’ — Elderly people suffering from dementia should consider ending their lives because they are a burden on the NHS and their families, according to the influential medical ethics expert Baroness Warnock.
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
The Opportunity — If the powers that be tell me that the country needs something like the financial measures being announced today, I'm not going to disagree with them. But tactically, I think it'd be crazy to just hand this package over for the President's signature.
Discussion:
Center for American Progress
Stuart Taylor / National Journal Online:
Campaign Lies, Media Double Standards — I NO LONGER TRUST THE MAJOR NEWSPAPERS OR TELEVISION NETWORKS TO PROVIDE CONSISTENTLY ACCURATE AND FAIR REPORTING AND ANALYSIS OF ALL THE CHARGES AND COUNTERCHARGES. — Some who have been admirers of John McCain think that the war hero has debased himself …
Wendy Norris / The Colorado Independent:
Iraqi Ayatollah Sistani's Web site hacked — It's been a busy week for computer hackers. — A team of system crackers identifying themselves as “Group XP” have taken control of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani's Web site. The compromised home page now features a YouTube video …
Nick Werner / TheStarPress.com:
Obama fans tag local Republican headquarters — GOP chairman predicts vandalism will energize McCain voters. — MUNCIE — A vandal who apparently plans to vote for Barack Obama attacked the Delaware County Republican Party Headquarters sometime this week with a gold spray can.
Discussion:
Wake up America
Christy Hoppe / Dallas Morning News:
Libertarian Bob Barr moves to keep Obama, McCain off Texas ballot — choppe@dallasnews.com — AUSTIN - Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr is forcing a legal showdown in the Texas Supreme Court to keep the names of Barack Obama and John McCain off the November ballot.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice
Washington Post:
Palin Attuned More to Public Will, Less to Job's Details — It was three days before the legislature was to go home, and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was frustrated. The state Senate was thwarting a reduction she wanted in the fee for business licenses. So the governor's aides culled records …
Alan Fram / Associated Press:
Poll: Obama tops McCain as football-watching buddy — WASHINGTON (AP) — People would rather watch a football game with Barack Obama than with John McCain — but by barely the length of a football. — Obama was the pick over McCain by a narrow 50 percent to 47 percent …
Randi Kaye / CNN:
Todd Palin: ‘first dude’ or ‘shadow governor?’ — ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CNN) — He's the man Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin affectionately calls her “first dude.” — Todd Palin was introduced to the nation at the Republican National Convention as a blue-collar oil worker, a laid-back father of five and a world-record-holding snowmobile racer.
Josh Gerstein / New York Sun:
Palin Pick Puts Many Women on the Verge — Senator McCain's selection of Governor Palin of Alaska as his running mate, which was hailed in some quarters and met with skepticism in others, is sparking intense reactions from some New Yorkers, who report being driven to fits of rage and even all-consuming panic.
Amy Sullivan / Time:
Virginia Sounds the Starting Gun for Early Voting — If it seems like John McCain and Barack Obama have been training serious fire on each other earlier than party nominees have in previous general elections, it's not just because passions are running so high as a result of the Iraq war or the economy's woes.
Discussion:
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