memeorandum: Cheney Is Told to Keep Official Records (Christopher Lee/Washington Post)

3:25 AM ET, September 21, 2008

Top Items:

No deal — I hate to say this, but looking at the plan as leaked, I have to say no deal. Not unless Treasury explains, very clearly, why this is supposed to work, other than through having taxpayers pay premium prices for lousy assets. — As I posted earlier today, it seems all too likely that a …

Discussion: Unqualified Offerings, The RBC, TalkLeft, Open Left, Calculated Risk, The Sideshow, Alas, a blog, PoliPundit.com, JustOneMinute, Economist's View, The Nation, RADAMISTO, Angry Bear, Whiskey Fire and Grasping Reality …

Larisa Alexandrovna / The Huffington Post:

Welcome to the final stages of the coup... In 2000, the long fought for and long admired democracy of the United States of America began a slow and steady decline toward fascism - a Bush family tradition - with the installment of a president - a man the citizens overwhelmingly rejected …

Discussion: Bang the Drum, NPR Blogs, At-Largely and Confederate Yankee

David M. Herszenhorn / New York Times:

Administration Is Seeking $700 Billion for Wall Street Bailout — WASHINGTON — The Bush administration on Saturday formally proposed to Congress what could become the largest financial bailout in United States history, requesting unfettered authority for the Treasury Department to buy up to $700 billion in mortgage-related assets.

Discussion: Center for American Progress, The Caucus, skippy the bush kangaroo, Portfolio, Newshoggers.com, Brian Beutler, Matthew Yglesias, Prairie Weather, Hullabaloo, Gateway Pundit, Once Upon a Time and MyDD

New York Times:

Text of Draft Proposal for Bailout Plan — LEGISLATIVE PROPOSAL FOR TREASURY AUTHORITY TO PURCHASE MORTGAGE-RELATED ASSETS — Section 1. Short Title. — This Act may be cited as ____________________. — Sec. 2. Purchases of Mortgage-Related Assets.

Discussion: Mish's Global Economic …, CNNMoney.com, Firedoglake, NION, Dealbreaker, The RBC, TPMCafe, Law Librarian Blog, The Caucus and PointOfLaw Forum

Calculated Risk:

NY Times Makes a Funny — From David Herszenhorn at the NY Times: $700 Billion Is Sought for Wall Street in Massive Bailout … I hope you laughed. I did. A little gallows humor. — And, yes the cost is still unknown, but there is no way that the taxpayers will profit.

Calculated Risk:

Bailout Proposal — Here is the proposal so far: (hat tip Michael)

Discussion: Emptywheel, The Anonymous Liberal, Newshoggers.com, The Impolitic, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, American Street, Daily Kos, Mathew Gross and Open Left

Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:
K Drum Is Good On The Bail-Out — Kevin Drum has a useful overview …

Discussion: Kevin Drum, TigerHawk, Economist's View, RADAMISTO and American Prospect

Atrios / Eschaton: 0 To $1 Trillion In 4 days Flat

Dean Baker / TPMCafe:
Progressive Conditions for a Bailout

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Matthew Yglesias and The G Spot

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
The complete (though ever-changing) elite consensus over the financial collapse

Discussion: Buck Naked Politics, Reason, Balloon Juice, New York Times, Corrente and Stop The ACLU

Ian Welsh / Firedoglake:

Hank Paulson To Dems: Not Allowing CEO's to Keep Multi-Million Dollar Salaries Is A “Poison Pill” — Glad to see Paulson and the Republican Party are looking after Wall Street first: … A poison pill? The executives who drove their banks into insolvency won't let the government save …

Discussion: Alas, a blog

David Rogers / The Politico:

Dems on bailout: Include homeowners — Democrats are drafting a joint House-Senate bill to expedite action on the Treasury Department's $700 billion rescue plan for the financial markets but want the government to use its new leverage to slow foreclosures and cap compensation …

Discussion: TPMCafe and RADAMISTO

Peter Baker / New York Times:

A Professor and a Banker Bury Old Dogma on Markets — WASHINGTON — For the last year, as the nation's economy lurched from crisis to crisis, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben S. Bernanke, had been warning Henry M. Paulson Jr., the Treasury secretary, that the worsening situation might ultimately force …

Discussion: Balkinization, Patterico's Pontifications and Corrente

Elizabeth Williamson / Wall Street Journal:
Lobbyists Scramble to Sway Deal

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Ian Welsh / Firedoglake:
Hank Paulson's Raid on the Treasury

Discussion: DownWithTyranny!

Brookings Institute:
Concerns about the Treasury Rescue Plan

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias and RADAMISTO

Peter S. Goodman / New York Times:
But Will It Work? — As the federal government steps to the center …

Discussion: BAGnewsNotes

Jackie Calmes / New York Times:
Dazed Capital Feels Its Way, Eyes on Election

Discussion: Open Left, The Huffington Post and The Caucus

Patrick Healy / New York Times:

Pact on Debates Will Let McCain and Obama Spar — The Obama and McCain campaigns have agreed to an unusual free-flowing format for the three televised presidential debates, which begin Friday, but the McCain camp fought for and won a much more structured approach for the questioning …

Discussion: Liberal Values, Booman Tribune, Pam's House Blend, The Impolitic, Political Machine, Prometheus 6, Crooks and Liars, TIME.com, TalkLeft and Brilliant at Breakfast

CNN:

Cheney must preserve records, judge orders — WASHINGTON (CNN) — Vice President Dick Cheney must preserve a broad range of records from his time in office, a federal judge ordered Saturday, ruling in favor of a private watchdog group. — U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly found …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and Connecting.the.Dots

Christopher Lee / Washington Post:
Cheney Is Told to Keep Official Records

Discussion: Prometheus 6, Political Machine, TalkLeft and The Raw Story

Brooks Jackson / FactCheck.org:

Obama's Social Security Whopper — He tells Social Security recipients their money would now be in the stock market under McCain's plan. False. — In Daytona Beach, Obama said that “if my opponent had his way, the millions of Floridians who rely on it would've had their Social Security tied up in the stock market this week.”

Discussion: The Swamp

FactCheck.org:
Scaring Seniors — An Obama-Biden ad says McCain supports …

Discussion: Viking Pundit, The Swamp, Don Surber, MSNBC, Wake up America, Ben Smith's Blogs and TRAIL BLAZERS

Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:

Sarah's Surprise: Palin to meet world leaders at U.N. next week — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will meet in New York next week with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, among other world leaders scheduled to visit the United Nations annual autumn General Assembly Session.

Discussion: protein wisdom

Sebastian Mallaby / Washington Post:

A Bad Bank Rescue — With truly extraordinary speed, opinion has swung behind the radical idea that the government should commit hundreds of billions in taxpayer money to purchasing dud loans from banks that aren't actually insolvent. As recently as a week ago, no public official had even mentioned this option.

Discussion: Kevin Drum and The RBC

Julia Hoppock / Political Punch:

Oh, That Joe! (No. 14 in a Series) - Biden Says Obama Won't Take His Beretta — Sen. Barack Obama better not mess with his running mate Joe Biden's guns...or else. — In an out-of-nowhere attempt to re-assure a southwestern Virginia labor crowd about gun owners' rights, Biden …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Hot Air, www.redstate.com, Political Machine, The Caucus, TigerHawk and New York Times

Al Giordano / The Field on the Narcosphere:

The AP's Ron Fournier: Racial Arsonist and Unethical Journalist — Deep-seated racial misgivings could cost Barack Obama the White House if the election is close, according to an AP-Yahoo News poll that found one-third of white Democrats harbor negative views toward blacks - many calling them …