Democrats Set Terms as Bailout Debate Begins  —  WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats began to set their own terms on Sunday for a plan to rescue the nation's financial institutions, including greater legislative oversight of the Treasury Department, more direct assistance for homeowners …

Hope, Change, & Lies: Orchestrated “Grassroots” Smear Campaigns & the People that Run Them  —  Extensive research was conducted by the Jawa Report to determine the source of smears directed toward Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.  Those smears included false allegations …

Palin draws crowd of 60,000 in The Villages  —  THE VILLAGES — Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin told wildly cheering, flag-waving, chanting supporters that John McCain is “the only great man in this race” and promised Sunday he will fix the nation's economy if voters give the GOP four more years in the White House.

Cash for Trash  —  Some skeptics are calling Henry Paulson's $700 billion rescue plan for the U.S. financial system “cash for trash.”  Others are calling the proposed legislation the Authorization for Use of Financial Force, after the Authorization for Use of Military Force …

Loan Titans Paid McCain Adviser Nearly $2 Million  —  Senator John McCain's campaign manager was paid more than $30,000 a month for five years as president of an advocacy group set up by the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to defend them against stricter regulations, current and former officials say.

Obama: No blank check for Wall St  —  CHARLOTTE, N.C. - In his first comments about a $700 billion government bailout package meant to help stabilize Wall Street, Sen. Barack Obama on Sunday stopped short of saying whether he supports the proposal, as he laid out some broad economic goals he believes such a plan should include.

Cuomo For SEC?  WTF?  —  Last week was hardly John McCain's finest moment when, deciding that the Securities and Exchange Commission bore major responsibility for the Wall Street madness, he essentially called for SEC Chairman Chris Cox to be fired.  —  (Perhaps it was my imagination …

Goldman, Morgan to Become Bank Holding Companies  —  Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the last two independent investment banks, will become bank holding companies, the Federal Reserve said Sunday night, a move that will fundamentally alter the landscape of Wall Street.

ABC Panel Tears Into McCain: Not Presidential, Age Should Be An Issue  —  For John McCain, the panel discussion on This Week with George Stephanopoulos could not have been more brutal.  —  Minutes after conservative columnist George Will declared that the Senator was decidedly un-presidential …

Shorter Entire Right-Wing Blogosphere … - We agree with Investors' Business Daily, which says that the reason for the current financial crisis is that the Community Reinvestment Act passed by the Democrats forced banks to lend money to a bunch of shiftless darkies who couldn't repay their loans.

Obama staff leaves North Dakota  —  BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Barack Obama, who has deployed more than 50 staffers in North Dakota in an attempt to become the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state since 1964, is pulling out.  —  An Obama spokeswoman, Amy Brundage …