Palin and Couric  —  Full transcript after the jump.  This is a rough bit:

Bill Clinton: Don't ‘Overly Parse’ McCain Request to Delay Debate  —  ABC News' Nitya Venkataraman Reports: Former President Bill Clinton defended Sen. John McCain's request to delay the first presidential debate, saying McCain did it in “good faith” and pushed organizers to reserve …

Schieffer: Paulson Pleaded for McCain to Save Bailout  —  So much for a “stunt.”  —  John McCain got involved in the bailout negotiations after Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told Sen. Lindsey Graham yesterday that the bailout plan would fail unless McCain came in and brought balky Republicans aboard.

Let's Keep People In Their Homes  —  There is a broad consensus that Congress must act to stave off deeper turmoil on Wall Street.  Irrespective of the final agreement yet to be reached, there are several principles that must be part of a broader reform effort that begins this week and continues in the coming months.

John McCain Cancels Letterman Appearance, Keith Olbermann To Fill In … The comments will air Wednesday evening.  Watch a preview below — the best material starts at about 5:00:  —  Original Post: John McCain canceled a scheduled appearance on CBS's “Late Show with David Letterman” …

A Bailout We Don't Need  —  Now that all five big investment banks — Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley — have disappeared or morphed into regular banks, a question arises.  —  Is this bailout still necessary?  —  The point of the bailout …

Selfless or Reckless?  McCain Gambles On Voters' Verdict  —  John McCain is a gambler by nature, and the bet he placed Wednesday may be among the biggest of his political life.  —  The Republican presidential nominee is hoping that his abrupt decision to suspend campaigning …

Full Text Of John McCain's Address To The Clinton Global Initiative  —  Full Text Of John McCain's Address To The Clinton Global Initiative»  —  Here is the full text of Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) speech being offered this morning at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, NY.

Unsevered Ties?  —  Regulatory filings indicate that McCain campaign chief Rick Davis remains an officer with his lobbying firm.  —  Rick Davis, John McCain's campaign manager, has remained the treasurer and a corporate director of his lobbying firm this year, despite repeated statements …

Times puzzle is clueless about McCain  —  On Jan. 8, 2005, I purposefully and unapologetically became the first person to ever construct a crossword puzzle for The New York Times that featured this five-letter answer:  —  OBAMA.  —  Earlier this week, Steve Schmidt, John McCain's senior campaign adviser …

Poll: Obama Leads McCain In Wisconsin 49 To 43 Percent  —  WISC-TV Poll Conducted Over 2 Days  —  MADISON, Wis. — A poll of likely voters in Wisconsin conducted by WISC-TV over the last two days shows a shift in other poll figures from last week.  —  VIDEO: Watch The Report

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert: Mock the Vote  —  With just five weeks left until election day, our favorite pundits discuss the power of Sarah Palin, why TV news is about as credible as Muzak, and whether Barack Obama is going to be “sworn in on a gay baby”

Pakistan's president tells Palin she is ‘gorgeous’  —  NEW YORK (CNN) - Sarah Palin and the foreign leaders she has met with in New York have said very little to reporters over the last two days, but the press happened to be in the room on Wednesday for one eyebrow-raising exchange …

The Examiner endorses McCain-Palin  —  The Examiner endorses John McCain for president and his running mate, Sarah Palin, for vice president.  America is at war overseas and in an economic crisis here at home.  Many of her citizens believe the country is on the wrong track.

JOHN MCCAIN'S LATEST CRAZY, BRILLIANT, DESPERATE CAMPAIGN TACTIC.  —  John McCain has launched his second Hail Mary pass in a month.  On Wednesday he called for a suspension of the presidential campaign—no events, no ads, and no debate Friday—so that he and Barack Obama can head to Washington to forge a bipartisan solution.

Just a barking dog in the night  —  Christopher Beam has it wrong in Slate when he suggests that I and others are mistaken in thinking Biden's gaffes-a-minute are beginning finally to matter, raising questions to the Obama team whether their VP is up to the job—and blunting its criticism of Palin's experience and seriousness.

A Supply Side Approach to the Crisis  —  Yesterday I pointed out that credit is still robust.  Growth rates are declining, however, and many people say the real crunch is around the corner.  Thus, today I want to suggest a new approach to dealing with the crisis that will have benefits regardless of how the crisis unfolds.

Palin once blessed to be free from ‘witchcraft’  —  ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A grainy YouTube video surfaced Wednesday showing Sarah Palin being blessed in her hometown church three years ago by a Kenyan pastor who prayed for her protection from “witchcraft” as she prepared to seek higher office.

A sneaking suspicion  —  So now the whole rationale for the plan is “price discovery”: we're going to throw lots of taxpayer funds into the pot because that will let us find the true values of troubled assets, which are higher than the fire sale prices out there, and so balance sheet will improve, confidence will return, etc, etc..

America's First Reaction: Friday's McCain-Obama Debate Should Still Be Held On Friday, But Perhaps With New Focus  —  Immediately after John McCain's announcement 3 pm ET today, Wednesday 09/24/08, that he was suspending his campaign and seeking to postpone Friday's schedule presidential debate …

Now She Tells Us  —  I've been listening to Doris Kearns Goodwin drone on and on for the past year about how the country desperately needs bipartisanship and flogging her book “Team of Rivals” as a blueprint for proper governance.  (Obama mentioned he read the thing and everyone assumed …

Catholic book raises furor  —  Does the Index of Prohibited Books still exist?  Officially, the list of publications forbidden by the Roman Catholic Church, starting in 1559, was abolished by Pope Paul VI in 1966.  But an incident at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate …