Top Items:
Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:
McCain Wins Debate — Although the fate of tonight's presidential debate in Mississippi remains very much up in the air, John McCain has apparently already won it — if you believe an Internet ad an astute reader spotted next to this piece in the online edition of the Wall Street Journal this morning.
Discussion:
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The Huffington Post:
Ex-Adviser: McCain “Blinked,” Campaign “Governed By Tactics, Not Ideology” — Scroll down to see McCain ad... After days of saying that John McCain would not attend Friday's presidential debate unless an agreement on a bailout package for the markets was “locked-down,” the McCain campaign has gone back on its word.
The Politico:
McCain will go to debate
McCain will go to debate
Discussion:
New York Times, Riehl World View, The Caucus, Salon, New York Times, Washington Post, The Swamp, Washington Monthly, Hot Air, Gawker, Associated Press, The Raw Story, The Moderate Voice, Marc Ambinder, Real Clear Politics, Political Radar, unbossed.com, Comments from Left Field, Reason and Gateway Pundit
Brian Montopoli / CBS News:
Poll Results Suggest More Uncommitted Voters Saw Obama As Debate Winner — UPDATED WITH NEAR-FINAL NUMBERS CBS News and Knowledge Networks conducted a nationally representative poll of approximately 500 uncommitted voters reacting to the debate in the minutes after it happened.
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Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
‘McCain is right’ — The McCain campaign is up with a very fast YouTube on Obama's repeated assents to things McCain said.
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
INITIAL REACTION: OBAMA WINS ON POINTS.... I'll have a more thought …
INITIAL REACTION: OBAMA WINS ON POINTS.... I'll have a more thought …
Discussion:
Newshoggers.com
The Politico:
GOP concerned about Palin — A growing number of Republicans are expressing concern about Sarah Palin's uneven — and sometimes downright awkward — performances in her limited media appearances. — Conservative columnists Kathleen Parker, a former Palin supporter, says the vice presidential nominee should step aside.
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Kathryn Jean Lopez / National Review:
Free Sarah Palin! — I absolutely refuse to watch another Sarah Palin interview. — It's not because I don't like the lady and don't want to hear what she has to say. In fact, it's exactly the opposite. It's because I want to hear what she's about and what she believes in and that's why I won't listen anymore.
The Huffington Post:
Sarah Palin's Beauty Pageant Swimsuit Competition Footage (VIDEO) — Sarah Palin's 1984 beauty pageant swimsuit competition video has hit the web. An Alaskan has uploaded what he claims to be 100% real footage of Sarah Palin in a red tank suit in the 1984 Miss Alaska contest.
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Think Progress:
Presidential Debate Live-Blogging — 11:47: CNN's Roland Martin's reaction to the debate: “John McCain, how dare you come and give a debate and you don't even say the word ‘middle class.’” — 11:35: Fox pollster Frank Luntz's focus group showed that a majority was “moved” by Obama's performance.
Michelle Malkin:
A historic night: The first presidential debate of 2008 — Scroll down for updates and liveblogging...Obama hammers Bush-McCain theme, McCain emphasizes — sigh — fighting against “climate change...with Sen. Clinton”... What a week, huh? The high-stakes presidential debate at Ole Miss starts at 9pm Eastern.
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CNN:
Transcript of presidential debate — WASHINGTON (CNN ) — Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama debated on the campus of the University of Mississippi Friday night. The moderator for the debate was Jim Lehrer of the NewsHour on PBS. What follows is the full transcript of the debate:
John Aravosis / AMERICAblog News:
House Republican Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO): McCain “stopped a deal” yesterday at the White House — House Republican Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) was just interviewed by Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC, and he told Mitchell that McCain killed the deal yesterday at the White House:
Discussion:
Think Progress, Minnesota Independent, The Reaction, The New Republic, BAGnewsNotes and USA Today
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Washington Wire:
Ku Klux Klan Members Plan to Appear at Presidential Debate Site — Corey Dade reports from Oxford, Miss., on the presidential race. — When the University of Mississippi hosts the first presidential debate tonight, the two sides of its troubled racial history could converge.
Discussion:
Think Progress
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Stephen F. Hayes / Weekly Standard:
TWS Exclusive: Kissinger Unhappy About Obama — Henry Kissinger believes Barack Obama misstated his views on diplomacy with US adversaries and is not happy about being mischaracterized. He says: “Senator McCain is right. I would not recommend the next President of the United States engage …
Judd Legum / The Huffington Post:
Ignore The Pundits: How To Figure Out Who Won The Debate — There were 23 debates during the Democratic primary and part of my job on the Hillary campaign was to monitor the post-debate reaction in the media. I watched hundreds of self-described political experts instantly declare who won and who lost.
Megan McArdle:
Morally bankrupt — I cannot address all the patently untrue things that McCain and Obama are saying, but I must protest when Barack Obama claims that people are going bankrupt because of health expenses. There is no evidence to suggest that this is a widespread phenomenon.
Reuters:
Sen. Kennedy released from hospital — BOSTON (Reuters) - Ailing Sen. Edward Kennedy, a liberal giant and patriarch of America's most storied political family, was examined and released from a Massachusetts hospital on Friday after suffering a mild seizure, officials said.
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CNN:
Evangelist arrested in child porn case — (CNN) — Evangelist Tony Alamo was arrested Thursday in Flagstaff, Arizona, on charges related to a child porn investigation, an FBI spokesman said. — The 74-year-old founder and leader of Tony Alamo Christian Ministries was arrested without incident at 2:45 p.m. …
Discussion:
Scared Monkeys
The New Republic:
Focus Groups, Undecideds For Obama — For what it's worth: The Frank Luntz and Stanley Greenberg focus groups went overwhelmingly for Obama. And a CBS poll of undecideds went for Obama 40%-22%. Update : The CNN polls goes to Barack, 51%-38%. — Isaac Chotiner
Discussion:
Firedoglake
Don Kaplan / New York Post:
MAD ABOUT LETTERMAN — MCCAIN VIDEO 'JACKED FROM KATIE — CBS News executives were red- faced yesterday trying to explain how David Letterman used unaired news footage of Sen. John McCain with Katie Couric to embarrass the Republican presidential candidate.
CNN:
First debate: A few jabs, but no body blows — WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sen. John McCain said Friday that another attack on the scale of the September 11 hijackings is “much less likely” now than it was the day after the terrorist attacks. — “America is safer now than it was on 9/11,” he said …
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
LIVE FIRST PREZ DEBATE BLOGGING — 9:06 PM ... Wait, didn't McCain just say that he got the House Republicans to take part in the negotiations when he seemed to lead them out of the negotiations? — 9:11 PM ... Interesting the degree to which, so far, neither Obama or McCain want to engage each other.
Discussion:
Matthew Yglesias
Amanda / Think Progress:
Bachmann Blames President Clinton, ‘Blacks,’ And ‘Other Minorities’ For Current Financial Crisis — Yesterday in a Senate hearing on the financial crisis, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) spoke on what caused the situation. To make her point, she read from an article called …
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Barnett: ‘Unprecedented,’ ‘free-form’ debate format — Bob Barnett, the D.C. lawyer who helped negotiate out the debate agreement for Obama's side, said this evening that the debate would take an “unprecedented” format with the potential for some “free-form discussion” debate.
Stephen Labaton / New York Times:
S.E.C. Concedes Oversight Flaws Fueled Collapse — WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, a longtime proponent of deregulation, acknowledged on Friday that failures in a voluntary supervision program for Wall Street's largest investment banks had contributed …
Discussion:
Conglomerate