memeorandum: Trying to Avoid Economic Calamity, Lawmakers Grope for Resolution (New York Times)

10:50 PM ET, September 29, 2008

Top Items:

OK, we are a banana republic — House votes no. Rex Nutting has the best line: House to Wall Street: Drop Dead. He also correctly places the blame and/or credit with House Republicans. For reasons I've already explained, I don't think the Dem leadership was in a position to craft a bill …

Discussion: Firedoglake, MarketWatch, Corrente, Raising Kaine, Open Left, Deal Journal, The Democratic Daily and The Mahablog

Jennifer Parker / Political Radar:

Stephanopoulos: What's Next? Congress Mulls Four Options — ABC News' George Stephanopoulos reports: There are meetings going on right now on Capitol Hill to try to figure out what to do about the $700 billion Wall Street bailout bill that failed to pass the House today.

Discussion: TalkLeft, Corrente and AMERICAblog News

David Kurtz / Talking Points Memo:

THAT MEAN, NASTY NANCY PELOSI — Here's the Pelosi floor speech that Republicans claim so enraged them that they decided to change their votes on the bailout: — And here is the Republican House leadership laying all the blame at Pelosi's feet:

Discussion: The RBC, Spin Cycle and TheZoo

Mark Halperin / TIME.com:
Rep. Pelosi's Remarks on Floor Ahead of House Bailout Vote

Discussion: Swampland, Crooks and Liars, Associated Press and Gateway Pundit

Paul Krugman:
Bailout questions answered

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Buck Naked Politics and Kevin Drum

SilentPatriot / Crooks and Liars:
Shorter House GOP: We killed the bailout bill because Pelosi hurt our feelings

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs and Politics Blog

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Bailout follows the 10 normal principles for how our government functions

Discussion: The New Republic, naked capitalism, CNN, Daily Kos, Guardian, Preemptive Karma, Taylor Marsh and TheZoo

Washington Wire:
House Republicans Blame Pelosi's Speech

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Townhall.com, The Huffington Post, Associated Press, Financial Times, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Marathon Blog, Betsy's Page, Harry's Place and Washington Monthly

New York Times:
House Rejects Bailout Package, 228-205; Stocks Plunge

CNN:
Bitter finger-pointing on Capitol Hill after bailout bill fails

Discussion: Associated Press, Democratic Strategist, CNNMoney.com and The Seminal

Marc Ambinder: A Failure To Communicate (What We Have Here) — John McCain has a fundamental problem.

David Kurtz / Talking Points Memo:
IT HURT THEIR FEELINGS? — Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) …

Discussion: Comments from Left Field, The Poor Man Institute and The Democratic Daily

Amanda / Think Progress:
Rep. Frank On GOP: 'Because Somebody Hurt Their Feelings …

Discussion: The Politico, TIME.com, Washington Post, Firedoglake and Trailhead

Jeffrey Goldberg:

Sarah Palin Endorses Hamas — How can it be that some people still pretend that Sarah Palin is suited for high office? This country has never seen someone so comprehensively unprepared for the vice presidency; Dan Quayle was Metternich by comparison. I've watched Sarah Palin's interview …

Discussion: Salon, Obsidian Wings, Top of the Ticket, Matthew Yglesias, Comments from Left Field, Taylor Marsh and Eunomia

Jonathan Martin / Jonathan Martin's Blogs:

In reintroduction, Palin to do more interviews and “tell her story” — Tacitly acknowledging criticism that she's been diminished in part by an overly protective media shield, Sarah Palin will take a more forward-leaning approach and do additional interviews in the weeks ahead, a top aide said today.

Discussion: Ta-Nehisi Coates, TBogg, The Raw Story, CNN, Fighting Liberals, Campaign Silo and Hot Air

CBS News:

Exclusive: McCain, Palin Answer Critics — Katie Couric Asks Palin If She Contradicted McCain On Pakistan And Her Response To GOP Criticism … Katie Couric: Over the weekend, Gov. Palin, you said the U.S. should absolutely launch cross-border attacks from Afghanistan into Pakistan to …

Discussion: CNN, NewsBusters.org, unbossed.com and Political Machine

Howard Kurtz / Washington Post:

‘Substantive’ Press Is Taken for a Spin — OXFORD, Miss. — David Axelrod was surrounded by a pack of camera-toting, mike-wielding, pushing-and-shoving media types, one of whom asked whether his man Barack Obama had been “too nice” in the just-completed debate with John McCain.

Discussion: TheZoo and Marc Ambinder

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs: More to come from Palin-Couric — Howie Kurtz raised some eyebrows …

David Kurtz / Talking Points Memo:
FRED AND GINGER THEY AIN'T — John and Sarah take on Katie Couric ... together:

Discussion: AMERICAblog News

Mark Silva / The Swamp:
Palin, Couric, ‘gotcha journals,’ cowboys

Discussion: Jonathan Martin's Blogs

Mike Allen / The Politico:

McCain takes credit for bill before it loses — Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and his top aides took credit for building a winning bailout coalition - hours before the vote failed and stocks tanked. — The rush to claim he had engineered a victory now looks like a strategic blunder …

Discussion: Think Progress, Crooks and Liars, Boston Globe, The Gun Toting Liberal, Comedy Central, Hullabaloo, Oliver Willis, Daily Kos, Spin Cycle and TPM Election Central

Charles Babington / Associated Press:

Analysis: House vote against bailout wounds McCain — WASHINGTON - The house always wins, gamblers are warned, and the U.S. House made John McCain pay Monday for his politically risky, high-profile involvement in a financial rescue plan that came crashing down, mainly at the hands of his fellow Republicans.

Discussion: Don Surber and Comedy Central

Larry Kudlow / The Corner:
The End of the U.S. Financial System as We Know It?

Discussion: Hot Air, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, skippy the bush kangaroo and The Campaign Spot

Ezra Klein / American Prospect:
A FAILURE OF POLITICS. — The final vote was 205 in favor, 228 against.

Discussion: Townhall.com, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, The Corner, BloggingStocks, Outside The Beltway and Eunomia

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:

McCain's Moment — No one wants to take ownership of the task of rescuing the economy right now. The Bush-Paulson plan has failed. The administration, House Democrats, and House Republicans (above all) have all proved unable to deliver. But there is someone who might be able to save the economy …

Discussion: Democratic Strategist and JustOneMinute

Ross Douthat:
Three Scenarios — The best case: This is an example …

Discussion: Rasmussen Reports, Newshoggers.com and The American Scene

Ross Douthat: A Fourth Scenario — Per Kristol: John McCain flies …

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight.com:

Swing District Congressmen Doomed Bailout — This was predictable, I suppose, but it's remarkable to see how strong a relationship there is between today's failed vote on the bailout and the competitive nature of different House races. — Among 38 incumbent congressmen in races rated as …

Discussion: Salon, Comedy Central, The Moderate Voice, Threat Level and MoJoBlog

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight.com:
More Bailout Thoughts — WARNING: This stuff is a little bit above …

Discussion: The Daily Dish

Bloomberg:

Fed Pumps Further $630 Billion Into Financial System — Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve will pump an additional $630 billion into the global financial system, flooding banks with cash to alleviate the worst banking crisis since the Great Depression.

Discussion: Firedoglake and Crooks and Liars

Rasmussen Reports:

FOX/Rasmussen Swing State Polling - September 28, 2008 — Overview — Polling this week in Colorado, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia shows that Barack Obama has gained a net 3 to 5 percentage points in each state compared to the previous Fox News/ Rasmussen Reports poll.

Discussion: American Power

Andy McCarthy / The Corner:

I respectfully dissent — I do not understand why those who've voted no should be labeled “irresponsible.” The senate evidently will not deign to take up this crisis legislation until Wednesday. Meanwhile, even if you don't reject the bill on philosophical grounds (see e.g. …

Discussion: Power Line

Glenn Reynolds / Pajamas Media:

A READER AT A MAJOR NEWSROOM EMAILS: “Off the record, every suspicion you have about MSM being in the tank for O is true. We have a team of 4 people going thru dumpsters in Alaska and 4 in arizona. Not a single one looking into Acorn, Ayers or Freddiemae. Editor refuses to publish anything …