memeorandum: Hail Mary vs. Cool Barry (Charles Krauthammer/Washington Post)

4:55 PM ET, October 3, 2008

Top Items:

VIDEO: Watch Sarah Palin Read Her Answers In Last Night's Debate — For Sarah Palin, last night's debate was an open-book exam. She spent much of the evening methodically reading and rehearsing answers from “carefully scripted talking points.” Palin's notes were largely hidden from plain view …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Daily Dish, Spin Cycle, pandagon.net, Law Blog, Shakesville, NewsBusters.org and Taylor Marsh

Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:

Hail Mary vs. Cool Barry — Krauthammer's Hail Mary Rule: You get only two per game. John McCain, unfortunately, has already thrown three. The first was his bet on the surge, a deep pass to David Petraeus who miraculously ran it all the way into the end zone.

Discussion: The New Republic, The Moderate Voice, The Daily Dish, Matthew Yglesias, TPM Election Central, Political Machine, Hot Air, Donklephant and TPMCafe

David Brooks / New York Times:

The Palin Rebound — There are some moments when members of a political movement come together as one, sharing the same thoughts, feeling the same emotions, breathing the same shallow breaths. One of those occasions occurred Thursday night when Republicans around the country crouched nervously behind …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Jeffrey Goldberg, Achenblog, Washington Post, CNN, The Opinionator, Left in the West, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Hullabaloo, www.redstate.com, The Moderate Voice, The Daily Dish, Wake up America and Early Returns

Ben Wasserstein / The New Republic:
The Power Of Palin's Emotional Intelligence

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Wall Street Journal:
Free Sarah Palin

Discussion: The New Republic, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and www.redstate.com

The Politico:
Palin meets expectations but still falls short

Discussion: Eunomia and Power Line

Fox News:
Palin Disagrees With Michigan Pullout, Takes Second Stab at ‘Gotcha’ Questions

Discussion: The Caucus

New York Post:
THE VEEP DEBATE: SHE'S BACK!

Discussion: Washington Post and The Corner

Daniel Larison / Eunomia:
In The House Of Her Inexperience, There Are Many Mansions

Discussion: Newshoggers.com and The Daily Dish

Wall Street Journal:
Palin the Populist — Joe Biden was no match for “Joe Six-Pack.”

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Washington Post, Guardian and The Strata-Sphere

Ace / minx.cc:
Biden's 14 Lies — Fresh from the McCain people. — JOE BIDEN'S 14 LIES TONIGHT

Discussion: Commentary, JohnMcCain.com, NewsBusters.org, Power Line, Tales from the Trail, The Shotgun, Wizbang, Hot Air and Gateway Pundit

Ruben Navarrette Jr / CNN:
Navarrette: For Palin, a tie is a win

Discussion: Comments from Left Field and Preemptive Karma

Tom Shales / Washington Post:
Palin Takes On A New Foe: Her Image

Discussion: CBS News, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Huffington Post, Top of the Ticket and Betsy's Page

Roger Simon / The Politico:
You betcha Sarah Palin can debate

Discussion: The New Republic, Marc Ambinder, CNN, Hot Air, Outside The Beltway, Washington Post, TPM Election Central, Los Angeles Times, Midwest Voices, Crooks and Liars, The Swamp, Salon, Spin Cycle, Power Line, New York Times, Scared Monkeys, Taylor Marsh and The Caucus

James Pethokoukis / US News:

Why McCain Goes Easy on Fannie and the CRA — Here is the big question of the moment that many GOPers are asking: Why is John McCain not tearing into Barack Obama and the Dems on the huge role of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the Community Reinvestment Act in the financial crisis on Wall Street?

Discussion: Weekly Standard, protein wisdom, Michelle Malkin and The Jawa Report

Russell Roberts / Wall Street Journal:

How Government Stoked the Mania — Housing prices would never have risen so high without multiple Washington mistakes. — Many believe that wild greed and market failure led us into this sorry mess. According to that narrative, investors in search of higher yields bought novel securities …

Discussion: Right Wing News, Center for American Progress and Wonk Room

Fox News:
Bill O'Reilly Battles Rep. Barney Frank Over Financial Crisis

Discussion: Pam's House Blend

The Independent:
Dominic Lawson: Democrat fingerprints are all over the financial crisis

Discussion: JammieWearingFool, Sound Politics and Sister Toldjah

Ace of Spades HQ:
McCain Holding Back on Fannie and Freddie? Um... Wait For It

Discussion: Riehl World View

David M. Herszenhorn / New York Times:

Bush Signs Rescue Bill After House Vote — WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives gave final approval on Friday to the $700 billion bailout for the financial system, reversing course to authorize what may be the most expensive government intervention in history.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Michelle Malkin, TalkLeft, Economix, Los Angeles Times, Spin Cycle, Slog, Feministe, American Power, Portfolio and Truthdig

Wall Street Journal:

Bush Signs Bailout After House Passage — WASHINGTON — President George W. Bush signed the biggest government intervention in the financial markets since the Great Depression after U.S. House of Representatives lawmakers wary of growing signs of the nation's economic distress voted Friday …

Discussion: www.redstate.com and TigerHawk

Wall Street Journal: What Leadership Looks Like — Voting for what's right, not what's safe.

Klaus Marre / The Hill:
House passes bailout on second attempt

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and Wake up America

Gallup:

Gallup Daily: Obama Leading by 7 Points — Today marks full week of Obama leading by significant margin — PRINCETON, NJ — Gallup Poll Daily tracking from Sept. 30-Oct. 2 has Barack Obama leading John McCain by seven percentage points, 49% to 42%. — Obama has held a statistically significant lead …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Tv H.H. / Nielsen Wire:

45% Of Households In Top Local TV Markets Watched Palin and Biden's V.P. Debate — The combined overall household rating for Thursday night's vice presidential debate, in 55 of the 56 local television markets where Nielsen maintains electronic TV meters, was 45.0.

Discussion: Jonathan Martin's Blogs and Ben Smith's Blogs

George Harris / Midwest Voices:
Who Won VP Debate: A Review of Polls

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Frank James / The Swamp:
Biden won independents in VP debate

Discussion: CBS News, CNN, PERRspectives Blog and FiveThirtyEight.com

Rich Lowry / The Corner:

Projecting through the Screen — A very wise TV executive once told me that the key to TV is projecting through the screen. It's one of the keys to the success of, say, a Bill O'Reilly, who comes through the screen and grabs you by the throat. Palin too projects through the screen like crazy.

Discussion: Think Progress, The Daily Dish, Washington Monthly, Wonkette and Spin Cycle

Aden Nak / ph33r and loathing:

Moosehunter — So, I've been quiet thus far, but I figure it's about time I went moose hunting. So let me start off nice and big for ya, in case there's any doubt as to where I stand. Sarah Palin is a stupid, self important, ignorant bitch who I wouldn't put in charge of wiping her own ass.

Discussion: Political Machine

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish: The Palin Debate Flow-Chart

Greg Sargent / TPM Election Central:

McCain Campaign's Ad Spending Now Nearly 100 Percent Devoted To Attack Ads — The McCain campaign has now shifted virtually 100 percent of his national ad spending into negative ads attacking Obama, a detailed breakdown of his ad buys reveals. — By contrast, the Obama campaign is devoting less …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Washington Monthly and Taegan Goddard's …

FactCheck.org:

FactChecking Biden-Palin Debate — The candidates were not 100 percent accurate. To say the least. — Biden and Palin debated, and both mangled some facts. — Palin mistakenly claimed that troop levels in Iraq had returned to “pre-surge” levels. Levels are gradually coming …

Discussion: TaxProf Blog, Political Machine, www.redstate.com, Climate Progress, Political Radar and The FactCheck Wire

Patricia Talorico / Second Helpings:

Joe gives Delaware shout-outs: UPDATED — During the debate, Joe Biden gave several Delaware shout-outs, including Wilmington's Union Street... Maybe, I heard this wrong, or misunderstood, but I think he mentioned Katie's restaurant...... Wilmington used to have a Katie's restaurant …

Discussion: The Campaign Spot, The Jawa Report and NO QUARTER

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
You can find anything you want — except Katie's Restaurant

Discussion: Pajamas Media

Frances Robles / Americas Conference:

Old flame cited as part of McCain's Latin experience — Sen. John McCain's senior foreign policy adviser cites a steamy romance 50 years ago with a Brazilian babe among the things that illustrate the candidate's decades-long interest in Latin America — Speaking at an Americas Conference …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Think Progress, Ben Smith's Blogs and AMERICAblog News

Los Angeles Times:

Schwarzenegger to U.S.: State may need $7-billion loan — In a letter obtained by The Times, the governor warns that tight credit has dried up funds California routinely relies on and it may have to seek emergency aid within weeks. — SACRAMENTO — California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger …