memeorandum: Obama interviewed by Brokaw at private Goldman Sachs dinner last year. (Lynn Sweet)

7:40 PM ET, October 7, 2008

Top Items:

Unleashed, Palin Makes a Pit Bull Look Tame — FORT MYERS, Fla., Oct. 6 John McCain is collapsing in the polls in Florida and other swing states, but Sarah Palin, God bless her, has a solution. — “For me, the heels are on, the gloves are off,” she announced at high noon Monday to a group …

David Talbot / Salon:

The Palins' un-American activities — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her husband, Todd, at a rally in Vienna, Ohio, on Sept. 16, 2008. — “My government is my worst enemy. I'm going to fight them with any means at hand.” — This was former revolutionary terrorist Bill Ayers back in his old Weather Underground days, right?

Discussion: Washington Wire, Balloon Juice, AMERICAblog News, Reason, Taylor Marsh and The Jed Report

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

HIS DISGRACE KNOWS NO BOUNDS — As we saw yesterday, John McCain's latest gambit is to juice up his and Palin's crowds into calling Obama a “terrorist”, hurling racial epithets at black reporters (presumably, there aren't many in attendance as supporters), or just random calls for murder.

Discussion: ATTACKERMAN, Lawyers, Guns and Money, The Democratic Daily, Spin Cycle, Daily Kos, Comments from Left Field and folo

The Huffington Post:

Obama Hatred On Display Again At Palin Rally, Supporter Screams “Treason!” — In the latest instance of inflammatory outbursts at McCain-Palin rallies, a crowd member screamed “treason!” during an event on Tuesday after Sarah Palin accused Barack Obama of criticizing U.S. troops.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Washington Monthly, The Moderate Voice, Comments from Left Field, The Seminal, The Washington Independent, Hullabaloo, Matt Ortega, FRAMESHOP, Taylor Marsh and Matthew Yglesias

Washington Wire: Palin Continues Hammering Obama on Policy and Character

Mark Silva / The Swamp:

William Ayers' past was unknown: Obama — NASHVILLE — Barack Obama has since condemned the Vietnam war-protest tactics of William Ayers, though a top adviser said today Obama didn't know of his past when Ayers hosted a campaign reception for Obama in 1995.

Discussion: Political Machine, Washington Post, Townhall.com, Commentary, www.redstate.com, TIME.com and Wake up America

Mark Silva / The Swamp:
Sarah Palin: Obama's ‘left-wing agenda’

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Ben Smith's Blogs, FiveThirtyEight.com, New York Post, Hot Air, The Caucus, Top of the Ticket, PrestoPundit and New York Times

City Journal:
The Bomber as School Reformer

Discussion: Pajamas Media, Commentary, No Left Turns, Reason and TigerHawk

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
CNN: Obama's lying about William Ayers

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Dirty Harry's Place, NewsBusters.org, THE CITIZENS JOURNAL and The Corner

Doug Heye / The Hill's Pundits Blog: The Second Presidential Debate

Gallup:

Gallup Daily: 9-Point Obama Lead Ties Campaign High — Voters prefer Obama to McCain by 51% to 42% — PRINCETON, NJ — The latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking poll shows registered voters preferring Barack Obama to John McCain for president by 51% to 42%. — The nine percentage point lead …

Discussion: Swampland, FiveThirtyEight.com, TPM Election Central, The Moderate Voice, Hotline On Call, Commentary, MyDD, No More Mister Nice Blog, Comments from Left Field and Wonkette

Frank Newport / Gallup:

Americans' Satisfaction at All-Time Low of 9% — Dismal rating sets stage for town hall-style debate — USA - Election 2008 - Government and Politics - Most Important Problem - Satisfaction - Americas - Northern America — PRINCETON, NJ — Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John …

Discussion: Think Progress, Ross Douthat, AFL-CIO NOW BLOG and American Power

Roger Simon / The Politico:
How McCain could pull this one off

Discussion: Democratic Strategist and Stop The ACLU

Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:

Obama Outspending McCain Nearly 3 to 1 on Television — Barack Obama is outspending John McCain at nearly a three-to-one clip on television time in the final weeks of the presidential election, according to ad buy information obtained by The Fix, a financial edge that is almost certainly contributing …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs, Newsweek Blogs, TIME.com, MyDD and Clayton Cramer's BLOG

Jonathan Martin / Jonathan Martin's Blogs:
RNC IE expanding buy to Maine, N.C. and Fla.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs and Political Radar

Mark Silva / The Swamp:

McCain dumps racial-joking campaigner — The McCain campaign has denounced a racially charged, anti-Barack Obama newspaper column written by one of the Republican campaign's organizers in Virginia, and has removed the author-activist from his post as a member of the candidate's statewide leadership team …

Discussion: Top of the Ticket and Campaign Silo

David Frum:
“The Chicago Way” — My pals over at the Corner are very excited …

Discussion: Ross Douthat and American Spectator

Hindrocket / Power Line:
A TREE FALLS IN THE FOREST

Discussion: The Anchoress, The Caucus and Associated Press

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Advisers worry about ‘grumpy McCain’ — When Politico's Ryan Grim approached Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) after the evening of the Senate bailout vote, the reporter didn't even get his question out. — “Excuse me, you're bothering me,” McCain said. — It was a surprising rebuke …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Don Surber, Talking Points Memo, TIME.com and Grasping Reality …

Sara Goo / Washington Post:

After Bailout, AIG Executives Head to Resort — Less than a week after the federal government offered an $85 billion bailout to insurance giant AIG, the company held a week-long retreat for its executives at the luxury St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach, Calif., running up a tab of $440,000 …

Discussion: Seeing the Forest

ABCNEWS:

After Bailout, AIG Execs Head to California Resort — Rescued by Taxpayers, $440,000 for Retreat Including “Pedicures, Manicures” — Less than a week after the federal government committed $85 billion to bail out AIG, executives of the giant AIG insurance company headed for a week-long retreat …

Discussion: Don Surber

Oskar Garcia / Associated Press:

ACORN office in Vegas raided in voter-fraud probe — LAS VEGAS (AP) - Nevada state authorities are raiding the Las Vegas headquarters of an organization that works to get low-income people to vote. — A Nevada secretary of state's office spokesman said Tuesday that investigators are looking …

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Townhall.com, The Raw Story, Atlas Shrugs, TPMMuckraker and www.redstate.com

Garance Franke-Ruta / Washington Post: ACORN Nevada Office Raided

Daniel Gross / Slate:

THE RIGHT BLAMES THE CREDIT CRISIS ON POOR MINORITY HOMEOWNERS. THIS IS NOT MERELY OFFENSIVE, BUT ENTIRELY WRONG. — We've now entered a new stage of the financial crisis: the ritual assigning of blame. It began in earnest with Monday's congressional roasting of Lehman Bros. CEO Richard Fuld …

Discussion: The Corner and Economix

Wall Street Journal:
About That Middle-Class Tax Cut . . .

Discussion: American Spectator and Donklephant

David M. Walker / CNN:
Commentary: America's $53 trillion debt problem

Discussion: Connecting.the.Dots

Lynn Sweet:

Obama interviewed by Brokaw at private Goldman Sachs dinner last year. — WASHINGTON—On May 3, 2007, Barack Obama attended an event at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan that was not on his public schedule and is only now surfacing—a private dinner for Goldman Sachs traders with a discussion …

Discussion: Washington Post

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
A follow-up follow up — Lynn Sweet reported yesterday …

Discussion: Liberal Values, Think Progress and Washington Monthly

Michael Learmonth / AdAge:

Hulu, NBC Pull SNL Skit — But Political Skits Bringing in Huge Numbers — The presidential campaign has been good for “Saturday Night Live” — and for Hulu.com. In a few short weeks, the first clip of Tina Fey impersonating Gov. Sarah Palin has become the site's most-viewed of all time.

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Times of London, Wake up America, Silicon Alley Insider, NewsBusters.org, Hot Air, Mother, May I Sleep …, The Foundry, JammieWearingFool and D-Day

Steve Kornacki / New York Observer:

Dukakis on the Election: Obama Knows How to Win, ‘McCain Has Nothing’ — When John McCain's campaign made it clear over the weekend that their stretch-run strategy would lean heavily on raising questions about Barack Obama's personal history and past “associations,” Obama's communications director provided …

Discussion: Wonkette

Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:

McCain also said U.S. troops killed civilians — John McCain in 2000 said because of tactical decisions U.S. troops were put in the position of killing civilians in Kosovo — something awfully similar to the comments he's now attacking Barack Obama for. — During a Republican primary debate …

Discussion: Salon, Think Progress, USA Today, Washington Monthly and Media Matters for America

Garance Franke-Ruta / Washington Post:

Obama Team Ready for Mud — NASHVILLE — Barack Obama's advisers are usually cautious about managing expectations — never predicting a landslide, always downplaying how well their candidate will do in the debates. But with just a few hours until the second presidential debate here on Tuesday night …

Discussion: TIME.com

Blue Texan / Firedoglake:

Peggy Noonan Admits GOP Base Is Full Of Racist A**holes — A rather revealing exchange on ‘Hardball’ last night in which Nooner tells the truth about her fetid, decaying party (ignore the BS about Nooner being undecided about who to vote for): … Calling Obama a terrorist? Fine.

Chris Bowers / Open Left:

Bush Now Least Popular President Since Polling Began — Not sure how I missed this yesterday, but with the new Gallup poll, George W. Bush has passed Nixon and Truman, and become the least popular President of all-time. According to the Roper Center, here is the worst net approval / disapproval result …

Discussion: Gallup, MyDD, Matthew Yglesias and Oliver Willis

Daily Mail:

Man shot three times in street by racist gunman - for wearing Barack Obama T-shirt … A man told today how he was shot three times in a London street for wearing a Barack Obama T-shirt. — Dube Egwuatu was buying a mobile telephone top-up card in an off-licence when the gunman confronted …

Discussion: Commentary and Crooks and Liars