memeorandum: Government to unveil bank rescue (BBC)

6:45 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 …

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: Spin Cycle, ATTACKERMAN, Daily Kos, folo and The Moderate Voice

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, AMERICAblog News, Taylor Marsh and Reason

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

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

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

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

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

Discussion: Ross Douthat and American Spectator

City Journal:
The Bomber as School Reformer

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

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, Commentary, The Moderate Voice, Hotline On Call, TPM Election Central, MyDD and No More Mister Nice Blog

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

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

Discussion: Democratic Strategist and Stop The ACLU

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, Grasping Reality … and TIME.com

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

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

Sara Goo / Washington Post:
After Bailout, AIG Executives Head to Resort

Discussion: Seeing the Forest

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: Economix and The Corner

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

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

Hindrocket / Power Line:
A TREE FALLS IN THE FOREST

Discussion: The Caucus, The Anchoress, Associated Press and PrestoPundit

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

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:

A follow-up follow up — Lynn Sweet reported yesterday that the two campaigns had reached an agreement under which, among other things, moderator Tom Brokaw wouldn't ask follow-up questions tonight. — But Brokaw wasn't a party to the deal, I'm told, and hasn't agreed to it …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Liberal Values and Think Progress

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

Discussion: Washington Post

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

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

When Will The Press Do Its Job? — They have blinked, as Richard Cohen reiterates today. A good contrast with Hillary Clinton: … My view is that the Palin candidacy is such a farce the mainstream media simply do not know what to do. The sane response is to dismiss it as a joke …

Richard Cohen / Washington Post:
This Debate's Biggest Loser

Discussion: Balloon Juice, TalkLeft and The XX Factor

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

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, NO QUARTER and www.redstate.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.

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

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: Crooks and Liars and Commentary

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, Oliver Willis and Democrats.com