memeorandum: Politics of Attack — It is a sorry fact of American political life … (New York Times)

2:35 PM ET, October 8, 2008

Top Items:

Obama's 180 on genocide — JOHN MCCAIN'S opening words last night were: “Senator Obama, it's good to be with you at a town hall meeting!” Indeed it was. We now know why Barack Obama declined McCain's invitation earlier this year to appear together in a series of 10 town hall meetings around the country.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Wizbang, The Corner, Hot Air, Stop The ACLU and Cassy Fiano

CNN:

Transcript of second McCain, Obama debate — NASHVILLE, Tennessee (CNN) — Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama debated in Nashville, Tennessee, on Tuesday night. NBC's Tom Brokaw moderated the debate. Here is a transcript of that debate. — Brokaw: Good evening from Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Fred Barnes / Weekly Standard:

Paging Rick Warren — Why did a town hall debate in Nashville revolve around what interests an East Coast newsman? — A presidential debate at its best gives voters a glimpse of a candidate's personality, quick-wittedness, likeability, sense of humor, judgment, basic honesty, knowledge, even character.

Discussion: Guardian, Commentary and YID With LID

Tom Shales / Washington Post:
A Showdown That Was More of a Letdown

Discussion: The Caucus, The Corner, New York Times and Midwest Voices

Gallup:

Gallup Daily: Obama's Lead Over McCain Expands to 11 — 52% share of the vote is Obama's highest to date — PRINCETON, NJ — The latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking report shows Barack Obama with a 52% to 41% lead over John McCain. — These results, based on Oct. 5-7 polling …

Discussion: The Swamp, Firedoglake and Oliver Willis

Andy McCarthy / The Corner:

You Guys Are Nuts — We have a disaster here — which is what you should expect when you delegate a non-conservative to make the conservative (nay, the American) case. We can parse it eight ways to Sunday, but I think the commentary is missing the big picture.

Discussion: Newshoggers.com, The Opinionator, Balloon Juice, Eunomia, No More Mister Nice Blog, Campaign Silo, Balkinization, Comments from Left Field, Jules Crittenden, Spin Cycle, TBogg, folo and The Other McCain

Brian Montopoli / CBS News:
CBS Poll: Uncommitted Voters Say Obama Won Debate

Discussion: CNN, The Moderate Voice, Weekly Standard, Salon, therecord.barackobama.com, Power Line, five feet of fury., Jules Crittenden and Daily Kos

Ross Douthat:
The Unplayed Card — Andy McCarthy isn't pleased:

Discussion: The Corner and Kevin Drum

Brad DeLong / Grasping Reality with Both Hands:

John McCain's New Mortgage Plan Is Worse than I Had Imagined Possibly, Even Given What I Know About John McCain — Douglas Holtz-Eakin says, this morning: … What does this mean? It means that John McCain wants to give $100 billion of taxpayers' money to America's worst-behaving mortgage financiers.

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias and Corrente

Marc Ambinder:
The McCain Resurgence Plan

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Kevin Drum and Hot Air

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Moral hazard — My colleague Victoria McGrane, late …

Discussion: Marc Ambinder

Knoxville News-Sentinel:

UTK student David Kernell indicted in Palin e-mail hacking case — David C. Kernell, 20, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Knoxville, Tennessee., for intentionally accessing without authorization the e-mail account of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. — More details as they develop online and in Thursday's News Sentinel.

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, JammieWearingFool, The Jawa Report, Gateway Pundit and Spin Cycle

Duncan Mansfield / Associated Press:
Son of Tenn. Democrat indicted in Palin hacking

Discussion: Little Green Footballs and PoliPundit.com

The Smoking Gun:
Palin Hacker Indicted

Discussion: Political Punch and Stop The ACLU

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

SCRAPPING THE AYERS ATTACK ALREADY?.... The political world was told to expect some ugly, guilt-by-association attacks last night. We'd hear about Bill Ayers. And Tony Rezko. And maybe even Jeremiah Wright. The phrase “unrepentant terrorist” would be bandied about. — And then, nothing.

Discussion: The New Republic, Balloon Juice, Newshoggers.com, TIME.com, TPM Election Central, Top of the Ticket and folo

The Politico:
Campaign shifts back to economic crisis

Discussion: Washington Wire, The New Republic, The Swamp, TPM Election Central, The Raw Story and The Nation

Mark Halperin / TIME.com: McCain Release on Ayers

Nitya / Political Radar:

Palin Fields Questions on Plane — ABC News' Imtiyaz Delawala Reports: For the first time in a month on the campaign trail, Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin took questions from her full traveling press corps, covering topics ranging from her continued connection of Sen. Barack …

Discussion: Think Progress, The Swamp and Wake up America

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:

Palin's Kind of Patriotism — Criticizing Sarah Palin is truly shooting fish in a barrel. But given the huge attention she is getting, you can't just ignore what she has to say. And there was one thing she said in the debate with Joe Biden that really sticks in my craw.

Discussion: The Daily Dish, MoJoBlog, TalkLeft, Lean Left, Buck Naked Politics and The Next Right

Salon:

Nobody's dummy — What a powerful letter — which I am pleased to share with Salon readers. Yes, let us not forget the tragic series of dubious political judgments that led the U.S. to lurch into Southeast Asia after the French had prudently packed up and left.

Discussion: protein wisdom, Classical Values and five feet of fury.

Camille Paglia / Salon:
Nobody's dummy — Liberals underestimate Sarah Palin's vitality …

Discussion: Commentary, The G Spot, pandagon.net and Don Surber

Time Edit / Swampland:

They Liked Him, They Really Liked Him — From TIME's Amy Sullivan: — As he did for the first presidential debate, Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg gathered a group of undecided voters in a swing state (this time Colorado) to watch the town hall, polling them before and after to gauge …

Discussion: The Swamp, Newshoggers.com, Firedoglake, The Daily Dish, The New Republic, Jonathan Martin's Blogs and folo

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System:

For release at 7:00 a.m. EDT Joint Statement by Central Banks — Throughout the current financial crisis, central banks have engaged in continuous close consultation and have cooperated in unprecedented joint actions such as the provision of liquidity to reduce strains in financial markets.

Discussion: The Huffington Post and The Swamp

New York Times:
Central Banks Coordinate Cut in Rates

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Outside The Beltway, Economix, New York Magazine, Conglomerate, Spin Cycle and Portfolio

Howard Schneider / Washington Post:
Fed Orders Emergency Rate Cut of Half a Percent

Discussion: Open Left

Lisa Rein / Washington Post:

Md. Police Put Activists' Names On Terror Lists — The Maryland State Police classified 53 nonviolent activists as terrorists and entered their names and personal information into state and federal databases that track terrorism suspects, the state police chief acknowledged yesterday.

Discussion: CANNONFIRE

Wall Street Journal:

Housing Pain Gauge: Nearly 1 in 6 Owners ‘Under Water’ — More Defaults and Foreclosures Are Likely as Borrowers With Greater Debt Than Value in Their Homes Are Put in a Tight Spot — The relentless slide in home prices has left nearly one in six U.S. homeowners owing more on a mortgage …

Discussion: The Swamp, Think Progress, The Big Picture and Fraters Libertas

Matthew Weaver / NO QUARTER:

Obama is Hiding a Radical Past! — Edited and updated at 8:50 p.m. ET. — Did you know that Barack Obama was affiliated with a leading national socialist party? Barack Obama didn't include in his 2008 resume that he entered politics in the mid-1990s endorsed by Chicago's leading socialists.

Discussion: The Corner, JammieWearingFool, The Jawa Report and Riehl World View

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:

GOP likes ‘that one’ too — A Republican official emails, on background:

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Huffington Post, The Impolitic and Buck Naked Politics

Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC:

FIRST THOUGHTS: NOTHING CHANGED — From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Carrie Dann — NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Part three of the four-part debate series is now over, and the one big conclusion is that nothing changed. And nothing changing isn't a good result for McCain.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs and The New Republic

Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:

Edited SNL subprime video also happens to excise Barney Frank's involvement — Not every comedy sketch on “Saturday Night Live” has to do with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. — It just seems that way recently, as The Ticket has reported here and here and here. — But there's an unusual twist this week over another SNL skit.

Discussion: Show Tracker, Hot Air, Michelle Malkin, JammieWearingFool and Betsy's Page

Hotline On Call:

The Early Line: Diageo/Hotline Tracking Poll — Obama and McCain are now tied 44-44% among men. Today's Diageo/Hotline poll is the first in which Obama has not led men since he trailed them 46-45% in the survey completed 9/26. — The candidates remained tied on economic issues.

Discussion: TalkLeft, The Corner, Wake up America and Hot Air