Morning Read

Imploding talks over the economic bailout have bloggers engaged in finger-pointing. John McCain's "stunt" of suspending his campaigning and returning to Washington blew up the bailout deal, according to liberal bloggers. But according to conservative bloggers, Democratic Congressional leaders have been too eager to play the political blame game. The $700 billion bailout proposal itself, meanwhile, is still being treated with skepticism by bloggers on both sides.

McCain has undermined the deal by parachuting in on complicated talks and refusing to take a strong stance on the deal, writes Political Animal's Hilzoy, who accuses McCain of putting his political interests first. McCain has pulled off a political "stunt" by torpedoing the deal, and he's now seeking to benefit politically by bringing recalcitrant House Republicans into the mix, writes Todd Beeton at MyDD.

Democrats, who know the bailout is necessary but unpopular with many Americans, are playing political games by blaming Republicans for the deal's collapse, writes RedState's blackhedd. The Democrats, who are in the majority, could move the deal forward if they wanted to, the blogger notes. Democrats are making it tougher for Republicans to go along trying to use it to funnel money toward political action groups such as ACORN and the National Council of La Raza, writes Ed Morrissey at Hot Air.

The conservative anger against the bill is real, as evidenced by the strong reaction to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's (R) attack on corporations, writes Mark Daniels at The Moderate Voice. Barack Obama needs to be more of a leader and back a bailout plan that would do more for American citizens and less for Wall Street, writes Arianna Huffington. Both kos and The Corner's Nick Schulz write that lawmakers haven't done enough to explain why a $700 billion package is needed to pay for Wall Street's and borrowers' mistakes. But, according to economist Megan McArdle, the risk of not passing a bailout is that the economy will collapse and 40 million Americans will end up out of work.

FROM THE BLOGS:
McCain's 'Real Leadership' - Hilzoy, Political Animal
Strange Days: McCain and Conservatives - J. Marshall, TPM
'Rescue Plan' For McCain - Todd Beeton, MyDD
Congressional Dems' 'Leadership' - blackhedd, RedState
The Democratic ACORN Bailout - E. Morrissey, Hot Air
Meltdowns - John Podhoretz, Contentions
Conservative Anger is Real - Mark Daniels, The Moderate Voice
Obama Needs to Lead - Arianna Huffington, Huffington Post
Zero Effort to Educate - kos, Daily Kos
Why Aren't They Making Payments? - Nick Schulz, The Corner
Willing to Gamble to Stop It - Megan McArdle

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
Talks Implode During Day of Chaos - New York Times
Debate Still in Limbo as Dems Blame McCain - Wash. Post
McCain Leaps Into a Thicket - New York Times
Analysis: House GOP Holds All the Cards - The Hill

President Bush's speech urging Americans to get on board with the $700 billion economic bailout plan has yet to fully persuade a key constituency, conservative bloggers. John McCain's request for a debate delay is mocked by David Letterman, liberal bloggers eagerly note. But McCain's gamble could pay off for him politically, according to his blogging backers.

Bush delivered his prime-time address well, but the substance doesn't mesh with the reality that the markets are working and investors are figuring out a way to properly value those rotten mortgage-backed securities, writes RedState's Pejman Yousefzadeh. Bush made the "socialist case for government intervention" and failed to place blame with those who deserved it, greedy lenders, writes Townhall's Amanda Carpenter. But if conservatives are really willing to forgo the bailout, they need to be forthright about the serious economic pain that would ensue without it, writes The Corner's Rich Lowry.

Letterman, miffed at McCain's decision Wednesday to cancel his "Late Show" appearance, looked like his head was ready to explode when he saw McCain sat for an interview with Katie Couric, writes The Campaign Silo's Jane Hamsher. Letterman slammed McCain's decision to suspend his campaign, asking whether the Republican was doing it because his "poll numbers are sliding," notes MyDD's Todd Beeton. Though McCain said he wants to focus on the economy, he has rarely shown interest in that topic as a senator, writes TalkingPointsMemo's Josh Marshall, who says McCain's guilty of the biggest "dog ate my homework" excuse in history.

But McCain's attempt to cancel the debate could work in his favor now that President Bush convinced Barack Obama to follow McCain to Washington, writes Lowry. While McCain displays leadership by emphasizing the most pressing issue, Obama looks like "wanna-be" who wants to "smile pretty" during the debate, writes Mike Gallagher at Townhall.

FROM THE BLOGS:
I'm Fed Up - Amanda Carpenter, Townhall.com
I'm Not Sold - Pejman Yousefzadeh, RedState
Should Be Willing to Take Pain - Rich Lowry, The Corner
McCain Blows of Letterman - J. Hamsher, The Campaign Silo
Biggest 'Dog Ate My Homework' in History - Josh Marshall, TPM
Worst Self-Inflicted Campaign Move Ever? - James Fallows
Debate Prep for Palin - kos, Daily Kos
McCain to Washington - Rich Lowry, The Corner
McCain, Leader; Obama, Wanna-Be - Mike Gallagher, Townhall.com
McCain 'Suspends' His Campaign - Paul Mirengoff, Power Line

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
Bush Calls Bailout Vital to Economy - Washington Post
Obama and McCain Will Join Bailout Talks - Los Angeles Times
Selfless or Reckless? McCain Gambles on Voters' Verdict - Wash. Post
Rangel Tries to Stay Steady Under Ethics Fire - The Hill

The Bush administration

The Bush administration's $700 billion bailout plan for banks is getting little love from bloggers on both sides. Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) made a a couple of gaffes Monday that will undercut his and Barack Obama's message, write conservative bloggers. But John McCain is hearing it from both sides for his campaign

Opposition to the $700 billion government bailout plan for banks with bad mortgage assets has hardened online. Both presidential candidates, however, need to speak out more strongly against the deal, according to bloggers on both sides. And the candidates' suggestions that they would include members of the opposing party in the next administration get the thumbs down from their blogging backers.

The Bush administration bailout plan could get out of control quickly if passed because it provides the Treasury Secretary with "essentially unlimited" power that cannot be reviewed to spend $700 billion, writes The Corner's Yuval Levin. Liberal activists should call Barack Obama and tell him to vote against the "blank check" deal, since he's unlikely to get pressure to oppose it from Democratic elites, writes MyDD's Todd Beeton.

Obama knocked the proposal only after John McCain voiced tentative skepticism over it, writes RedState's Jeff Emanuel, who senses that Obama is again being indecisive. But it's McCain who has yet to make clear which side he's on, even after Obama and members of both parties have taken sides, according to Josh Marshall at TalkingPointsMemo. McCain's economic adviser, former Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas), may be too close to the deal, since it calls for relief for UBS, the foreign bank that employs Gramm as a vice president, writes Marshall.

McCain's suggestion that New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, a fiery Democrat, should serve as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission prompts The Corner's Mark Levin to call McCain a "flawed candidate" who deserves just one White House term. But the possibility that Obama could keep Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on in his administration shows that Obama may not enact the "real change" he talks about, according to Open Left's David Sirota.

FROM THE BLOGS:
No Blank Check - Todd Beeton, MyDD
Essentially Unlimited Power - Yuval Levin, The Corner
Obama Waits For McCain's Position - Jeff Emanuel, RedState
Ball in McCain's Court - Josh Marshall, TalkingPointsMemo
Paulson to Bailout McCain's Friend? - Chris in Paris, AMERICAblog
Gramm's Role in Lobbying - Josh Marshall, TalkingPointsMemo
Cuomo? - Mark Levin, The Corner
Cuomo's Temper - Kathryn Jean Lopez, The Corner
Keeping Paulson Isn't Change - David Sirota, Open Left

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
Dems Set Terms as Bailout Debate Begins - New York Times
As Hill Debates Bailout, Wall St. Shifts Continue - Wash. Post
Virginians Giving at Record Pace - Washington Post
Big Financiers Start Lobbying for Wider Aid - New York Times

The massive federal bailout of U.S. banks saddled with mortgage debt irks liberal bloggers, who blame the mess on the Bush administration. Both presidential candidates face accusations from bloggers of playing the race card. And a Jewish group's disinvitation of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) from a protest against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad generates outrage on the right.

The federal rescue plan could cost the country up to $500 billion, which comes on top of billions already spent on bailing out mortgage, investment and insurance firms, writes Firedoglake's Attaturk, who calls the Bush administration's response "socialism with a capitalist face." The plan merely gives more money to the same wealthy people who benefited from the "Bush-McCain tax cuts," writes AMERICAblog's Chris in Paris.

McCain played the race card by running an ad that started with sinister images of two black men, Barack Obama and former Fannie Mae executive Franklin Raines, and then followed up with an image of a "vulnerable-looking elderly white woman," writes Karen Tumulty on Swampland. Tumulty seems to be more eager to make accusations than discuss the single hottest topic of the campaign, the economy, which is the focus of the ad, writes Patterico. It's Obama who is interjecting race in an ad about immigration that distorts Rush Limbaugh

Barack Obama has regained his lead in the national polls, liberal bloggers eagerly note. Obama, however, has showed he's running a negative campaign by airing a Spanish-language ad that distorts Rush Limbaugh's words and John McCain's position on immigration, conservative bloggers write. McCain makes his own Spanish gaffe when he seemed to forget in an interview that Spain is a U.S. ally, according to liberal bloggers.

Obama, thanks largely to attacks on McCain for his response to the Wall Street crisis, has regained the campaign momentum and blunted the appeal of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), writes The Huffington Post's Thomas B. Edsall. Obama is up nationally by five percentage points, 49 percent to 44 percent, in the New York Times/CBS poll, and by six percentage points, 49 percent to 43 percent, in the Daily Kos/Research 2000 tracking poll, writes Daily Kos's DemFromCT, who notes that Obama is seen as the "change" candidate and is even with McCain among white women voters. According to the state polls, Obama's road to victory is likely to go through some combination of victories in Virginia, Colorado and New Mexico, instead of wins in the swing states of Ohio and Florida, where McCain still leads, writes kos.

Obama's new ad distorts Limbaugh's position on immigration and unfairly tries to link his anti-illegal immigration stance to the more lenient record of McCain, writes Political Punch's Jake Tapper in a factcheck. Obama's ad is a "nasty smear" that serves as evidence that the Democrat is the most negative campaigner, writes Contentions' Jennifer Rubin. The press should follow Tapper's lead and heap criticism upon Obama for the false ad, just as it did when it found McCain's ads to be less than truthful, writes Townhall's Carol Platt Liebau.

McCain, in an interview with a Spanish reporter but conducted in English, talked about standing up to America's enemies when asked about U.S. ally Spain and its prime minister, Jose Luis Zapatero, writes TalkingPointsMemo's Josh Marshall. The blogger agrees with foreign press accounts that McCain confused the European nation with a more leftist Latin American country. McCain, who either didn't know Spain was part of NATO or the prime minister's name, undercut his own argument that he's the candidate with experience and national security credibility, writes Matthew Yglesias.

FROM THE BLOGS:
Campaign Momentum Shifts to Obama - Tom Edsall, Huffington Post
Kos/R2K Poll: Obama Leads by Six - DemFromCT, Daily Kos
The Battleground - kos, Daily Kos
CBS/NYT: McCain Still Tied to Bush - DemFromCT, Daily Kos
Obama's False, Racially Divisive Ad - Carol Platt Liebau, Townhall.com
Obama Ad Es Erroneo - Jake Tapper, Political Punch
Who's The Most Negative? - Jennifer Rubin, Contentions
Back to The Sixties - Victor Davis Hanson, The Corner
Oy - Josh Marshall, TalkingPointsMemo
McCain Unsure If He'll Meet With Spain P.M. - Matthew Yglesias

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
Lawmakers On Sidelines As Fed, Treasury Act - Washington Post
McCain Can't Seem to Find Economic Footing - Los Angeles Times
McCain Seen Less Likely to Bring Change, Poll Finds - New York Times
Big Three Ask for Billions - The Hill

The government bailout of American International Group and the House's passage of an energy bill allowing some expansion of offshore oil drilling are dominating the blogosphere. The $85 billion federal loan to keep insurance giant AIG afloat appalls conservative bloggers and worries liberal ones. The House's bill also disappoints activists on both sides, as conservatives had hoped for more oil exploration and liberals had hoped for a greater emphasis on renewable energy development.

By taking over AIG, the U.S. government is now the world's largest insurer and has stopped holding investors accountable for their own failures, writes Hot Air's Ed Morrissey. With the government bailing out yet another firm, previous talk by federal officals about allowing Lehman Brothers to fail in order to preserve "moral hazard" now counts for nothing, writes The Corner's Jonah Goldberg. "The Mother of All Bailouts" was all too predictable once the government started giving stimulus checks away and taking over private companies earlier this year, according to Michelle Malkin.

But the government is right to bailout AIG because its failure would have led to a financial market meltdown, writes The Plank's Noam Scheiber, who backs Barack Obama's call for greater regulation. The unanswered question is how public officials will run all the big companies now owned by the government, writes Matthew Yglesias, who notes that the companies could be used to serve the public interest or could become places to reward political cronies.

The energy bill passed by the Democratic-led House is a "sham," since it still blocks oil exploration within 50 miles of the shore, which is where experts think the oil is, writes Townhall's Amanda Carpenter. The 15 Republican House members who voted for the bill with Democrats stabbed supporters of drilling in the back, writes RedState's haystack. But according to liberal blogger Jerome Armstrong, Democrats lost the drilling issue by allowing a bill that may still be blocked by Republicans and by failing to frame the issue around renewable energy sources.

FROM THE BLOGS:
Mother of All Bailouts -

John McCain shouldn

With Wall Street facing a crisis Monday, bloggers on both sides call on the presidential candidates to focus on the economy. John McCain may finally be getting blowback for making false statements about Barack Obama, liberal bloggers note. And Obama's running mate, Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), takes heat from conservative bloggers for his lack of charity.

The crisis, exacerbated by the demise over the weekend of investment firms Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch, began earlier this year when the government irresponsibly decided to give away stimulus checks and bail out Bear Stearns, writes Michelle Malkin, who worries that the American taxpayer will suffer. The Bush administration's failure to provide oversight and regulation of financial companies has contributed to the crisis, which should force Obama and McCain to talk about their economic plans, writes AMERICAblog's Joe Sudbay. But with the economy in the toilet, the candidates can throw away their proposals since the country will be able to generate little revenue to pay for them, writes Firedoglake's Ian Welsh.

McCain is gambling that the traditional rules of campaigns, which require candidates to be truthful, don't apply this year and that the press and voters won't care about his false statements, writes The Huffington Post's Thomas B. Edsall. But Republican operative Karl Rove's acknowledgment that McCain's attacks have been less than 100 percent true could be a sign that everyone is starting to pick up on the dangerous strategy, writes MyDD's Jonathan Singer. The press doesn't like being lied to, and it's trying to respond with stories that highlight McCain's "strategy of lying," writes Daily Kos's Hunter.

Biden gave an average of $369 to charity each year for the past decade, notes Carol Platt Liebau at Townhall.com. Biden deserves to be called a "Scrooge" for donating little to charity while being a powerful U.S. Senator, writes The Corner's Jay Nordlinger.

FROM THE BLOGS:
Another Black Monday - Michelle Malkin
Lehman Bros. and Opportunity for McCain - S. Dayton, The Next Right
It Is The Economy, Stupid - Joe Sudbay, AMERICAblog
Candidates Can Forget Econ Plans - Ian Welsh, Firedoglake
McGamble: McCain Discards Rules - Tom Edsall, Huffington Post
Even Rove Frets About McCain's Honesty - J. Singer, MyDD
Blowback for Lying? - Hunter, Daily Kos
'Generous Joe' - Carol Platt Liebau, Townhall.com
Calling Ebenezer... - Jay Nordlinger, The Corner
Replacing Biden With Hillary Makes Sense - Andy Ostroy, HuffPo

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
Obama Raises a Record $66M in a Month - New York Times
Familiar Ground May Be Election's Deciding Factor - Wash. Post
Palin's Project List Totals $453 Million - Wall Street Journal
Obama Blames Wall Street on Republican Policy - Associated Press