"Gwen Ifill broke her ankle today, but she'll still moderate Thursday's debate."

Oh please please Gwen, let Katie Couric fill in for you!

* Did Gingrich screw over Boehner on the bailout vote?

I can't believe that he's seriously thinking of running in 2012. He couldn't even get reelected to the house in his jerkwater Georgia district more than a decade ago.

I wonder what kind of drugs Gwen will be on ? Hope they don't dull her wits.

* MoveOn.org vs. Tom Brokaw.

Hilarious, ok not really, thing about Brokaw is that wing nuts used to hate him. He's one of those multi-millionaire broadcast "journalists" who speaks so well to the "common man".

Stay on the ranch Tom. You obviously need the rest and so do we.

Asshole.

WTF Brokaw? I guess if you lead off with "In fairness," it's okay to add a completely biased, outdated, and misleading non sequitor.

Venezuela is in the Middle East, Spain is in South America... I'm really enjoying McCain's Dada geography.

***********************

KUDOS TO STEVE BENEN!!

***********************

Nothing substantive to add, except just to say how very much I appreciate having your site open in my browser all day. I regularly hit refresh, and always find what I consider to be the BEST commentary, links and info on what's happening!

I've moved you front and center, top bookmark, and this week, you became my HOME PAGE! (Used to be Salon's War Room, but forget it. They mainly crib story ideas from Huffpo and rewrite them!) Used to visit MSNBC's First Read and TPM and such, a lot, but, no longer.

YOU are the one who does it best, Steve!!!!!!!

So, forgive me for sounding like some sort of love-struck cyberstalker. I'm just a Washingtonian who really, truly appreciates your thoughtful analysis and updates!

Wall Street is not the US economy.

What happens there is only a part of a much larger picture.

You cannot use the DOW as a benchmark as to how well the economy is doing.

Need a graph that shows credit markets, jobless claims, foreclosed houses, fuel prices, etc.

The focus on the Dow masks deeper sh*t going on all across Main Streets in the USA.

I still think Wealthcare smells. (the massive life support for Wall Street).

Gwen will be fine.

Sarah and John are getting the idea that folks are picking on them. Too bad. After the tricks with Gore in 2000 I have NO, NONE, NADA sympathy.
Kerry was also villified. So, welcome to the club John and Sarah. You oughta be able to take da heat!

Tom Brokaw needs to get a nice little retirement bungalow at Fox News. He's a little high from sniffing the glue that binds the pages on his bestseller "The Greatest Generation."

I'll be he hates those damned teenagers with their hula hoops and their rock n' roll too.

He's a corporate media coprolyte.

The television audience for the first presidential debate

The WSJ thinks the debate audience was small because it was held on Friday. Fair enough, but it might also be that there really is no one in America who is particularly interested in hearing what McCain has to say, especially Republicans.

I do hope that all debates require that the audiences remain absolutely still throughout, as they did in this one.

Dada Geography

Good one Alex C @5:47

I'm not one of those who is all HOT for Gwen Ifil...Jim Leher was just HORRIBLE...unprepared and with little ability to come back with follow-ups to the candidates comments...these moderators must be more flexible and ready with factual information that allows them to get to the heart of responses that might just be memorized rehashes of stump speeches...I'd love to know just what information the candidates get BEFORE the "debate"...do they have an OUTLINE...some focus areas to prepare for...or should they be prepared to bring their A GAME to whatever they are asked...

"Gwen Ifill broke her ankle today, but she'll still moderate Thursday's debate." Oh please please Gwen, let Katie Couric fill in for you! Posted by: MissMudd

Gwen's a wimp. How about Rachel Maddow or, best yet, the ghost of Molly Ivins?

Question: could the House revote for the same bill, with the added FDIC limit and do the vote by a voice vote?

If this thing is supposed to be a difficult pill to swallow, why not put everyone in the same basket; they either voted yes, or voted no and didn't demand an electronic vote?

Jim Leher was just HORRIBLE...unprepared and with little ability to come back with follow-ups to the candidates comments... Posted by: Dancer

He's been phoning it in for years. How we miss his better half.

Jim Leher was just HORRIBLE...unprepared and with little ability to come back with follow-ups to the candidates comments...

He wasn't supposed to come back with follow-ups to the candidates comments, the structure of the debate was supposed to encourage back and forth among the candidates, with the moderator asking the "lead questions" and keeping things moving, and the candidates providing the follow-ups.

Lehrer seemed dedicated to trying to get the debate to do what it was designed to do, rather than taking more aggressive control of the flow and content and treating it as a two-subject interview on a host-personality-centered talk show the way many recent Presidential debates (including many of the primary debates) have been run.

So can anyone explain how the Boss/Piano Man benefit works with respect to campaign finance laws?

They are billing it as a benefit "for Obama," but presumably the ticket price counts toward the $2,300 individual limit, right?

Assuming so, how would that work out for the $2,500 and $10k tickets?

Or is this for the Democratic Party or something?

What's with this concert? Do you have to have an invitation to buy the tickets? I can't find where to buy the tickets. I'm willing to go $1K for 2 balcony tickets.

Venezuela, Spain

Also there was a reference to a Pakistan/Iraq border and a couple references to Czechoslovakia. But everybody knows foreign affairs is McCain's specialty. Oh, and he's a straight talker.

Tom Brokaw has also been phoning it in. Ever since Charles Pierce called him "The Man Who Discovered World War II," that's the only way I can think of him. Tom got smug and pompous a long time ago. I'm not surprised he's an outright Republican now.

Did Gingrich screw over Boehner on the bailout vote?

Who cares? Let's just assert they did and hope that they eat one another and take their fuckheaded party down with them.

The television audience for the first presidential debate was big, but not nearly as big as expected.

I wonder though. I mean the numbers mirror TV's declining "viewership" (I don't think people have stopped watching TV, they're just doing it on their time), but then, we live in a TiVO and YouTube age, in which they have few accurate metrics. That and there seemed to be tons of places which were offering group viewings (like in bars or house parties).

Plus, and I haven't seen a comparison of this, but has a debate ever happened on a Friday night before? If so, what was the viewership?

It's stupid to hold one on a Friday, but the numbers may lie anyway.

* And on Oct. 16, in support of the Obama campaign, Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel will play their first concert together.

Gee. Joel outta rehab? I wonder how much Joel had to pay Springsteen to be included on the bill? Both these guys will sure bring in the kids.

In defense of McCain's geographical slip-ups, he was originally taught using the Pangaea map and has been so busy solving the financial crisis all these years that he never got around to updating it. So it's not that his understanding of the world is flawed; he's just old school.

when Brokaw started with NBC back in 1968, the average politician’s soundbite on the evening news was 42 seconds. By the 2000 election, this had shrunk to 7 seconds. Similarly, the average Presidential quote on the front page of the New York Times was then 14 lines; in 2000 it was just six lines.

Brokaw is the NBC liason to McCain. He helped get Oblermann thrown off election coverage. He's stuck in the past.
That's Just What I Said

Newt for pres? After he cut and run from his House seat?

I don't think so.

Does McCain have a one-in-four chance of surviving a second term?

My take on this:

The Atlanta actuarial company estimates that McCain has a health expectancy of 8.4 years, while Obama can expect another 21.9 years of good health.

This, to me, is more critical than the life expectancy data.

Think about it: They're saying that, on average, a person with McCain's traits will have another 8 years of good health and function; half may have less than that, half may have more.

Doesn't that suggest that he's got a 50% chance of a significant health issue or crisis at some point in the 8 years following inauguration day?

Put another way: A fifty percent chance that Palin serves as acting President. A fifty percent chance of a sudden shift in command. In the course of one of the most technically and politically challenged periods of history ever, a 50-50 chance that the country will be catapulted into leadership crisis.

Best case scenario, several years pass before the crisis hits, Palin has been extensively schooled in foreign policy, economic and political leadership because McCain has integrated her in all that the office entails. But will he trust her? Will she step up?

But, we don't have any assurance that the 50% likely scenario will wait six years instead of 3.

Palin has been widely reported, after 20 months in the governor's office, of being uninterested in the nitty-gritty of the state's business. She has been largely divorced from collaboration with the state legislature, not even bothering to show up in the state capitol to manage her staff in person.

Picture the crisis hitting 20 months into McCain's presidency. Why should we believe that her approach to the vice presidency will be fundamentally different from the governorship? Why should we believe she will not emulate Bush by spending 25% of her time phoning it in from Wasilla?

Obama cannot push this point, so progressive bloggers must: Fifty percent chance that McCain will no longer be healthy in 8 years. Is that the gamble we want to take?

Anything to add?

Bill Simpich has a detailed piece on the FBI's handling of the Anthrax case over at truthout.org

Tom got smug and pompous a long time ago. I'm not surprised he's an outright Republican now.
Posted by: sagacity

Fascist crypto-fascist? It all works out the same in the end.

Gore Vidal good kick Bill Buckley's ass!

It's important to remember that, by keeping the credit markets frozen, the financials don't have to allow anyone to refinance their subprimes and jumbos at lower interest rates. The entire bottom line of the banking industry is hinged to the projected profits garnered from those notes; to take it away would be the same as telling someone they have to do the same amount of work for a lot less money.

Everyone's worried about credit freezing up now, but where were they when people who bought on these mortgages---people who were promised the opportunity of being able to refinance at a better rate---were denied that opportunity two years ago?

The world has become accustomed to right-here-right-now everything, including credit at their fingertips, for far too long now. Anything less than a full return to what the world was boasting about before it all started caving in will be viewed as excessively restrictive---a-k-a "a freezing" of credit availability, and nothing shy of a full nationalization of the banking industry by the federal government will thaw this economy out and get it running again. Until then, the entire economy will be at best dystrophic; limping one day, on cruthes the next, eventually in a wheelchair, on life support, and death.

Depending on your point of view, this "bailout/rescue" is either the wheelchair or the iron lung. Take your pick....

The Boss was the first show I ever saw. The guy behind me spilled beer on me. I was maybe 11 or 12.

Anyone remember McCain's first argument for Palin? She understands. She has the right answers.

It's like she was given a multiple choice test and passed.

It must really piss him off when she doesn't have the right answer.

"Gwen Ifill broke her ankle today, but she'll still moderate Thursday's debate."

Make it stop. This is already the craziest election I've ever seen. And now our moderators have to pile on with more weirdness? What's next? Palin getting bitten by a cobra during a press conference? Oh wait, that can't happen because Palin won't hold a press conference. I guess we'll just have to settle for the "Snakes on a Plane" scenario.

That said, I wish Gwen a speedy recovery. She's a class act.

These are tough times for our banking institutions. Investors should be looking to protect their money by either getting out of the market and reducing discretionary spending or diversifying by investing overseas. I personally use offshore bank accounts and they have helped me with diversification and asset protection. If you want to read more on why offshore investing is smarter, feel free to visit my website.

Best,
Frank Miller
http://www.theoffshorebankaccount.com

I think Springsteen would definitely bring crowds of all ages. When I saw him on his solo tour, it was a sold out theater setting, and the audience was mostly families, and a lot of people my age (21 at the time). Plus, the ability to sell out 2 nights in Los Angeles in a matter of minutes can only be a good thing (especially if he continues to charge $120 for tickets... blue collar, my ass.)

Not sure how Jim Lehrer got in the post, but he did much better than past moderators from what I saw, and I watched all but about 2 minutes of the debate.

As a matter of fact, going back about 25 years, I haven't seen a better debate or moderator. Who was better?

MoveOn.org Vs. Tom Brokaw

What people dont know is that TB has always been a Republican undercover shill. About 12 years ago I helped a friend move his mother into an assisted living home. She had been a big time insider in California Republican circles and knew everyone. Her walls were covered by photos of her life and times, which I packed and moved to her new place. You cannot believe how many of these photos of Republican get togeathers had TB in them. Remember TB's first big gig was as the anchor on the 11:00 news in LA (KNBC) 1966. These photos included Nixon, Regan, Pete Wilson and local pols, all Republicans. The ones with her and TB were autographed by him.

OMG--what an ugly comment made to Rachel Maddow--the asshole Republican congressman she interviewed on her show just signed off by saying "Yes Sir..oh, I mean Yes Maam" (in response to her thanking him).

Don't tell me that was an accident.

Hmm..I wonder how many times this jerk ends interviews with a "Yes Sir" (after being thanked for his time) in general? As opposed to the much more commonly used: "Sure" or "My pleasure" or just "your welcome" and the like...

Good for Rachel to laugh it off with: "That's okay. It happens all the time".

"...credit markets remain frozen."

So friggin unfreeze them.

REQUIRE regional banks to lend a certain amount of their cash.

Make it ILLEGAL to cut off credit to people who have NEVER missed a payment.

To the extent that the "credit crisis" is extending to credit cards, small business loans, and lines of credit, that's ALL you need to do.

As to mortgages, adjust the friggin's things to 30-year fixed-term loans and split the loss of equity between the bank and the homeowner, i.e. figure out current fair market value v. sales price, and make the new fixed term loan half way between those two.

NO MONEY to the "securitized" mortgage holders who bought pigs in pokes.

Good grief! Bad enough she didn't have much to say about SCOTUS (and we have yet to see whether that rumour is actually true). But, not being able to name a single newspaper or magazine that she reads (or claims to read)??? Breathtaking...

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/30/palins-news/

Wow, she claims she reads them all (newspapers and magazines)-- but couldn't name yet one?!

Come on, now--that just moved everything over from the ridiculous and bizarre to the utterly insane.

The woman's got NOTHING. The Emperor truly has NO clothes!!

If I were Sarah Palin I would keep my mean girl mouth out of crutch range on Thursday. Ifill held her own against Darth Cheney four years ago.

heh

Did anyone else catch Palin's answer to climate change?

She said "It doesn't matter what caused it, we just have to adress it going forward..."

How about no. That's not how problem solving works you fucking nitwit. A stark answer that displays her abject stupidity once and for all.

Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.

Well, yes... After all the comments on these threads over the last several days of how politically stupid McCain was to "suspend" his campaign and go to Wash, today's ABC News/Wash Post poll shows McCain gained 5 points over the last week and has closed the gap to a 4 point spread (Obama 50, McCain 46).

Maybe not so stupid..

OMG--what an ugly comment made to Rachel Maddow--the asshole Republican congressman she interviewed on her show just signed off by saying "Yes Sir..oh, I mean Yes Maam" (in response to her thanking him).

Missed it, but was the Congressman a Southerner? I'm in the South, and I hear "Yes, sir, I mean yes, ma'am" every now and then, especially if people are a little nervous. It's no big deal.

Thanks Gwen for your dedication. You don't see much of that from the MSM nor the politicians!

A speedy recovery dear!

-William