Spend, spend, spend

Congress reached a deal with the White House agreeing in principle to a $700 billion bailout of taxpayer money to buy bad assets. The House will vote on the measure early Monday. The AP reported that "A breakthrough came when Democrats agreed to incorporate a GOP demand — letting the government insure some bad home loans rather than buy them. That would limit the amount of federal money used in the rescue. Another important bargain, vital to attracting support from centrist Democrats, would require that the government, after five years, submit a plan to Congress on how to recoup any losses from the companies that got help". President Bush said it will be a tough vote, but it should pass. Both Senators Obama and McCain support the bailout. The Senate also passed, on Saturday, a $634 billion bill keeping the government afloat. As part of that $634 billion, $25 billion are subsidized loans for the auto industry. In toto, that's over $1.3 trillion in spending alone this weekend...On Friday, Obama and Mccain debated at Ole' Miss. In essence, there were two debates: the first debate on the economic woes of the country lasted roughly 40 minutes; the remainder of the debate focused on national security issues. McCain stumbled early on with respect to the economy, though he did hit a nerve with respect to spending (see above). Obama remained cool, spoke directly into the camera, and spoke eloquently about how this current crisis hurts the middle class and Main Street Americans. McCain could not seem to get untracked early. However, when the debate shifted to national security, McCain clearly hit his stride. He was a walking, talking encyclopedia of names, places, facts, etc. The more McCain spoke of his foreign policy experience, the more Obama agreed with McCain. Clearly, McCain outperformed Obama during the remainder of the debate. However, even though McCain won going away on foreign policy, Obama battled Mccain to a draw since the most important aspect of the night was the economy. Since McCain did not score a "knockout", in essence, Obama won. Why? As Dick Morris points out "We're left wondering why McCain acted as he did - and suspecting him of just being impulsive, desperate and quirky. So the taller, younger, better-looking, more articulate man won last night. Obama showed a level of concern for the average American that McCain - who undoubtedly feels that concern - failed to project...advantage Obama"...The new Zogby poll shows that "44% believed Obama won the debate, while 41% said McCain did. Another 16% said they watched the debate but were unsure who came out on top". According to "Politico" some important members of the GOP are quietly raising the question, "should VP hopeful Sarah Palin step aside"? While there's been an uptick in volunteers, and she draws huge crowds, she's made a number of gaffes and appears unknowledgeable and awkward on camera, almost naif like. McCain has thus far stood by her, but one has to wonder what kind of performance she will give next Thursday at the VP debate. Stay tuned.

There are 37 days until the presidential election. There are 113 days left in the Bush presidency. And, it's been 2,771 days since there's been a terrorist attack on US soil. Good day and God bless!