...is that I know otherwise rational and intelligent people who truly buy into this Right Wing fantasy that they are all that stands between individual liberties and an ever encroaching authoritarian government. When I point out who has wielded all the power in the last 8 years I get incoherent arguments about how it is the Big Government Big Spending Liberal Elites of the Nanny State who have caused all our troubles. It's like talking to a wall. I just hope enough sanity prevails to cancel out these Conservatives In Denial.

BTW, Thanks Glenn for the great series of interviews on Salon Radio lately. They've been very helpful and informative.

Socialists and Southern conservatives unite! You have nothing to lose except possibly a global depression.

This makes it sound as if it were irrational to oppose this plan. It isn't. The Senate and the House Leaderships are obstinately refusing to allow any other alternatives other than some variant of the Paulson Plan, which is poor at best. Just because Socialists and Southern conservatives hate this plan does not make them irresponsible. Sanders nailed it on the head. Handing Paulson $700B to distribute to his former colleagues is insane!

The fundamental problem here is that these "toxic waste" instruments rely at bottom on the value of housing, and the housing market is in the dumps. More foreclosures will only make this situation worse. We need a bottom-up plan to stop the foreclosures and prop up the housing market. This kills two birds with one stone: it helps homeowners who are in dire straits, and it renders the toxic waste less toxic. But conservatives have a blind spot to this solution because at heart it helps the "little guy", who they reflexively and incorrectly blame for the crisis.

This debate ultimately is about who really owns our government. The rejection by the House of the Paulson plan was heartening but, as usual, We The People will lose this war to the plutocrats who really call the shots.

...where I hope against hope that they reject it again. It's time for the House Leadership to introduce a different plan, one that leaves Paulson and his cohort on the sidelines.

I think you misunderestimated the trouble the Packers are in. No Cullen Jenkins, no Al Harris, no Atari Bigby, in addition to Rodgers and Hawk and several others. The long injury list is definitely a deficit of major proportions urgently requiring a bailout to avoid total meltdown.

But Mike Sherman is a Maverick, so likely they will still win. If they don't, I doubt Packers fans will be booing or leaving early.

That was a great quip I saw by a commenter over at ThinkProgress.org. And it's true. Let Palin and McCain show their ass to the world. It'll play with the rubes who support them, sure, but you'll never win that crowd over anyway. Everyone else it will appall.

I'm with Glenn: I hope they get crushed, destroyed, obliterated. They deserve no less. How any sentient, rational being could support four more years of this hell is beyond me.

Nobody in Congress voted for or against funding Cindy McCain's son, or for or against funding "The Troops", for that matter. They voted on supplemental appropriations to fund the war in Iraq or Afghanistan. Disagreements on how this is done are perfectly legitimate and an inevitable part of a democratic government. Further, the DoD has a yearly budget from which to "fund" its troops, which is not in dispute.

I am embarrassed for Cindy McCain for her maudlin display over such a fake issue. A "cold chill"? This is sinking low indeed.

How can one Senator call another Senator a terrorist (not just in a moment of anger followed by a public apology) and expect to work together for positive change no matter the outcome of the election?

The coward will claim that he himself never called Obama a terrorist, even while he incited his followers to do so and condoned their doing so. This is the action of a contemptible man, a man without any honor, a man that would as a result be unable to lead at all should his vile tactics succeed and take him to the highest office of this land.

I agree with some commenters who see this ending badly. I though the Clinton hate was bad and inexcusable, but this is worse by far. My mother and my aunts and uncles lived through the Spanish Civil War. I can tell anyone willing to listen that you just don't want to go there. Have these people no shame? Have they not a single patriotic bone in their body? Can they not, for once, do something that is right for the Nation, instead of only thinking of themselves?

Thank you Glenn for calling a spade a spade here. Dan Balz "balance" is indeed nothing short of cowardice. I would add dereliction to duty as well.

So here we have a law that is supposed to protect this girl being used against her in a clear attempt to harm her. Just who are the shining lights who decided to press charges? These are the people she really needs to be protected against. Laws are not bludgeons. They are tools, and like any tools, require common sense in their application. That the law did not anticipate this application is not necessarily a failure by lawmakers, unless one of their duties is to assume that law enforcement is conducted by idiots.