Sarah Palin helps McCain shore up his base and that was all that mattered as long as she got a pass from the American public. Now, everyone is getting more scrutiny thanks to the economic crisis, even McCain, and the results haven't been pretty. When you ask Palin obvious, fair questions you get a lot of verbal diarrhea.

McCain's reaction has been to bluster and attck the journalists who are doing their job. That's not a pretty picture either, especially when the journo in question is Katie Couric. Katie Couric is a "gotcha" journalist? Really? I think she's a lightweight and McCain appears to simply be setting up a minimally successful narrative that everyone is in the tank for Obama because thehy demand answers from Palin.

This piece exposes the lie that so many in our country have bought into, costing us nearly a trillion dollars and thousands of lives of our soldiers. The end result is what? A violent and unstable country with a precarious future. When will the foo;lish narrative that we are "winning" in Iraq be put to rest? Perhaps when we have a president and a nation more concerned with handling a massive deficit and faltering economy than shoring up a badly damaged public image.

Bush is such a loser.

No one wants to take responsibility for this bailout but everyone wants to take credit if it works. Unfortunately, it has to be passed first. The GOP has too many members that are furious with Lame Duck Bush to get the ting moving, and clearly, McCain isn't up to the challenge, no matter what his antics last week. I hope the Dems can get this bill passed because it will be financial disaster if we don't. Maybe Obama can convicne the holdouts.

I agree that Palin is a dirty street fighter but that won't serve her well in the VP stakes. Her particular brand of bigotry and religious provincialism worked because of her geographic location. It won't move her beyond the party faithful. In fact, if her antics in Alaska were well-known in FL, McCain would lose voters in droves.

The fact is that the bar is far higher for Palin as VP. The stakes are too high this time around and "interesting" won't get you much. I'm personally thrilled that the economic crisis has forced Joe and Jane Average American to wake the hell up and seriously listen to Palin. She's a mess and Katie Couric was a cakewalk. That's what's so scary.

McCain just threw up this ploy to distract people from his inability to frame a response to the financial crisis. He just wanted an excuse look like he was doing something constructive and to hide the fact that he hasn't yet come put with a clear position on the bailout.

I'm proud of the way she has jumped on board. It couldn't have been easy but she's done it and proved herself to be a classy lady in addition to a tough pol. We need every voice we can to overcome the GOP BS Machine and the sheer bovine stupidity of millions of Americans. Keep it up Hillary!

Did you bother to read the NYT article? It doesn't sound like it from your post.

McCain alleges that he saved the Indians from being ripped off and he did save them from Abramoff. However, during the Abramoff investigation, McCain's closest cronies scored enormous windfalls as paid lobbyists for some of the same tribes ripped off by Abramoff. I think anyone with half a brain can see how contradictory that stance is to McCain's purported support for the tribes.

Ask yourself Rupert: Why were the fees so high? Why did the tribes have to hire personal friends of McCain? This is hardly a reformist act or even good government. It's business as usual.

Newman was enormously talented and also incredibly good-looking. However, he preferred to keep a low profile, maintain a solid family and commit his name and celebrity status to philanthropy. What a difference from the silly antics of today's "stars." Paul Newman will be missed.

Good one Joan! McCain is an embaressment.

Speak to the cleaning workers in a clear and direct way. Make it a statement. Say, "when my door is closed do not knock." Or you can put a sign on the door and explain it to the workers. A big NO sign with a red cross through it might work. However, it's important for you and others to uderstand that some mentally disabled people might not be able to change the routine so you may lose yuor clean office if they forget to come back. Also, you might want to use a picture schedule if you want to change the routine they appear to have.

Lastly, stop being such a whiner. Make accommodations. Extend yourself. It's far better for most people to have access to gainful employment and with a little adjustment, it can happen. Bend a little, grow a little. Stop relying on your alleged empathy to get you a pass on being smart about a sticky situation.

At first, I just thought to myself, "There's nothing else for it but to rescue these Wall Street firms. The risk of not doing so is too great."

However, since last week I've read and heard from several economists that seem to think a massive bailout may be a bad idea and, ultimately, not solve the problem anyway. There are other solutions out there for the government to bolster these firms, infuse cash investments into the system, without simply buying all their bad debt. How come the Bush admin is so wedded to this idea of a bailout...with no strings? That's a deeply problematic situation and we need to hold the line. No strings, no bailout. The American people need assurances that they are not just getting stuck with somone else's bill.