"I, also, have thought that we should start with keeping people in their homes, help them with the principal, reduce their payments and let them write their mortgage check to the feds. Why would it be necessary to do title searchs and liens? I don't know enough about the details to know why this would be necessary. All the info is right there in the original contracts between the banks and homeowners, I would think."

Once you own your home, you can encumber title to the property, as in: first and second mortgages, easements, etc. If the Federal Government went into the business of passing out cash to people who have taken out a mortgage on property, without checking to what extent that person actually still owns the property, there would be the potential for massive fraud. That's why banks require a current title search before forking over the money. Also, ownership of real property has to be in writing, so liens would need to be written and recorded.

... that we happen to be fighting a Religious War right now, after having been attacked by fanatic Muslims (who see their world as having been defiled by infidel Christians). That's why we have a Global War On Terror and a Clash Of Civilizations, instead of doing what we would do about mass-murdering criminals under any other circumstance: track 'em down and lock 'em up.

I thought Biden missed a golden opportunity when Palin said, "sure mistakes were made - every administration makes mistakes". The W-stands-for-Wrong Administration has made more mistakes than most, and if the McCain Administration isn't concerned with restoring basic competency to government, then who needs them?

"Biden was too polite and restrained to say it"

Palin teed the ball up for Biden when, referring to the Bush Administration, she said "every administration makes mistakes". Competency is no longer an option or even an aspiration, apparently. But Joe declined to take a swing.

It has been Standard Operating Procedure for the past 50 years that whenever Democrats make any kind of progressive tax proposal, the Republicans trot out their current Joe The Plumber straw man.

Pardon, me, but that's not who John McCain represents. John McCain represents Joe Wall Street. He represents the recently-ejected but beautifully-coiffed CEO of AIG, who publicly declined to forego his golden parachute at a congressional hearing, following spa treatments at the resort retreat, in the midst of the $100 billion government bailout of his company. I don't understand why Obama didn't go ahead and mention that.

... from the Librul Anti-Murrican Media.

My perspective on the W.O.D. is informed by an NPR story from a couple of decades ago, that wasn't even directly about drugs. A clergyman in a dry county in Texas was fighting the good fight to defeat a ballot referendum legalizing Demon Rum. He ultimately quit in dismay when he realized that his financial support came entirely from liquor stores in the surrounding counties.

The point is, the drug purveyors WANT drugs to continue to be illegal. They NEED drugs to be illegal. They and the government and the cops are all on the SAME SIDE of this issue. What more needs to be said?

I ever there was an important issue of the day, the question of whether Joe Lieberman calls himself a Democrat ain't it. Nor is the question of whether some political consultant wants to go off the record while doing a little internecine back-stabbing.

Glenn, easy with the torch and the pitchfork. Lieberman will be stripped of his chairmanships in January, and hopefully defeated next time around. Meanwhile, why should the Dems yank his chain just for spite?

"You can't make this stuff up."

Hee!

I think Palin will be running in 2012, but not as a Republican. I think by then she'll be the leader of the Focus On The Family Party, and the leftover Republicans will be slugging it out in the Bush leagues with Nader, the Greens, and Lyndon LaRouche.

McCain's problem isn't his campaign choices so much as the fact that the Republican Party is really two distinct parties: the Fiscal Conservative Party and the Christian Right Party. Once it was clear that McCain would be the nominee, James Dobson and others flirted with the idea of a third-party run. In the wake of the coming GOP disaster, I believe they will decide the time has come to fish for voters' souls, or cut bait.

Mike, I'm a liberal Democrat too, but I think you speak way too soon. This isn't the end of Christian influence in politics, it's the beginning. If/when McCain loses, their next step will be to form an overtly Christian party, with Sarah out front, and I think they will put the Republican Party out of business.

Middle America feels under attack from Godless Muslim Terrorists, and they see having gotten stuck with the "liberal" John McCain as their candidate as another in a long line of insults they won't willingly suffer again. The Christian Right has always taken a back seat while fiscal conservatives drove, but that ride has now gone off the cliff.

I figure there are a few hours left for someone to persuade me to go stand in line. I'm not planning to vote today because:

1. Obama betrayed his oath of office by voting for telecom immunity, and

2. I live in a state so blue that if he loses the election, it sure as heck won't be because I stayed home.

So, tell me: why should I bother? Thanks in advance.

So, tell me: why should I bother? Thanks in advance.

Ungrateful little shit.

Thanks for reminding me why my vote won't make that much difference. We're in America, and it's full of morons who don't want to bother having a discussion, but just want to throw their weight around. That's why we're in the fix we're in, pal, becuase of folks like you.