The government could pay down part of a homeowner's mortgage principal balance, reducing their monthly payments, and receive a portion of the proceeds on the eventual sale of the property. That sounds great, and would do a better job of keeping people in their homes.

I know a lot of people who don't care about the current bailout terms insofar as Wall Street is getting free pass who would be OUTRAGED if they thought "lazy, stupid, deadbeat" individuals who don't pay their mortgages were getting bailed out.

Via Blue Texan at FDL: "Kathleen Parker Shocked To Find Her Party’s Full Of “Vicious”, “Threatening”, Delusional Wingnuts"

As Blue Texan so eloquently puts it:

Suck it up, Kathleen. You've been tossing red meat to a caged rabid animal for two decades. No sympathy when it finally bites you.

(link @ sig)

Would you mind sharing which Congressional district you're in? I am following several California races closely, and am intrested in some information you posted awhile back. If not, no problem. Even innocuous-seeming personal info is scary to share in public. Thanks!

And to Glenn, I fear that many members of the public would have the same reaction to a "bottom up" bailout as Shooter, without recognizing the inherent irony of their position. But, when have the middle-class anti-tax crowd ever realized that corporate welfare exists and isn't helping them? They're still buying into the failure that is "trickle down." (I've also been told by a couple of wingnuts that the massive expenditures on Iraq are a good thing because they "create jobs." They're brainwashed!) They basically loathe their struggling neighbors whom they consider "lesser" than them (you know, until they have a catastrophe and suddenly can't pay their own bills). But, they worship the wealthy Wall Street mavens who they think deserve what they get and worked hard for it. They don't see that a bailout is a bailout is a bailout.

When you add the racial component that's been thrown around by their illustrious pundit class, there's no way they would support bailing out their fellow Americans whom they consider to be "deadbeats," even if it would be in their best interests. They've been cutting off their noses to spite their faces for decades. Why would they stop now?

I know that there was massive opposition to the bailout bill in the House, so I guess I could be wrong. Obviously, many were opposed because a bailout of the architects of the crisis is unconscionable. But, I have to wonder if some members of the public would be just as opposed to any bailout bill, because of the massive cost to the taxpayer. Aren't they still just looking at their pocketbook?

...They're counting on the fact that no one watched the debate last night.

Otherwise, how moronic does a campaign have to be to pay for a national ad the central tenet of which was debunked in a very major way on every major network last night? Who starts repeating a lie, right after it's been shown to be a lie?

Just when you think McSame can't hit a new low...

Did anyone see O'Reilly screaming at Barney Frank recently? He literally would not let Frank speak. He will claim that he's fair because he interviews "liberals," but he never allows anyone to challenge his talking points. And when I say "talking points," I mean lies.

In addition, why would a news outlet treat it's guests so shabbily (especially congress members) and expect credibility? Maybe I'm just fragile, but the yelling and screaming is actually upsetting. If i were Frank, I'd refuse any invites from Fox.

To the credit of both candidates, no time was wasted on phony issues like Obama's arm's-length association with 1960s radical bomb-maker Bill Ayers or McCain's long-ago entanglement in the Keating Five scandal.

Apples & oranges.

The Keating 5 scandal is directly relevant to today's economic crisis. Ayers is not relevant to, well, anything. (Despite what that lying hypocrite Palin says.)

...it's pretty clear Obama is no raving liberal. Far from it.

(I did, however, appreciate his saying that health care was a "right." That went a long way with me.)

Between this and watching youtube video McCain supporters call Obama a terrorist (and whatever other filthy, disgusting, ignorant invective they could come up with) as a result of being whipped into a hate frenzy by the McCain and Palin themselves, I am thoroughly depressed today.

This is a terrible cliche, but I'm sayingit anyway: we've got to take our country back.

Based on this:

I will be voting for McCain.

-- adnoto

I'd say your comment was spot on.

"O God, we are in a battle that is raging for the soul of this nation. You, O God, have raised up Senator John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin for such a time as this ... Help them, O God, to strengthen our economy, to keep our taxes and spending low ... and grant them the privilege of being elected the next president and vice president."

That was at a McCain-Palin rally yesterday, where both McCain and Palin were present...

(Link @ sig.)

These are their followers. Praying for lower taxes!! Their obsession with taxes is what allows the right use words like "socialist" and "communist" to describe someone who is quite moderate and very much part of the Washington establishment. I doubt any of those freaks even understand what socialism or communism are. More to the point, they know nothing about Obama except his race, his middle name and that Sarah Palin thinks he "pals around with terrorists."

This is all supremely ironic in light of the fact that McCain claims to be so honorable.