memeorandum: An Appeal and a Blame Game (Washington Post)

5:40 AM ET, September 30, 2008

Top Items:

Revolt of the Nihilists — In 1933, Franklin Roosevelt inherited an economic crisis. He understood that his first job was to restore confidence, to give people a sense that somebody was in charge, that something was going to be done. — This generation of political leaders is confronting …

Discussion: Scripting News, Kevin Drum and The Other McCain

Paul Krugman:

OK, we are a banana republic — House votes no. Rex Nutting has the best line: House to Wall Street: Drop Dead. He also correctly places the blame and/or credit with House Republicans. For reasons I've already explained, I don't think the Dem leadership was in a position to craft a bill …

Discussion: McClatchy Washington Bureau, Firedoglake, Salon, Corrente, culturekitchen, Open Left, About.com US Liberal Politics, Raising Kaine, Prairie Weather, The Mahablog, The Democratic Daily and Economist's View

New York Times:

With Deal's Collapse, the McCain Camp Attacks — WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — Besides stockholders whose portfolios were ravaged Monday afternoon, the one person with the most riding on the bailout bill that collapsed in Congress may have been Senator John McCain.

Discussion: Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

Washington Post:

An Appeal and a Blame Game — Nominees Link Each Other to Crisis, Urge Action on Hill — Reacting to the House's defeat of a $700 billion economic rescue proposal Monday, Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain called on Congress to pass a new bill and then sought to blame each other for the deadlock on Capitol Hill.

Discussion: marbury

Charles Babington / Associated Press:

Analysis: House vote against bailout wounds McCain — WASHINGTON - The house always wins, gamblers are warned, and the U.S. House made John McCain pay Monday for his politically risky, high-profile involvement in a financial rescue plan that came crashing down, mainly at the hands of his fellow Republicans.

Discussion: Don Surber

Jackie Calmes / New York Times:
In Bailout Vote, a Leadership Breakdown

Discussion: The Anonymous Liberal

Arnold Kling / EconLog:
Revolt of the Elites — I am getting ready to take a couple days off from blogging.

Discussion: Eunomia

Rex Nutting / MarketWatch:
House to Wall Street: Drop dead

Discussion: Deal Journal and Corrente

Jared Allen / The Hill:
The bailout implodes — The historic $700 billion bill aimed …

Discussion: Firedoglake

Jennifer Parker / Political Radar:

Stephanopoulos: What's Next? Congress Mulls Four Options — ABC News' George Stephanopoulos reports: There are meetings going on right now on Capitol Hill to try to figure out what to do about the $700 billion Wall Street bailout bill that failed to pass the House today.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, San Francisco Chronicle, Corrente, TalkLeft and AMERICAblog News

Larry Kudlow / The Corner:

The End of the U.S. Financial System as We Know It? — A number of Republican House members and staff, along with others who are plugged in, are telling me that Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats will come back with a new bill that includes all the left-wing stuff that was scrubbed from the bill that was defeated today in the House.

Discussion: Hot Air, American Prospect, Macsmind, skippy the bush kangaroo, The Campaign Spot and The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

Mark Halperin / TIME.com:
Rep. Pelosi's Remarks on Floor Ahead of House Bailout Vote

Discussion: Swampland, Think Progress, Gateway Pundit, The Reaction, Marc Ambinder, Crooks and Liars and Associated Press

Michelle Malkin:
Nancy Pelosi's bailout attack speech on the House floor; Update …

Discussion: Hot Air, Scared Monkeys, Stop The ACLU and Riehl World View

Phil Singer / The Marathon Blog:
The Cry Baby Strategy Is Back...

Discussion: Spin Cycle

Washington Wire:
House Republicans Blame Pelosi's Speech

Discussion: The Volokh Conspiracy, Townhall.com, Talking Points Memo, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, Betsy's Page, No More Mister Nice Blog, Financial Times, Harry's Place, The Anchoress, TIME.com, The Huffington Post and Washington Monthly

CNN:
Bitter finger-pointing on Capitol Hill after bailout bill fails

Discussion: Associated Press, Democratic Strategist, Buck Naked Politics and The Seminal

Josh Richman / insideBayArea:
House locals weigh in on bailout bill

Discussion: Spin Cycle and The New Republic

Fox News:
Lawmakers Blame Partisanship for Failed House Bill

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Scared Monkeys, FOX Embeds and Gateway Pundit

Jonathan Martin / Jonathan Martin's Blogs:

In reintroduction, Palin to do more interviews and “tell her story” — Tacitly acknowledging criticism that she's been diminished in part by an overly protective media shield, Sarah Palin will take a more forward-leaning approach and do additional interviews in the weeks ahead, a top aide said today.

Discussion: The Raw Story, TBogg, Ta-Nehisi Coates, CNN, MyDD, Campaign Silo, Gawker, Hot Air, Fighting Liberals, TIME.com, Donklephant, Oliver Willis, Wilshire & Washington and Spin Cycle

CBS News:

Exclusive: McCain, Palin Answer Critics — Katie Couric Asks Palin If She Contradicted McCain On Pakistan And Her Response To GOP Criticism … Katie Couric: Over the weekend, Gov. Palin, you said the U.S. should absolutely launch cross-border attacks from Afghanistan into Pakistan to …

Discussion: CNN, BAGnewsNotes, Political Machine, NewsBusters.org, Or How I Learned …, Undiplomatic, unbossed.com, Wonkette and No More Mister Nice Blog

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:

Concerns About Palin's Readiness as a Big Test Nears — A month after Gov. Sarah Palin joined Senator John McCain's ticket to a burst of excitement and anticipation among Republicans, she heads into a critical debate facing challenges from conservatives about her credentials …

Discussion: The Corner

Jeffrey Goldberg:
Sarah Palin Endorses Hamas

Discussion: Salon, Booman Tribune, Taylor Marsh, Obsidian Wings, Comments from Left Field and Eunomia

Mark Silva / The Swamp:
Palin, Couric, ‘gotcha journals,’ cowboys

Discussion: Jonathan Martin's Blogs and Ben Smith's Blogs

Glenn Reynolds / Pajamas Media:

A READER AT A MAJOR NEWSROOM EMAILS: “Off the record, every suspicion you have about MSM being in the tank for O is true. We have a team of 4 people going thru dumpsters in Alaska and 4 in arizona. Not a single one looking into Acorn, Ayers or Freddiemae. Editor refuses to publish anything …

Discussion: protein wisdom, Whiskey Fire, The Anchoress, Patterico's Pontifications, Dean's World, Power Line, Confederate Yankee and TBogg

Bloomberg:

Fed Pumps Further $630 Billion Into Financial System — Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve will pump an additional $630 billion into the global financial system, flooding banks with cash to alleviate the worst banking crisis since the Great Depression.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Impolitic and The Democratic Daily

New York Times:
Reaching for the Right Levers in an Anxious Situation

Discussion: Washington Post, Brad Setser and TIME.com

Ian Welsh / Firedoglake: Fed to Congress: We'll Just Print 630 billion dollars K? Thx Bye.

David Kurtz / Talking Points Memo:

THAT MEAN, NASTY NANCY PELOSI — Here's the Pelosi floor speech that Republicans claim so enraged them that they decided to change their votes on the bailout: — And here is the Republican House leadership laying all the blame at Pelosi's feet:

Discussion: The RBC, TheZoo and Spin Cycle

SilentPatriot / Crooks and Liars:
Shorter House GOP: We killed the bailout bill because Pelosi hurt our feelings

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs, Firedoglake, Comments from Left Field and Politics Blog

Marc Ambinder:
A Failure To Communicate (What We Have Here) — John McCain has a fundamental problem.

Discussion: The Politico, Sound Politics and marbury

Mike Allen / The Politico:

McCain takes credit for bill before it loses — Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and his top aides took credit for building a winning bailout coalition - hours before the vote failed and stocks tanked. — The rush to claim he had engineered a victory now looks like a strategic blunder …

Discussion: Boston Globe, The Gun Toting Liberal, CNN, The Reaction, Think Progress, Washington Post, TPM Election Central, Crooks and Liars, Hullabaloo, Spin Cycle, Daily Kos, Washington Monthly and Oliver Willis

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight.com:

Swing District Congressmen Doomed Bailout — This was predictable, I suppose, but it's remarkable to see how strong a relationship there is between today's failed vote on the bailout and the competitive nature of different House races. — Among 38 incumbent congressmen in races rated as …

Discussion: Left in the West, Threat Level, Salon, MoJoBlog, marbury, TIME.com, The Moderate Voice and MyDD

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight.com:
More Bailout Thoughts — WARNING: This stuff is a little bit above …

Discussion: The Daily Dish

Rasmussen Reports:

FOX/Rasmussen Swing State Polling - September 28, 2008 — Overview — Polling this week in Colorado, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia shows that Barack Obama has gained a net 3 to 5 percentage points in each state compared to the previous Fox News/ Rasmussen Reports poll.

Discussion: American Power and skippy the bush kangaroo

Megan McArdle:

The politics of the bill — There is no glory to go around here. Assume, arguendo, that most people in the House believed both that the bill would be passed, and that anyone who voted for it would suffer politically, except maybe in New York. — Pelosi screwed up royally. She is the Democratic Tom DeLay.

Discussion: The Next Right and Ed Driscoll.com