One and Done?  —  ONE day during the 2008 campaign, as Barack Obama read the foreboding news of the mounting economic and military catastrophes that W. was bequeathing his successor, he dryly remarked to aides: “Maybe I should throw the game.”  —  On the razor's edge of another recession …

Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult  —  Barbara Stanwyck: “We're both rotten!”  —  Fred MacMurray: “Yeah - only you're a little more rotten.”  -"Double Indemnity" (1944)  —  Those lines of dialogue from a classic film noir sum up the state of the two political parties in contemporary America.

The Limping Middle Class  —  Robert B. Reich is the former secretary of labor, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of “Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future.”  —  THE 5 percent of Americans with the highest incomes now account for 37 percent …

FBI arrests prominent Democratic campaign treasurer  —  SACRAMENTO - A prominent Democratic campaign treasurer who works for federal, state and O.C. lawmakers including U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein.  Rep. Loretta Sanchez and state Assemblymen Lou Correa and Jose Solorio has been arrested …

The media sure does love Mr. One Percent  —  CBS's “Face the Nation” has two presidential contenders on this morning.  One of them is even competitive. … Seeing Huntsman's name on the schedule got me thinking: haven't we seen quite a bit of him lately?  —  On Friday, Huntsman was on CNBC's “The Kudlow Report.”

Governor Palin's Speech at the “Restoring America” Tea Party of America Rally in Indianola, Iowa (Video and Transcript)  —  The following is the video and text of Governor Palin's speech at the “Restoring America” Tea Party of America Rally in Indianola, Iowa, on September 3, 2011.  —  Thank you, Iowa.

U.S. Is Appealing to Palestinians to Stall U.N. Vote  —  WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has initiated a last-ditch diplomatic campaign to avert a confrontation this month over a plan by Palestinians to seek recognition as a state at the United Nations, but it may already be too late …

MAULDIN: It's All About The Jobs — And Gold  —  This week we briefly look at yesterday morning's dismal unemployment report, then drop back and survey some other very eye-opening data on employment.  Some groups are (surprise) doing better than others.  What would it take to get us back to “normal,” whatever that is?

Perry focuses on Obama  —  Chichester, New Hampshire (CNN) - Texas Gov. Rick Perry focused blame for the economic slump squarely on President Barack Obama in a pair of speeches Saturday, as his stump speech continues to take shape.  —  Reading from notes, the folksy leader launched …

Comedian tells ‘special needs’ joke at Palin event  —  Washington (CNN) - In comedy, timing is everything.  —  And minutes before Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor and parent of a child with Down syndrome, made her much-anticipated speech in Iowa, Los Angles-based comedian Eric Golub told …

Labor Force Participation Rate by Age  —  Note: I've updated the percent job losses in recession graphs.  With an earlier BLS revision, the peak of employment moved to January 2008 instead of December 2007.  This matters if we are counting the number of months below the previous peak.  (ht Scott)

The Fizzle In Drizzle  —  Promising she was ready to have a “adult conversation” about the specifics of what needed to be done to right America, Palin set a marker for herself: … And then went on to speak in... vague generalities.  (Note: All quotes were taken directly as she spoke …

Palin still coy on presidential run  —  The audience at the Iowa Tea Party of America rally on Saturday chanted “Run Sarah, Run!” but former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin still won't say if she will be a candidate for president.  —  Palin instead unleashed an attack on “corporate crony capitalism” …