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The McCain-Palin website now has a page soliciting "thoughts" on his "Homeowner Resurgence Plan." Here is the link: http://www.johnmccain.com/involving/petition3.aspx?guid=84a6fec2-583a-47c8-b332-4d2a9c4bd407

After a turbulent week that included new disclosures about Gov. Sarah Palin and signs that Senator John McCain was struggling to strike the right tone for his campaign, Republican leaders said Saturday they were worried that Mr. McCain was heading for defeat unless he brought stability to his presidential candidacy and settled on a clear message to counter Senator Barack Obama. Again and again, party leaders said in interviews that while they still believed that Mr. McCain could win over voters in the next 30 days, they were concerned that he and his advisers seemed to be adrift in dealing...

With credit markets in New York in crisis last week, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sent an extraordinary letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson asking for $7 billion. Although the governor has since withdrawn that request, it testifies to the dire state of his budget. Yet days before penning his note, the governor told an audience at the Commonwealth Club of California not to worry about the state's budget crunch and to approve $9.95 billion in new debt on the November ballot to build a bullet train to connect Los Angeles to San Francisco: "Just because we have a problem with...

McCain faces conservative backlash over mortgage plan By Alexander Mooney CNN (CNN) -- John McCain is facing a fresh round of anger from members of his own party deeply opposed to the Arizona senator's proposal for the federal government to purchase troubled mortgage loans. John McCain first mentioned his mortgage relief plan during Tuesday's town-hall debate with Barack Obama. John McCain first mentioned his mortgage relief plan during Tuesday's town-hall debate with Barack Obama. The pointed backlash from several economic conservatives -- many of whom already distrust McCain's commitment to free-market principles -- couldn't come at a worse time for...

Republican Sen. John McCain had long promised American voters that he would be the ultimate maverick presidential candidate and run "a respectful campaign." Americans "don't want us to finger-point and question each other's character and integrity," he told Ohio voters just five months ago. But that was then - before the economy was in free fall and before his Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, had gained ground in key swing states. And this is now - the Arizona senator's campaign is pounding the drum to raise doubts about Obama's patriotism and what it calls his questionable background, particularly his past...

McCain just killed all the momentum and enthusiasm of the last week with this simple sentence in response to an angry attendee at a rally tonight: “I have to tell you, he is a decent person, a person that you do not have to be scared [of] as president of the United States." “No, ma’am. He is a decent family man, citizen"

After days of watching in silence, McCain calms the crowd at his Minnesota town meeting. “I want everyone to be respectful. And let’s make sure we are, because that’s the way politics is done in America.” Tells one supporter who says he’s scared of an Obama presidency: “I have to tell you, he is a decent person, a person that you do not have to be scared [of] as president of the United States.” After a woman calls Obama “an Arab,” McCain interrupts to say: “No, ma’am. He is a decent family man, citizen

Does David Brooks even pretend to be a conservative anymore? Can we finally acknowledge that this man isn’t even remotely interested in what motivates outside the Beltway - or even inside the Beltway - conservatives? Here’s what Brooks had to say in a recent interview with Jeffrey Goldberg in the Atlantic: [Sarah Palin] represents a fatal cancer to the Republican party. When I first started in journalism, I worked at the National Review for Bill Buckley. And Buckley famously said he’d rather be ruled by the first 2,000 names in the Boston phone book than by the Harvard faculty. But...

Excuse the vanity, but I really would like to get some serious opinions of the upcoming election. To start, here is how I am looking at it. I think there are 20 to 30 percent of American citizens who will vote for their respective candidates, regardless. Then there are those who claim to be independent and undecided. Over the years, most of those I hear who declare themselves independent are really Dems. These people say they are independent but when they actually start talking about what they want, it always seems to fall on the Dem side. They either don't...

One illegal alien was arrested this year in Tucson after allegedly using a stolen social security number to buy two homes and rack up over $780,000 in bad debt. Some five million fraudulent home mortgages are in the hands of illegal aliens, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It's not known how many of those have contributed to the subprime housing mortgage meltdown, but it has affected every state, including Arizona. The problem began years ago when banks were forced to give mortgages without confirming social security numbers or borrower identification. As a result, illegal immigrants...

David Brooks' devastating assessment of Sarah Palin, delivered at an event for The Atlantic in New York on Monday, echoes an email I received from a prominent Republican party professional in response to Gov. Palin's debate performance last week. His words Here's the email*: Fascinating. She really is what Bush pretends to be -- she 's a true anti-intellectual. She's has this very Pentecostal view of the world. We don't need to study the Bible, we don't need ministers, we can just feel the spirit and let the spirit speak through us. It's this classically Alaskan value system that places...

Contrary to popular belief, John McCain won the debate last night, but not for the reasons being espoused. The onus is on Barack Obama. His support is a mile wide and an inch deep. Voters know what they're getting with McCain, but they're still questioning Obama. He has to "close the deal" with the voters, and hasn't been able to.

Second question into tonights townhall debate - McCain enlightens us on his brilliant strategy to shore up the economy is...

Dear John, Excuse me if I emulate the “Straight talk express”. You my friend, are an idiot! How can any Conservatives or clear headed voters, vote for you? You give us a choice between 2 socialists? We are now expected to bail out bad mortgages and reach across the isle and do what? There is a war in this Country equal to if not greater than just the one we fight across the globe; and that is the Socialists and Communist that infest all the branches of our Government. Do you know what free markets are? Do you know that...

Was there a clear winner? No, but each did what he needed to do. McCain did sound fluent on domestic matters and for the first time made a clear connection between Obama and the Democrats who took Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s campaign donations and looked the other way when it came to regulation. On foreign policy, Obama did not appear overwhelmed, albeit not up to McCain’s level of expertise. For a candidate ahead in the polls, Obama likely will breathe a sigh of relief that he will not lose ground because of this. However, there was one funny gaffe...

John McCain failed to stop Barack Obama's momentum during Tuesday's debate. Only a miracle could save the Republican Party this election at this point. Unless Republicans have a really good October surprise planned, an illegitimate Obama child for instance, this election is over for John McCain. According to Real Clear Politics, every state that is not a solid McCain or Obama state, with the exceptions of Georgia and Indiana, is leaning Barack Obama by an average of about 4.8 points. McCain also received deafening blows in percentage points in CNN’s polls after the debate, with Obama beating McCain in most...

{{{{DRUDGE POLL}}}} WHO WON THE SECOND PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE?...

You Guys Are Nuts [Andy McCarthy] We have a disaster here — which is what you should expect when you delegate a non-conservative to make the conservative (nay, the American) case. We can parse it eight ways to Sunday, but I think the commentary is missing the big picture. Here's what Obama needed to do tonight: Convince the country that he was an utterly safe, conventional, centrist politician who may have leftward leanings but will do the right thing when the crunch comes. Now, as the night went along, did you get the impression that Obama comes from the radical...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain is proposing a $300 billion program for the federal government to buy up bad home mortgages and allow homeowners to keep their houses.

John McCain proposed a bold new idea to save America from the worst financial crisis in 70 years: Have the federal government buy bad mortgages and modify them to keep people in their homes. Except his idea isn't so new; it's part of the $700 billion bailout package approved by the Senate and signed by the president last week. It was all over the news. Right in between the stories about the Dow crashing 1,700 points and the campaign ads about Sen. Barack Obama's terrorist pals. At the second presidential debate on Tuesday, the very first question the two candidates...

I can’t underscore enough what a rotten idea John McCain’s ACORN-like government mortgage buy-up is. I said it during my liveblog. And I’ll say it again: “HE WANTS TO EXPAND THE BAILOUT. He wants to do what ACORN wants to do. We’re Screwed ‘08.” This was his supposed “game-changer.” This was the very first thing out of his mouth during the debate tonight — his big pitch right off the bat. The McCain campaign immediately sent out this fact sheet on the proposal, which will cost at least $300 billion. The proposal involves directing the Treasury Secretary to “purchase mortgages...

You see them together everywhere these days: The streets of Iraq, the halls of Congress, the campaign trail. If Lindsey Graham isn't with John McCain, there's a good chance he's representing him on the TV talk shows, in the Wall Street bailout talks or at the vice presidential debate. But South Carolina's senior senator said that doesn't mean he'd follow McCain to the White House. "Those folks who like seeing my smiling face will be seeing me around here for a while," Graham said Friday in North Charleston. "I will stay in the Senate if re-elected and serve out my...

John McCain has earned a part of his maverick reputation by supporting strong and purposeful environmental policy that protects our common resources and public land. His history of advancing change within his own party makes him the best presidential choice for protecting the Earth. As an environmental entrepreneur and co-chairman of McCain's Environmental Coalition in Washington, I can attest that his leadership is inspiring a new generation of Republicans to revisit our philosophical roots as conservationist in the tradition of Teddy Roosevelt.

Most think tanks favor McCain's plan yet you would not know this by the liberal media reports. I set the record straight. http://www.thebulletin.us/site/index.cfm?newsid=20153221&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=576361&rfi=8

Dem group backing McCain Prominent Hillary Clinton supporter helps open Democrats for McCain headquarters in Scranton. BILL O ’ BOYLE boboyle@timesleader.com SCRANTON – A major supporter of Hillary Clinton and member of the Democratic National Committee’s Platform Committee, on Monday said the Democratic Party has nominated “the worst candidate” while Republicans have nominated the best.

These parties are wonderful. I went to one with about 300-400 conservatives in Manhattan, and it was very very cool to watch the debate with such a crowd. Hearing them burst into cheers and applause did my soul good. To find one, visit JohnMcCain.com, and look at the bottom right corner where it says, "Upcoming Events." Then type in your ZIP code and press the "FIND" button.

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama has a narrow 3-point lead in the U.S. presidential race on Republican John McCain less than a month before the election, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Tuesday. Obama leads McCain among likely U.S. voters 48 percent to 45 percent in the national poll, which has a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points. Four percent of voters said they were still undecided. The survey, the first in a series of daily tracking polls that will sample public opinion until the November 4 election, showed Obama with an advantage among the crucial...

Dear Freepers We are going to win the Presidency this November. Do not be fooled by the biased media polls because they have done the same thing in 2004 and 2000 but neither Gore nor Kerry became Presidents. We are going to win because at the end a defeatist, a socialist, and a left wing liberal like Barack Obama will not be elected President. We are going to win because at the end Barack Obama who voted to cut the funding for our brave troops in the battlefield, who voted against the surge, who voted against victory, and who voted...

Fittingly, the news is broken on a show hosted by the second-most fatuous suck-upper on MSNBC. Even if you buy her explanation for the infamous open mic mishap before Palin’s speech (also on MSNBC, coincidentally), this won’t come as a shock to anyone who reads her regularly. She’s a speechwriter and The One gives a good speech, or so I’m assured. That alone was probably enough to earn him a second look.

By Burt Prelutsky As you may have guessed, I don’t personally know the Republican candidate for president. I’ve never met him and I expect I never will. I’m sure that if I’d been in a position to fork over $5,000 for dinner at a fund-raiser, it could have been easily arranged. However, I have one unbreakable rule: If I pay $5,000 to have dinner with someone, he’s then going to have to cough up $5,000 pretty darn quick to have dinner with me. And, frankly, he’d get a lot more for his money than I’d get for mine. That’s...

Can They Catch Up? Of course. by William Kristol 10/13/2008, Volume 014, Issue 05 The odds are against John McCain and Sarah Palin winning this election. It's not easy to make up a 6-point deficit in the last four weeks. But it can be done. Look at history. The Gore-Lieberman ticket gained about 6 points in the final two weeks of the 2000 campaign. Ford-Dole came back more than 20 points in less than two months in the fall of 1976. Both tickets were from the party holding the White House, and both were running against inexperienced, and arguably risky,...

Republican presidential nominee John McCain is zigzagging again. On comprehensive immigration legislation, McCain has not been a “straight-talker,” nor has he been a classic flip-flopper. You know the type: “He was for it before he was against it.” No, McCain has chosen a more twisted path.

John Warner might vote for Democrat By MIKE ALLEN | 10/4/08 1:55 PM EDT Text Size: Retiring Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.) beat his Democratic opponent, Mark R. Warner, by 6 percentage points in the Old Dominion’s “Warner vs. Warner” race of 1996. Now, he might cross party lines and vote for him. Mark Warner, who went on to become a popular governor, is running to succeed John Warner in the Senate. Mark Warner’s opponent is another former governor, James S. Gilmore III, a Republican who has received little support from the state’s power structure and lags by 26 points...

WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF GOVERNMENT SANCTIONED CARBON TAX House passes “bailout bill”, with Carbon Tax credits and an entire buffet of pork attached.

Is John McCain deliberately throwing the election?I am not convinced either way, but there are points to consider: 1) Campagain Suspension - He could have stopped campaigning and returned to DC, but he stopped his entire campaign - hundreds of paid staff and thousand of volunteers were idled. He had no plan when he arrived in DC and said little at the meeting. If it were his dime, maybe, but that was our our donations, and the tax dollars of those foolish enough to check the box on their tax return. 2) Failure to respond to democrat accusations "Republicans are...

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President George W. Bush on Friday signed a mammoth economic rescue package aimed at saving troubled US banks and easing a credit crunch that he warned could spell disaster for the US public. After campaigning for the bailout for two weeks and courting reluctant lawmakers in person and by telephone, Bush signed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 before leaving Washington for the weekend.

He said he would involve former Vice President Al Gore in efforts to address the issue. "I would tap him, I would tap people who have been involved in these issues for many years." McCain noted that he disagreed with the Nobel Peace Prize winner about nuclear energy but added, "I have great respect for Al Gore."

I have spent a great deal of time today on the various conservative blogs, reading up on how John McCain's vote is "the deathknell" of his campaign. I have read on various conservative blogs that Sarah Palin supposedly has no chance because the deck is stacked against her, whether from the "Ifill Tower" or the "Couric Courant". I have read the reactions of people who are willing to hold back their votes, all because John McCain voted for a bailout bill. I have becomed sickened by what I have seen in recent days, not only from those on the left...

Allow me to introduce myself. I am a traitor and an idiot. Also, my mother should have aborted me and left me in a Dumpster, but since she didn't, I should "off" myself. Those are just a few nuggets randomly selected from thousands of e-mails written in response to my column suggesting that Sarah Palin is out of her league and should step down. Who says public discourse hasn't deteriorated? The fierce reaction to my column has been both bracing and enlightening. After 20 years of column writing, I'm familiar with angry mail. But the past few days have produced...

In the campaign for the hearts of the heartland - from Independence, Mo., to Lacrosse, Wis. - the Democratic and Republican candidates for president, senators both, are attempting to explain today why the financial bailout - for which they are returning to Washington -- deserves the support of voters. "Even with all these taxpayer protections, this plan is not perfect,'' Democrat Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois said today, campaigning in Wisconsin. "Democrats and Republicans in Congress have legitimate concerns about it. I know many Americans share those concerns. But it is clear that this is what we must do right...

John McCain’s fade in recent polls, combined with a barrage of negative news coverage during the financial crisis, has leading Republican activists around the country worrying about his prospects and urging his campaign to become much more aggressive against Barack Obama in the remaining month before Election Day. A flurry of new polls shows Barack Obama gaining in several battleground states – most notably Florida, Pennsylvania and swing states throughout the West. Officials worry early voting, which is under way in important states such as Ohio, is likely to favor Obama in this toxic political climate. Several state GOP chairmen...

White House contenders Barack Obama and John McCain sought to persuade skeptical Americans on Tuesday to back a $700 billion Wall Street bailout package and planned to be in Washington on Wednesday to vote on the measure. A day after the U.S. House of Representatives sent global markets reeling by rejecting the financial rescue plan, Senate leaders said on Tuesday they scheduled a Wednesday evening vote on a new version of the measure, including a big increase in the amount of bank deposits protected by the government's insurance program. The campaigns of Democrat Obama and Republican McCain said the candidates...

WASHINGTON -- Former Republican Rep. Joe Schwarz, who railed against an anti-tax group's role in his unsuccessful 2006 primary, endorsed Democrat Mark Schauer on Tuesday because the organization targeted the congressional challenger. Schwarz told The Associated Press in an interview that he decided to endorse Schauer over Republican Rep. Tim Walberg in the south-central Michigan congressional district because the anti-tax Club for Growth began running ads critical of Schauer's positions on taxes.... Schauer, the state Senate's Democratic leader, supported tax increases in 2007 to balance the state budget and backed Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm's proposed 2 percent sales tax on...

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Just back from Washington, D.C., South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham painted a very bleak picture of what he expects for the country if the bailout plan fails. Graham spoke in front of a foreclosed home on Avondale Drive in Greenville. He said if the plan doesn't pass soon, more banks will fold. Businesses will close and people will lose their jobs. As least twice he mentioned that the economy could be headed for a depression.

My Friends, We are in the greatest financial crisis of our lifetimes. Congressional inaction has put every American and the entire economy at the gravest risk. Yesterday the country and the world looked to Washington for leadership, and Congress once again came up empty-handed. I am disappointed at the lack of resolve and bipartisan good will among members of both parties to fix this problem. Bipartisanship is a tough thing; never more so when you're trying to take necessary but publicly unpopular action. But inaction is not an option. If we do nothing, many businesses may fail. Sonic Corporation, a...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) today made this statement after the vote in the U.S. House of Representatives against the financial rescue plan. He said: “I have never been more disappointed in the Congress than I am today. I hope every member of the House of Representatives—Republican and Democrat—who voted against this legislation will work in the next twenty-four hours to improve the bill. Now is the time to put the national interest above the self interest. “Speaker Pelosi’s partisan comments before the vote obviously did not help matters. Now is not the time for extreme partisanship...

Republican presidential candidate John McCain had sharp words for Congress, it the wake of the defeat of the financial system rescue plan. "They wiped out $1.2 trillion today," the Arizona Senator told KARE 11, "Congress's failure to act today is not acceptable." Despite pleas from President Bush and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, lawmakers rejected the bailout bill by a vote of 228-205. By the time the New York Stock Exchange closed, the Dow Industrial average had plummeted 777 points. Answering questions via satellite from Des Moines, Iowa McCain chided those from both sides of the aisle who opposed the plan....

It is my belief that Republicans in the House have committed a major blunder by voting against today's bailout plan. They have given the Democrats a very large club to batter them with over the next six weeks before the election as the stock market crashes and the economy goes into a tailspin. It is my fear that this will lead to a Democrat landslide in the House and Senate and may even cost John McCain the presidency as Democrats and their big media cohorts blame the Republicans for the crisis. Republican Representatives should have heeded the words of their...

I've tried hard to bite my tongue on Bush's domestic policies, because I felt he needed the support to fight the war on terror. I believe President Bush deserves a great deal of credit for standing strong when others would have wavered. History, I believe, will be very kind to him on this issue. President Bush ran as a Reagan Republican on domestic and economic policy. He has in fact, been quite the opposite. Far too often resembles the Democrats on domestic issues to be called a Reaganite. The current financial crisis is for me, the final straw that cannot...

Voinovich to vote for bailout plan; several other Ohio lawmakers wait for details Kucinich denounces rescue legislation as "driven by fear, not fact" Sunday, September 28, 2008 8:09 PM By Jonathan Riskind THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH WASHINGTON -- It might be bitter fiscal medicine, but it's a vital step toward the cure for what ails America's economy. So says Republican Sen. George V. Voinovich, one of the few Ohio lawmakers willing to commit today to supporting the $700 billion bailout package agreed to by congressional leaders and the White House. "I am going to vote for it," Voinovich said in an...