Tonight we saw a brilliant performance from Barack Obama. It was Obama at his best, using his command of the English language to inspire and connect on a grand stage as only few politicians can. For sceptics like myself, he surprised. For his base, he reaffirmed. For his adversaries he reached out with an open [...]

Senator Ted Kennedy died last night after a year’s battle with cancer. However one might feel about his politics, one must admit that Ted Kennedy had a remarkable life, one that is celebrated in the video clip below.

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The bailouts, deficit spending, and debate over health care are having a very nasty negative effect on the electoral fortunes of the Democratic party. Charlie Cook, a well-known and respected election pundit, writes (emphasis added):
…President Obama’s job approval rating in both their August 16-18 and August 17-19 averages was just 51 percent, the lowest level [...]

This is a bombshell from the political world. I believe that means Al Franken will make Obama filibuster-proof. Obviously, this is very bad news for Republicans. I suspect that the deal is that Rendell and Casey will pull out ALL the stops to get Specter re-elected too.
Confirmed that Sen Specter will become a [...]

If you are wondering why the stock market has been declining, you only need to flip your TV to C-SPAN and see Hank Paulson explaining why he has abandoned his original plan to save America from depression. Basically, Paulson has done a complete 180 and now refuses to invest a dime of the TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) in buying the troubled assets for which the program was named. The result: those assets hav cratered, pulling down many shares with them.

Why not? Everyone else is getting something.
Aegon, a Dutch company, is trying the same maneuver that Genworth Financial and Hartford, two American companies, are trying — it’s buying a small depositary institution. This will give it access to the U.S. Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Forget about foreclosures, the TARP is now [...]

I am listening to the Congressional hearings with Sheila Bair, Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke recounting what they have done to restore the economy with the $700 billion that Congress gave the Bush Administration. The hearing is pretty interesting because Chairman Barney Frank is absolutely hammering Paulson for sidestepping the specific language in the TARP inserted indicating that the TARP must be used to aid in reducing foreclosures.

This has to be one of the most anticipated U.S. Vice Presidential debates in the last quarter century. It is as big as Bush – Ferraro and Gore – Quayle – Stockdale. I certainly will be watching.Partial as I am to Barack Obama, I was not anticipating Joe Biden as his running mate. [...]

The NY Times has a story on how yesterday’s bailout deal failed. This is an insider’s tale with blow by blow detail. It is a fascinating view into how the U.S. conducts government policy. Below is a snippet from the post and a link to the full story.
One interesting facet in the matter was the [...]

John Edwards seemed to feel the strongest about fidelity as an indicator of presidential worthiness, calling it “fundamental”