Are we going to have an October surprise, an attack on Iran by either the Bush administration or by Israel to stop the regime from becoming a nuclear power?

It could happen – and alter the dynamics of the presidential race in the blink of an eye – but only if Israel pulls the trigger. Don’t expect the United States to drop bombs anytime soon. The reason: Iran has us over a barrel.

According to Britain’s Guardian newspaper, Bush earlier this year nixed an Israeli plan to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities. Reportedly, the President said no because we couldn’t afford Iranian retaliation against our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan or Iran closing down Persian Gulf shipping. Nonetheless, cynical speculation is now swirling in some quarters that with the financial collapse working against McCain – and Bush’s legacy coming into focus – the President might reconsider. Could that tail really wag the dog?
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Possible but not probable

In a closed-door session with House Republicans Sunday evening, Minority Leader John A. Boehner called the $700 billion financial rescue deal a “crap sandwich” — then said he plans to vote for it.

House Republicans are the key to the bill’s passage Monday – Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday that it’s a “bipartisan” bill and will need “bipartisanship” to pass – and it now appears that many will cast their votes in favor of it.

But many Republicans still harbor deep misgivings about the legislation, and the outcome remains uncertain. Asked Sunday night where the support stood for the legislation, Boehner told reporters, “We don’t know.”

“We’ve made it pretty clear to our members that we are supporting this bill,” Boehner told reporters after the meeting. “We also have made it clear to our members we expected as many of them who could vote for this to vote for it.”
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A crap sandwich indeed…..

Because while the mortgage crisis convulsing Wall Street has its share of private-sector culprits they weren’t the ones who “got us into this mess.” Barney Frank’s talking points notwithstanding, mortgage lenders didn’t wake up one fine day deciding to junk long-held standards of creditworthiness in order to make ill-advised loans to unqualified borrowers. It would be closer to the truth to say they woke up to find the government twisting their arms and demanding that they do so – or else.

The roots of this crisis go back to the Carter administration. That was when government officials, egged on by left-wing activists, began accusing mortgage lenders of racism and “redlining” because urban blacks were being denied mortgages at a higher rate than suburban whites.

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What is wasn’t Reagan and deregulations fault?
Fancy that……..

On Fox News Sunday this morning Bill Kristol said let Palin go – that the McCain team is roping her off from the press and surrounding her with Bushie advisors, which sounds like the third ring of hell. She’s a talented politician, Bill advises, so let her out to do what she is good at doing. I think Bill is mostly right.

Palin is under extreme pressure. But walling her off will only increase that pressure. She needs the give and take with crowds and with the press to get her feet back under her.

That much having been said, and here’s where I slightly disagree with Bill, Palin was atrocious not just with Katie Couric but with friendlies like Sean Hannity. She needs to devise answers for questions about foreign policy that do NOT rely on recent cramming. That will look and sound false. She may make stupid errors. And it plays to her weakness. She should never again refer to her Alaska experience as preparation for the role of commander in chief.
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Let Palin be Palin

Indeed

On an afternoon conference call, Sen. Lieberman also says Obama’s claim that McCain’s response to the financial crisis was “Katrina-like” is “just more politics, and simply not true.”
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Why McCain should not have debated Obama, remained in D.C. and should have submitted his own version of bailout.