Every now and then, Thomas Friedman gets it right. It's rare but it happens. After trashing Sarah Palin's assertion that it isn't patriotic to ask citizens to pay the taxes that need to be paid to fund two wars and a bailout (not to mention government in general), Friedman echoes what many of us have been saying for some time: Palin has no business holding the vice presidency, and John McCain's choice of Palin reflects his impetuous judgment.

How in the world can conservative commentators write with a straight face that this woman should be vice president of the United States? Do these people understand what serious trouble our country is in right now?

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Matt Yglesias writes:

Here’s the CAP [HOLC] plan. All joking aside, it’s genuinely true that a progressive policy operation is always hoping some Republicans somewhere will cotton to some of our ideas. It’s genuinely difficult to achieve anything legislatively in the United States without some bipartisanship. Obama has made some similar noises in the past. Hopefully McCain’s embrace of this idea means something like it can actually get done.

(Emphasis supplied.) Um, how about more than "some similar noises" from Obama? How about a little leadership on the issue?

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

A few days ago, I blogged about the progressive pledge:

In 2009 and beyond, I will be part of the movement that pushes Democrats to be bold progressives -- and that helps pass a bold progressive agenda into law."

Bold progressives will push Barack Obama and Democrats to press for help for Main Street, not just Wall Street. Specifically, bold progressives will press Barack Obama to adopt HOLC. Fake Bold Progressives will talk about being bold progressives and not say a word about HOLC.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Not as new as you think - from April 2008:

McCain’s aides said his home mortgage plan could help 200,000 to 400,000 people and cost $3 billion to $10 billion. That would be far less than the proposals offered by Clinton and Obama, but McCain aides said it would be bigger than the efforts envisioned by the Bush administration. The plan would retire old loans that homeowners no longer can pay and replace them with less expensive, 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages that are federally guaranteed. McCain said families would gain “the opportunity to trade a burdensome mortgage for a manageable loan that reflects the market value of their home.”

Last night, McCain just added $290 billion to his April 2008 plan. Strangely enough, in april 2008, Barack Obama said it was too little and too late then. Today, he seems to think it might be too much, based on the reactions of his surrogates :

Hotline has the race narrowing to a 1 point Obama lead. In two days, according to Hotline, Obama's 6 point lead has dwindled to a statistical tie. Battleground has Obama's 7 point lead yesterday dwindling to 4. The charlatan Zogby has Obama's 3 point lead yesterday cut to 2. The NYTimes/CBS poll has Obama up 3. And the Democracy Corps poll has Obama up 3. Take these 5 polls, and you have a 2.6 point Obama lead.

Here are the polls McCain does not like -- DKos/R2000 has Obama up 10. Ras has Obama up 6 (down 2 from the past 2 days). Gallup has Obama up 9. CNN has Obama up 8. NBC has Obama up 6. Obama leads by 7.8 points in these 5 polls. A 5 point Obama lead when you put all 10 polls together.

Of course this is all pre-debate. I think the election is over.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

A few weeks ago, Hillary Clinton said:

[W]e need a government entity, a modern-day Homeowners Loan Corporation, referred to as HOLC -- H-O-L-C . . . Now, I personally believe and was among the very first to suggest that a HOLC, a Homeowners Loan Corporation, could be a preferable way of unfreezing and beginning to fix our struggling mortgage market.

Last night, Barack Obama said:

The middle-class need a rescue package. . . . It means help for homeowners so that they can stay in their homes.

Last night, John McCain said:

As president of the United States . . . I would order the secretary of the treasury to immediately buy up the bad home loan mortgages in America and renegotiate at the new value of those homes -- at the diminished value of those homes and let people be able to make those -- be able to make those payments and stay in their homes.

So now that we have all agreed, it is time to move to implementation of a new HOLC.

More . . .

The Supreme Court heard two cases yesterday dealing with the exclusionary rule and the fourth Amendment.

The exclusionary rule case is Herring v. United States. Criminal defense attorney Cheryl Stein has an op-ed in the Washington Times on why we need to keep the rule, and I encourage everyone to read it, granting TalkLeft permission to reprint it in full here. It appears below the fold:

Post Debate Polls are coming in:

• CNN: Obama 54, McCain 30.

• CBS: Obama won among undecideds, 40% to 26%.

  Forty percent of the 516 uncommitted voters surveyed identified Barack Obama as tonight's winner; 26 percent said John McCain won, while 35 percent saw the debate as a draw. (As you might have noticed, these percentages add up to 101 percent; the reason for the additional percentage point is rounding of each of the individual totals.)

  After the debate, 68 percent of uncommitted voters said that they think Obama will make the right decisions on the economy, compared to 55 percent who said that before the debate. Fewer thought McCain would do so – 48 percent after the debate, and 41 percent before.

You know Obama won when even the right-wing blog Powerline says so.

Update: The full debate transcript is here.

In addition to the "That One" video, here's:

• "Health Care Should Be A Right"

• Extended health care answer

• Obama on Speaking Softly and Pakistan

• Final answer: "Opportunity" and "Modest means"

More...

Thankfully, it's over. It was a terrible debate format, Tom Brokaw disappointed, McCain was incoherent, snivelling and condescending. Obama appeared Presidential.

You Tube above is of McCain calling Obama "That One."

What did you think?

The Nashville debate between Senators Barack Obama and John McCain begins at 9pm ET on CNN. Big Tent Democrat, TChris, the TL Kid and I will be live-blogging.

The live blog stays below the fold so that it can be a bit wider than the front page allows. Just click on the "There's More" button or bookmark the permalink to go directly to it.

You can comment same as always in the comment section below. You also can send us live messages through the software. Only comments you post below will appear on the site.

We'll ll be putting up some polls during it to see how you think the candidates and questioners are doing. If comments reach 200, we'll start a new thread.[More...]

My great friend (and TalkLeft contributor) Anita Thompson, who like me, used to be a fierce Hillary supporter, has written John McCain a Dear John letter on her Owl Farm Blog.

Dear John McCain,

This is a sincere Thank You note for being the man to put my heart, soul, time and money back into politics.

My beloved late husband, Hunter S. Thompson, gave me the political bug years ago. And to honor his spirit, I was asked to blog for several exciting websites during the Denver Convention. I accepted, but because I was a Hillary supporter, I was going through the motions with thinly veiled apathy and losing steam fast.

My story is not uncommon. I was one of the millions who were hoping for that Clinton/(Obama) ticket. With that failure, it got worse as the months went by. I got depressed, and even sick, my self-esteem tanked, and interest in either party was slipping away.

Then whamo! With your VP pick, the Obama/Biden ticket is not just the better of the two parties, it is a bright and shining star next to the arrogant and stupid Sarah Palin you put in our faces. [More...]