At 7:30PM Wednesday, the Senate will hold roll call votes on six amendments and pieces of legislation. Those items are as follows:

1. Motion to concur on the House message, HR 2095, Rail Safety
2. Dorgan amendment relating to HR 7081, the US-India Nuclear agreement
3. Bingaman amendment relating to HR 7081, the US-India Nuclear agreement
4. Passage of HR 7081, the US-India Nuclear agreement
5. Dodd amendment to HR 1424, relating to the bailout (”Emergency Economic Stabilization”) package (This amendment, which must be agreed upon by both the majority and minority leader, will call up a previously passed House Resolution and add the Senate bailout language which hasn’t yet been seen. More on this below the fold.)
6. Passage of HR 1424

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) is allowing socialist Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to offer an amendment to the legislation that would add a 10% surtax on those Americans whose incomes are $500,000 or more to help pay for the bailout.

In an attempt to rope more House Republicans into voting for the Stabilization bill this time around, Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) are tacking a tax cut already passed 93-2 by the Senate onto the bailout legislation.

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The class warfare worldview of the Democrat nominee for President was on full display Saturday in North Carolina, when the freshman Senator from Illinois said:

But just as important as what we heard from John McCain was what we didn’t hear.

The truth is, through 90 minutes of debating, John McCain had a lot to say about me, but he had nothing to say about you. He didn’t even say the words ‘middle class’ — not once.” [Ed.- For the record, Obama himself said the words "middle class" three times in the debate.]

That’s right — McCain didn’t say “Middle Class” in the debate — nor did he say “Upper” or “Lower” class. He also didn’t say “blacks,” or “homosexuals,” or any of those other nicely splintered groups and classes that Democrats love to cram people into for political purposes.

That people wouldn’t be looked at solely in terms of skin color, gender, sexuality, and/or income level, but as Americans, is as foreign to Obama and his fellow Democrats as ideas like “realistic foreign policy” and “national security” — which is to say, about as foreign as can be.

The class warfare worldview of the Democrat nominee for President was on full display Saturday in North Carolina, when the freshman Senator from Illinois said:

But just as important as what we heard from John McCain was what we didn’t hear.

The truth is, through 90 minutes of debating, John McCain had a lot to say about me, but he had nothing to say about you. He didn’t even say the words ‘middle class’ — not once.” [Ed.- For the record, Obama himself said the words "middle class" three times in the debate.]

That’s right — McCain didn’t say “Middle Class” in the debate — nor did he say “Upper” or “Lower” class. He also didn’t say “blacks,” or “homosexuals,” or any of those other nicely splintered groups and classes that Democrats love to cram people into for political purposes.

That people wouldn’t be looked at solely in terms of skin color, gender, sexuality, and/or income level, but as Americans, is as foreign to Obama and his fellow Democrats as ideas like “realistic foreign policy” and “national security” — which is to say, about as foreign as can be.

David Plouffe (rhymes with “bluff”), campaign manager for Barack Obama, sent an email to Obama supporters this evening claiming victory in last night’s debate and asking for further donations from all and sundry.

Interestingly enough, the email cited a broad CBS poll and a supposedly narrower and more accurate CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll as evidence of Obama’s “breakthrough” performance that “show[ed] that Barack is offering the change we need.”

In his email, Plouffe said:

After his erratic and reckless response to the economic crisis [Ed.- What?], McCain needed a game-changer last night to restore his campaign. He didn’t even come close.

In a CBS News poll, uncommitted voters see Barack as the debate winner. When it comes to the economy, 66% say Barack would make the right decisions versus 42% for McCain.

The CNN poll results are also clear:

Who did the best job tonight?
Barack: 51
McCain: 38

Who would better handle Iraq?
Barack: 52
McCain: 47

Who would better handle the economy?
Barack: 58
McCain: 37

These are not the kind of reviews John McCain needed, but they show that Barack is offering the change we need.

Barack broke through last night with voters who were watching — but we need to get the word out to the millions who didn’t tune in.

Those numbers look very good for the Obama campaign and very poor for John McCain — that is, until you look at (a) the fact that the numbers Plouffe claims from the CBS poll (66% for Obama, 42% for McCain) actually add up to 108%, and (b) the actual CNN report on its own poll, which shows that the entire statement above from Barack Obama’s campaign manager is pretty much one big lie.

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Joe Biden dropped this little nugget of previously unknown information in a post-debate chat with Fox News’s Chris Wallace Friday evening:

Biden: (at 0:18) “The fact of the matter is, the only thing succeeding in Iraq right now is the plan that Barack and I talked about that Petraeus is implementing — giving local control in the very areas with a limited central government.”

This comes as news to everybody who has followed events in Iraq and the political debates surrounding events and strategy there, including myself — and I have, of course, followed all of the above quite a bit.

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When attempting to defend his promise to meet, without precondition, with Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (while simultaneously attempting to deny he ever made such a promise), Barack Obama invoked Henry Kissinger as a supporter of his belief in unconditional diplomacy with enemies, leaders of terrorist states, and genocidal megalomaniacs alike.

Senator McCain immediately begged to differ, saying that Kissinger, his friend of 30 years, believes quite the opposite — as would any foreign policy realist who was not entirely naive of the real world.

The Weekly Standard’s Stephen F. Hayes got on the horn to Henry Kissinger shortly after that exchange to find out who was right — and, unsurprisingly, the answer to that question was McCain.

Hayes reports that “Henry Kissinger believes Barack Obama misstated his views on diplomacy with US adversaries and is not happy about being mischaracterized,” and quotes the former National Security Advisor and Secretary of State as saying:

“**Senator McCain is right**. I would not recommend the next President of the United States engage in talks with Iran at the Presidential level.

My views on this issue are entirely compatible with the views of my friend Senator John McCain.

We do not agree on everything, but we do agree that any negotiations with Iran must be geared to reality.”

Whoops.

In a three minute interview, that was the biggest lie.

Wow.

Five Eight times tonight the freshman Democrat Senator from Illinois has responded to questions and McCain answers by saying, “John is right.”

Further, he listened to McCain’s exceedingly knowledgeable response on Georgia by saying, in essence, “What he said.”

Tonight, Senator Obama has reinforced the simple fact that - if he can shed the arrogance he wears on his sleeve - he is very well prepared to be an understudy of an experienced, knowledgeable, principled President of the United States.

Unfortunately for Obama and for the party that nominated him, America doesn’t elect understudies President — she elects Leading Men.

Update: New McCain ad already out — and the debate has only been over for 10 minutes!

Sen. Obama has given McCain several openings so far in the debate; to this point, the Republican nominee has only taken a few of those opportunities to go on the offensive.

From Obama’s claim that he warned the administration and the Congress Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, when it was McCain who attempted to actually deal with that mounting crisis through legislation, to Obama’s claim that he will cut taxes on 95% of the American population when barely half of that number even pays taxes to begin with, the more temporal distance the freshman Senator from Illinois has gained from his by-rote memorized introductory remarks, the more he has opened himself up more and more to McCain’s calculated responses — and McCain capitalized on several of those opportunities (though he ignored the opportunity to skewer Obama on the latter’s deep connections to Fannie and Freddie).

Transition to Foreign Affairs - Tilting the Debate in McCain’s Favor

Obama, who supported total withdrawal from Iraq by March of this year — six months ago — attempted to have it every which way simultaneously on that conflict, continuing to oppose the ’surge,’ referring to his supposedly brave speech against the war — to an anti-war audience — in 2002, reiterating the fallacy that Iraq, a central front in the war on terror, took our eye off the ball in the GWOT, and trying to claim credit for the political and peaceful advances in the Middle Eastern country.

McCain, who has a far greater understanding of the country, the conflict, and affairs both international and military, was able to make Obama look very naive on the issue.

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Funny, I thought there was supposed to be an election in between the campaign and the inauguration.

Apparently I was mistaken, though; after all, nobody would spend $186,000 on Obama Presidential Coins (seen at right in gold, and also available in silver and platinum) if he wasn’t assured of the White House — right?

After all, that would require a monumental level of hubris — and that’s not something we’ve ever seen the Obama camp display in the past…right?

Depending on where you sit, this move could be viewed as an act of sheer genius or of absolute political suicide.

I tend to lean toward the former, while acknowledging that this play could still go very, very wrong.

Here’s why:

With this suggestion that the Presidential campaign be put on hold, and the Friday night foreign policy debate be delayed, John McCain is saying three things:

1. Resolving the nation’s current economic crisis is far more important than partisan politics
2. He understands and remembers what it is the American people are currently paying him to do: Be in Washington during the Congressional session, serving in his capacity as a U.S. Senator
3. (Perhaps the most important) McCain believes he has something valuable - leadership, bipartisanship, ideas, experience, etc. - to offer in the Congressional effort to resolve this crisis

The Obama campaign’s various reactions to this (recall their usual pattern of issuing progressively different responses to any given issue or situation over the course of the following 24-48 hours) will bear close watching.

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The latest New York Times hit job on the McCain campaign was met with the sternest rebuke yet of the segment of America McCain once called his “base.”

On a conference call about the latest McCain ad, called “Chicago Machine” and featuring information on Barack Obama’s ties to convicted felon Tony Rezko, William Daley, corrupt State Senate resignee (and former Obama mentor) Emil Jones (D), and constantly-under-investigation Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D), McCain campaign manager Rick Davis and strategist Steve Schmidt were asked about the NYT article, which attempted to link McCain to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac due to Davis having taken on communication work for the lending giants earlier this decade. (Interestingly enough, the “Newspaper of Record” apparently didn’t find the information that Barack Obama has received the second-highest dollar amount of donations associated with Fannie and Freddie of any member of the U.S. Senate save for Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), the chairman of the committee responsible for regulating the lenders to be news that was “fit to print”).

Schmidt responded by taking aim at the New York Times and opening fire, saying:

Let me first say we are First Amendment absolutists on this campaign. The press and anybody who wishes to cover this race from a blogosphere perspective or from a media perspective is of course constitutionally protected with regard to writing whatever they want to write.

But let’s be clear and be honest with each other about something fundamental to this race, which is this: Whatever the New York Times once was, it is today not by an standard a journalistic organization.

It is a pro-Obama advocacy organization that every day attacks the McCain campaign, attacks Sen. McCain, attacks Gov. Palin, and excuses Sen. Obama.

The rest of the statement is below the fold.

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Today, Barack Obama broke his silence on the mortgage bailout long enough to publicly decry the “staggering price tag” of $700 billion.

Pardon me if I scratch my head at his choice of terminology, considering Mr. Obama has proposed over $1.4 Trillion in new spending programs should he win the White House this November.

If the $700,000,000,000.00 price tag on the treasury bailout is “staggering” to Mr. Obama, I wonder what word we should use for his proposal of $1,400,000,000,000.00 in new spending programs.

Let’s make this an open thread.

On Thursday, freshman Senator Barack Obama promised that he would be unveiling “new proposals” for dealing with the mortgage crisis at a Friday campaign stop in Florida.

On Friday, Obama reneged [Ed.- Somebody call CNN and check if that word is still OK to use] on that promise, instead saying that this was “not the time to present specific details for how to fix the immediate problem” — because, clearly, the height of a crisis, during the last two weeks that Congress will be in session for the rest of the year, is the wrong time to propose solutions.

That night, the administration sent its proposed legislation to Congress, for those still showing up to work to consider.

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Earlier this week, I suggested that, if he really is in possession of superior knowledge and a foolproof plan to pull America’s financial system out of its current deepening hole, Barack Obama should put his money where his mouth is, show up in the U.S. Senate (where he’s currently being paid to be), and propose that plan in the form of legislation.

Unsurprisingly, he didn’t do that.

In fact, Obama didn’t even keep his promise to lay out specifics of his financial plan at a Friday campaign stop, instead saying that this was “not the time to present specific details for how to fix the immediate problem” [Ed.- Excuse me? If this isn't "time to present specific details" then when exactly will it be?]

Obama’s refusal to even address the issue with any amount of specificity caused the freshman Senator to be the butt of late night talk show jokes, according to the LA Times:

Obama’s inaction prompted Jay Leno in his opening monologue tonight on “The Tonight Show” to point out an essential presidential campaign unfairness, that Obama has criticized McCain’s economic plan but the Republican can’t respond because “nobody knows” what Obama’s is yet.

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Tuesday night, CNN “analyst” Jack Cafferty wrote the following on the news organization’s Political Ticker blog:

Race is arguably the biggest issue in this election, and it’s one that nobody’s talking about.

The differences between Barack Obama and John McCain couldn’t be more well-defined. Obama wants to change Washington. McCain is a part of Washington and a part of the Bush legacy. Yet the polls remain close. Doesn’t make sense…unless it’s race.

Time magazine’s Michael Grunwald says race is the elephant in the room. He says Barack Obama needs to tread lightly as he fights back against the McCain-Palin campaign attacks.

Emphasis added. What a great job of regurgitating, without question or comment, the Obama campaign’s talking points.

First of all, “the McCain-Palin campaign attacks,” which are apparently the only negative messages being broadcast in a race in which the Democrat’s supporters are attempting to cast their candidate as “post-partisan” and his opponents as “old politics Washington insiders.” Story after story tells of supporters asking Obama at campaign stops how he is going to fight back against Republican “smears”; unfortunately for them, according to an actual research organization, the Wisconsin Advertising Project, “77% of ads from the Democratic nominee [since the Republican convention have been] negative, compared to 56% of McCain’s spots.”

Second, as the election nears, attempts to shame the American people into voting for Barack Obama by directly accusing them of racism if they do not are becoming more prevalent and more shrill, notwithstanding Cafferty’s laughable claim that race is the one issue “that nobody is talking about.”

As Allahpundit wrote at Hot Air:

Obama may have run as a post-racial candidate in the Democratic primaries, but he has shown a completely different side in the general election.  Ever since winning the nomination, Obama and his campaign surrogates (and the media) have accused Republicans of racism for their opposition to The One.  It has been a constant theme for Team Obama, even though they cannot produce a single shred of evidence in support of this smear campaign.

In their current desperation, the Left - including Cafferty and so many of his media colleagues - has long since abandoned even the most basic pretense of reporting on this campaign in terms of issues and events, instead choosing to reinforce Obama talking points and to do whatever they can - whether that be smearing Sarah Palin or accusing the American populace of being racists - to get the candidate they favor elected.

“We need some clear and steady leadership” in the current time of financial crisis, said Barack Obama in a Thursday campaign stop in Española, NM.

“I’m calling on the Treasury and the Federal Reserve to use their emergency authorities to maintain the flow of credit, to support the availability of mortgages and to ensure that our financial system is well capitalized,” Obama continued, though - as with his release earlier this week on the financial situation, which he blamed on “the policies [Senator McCain] subscribes to” - Obama was extremely short on detail and long on generality.

In a private email to supporters, Obama was far more critical of McCain, whom he seemed to confuse with a member of the Bush administration rather than a member of the Senate. The email said in part:

Bush-McCain economic policies have favored reckless deregulation and huge tax loopholes for big corporations. Now, as these corporations crumble, American taxpayers are facing costly bailouts.

More of the same failed ideas are not going to solve our economic problems.

I’m calling for a $1,000 tax break for middle-class families — not just because they need help dealing with the rising costs of gas, food, and health care, but also because our economy needs to be reinvigorated from the bottom up, not the top down.

I’m proposing a second stimulus package to save over one million jobs and provide immediate relief to struggling families. [Ed.- Perhaps Obama has forgotten the ridicule his wife Michelle showered on the Bush stimulus package of this summer, which she claimed was wasted because Americans frittered their shares away on "earrings"]

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Barack, uh, Obama, the, uh, Democratic presidential nominee, is often referred to as “articulate” and as an outstanding orator (just peruse the 444,000 results of a Google search to that effect for evidence).

This week, Obama gave a speech to a crowd of Hollywood acolytes supporters (Duane Patterson has the text). Below is the word cloud (courtesy of Wordle.net of that speech. For those who don’t know what a word cloud is, they’re clusters of the words that appear in a source text (in this case, the Obama Hollywood speech), with the size of the words being directly proportional to the frequency of those words’ appearance.

So, with that explanation out of the way, take a look at Obama’s Hollywood speech word cloud:

Good choice, Democrats. Barack Obama is exactly the person to bring smooth, skilled oratory back to the, uh, White House.

Well done.

h/t snappedshot

Me either; in fact, call me crazy, but I always thought that the radical Islamist cabal didn’t even come into power in Afghanistan until about 1996. Then again, I tend subscribe to the version of history that is, you know, real.

Reuters, apparently, does not, as reporter Sayed Salahuddin and editors Alistair Scrutton and Jeremy Laurence put an article on the wire this morning stating that “the United States…made far too many mistakes since toppling the Taliban government in 1991.”

Photographic evidence at right; click the image to see a larger version.

Apparently pesky little things like “attention to detail” aren’t strong suits of the beloved, heroic fourth estate.

As they say, if you can’t trust a person with the little things (details, etc.), how in the world can you trust them with the big ones?

Below the fold is the entire text of General David Petraeus’s final letter to troops before departing his command of Multinational Force-Iraq and assuming leadership of United States Central Command. A scan of the original can be seen in .pdf form here.

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