Desperate to resuscitate his diminishing hopes for the White House, John McCain during tonight's presidential town hall meeting dramatically reversed course on a mortgage bailout for home owners. This spring, McCain adamantly stated "it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers." Now with his presidential campaign and the economy in dire straits alike, John McCain decided to open the federal wallet after all.

McCain's born-again concern for American home owners represents a 180 degree turn from his Scrooge-like posture in March:

"Some Americans bought homes they couldn't afford, betting that rising prices would make it easier to refinance later at more affordable rates," he said. Later he added that "any assistance must be temporary and must not reward people who were irresponsible at the expense of those who weren't."

But right out of the gate tonight, McCain conjured up a massive new program to save his ailing campaign, if not Americans on the brink of foreclosure. Now, he insisted, the government should buy existing mortgages and reprice them at new market rates. That's a far cry from his hard line only months ago. On March 25, McCain pronounced that when all else fails for distressed homeowners, Americans should just join the rapidly growing ranks of those:

"Doing what is necessary -- working a second job, skipping a vacation, and managing their budgets -- to make their payments on time."

Now down if not out in the polls, McCain has dropped his past moralizing about not helping either "big banks or small borrowers." Of course, all along John McCain was only interested in helping himself.

UPDATE: Sadly for John McCain, he chose tonight of all nights to praise eBay and its former CEO Meg Whitman as his possible choice for Treasury Secretary. On Monday, eBay announced it was laying off 1,600 employees, 10% of its entire workforce.

(This piece was crossposted at Perrspectives.)

The McCain camp, or should I say the Hannity campaign of PA released a vile press release that says: A TERRORIST'S BEST FRIEND." That's pretty disgusting even by Rovian standards. A C&L reader sent this in as a response to the despicable politics the GOP has resorted to as McCain has fallen in the polls.

Tonight is the second Presidential debate, and the race has changed dramatically since the last one. Sarah Palin lost her bid to become viable in the VP debate according to all polls, and the McCain strategy has turned ugly. In PA, the GOP is taking the "terrorist" guilt by association a step further, and saying that Ayers was his "best friend." The campaign and the GOP are successfully whipping their accolytes and sheep into a frenzy as we saw at two rallies Monday.

The train has left the station, the media will get on board, and there is a real potential for this type of crap to have a serious impact on the outcome in less than thirty days, unless ...

UNLESS Barack Obama confronts this crap head on and in person, and makes McCain own up to this type of character assasination. Senator McCain has said numerous times that he intends to run an "respectful" campaign, his wife Cindy went on the Today Show and said that there will be no negative campaigning from their side. Well, we know that's out the window, and it will continue no matter what happens.

But Barack Obama has the opportunity to call Senator McCain out at this debate and if he doesn't, he will put his historic campaign at risk. They have learned the lesson of the swiftboating of '04, and put out a good response with the Keating Five video, but that's not enough. They need to remember the lesson of '88 and FIGHT BACK. Dukakis lost that race when he looked weak on the "rape and murder" question. Obama can't look weak in the face of these people questioning his character and claiming that he pals around with terrorists. American's want to know that the person they are voting for will fight for what they believe in, and if you can't defend your honor it's hard to believe you will fight hard for anything else.

He did it once for his wife, and he needs to come out swinging for himself!

I don't want to tempt fate, but things are looking pretty bad for the GOP in the coming elections.

For instance, Al Franken looks like he's giving incumbent Republican Norm Coleman nightmares in Minnesota. He's ahead by 43 to 34 percent in the latest poll there, published Saturday by Princeton Survey Research Associates International. The new poll suggests that one reason for Franken’s gain is voters’ reaction to the abrasive advertising in the campaign. The Independence Party candidate, Dean Barkley, is also drawing support from Coleman says the poll.

And there's more good news both for Dems looking at voter registration as a way to tip the scales in November, as well as for third party aficionados.

The poll detected a significant increase in Minnesotans who label themselves as Democrats. Forty-two percent of likely voters identified themselves as Democrats, compared with 27 percent who said they were independents, and 26 percent who said they were Republicans.

According to the poll, Coleman’s support has slid among men and those in upper- and lower-income brackets. Last month, Coleman led Franken among men, 46 to 36 percent; in the recent poll Franken is ahead, 45 to 34 percent.

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On Saturday, August 16th, megachurch preacher and Purpose-Driven Life author Rick Warren will host the first joint appearance of campaign '08 by Barack Obama and John McCain. In what CNN is billing as the "Compassionate Leader Forum," Warren will lead separate conversations with Obama and McCain, who will meet on stage at the beginning and/or end of the event at Warren's Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California.

While the anti-gay Warren and his co-sponsor the multi-denominational group Faith in Public Life will apparently be the arbiters of presidential compassion, Reverend Warren insists Saturday's event is not about "gotcha" questions for the candidates:

"This is a critical time for our nation and the American people deserve to hear both candidates speak from the heart -- without interruption -- in a civil and thoughtful format absent the partisan 'gotcha' questions that typically produce heat instead of light."

But for the good people at the Red State blog, that's simply not good enough. Declaring that "abortion on demand is non-negotiable," Red State's open letter to Reverend Warren insists he promise to confront Obama on the issue. Failing to do so at the event, "it would be better to cancel it." No doubt, Rick Warren will ask Barack Obama about his views on abortion and women's reproductive rights.

But among the questions on AIDS, poverty, climate change and the candidates' personal faith, the notoriously reserved on religion John McCain can rest assured he won't face tough questions about his own.

Here, then, are 10 questions Rick Warren won't ask John McCain.

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