Sarah Palin just keeps going back for more car-wreck interviews with Katie Couric. After forecasting a possible Great Depression and saying something indecipherable about her state's relations with Russia, the Republican vice presidential nominee reportedly went silent when called on to name Supreme Court cases other than Roe V. Wade. Also, in the attached clip, Palin and John McCain both implausibly try to blame "gotcha journalism" for reporting on Palin's support for cross-border raids into Pakistan, a position shared by Barack Obama and attacked by McCain during the presidential debate. (Click the video icon to watch.) Now, Politico reports, the Republican ticket is pulling Palin back to the safer waters of right-wing talk radio. Putting McCain's popular-but-inexperienced running mate in front of more TV cameras was a calculated gamble by the campaign to broaden her appeal. It's now safe to say that it failed.

Here's John McCain saying that now's the time to "leave partisanship at the door" and fix this Wall Street mess, instead of acting like Barack Obama, who "infused partisanship into the process" of voting on the bailout plan personally redesigned by the Republican presidential nominee, in a day, alone. Before you ask which candidate injected himself into the process, and which one returned to Washington only at the behest of the president, remind yourself that "now is not time to affix the blame." I guess this means McCain's campaign is unsuspended. Click the video icon to watch this jaw-dropping bit of political posturing.

The New York Times ran a huge (huge!) A1 investigative piece on John McCain and his weird gambling obsession and ties to the Indian Casino industry and Vegas and lobbyists and ten thousand other things yesterday. It was well-reported, historical in focus, and fair. It ran on the front page of the Sunday edition, which reaches almost half a million more readers than the weekday edition. But, you know, no one is talking about it. It didn't really stick! Did anyone read the whole thing? Were there bombshells? Who knows! What happened? The Times sabotaged itself, either intentionally or through ineptitude. Allow us to explain. Times editor Bill Keller complains a lot these days about how no one pays enough attention to the Times and their big stories. He blames the internet and a million competing voices for distracting people from the Important Work of Times journalists. He's sorta right! Gone are the days when the Times set the agenda for the national press. Though the slow death of newspapers across the nation has been beneficial to the Times in one important way: they're the only national paper, effectively. A Times investigation reaches more of the country than a Washington Post investigation. So one would expect a story of this size and seeming heft would make a big splash. But it didn't! Drudge didn't play it up—though as we move closer to the election, he regresses even more to his natural Republican hackdom, so they shouldn't have expected a push from him. And the liberals have no one coherent answer to Drudge, just a million sites trying desperately to push their own often competing agendas. Kos, Talking Points Memo, and the Huffington Post all share an elitist coastal liberal bias and huge audiences, but very different methods of achieving their goals and working the media refs. But on the other hand... the way the Times dropped the story seems self-defeating. Front page of the Sunday edition, sure. But it went online Saturday night. So by the time Monday morning rolls around, it seems ancient, even though no one actually talked about it over the weekend. Furthermore, it came right after a presidential debate, right before a hugely anticipated vice presidential debate, and right in the midst of a gigantic economic crisis and a desperate attempt by Congress to prevent another Great Depression. The Times should've had the story go live online on Thursday night (in time for it to be an issue in the debates!), they should've leaked salient details to Drudge beforehand, or they should've waited until the bailout negotiations collapsed or succeeded. The fact that they did none of those things indicates to us that they didn't actually want this story to blow up. Maybe there's nothing actually to it (though the bit where McCain helped take down Jack Abramoff because he was the competition to McCain's preferred lobbyists seems a bit juicy, right?) or maybe they've actually been cowed by the McCain campaigns attacks on their credibility, or maybe they just don't know what the hell they're doing. Now, for your edification, some interesting bits from the 100-page Times piece on John McCain's gambling addiction:

Though Tina Fey has publicly voiced a desire to stop playing Sarah Palin in November, Lorne Michaels issued the Emmy winner the comedy equivalent of a stop-loss last night, conscripting Fey for a second tour of duty as Palin on Saturday Night Live. This time around, Fey and Amy Poehler spoofed the vice-presidential candidate's bungled sit-down with Katie Couric, and though the sketch will forever live in the shadow of the instant classic original (and we would rather have seen Kristen Wiig play Couric than the hugely pregnant Poehler), there were still some worthwhile bits. Our favorite? Fey-as-Palin's talking points meltdown (at 2:50 in the video). The sketch, after the jump:Click to view

John McCain, the angriest Presidential candidate ever, has such a total lack of impulse control that he uttered "Horseshit" live onstage at last night's debate. For real! Barack Obama was discussing McCain's seething hatred of the Spanish prime minister when McCain's seething hatred took over his body and caused him to curse Obama out. Or the whole thing could've been an elaborate ploy to showcase his bitter-millionaire-anger to blue collar types bitter over losing jobs and homes, in the hope that they wouldn't see the difference. In any case, witness the offensive language for yourself at about 4:30 in the following clip. Update: The original poster now thinks McCain is saying "Course not." Who am I to decide such things? Listen for yourself. Click to view [via Andrew Sullivan]

So maybe you've seen this, right? The McCain campaign already bought some ads (we thought they suspended their campaign!) announcing that John McCain won the debate, which happens tonight, and which McCain had not yet even said he'd attend until late today. Great work, guys. Really nice, really professional. But what is more funny is this ad in today's Wall Street Journal (supposedly!). Do you want to buy one of John and Cindy McCain's 500 houses? You are in luck!

Everyone knows that Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, was once Sarah Heath, beauty pageant contestant, right? Someone in Alaska claims that a clip posted to YouTube is a legitimate video of the vice presidential candidate's appearance in the 1984 Miss Alaska show. (She was runner-up.) Versions of the same clip have been posted on YouTube, only to get yanked down in a game of whack-a-mole. How long did you think it took the McCain campaign to find a pageant organizer who can file a copyright claim to get the video taken offline? Paul Boutin says they should keep it on the site: "This video is of vital importance to national security — why else would all our media-hipster friends in New York be reloading it over and over again?"

With all due respect, Cecily von Ziegesar, I must dispute your contention that Barack Obama is Blair Waldorf. He is so totally not Blair. I realize that I could not be writing this post at all had you not blazed the trail by authoring the transcendent works of literature on which the meta-popular Gossip Girl television series is based, whereas I have watched said derivative television show exactly once. But perhaps in that relative ignorance I can claim a kind of wisdom you are too enmeshed, too beholden, too blinded by detail and deep-seated loyalties to your own creations, to possess. In that way you would be not unlike ex-Hillary Clinton aide Howard Wolfson, who last month described awakening "Rip Van Winkle"-like after his boss finally conceded to her charismatic young rival "to a world transformed by political currents we had stood against." Wake up and smell the green tea mimosas, Cecily! Like the country, Gossip Girl is bigger than you now.And when you glibly state, pollster-like, that "the truth is, Barack is just not blond enough or vague enough to be a Serena" as if that is just the accepted truth, like "America is not ready for a black president" or "socialism is for Europeans", you are failing to detect the paradigm shift underway that had the "smart money" backing the Serena as Obama metaphor all the way back in Season One:

The Washington Post grabbed a screenshot of a campaign ad, running on the Wall Street Journal's website, which prematurely declared a win for McCain in tonight's debate. Silicon Alley Insider called it a "Dewey Defeats Truman" moment, alluding to a newspaper headline which incorrectly called the 1948 presidential election.

In her recent SNL skit, Tina Fey attracted some of the biggest laughs when she played vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin as a politician more adept at striking a pose than learning foreign policy. Now, thanks to the miracle of the YouTubes, we can check Fey's moves against the real thing! Yes, the tape from Palin's 1984 stint in the Miss Alaska competition has finally surfaced, and it involves the then-Sarah Heath donning a red swimsuit and doing a full round of turns for the audience and judges. The YouTube uploader promises more Miss Alaska clips soon, including Palin's talent entry (playing the flute!). Until those surface, we have to ask: could Matt Damon pull off a one-piece so well? [HuffPo]

The "serious" finance/econ press (ranging from liberal Krugman to conservative Rich Lowry) agrees that the House Republican plan—insurance??—is a joke. McCain lending his ostensible support to it (though he won't come out for it, his intervention pushed the rebelling Repubs to the forefront of the debate) is designed either to scuttle a compromise he had no part in (vanity) or to provide Republicans the opportunity to avoid supporting an unpopular but arguably necessary bill (sabotage). If Dems were smart, they'd recast their compromise bill as a liberal response to the Bush/Paulson plan. Hopefully it is that, too! I.e. play up the laregly symbolic golden parachute bullshit, etc. Most likely, some version of the Dodd/Frank bill will pass this weekend, with Republican support (and probably with some minor concessions John McCain can crow about). Right? Unless McCain makes good on his threat to travel back to DC after the debate and, you know, win this war on banks. Here's John Carney on what House negotiations will look like now:

When Rome burned people enjoyed watching the fiddler, and now that this country is more effed than ever before, we enjoy watching SNL. According to a new report in Variety, “SNL has experienced a hefty bump in the Nielsen polls this election season, boasting a 50% gain over last season’s first two episodes.” The political climate has to be the reason, because it certainly wasn’t Michael Phelps’s mush-mouthed delivery or the searing star power of James Franco that got people to tune in. No, it’s because the cast of characters who parade across CNN on a daily basis are so ripe for parody. There’s McCain, Palin, Hillary, and Obama, and all of them are just begging to be made fun of.In fact, SNL’s brand of political comedy is so hot right now, that NBC’s gonna give you the opportunity to choke on it. Not only are there four original episodes in a row to lead off the season, but starting on October 9th, there will be three special primetime Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday editions, which will run behind The Office. Will they really be able to get Tina Fey to do her Sarah Palin impression that many times before she has to return to 30 Rock? We hope so, because Darrell Hammond’s McCain and Fred Armisen’s Obama are kinda meh. Of course, it’s not just SNL that’s reaping the benefits of all the political insanity. Variety says,"The Daily Show is coming off its most-watched week in history, averaging 1.9 million viewers last week — up 28% from last year.” And Colbert and Real Time With Bill Maher are doing great too. At this point, network executives must be trying to get this election postponed indefinitely so they can keep making fun of it. Sound crazy? Well, McCain did just suspend his campaign. Hmmm...

♦ David Letterman ripped into John McCain once again last night, which he'll probably continue to do as long as he gets this much attention for it. [NYT]
♦ Sarah Ivens is out as the editor-in-chief of the moneylosing tabloid OK! And, no, Bonnie Fuller is not taking over. [NYP]
♦ CNBC's David Faber is writing a book about the Wall Street meltdown, too. [NYO]
♦ ABC won the Thursday night ratings war thanks to the two-hour season premiere of Grey's Anatomy. [TV Decoder]
♦ Brigitte Quinn and Page Hopkins are leaving Fox News. [TV Newser]
♦ The Magazine Publishers of America will announce the winner of the cover of the year on Monday; here are the three finalists. [Jossip]

It looks like John McCain will be heading to tonight's presidential debate after all (according to this priceless pool report from McCain's plane, which also states, "General atmosphere is utter confusion"), but one no-show is continuing to cost the candidate, and that's McCain's now-notorious skipped Late Show appearance. David Letterman continued to rip into McCain during his monologue yesterday, even conscripting guest Paris Hilton (who had her own memorable run-in with McCain) into the proceedings. Meanwhile, executives at CBS News are up in arms about the live news feed Letterman tapped into on Wednesday night's broadcast that showed McCain getting made up in advance of his Katie Couric interview:

Thank god John McCain solved the financial crisis! Earlier today his campaign was downplaying the importance of a debate, once again arguing that the fact that Barack Obama refused to do 10 Town Halls with him meant that it was Obama's fault that McCain was ditching tonight's debate, and they even floated the idea that an all-Obama interview/town hall would be illegal. But in the end, they blinked. The debate is on. The "suspended" McCain campaign is un-suspended. McCain's bizarre political "Hail Mary" accomplished nothing, except for pissing off a late night talk show host and maybe helping derail a bipartisan political compromise. The McCain campaign statement, after the jump:

That's why Edward Murrow—famed for his measured wartime broadcasts from London—had such an effect when he took on red-baiting Senator McCarthy. (Here's a scene from Good Night and Good Luck, a movie account of that confrontation.) And it's why Late Show host David Letterman's disillusionment with Republican candidate John McCain, evidenced two nights in a row now, could swing the presidential campaign. "The road to the White House runs through me," joked Letterman on Wednesday night when he berated McCain for suspending his campaign and canceling a planned appearance on the CBS late-night show.

Hank Paulson went before Congress to ask that he get a shit-ton of money to purchase mortgage-backed securities. The bipartisan Joint Economic Committee hammered out a compromise, giving Paulson some of what he wanted but with more oversight and perhaps a better deal for taxpayers. John McCain ran back to Washington to solve this himself, and as soon as his plane touched down the compromise fell apart, with conservative House Republicans balking at passing anything resembling the Paulson plan. So what happened yesterday, exactly? Who do we blame for everything? And what'll happen now? Your financial and congressional newspapers have the story. In case you're not a Roll Call or Wall Street Journal subscriber, we'll explain what they're saying about this mess. The Wall Street Journal on what happens now:

Somewhere in America, the next Karl Rove is paying his dues, and odds are good he's doing so in part by crafting a narrowly-targeted attack website. The first one of these I saw accused police of conspiring to falsely convict the son of an Oakland politician of sexual assault. Russell Harding's is much more impressive. Convicted of embezzlement and child-porn possession, Harding has established a site called Rudy Veritas, where he tells unflattering stories involving his old boss Rudy Giuliani and Giuliani's associates. A convicted felon who just last year asked Giuliani for money is not the most credible source, as the Times points out this morning. But that didn't stop the newspaper from relaying some of Harding's allegations involving Giuliani's mistress Judith Nathan, and it won't stop others from checking out his description of marathon gambling and alleged illegal perks granted to John McCain.

Not only did John McCain ditch Late Show host David Letterman for Katie Couric and mislead him about it, it turns out the Republican presidential nominee spent the entire night in New York and didn't fly to DC until the next morning. So, in a reprise of last night, Letterman will spend a good chunk of his show this evening bashing the Arizona senator. "The economy just barely held on long enough for him to get back" to DC, Letterman joked. As theatrical as the Letterman-McCain feud has become, Letterman could probably score more points talking about the $700 billion banking bailout than about the mechanics of late-night TV booking. Here's to hoping that, when the full show airs, he does. (Click the video icon to watch some excerpts.)

So Barney Frank and Chris Dodd—and some senior Republicans!—hashed out a compromise bailout plan that looked much better than the Paulson plan, and it should pass the House and Senate before the markets open on Monday. Hooray! Except John McCain needs to look like he solved this crisis, so he told Spencer Bachus, the ranking Republican on the House Financial Services Committee, to announce that no one agreed to anything and then Bachus added that McCain has his own brand-new plan no one has seen before. So by "solving the crisis" McCain basically torpedoed the bipartisan consensus just as it formed. Barney Frank is all "why didn't Bachus bring this up during our meeting, the fact that John McCain would immediately force him to denounce the plan he just agreed to?" Meanwhile John Boehner has appointed nine ultra-conservative House Republicans to draft a third plan. Ha ha ha...?? The Dodd/Frank plan still might pass. But who knows what Bush will do! We won't debate any of the plans on their merits because what the fuck do we know (except that the Boehner plan will be terrible). Oh and how about those debates? "I'm hopeful that we can. I believe it's very possible if we can get an agreement in time to for me to get to Mississippi but I also asked Senator Obama to go to 10 town halls with me...he refused." That's a rough quote from McCain to the press at 5:30 or so today. He probably thinks he sounds very leader-y and not just petulant. Obama wouldn't debate me then, on my terms, 100 times, so I won't debate him now! Why can't this 100-year-old man GROW UP.