Jodi,

Those two video links are amazing. The new catch-phrase, "Gotcha' politics". I'm guessing we'll be hearing that a lot over the coming weeks.

Howard

saddest moment is when McCain said "Isn't that a pizza place?"

Someone needs to tell that man to not make jokes, period.

I played around with some numbers awhile back and guessed that there's approximately 45 million people between 18-26,  '06 numbers had the population of those between 15-34 to be 82.5 million, so I guessed at the 45 million currently.

So there's a potential 45 million, if not more, not being polled.  And since one of  Obama's biggest base is those under 30, that's huge.

I pulled the numbers from here:    http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ADPTable?_bm=y&-geo _id=01000US&-qr_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_DP5&-ds_name=A CS_2006_EST_G00_&-_lang=en&-_sse=on

I don't agree with Brooks' political perspective very often, but he's always thoughtful and worth reading.

He's 100% correct about the leadership void. It was incredibly sad to see Congressional Representatives from both parties pointing fingers at the other side yesterday, as the Stock Market suffered historic losses and banking giant Wachovia was sold to avoid collapse. Partisan politics aren't what this country needs right now. The old adage about "Nero fiddles while Rome burns" couldn't be more appropriate.

However, I'm still not convinced, as Brooks is, that this bailout is the right solution to fix the problem. Sure, it would boost short-term confidence in the markets, but will the long-term effects just make things better or worse? I don't think anyone can say for sure.

I was looking forward to your take on that editorial Bruce, because I knew you'd have a thoughtful, reasoned response as you always do.  I tend to agree with you vis a vis the bail out as its presently constituted.  I also agree that both sides come out of this with mud on their face.  Both democratic and republican leadership didn't rally their troops very well!

Where I think I disagree is in the need to address the crisis.  I think something needs to be done.  Our economy is too dependant on flowing credit and the tightening being felt on Wall Street will make its way to Main Street as well.  Maybe I see this because, living in northern New Jersey, we are seeing the impact of this crisis directly on our neighbors.  It has trickled down to our "Main Streets" in this area.  As I've said I'm not sure how to attack this crisis but I do feel action is needed.  So I agree with Brooks on this one.