Below The Beltway

My latest thoughts on the Paulson-Bernake bailout bill, the stock market, and fears of a credit crunch are up over at The Liberty Papers.

Two old baseball hands, both of whom have taken teams to the World Series more than once, will face off in the first round of the NLDS:
CHICAGO — Lou Piniella is 65 years old, and he cannot stand still. When Piniella talks to a visitor around the batting cage, he stuffs his hands in his [...]

It looks like the Yankee front office will stay together for at least a few more seasons:
Brian Cashman will return as the Yankees’ general manager. The Yankees announced Tuesday that Cashman has re-signed for three years with the only team for which he has worked. Cashman, who had been wavering about the decision for weeks, [...]

Libertarian Party Presidential candidate Bob Barr spoke with Fox’s Neil Cavuto late Monday in the wake of the House of Representatives’ defeat of the bailout bill. Barr notes, correctly, that the fight against the bailout is far from over and talks about alternative measures to help restore confidence in the financial system:

CBS News has released additional video of Kaite Couric’s interview with Sarah Palin, and is raising much discussion over another as-yet-unreleased portion of their talks.
First, yesterday, CBS broadcast a segment where Couric sat down with Palin and John McCain while Palin tried to explain her remarks about Pakistan earlier this week that seemed to contradict [...]

Tomorrow, the Senate will take up the Paulson-Bernake bailout that the House rejected yesterday:
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The Senate plans to vote on the $700 billion bank rescue plan Wednesday evening - two days after the House failed to pass it.
The Bush administration and key lawmakers regrouped on Tuesday and vowed to push ahead on [...]

After losing 7% of it’s value yesterday, the stock market regained a good portion of it today:
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Stocks rallied Tuesday, with the Dow jumping 485 points on bets that Congress will pass a version of the government’s $700 billion package, following Monday’s crushing defeat.
But credit markets remained frozen. Several closely watched measures [...]

With only two days to do until the Vice-Presidential debate, the Obama/Biden ticket is maintaining a solid lead over John McCain and Sarah Palin.
In the Rasmussen tracking poll, Obama is above 50% for the first time, with a six-point lead:
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday—the first update with results based entirely upon [...]

It shouldn’t be any surprise that George W. Bush has hit the lowest approval ratings of his Presidency:
PRINCETON, NJ — According to a Sept. 26-27 USA Today/Gallup poll, just 27% of Americans approve of the job George W. Bush is doing as president, the lowest rating of his presidency.
The new personal low rating for Bush [...]

A Republican Congressman from Michigan reminds the Bush Administration that the Constitution still means something:

H/T: Cato@Liberty