The Nightowl Newswrap

Ranking Afghan Policewoman assassinated by Taliban Two assassins on a motorbike targeted and killed Malalai Kakar, who led Kandahar's department of crimes against women, as she left her home on Sunday. The Taliban claimed responsibility, and the act was condemned by Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the European Union. "Any murder of a police officer is to be condemned, but the killing of a female officer whose service was not only to her country, but to Afghan women, to whom Ms. Kakar served as an example, is particularly abhorrent," the EU said in a statement.

Bush's legacy will be hamstringing 44 with a quagmire in Iraq, a wallstreet bail out and bin Laden still on the loose. Both nominees talk a good game and have great plans for where they would like to take the country, but the fact remains, whoever wins will take office with their obligations defined and options constrained by the mess Bush dumps in their lap.

The answer to your question is "Yes", Chris After the debate Friday night, Chris Matthews asked if McCain was too "troll-like" and doesn't think people want to listen to him harumph and harangue and act contemptuous of us all.

Hundreds of Alaskans turn out to protest Palin's role in "Troopergate" At least a thousand people turned out for a protest rally in Anchorage on Saturday, blasting Gov. Sarah Palin's handling of the state's so-called troopergate investigation. Protesters chanted "Recall Palin!" as organizers told the crowd to push state legislators to keep after their investigation into the governor's firing of the Public Safety Commissioner who refused to do her bidding and fire her sister's ex-husband.


John better get used to walking back every unscripted thing she says because she is a clueless simpleton. This morning he was forced to retract what she said about Pakistan because the answer she gave to the question was more in keeping with Obama's position than her running mate's.

Obama pulls ahead significantly He leads in the Gallup Daily tracking poll 50% to 42%. His support has steadily increased while McCain's has steadily declined since Friday night's debate.

Fox might have spiked the story, but the BradBlog has it in it's entirety! The l;ong and the short of it is that Republicans are getting nervous about Palin, her uneven performance and her inability to express a cogent thought in a diagramable sentence.

No surprises, just confirmation report that will be released tomorrow will confirm that the firings of nine U.S. attorneys was political and the White House was involved in some of the firing decisions. The report was compiled in spite of the fact that investigators were severely stymied in large part by the lack of cooperation by some Bush administration officials.

Anti-tax hysteria grips Massachusetts Think before you vote, folks. If you are going to do away with the state income tax, you are either going to have to pay more taxes somewhere else, or you are going to have to give up vital services like public safety, public health and public education.

Cornered, McCain admits his health plan would increase taxes His "market based" approach would cost you more money in taxes because it would do away with the current practice of paying for your employer-provided group policy with pre-tax dollars.

She's an utter embarrassment and out of her depth I reached this conclusion after watching the foreign-policy portion of her disastrous Sept. 25 interview with Katie Couric. A number of commentators, including The Atlantic's James Fallows and Slate's Christopher Beam, have said that Palin resembled, in Beam's words, "a high-schooler trying to BS her way through a book report," which is an insult to both high-schoolers and B.S.

And now a moment of silence, please...

Osborn Elliott 1924-2008 As the top editor at Newsweek in the 60's and 70's, he brought the magazine into it's own, and made it a truly liberal alternative to Henry Luce's conservative publication, Time. He passed away at his home earlier today from complications of cancer. He was 83.