If you believe that Barack Obama pals around with domestic terrorists, well, then, by the standards set by the McCain campaign, so does John McCain.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the man the McCain campaign used to agitate the rubes about the acts of the Weather Underground, John Murtagh, is a lawyer who represented violent anti-abortion protesters.

The story says: "From 1999 to 2001, Mr. Murtagh served as a pro-bono lawyer for the Rev. John T. Murphy, a leader of a group of antiabortion protesters who spent years picketing outside Long Island Gynecological Services in Garden City, N.Y. Rev. Murphy ran a charity called 'Save the Babies,' records show.

"According to a 1995 Nassau County, N.Y., court decision involving the clinic, the Nassau County Police Department was called to the premises at least 17 times in 1994 and 1995 to investigate reports of physical assault, harassment, bomb threats and in four cases, the firing of bullets into windows.

"A 72-year-old woman who worked for another business in the building told police that two protesters grabbed her from behind, dragged her down a hall, and slammed her into a wall before running off, leaving her with bruises and back pain. She told police she believed the protesters had mistaken her for a clinic employee because she had been wearing a white nurse's uniform.

"Threatening notes were left at the clinic, including one stating 'Danger' and 'This is a war zone.' A protester threw a piece of lead at a building manager, missing the man but breaking the car window of the building's owner, the police records cited by the New York court show."

Read the entire story here.

This week, the What Have We Learned team discusses our continuing slide into economic chaos. Such fun!

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You've probably heard the right-wing talking point that the current financial meltdown is the fault of Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and minorities.

Well, it's nonsense.

In Newsweek, business columnist Daniel Gross writes:

"These arguments are generally made by people who read the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal, and ignore the rest of the paper--economic know-nothings whose opinions are informed mostly by ideology and, occasionally, by prejudice. Let's be honest. Fannie and Freddie, which didn't make subprime loans but did buy subprime loans made by others, were part of the problem. Poor congressional oversight was part of the problem. Banks that sought to meet CRA requirements by indiscriminately doling out loans to minorities may have been part of the problem. But none of these issues is the cause of the problem. Not by a long shot. From the beginning, subprime has been a symptom, not a cause. And the notion that the Community Reinvestment Act is somehow responsible for poor lending decisions is absurd."

The rest of the article lays it out pretty well. Read it here.

Here's another blog post, from The Big Picture, a very good economics blog written by Barry Ritholtz, that offers a pretty clear explanation for the causes of the financial crisis.

In honor of the stock market and the economy, here's some Tom Petty.

I'm going to wrap it up for the night and have a cold beverage.

Thanks for reading, y'all.

On CNN, even the Republican hacks are saying that McCain lost big time. Bill Bennett, the former drug czar and compulsive gambler and Republican strategist, said McCain needed a big win and he didn't even win.

David Gergen, who worked for Reagan, says Obama kicked McCain's butt.

My assessment?

It's going to get ugly.

It was pretty much a snoozer. No fireworks, The gloves stayed on.

The big loser has to be McCain. He's way behind and he needed a big win. He didn't win. People are worried about the economy and he really has no answers.

The polls will continue to be unkind to McCain and it also means that his campaign, as we slouch toward election day, will get nastier and nastier.

By the end, expect him and Palin just to hurling profanities.

Challenges...unexpected things will happen...yada, yada, yada..

McCain: "I believe in this country."

NJow, he's stealing lines from "The Godfather."

A couple more questions.

Iran. Bad. If it gets nuke, even badder.

Stop saying "my friends."

Ever notice they always talk about Eastern Europe when things are winding down?

It's like they ran out of things to talk about and they stumble upon Eastern Europe, like when guys run out of sports topics and have to talk about advanced string theory or something.

And then he says, pretty much, he'll restart the Cold War.

Because Putin is a bad guy. Not Putie-poot, as Dubya calls him.

He keeps mentioning Gen. Petaeus. If you like the guy so much, why don't you marry him?

Oh, that's right. Don't ask; don't tell.

He says he knows how to do it, but he won't tell us.

If he knows how to get bin Laden, why hasn't he told anyone so we can get him?

This time, it's Teddy Roosevelt. He used to hang out with him at the Knickerbocker Club.

McCain is going way overboard with the "my friends" thing, sometimes dropping into a sentence twice.