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Bias on NBC News with opinion of Chris Matthews more commentator than unbiased anchor in Brokaw's view and the reluctance of the McCain campaign to trust NBC News,. Brokaw's efforts to sooth feelings at the McCain campaign. Brokaw's hosting of Meet the Press and the effects of age, he is 68, in the rigors of hosting and commenting in a hectic campaign season. "My daughters will say that I look a bit tired," said Brokaw recently. He is filling in for Tim Russert at this time.

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A couple of things have taken Obama ahead given he is a candidate who the electorate is not so familiar with and his relative lack of experience, and they relate to McCain as candidate and Obama as candidate. McCain comes across as impulsive and casual, Obama has more composure and steadiness and is thorough. In the selection of candidate Obama filled in for experience, and McCain's selection handicapped his experience argument. McCain campaign's higher taxes from Obama argument is also blunted by his poorly thought out plan to tax health insurance benefits, which neutralized his claims of higher taxes from Demmocrats. And Obama's grassroots organization and fundraising maakes it possible to run a stronger better campaign and his focus has been consistent and steady on the economy, all of which add up to another advantage. And all this is happening against the background of 8 years of Republicans and unpopularity of Bush. To that is added the sudden deterioration of the economy in September 2008 and a global financial crisis, in which McCain's impulsiveness in going to Washington which led to Republicans voting down the first bailout plan in the House was set against steadiness of Obama on these economic issues, with advice from an experienced man like Paul Volcker, former Fed chairman. The worst hit economically are midwest states where the auto industry is near collapse needing its own bailout, and this has led to an astonishing lead in some polls of 25 points for Obama, quite unheard of for a fresh candidate....

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The situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating. It's worsening compared to Iraq. More deaths in roadside bombings than Iraq in recent months, and rural areas in the south and east no longer in the control of the Karzai government. And opium crops not under any control and growing substantially in 2007. The US Defense department is conducting a thorough review of the situation in Afghanistan. The ceasefire between militants in Pakistan's border areas and the Pakistan army also has led to increased activity along the Pakistan border as Pakistan militants cross the border into Afghanistan, and the Pakistan tribal border areas acting as sanctuary for the Taliban militants. Meanwhile Obama and McCain see the situation differently. McCain sees Iraq as important and Obama would withdraw from Iraq and concentrate on Afghanistan and send 8000 more troops to Afghanistan, something that may happen if he is elected and the situation in Afghanistan deteriorates further.

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The Hispanic vote counts for crucial vote margins not only in the southwest but in places like Pennsylvania and Virginia where they are 5% of the voting population. About 10 million Hispanics voted up from 7.8 million in 2004 accounting for 8% of the voting population. That is an increase of 2.2 million voters and abig part of grass roots efforts to get them to register both by Hillary Clinton, and Obama. This grass roots effort was crucial. And mobilized by immigration policies of the Republicans and by the economic downturn and by a new generation of younger latino voters they voted nationally 66% to 32% for Obama over McCain. In Florida the older generation of Cuban Americans were eclipsed by new younger Cuban American voters and South and Central American immigrants giving Obama 57% to 42% edge over McCain. In Colorado the Latino vote was 17% of the vote with 73% of Hispanics voting Obama. Newly registered voters were 35% in Colorado, 34% in Florida.

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A different view of the Georgian conflict. One that sees it in the light of the events of 1948 and the Berlin Airlift after the Soviet Union blockade of Berlin, and suggests an airlift of supplies to Tibilisi, capital of Georgia. One that reflects a Republican McCain type of view of Russia and Putin.

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What else can the Fed and Treasury do after coordinated rate cuts with European nations, bailouts of wall street financial institutions, buyback of toxic assets? Making direct loans to homeowners facing foreclosure, the Hubbard and Feldstein proposals, McCain proposal. Economist Rob Shapiro adviser to Clinton, says the focus of the administration on Wall Street to the exclusion of homeowners is economically and politically myopic.

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Palin's appeal helps McCain to be neck and neck in the WSJ/NBC poll with a majority of voters comfortable with the idea of a first term Alaska governor as President. Overall 9 out of 10 Democrats and the same number for Republicans say they will support their nominees solidyfying support on party lines but still 1 out of 4 Clinton supporters say they would not vote for Obama.

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WSJ's Jeremy Page looks at Admiral Wu's efforts to build U.S.-China naval ties through relations with Admiral Jonathan Greenert, head of U.S. Naval Operations. Admiral Wu has the backing of Chinese president Jinping to expand the influence and capabilities of China's Navy. A skeptical Senate Armed Services Committee led by Senator John McCain sees the effort to enroll Chinese officers at U.S. naval colleges, and offers of visits to Chinese ports by U.S. aircraft carriers, as a ways to increase the capabilities of China's Navy. McCain and members of Congress are alarmed by the effort to build China's naval power on the Spratly islands to extend control over the South China Sea and beyond. Wu is the only naval leader on the 11 man China Central Military Commission, headed by president Jinping, which commands China's armed forces. He joined the People's Liberation Army in 1964 and in 1988 has commanded a group of destroyers. Wu as an advocate for a greatly expanded mission for the Chinese Navy following what is called the "century of humiliation" with the Opium War in 1842, is seen with wariness with close neighbors Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Japan, Australia and India....

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This report in the WSJ says Reince Preibus, Republican National Committee chairman, has told party officials on Oct. 8, 2016, to redirect party funds away from nominee Trump to down-ballot candidates. This means the Republican party will try to get Clinton supporters to vote who are likely to vote for candidates like Rubio in Florida and Portman in Ohio. Republican Portman has joined Senator McCain in withdrawing support for Trump. This is the result of a video showing Trump making lewd comments about women in a conversation with Billy Bush of NBC. Speaker of the House of Representatives, Paul Ryan, immediately disinvited Trump from a rally in Wisconsin and withdrew his support leading to a big outflow of support from Congressman and Republican leaders. A former chairman of the Republican party in California describes this as the biggest crisis for Republicans since Watergate. The Republican party now stops its mail program to voters that supported Trump and redirects it to down-ballot candidates. It also comes as the Republican party funds and party infrastructure are a necessary and vital  part of any Republican nominee's effort to get elected. The Republican strategy may now be to try and preserve its control of Congress, as a loss in Wisconsin, Illinois or Missouri, could give the Democrats control of the Senate and other losses reduce its House majority. This appears to be the backup strategy of Paul Ryan as Speaker, and the leading Republican after his overwhelming win in his Senate seat against a Trump supported candidate. ...

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The Washington Post points out the damage to civil society and the rule of law in Egypt in 2014-2015. It cites the Working Group on Egypt's conclusions that repression only works to increase the extremism in the region. A bipartisan group of seven senators including John McCain and Marc Rubio, in a letter to Mr. Kerry, the U.S. Secretary of State, says the U.S. foreign policy must always support human rights, political reform and civil society. It calls these core principles.

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Critics such as Senator John McCain say Hagel was affected by micromanagement of defense matters from the White House. The White House maintains close control over policy. One problem seen in the administration is developing policy when no one is sure what the president wants. Only a small circle McDonough, the National Security Advisor Valerie Jarrett, and some NSA officials in the inner circle with the president determine policy. Michele Flournoy and Ashton Carter are considered as replacement for Hagel.

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President Obama tells Hispanic high school students he supports a bipartisan plan for immigration reform from Senators Graham, McCain, Rubio, and Schumer. A critical part of the plan and the President's plan is a pathway to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants. Obama wants to see a pathway "from the outset," senators say this should happen after stricter enforcement requirements are met. If the senators do not move ahead with this plan the White House will put forward his own plan.

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 Nikki Haley was born in Bamberg, South Carolina in 1972, her father became US citizen 1978, her mother 2003, according to her autobiography. She was governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017 and served as the US ambassador at the United Nations under president Trump. Article 2 of the US Constitution sets out that only natural born citizens can be president of the US. Commentators have opined that the natural born citizen requirement was put in to mean that the citizen was not naturalized at some later date. During the 1730's under British Common Law and under the Naturalization Act of 1790 of the First US Congress children of Ameircan citizens born overseas were considered to be American citizens. This was true of Barry Goldwater born in Arizona before it became a US state, and Romney born in Mexico, Senator McCain born in the Panama Canal Zone. This is why when one parent is an American citizen as for Obama and Cruz this law prevails. When a child is born in the US he is considered to be a citizen at birth under the laws of the US and natural born under Article 2 of the US Constitution. Supporting US literacy about civics  knowledge for children is the best way to get the best outcomes for the civic life of the United States as promoted by Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor through iCivics site, and by Lyrarc under the Movement for Global Literacy. ...

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The Obama administration's failure to correctly grasp the situation and articulate a clear position on the democracy protests in Egypt, is raising many questions. On many of the events occurring about the transition, the administration was caught unawares. And its position gave a muddled message to the people of Egypt, not a clear statement of the US support for the democratic process. Senator John McCain said in an interview: "Every day that goes by, you have to ask: who profits from this? Its the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic extremists. There's the perception that we're on the side of Mubarak."

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How the efforts of former Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, as head of the National Democratic Institute, and Senator John McCain, chairman of the International Republican Institute, to push for democratic processes in Egypt, failed to get the support of the Obama administration. Both wrote to Mr Mubarak in July 2010, asking that international monitors be allowed to observe the election in November 2010. The National Democratic Institute, is a US organization training Egyptians to be election monitors. After the renewal of martial law for another 2 years by Mubarak in May 2010, The Egypt Working Group, a bipartisan body of human rights activists, neoconservative policy makers and Mideast experts, was growing alarmed about the crackdown by Mubarak on anyone seeking transparency in the elections. It sent letters to Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, in April and May 2010, saying the Mubarak move to rig the elections was dangerous as the young people in Egypt were increasingly agitated. The administration acted as if it was taken by surprise by the situation in Egypt, when respected leaders like Albright were cautioning the administration about the situation in Egypt from early 2010. Before and after the protests, the Obama administration was slow to support democratic processes in Egypt, and failed to take a clear consistent stand supporting the freedom of expression of the Egyptian people....

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Ines Pohl of DW.com reflects on the U.S. Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio. It turns out he says to be a sort of Trump Festival, with the candidate and his family everywhere, not much discussion of the platform or policy issues- he says it offered the world a spectacle never seen at such a convention- 15,000 journalists from all over the world covering 2500 delegates, all the delegates mere onlookers at this entertainment extravaganza. John McCain, Mitt Romney, former presidential candidates not present, and president Bush and family not present, all staying away because of derogatory remarks. Not the kind of display of unity to bring together different segments of the party. The lone dissenter at the convention turned out to be rival Ted Cruz who made a speech without supporting Trump, and is booed off the stage. Cruz won in some important primaries including Texas, Oklahoma, and in votes cast on voting day in Louisiana, in addition to Wisconsin, appealing to evangelical voters in a section of the South, and in western states such as Nebraska and Idaho, typical Republican territory. Ohio's John Kasich is called "petulant" by campaign manager, and stays away- Kasich won in his home state of Ohio, a state president George Bush needed to win over Kerry, especially with its evangelical voters. Pohl adds humor in his coverage by referring to the traitors Bush, Kasich and especially Cruz, who are dispensed with, as the Republican delegates rally behind Trump on the last day of the convention.  ...

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David Axelrod's take on the battle with Republicans on the stimulus package. Axelrod says Washington DC talks to itself and whips itself into a frenzy with its own theories, that are completely at odds with what the rest of America is thinking. Cable TV can be misleading he suggests, and its almost like living in a parallel universe. This happened he says before the Iowa primary, and situations like this ocurred after some of Hillary Clinton's primary wins, and before the election when the Hillary vote was expected to go to McCain. In each situation people counted Obama out, and were living in a parallel universe where they believed what they were saying to the exclusion of everything else.

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According to an investigation by a congressional subcommittee70% of all trading in West Texas Intermediate crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange is by speculative traders compared to 37% in 2000. The subcommitte findings are based on data obtained from federal commodity futures regulators. So are the Saudis right that speculators in futures trading ar playing a big part in the oil price increases or is the administration position correct that this is not a factor at all? This provides backing to the Saudi position, the IMF position and the position of McCain and Obama, the 2 presidential candidates. And there are calls to close a loophole that prevents oversight by the government over this kind of trading.

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The 45 million Latinos in the USA react with pride, and some parents talk to their daughters to see her as a role model. From Salvadoran immigrants, and Cuban immigrants to Mexican immigrants, to people in the Bronz and Puerto Rico. Demographic research by the Pew Hispanic Center shows that Hispanics are from many countries and have a diversity of opinions and attitudes. Two thirds voted for Obama, one third for McCain, 60% are native-born and 40% foreign born, 64% are of Mexican AMerican heritage, and the other 36% are from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Central America, and other places. They make up 15% of the USA population, and account for half of the country's population growth in the last decade.

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Should private equity taking stakes in distressed companies benefit while the government and taxpayers get no ownership stakes for the $700 billion they put out- thats the issue for the New York Times in an editorial on Wednesday, September 23, during the days of Congressional hearings and Paulson Bernanke and company failing to budge on this and on help for those facing foreclosure. Those two days saw Paulson and Bernanke facing angry and distraught members of Congress who in question after question brought up these points relentlessly for both days and got simply the same response that something needed to be done quickly and these points could wait. Late Tuesday September 23, Obama and McCain joined the Congressman by urging action but requiring these points be put in.

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This interview by Michael Schmidt of the NYT with president Trump shows a more conciliatory mood following the passage of the Republican tax law. Trump says he feels Mueller will treat him fairly but that the investigation will drag along for some time. Trump says this is bad for the country.  On the tax law he says he would have tackled the local and state tax deduction either not touched it or worked out a compromise if Democrats agreed to talk to him about taxes. Democrats he says thought they had McCain's vote when he left for Arizona, yet that did not happen. He says expensing for investing in equipment should unleash growth through new investment in the U.S. On infrastructure he sees a hundred Democrats joining the Republicans in Congress to do a deal. He says Democrats need him for DACA on the Dreamers issue, and he will work with them.  Other topics covered were the election itself which Trump says he fairly won by focussing on the Electoral College and going frequently to small states like Maine, up and down the East Coast knowing he would lose New York. He says there was no collusion with the Russians for his campaign and says it was Democrats who did the collusion. Manafort worked longer for others including Reagan, says Trump, and was with him for only about 4 months. This interview shows a upbeat Trump following the passage of the tax legislation. ...

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Hillary Clinton is critical of Ted Cruz's comments about patrolling Muslim neighborhoods and Trump's comments on torture. She cites John MacCain and George Shultz in support of her position. Clinton also points to lack of adequate coordination between EU nations and with Turkey on terrorism risks as a serious problem to address following Brussels terrorist attacks in March 2016. Clinton says it is easier for the U.S. to obtain flight manifests from an EU nation than it is for EU nations to do this with each other.

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Some frank and honest assesments of the situation on the ground in Afghanistan from a career foreign service officer, the British ambassador in Kabul, Afghanistan about the lack of trust, corruption and lack of viability of the Karzai government, as it faces insurgents who he says could make life difficult even in the capital. Both candidates plan an expansion of the Afghanistan war with Obama equally aggressive or more so with targeting of Pakistan from comments in the last debate of McCain and Obama. The ambassador may be warning of the danger of expansion of the war without carefully assessing the situation on the ground like the failure of the Karzai governmet to build trust, corruption, and as reported by the BBC News tv coverage the shipping of arms to insurgents under the tacit permission of corrupt Afghan governmet officials through highways controlled by the Kabul government.