National:
Dow Closes Above 12,000 for First Time
The Dow Jones industrial average scored its first close above 12,000 Thursday as Wall Street, contending with fresh data that pointed to a weakening economy, managed to hold on to a slim advance.

One day after the index of 30 blue chip stocks made its first foray past 12,000, the Dow closed at 12,011.73, according to preliminary calculations. Strong results from Dow components Coca-Cola Co. and Pfizer Inc. contributed to the average's rise. More

here.

Ghosts of the Past?
Former President Bill Clinton delivered the keynote address yesterday at the "Securing the Common Good" conference, urging the embrace of progressive policy objectives that would bring Americans together behind a single purpose. The event, sponsored by Georgetown University and the Center for American Progress, sought to articulate a philosophy -- common good progressivism -- that would break from the individualism, greed, and corruption that have come to define the right's mantra of "ownership society" and "compassionate conservatism."

Clinton argued that policies adopted by the right wing reject notions of the common good. “This sort of politics -- striving for a common good -- for me stands in stark contrast to both the political and governing philosophy of the leadership in Washington today and for the last six years," he said. Explaining the differences, Clinton said, "They believe the country is best served by the maximum concentration of wealth and power in the hands of the right people," adding, "they believe that in large measure people make or break their own lives and you're on your own. We believe in striving, at least, to cooperate with others because we think there are very few problems in the world we can solve on our own. They favor unilateralism whenever possible and cooperation when it's unavoidable." [See video of his remarks HERE.]

GOP to Air Ad Warning of Terror Attacks
The Republican Party will begin airing a hard-hitting ad this weekend that warns of more cataclysmic terror attacks against the U.S. homeland. The ad portrays Osama bin Laden and quotes his threats against America dating to February 1998. "These are the stakes," the ad concludes. "Vote November 7."

Brian Jones, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, said the ad would run on national cable beginning Sunday, but he declined to discuss specifics of the buy. The commercial tracks with Republican Party strategy to make the war on terrorism a central theme of this election. It will air as recent polls show Republicans losing ground as the party best able to combat terrorism.

International: Iraq Comparisson
In an interview yesterday with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, President Bush said he agreed with a recent op-ed arguing that the current spike of violence in Iraq could be the “jihadist equivalent” of the 1968 Tet Offensive in Vietnam, which was “widely credited with eroding support for President Johnson” and turning the American public against that war. "[The op-ed] could be right. There's certainly a stepped up level of violence, and we’re heading into an election," Bush told Stephanopoulos.

President Bush's statement is an admission that violence in Iraq has reached a tipping point, and that the U.S. is not winning the war as he has claimed. However, the increasing violence in Iraq is not a propaganda campaign by Iraqis to impact the U.S. elections, as Bush suggests. It is a civil war, as Iraqi officials, U.S. troops in Iraq and seven in ten Americans have said.

Mess-O-Potamia Attacks in Baghdad rose by 22 percent during the first three weeks of Ramadan as a U.S. military spokesman said a two-month-old U.S.-Iraqi bid to crush violence in the Iraqi capital has not met "overall expectations."

The assessment came as attacks in the northern cities of Mosul, Kirkut and Khalis killed 38 people, officials reported. Police reported four were killed by bombs in Baghdad, and four policemen were shot to death in Dora. U.S. authorities said two U.S. soldiers were killed Wednesday.

In Other News...

October is on track to be the third-deadliest month of the war, despite the fact that the "military has not conducted any major operations." The two months with higher casualty rates -- Apr. 2004 and Nov. 2004 -- "were marked by full-scale offensives in Falluja and Najaf."

Addressing Bush's claim that detainees will be able to "hear all the evidence against them," MSNBC's Keith Olbermann said last night, "The Military Commissions act specifically permits the introduction of classified evidence not made available to the defense. Your words are lies, Sir. They are lies, that imperil us all."

Half of all Americans believe most members of Congress are corrupt, according to a new CNN poll, "a figure that has risen 12 points since the start of the year - and more than a third even think their own representatives are crooked."

And finally: Before a debate with challenger Don Hilliard, Rep. John Peterson (R-PA) "asked everyone to say the Pledge of Allegiance." Unfortunately, "there was no American flag anywhere in the hall to pledge allegiance to." So the moderator, spotting Peterson's wide, American flag-themed tie, asked everyone to turn their attention to Peterson, who obliged by putting his right hand over his breast and holding his tie out for the crowd to revere.

From The Right:
Robert D. Novak: A pass for Hillary
He focuses on John Spencer, the former mayor of Yonkers, N.Y., and how he dropped into Washington Tuesday to get briefed by conservative think tank experts in preparation for two debates against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. No national Republican or Bush administration official conferred with Spencer, the party's Senate nominee. That signifies Clinton is getting a free pass to pursue both national party-building and her own presidential ambitions.

From The Left:
Peter Baker and Michael A. Fletcher: Elections May Leave Bush an Early Lame Duck He talks about how the West Wing has digital clocks counting down the days and hours left in the Bush presidency. As of 8 a.m. today, those clocks read 825 days, four hours. But if the elections go the way pollsters and pundits predict, they might as well read 20 days.

Thought To Ponder:
Why was FEMA mobilized to New York the Night Before 9/11?
Click HERE for a RealAudio recording of a statement made by FEMA spokesman Tom Kenney to Dan Rather on Wednesday, September 12th, 2001. In this interview, Kenney states that FEMA was deployed to New York on Monday night, September 10th, to be ready to go into action on Tuesday morning, September 11th.

(Sources: NewsMax, ThinkProgress, TownHall, TruthOut, AP, Drudge Report, Breiebart, FEMA, WhatReallyHappened, NY Times, Wikipedia, UK Telegraph, PollingReport.com, Washington Post, Washington Times, PoliticalCartoons.com, Rawstory, Slate, Whitehouse website, MSNBC, CNN, RollCall)