AP: Iraqi lawmaker may be sentenced to death for attending Israeli counterterrorism conference last week. Previously, in 2004, Mithal Al-Alusi "was expelled from Ahmed Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress for his earlier visit to Israel, also for a terrorism conference."

George Will: "So, is not McCain's party now conducting the most leftist administration in American history? The New Deal never acted so precipitously on such a scale. Treasury Secretary Paulson, asked about conservative complaints that his rescue program amounts to socialism, said, essentially: This is not socialism, this is necessary. That non sequitur might be politically necessary, but remember that government control of capital is government control of capitalism. Does McCain have qualms about this, or only quarrels?"

Politico's Ben Smith: "Sen. John McCain’s top campaign aides convened a conference call today to complain of being called 'liars.' They pressed the media to scrutinize specific elements of Sen. Barack Obama’s record. But the call was so rife with simple, often inexplicable misstatements of fact that it may have had the opposite effect: to deepen the perception, dangerous to McCain, that he and his aides have little regard for factual accuracy."

WP: All Bush's men and women steering the McCain/Palin campaign:

... Others, including some sympathetic Republicans, have begun to quietly question whether McCain and Palin are well served by strategists so firmly anchored in the Bush establishment when the candidates are presenting themselves as a "team of mavericks" and agents of change. One Republican with long-standing ties to the Bush administration described the situation as a paradox in which Palin is especially vulnerable.

"If the McCain campaign is trying to prop up Palin as its change agent, and its inoculation against the 'third Bush term' rap, then why on earth is she surrounded by a cast of Bush advisers?" said the Republican loyalist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "Since she's been selected, every single one of the senior aides that she's brought on board had prominent roles in Bush's White House or on his campaigns, or both."

While Schmidt has imposed a degree of discipline on the campaign that did not exist during McCain's dark hours in the primary season -- and Palin seems to have taken to that structure -- other strategists with reputations for independent thinking who once surrounded McCain have been sidelined. John Weaver, who used to serve as McCain's top political adviser, is among them. He said McCain's reliance on Bush vets is logical.

"If you're going to fill a campaign out with experienced people, the last two general elections were won by someone named Bush," Weaver said. "Where else would they have come from?"

The ranks of the McCain-Palin team are now full of those veterans. Nicolle Wallace, Mark Wallace's wife, was communications director at the White House and is now offering senior-level communications expertise to both McCain and Palin (and joined Palin on her Alaska trip). Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who served as chief economist for Bush's Council of Economic Advisers, is now McCain's domestic policy adviser (and accompanied Palin to Alaska as well). Bush confidant Mark McKinnon stopped formally advising McCain once Obama became the Democratic nominee -- but he, too, is continuing to advise the group and crafted Cindy McCain's convention speech. A former Bush speechwriter, Matthew Scully, wrote Palin's convention speech.

Worth reading: John McQuaid at The American Prospect on the demise of the Washington news bureau. More.

Military Times' Sean Naylor:

Pakistani military forces flew repeated helicopter missions into Afghanistan to resupply the Taliban during a fierce battle in June 2007, according to a Marine lieutenant colonel, who says his information is based on multiple U.S. and Afghan intelligence reports.

The revelation by Lt. Col. Chris Nash, who commanded an embedded training team in eastern Afghanistan from June 2007 to March 2008, adds a new twist to the controversy over a U.S. special operations raid into Pakistan Sept. 3.

Pakistani officials strongly protested that raid, with a statement issued by the foreign ministry calling it a “gross violation of Pakistan’s territory.”

But fewer than 15 months earlier, Pakistani forces were flying cross-border missions in the other direction to resupply a “base camp” in Nangarhar Province occupied by fighters from the Taliban, al-Qaida and the Hezb-i-Islami faction led by Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Nash told Army Times in a Sept. 17 telephone interview.

He had previously alluded to the episode in a PowerPoint briefing he had prepared to help coalition forces headed to Afghanistan. The briefing, titled “Observations and Opinions IRT Operations in Afghanistan by a Former ETT OIC” and dated August 2008, has circulated widely in military circles. Military Times obtained a copy.

Nash said his embedded training team, ETT 2-5, and their allies from the Afghan Border Police’s 1st Brigade fought “a significant fight” in late June 2007 in the Agam Tengay and Wazir Tengay valleys in the Tora Bora mountains of southern Nangarhar — the same region in which al-Qaida forces fought a retreat into Pakistan from prepared defenses in the winter of 2001-2002.

“I had six [Marine] guys on a hill,” Nash said. “They weren’t surrounded, but in the traditional sense they might have been.”

At a critical point in the battle, the Pakistanis flew several resupply missions to a Taliban base about 15 to 20 kilometers inside Afghanistan, Nash said. None of the Marines witnessed the helicopter flights during the four days they were there, he said in a Sept. 19 e-mail. Rather, the supply flights had been reported to them by Afghan soldiers and local civilians in the village of Tangay Kholl.

Summarizing the reports, he said, “A helo flew in the valley, went over to where we knew there was a base camp, landed [and] 15 minutes later took off,” adding that this happened “three different times.”

The Afghan government’s intelligence service, the National Directorate of Security, had sources in the camp who confirmed that the helicopters were on a resupply mission, according to Nash.

“From NDS sources that we had in the opposing camp, [we know] they were offloading supplies,” he said. ...

LAT: Alaskans angered that Palin is off-limits. "'Why did the McCain campaign take over the governor's office?' the Anchorage Daily News demanded in an editorial Saturday. 'Is it too much to ask that Alaska's governor speak for herself, directly to Alaskans, about her actions as Alaska's governor?'"

NYT: "China’s milk scandal worsened again Sunday as the government announced that the number of infants hospitalized after consuming contaminated baby formula had risen to nearly 13,000, more than double the previous tally."

NYT: "Senator John McCain’s campaign manager Rick Davis was paid more than $30,000 a month for five years as president of an advocacy group set up by the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to defend them against stricter regulations, current and former officials say."

WP: "Tucked in a Tehran Neighborhood, One Man's Temple of Modern Art."

WP: Olmert steps down as premier of Israel.

Reuters: South Africa's Mbeki steps down.

AP: Olmert to resign today.

NYT: Stealth transition teams.

Federal judge rules that Cheney must preserve VP records for posterity. He claims the office of the vice presidency is not part of the executive branch.

Newsweek's Mark Hosenball: Palin's pipeline to nowhere.

NYT: Truck bomb kills 40 at Islamabad Marriott.

St. Petersburg (Fla) Times' political editor Adam C. Smith:

Five weeks ago, the St. Petersburg Times convened a group of Tampa Bay voters who were undecided about the presidential election. Their strong distrust of Barack Obama suggested it was a group ripe for John McCain to win over.

Not anymore. The group has swung dramatically, if unenthusiastically, toward Democrat Obama. Most of them this week cited the same reason: Sarah Palin.

"The one thing that frightens me more than anything else are the ideologues. We've seen too many," said 80-year-old Air Force veteran Donn Spegal, a lifelong Republican from St. Petersburg, who sees McCain's new running mate as the kind of "wedge issue" social conservative that has made him disenchanted with his party.

"I'm truly offended by Palin,'' said Republican Philinia Lehr, 37, of Largo, a full-time mother with a nursing degree who voted for George Bush in 2004. ...

Nate Silver: "The fact is that Obama is in a stronger position now than he was immediately before the conventions." Meantime, I am taking part in this Politics "Online 100" daily polling panel, run by PoliticsHome, and including Arianna Huffington, Karl Rove, Joe Klein, Joe Trippi, Mike Allen, Mark Halperin, Mark Blumenthal, Dana Milbank, Jonah Goldberg, John Fund, Jake Tapper, Chuck Todd, Marc Ambinder and Andrew Sullivan. Not sure panel members' political junky status makes the results that much more meaningful.

JTA: Palin disinvited from Iran rally. Earlier, Hillary Clinton had rescinded her acceptance to speak at the rally after she learned Palin had been invited.

WP: "Putnam Investments has closed a $12.3 billion money-market fund to limit losses to its investors, the large mutual fund company said today. The highly unusual announcement is the latest sign that tremendous financial pressures are now threatening even some of the safest kinds of investments."

Interesting Nate Silver analysis of trends in the presidential race, as the dust settles, including this: "McCain's other problem is that Sarah Palin may no longer be an asset to the ticket; in fact, she may be a liability. Averaging the candidates' favorability scores across four recent polls -- as one should always try and do when looking at favorability numbers since they can vary greatly depending on question wording -- Palin now has the worst net scores among the four principals in the race ... Palin's average favorability score is now a +7 -- about 10 points behind Joe Biden's numbers. Perhaps more importantly, these numbers are 10-15 points behind where Palin's numbers were just a week or so ago. If voters come in not knowing very much about a candidate -- and the more they see of the candidate, the less they like of the candidate -- this is a major concern."

Ha'aretz take on Tzipi Livni Kadima primary victory. And polls didn't predict how close it would be.

MJ: Federal action against Iranian procurement network suggests deadly Iraq IED components of US origin.

CBS: "Obama leads McCain 54 percent to 38 percent among all women. He holds a two point edge among white women, a 21 percentage point swing in Obama's direction from one week ago. ... [Palin's] favorable rating among women has fallen 11 points in the past week."

This NYT take on same CBS/NYT poll interesting too:

Despite an intense effort to distance himself from the way his party has done business in Washington, Senator John McCain is seen by voters as far less likely to bring change to Washington than Senator Barack Obama. He is widely viewed as a “typical Republican” who would continue or expand President Bush’s policies, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

Polls taken after the Republican convention suggested that Mr. McCain had enjoyed a surge of support — particularly among white women after his selection of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate — but the latest poll indicates “the Palin effect” was, at least so far, a limited burst of interest. The contest appeared to be roughly where it was before the two conventions and before the vice-presidential selections: Mr. Obama had the support of 48 percent of registered voters, compared with 43 percent for Mr. McCain, a difference within the poll’s margin of sampling error, and statistically unchanged from the tally in the last New York Times/CBS News poll, in mid-August.

AP: "Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has canceled an appearance at a New York rally next week after organizers blindsided her by inviting Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, aides to the senator said Tuesday. Several American Jewish groups plan a major rally outside the United Nations on Sept. 22 to protest against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad."

Update: Totally unrelated joke someone sent 'round today:

This reminds me of the story of the Yeshiva University rowing team. They were practicing in secret, and couldn't figure out why their times were so lousy. So they sent a spy to Cambridge to watch the Harvard crew practice.

The spy came back looking grim. "Those tricky, tricky bastards! They've got eight people rowing, and only one yelling."

This from Gail Collins to David Brooks interesting:

...When I hear Palin talk I remember a lot of state politicians I’ve run into over the years who are often very smart, but who see everything in terms of their particular turf. Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton had never been elected to anything outside their states, but they had a national vision by the time they ran for president. And all those months of campaigning around the country stretched that understanding that whatever happened in Georgia or Arkansas might not really be relevant to what happened in Washington.

But all Palin’s got is Alaska. Energy is supposed to be her key issue, but her energy policy is about more drilling in Alaska. Her reform instincts are all about fighting the Republican Party in Alaska, which is unique unto itself. And like George W. Bush, she’s been forged in a state where the Legislature is rather bipartisan. Which creates a totally inaccurate vision of how one could operate in Washington.

Sarah Palin: Alaskan solutions to American problems.

Politico: Republican Jewish Coalition sponsored anti-Obama poll.

A Washington lawyer reader sends this:

Gabriel Nathan Schwartz was a Colorado Delegate to the Republican National Convention. During the convention, Schwarz, 29, wasn't shy about talking to the media. ... In an interview filmed the afternoon of Sept. 3 and posted on the Web site LinkTV.org, Schwartz was candid about how he envisioned change under a McCain presidency. "Less taxes and more war," he said, smiling. He said the U.S. should "bomb the hell" out of Iran because the country threatens Israel.

Asked by the interviewer how America would pay for a military confrontation with Iran, he said the U.S. should take the country's resources. "We should plant a flag. Take the oil, take the money," he said. "We deserve reimbursement."

A few hours after giving that interview, Schwartz took a hooker back to his hotel room, where she drugged him and stole more than $120,000 in cash and jewelry.

Mullen in Pakistan. NYT: "The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, America’s top military official, made a hastily arranged visit to Pakistan on Tuesday for talks about recent incursions by American commandos based in neighboring Afghanistan. [...] His visit to Pakistan — his fifth as chairman of the joint chiefs — was added after he had left Washington, according to an American military official. The American Embassy in Islamabad had specifically requested Admiral Mullen’s presence to personally brief Pakistan’s civil and military leadership on the American military’s activities along the border, the official said."

MJ: A Republican strategist's take on the race. Palin helped significantly in the short term, but McCain may have peaked too early; the Bradley effect is real, but in the end, new voters will come through for Obama.

Worth reading: Todd Gitlin on "The wars of John McCain."

Bradley Burston: "Even my Israeli cab driver, a non-American through and through, knew more about the Bush Doctrine than Sarah Palin. And that is cause for serious concern. ... This is what is truly frightening about Sarah Palin. There is something in the smugness, the faith-based rigidity, the dismissiveness, that suggests that once again, we may have a national leader who knows better how to divide than to rule."

Ha'aretz: Five former U.S. Secretaries of State urge talks with Iran.

WSJ's Washington Wire: Pathological? or is the problem with the speech writers?

Abu Muqawama is back, looking at Andrew Bacevich's Atlantic piece on the Petraeus doctrine.

Steve LeVine: Kazakh Oil: Russian brinksmanship could imperil flow of oil and money from Caspian to Europe.