From Ron Reagan:

Unfortunately, 'it’s the economy, stupid,' and I’m speaking with Bob Sullivan, who writes the popular blog The Red Tape Chronicles for MSNBC.com.

I'm talking "The week that was” with Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter. His latest book is "Between the Lines: A View Inside American Politics, People, and Culture."

Later in the show, the real differences between Obama and McCain’s healthcare plans with Richard Kirsch, Health Care for America Now’s National Campaign Manager, followed by an advocate for single payer plans, Geri Jenkins, Co-President of the California Nurses Association and National Nurses Organizing Committee.

The Nation’s John Nichols has an update on Trooper gate, including a report to be released today on the story and the McCain campaign’s claims that Sarah Palin was never contacted for testimony.

And Harry Shearer shares the many voices of Sarah Palin and why he thinks you can judge candidates by how they walk (not how they talk).

from Ron Reagan:

Tune in early (two hours early) to hear me host The Rachel Maddow Show –

Unfortunately, 'it’s the economy, stupid,' and I’m speaking with Bob Sullivan, who writes the popular blog The Red Tape Chronicles for MSNBC.com.

I'm talking "The week that was” with Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter. His latest book is "Between the Lines: A View Inside American Politics, People, and Culture."

Later in the show, the real differences between Obama and McCain’s healthcare plans with Richard Kirsch, Health Care for America Now’s National Campaign Manager, followed by an advocate for single payer plans, Geri Jenkins, Co-President of the California Nurses Association and National Nurses Organizing Committee.

The Nation’s John Nichols has an update on Trooper gate, including a report to be released today on the story and the McCain campaign’s claims that Sarah Palin was never contacted for testimony.

And Harry Shearer shares the many voices of Sarah Palin and why he thinks you can judge candidates by how they walk (not how they talk).

From Ron Reagan...
The Dow’s fallen below 9000 today, and talk of nationalizing banks...
And there's another meltdown in progress: ABC News broke the story this morning – http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Story?id=5987804&page=1 – tthe NSA monitoring pillow-talk of American military personnel, their families and journos in Iraq. This while the new NIE says Afghanistan is in downward spiral. Fortunately for us all, the White House says it has launched an "urgent review" of the situation with that country. But is it too little too late?
I'll take up the topic with Ilan Goldenberg, Policy Director at The National Security Network , who will have the facts on Afghanistan.
Plus your calls.
866 – 303 – 2270 IS THE NUMBER TO CALL-IN FOR YOU LISTENERS OUT THERE.

A message from Chris Owens:

This week, things have gotten a little ugly in the presidential campaign, from threats and innuendo to guilt by association...

I'll take up just one part of this topic with Isabel Macdonald, communications director at Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) and one of the authors of the “Smearcasting: How Islamophobes spread fear, bigotry and misinformation,” a profile of the “Dirty Dozen” 12 worst offenders of smearing American Muslims. http://www.fair.org/index.php

And I'll speak with Van Jones, a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and author of the new book, The Green Collar Economy. We're talking about what "green jobs" really are and what new money Americans could be making when they shift their priorities on the environment.

A message from Ron Reagan...

As Joan Walsh writes today in Salon, "This town hall didn't help John McCain".

I'll be speaking with her about last night's debate and where the campaign goes from here.

She is Salon online magazine Editor in Chief, and as she puts it, has "written for everyone from the Los Angeles Times and Washington Post to Vogue and the Nation." Find her her latest blogs here: http://www.salon.com/opinion/walsh/

Plus, I'll be taking your calls.

866 – 303 – 2270 IS THE NUMBER TO CALL-IN FOR YOU LISTENERS OUT THERE.

A message from your host Ron Reagan

By all counts Sen. Obama is pulling ahead and McCain is doing his best to close the gap. Tonight as both candidates meet again for another duel, I'm talking with Tim Dickinson, contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine, where he authors its political blog, National Affairs Daily. He'll spell out what the "Keating 5" story was all about and why or why not it benefits the Obama campaign to bring it up.

I'll also be joined by David Bender, Air America's resident political guru and host of "Politically Direct, " which airs Sundays on Air America Radio.

And, I'll be taking your calls.

866 – 303 – 2270 IS THE NUMBER TO CALL-IN FOR YOU LISTENERS OUT THERE.

* Scott tells us that NEWSFLASH it's WWE now, not WWF, that's for all the old farts like us, who don't know any better.

A message from Chris Owens:

I'm taking apart this week’s big news: the bailout bill and the VP debate.

And, with little over 30 days to the election, tune in for our regular segment on protecting your vote. I’ll be speaking with Sheryll Cashin, a Harvard classmate of Barack Obama’s and now professor of law at Georgetown University. She’s an expert on civil rights, so we’ll be talking about voting and activism, as well as her incredible memoir, "THE AGITATOR’S DAUGHTER: Four Generations of One Extraordinary African-American Family," which reveals her own family's involvement with politics and activism.

She is also the author of "The Failures of Integration: How Race and Class are Undermining the American Dream" (PublicAffairs, 2004) which was an Editors’ Choice in the New York Times Book Review and a finalist for the 2005 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for non-fiction.

This week I attended the U.S. Open and watched the Republican Convention. Guess which had more spin? Can McCain's pedestrian stump speech Thursday night convince voters that a Bush look-alike for seven years is the change agent? Only in America.

Our panel below performs the Emperor-Has-No-Clothes assignment of saying what should be obvious but what Republicans are hoping Americans don't see. Look at how experienced she is! Who’s W?

One way to compare the Republican Convention and our American reality is to list their dozen top hypocrises. Admittedly, politics is often the art of squaring circles and finessing inconsistencies. But as commentators Peggy Noonan and Mike Murphy accidentally told us, the level of BS and cynicism in the Twin Cities was mountainous:

*John McCain said that he doesn’t work for the special interests. Ok, but they sure work for him, given the lobbyists who run and give to his campaign.

*John McCain repeatedly told us that he was a man of honor and principle, but what was the principle when he belittled then hugged Bush, belittled then hugged the religious right, belittled then hugged tax cuts for billionaires and oil firms, condemned and then allowed torture?