MORNING READ

Opposition to the $700 billion government bailout plan for banks with bad mortgage assets has hardened online. Both presidential candidates, however, need to speak out more strongly against the deal, according to bloggers on both sides. And the candidates’ suggestions that they would include members of the opposing party in the next administration get the thumbs down from their blogging backers.

The Bush administration bailout plan could get out of control quickly if passed because it provides the Treasury Secretary with “essentially unlimited” power that cannot be reviewed to spend $700 billion, writes The Corner’s Yuval Levin. Liberal activists should call Barack Obama and tell him to vote against the “blank check” deal, since he’s unlikely to get pressure to oppose it from Democratic elites, writes MyDD’s Todd Beeton.

Obama knocked the proposal only after John McCain voiced tentative skepticism over it, writes RedState’s Jeff Emanuel, who senses that Obama is again being indecisive. But it’s McCain who has yet to make clear which side he’s on, even after Obama and members of both parties have taken sides, according to Josh Marshall at TalkingPointsMemo. McCain’s economic adviser, former Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas), may be too close to the deal, since it calls for relief for UBS, the foreign bank that employs Gramm as a vice president, writes Marshall.

McCain’s suggestion that New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, a fiery Democrat, should serve as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission prompts The Corner’s Mark Levin to call McCain a “flawed candidate” who deserves just one White House term. But the possibility that Obama could keep Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on in his administration shows that Obama may not enact the “real change” he talks about, according to Open Left’s David Sirota.

FROM THE BLOGS:
No Blank Check – Todd Beeton, MyDD
Essentially Unlimited Power – Yuval Levin, The Corner
Obama Waits For McCain’s Position – Jeff Emanuel, RedState
Ball in McCain’s Court – Josh Marshall, TalkingPointsMemo
Paulson to Bailout McCain’s Friend? – Chris in Paris, AMERICAblog
Gramm’s Role in Lobbying – Josh Marshall, TalkingPointsMemo
Cuomo? – Mark Levin, The Corner
Cuomo’s Temper – Kathryn Jean Lopez, The Corner
Keeping Paulson Isn’t Change – David Sirota, Open Left

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
Dems Set Terms as Bailout Debate Begins – New York Times
As Hill Debates Bailout, Wall St. Shifts Continue – Wash. Post
Virginians Giving at Record Pace – Washington Post
Big Financiers Start Lobbying for Wider Aid – New York Times