Chicago Tribune endorses a Democrat for president for the first time in 161 years:

It is, though, hard to figure John McCain these days. He argued that President Bush’s tax cuts were fiscally irresponsible, but he now supports them. He promises a balanced budget by the end of his first term, but his tax cut plan would add an estimated $4.2 trillion in debt over 10 years. He has responded to the economic crisis with an angry, populist message and a misguided, $300 billion proposal to buy up bad mortgages.

McCain failed in his most important executive decision. Give him credit for choosing a female running mate–but he passed up any number of supremely qualified Republican women who could have served. Having called Obama not ready to lead, McCain chose Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. His campaign has tried to stage-manage Palin’s exposure to the public. But it’s clear she is not prepared to step in at a moment’s notice and serve as president. McCain put his campaign before his country.

The McCain-Palin campaign sends out phone messages linking Obama with Bill Ayers. Unbelievable.

McCain hates gooks, yet “two-thirds of Vietnamese Americans said they support Mr. McCain.” We support someone who hate us? WTF?

A fantastic design for Housing Works from Jason Santa Maria. The homepage is striking with the use of big images and the interior pages are clean and organized.

Washington Post:

The choice is made easy in part by Mr. McCain’s disappointing campaign, above all his irresponsible selection of a running mate who is not ready to be president. It is made easy in larger part, though, because of our admiration for Mr. Obama and the impressive qualities he has shown during this long race. Yes, we have reservations and concerns, almost inevitably, given Mr. Obama’s relatively brief experience in national politics. But we also have enormous hopes.

Palin supporters at rally: “Someone could drop him and there would be no witnesses.”

Letterman made a connection between McCain and Liddy. McCain approved himself for being friend with Liddy, but disapproved Obama with Ayers. What a whippersnapper McCain is.

NPR profiles my lady O’Day who had “made a profound impact on jazz with her exceptional range of improvisation and her skillful interpretion of lyrics.” She still is awesome.

A powerful ad on abortion.

Andrew Sullivan:

From the first few days of using the form, I was hooked. The simple experience of being able to directly broadcast my own words to readers was an exhilarating literary liberation. Unlike the current generation of writers, who have only ever blogged, I knew firsthand what the alternative meant.