Here is the text of the proposed bailout plan for Wall Street. I urge you to read it (it is very brief). Can we please slow this process down before we give the Secretary of the Treasury such sweeping authority to spend so much of our money?

Democrats in Congress are trying to set some terms as the bailout debate gets under way, which is already giving me a sick feeling in my stomach.

Bill Kristol urges John McCain to oppose this plan.

Newt Gingrich wants some answers before we embrace the plan, and urges Republicans in Congress to consider how they would react if this were being proposed by a Democratic Administration...

If this were a Democratic administration the Republicans in the House and Senate would be demanding answers and would be organizing for a “no” vote. If a Democratic administration were proposing this plan, Republicans would realize that having Connecticut Democratic senator Chris Dodd (the largest recipient of political funds from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) as chairman of the Banking Committee guarantees that the Obama-Reid-Pelosi-Paulson plan that will emerge will be much worse as legislation than it started out as the Paulson proposal. If this were a Democratic proposal, Republicans would remember that the Democrats wrote a grotesque housing bailout bill this summer that paid off their left-wing allies with taxpayer money, which despite its price tag of $300 billion has apparently failed as of last week, and could expect even more damage in this bill. But because this gigantic power shift to Washington and this avalanche of taxpayer money is being proposed by a Republican administration, the normal conservative voices have been silent or confused.

Read the whole thing, as Gingrich asks important questions and makes some good alternative proposals.

Robert J. Samuelson also gives us some perspective on the crisis, which took another turn yesterday with word that the last two investment banks standing are now grasping for the government safety net.

Meanwhile, Iranian President Ahmadinejad will visit the United Nations in New York tomorrow and there is controversy not only about his visit, but also about a protest to be held today intended to be critical of the Iranian leader. Republican Vice-Presidential nominee Sarah Palin was scheduled to appear at the protest, but organizers asked her not to attend, as they didn't want to "politicize" the event (as if a protest about a political leader is not inherently "politicized" by it's own nature). The New York Sun published Palin's speech in today's issue, which you can read here.

Disgusted by the decision to keep Palin away, Roger Simon publishes this appeal to his fellow Jews.

Meanwhile, some foreign policy experts have formed a group dedicated to opposing Iran's drive for nuclear weapons.