Left, Right & Center bloggers Michael Shaw, Marisa Bojiuc, Andi Albers, part 1

SOME OF WHAT THE PANELISTS SAID TODAY (part 1):

topics: Bruce Ivins and anthrax; McCain attacks Obama; the economy, stupid!

Bob Scheer on Ivins and anthrax: 
It turned out we were attacked by our own industrial complex - it's a cautionary tale: instead of looking around...maybe we should look to our true blue boyscouts at home.

Tony Blankley said that "we are not the lead creator of bio-weapons..."  and that "Steven Hatfill eventually won a 6 million lawsuit from the govt for saying he was guilty."  And Tony actually agreed with Bob, that "you have to watch for terrorists from within as much as from without."

Arianna noted this "rare moment when the panel agrees."  And went on:  "Look at all the homegrown terrorists; and it's also the anniversary of the collapse of the Minnesota bridge, a lapse of infrastructure...all these real threats."

Bob wondered:  "The investigation has to be open, not closed---" "Why did it take them so long to crack this case?!"  mentioning that 3 years ago there were some rumblings that weren't looked into...

McCain Camp on Obama

Obama’s speech in Rolla, Mo raised the question whether Obama was using the race card. In his speech, Obama said that “"Nobody thinks that Bush or McCain have a real answer for the challenges we face. So what they are going to try to do is make you scared of me". When Tony was asked whether he thought Obama was playing the race card, Tony replied that he knew the answer, but he “ will leave it to the common wisdom of the common people out there" to form their own opinion. The McCain camp readily expresses their opinon, saying that Obama is "playing the race card from the bottom of the deck."

On Obama being a celebrity: "how can he be a celebrity, but also be ready to lead? 

Arianna pointed out that all these attacks on Obama's image have been going on since June...that he's not an American president, and so on.  she wondered how the McCain campaign had "reached such a low so fast- how much lower can they go??"

Matt:  the fact that people are talking about this-  does this mean that they're setting an agenda in this discussion