Blog Buzz: John McCain's Mortgage Proposal Flops, New Bill Ayers Ad, NSA Wiretapping Report

Our daily look at stories and topics that are lighting up the Internets:

McCain's Mortgage Flop

John McCain's "Homeownership Resurgence Plan" continues to get flak today from liberal bloggers, who say it's another example of McCain's erratic behavior and poor judgment. Andrew Sullivan says that it's "worse than imagined," and Noam Scheiber at The New Republic explains why. Matthew Yglesias describes a major change in the plan that happened overnight. Barack Obama has released an ad attacking the plan; he also criticized it on the stump in Ohio. Conservative bloggers at National Review Online still aren't fans.

Bill Ayers's Mysterious Reappearance

Because of McCain's failure to mention Ayers during Tuesday's presidential debate, many assumed that the McCain campaign had dropped the issue and changed its strategy again. Apparently, that theory was wrong, as the McCain camp released a 90-second Web ad this morning on the subject of Bill Ayers. Liberal and pro-Obama bloggers call him a dishonorable coward and point out McCain's connections to some shady characters. One blogger says that to some voters, attacks like these are a "big green light" from the McCain campaign to "engage in all sorts of ugly behavior." Chris Cillizza explains the problems the Ayers attack poses for the McCain campaign. One conservative blogger explains why Obama needs to talk about this issue, but another thinks that the strategy is a "little odd." Meanwhile, Obama wonders why McCain won't bring up Ayers to his face.

NSA Listened for Terrorists, Phone Sex

According to an ABC News report, the National Security Agency's wiretapping program, whose aim was to intercept terrorists' calls, frequently eavesdropped on the private phone calls of Americans living abroad. The NSA abused its wiretapping power, often passing around particularly "salacious" tidbits from conversations. Bloggers are not surprised that this happened, even though Bush assured Americans that the NSA would protect civil liberties. They say that it's "another something for the 'I told you so' file." One conservative blogger notes some things the ABC report left out but acknowledges the "criminal misuse" of the NSA's resources.

—Gretchen Hannes