This week, ClickBack asked readers to consider the bailout, Sarah Palin and the recent presidential debate. Here are some of the comments. Go to bangordailynews.com and pull down the Opinion menu and look for ClickBack to participate. Look for more questions on Tuesday.

Will the $700 billion federal bailout of bad mortgage debt right the U.S. economy?

Not necessarily, if the same people who got us in this mess with greed, deregulation and weak oversight continue to control the money. A better plan is to give every taxpayer $1 million to pay down their debt and mortgages, have solid savings and investments for the future. This would recapitalize the financial institutions, bring security to the working poor and middle-class while allowing families the opportunity to have one breadwinner, making more jobs available. Then we can all afford health insurance and a bit higher tax rate to help spend down the national debt.

– classylassie25

How quickly the elite investors embrace bountiful socialism when it’s their vintage Bordeaux-numbed tushes in the sling. Maybe if we had universal health care, people would have been able to afford their mortgages.

– Keith132

I watched the McCain meeting with the Des Moines Register editorial board video. One of the editors asked him why he is against universal health insurance while his health insurance has been paid for by the government all his life: He’s from a military family, he went directly into the military, and then (after a brief hiatus) he went from the military into government. His typical nonanswer was, “Well, that’s an interesting statement.” Then he alluded to not being covered while at the Hanoi Hilton.

But just how many citizens are already covered by the government? There are people on Medicare, Medicaid, in the military, government officials and employees, state and municipal employees, teachers, those who work at state universities … It can’t be that much more difficult or expensive to extend this coverage to the rest of us.

– anneofmdi

Is Sarah Palin a drag on the McCain campaign?

Palin as vice president? Thanks, but no thanks!

– picc2008

Good try by the biased left-wing media. So what if a columnist said this? There are columnists and many in the Democratic Party who feel that Sen. Hillary Clinton should have been the VP pick or even the presidential pick.

Joe Biden is a bumbling fool who gets a free pass from the media, and he even said that Sen. Clinton would [have] been a better VP candidate.

– ckc1996

“Good try by the biased left-wing media,” says ckc1996. Well, the Republican National Committee authorized-approved – maybe even set up – the interview with Katie Couric (perhaps thinking a female interviewer would be more sympathetic). Katie kept Palin on point. And Palin should have been able to name some specific sources of news to stay current with national-international issues, such as Time, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report – maybe the Wall Street Journal or The New York Times or Washington Post. She couldn’t be specific, probably for fear someone would say they’d never seen any of those publications in her office or home. So how are we supposed to think she knew anything before she became McCain’s forced choice? Just more evidence that she’s a token without qualifications of substance.

– glenna

Who came out on top in the first presidential debate?

The after-debate spin suggests that Republicans consider it weakness that Barack Obama spoke intelligently, looked his opponent in the eye and sought common ground. After eight years of Bush and with the challenges we face, we need a president who has common sense and is “Jeopardy-smart.” I thought that at any moment in the debate, McCain was going to yell at those kids to get off his lawn.

– missusmoon

Obama showed a better understanding of the issues important to Main Street Americans. He is more in touch with the realities of our economy and the problems that plague it. Obama also understands that foreign policy is more than macho toughness with diplomacy often being a stronger tool to keep your adversaries in check and to build better relationships with people.

Who won? The American voters, who could see the very obvious differences that would be brought to the White House: Obama’s change and intelligence or McCain’s more George W. Bush policies.

– classylassie25