It made me sick to see those disgusting pasty white people smacking flip-flops together, but it made me feel worse when it actually hurt John Kerry. So what about John McCain’s flip-flops, there certainly have been a lot.
Think Progress has compiled 44 of them, with quotes. Check it out.
TAGS: flip-flop, John Kerry, John McCain, Think ProgressBut a bad morning for John McCain.
First up, Colin Powell doesn’t just endorse Obama, the man praises him emphatically (”transformational figure,” could be an “exceptional president”) while jabbing both the GOP and McCain himself for mistakes, miscalculations, and poor leadership (plus, the divisive nature of their platform and campaign). Youch.
Second, Chris Wallace on Fox News steps it up on McCain and nails him for the blatant hypocrisy of his robocall campaign. McCain, in turn, flounders in his response. Double youch.
Finally, looks like Obama is picking up just about every credible newspaper/media endorsement in the land. And, hey, before the right-wing cries “liberal media,” this slew includes papers like the Chicago Tribune (which has never endorsed a Democratic president since its inception in the mid-19th century) and conservative radio host Michael Smerconish, a registered Republican of 28 years and an appointee of H.W. Bush’s staff. And, that’s just scratching the surface — there’s plenty more where that came from.
Is this going to be a landslide? One dares to hope. It would be a proud day for America. But, at the end of the day, all we need is 51 / 49 — let’s just make sure that happens.
TAGS: chicago tribune, chris wallace, colin powell, conservative radio host, Fox News, John McCain, landslide, michael smerconish, robocall, youtubeIn response to my post about John McCain’s strange “performance” at the debate, a commenter here suggested that I try to counter an “exposing” article about Obama. That’s a great idea, “Dude”, I’ve actually been training for this.
Here is my regimen:
On my morning commute, I listen to a combination of Thom Hartman, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck (I’m a chronic channel flipper). To be honest, I know Hartman makes me a smarter, more informed semi-Democrat but Rush and Beck bring some of the most absurd commentary in the business. It’s pure comedy and it wakes me up, but prolonged exposure to such idiocy makes me angry, so while in the office, I just listen to Air America on the Internets when I’m not in meetings or editing. Then my evening commute is the best! Seriously. Depending on how early or late I leave the office… I might get to catch the end of Sean Hannity but I’ll usually get to hear most of Brian Sussman with sprinkles of Michael Weiner “Savage” and lately I’ve been loving Laura Ingram. On the weekends, I listen to re-runs and if I’m lucky, I get to hear “the babe in the bunker” Barbra Simpson! While all these talking meatballs are great entertainment, they usually offer the same rehashed talking points, the same fake rage, the same hate and the same negativity when it comes to American politics.
But I also love right wing websites. A few of them really get my goat: Conservapedia, NewsMax, NewsBusters, Drudge and of course Human Events (I’m even on their mailing list). I read many sites daily. I also watch Fox News. The point I’m trying to make is that I have a steady stream of anti-Obama plugged directly into my dome.
So “Dude”, I’ve read the “exposing” article you mentioned and I found it quite boring actually. First of all, for an article to be some sort of ex-pose-eh it needs to actually expose something new. With a title like “The Case Against Barack Obama: Part 1″ published by Human Events, I’d at least expect to hear an some outlandish claims about terrorists and dead babies. This article makes no damning claims, and presents no strong case against Obama. It’s a whole lot of incomplete parsing, spinning and cherry picking. The writer, Larry Elder, makes two weak points:
1. Obama’s tax plan is bad for rich people and therefore bad everybody that the money supposedly trickles down to.
2. Obama wasn’t appalled by Rev. Wright using Sharpeville and Hiroshima as two examples of injustice and that means he’s bad.
Larry begins his article like this:
Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama promises to “cut taxes for 95 percent of American workers.” That’s not possible.Why? More than 30 percent pay nothing in federal income taxes.
Larry knows that federal income taxes are not the only kind of tax. While he’s right that a large chunk of people (usually poor people and single mothers) don’t pay income taxes, that does not mean they’re off the hook from payroll taxes, sales taxes, excise taxes, etc, etc, etc. His next paragraph argues that “tax credits” are not “tax cuts” but let’s be honest here, if we pay less taxes, nobody gives a shit what Larry calls it.
Larry goes on:
Republican candidate John McCain should tell people in real, human terms how hiking taxes on the so-called rich affects us all. My friend Nina is a self-employed interior decorator. She just met a prospective married client, whose husband works in the entertainment industry. The client may pull the job because of Obama’s impending tax cuts. Nina makes well under $250,000, lives in an apartment, has no maid, and drives a midsize non-luxury car.
But the couple she hopes to get the job from face a tax rate of 39.5 percent plus increased Social Security taxes, on top of higher taxes for capital gains and dividends.
How can Larry expect McCain to communicate something that he has failed to communicate himself? This hypothetical is vague but what he’s trying to say is that a modest increase on taxes the apparently rich “client” from the entertainment industry will endure on their stock market investments (non-existent in this economy) is so crushing that they will no longer be able afford Nina’s services.
BULLSHIT.
Larry doesn’t tell you that most corporations (including small businesses) don’t pay any Federal income taxes at all either but that doesn’t bother him, Larry thinks corporations and the ultra rich need more tax breaks so he quotes people who feel the same as him but never cites any sources and he never mentions how this flawed ideology has worked out so far.
Trickle-down economics don’t work! The “redistributing the wealth” argument is as lame as shouting “communist!” in an old-folks home. Libertarians say Democrats are punishing the rich for being successful and giving the money to the poor. They also claim enriching the rich is good for the small business. After 30+ years of the rich getting richer, the poor have only gotten poorer. Smarter people call this “wealth condensation”.
As for the Rev. Wright portion of Larry Elder’s article. It’s a tired, old waste of my time. Don’t give me guilty by association claims, give me something of substance. And look who Human Events has as writers:
Oliver North - convicted criminal behind the Iran Contra affair and drug trafficking in the U.S.
Monica Crowley - plagiarist
Ted Nugent - washed up rock n roll psychopath
Chuck Norris - a bad actor, worse writer, not bad at Karate, has a pretty funny infomercial
Ann Coulter - the worst deadhead of all time, a racist, offensive cunt
Pat Buchanan - Racist anti-semite
(my mailbox)
TAGS: air america, Barack Obama, debate, drudge, ep, Fox News, John McCain, Laura Ingram, limbaugh, mccain, obama, ploy, Politics, right wing, sean hannity, spin, Sussman, talking points, thom hartman, websiteThis one is not flattering for McCain:
The candidates roasted each other, and several politicians, at the Al Smith dinner. In the debates, McCain’s been terrible at interjecting awkward jokes into the dialogue and then laughing weirdly at his own joke. I watch a big chunk of each candidate’s performance tonight, and McCain killed it. He was hilarious.
Marc Ambinder has the rundown of some of the best lines from McCain and Obama, but here are a few of the good ones.
McCain:
“I can’t shake the feeling that some people here are voting for me. Nice to see you, Hillary.”
Says that Joe Biden falsely claims that Joe The Plumber isn’t rich enough trigger the Obama tax hike; “What they don’t know is that Joe The Plumber recently signed a lucrative contract to handle all the work on all seven of their houses.”
Obama:
“Fox News accused me of fathering two African-American children in wedlock.”
“I was not born in a manger. I was actually born on krypton….”
“I got my name Barack from my father…. it’s actually Swahali for “That one.” My middle name, it’s not what you think. It’s actually “Steve.”
TAGS: Al Smith, Barack Obama, John McCain, roastMcCain made “Joe the plumber” famous in last night’s debate (according to MSNBC, he repeated it 21 times). In an exchange with Obama, Joe wanted to know why he should have to pay higher taxes now that he was planning to buy his own business and would make more than $250,000 a year. Here’s the exchange.
McCain used the example to claim that Obama was a socialist who wanted to “spread the wealth around.” He also used Joe to try to demonstrate that Obama would raise taxes on the average working man. Well, it turns out that just like Sarah Palin, Joe was never vetted by the McCain campaign. It turns out that Joe the plumber isn’t actually a licensed plumber. From Politico:
Wurzelbacher acknowledged to reporters that he doesn’t have a plumber’s license, but said he didn’t need one because he works for someone else at a company that does residential work. State and local records show Wurzelbacher has no license, although his employer does.David Golis, manager and residential building official for the Toledo Division of Building Inspection, said Wurzelbacher still would need to be a licensed apprentice or journeyman to work in Toledo.
That could be a problem for Joe and his employer.
The Toledo Plumbing Board of Control may consider sanctions against Wurzelbacher or Newell, officials told NBC affiliate WNWO of Toledo.
On top of that, he owes back taxes. Again, from Politico:
Wurzelbacher also owes the state of Ohio $1,182.98 in personal income tax, according to Lucas County Court of Common Pleas records. The Ohio Department of Taxation filed a claim on his property until he pays the debt, according to the records. The lien remains active.
Oh, and Joe makes far less than $250,000 per year, and the plumbing company his boss owns is estimated to have made $100,00. Joe made $40,000 in 2006, meaning he’d actually get a tax cut under Obama’s plan, as would his boss’s business!
The media initially held up Joe as an example of the white working class undecided male that Obama has to win in this election. It turns out that Joe isn’t exactly undecided.
Wurzelbacher, a registered Republican, refused to say whom he would vote for, insisting that “I want the American people to vote for who they want to vote for. I just want them to be informed when they make that vote.”
But he hinted that his choice would be McCain, the Republican standard-bearer, whom he said it would be “an honor” to meet. Asked about other issues by a covey of curious reporters, Wurzelbacher voiced strongly Republican opinions.
“Social Security’s a joke,” he said. “I have parents. I don’t need another set of parents called the government. Let me take my money and invest it how I please.”
On immigration: “I wish our borders were closed.”
And on the war in Iraq, which McCain has strongly supported: “I’m not sorry we’re in Iraq. … It’s made us safer. I absolutely believe that.”
You’d think that the McCain campaign would want to distance itself from a guy who’s now been thoroughly vetted and found to be a fraud, but that’s not really McCain’s style. Instead, they’re trying to get him to appear with McCain at a campaign rally and have started to air a web ad featuring Joe the plumber. Keep at it guys.
Photo: Jim Young/Reuters
TAGS: GOP, John McCain, plumber, Politics, taxpayers
One thing that particularly struck me and my comrade here as interesting and even somewhat terrifying during the debate was the moment when John McCain was comparing himself and Obama to Goldwater and Jack Kennedy when he described JFK’s assassination as something like this:
“the intervention…” (eyes open wide, eyebrows high, grabs nose) “…err tragedy in Dallas…”
WATCH IT!
Does John McCain think a bullet through the head of JFK was an intervention? Is this just the usual McCain anger coming out for a old grudge against JFK from the Vietnam era? Or does John McCain, again, know something we don’t know? Maybe that’s what old boy Republicans like John McCain call it in private.
Perhaps it’s a Freudian slip or it’s just the breaking point into total insanity of John McCain’s hatred towards Obama and his signal to the most hateful of his supporters to execute the final intervention to Barack Obama’s campaign?
Either way, this was one of the most mind blowing squirms that McCain has ever shown. Let the landslide begin, but seriously, I’m afraid of John McCain at this point.
TAGS: assassination, Barack Obama, Dallas, debate, Goldwater, intervention, Jack Kennedy, JFK, jfk s assassination, John McCain, presidential debate, tragedy, VideoOh, John McCain…it’s a sad day when your campaign’s entire playbook meets despicably-low expectations by being reduced to a few half-jokey comments made by your opponent two months ago.
Sigh.
TAGS: Campaign, John McCain, low expectations, opponent, playbook, predictability, youtubeJohn McCain’s brother, Joe McCain, made some news during an event in Virginia today, where he said this:
I’ve lived here for at least 10 years and before that about every third duty I was in either Arlington or Alexandria, up in communist country.
The McCain campaign said that he just made a bad joke, and Joe McCain later apologized. Campaign staffers and surrogates will sometimes make off the cuff remarks that aren’t exactly helpful (see Holtz-Eakin, Douglas), but this one was especially stupid. McCain needs Virginia, and the last thing his campaign wants to do is alienate his supporters or get Obama’s supporters in the state fired up. Tim Craig pointed out the funniest thing about Joe McCain’s comment:
John McCain owns a condominium in Arlington County. The McCain campaign’s national and Virginia headquarters are also located in Arlington County.
Oops.
TAGS: blackberry, Campaign, John McCain, mccain, obama, PoliticsThe Palinator (an author published in a couple dozen countries whose agent would hang him for revealing his name) takes you with him on his train-of-thought ride through last night’s debate (complete with brief detours into tales of fatherhood and beach balls).
Enjoy:
(Author’s note: I got home late and watched the debate delayed, so all times are local, as recorded in my living room.)
9:38 – Ooh. Bad color on Gwen…an emerald green muumuu? She looks like she was just kicked out of Oz.
9:39 – Sarah Palin asks Biden: “Can I call you Joe?” Are you fucking serious? How about, “No, just call me VP.”
9:40 – Coin toss? It’s like football?
9:41 – I hate the requisite “Thank you’s.” So stupid. No doubt Palin will thank and thank and thank and thank St. Louis trying to run out the clock.
9:42 – Shit, I’m already bored by Biden. Gimme Palin. I want blood.
9:42 – Joe got me back. He seems relaxed and coherent. Someone must’ve slipped him a valium.
9:43 – Here’s Sarah. Holy shit, one minute in and she already mentioned “soccer” and said “betcha.” Okay, first impressions – she seems coherent, but robotic. Maybe she is a robot. No, a fembot, like in Austin Powers. I think she’s gonnna shoot Biden w/ her breasts.
9:44 – Biden’s hair is really weird. Not just now, but always. A woman I know took a train w/ “Amtrak Joe” during what she described “the plugging years.” Hair plugs = bad.
9:45 – Weird; when Biden talks, he doesn’t move his body. Just his head. Weird.
9:46 – My god, Palin just winked at me. Shit, she said “mavericks.” So fucking lame. She’s looking right at the camera like a deer in the headlights. Maverick count = 2.
9:47 – HA! Gwen called them on not answering the question. But then didn’t press them on it. Why?
9:47 – Palin: “Darn right, it was the predator lenders.” Yeah, wouldn’t expect any Americans to do simple math on what they could afford. Sure, American’s have got ingenuity, but don’t expect them to add. That’s just wrong.
9:48 – Fuck. She used “hockey moms” AND “Joe Six-pack” in the same sentence. Double fuck – she’s not blazingly incoherent. But she doesn’t believe in using the “g”s God put at the end of words. Everythin’s hurtin’.
9:49 – This format sucks. It’s too fast, all bullet-points, not enough follow up by Gwen. I don’t see this getting contentious at all like Obama vs. McCain got. That’s good for Palin.
9:50 – Boorrrrrrring. Talkng points, talking points, talking points. I think Biden is actually talking, Palin is just spewing. But she’s doing well. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. I hate her.
9:51 – Nice rebuttal, Joe. Ooooooooh, McCain voted 477 times to raise taxes. AND the governor didn’t answer the question! Yeah, you go Joe!
9:52 – Palin: “I’m still on the tax thing.” And then: “I may not answer the questions like the moderator wants”?? WTF? Why not just go Faulkner on our ass and do the stream of consciousness “thing.”
9:53 – SNAP! Gwen cuts Sarah off for time. HA!
9:53 – Joe seems empathetic. Nice, I feel like he’s talking to me. I like the “value set” comment. Joe seems to be better at timing his answers.
9:55 – Oh, here it comes. Lambasting Biden for the “patriotic” paying taxes comment. Oh right, McCain’s always been in the middle class. Son of an admiral. Right.
9:56 – I hate this smiling bitch. And I think that’s the biggest flag pin I’ve ever seen. I’m surprised she can stand.
9:58 – “ULTIMATE BRIDGE TO NOWHERE!” Biden gets the first laugh and first “moment.”
9:59 – Biden wants to slow down doubling foreign assistance. Good answer. Americans hate foreigners. I think Biden’s hitting his stride. Or as Palin would say “hittin’ his stride, you betcha.”
10:00 – My wife is yelling at me. She wants me to stop blogging. I have to blow up an insanely large beach ball for my son’s second birthday.
10:01 – Oh fuck, Palin’s referencing the stupid “telling one thing to one group and another thing to another group.” Right out of her stump speech. Bitter, ain’t she?
10:02 – Oh, if Biden doesn’t go after her for the—
I stopped blogging for five minutes to blow up the beach ball. It’s enormous. I’m not sure if I made any progress.
10:07 – Palin: “Your ticket’s energy ticket.” Nice quote, Sarah. Shit, “East coast politicians”? You know what she means, don’t you, middle America? Jews! She means Jews!
10:09 – Ooooh, she’s the governor of the “nation’s only Arctic state.” Is that good? Maybe she should be president of Canada. Though I todn’t think they have presidents. I don’t know, I hate Canada. Blah, blah, blah. Palin doesn’t want to argue about the causes of global warming. Right. Okay, so far, absolutely no answer.
10:10 – Biden: “[Climate change] is man made.” Nice answer, Joe. Simple, makes Palin’s answer look like what it was – a non-answer.
10:12 – “Drill, baby, drill!”
10:13 – Did Palin just call him “Senator O’Biden?”
10:13 – What is this “All of the above” bullshit? Do you lead the country by taking a multiple-choice exam? If so, I think I’d do really well. I’m great at multiple-choice tests. I’d kill to find out Palin’s SAT scores. Do they even have SATs in the “Arctic”?
10:15 – Fuck, going into gay rights. I’m pro-gay marriage, but it’s a loser from an electoral standpoint on the Democratic side. Can’t wait to see what Sarah says. Okay, nice gay-bashing, Sarah. Ooooh, she’s “tolerant.” Wow, she has friends that DON’T EVEN AGREE WITH HER! Amazing. No, she doesn’t know any gay people, but she does know non-gay-haters! How tolerant.
10:17 – Fuck, could Gwen press Sarah on her answers? So far, I give Gwen a C-minus.
10:18 – My wife’s still blowing up the beach ball. It’s insane. Christ, now it’s my turn.
10:25 – Okay, I’ve been blowing up the ball for seven minutes, mostly w/ this pump we have. We’re not sure it’s working. Okay, I’ve checked and it IS working, but slowly. Jesus, this is ridiculous. It shouldn’t be this hard to prepare for a two-year-old’s birthday party.
10:26 – Oh crap, the stupid “preconditions” comment. So tired.
10:27 – Right, Sarah. B/c who’s more passionate about diplomacy than Kissinger?
10:29 – Ah, the stupid McCain won’t meet w/ Spain comment.
10:31 – Ooh, Joe Biden’s referring to himself in the third-person, Bob Dole-style. He’s goin’ old school, bitch! Remember Norm MacDonald’s Bob Dole impression? Fucking priceless.
10:32 – I don’t think ANYONE has mentioned Bush yet. Why not? Gwen, Joe, wake the fuck up.
10:33 – Palin: “Finger-pointing backwards”? How the hell do you finger-point forward? Christ, another maverick comment. Maverick count = 3.
10:34 – Biden’s saying “George Bush’s” every other word. It’s like he read my mind. Jeez, Joe’s goin’ to town. Never noticed this, but it sounds funny when you say “George Bush’s” again and again and again. Try it, you’ll see.
10:35 – Palin: Nuclear weapons would kill “too many” people? So, other weapons would kill “just enough” people?
10:37 – Joe’s doing a nice job making McCain seem extreme.
10:38 – Okay, I know I’m biased, but Palin just sounds like she’s reading off cards.
10:42 – I hate the way Palin says “Americans”. Sounds like “Amerhikens.” And I hate her smile. Goddammit I hate her smile.
10:43 – Biden does a nice job of conflating McCain-Cheney.
10:45 – Shit, Palin is doing well. Oh Christ – McCain “knows what evil is.” What the fuck does that mean? Oh, and McCain “knows how to win a war.” How? Did he win in Vietnam? Or is he just really good at World of Warcraft?
10:47 – Palin on whether she & McCain agree on everything: “What do expect? We’re two mavericks!” Maverick count = 4. Oh, and Palin’s gonna get rid of greed on Wall Street. That’ll be easy. We can just replace all those greedy people that work in banks with money-hating socialists.
10:49 – Yeah! Evidently Joe spends TONS OF TIME in Home Depot! He practically lives there. Ask Joe where the nail guns are, he’ll tell ya. He knows Home Depot.
10:50 – Palin says “Doggonit.” Makes me wonder if she ever saw Deadwood. Cocksuckers. Okay, so Biden’s wife’s reward for being a teacher is in heaven. Cuz she ain’t getting’ a raise! That should be the new recruitment policy – become a teacher, go to heaven. Oh, and a shout out to 3rd graders. Awesome. And here’s to my dead homies.
10:51 – My wife just finished blowing up the beach ball. Halle-fuckin-lujah.
10:52 – Shit, Palin’s hit her stride. She’s in the home stretch.
10:53 – Oh no. There are 10 small beach balls that also need to be blown up. We’re fucked.
10:57 – Palin references Reagan’s “Shining city on a hill.” My wife says Reagan didn’t say it first, that John Winthrop said it on some boat. I just Wikipedia’d it – my wife’s right. Winthrop said it in 1630 on the Arbella. Learn something new every day.
10:59 – Shit, real human moment from Biden about his dead wife and daughter. Joe just won.
11:00 – Oh god, Palin response to Joe’s human moment was to call McCain a maverick. Great response. Maverick count = 5. Whoa, there’s another maverick. Maverick count = 6. Oh, wow, McCain’s even got the support of the biggest fascist in the world—Rudy Guiliani! Awesome! What a maverick!
11:01 – Whoa, Biden just countered Palin and personally threw out FOUR MAVERICKS IN A ROW (as in “John McCain’s not a maverick”)! There’s another maverick! Biden’s on a tear! Another one! That’s six! And another one! And another! We’re at eight mavericks, folks, do I hear nine? YES! A NINTH MAVERICK! In one fell swoop, Biden exceeded Palin’s maverick count by a stunning 50%!
11:02 – My wife has officially declared Biden the winner (and last debate she said McCain won, so she’s not as crazy-biased as me).
11:04 – Sarah Palin claims she’s never compromised. Well, except for that time Todd convinced her to do anal. But that was the only time.
11:08 – Nice shot across the bow at the mainstream media from Sarah Palin. Yeah! Fuck you, Katie Couric! You… you… mainstreamer!
11:09 – Another Reagan shout out by Palin. That’s two Reagan’s and six mavericks. Ooh, in the future, “we’ll tell our children how once we were free” before the robots took over. But John Connor will save us. I know he will, b/c I’ve seen all three Terminator movies (T3 sucked) AND I watch The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Seriously, though, are we really heading to a time when we’re not free? Is someone going to enslave us (besides the robots, I mean)? And what IS Sarah’s Robot-policy.
11:11 – Nice ending monologue by Joe.
11:12 – Sarah’s thanking everyone. Thank you, thank you, thank you… she’s so fucking thankful that she didn’t fuck up. Holy shit, looks like she’s going to kiss Biden. What is wrong with this woman? Oh look, there’s little baby Trig. They really love trotting out that kid. I’ve got to say, as a father of two, if I know one thing it’s that babies love debates.
11:13 – Commentary: David Brooks is “amazed” at Palin’s performance and thought she came across as Joe’s equal. I hate to say it, but I agree. She didn’t win, but she held her own. Bitch. Mark Shields says that he bets Democrats are disappointed that Palin didn’t “implode.” True dat. True dat.
Okay, I’ve got to go. I’ve got beach balls to blow up.
TAGS: Babies, banks, bullshit, Bush, climate change, David Brooks, debate, dog, ep, fascist, free, George Bush, global warming, god, Jesus, Joe Biden, John McCain, mccain, Movie, NATO, NSA, obama, President, Rap, Sarah Palin, warBy his own definition he’s rich x20. Is this guy just stupid or a pathological liar?
John McCain was joking around on Morning Joe earlier today about gambling on the baseball playoffs and let loose a verifiably false claim, saying “I’m not a rich man.”
TAGS: huffpost, John McCain, morning joe, pathological liar, rich man, youtubeI guess John McCain’s contempt for Barack Obama during the first Presidential debate is carrying over to the media. In an interview session with the Des Moines Register’s editorial board, McCain was often testy and sarcastic, i.e. not very Presidential, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed. It brings the issue of his famous temperament back into play, although I doubt that the Obama camp will start running ads about it. The damage has been done given the amount of press McCain’s interview has gotten, so my guess is that they’ll laugh to themselves and move on.
Meanwhile, the Register’s board thought that McCain was “deliberate and crisp.” Weird, but I guess they must be in the tank for McCain (that was a joke).
We’ve hopefully all heard George Bush day dream aloud about the ease of governing as a dictator. But yesterday in a disastrous interview with Des Moines Register editorial board, John McCain stated (on the bailout):
This is just a not acceptable situation. I’m not saying this is the perfect answer. If I were dictator, which I always aspire to be, I would write it a little bit differently.
Can any of our self-respecting conservative readers now honestly tell me that the modern Republican party isn’t pushing on openly fascist ideology?
TAGS: aspirations, bailout, Des Moines Register, dictator, fascist, fascist ideology, George Bush, George W. Bush, Interview, John McCain, mccain, republican party, RepublicansIn a 228-205 vote, the House defeated Paulson’s bailout bill. Let’s be clear about why this bill failed: House Republicans, already facing difficult election prospects, decided that they couldn’t afford another noose around their necks in November. 140 Democrats voted to pass the bill, and 133 Republicans voted against it.
The House GOP held up the initial bill a few days ago because they wanted some sort of insurance program in the language, as well as greater oversight. Well, they negotiated with the Democrats and got the insurance language in the bill, but apparently that still wasn’t enough to sway them.
The Democrats delivered 60% of their caucus for the votes, while the House GOP managed a paltry 33%. And that’s why the bill was defeated, because of House Republicans. Their canard about how Pelosi’s “partisan” speech before the vote was the reason why more Republicans didn’t vote for the bill is a pathetic attempt to steer the blame. Are they really arguing that they were insulted by Pelosi’s speech and decided to put their pride above the needs of the country? That’s not “country first,” my friends. That’s “Republicans first.” It’s as simple as that.
Oh, and good work John McCain. I’m glad you “suspended” your campaign to head back to DC to bring the House GOP along. As McCain’s chief campaign strategist, Steve Schmidt, said on Meet The Press:
What Senator McCain was able to do was to help bring all of the
parties to the table, including the House Republicans, whose votes were
needed to pass this.
I think you spoke too soon, Steve. Your guy “phoned it in.”
So, John McCain has been running an ad suggesting that Barack Obama takes advice from Franklin Raines, the former CEO of Fannie Mae. McCain’s ad is basically trying to tie Obama to the financial crisis. Both Raines, who is not a part of Obama’s campaign, and Obama deny the charges. Well, looks like McCain should have been a little more careful before bringing up the issue of who has ties to the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who are at the center of the mortgage crisis and were recently taken over by the government.
The NYT reports that the lobbying firm run by Rick Davis, McCain’s campaign manager, got $15,000 per month in lobbying fees from Freddie Mac from the end of 2005 through this August. This directly contradicts McCain’s assertion on Sunday that Davis hadn’t been involved in any way with the mortgage giants for several years. When the issue was brought up, McCain said that Davis
has had nothing to do with it since, and I’ll be glad to have his record examined by anybody who wants to look at it.
He should have thought twice before saying that, because the NYT decided to examine that record a little more closely. They found that Freddie and Fannie set up an advocacy coalition and put Davis in charge. And what exactly did this coalition do?
From 2000 to the end of 2005, Mr. Davis received nearly $2 million as president of the coalition, the Homeownership Alliance, which the companies created to help them oppose new regulations and protect their status as federally chartered companies with implicit government backing. That status let them borrow cheaply, helping to fuel rapid growth but also their increased purchases of the risky mortgage securities that proved to be their downfall. (emphasis mine)
McCain’s campaign tried to play it off by saying that Davis stopped receiving a salary from Davis Manafort, his lobbying company, in late 2006, but as the NYT notes:
Mr. Davis took a leave from Davis Manafort for the presidential campaign, but as an equity holder continues to benefit from its income. No one at Davis Manafort other than Mr. Davis was involved in efforts on Freddie Mac’s behalf, the people familiar with the arrangement said. (emphasis mine)
I guess this whole thing probably shouldn’t have come as a big surprise, given that McCain’s campaign is being run by lobbyists. Given how important economic/financial issues are to the voters right now, the question is whether McCain will fire Davis. If not, it will look like he’s been lying about Davis’s ties to Freddie Mac (I’m sure the media will insist that St. McCain didn’t know). It will directly tie his camp to Freddie Mac, which is just not a position you want to be in right now. Of course, McCain’s campaign has been blatantly lying about a lot of things recently, but since the press started calling them out on it, they’ve gotten extremely flustered. So, will they just continue to mock journalistic organizations, specifically the NYT, or will McCain come under pressure to get rid of Davis? Your call, Senator.
A good portion of the Left has been begging Obama to satisfy their hunger for “red meat” by bringing up the Keating 5. While it would be gratifying to watch McCain relive his biggest political embarrassment, next to getting punked by George W. in 2000, until recently it could have been extremely dangerous for Obama to invoke it.
Democrats want to use the Keating 5 scandal to attack McCain’s character and call into question his ethical center. In any other election, this would be fair and reasonable, but McCain is probably immune to the Keating virus. He has already survived by being re-elected to the senate three times (!) since the scandal broke. He only received a slap on the wrist from the Senate Ethics Committee, he confessed his mistakes and begged the voters of Arizona for their forgiveness, and they forgave him three times over.
As a character assault, the Keating 5 provides little traction for Democrats. McCain knows this. He is at his best when the political climate allows him to be pugnacious and confrontational, and bringing up the K5 would give McCain the freedom to dominate the news cycle with Reverend Wright, Tony Rezko, and William Ayers, rather than addressing our current economic crisis.
McCain would win the game of character assassination because these attacks play off the racial stereotypes that blacks are militant, untrustworthy, and violent. Wright and Ayers are especially damaging because they allow Obama to be seen as a radical. And, in Middle America, radicals with black skin are far more frightening than criminals with white collars.
That is why McCain has recently been trying to bait Obama, daring him to bring up the Keating mess. When Obama briefly mentioned the Savings and Loan crisis of the 80’s in his comments about the current crisis, McCain released an ad, basically a warning shot, that tries to connect Obama to the disgraced former CEO of Fannie Mae, Frank Raines. There is no connection between Obama and Raines other than their skin color (well, Raines is more amber hued, while Obama is a burnt cedar). McCain most recent ad features Rezko and Daley, Jones, and Blagojevich (three dudes no one has heard of outside of Illinois). Count them up; that’s five, The Obama 5.
Race.
Race is what ended McCain’s 2000 presidential bid, not the Keating 5. The Rove rumor that McCain fathered a child with a black prostitute didn’t sit well with the voters of South Carolina. Race is why Keating was potentially off limits for Obama.
I say ‘was’ because the current meltdown has given the Keating 5 a new relevance, and made market regulation sexy again. Democrats want to show McCain looking scared for his life during those senate hearings, with his bad comb-over flopping around, but they need to forget about the sensational aspects of the scandal and focus on the fact that John McCain is a puppet of deregulators. Aggressive deregulation led to the S&L crisis and John McCain’s Keating problem, and it has led to the mortgage crisis and John McCain’s Phil Gramm problem. Why is it that whenever our economy is driven over a cliff John McCain is in the passenger’s seat?
Wisely, Obama has resisted the Left’s cravings for the red meat of personal attacks, and has given them the tofu of regulation instead. Eat it. Tofu is good for you.
TAGS: 2000, attack, economy, election, free, John McCain, mccain, NSA, obama, political, Race, war
Will Monday start of one of those game changing weeks?
I hope so, if there’s any benefit to this economic crisis, it’s a spotlight that’s finally put on unregulated free market capitalism. At least now were talking about the issues instead of being pummeled by countless news cycles featuring Republican water-carriers making ridiculous claims that Obama is really the lying, distasteful candidate and not John McCain. Memes like “McCain invented the Blackberry” (it’s a Canadian company) or the even funnier “McCain can’t use a computer because he got his ass beat as a POW” (a bullshit line I paraphrased that first appeared in an article from the Boston Globe in 2000). I love that one, it rolls fake outrage in with a ploy for sympathy - it’s a bullshit burrito! But it actually spotlights the other problem… an absolutely brain-dead media and consumers that don’t have a second to stop and think.
They’re serioius. Karl Rove was pushing that one hard and Sean Hannity is becoming a broken record with it but he’s still bullshit.
If McCain can hold a microphone up to his face all day, he can type at a computer but he won’t because like other old creepy grandpas that excessively do “thumbs up” and wink a lot, he’s afraid of change and he’s really not that smart. Think about it, we do have pictures in this modern world. Hopefully this clears it up, John McCain can lift his arms up to use a computer.
(he’s looking more Nixonian every day) But he’s really not scheduled to live much longer therefore why would he have any interest in real change?
TAGS: american capitalism, blackberry, boston globe, bullshit, free market capitalism, John McCain, karl rove, mccain, memes, outrage, ploy, ridiculous claims, sean hannity, spotlight, water carriersAccording to the NYT, John McCain’s campaign insisted on a shorter question-and-answer session for the VP debate, seemingly in part to shield Palin from head-on exchanges with Joe Biden.
McCain advisers said they had been concerned that a loose format could leave Ms. Palin, a relatively inexperienced debater, at a disadvantage and largely on the defensive.
And there’s also this:
On Wednesday, the commission unanimously rejected a proposal sought by advisers to Ms. Palin and Senator John McCain of Arizona, the Republican presidential nominee, to have the moderator ask questions and the candidates answer, with no time for unfettered exchanges. (emphasis mine)
This is pretty stunning, because it seems like a clear attempt to protect Palin during the VP debate. The McCain camp might as well have come out and said that Palin is inexperienced on the issues and that they’re worried that she won’t look good in exchanges with Biden. McCain’s camp tried to defend the decision this way:
McCain advisers said they were only somewhat concerned about Ms. Palin’s debating skills compared with those of Mr. Biden, who has served six terms in the Senate, or about his chances of tripping her up. Instead, they say, they wanted Ms. Palin to have opportunities to present Mr. McCain’s positions, rather than spending time talking about her experience or playing defense.
So, McCain’s camp doesn’t want Palin to talk about her experience, the same executive experience that they’ve been touting for weeks. And they don’t want her to play defense. Well, she’d only have to play defense if she wasn’t prepared for an actual debate!
What McCain’s camp is basically saying is that they want Palin and Biden to respond to a question and move on, because they’re fearful that if she gets into an actual debate with Biden, she might come across looking inexperienced and not ready to be a heartbeat from the Presidency.
Now, Palin could be fine in debates. I really have no idea. But, if her recent interviews with Gibson and Hannity are any indication, she still has a lot of brushing up to do on the actual issues. I don’t think repeating that joke about the difference between a pitbull and a hockey mom, or about how she put that jet on ebay, or how she said “thanks, but no thanks” on the bridge to nowhere is going to fly in the VP debate, which will probably be closely watched given the intense interest in Palin.
Straight from John McCain, featured in the current (Sept/Oct) issue of the magazine Contingencies. Go ahead, read it right here.
Drum roll, please…
Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation. — John McCain, Fall 2008
Nice.
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