Big Brother Is Watching

Post-presidential Bush

2008-10-26T18:12:00.000-04:00

Henry Rollins, writing in Vanity Fair, reflecting briefly on George Bush’s future life as Citizen W. says, in part:

Bush was never a man I hated. I always thought that he was perhaps not the worst person in the world but was surrounded by earth scorchers who played the hardest of hardball.

…my mind wandered to thoughts of George and Laura Bush and what their lives will be like weeks from now, when they leave Washington. I wondered if it will be a stoic and resigned life, walking condominium hallways, the ghosts of thousands of dead soldiers quietly shuffling by. I wondered if their marriage will last. All that time to think about the carnage of those eight years, all the death and destruction, the waste, the ruin, and the misery. The horror.

Bush is no doubt a moral person and on those long, quiet Texas evenings, he will have time to contemplate what he is—the ultimate patsy. The product of privilege, power, and an agenda he did little more than sign off on. He is a man-child who left his humanity at the crossroads when he sent young men and women to be mutilated and killed in a foreign land. Their blood permanently stains his hands.

George W. Bush is about to start the longest single term of his life.

My own feeling about Bush is that while he’s not consciously evil, he is intellectually and morally indolent. Because he either does not have the ability to think for himself or is too lazy to do so, he has allowed himself to be manipulated by stronger personalities. These people are, as Rollins said, hardball-playing scorched earthers. Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rove, et al found him to be very malleable putty indeed.

I doubt he’s going to be troubled by any feelings of guilt for all the suffering and mayhem and death he’s caused because he totally lacks empathy. For his own purposes, that’s probably a good thing.

I think his post-presidential life will be an absolutely wretched existence. The man has lived in a special, privileged bubble for the last eight years, constantly fawned over by sycophantic courtiers reinforcing his belief that he is a Very Important Person. Those who manipulated and exploited him did it very deferentially, I’m sure.

But on January 20, 2009, he will begin to discover that he is, in a sense, a pariah. The only people that will show him deference will be those who are paid to do so. The neocons will dump him faster than you can say PNAC, and the mainstream of the Republican party will do its very best to forget he ever existed. Nobody will trot him out as an elder statesman. Nobody will seek his advice or his views. And as he said of himself earlier this year when he was disparaging Bill Clinton, he won’t be hanging around the lobby of the UN.

I imagine he'll lead a sort of OJ Simpson-like existence – OJ Simpson pre-prison, that is. I don't think Laura will leave him, but I don't think any woman would want to be in her shoes. It’s hard to believe that Bush will bear the change in his circumstances with stoicism.

Deja vu all over again

2008-10-26T18:08:00.001-04:00

On the night of October 23, 1989 Charles Stuart of Boston called police saying that a black gunman with a raspy voice had shot Stuart in the stomach and his wife Carol in the head during the course of a robbery. Carol later died at the hospital. A black man named William Bennett was later arrested after Stuart picked him out of a lineup. The story later unraveled, however, after Stuart’s brother, Matthew admitted to getting rid of the gun used in the crime and the valuables that were allegedly taken in the theft. Charles Stuart jumped to his death from the Tobin Bridge in Boston just ahead of his arrest for murder by the Boston police.

Nineteen years later, to the day, Ashley Todd, a 20-year old McCain campaign volunteer from College Station, Texas, told Pittsburgh police that she had been accosted by a 6’ 4” black man as she was leaving an ATM, who robbed her, then upon seeing the McCain bumper sticker on her car, beat her and carved a backwards B on her face.

Take it away, Pittsburgh Post-Gazzette:

Almost from the start, Pittsburgh police were skeptical about a young woman's claim that she had been mugged and a "B" carved into her cheek by an attacker who was provoked by the sight of a John McCain bumper sticker on her car.

Yesterday, their doubts were confirmed when 20-year-old Ashley Todd, a McCain volunteer from College Station, Texas, admitted that she made the whole thing up.

There was no black man with a knife, no robbery, no physical assault.

And the backwards "B" on her cheek? She's not sure, she told police, but assumes she did that herself. As for the black eyes, police assume they likewise were self-inflicted.

Her story quickly became political fodder on the Internet and spread around the world, fueled by the presidential campaign and Ms. Todd's political connections as a field representative for the College Republican National Committee and McCain volunteer.

But in less than a day, the international story of a McCain volunteer being attacked, traumatized and disfigured for her political beliefs deflated into a sad tale of a troubled woman with a history of mental problems.

Police were sensitive to that fact yesterday, saying that while Ms. Todd would face at least a charge of filing a false report with police, she would not be released until she had a mental health evaluation.

"We don't feel she should be able to walk out onto the street," said Pittsburgh Assistant Police Chief Maurita Bryant. "We wouldn't want any further harm to come to her."

Ms. Todd was in the Allegheny County Jail last night on $50,000 bond after her video arraignment before District Judge John N. Bova. Judge Bova requested that she undergo an evaluation by the jail's behavior clinic. She'll return to court on Thursday.

The day after the purported attack, both Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin called Ms. Todd, offering words of comfort. Yesterday, McCain-Palin campaign spokesman Peter Feldman issued a statement: "This is a sad situation. We hope she gets the help she needs."

Ms. Todd told police a black man with a knife approached her at a banking machine at Citizens Bank at Liberty Avenue and Pearl Street in Bloomfield shortly before 9 p.m. Wednesday. She said after she gave him $60, the robber spotted the McCain stickers on her car, became enraged, knocked her to the ground and punched and kicked her.

She quoted him as saying "You are going to be a Barack supporter," as he sat on her chest, pinning both of her hands down, and scratched the letter "B" on her right cheek.

First among the problems with her story was the fact that the "B" scratched on her face was backwards -- as it might be if she had done it herself using a mirror.

"The backwards 'B' was the obvious thing to us when we first saw her. Something just didn't seem right," Assistant Chief Bryant said. "And, first of all, with our local robbers, they take the money [and flee]. They're in and out. They're not stopping to do artwork."

Additionally, said Lt. Kevin Kraus, investigators were struck "that it was a superficial, pristine 'B,' which seemed highly inconsistent with the story she reported that it was a violent attack, basically in which she was fighting for her life."

Nevertheless, Assistant Chief Bryant said, Ms. Todd reported herself as a victim, so police began an investigation. Then they found more and more inconsistencies.

Ms. Todd underwent five hours of questioning at police headquarters on the North Side Thursday night and submitted to a polygraph. Her story kept changing -- the attack happened before she got to the bank machine; she was hit from behind and rendered unconscious; she didn't know she had been cut or robbed until she went to the apartment of a friend, Dan Garcia; the attacker had sexually fondled her.

Yesterday, she told detectives she was driving alone in her car when she looked in the rearview mirror and saw the letter on her cheek. She didn't remember how it got there but assumed she had done it because she had incidents of memory loss in the past. The letter made her think of "Barack," Assistant Chief Bryant said, so she concocted the story before going to Mr. Garcia's house.

Now here’s my favorite part of the story:

Once she had told the story to police, "she told lie after lie and the situation compounded to where we are right now," said Lt. Kraus. He added that Ms. Todd showed no remorse for her actions but was angry with the media, saying they blew the story out of proportion.

She showed no remorse. It was the media’s fault. They blew it out of proportion.

Assistant Chief Bryant said the false report created "a huge waste of time, with many man-hours and people coming in on overtime just to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible."

"It created intensive national and international attention," Lt. Kraus said. "We've had detectives working around the clock since she made the bogus allegation. The cost to the city of Pittsburgh has been many, many dollars and resources."

Ms. Todd's job as a field representative for the College Republican National Committee brought her to Pittsburgh about two weeks ago to recruit college students. She had worked for the committee since August. Yesterday, the organization fired her.

Ashley Barbera, the organization's communications director, said workers initially were concerned for Ms. Todd's safety.

"We are as upset as anyone to learn of her deceit. Ashley must take full responsibility for her actions," she said.

In March, Ms. Todd was asked to leave a grass-roots group of Ron Paul supporters in Brazos County, Texas, group leader Dustan Costine said. He said Ms. Todd posed as a supporter of former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee and called the local Republican committee seeking information about its campaign strategies.

"She would call the opposing campaign and pretend she was on their campaign to get information," Mr. Costine said last night. "We had to remove her because of the tactics she displayed. After that we had nothing to do with her."

About a month earlier, he said, Ms. Todd sent an e-mail to the Ron Paul group saying her tires were slashed and that campaign paraphernalia had been stolen from her car because she supported Mr. Paul.

"She's the type of person who wants to be recognized," Mr. Costine said.

Fortunately, Ashley Todd was such a stupid, inept liar that there was no William Bennett in this case. One wonders, if the police had been less efficient and more credulous, would she have picked somebody out of a lineup?

It appears that her desperate need for attention, her absolute lack of remorse, and her refusal to take responsibility for her actions do constitute a mental problem. But it’s very hard to feel sympathetic to a person who chooses Charles Stuart for a role model.

George W. Bush post-presidency

2008-10-26T17:36:00.003-04:00

GOP fretting about one party rule

2008-10-26T08:06:00.003-04:00

There’s a story in The Washington Post this morning – the GOP is worried about one party rule. Now that is pretty rich. Up until two years ago, we HAD one party rule – by the GOP Taliban, who did enough harm to last us through the rest of this century and well into the next.

Although I normally think balance in the government is desirable, I have no problem with Democrats running things for the next two years, so they can begin to repair the damage inflicted by the 6 year GOP reign of terror without Republican obstructionism. Meanwhile the grown-ups in the GOP can take their party back and re-form it into some semblance of a responsible organization.

Such a week for the GOP!

2008-10-25T09:59:00.001-04:00

The RNC paid $150,000 for Sarah Palin’s wardrobe, purchased with the assistance of Jeff Larson, the McCain campaign’s favorite loathsome robocaller. And, according to The New York Times, some of the items charged apparently did not go to Palin – it’s a wardobe mystery.

According to The New York Times, Sarah Palin’s traveling makeup artist (classified as “Personnel Svc/Equipment” in the campaign filings) Amy Strozzi, made $22,800 in the first two weeks of October, more than anyone else in the entire McCain campaign organization. That’s a lot of Cover Girl. And Palin's traveling hair stylist (classified as ”communications consultant” in the campaign filings), Angela Lew, made $10,000 in the same period.

Michele Bachmann (MN, 6^th district) told Chris Matthews on October 17^th, that she is "very concerned" that Obama "may have anti-American views" and that the media ought to investigate Congress to see who is pro-American and who is anti-American.

With these statements, Bachmann managed to raise $1.4 million from outraged voters all over the country – for her opponent, Elwyn Tinklenberg. She had been expected to cruise to victory, but now the NRCC (National Republican Congressional Committee) has pulled their advertising on her behalf, and Tinklenberg is now running neck and neck with her in the polls.

Speaking of the NRCC, bowing to financial realities, they've also pulled funding for a bunch of other incumbents including the hateful and homophobic Marilyn Musgrave of Colorado’s 4^thdistrict.

What else? Oh, yeah. John McCain’s brother Joe, younger, but also possessing the infamous McCain temper and arrogance, called 911 in Communist Northern Virginia to complain about a traffic blockage approaching the Wilson Bridge. When the 911 operator pointed out that 911 is for emergencies only, Mr. McCain replied “Fuck you,” and disconnected.

“I don't know why I called 911,” McCain says. “I've never called 911 before. I guess I thought they might have some explanation.”

After dialing 911, McCain called Alexandria Police to ask them about the traffic on the bridge, calling the situation an “absurdity.”

Alexandria Police: "Did you just call 911 in reference to this? 911 is used for emergencies only, not because you're just sitting in traffic."

Joe McCain: “This isn't traffic. This is a pretty serious malfunction.... Do we just sit here indefinitely while this bridge malfunctions?”

To finish off the week, there’s the lovely and talented Ashley Todd. She’s the McCain campaign volunteer, who reported to Pittsburgh police that she was robbed by a big, scary black man who subsequently beat her and carved a backwards B on her face because she had a McCain bumper sticker on her car. After receiving sympathetic phone calls from both McCain and Palin and a WHOLE LOTTA media attention, she admitted to police that she made the whole thing up. She added that she has mental problems. To the extent that anybody who still supports John McCain is crazy, I suppose that’s true.

She has been charged with filing a false police report and is in jail awaiting a psychiatric evaluation.

Can't wait to see what next week brings.

Voter fraud

2008-10-21T05:38:00.002-04:00

Finally! An arrest for voter fraud--now those Obamaloving hippies at Acorn will be brought to book. Oh, wait...

October 20, 2008

SACRAMENTO — The owner of a firm that the California Republican Party hired to register tens of thousands of voters this year was arrested in Ontario over the weekend on suspicion of voter registration fraud.

State and local investigators allege that Mark Jacoby fraudulently registered himself to vote at a childhood California address where he no longer lives so he would appear to meet the legal requirement that all signature gatherers be eligible to vote in California. His firm, Young Political Majors, or YPM, collects petition signatures and registers voters in California and other states.

Jacoby's arrest by state investigators and the Ontario Police Department late Saturday came after dozens of voters said they were duped into registering as Republicans by people employed by YPM. The voters said YPM workers tricked them by saying they were signing a petition to toughen penalties against child molesters.

The firm was paid $7 to $12 for every Californian it registered as a member of the GOP.

Dan Goldfine, an attorney for Jacoby, on Sunday denied any wrongdoing by his client and called the charges "baseless."

He said the arrest outside an Ontario hotel, which involved seven squad cars and nine police officers, was part of a "long pattern of harassment against Mr. Jacoby for an entirely valid voter registration effort."

Goldfine said the case that prosecutors are bringing against his client involves charges that are rarely pressed.

Jacoby was released on bail Sunday evening from the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga, Goldfine said.

After complaints by voters and Democratic Party officials, several agencies launched investigations into Jacoby's activities. They included the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, which issued the warrant for his arrest earlier this month on felony charges of voter registration fraud and perjury.

"We contacted people at the addresses where he registered, and they have no idea who he is," said Dave Demerjian, head deputy of the public integrity unit at the L.A. County district attorney's office.

Goldfine said his client does business in many states, traveling frequently, and his permanent address has been his parents' Los Angeles County home, where he received mail and registered to vote.

Demerjian said his office is continuing to investigate allegations that YPM workers improperly re-registered voters with the GOP.

Several dozen voters recently told The Times that YPM workers said they had to become Republicans to sign the petition, contrary to California initiative law. Other voters said they had no idea their registration was being changed.

YPM has been accused of using bait-and-switch tactics across the country. Election officials and lawmakers have launched investigations into the activities of YPM workers in Florida and Massachusetts. In Arizona, the firm was recently a defendant in a civil rights lawsuit.

In a written statement Sunday, the state Republican Party called the charges against Jacoby "politically motivated." The party said the charges do not support accusations from voters and Democratic officials that YPM has been duping voters into joining the GOP.

The statement accused Secretary of State Debra Bowen, who announced the arrest, of "using her office to play politics."

Bowen is a Democrat.

McCain's base--with video

2008-10-20T20:08:00.002-04:00

From the Washington Times via Political Animal:

PRINCETON, W.Va. — Over the last few days I've been through Southwest Virginia, down in North Carolina and now back up into the mountains on the West Virginia side near Bluefield for some stories about the political climate in red states.

Sen. Barack Obama has set up a massive organization across the country, and especially in North Carolina.

The campaign has given supporters lists with hours and locations of early voting sites, and collected the names, e-mail address and cell phone number of each attendee at the Fayetteville rally Sunday afternoon. (There were a few thousand who had to listen to his speech from the parking lot after the coliseum hit about 10,000 capacity.)

An organizer at the rally rattled off the addresses of early vote sites nearby that would be open after the event.

Photographer Joe Eddins and I headed over to the closest one and found a steady line of voters hoping to cast ballots early. Most seemed to be Obama supporters and several had come from the rally. Nearly all the voters were black.

Also at the polling site was a group of loud and angry protesters who shouted and mocked the voters as they walked in. Nearly all were white.

As you can see from these videos, no one held anything back. People were shouting about Obama's acknowledged cocaine use as a young man, abortion and one man used the word "terrorist." They also were complaining that Sundays are for church, not voting.

Takes you back around 50 years--ah, the good old days, when racists felt free to intimidate black voters. These are John Sydney McCain's peeps. Take a good, long look.

Here's some video:

John McCain's base

2008-10-20T19:08:00.004-04:00

Via Americablog again, from the Citizen-Times of Asheville, NC:

A dead bear was found dumped this morning on the Western Carolina University campus, draped with a pair of Obama campaign signs, university police said.

Maintenance workers reported about 7:45 a.m. finding a 75-pound bear cub dumped at the roundabout near the Catamount statute at the entrance to campus, said Tom Johnson, chief of university police.

“It looked like it had been shot in the head as best we can tell. A couple of Obama campaign signs had been stapled together and stuck over its head,” Johnson said.

University police called in N.C. Wildlife Resources officials to remove the body and help in the investigation. Bear season is currently under way in Western North Carolina.

But when will it be open season on ignorant louts?

Big time neocon to vote for Obama

2008-10-20T18:53:00.003-04:00

He may say he's not a neocon but he is--he's one of the Cheney/Rummy/Wolfowitz Pax Americana coterie. Anyway, via Americablog, I saw this story in The New Yorker:

Ken Adelman is a lifelong conservative Republican. Campaigned for Goldwater, was hired by Rumsfeld at the Office of Economic Opportunity under Nixon, was assistant to Defense Secretary Rumsfeld under Ford, served as Reagan’s director of arms control, and joined the Defense Policy Board for Rumsfeld’s second go-round at the Pentagon, in 2001. Adelman’s friendship with Rumsfeld, Cheney, and their wives goes back to the sixties, and he introduced Cheney to Paul Wolfowitz at a Washington brunch the day Reagan was sworn in.

In recent years, Adelman and his friends Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz fell out over his criticisms of the botching of the Iraq War. Still, he remains a bona-fide hawk (“not really a neo-con but a con-con”) who has never supported a Democrat for President in his life. Two weeks from now that’s going to change: Ken Adelman intends to vote for Barack Obama. He can hardly believe it himself.

Adelman and I exchanged e-mails today about his decision. He asked rhetorically,Why so, since my views align a lot more with McCain’s than with Obama’s? And since I truly dread the notion of a Democratic president, Democratic House, and hugely Democratic Senate?

Primarily for two reasons, those of temperament and of judgment.

When the economic crisis broke, I found John McCain bouncing all over the place. In those first few crisis days, he was impetuous, inconsistent, and imprudent; ending up just plain weird. Having worked with Ronald Reagan for seven years, and been with him in his critical three summits with Gorbachev, I’ve concluded that that’s no way a president can act under pressure.

Second is judgment. The most important decision John McCain made in his long campaign was deciding on a running mate.

That decision showed appalling lack of judgment. Not only is Sarah Palin not close to being acceptable in high office—I would not have hired her for even a mid-level post in the arms-control agency. But that selection contradicted McCain’s main two, and best two, themes for his campaign—Country First, and experience counts. Neither can he credibly claim, post-Palin pick.

McCain's base - three stories

2008-10-19T15:26:00.002-04:00

First story

Mike Lunsford hung the display at a home at Symmes and Hicks Road in Fairfield this week. His neighbors called Local 12 to express their shock, saying the display is racist and offensive.
But Lunsford, who spoke to Local 12's Shawn Ley spoke isn't shy about his views.

The make-shift ghost hangs from a noose above an"McCain-Palin" sign. A Barack Obama sign attached upside down. Obama's middle name: "Hussein" spray painted and misspelled above.

Mike Lunsford hung the ghost in his yard. He spoke to us off-camera, saying his views could hurt his employers business ... but he says make no mistake: He doesn't want an African American running the country.

Lunsford says he believes Barack Obama is not a "full blooded American." And he says the United States is a white, Christian nation - and only with white Christians should be in power.

Second story

CALEDONIA, Wis. -- Police in Caledonia are investigating the assault of a campaign volunteer as she was canvassing for Senator Barack Obama Saturday afternoon.

In an exclusive interview with 12 News, 58 year-old Nancy Takehara of Chicago says she was going door-to-door when she came across a disgruntled homeowner.

“The next thing I know he’s telling us we’re not his people, we’re probably with ACORN, and he started screaming and raving,” Takehara said. “He grabbed me by the back of the neck. I thought he was going to rip my hair out of my head. He was pounding on my head and screaming. The man terrified me.”

The man eventually stopped and the Caledonia police were called. Takehara was asked if she needed medical assistance, but she was not seriously injured. Instead, she says she was shaken up by the homeowner’s reaction.

“This negative stuff has to stop,” said Takehara. “We’re all Americans. This is all about protecting our democracy, not about attacking each other.”

Third story

WASHINGTON — An ACORN community organizer received a death threat and the liberal activist group's Boston and Seattle offices were vandalized Thursday, reflecting mounting tensions over its role in registering 1.3 million mostly poor and minority Americans to vote next month.

Attorneys for the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now were notifying the FBI and the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division of the incidents, said Brian Kettenring, a Florida-based spokesman for the group.

Republicans, including presidential candidate John McCain, have verbally attacked the group repeatedly in recent days, alleging a widespread vote-fraud scheme, although they've provided little proof. It was disclosed Thursday that the FBI is examining whether thousands of fraudulent voter-registration applications submitted by some ACORN workers were part of a systematic effort or isolated incidents.

Kettenring said that a senior ACORN staffer in Cleveland, after appearing on television this week, got an e-mail that said she "is going to have her life ended."

A female staffer in Providence, R.I., got a threatening call from someone who said words to the effect of "We know you get off work at 9," then uttered racial epithets, he said.

McClatchy is withholding the women's names because of the threats.

Separately, vandals broke into the group's Boston and Seattle offices and stole computers, Kettenring said.

The incidents came the day after McCain charged in the final presidential debate that ACORN's voter-registration drive "may be perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history" and may be "destroying the fabric of democracy."

McCain's comments provoked a response from ACORN.

"I would not say that Senator McCain is inciting violence," Kettenring said, "but I would say that his statements about the role of this manufactured scandal were totally outlandish. We would call on Senator McCain to tamp down the fringe elements in his party."

McCain's campaign didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

Kettenring said that ACORN had received growing amounts of hate mail in recent weeks, but "the campaign debate sort of tipped it over to a scary point, where raising allegations of voter fraud went from a cynical campaign ploy to really inciting racial violence."

Since McCain's remarks, ACORN's 87 offices across the country have received hundreds of hostile e-mails, many of them containing racial slurs, Kettenring said. "We believe that these are specifically McCain supporters" sending the messages, he said.

The e-mail to the Cleveland employee was traced to a Facebook Web page in the name of a Baltimore man. It featured a photo of a McCain-Palin sign.

Kettenring said that the bulk of the e-mails had been either "flat-out racist" or had racial overtones. Most of the group's 400 members and about 80 percent of the 13,000 voter-registration canvassers are African-American or Latino.

It's unclear whether the alleged threats violated federal law, but Jonah Goldman, the director of the National Campaign for Fair Elections at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a nonpartisan, nonprofit legal organization that battles discrimination, argued that the Voting Rights Act should apply.

"A real concern is the impact that these terrible acts have on the people who registered through these registration drives," Goldman said. "Legitimate, eligible voters who sign up through these registration drives may be understandably intimidated and choose not to show up at the polls, and the Voting Rights Act prevents voter intimidation."

Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.

Conflict of interest

2008-10-15T18:28:00.002-04:00

The Washington Post reports that Verizon and AT&T provided cell phone towers to the McCain ranch for free, gratis, without charge. This would seem to be a conflict of interest since McCain is on the Senate Commerce Committee, which oversees the FCC and the telecommunications industry. McCain has been a tireless fighter for deregulation of the telecom business.

Gosh, how mavericky! I get crappy cell phone reception in my apartment--will Verizon and AT&T put a tower on my porch?

Maybe not hope

2008-10-15T18:24:00.002-04:00

Looking back on the Hope post below, I think I was being naive. If the economy were not in the toilet, the McCain camp's smear tactics and whisper campaigning would work as well for Johnny Mac as they have for any other Republican.

Nothing like the threat of a worldwide depression to focus people's minds on the essentials. Too bad for the POW.

Hope

2008-10-15T04:27:00.004-04:00

This headline in The New York Times this morning gives me, for the first time in 8 years, reason to be optimistic for the future: Poll Says Attacks Backfire on McCain.

Apparently 16 years of unrelenting personal attacks and smears have begun to pall on at least some of us. Seemingly, we find screaming mobs of racists and xenophobes more than a little disquieting.

The McCain campaign’s recent angry tone and sharply personal attacks on Senator Barack Obama appear to have backfired and tarnished Senator John McCain more than their intended target, the latest New York Times/CBS News poll has found.

After several weeks in which the McCain campaign unleashed a series of strong political attacks on Mr. Obama, trying to tie him to a former 1960s radical, among other things, the poll found that more voters see Mr. McCain as waging a negative campaign than Mr. Obama. Six in 10 voters surveyed said that Mr. McCain had spent more time attacking Mr. Obama than explaining what he would do as president; by about the same number, voters said Mr. Obama was spending more of his time explaining than attacking.

Over all, the poll found that if the election were held today, 53 percent of those determined to be probable voters said they would vote for Mr. Obama and 39 percent said they would vote for Mr. McCain.

The findings come as the race enters its final three weeks, with the two candidates scheduled to hold their third and last debate on Wednesday night, and as separate polls in critical swing states that could decide the election give Mr. Obama a growing edge. But wide gaps in polls have historically tended to narrow in the closing weeks of the race.

Voters who said their opinions of Mr. Obama had changed recently were twice as likely to say they had grown more favorable as to say they had worsened. And voters who said that their views of Mr. McCain had changed were three times more likely to say that they had worsened than to say they had improved.

The top reasons cited by those who said they thought less of Mr. McCain were his recent attacks and his choice of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate. (The vast majority said their opinions of Mr. Obama of Illinois, the Democratic nominee, and Mr. McCain of Arizona, the Republican nominee, had remained unchanged in recent weeks.) But in recent days, Mr. McCain and Ms. Palin have scaled back their attacks on Mr. Obama, although Mr. McCain suggested he might aggressively take on Mr. Obama in Wednesday’s debate.

Palin as President

2008-10-14T20:04:00.005-04:00

Neat site via Political Animal. Move your mouse around the picture over various objects and watch the fun! Don't forget the door. Palin as President!!!

Sarah Palin remixed

2008-10-14T19:57:00.003-04:00

And you can dance to it. From funnyordie.com via Rumproast.

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Alaskan women speak out on Sarah Palin

2008-10-13T18:11:00.005-04:00

This apparently ran on CNN, or at least has been vetted to run n CNN--I got the link through the CNN website anyway. It's posted on ireport.com. Quite entertaining; very thoughtful young women.

Al Franken's words of wisdom

2008-10-13T16:59:00.003-04:00

via Betty Cracker on conservative versus liberal love of country.

We love America just as much as they do. But in a different way. You see, they love America the way a four-year-old loves her mommy. Liberals love America like grown-ups. To a four-year-old, everything Mommy does is wonderful and anyone who criticizes Mommy is bad. Grown-up love means actually understanding what you love, taking the good with the bad, and helping your loved one grow.

Dow up on foreign governments' action

2008-10-13T13:41:00.002-04:00

But what about our government? I haven't seen one damned thing our government is doing. What HAS Paulson done, except yap, for the last two weeks?

Perhaps the plan is to do nothing at all and just let this problem fester, along with all the other festering sores Bush is leaving for his successor.

Obama as Roadrunner

2008-10-13T09:12:00.002-04:00

Andrew Sullivan notes in The Times Online that Barack Obama has, in his infinite cool and laid-back strategery, more than a passing resemblence to the roadrunner, and John McCain has more than a passing resemblence to Wiley E. Coyote.

My favorite paragraph:

Obama? He lollops along with a calm smile and a physical fluency that is hard to mock or copy. If he were a boxer, he’d be the kind who keeps moving but hangs back. He waits for his opponents to take a swing, ducks and comes back into the game. He sticks to a game plan and rarely deviates. And he waits for his opponent to make an error. Watching his autumn fight with McCain reminds me of the Wile E Coyote and Road Runner cartoons. Every elaborate attempt to blow Obama up leaves his opponents with sooty faces and a trail of smoke rising from the tops of their heads.

Sullivan points out something that hadn’t occurred to me in all my outrage at watching the Clintons behave like a pair of Arkansas racists:

Obama rarely directly attacks. He subtly baits. His most brilliant rope-a-dope of the entire campaign was against Bill Clinton in the spring. In a newspaper interview, Obama cited Ronald Reagan as the last transformational president. He didn’t mention Clinton. The former president was offended by being implicitly dissed, took the bait and unleashed a series of unwise public scoffs at the young Democrat, culminating in a dismissal of Obama as another Jesse Jackson. Suddenly, black Democrats abandoned Clinton’s wife, and the Clintons’ base collapsed. Obama merely stepped out of the way as the Clintons self-destructed. He didn’t just end their campaign; he helped to bury their reputation.

If that’s how it went, Obama is a far smarter and more subtle politician than I gave him credit for. And if it’s true, and if the Clintons ever figure out how they were played, they’ll be furious. Maybe they already have, and that’s the reason for Bill Clinton’s impossibly petulant behavior since the end of the primaries. But the Clintons have nobody but themselves to blame. Nobody forced them to behave like a couple of bigoted yahoos – they did it of their own accord. Obama simply allowed them to be themselves.

Now, Sullivan says, he’s using exactly the same tactics on McCain and Palin:

Instead of attacking him frontally, he got in his head and provoked him into error. It’s easier with McCain than with the Clintons, because McCain is more volatile and more easily provoked. And so Obama cruised through August, picking a conventional running mate and punching his foreign-policy-credentials card with trips to Iraq and Europe. McCain’s response? He put out an ad equating the son of a poor single mother who made it to become president of the Harvard Law Review, a University of Chicago professor and the first black nominee for president with . . . Paris Hilton, whose only accomplishments are being born into immense wealth and making an internet porn tape.

When that didn’t work, and an unfazed Obama ran a flawless convention, calmed the Clintons and delivered one of the best acceptance speeches in modern times, McCain blew himself up with the Palin pick. His one sure-fire advantage – experience – was thrown away. His real base – independent voters and the media – was first wowed and then woke up. And as Palin became a national and international joke, as her ratings plummeted and as she lost her debate to Joe Biden (quite hard to do, given Biden’s capacity for verbal diarrhoea), McCain got even crankier and more unstable.

Then the financial crisis hit and a desperate McCain decided to seize the moment. Again, Obama did little but stay calm.

McCain made a huge splash of “suspending” his campaign and rushed back to Washing-ton to talk his own party into backing the bailout. It refused, the bailout sank for a week and McCain’s campaign was just as suddenly unsuspended. He had to crawl back and agree to have the first debate as planned. Wile E Coyote blew himself up again. Meanwhile, Obama purred “beep, beep” and raced down the home stretch.

So last week McCain tried one more thing. He went 100% negative on his television ads, and day after day accused Obama of being someone who had a “secret”, who, in Palin’s words to overwhelmingly white crowds, “doesn’t see the world the way you and I do”, who “palled around with terrorists” and whose middle name – repeated at almost every Palin rally – was Hussein. Yes, they’re now playing the fear card: fear of the unknown, fear of black people, fear of Arab-sounding names, fear of terrorism, fear of Islam.

Obama has not been a saint. He resurrected the long-buried Keating Five scandal that tainted McCain in the 1980s. He has used language that resonates with the notion that McCain is senile: “erratic”, “uncertain”. He has played a little class warfare. But nothing too dramatic, nothing too angry, nothing too risky. The polling around the country is now more emphatically Democratic than ever before. Obama is now ahead in every battleground state and, by most estimates, could lose all the currently close states and still win the election.

And still he’s calm. Not too cocky. A little aloof, but very professional. He learnt all of this as a black man in a white country: no sudden moves; no anger. That’s how he managed his white mother in adolescence. That’s how he manages a white electorate increasingly at ease with him. And, by a massive stroke of luck, that’s what voters want now. In an economy that is melting down, with two wars still raging, they want calm above everything else. They want to know that the man in charge will not panic, will not be flustered, will not blow up.

It's deeply satisfying to me to see a Democrat with that kind of smarts. If the worst happens, and McCain somehow ends up being president, at least we'll have the memory of seeing a Democratic campaign run the way a campaign should be.

Computer...Is...Dying

2008-10-11T14:11:00.001-04:00

No posting until the new one gets here next week. Oh, well, at least my cat will be happy.

Jon Stewart, Funny Man!

2008-10-09T20:25:00.002-04:00

Via Balloon Juice

McCain's Base, Part II

2008-10-09T19:47:00.001-04:00

Via Kevin Drum.

Rage

2008-10-09T19:11:00.002-04:00

With nothing left in their arsenal, Senator McCain and Governor Palin are falling back on appeals to ignorance, racism, and hatred in their attacks on Barack Obama.

The rage of John McCain, forced to compete with an uppity Other, and worse yet, being outmaneuvered by That One, feeds the rage of his followers who have been fooled and played and brainwashed by the Party of Rove for the last 15 years.

I don’t know if McCain and Palin fully comprehend what they’re unleashing, but I think the Secret Service is beginning to understand that the McCain/Palin campaign, as it is currently playing out dramatically increases their challenge of physically protecting Barack Obama.

Today’s sketch by Dana Milbank in The Washington Post, entitled Rage in the Town of Bethlehem:

John McCain and Sarah Palin were backstage, and Lehigh County GOP Chairman Bill Platt was warming up the crowd of 6,000 at a rally here for the Republican ticket.

"Think about how you'll feel on November 5 if you wake up in the morning and see the news, thatBarack Obama -- that Barack Hussein Obama -- is the president-elect of the United States," Platt said. The audience at the Lehigh University arena booed at the thought of it.

"The number one most liberal senator in the United States of America was, you guessed it, the ambassador of change, Barack Hussein Obama," he added. "This election is about preserving America's past and protecting the promise of its future."

The sage Platt had more information to disclose. "Barack Obama refused to wear an American flag on his lapel," he said of the man who, at the presidential debate the night before, was wearing a flag pin on his lapel. The audience booed. "Barack Obama, a man who wants to be president of the United States of America, removed the American flag from his chest because it was a symbol of patriotism. Perhaps Barack Obama doesn't put country first, but he puts fashion first."

"Across this country, this is the agenda I have set before my fellow prisoners," he said when he took the stage.

And Platt wasn't the only inmate in the arena. Northampton County council member Peg Ferraro, in her turn at the microphone, spoke about Obama's "backgrounds and affiliations," calling these unspecified relationships "questionable" and asking: "Do we know who his friends are?"

The crowd engaged in a chant of "No-bama!"

State Rep. Karen Beyer darkly warned the crowd that "Barack Obama doesn't know anything about you."

Cindy McCain implied that Obama was trying to harm her son. "My son . . . has served on the front lines," she told the crowd, with her husband and Palin standing behind her. "Let me tell you, the day Senator Obama decided to cast a vote not to fund my son when he was serving . . . sent a cold chill through my body, let me tell you. I suggest that Senator Obama change shoes with me for just one day and see what it means to have a loved one serving in the armed forces, and, more importantly, serving in harm's way."

Only the polka band, which entertained the crowd before the speeches, seemed unaffected by the pervasive anger in the arena…

...The crowd liked McCain, but loved Palin. "You're a hottie!" a young man near the front called out to her.

"What does that have to do with anything?" she answered with a smile.

McCain, up next, played his own attack dog. He said he wouldn't take lessons in telling the truth "from a Chicago politician." He then said Obama "abetted" corruption in the home-mortgage market. He said his rival "turned a blind eye" while the mortgage agencies "ran our economy into a ditch." He also suggested, without evidence, that Obama had arranged a congressional earmark in exchange for campaign funding. "Even the appearance of this kind of insider dealing disgusts Americans," the Republican said, concluding that his opponent is a "politician who has bought into everything that is wrong with Washington."

Audience members participated in the Obama critique by shouting words such as "liar!" and "socialist!"

McCain's Base

2008-10-08T20:45:00.000-04:00

It's a nice thing

2008-10-08T18:35:00.001-04:00

via Rumproast

Palin campaign strategy

2008-10-06T05:18:00.004-04:00

via Andrew Sullivan

Palin's post-debate bounce

2008-10-05T19:49:00.006-04:00

Taegan Goddard at Political Wire reports that the VP debate pushed undecided voters to Obama

An Ipsos/McClatchy poll found that Gov. Sarah Palin's performance in last week's vice presidential debate actually hurt her running mate, Sen. John McCain, among undecided voters.

Before the debate, undecided voters were leaning 56% to 44% for McCain. The day after the debate, the numbers tilted 52% to 48% for Sen. Barack Obama.

Said pollster Clifford Young: "It's suggesting an overall tendency of undecideds toward Obama, so it is significant. We're catching an underlying trend that's going on."

The poll also found that Sen. Joe Biden won the debate, 54% to 46%.

So she managed to bounce Johnny Mac downward in the polls with all that winkin', nose crinklin', and folksiness. DARN good job, Sarah!

What he said

2008-10-05T04:38:00.005-04:00

Andrew Sullivan says:

McCain goes almost 100 percent negative. If that doesn't do something to the polls in the next week, what has he got left? The answer, I'm afraid, is nothing but his fathomless narcissism and vanity.

I remember well when McCain blocked funding to National Airport (immediately adjacent to Washington) and Dulles Airport because Congress refused, for safety reasons, to open up National to longer flights via America West so they could fly nonstop from Washington to Phoenix. This meant that McCain either had to shlep out to Dulles in the far-flung Virginia suburbs when he wanted to go home on Congressional breaks, or be delayed with connecting flights. So he blocked funding to both airports for a time. Nice.

I think that incident, alone, reveals volumes about his fathomless narcissism and vanity, not to mention the vindictiveness that does not always stay under his surface.

The blog has a new name

2008-10-04T19:00:00.006-04:00

Placeholder was, well, a placeholder, until an appropriate name should occur to me. Thanks to Attorney General Michael Mukasey's New Rule (see the post below), the blog now has a name that is meaningful to me. It has nothing to do with my actual big brother, who is guiltless in this regard.

At least there's a song for this

2008-10-04T18:46:00.005-04:00

Via Crooks & Liars, the ACLU reports that Loyal Bushie Michael Mukasey has made a New Rule:

New FBI guidelines governing investigations were released today after being signed by Attorney General Michael Mukasey. The American Civil Liberties Union quickly blasted the Department of Justice and FBI for ignoring calls for more stringent protections of Americans’ rights. The guidelines replace existing bureau guidelines for five types of investigations: general criminal, national security, foreign intelligence, civil disorders and demonstrations. The ACLU has been vocal in its disapproval of the overly broad guidelines, citing both the FBI’s and DOJ’s documented records of internal abuse.

The new guidelines reduce standards for beginning “assessments” (precursors to investigations), conducting surveillance and gathering evidence, meaning the threshold to beginning investigations across the board will be lowered. More troubling still, the guidelines allow a person’s race or ethnic background to be used as a factor in opening an investigation, a move the ACLU believes may institute racial profiling as a matter of policy.

“The attorney general today gave the FBI a blank check to open investigations of innocent Americans based on no meaningful suspicion of wrongdoing,” said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU. “The new guidelines provide no safeguards against the FBI’s improperly using race and religion as grounds for suspicion. They also fail to sufficiently prevent the government from infiltrating groups whose viewpoints it doesn’t like. The FBI has shown time and time again that is incapable of policing itself and there is good reason to believe that these guidelines will lead to more abuse.”

And now the song, wholly appropriate to this sad occasion (definitely NOT work or public library friendy):

On racism and the race

2008-10-04T17:55:00.003-04:00

This gentleman is a very effective speaker.

This could be the big one, Elizabeth

2008-10-04T16:04:00.007-04:00

Nouriel Roubini says we're screwed. Well, he said it yesterday, but it's probably still true.

It is now clear that the US financial system - and now even the system of financing of the corporate sector - is now in cardiac arrest and at a risk of a systemic financial meltdown.

Wait – it gets better:

Yesterday, Thursday, a senior market practitioner in a major financial institution wrote to me the following:

Situation Report: So far as I can tell by working the telephones this morning:
LIBOR bid only, no offer.
Commercial paper market shut down, little trading and no issuance.
Corporations have no access to long or short term credit markets -- hence they face massive rollover problems.
Brokers are increasingly not dealing with each other.
Even the inter-bank market is ceasing [seizing] up.
This cannot continue for more than a few days. This is the economic equivalent to cardiac arrest. Then we debated what is necessary to restart the system.

I believe that the government will do another Hail Mary pass, with massive guarantees to the short-term commercial credit system and wide open short-term lending by the Fed (2 or 3 times expansion of the Fed balance sheet). If done on a sufficient scale this action will probably work for a while. But none of these financial measures affects the accelerating recession -- which will in turn place more pressure on the financial sector.

It's all Greek to me, but reading through to the end of his post will not assure a peaceful weekend for anyone.

Via Hilzoy.

The pleasure we won't get

2008-10-04T07:36:00.005-04:00

Judith Warner writes in a New York Times column entitled Waiting for Schadenfreude that in the current financial crisis, we'll be denied the pleasure of schadenfreude because...

For those of us who have hated this period — the wealth worship, the wealth gap, the elevation of everything suspiciously shiny and irrationally bubbly and stupidly ebullient, there should be some feeling of vindication. But it just isn’t coming. A great emptiness — and a gnawing kind of fear — has taken its place.
After 9/11, psychologists said that the tragedy and trauma would magnify whatever emotional state people were already experiencing. Depressed people would become much more depressed. Anxious people would become much more anxious.
The current financial crisis has, I think, proven to be a similar sort of emotional Rorschach test. People who felt impotent feel even more powerless. Those who felt lied to see new levels of conspiracy. Demagogues are engaging in even more demagoguery.
And those of us who felt, well, like losers, are feeling like even bigger losers, as we shove our unopened 401K or (if we’re double-loser freelancers) SEP-IRA statements into bottom desk drawers and wait for a cathartic burst of schadenfreude that simply refuses to come.
Schadenfreude is impossible because the fat cats — the ones who bent the rules, the ones who pushed the envelopes, the ones who paid lower taxes because capital gains were most of their income, the ones who opposed regulations on the banking and mortgage industries — are taking us down with them.
The very wealthiest are, as always, likely to do just fine. Real, hard-core Wall Street, as Tom Wolfe reminded us last weekend, long ago decamped for the hedge funds of Greenwich. The political leaders who allowed this mess to develop have turned into the great defenders of “Main Street.” (If I have to hear the juxtaposition of “Main Street” and “Wall Street” one more time, I will be the one drowning in a pool of vomit.). It’s a whole host of other people — vulnerable middle class homeowners and small business owners and, now, universities unable to make payroll — who are hurting.

And that's why Americans are angry and why they're going to stay angry for quite a while.

Debate Game

2008-10-02T19:56:00.001-04:00

Americablog has Palin bingo--go on over and pick up your game card!

Thursday evening humor

2008-10-02T19:35:00.001-04:00

A Fox News guy in a diner in Scranton, PA

MacMansion for sale

2008-10-02T05:26:00.004-04:00

John Aravosis at Americablog says that McCain is selling off his Phoenix masion. Included with the house:

10 fireplaces
13 bedrooms
14.5 bathrooms
13,000 square feet
a wine tasting room
an air conditioned playhouse for the kids
6 car garage
an extra second garage
surrounding the pool, 3 ramadas with full size bars
22 flat screen tvs

Who needs 22 TVs? But still--if I had the extra cash, I'd buy it. I'd have to completely redecorate and then have an exorcism before I moved in, though.

Americablog has a video tour of the joint.

He Lectures

2008-10-01T19:50:00.003-04:00

Tom Friedman is feeling anxious about the rescue/bailout/whatever-spin-word-they're-using- today. He sympathizes with our anger that we should be expected to rescue the selfish and greedy fools and knaves that got us into this mess in the first place, as they grow always and inexorably richer and we grow poorer from bailing them out of the sorry mess they made.

He agonises:

I’ve always believed that America’s government was a unique political system — one designed by geniuses so that it could be run by idiots. I was wrong. No system can be smart enough to survive this level of incompetence and recklessness by the people charged to run it.

This is dangerous. We have House members, many of whom I suspect can’t balance their own checkbooks, rejecting a complex rescue package because some voters, whom I fear also don’t understand, swamped them with phone calls. I appreciate the popular anger against Wall Street, but you can’t deal with this crisis this way.

Although he is sympathetic, he tells us we have to bite the bullet.

I totally understand the resentment against Wall Street titans bringing home $60 million bonuses. But when the credit system is imperiled, as it is now, you have to focus on saving the system, even if it means bailing out people who don’t deserve it. Otherwise, you’re saying: I’m going to hold my breath until that Wall Street fat cat turns blue. But he’s not going to turn blue; you are, or we all are. We have to get this right.

He concludes regretfully:

I always said to myself: Our government is so broken that it can only work in response to a huge crisis. But now we’ve had a huge crisis, and the system still doesn’t seem to work. Our leaders, Republicans and Democrats, have gotten so out of practice of working together that even in the face of this system-threatening meltdown they could not agree on a rescue package, as if they lived on Mars and were just visiting us for the week, with no stake in the outcome.

Yeah, well, good thing there's an election right around the corner. I haven't heard any talk of preventing future situations like this and I have't heard any talk of sanctioning the perpetrators. Maybe all that is best left until after the election, though. So long as these matters are addressed and not just swept under the rug until the next megacrisis.

Poll shows Obama has significant lead

2008-10-01T18:58:00.005-04:00

The New York Times reports that a CBS News Poll released today puts Obama ahead by 9 points--49 to 40.

This should rejoice the heart of the Obama campaign:

A CBS News Poll released Wednesday that Mr. Obama’s favorability rating, at 48 percent, is the highest it has ever been in polls conducted by CBS and The New York Times. At the same time, the number of voters who hold an unfavorable view of Mr. McCain — 42 percent — is as high as it has been since the CBS News and The Times began asking the question about Mr. McCain in 1999, the first time he ran for president.

The CBS News poll showed that Mr. Obama has a 9 percentage-point lead over Mr. McCain – 49 percent to 40 percent. It marks the first time that Mr. Obama has held a statistically significant lead over Mr. McCain this year in polls conducted by CBS or joint polls by CBS and The New York Times. And several polls taken in battleground states released by other organizations on Tuesday suggested that Mr. Obama was building leads in states including Florida, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

And no joy for George Bush:

The CBS News poll found that President Bush has tied the presidential record for a low approval rating – 22 percent, matching Harry Truman’s Gallup approval rating in 1952, when the country was mired in the Korean war and struggling with a stagnant economy. That finding put a new premium on Mr. McCain’s effort to distance himself from Mr. Bush, and suggests that Mr. Bush will continue to be a prominent figure in the Obama campaign’s advertisements attacking Mr. McCain.

And really bad news for McCain because he's been lurching from pillar to post on this issue:

The CBS News poll found economic anxiety among Americans as high as it has ever been in the history of the poll. Nine in 10 Americans said the economy is in very or fairly bad shape; the highest measure on that score since the Times and CBS News began asking the question in September 1986. (The percentage who said that the economy was in very good shape was less than 1 percent). And the number of Americans who think the economy is getting worse 76 percent — set another record; the gloomiest Americans have been since the question was first asked in April 1974.

Of course, there's five weeks until the election, and anything can happen. But I am cautiously optimistic.

The Lady From Shanghai

2008-09-30T20:27:00.001-04:00

Ah, now I understand

2008-09-30T18:35:00.004-04:00

It was Newt the whole time. Andrea Mitchell reports (h/t Huffington Post) that it was Newt Gingrich's behind the scenes machinations that torpedoed passage of the bailout yesterday – typical behavior for the bloated egomaniacal irresponsible Newt.

The thing that mystifies me is that Boehner placed the blame on Nancy Pelosi's speech, an epically stupid move oh his part, rather than laying the blame where it belonged. Apparently he'd rather trash a Democrat, making himself and his party look stupid, arrogant, and heedlessly cavalier in the process, than call his back-stabbing buddy to account. Gingrich may have destroyed Boehner's leadership position in the GOP yesterday, but Boehner seems afraid to call him on it. However, apparently Newtie's antics did not please some in his own party, since they're discussing it so freely with the news media.

Be interesting to see how widely the corporate media covers this – I suspect it will get very little play. I'd be happy to be proved wrong, but I don't think I will be.

Was he really that stupid?

2008-09-30T05:30:00.003-04:00

Did House Minority Leader Boehner actually say that Republicans voted against the bailout legislation because Nancy Pelosi made a speech they didn't like? Is this little man admitting, for real, that members of his party are so arrogant and puffed up that they will vote against legislation that would affect every man, woman, and child in this country out of pique? If that's true, I hope they're all up for re-election in November.

Now mind you, I am very uncomfortable with this legislation myself, although I very reluctantly concede that it is probably necesary. I certainly wouldn't have had a problem if Boehner said that those Republicans voted against it on principle. But that this clown is so out of touch that he would make that statement just boggles my mind.

Trust – we don’t have it

2008-09-30T05:09:00.005-04:00

Why is there so little popular support for bailout legislation?

Shortly before Congress was due to recess, the Bush administration sent Treasury Secretary Paulson and Fed chairman Bernanke to Capitol Hill with the message that the economic situation was so dire that the Treasury Department required immediate access to $700 billion to bail out the financial services industry in order to avert catastrophe. The demand to Congress for legislation included language that, in typical Bush administration fashion, prohibited accountability – "Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency." Congress was instructed to immediately pass this legislation.

It has never been made clear to the American people that a huge bailout is the best possible course of action. Nor has it been made clear what the consequences of a meltdown of the economy will be. There have been vague allusions to the Great Depression, but most of us were not alive during that time, and many have no idea what it was, other than being a Bad Thing.

Most perceive the bailout as rescuing the fat cats of the limousine class from the consequences of their own greed and recklessness, and most of us are loath to do so. The demand for this bill was presented – with lots of pressure for speed and out of the clear blue sky – from an administration that only the week before had been touting the underlying strength of the economy. The perception, then, was that this was just the latest hustle from an administration that had pulled this trick before – the run-up to the invasion of Iraq was in everybody’s mind. The cost of mendacity is mistrust, and it looked like the Bushies crying wolf again.

There is now widespread distrust of the Bush administration and its motives and actions. Congress, too, which abdicated its oversight role and allowed the Bush administration to deregulate the financial services industry without let or hindrance, is not viewed with favor. In fact, the finance sector (among many others) has contributed very generously indeed to members of Congress. The influence of lobbyists on legislators is incalculable, and very few believe corporate interests have not heavily influenced this bill.

The institutions that normally are seen as bulwarks are no longer trusted. In fact, the only common ground that liberal and conservative voters have at this point is a deep distrust of government, Wall Street, and industry. The repercussions of this lack of trust are just now beginning to be felt, and they will not vanish when the administration changes – lack of faith in our institutions has become a way of life for us. Selling a distrustful and resentful populace on any remedy is going to be very, very difficult.

On the bailout

2008-09-29T05:05:00.003-04:00

Larry Summers, Secretary of the Treasury under Bill Clinton and former president of Harvard, says the bailout is just a start -- necessary, although regrettable, and need not necessarily force us to cut back on health care, energy, education, and tax relief.

It is impossible to predict the ultimate cost to the Treasury of the bailout and the other commitments that financial authorities have made -- this will depend primarily on the economy as well as the quality of execution and oversight. But it is very unlikely to approach $700 billion and will be spread over a number of years.
Second, the usual concern about budget deficits is that the need for government bonds to be held by investors will crowd out other, more productive, investments or force greater dependence on foreign suppliers of capital. To the extent that the government purchases assets such as mortgage-backed securities with increased issuance of government debt, there is no such effect.
Third, since Keynes we have recognized that it is appropriate to allow government deficits to rise as the economy turns down if there is also a commitment to reduce deficits in good times. After using the economic expansion of the 1990s to bring down government indebtedness, the United States made a serious error in allowing deficits to rise over the past eight years. But it would compound this error to override what economists call "automatic stabilizers" by seeking to reduce deficits in the near term.
Indeed, in the current circumstances the case for fiscal stimulus -- policy actions that increase short-term deficits -- is stronger than ever before in my professional lifetime. Unemployment is almost certain to increase -- probably to the highest levels in a generation. Monetary policy has little scope to stimulate the economy given how low interest rates already are and the problems in the financial system. Global experience with economic downturns caused by financial distress suggests that while they are of uncertain depth, they are almost always of long duration.
The economic point here can be made straightforwardly: The more people who are unemployed, the more desirable it is that government takes steps to put them back to work by investing in infrastructure or energy or simply by providing tax cuts that allow families to avoid cutting back on their spending.
Fourth, it must be emphasized that nothing in the short-run case for fiscal stimulus vitiates the argument that action is necessary to ensure the United States is financially viable in the long run. We still must address issues of entitlements and fiscal sustainability.

One issue nobody has addressed though, is the widespread loss of faith in the government. The bailout is received with skepticism because we don't trust. We assume that there are secret backroom deals to take care of the rich and undeserving who got us into this mess. We know that Congress routinely accepts money from lobbyists of large corporations -- for example, the largest contributers to Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate banking Committee, are banks. Few have any faith that Congress or the executive branch act in the best interests of their constitutents.

It's true that the current financial situation has been a long time brewing and the Bush administration is not solely to blame. But they accelerated and exacerbated the situation by emasculating or removing regulations that had been put in place to prevent such a meltdown, and Congress didn't lift a finger to stop them.

A necessary sequel to the bailout must be transparency. For 8 years the Bush administration has perpetrated many of its acts behind a veil of impenetrable secrecy, and that is one reason nobody really knows how much damage the economy has suffered. That must be corrected. In order for this country to function effectively, the actions of the government must be visible to all and open to comment.

McCain's lost chance

2008-09-29T04:59:00.002-04:00

E.J. Dionne muses on John MCain's lost opportunity. He does have two more debates to go in order to make up ground, but he did himself a lot of harm with his failed intervention into bailout negotiations and his boorish behavior at the first debate.

Presented without comment - Live from New York!

2008-09-28T11:16:00.001-04:00

Sunday morning songfest

2008-09-28T05:23:00.003-04:00

Paul Newman (January 26, 1925 - September 26, 2008)

h/t Crooks & Liars

The very bad week

2008-09-28T05:16:00.003-04:00

Frank Rich hits the highlights of McCain's backfiring stunt.

Not ready for primetime

2008-09-28T05:03:00.004-04:00

Bob Herbert at the Times is concerned about Sarah Palin's intellectual capital. I've seen a theory posted online that Palin performed so badly in her interviews, particularly with Katie Couric, because the McCain campaign has robbed her of her self-confidence. That may be partly true, but I think, with Mr. Herbert, that the biggest problem is that she's just not very bright.

The Gambler

2008-09-28T04:41:00.005-04:00

The New York Times has an article about McCain's ties to the gambling industry. His fondness for gambling isn't confined to high-risk political stunts that blow up in his face. According to the Times:

A lifelong gambler, Mr. McCain takes risks, both on and off the craps table. He was throwing dice that night not long after his failed 2000 presidential bid, in which he was skewered by the Republican Party’s evangelical base, opponents of gambling. Mr. McCain was betting at a casino he oversaw as a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, and he was doing so with the lobbyist who represents that casino, according to three associates of Mr. McCain.
The visit had been arranged by the lobbyist, Scott Reed, who works for the Mashantucket Pequot, a tribe that has contributed heavily to Mr. McCain’s campaigns and built Foxwoods into the world’s second-largest casino. Joining them was Rick Davis, Mr. McCain’s current campaign manager. Their night of good fortune epitomized not just Mr. McCain’s affection for gambling, but also the close relationship he has built with the gambling industry and its lobbyists during his 25-year career in Congress.

Aside from what this tells us about McCain's addiction to risk, the very fact that he is so closely tied to an industry that in its turn is closely tied to organized crime should concern us all.

An interesting analysis

2008-09-27T19:04:00.007-04:00

by James Fallows on McCain tactics vs. Obama strategy. It illustrates not only why Obama scored so well in the debate last night, but why he'd make a much better president than the grumpy, rude old man. Obama is capable of seeing beyond the immediate benefit to the long term consequences--an ability that has been woefully missing over the last eight years. I actually think Obama is more statesmanlike than any president since Kennedy.

The Debate

2008-09-27T12:58:00.005-04:00

I perched in front of the TV last night, bag of microwave popcorn in hand, and settled in to watch the debate. Right away, though, I encountered a problem -- turns out John McCain's voice and speaking style irritate me every bit as much as George Bush's do. McCain has two modes of electioneering speech: saccharine condescension and a shrill, angry bleat. Consequently I spent much of the evening hitting the mute button, so I missed a lot of the debate. I know this makes me partisan and unfair to McCain, but really, the man irritates me more than I can bear. I really should have recorded it so I could watch it when I had more stamina.

So now I'm forced to rely on accounts of others for McCain's half of the debate. There are lots and lots of analyses out there. And there's YouTube -- thank goodnes for YouTube.

Rhetorically speaking, it seems McCain did have some good moments, but detracted from his perfomrance by behaving in a rude and boorish manner. Perhaps he thought he was enacting the role of alpha dog and would thus command respect. If so, many in the audience didn't seem to catch on. I can see where such a tactic would appeal to the white supremacists, but I don't know how big their voting bloc is. I do know that many of us have unacknowledged prejudices -- perhaps it was that vein McCain was trying to tap into.

On the other hand, McCain did have a world-class awful week, what with having his little "suspend the campaign" stunt blow up in his face, so maybe he was just feeling cranky. He must have started the debate in a really awful mood, and in the face of Obama's cool, unflappable demeanor, perhaps he just couldn't summon up the will to respond appropriately.

McCain morphs into McCan't

2008-09-27T12:16:00.003-04:00

According to Thomas M. DeFrank at the New York Daily News, who feels that McCain's antics irretrievably damaged him this week.

DeFrank cuts McCain slightly more slack than I do, though. I don't believe that McCain's decision to "suspend" his campaign (which he never actually did) ever smacked of bold, gutsy leadership. To me, it reeked of desperation and flop sweat.

It also said, hey, America, I can only handle one thing at a time.

Blatantly stealing again

2008-09-26T20:44:00.003-04:00

From Hoffmania this time. Here's Sarah Silverman on how to get your grandparents to vote for Obama. This girl's a hoot.

The Great Schlep from The Great Schlep on Vimeo.

Will she be gone by Tuesday?

2008-09-26T18:53:00.004-04:00

Conservative columnist Kathleen Parker says Palin ought to drop out for the good of the campaign.

I say, no, no--stay, Sarah, stay. I haven't been this entertained for years.

What do McCain and the GOP think they're doing?

2008-09-26T04:25:00.005-04:00

According to a New York Times news analysis, McCain is leaping into a thicket. He seems to be operating from a position of ignorance, confusion, and showmanship. And the AP says yesterday was a remarkably bad day for the GOP.

Today should be very interesting.

Donate to Planned Parenthood in Sarah Palin's Name

2008-09-25T18:12:00.004-04:00

An organization called Feminist Philosophers is spearheading a campaign to get people to donate to Planned Parenthood in Sarah Palin's name. Planned Parenthood will send both you and Sarah a nice handwritten note thanking you for the donation. Feminist Philosophers provides the contact information for Sarah (at McCain headquarters), and a link to Planned Parenthood's donation page. I gave 50 bucks and I feel much better!

A few words in defense of our country

2008-09-25T17:50:00.003-04:00

The incomparable Randy Newman

Bailout could make things worse

2008-09-25T05:50:00.008-04:00

According to the CBO chief. This thing definitely needs to be carefully thought out. Why can't Congress pass a three-month stop-gap bill for, say, $75 billion, then work on a comprehensive financial reform package in concert with the president-elect -- one that is based on accurate information, not fear-mongering by the most crooked, incompetent administration this country has ever had?

According to Forbes, Treasury just basically pulled the $700 billion figure out of its hat, anyway.

"It's not based on any particular data point," a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. "We just wanted to choose a really large number."

So...

Gamble won't pay off

2008-09-25T05:41:00.001-04:00

"GOP nominee hopes Americans will see his proposal as sign of bipartisan leadership."

I see it as an admission that he can only do one thing at a time. The job he's running for requires that he be able to to handle conflicting demands on his time, so as far as I'm concerned, this action is an admission that he is unqualified for the competing complex tasks facing the next President of the United States. He just flunked the audition.

Also it's a stunt born of desperation. You can see the flop sweat all over this one.

Anything going on today?

2008-09-24T19:35:00.000-04:00

I hear John McCain made some kind of statement.

The American Presidential Candidate

2008-09-24T05:43:00.005-04:00

At the end of the 1995 Movie, The American President, the president, played by Michael Douglas, takes a question at a press conference, and his answer morphs into a speech that is quite relevant to the current situation.

Reporter: Robyn, will the President ever respond to Senator Rumson's question about being a member of the American Civil Liberties Union?
President Shepherd: Yes, he will. Good morning. It's alright. Please keep your seats. Good morning.
For the last couple of months, Senator Rumson has suggested that being President of this country was, to a certain extent, about character. And although I've not been willing to engage in his attacks on me, I have been here three years and three days, and I can tell you without hesitation: Being President of this country is entirely about character.
For the record, yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU, but the more important question is "Why aren't you, Bob?" Now this is an organization whose sole purpose is to defend the Bill of Rights, so it naturally begs the question, why would a senator, his party's most powerful spokesman and a candidate for President, choose to reject upholding the constitution? Now if you can answer that question, folks, then you're smarter than I am, because I didn't understand it until a few hours ago.
America isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. You've gotta want it bad, 'cause it's gonna put up a fight. It's gonna say, "You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours." You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country cannot just be a flag. The symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Now show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms.
Then you can stand up and sing about the land of the free.
I've known Bob Rumson for years. And I've been operating under the assumption that the reason Bob devotes so much time and energy to shouting at the rain was that he simply didn't get it. Well, I was wrong. Bob's problem isn't that he doesn't get it. Bob's problem is that he can't sell it!
We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is, I promise you Bob Rumson is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things, and two things only: making you afraid of it, and telling you who's to blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections. You gather a group of middle age, middle class, middle income voters who remember with longing an easier time, and you talk to them about family, and American values and character, and you wave an old photo of the President's girlfriend and you scream about patriotism. You tell them she's to blame for their lot in life. And you go on television and you call her a whore

Of course, Barack Obama is running for president, and the diversion isn’t his girlfriend, it’s his minister. Or his race. Or he's got a funny name. Or the fact that he wasn’t born on the mainland of the United States. Or the fact that he spent part of his childhood in a foreign country. Whatever. But the tactics remain the same. Change Bob Rumson to John McCain and read it again.

Just once, I would like to hear a Democrat give an impassioned speech like that.

I wish I'd seen this before

2008-09-24T05:09:00.005-04:00

In the New York Times on Monday, Bob Herbert, in a column entitled A Second Opinion? asked:

"Does anyone think it’s just a little weird to be stampeded into a $700 billion solution to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression by the very people who brought us the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression?"

This is the fundamental thing that really bothers me about this bailout package. It makes absolutely no sense at all to allow the Bush administration to ramrod any measure through Congress, let alone one that gives them unparalleled funds and power--the two commodities they are known for abusing. All of a sudden we should trust their judgment? I don't think so.

Herbert's column is well worth the read.

Obama, Capitol Hill Leaders Speak as One on Crisis

2008-09-24T04:53:00.004-04:00

The Washington Post has been a fount of good news for Obama today. This article, by Jonathan Weisman, about Obama, his economic advisors (a pretty impressive list), and the Senate leadership won't make the Bush/McCain camp happy at all. I'm waiting for the howls of outrage and shrieks of "lib'ral media."

But after all, McCain really offers nothing but bluster, lies, and phony outrage.

Bipartisan Outrage? Maybe

2008-09-24T04:36:00.003-04:00

According to WaPo this morning, nobody in Congress seems happy with the Bush administration's bailout proposal.

But whether these posturing, outraged politicians will, for once, be able to withstand the Bush Administration juggernaut is another question entirely. They're due to break at the end of the week, and that just adds to the pressure coming from the Bushies. I don't recall Congress ever working into its vacation before.

Maybe they could pass some kind of stopgap measure to carry over to the new administration, then craft some thoughtful legislation, working with the new president. That's highly unlikely, though. They're far more likely to revert to their comfort zone, give Dick Cheney's boots a final quick lick of farewell, and abdicate their responsibilities yet again, giving the Bush junta exactly what they demand.

Obama has clear lead

2008-09-24T04:28:00.004-04:00

52% to McCain's 43% in the new Washington Post-ABC News poll, according to an article by Dan Balz and Jon Cohen in the Washington Post this morning. Lots of good info in that article.

Six weeks left to go.

Rick Davis lied

2008-09-24T04:15:00.002-04:00

McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, lied to reporters about his ties to Freddie Mac. And this while the McCainiacs have been running misleading ads about a "relationship" between Obama and Franklin Raines, formerly of Fannie Mae.

I'm shocked, SHOCKED, I tell you, to discover such mendacity and hypocrisy from the folks that also brought you those models of upstanding truthiness, George Walker Bush and Richard Whatever Cheney.

Scares me when I agree with George Will two days in a row

2008-09-24T03:55:00.002-04:00

But his column this morning warns Congress against allowing the Bush administration to stampede it into again turning over unrestricted, unregulated, un-overseen access to a huge sum of money and even more power than it has already ceded. It's definitely worth a read.

There may be only four months left of the Bush administration, but that just means it's even less to be trusted than usual. There has been a great deal of dishonest dealing and power grabbing from this bunch over the last 8 years and there is absolutely no reason to believe that the waning days of their power will be any different. On the contrary.

Sen. Sanders hits the nail on the head.d

2008-09-23T19:03:00.006-04:00

Again, thanks to Balloon Juice, they're providing a real gold mine today. Senator Bernie Sanders spoke a basic truth in simple, easy to understand English--a thing that most politicians find impossible to do.

Here's what the senator said:

We must end the danger posed by companies that are “too big too fail,” that is, companies whose failure would cause systemic harm to the U.S. economy. If a company is too big to fail, it is too big to exist.

Think about it.

Liar, liar

2008-09-23T18:53:00.002-04:00

Per Comrade John Cole at Balloon Juice, Henry Paulson is a big, fat liar. Excellent catch, comrade.

We hold this truth to the self-evident. Nobody with a shred of common decency would be part of the Bush administration. If there is anybody within it who is not a lying, scamming, power-mad sleazeball, it's news to me.

Palin vs. McCain on global warming

2008-09-23T04:22:00.004-04:00

The Washington Post has a very good article about the difference in Palin's and McCain's stated positions on global warming. McCain professes to believe that humans are driving global warming. The Post points out, though:

"...in selecting Palin and deciding to place her in charge of energy affairs should they win the White House, he has a running mate who has resisted this key tenet of his candidacy."

If John McCain truly believes that global warming is human-driven, then he knows that it is a critical issue. Why on earth would he put a known dissenter to his alleged point of view in charge of energy affairs? That would be the absolute height of illogical irresponsibility.

The truth is, nobody knows what John McCain really thinks because his positions change from day to day and from audience to audience. In the blizzard of pandering and lies that is the McCain campaign, it is impossible to determine what, if anything, John McCain stands for.

McCain has lost whatever bearings he ever had

2008-09-23T04:02:00.003-04:00

And he's lost George Will. The things that worry Mr. Will about McCain--" boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes"--are very Bushian qualities. Will didn't add the word "irrational" to his criticism, at least in so many words, but the implication certainly is there.

After the last catastrophic 8 years and in the current crisis, the last thing we need is another, older even more irrational Bush. I have certainly areas of disagreement with Obama, but he is definitely not a doddering frontman for a bunch of fiscally irresponsible neocon religious ideologues who most certainly do not put "country first."

Here's a reason...

2008-09-22T19:07:00.008-04:00

why giving the Feds $700 billion with NO OVERSIGHT would constitute criminal negligence: $9 billion lost to fraud in Iraq. Congress didn't demand accountability there either--and $9 billion is chickenfeed stacked up against what the Bush goons want now.

It is incomprehensible that Congress is allowing itself to be hustled yet again by these strong-arm scammers. Are they utterly incapable of learning from experience? This bailout is NOT something to be rushed, and if they have to forego some of their vacation, so be it. The've abdicated their responsiblities long enough. It's time for them to do what we're paying them for--legislating in our best interests. They should remember that the repercussions from this legislation will last a long, long time--for them as well as the rest of us.

For those old enough to remember, here's an allegory: Charlie Brown and Lucy. Poor, hapless, clueless Charlie Brown (Congress) fooled time after time by Lucy, (the Bush administration), with the football.

It's a start, but not much of one

2008-09-22T05:24:00.009-04:00

Congressional Democrats are presenting some demands of their own with regard to bailout legislation.

Congressional Democrats considering the Bush administration's emergency plan to shore up the U.S. financial system countered with their own demands yesterday, presenting draft legislation giving the government power to cut salaries of chief executives at firms that participate in the bailout and slash severance packages for their top management.

But we've seen this many, many times before--they talk big, they strut, they pound their chests--yet they always cave. Between fear and greed, they ALWAYS give the Bush administration (and in this case, if the election goes bad, the Bush administration's next figurehead, the perpetually confused John McCain) exactly what they want.

And the Dems are not even challenging the unfettered and unreviewable access of the Bush administration (a group not known for handling money or power well) to $700 billion.

Democratic leaders have broadly embraced the administration's proposal to spend up to $700 billion to take troubled assets off the books of faltering firms and are not questioning the need to give the Treasury Department expansive authority to halt the meltdown in world markets. But by attempting to limit executive pay, they risk alienating key Republicans who object to such restrictions and delaying passage of the rescue plan, which in turn may stir renewed fear in the markets.

The Congressional Democrats are a craven bunch.

McCain, the born-again regulator

2008-09-22T05:17:00.001-04:00

Oh, my. This can't be good.

Some say...

2008-09-21T20:35:00.001-04:00

he's not McSame. I say he is.

Oh, dear

2008-09-21T15:48:00.005-04:00

Via Balloon Juice, sources tell ABC news, some people have had to sell their jets. Oh, damn, now WHERE did I put my tiny invisible violin?

Disaster in the making

2008-09-21T15:24:00.006-04:00

Apparently I’m not the only one who thinks that giving Treasury Secretary Paulson a blank check for $700 billion with no strings attached ( "Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.") is an absolutely godawful idea. If Congress approves the bailout plan as is, it will be one of the stupidest things it has ever done. I was going to say “the stupidest thing,” but then I remembered the last 8 years. It IS difficult to say which of the blank checks Congress has handed George Walker Bush and his merry band of crooked incompetents was the stupidest, but this bailout plan will be right up there.

She's not ready

2008-09-21T15:19:00.001-04:00

She has to have special rules because it's not fair for her to have to debate Joe Biden without any restrictions.

Sunday Morning Dance Party

2008-09-21T10:35:00.002-04:00

SHAKE IT!!! (hat tip Rumproast)

Enhanced interrogation techniques

2008-09-20T19:14:00.002-04:00

Julia Child, international spy

McDole

2008-09-20T17:58:00.000-04:00

Experiment - Embedding Video

2008-09-20T15:48:00.003-04:00

It worked! I be going to have BIG fun with this!

And now, news from the Apocalypse

2008-09-20T11:50:00.002-04:00

Oh, noes, they've had to postpone doomsday!

Palin perjured herself? Say it ain't so

2008-09-20T06:50:00.001-04:00

via Americablog, a report from ABC News suggests that Caribou Barbie was less than completely honest in a court filing regarding the "Troopergate" affair.

An internal government document obtained by ABC News appears to contradict Sarah Palin's most recent explanation for why she fired her public safety chief, the move which prompted the now-contested state probe into "Troopergate."

Fighting back against allegations she may have fired her then-Public Safety Commissioner, Walt Monegan, for refusing to go along with a personal vendetta, Palin on Monday argued in a legal filing that she fired Monegan because he had a "rogue mentality" and was bucking her administration's directives.

"The last straw," her lawyer argued, came when he planned a trip to Washington, D.C., to seek federal funds for an aggressive anti-sexual-violence program. The project, expected to cost from $10 million to $20 million a year for five years, would have been the first of its kind in Alaska, which leads the nation in reported forcible rape.
The McCain-Palin campaign echoed the charge in a press release it distributed Monday, concurrent with Palin's legal filing. "Mr. Monegan persisted in planning to make the unauthorized lobbying trip to D.C.," the release stated.
But the governor's staff authorized the trip, according to an internal travel document from the Department of Public Safety, released Friday in response to an open records request.

So Sarah is saying she's pro-domestic violence? Poor Todd.

Couldn't happen to a nicer fella

2008-09-20T06:19:00.000-04:00

GOP delegate's hotel tryst goes bad when he wakes up with $120,000 missing

I love this part:

In an interview filmed the afternoon of Sept. 3 and posted on the Web site LinkTV.org, Schwartz was candid about how he envisioned change under a McCain presidency.
"Less taxes and more war," he said, smiling. He said the U.S. should "bomb the hell" out of Iran because the country threatens Israel.
Asked by the interviewer how America would pay for a military confrontation with Iran, he said the U.S. should take the country's resources.
"We should plant a flag. Take the oil, take the money," he said. "We deserve reimbursement."

Via Crooks & Liars

Sometimes you can only shake your head

2008-09-20T06:14:00.000-04:00

Krugman, in yesterday's New York Time s (h/t Hoffmania):

OK, a correspondent directs me to John McCain’s article, Better Health Care at Lower Cost for Every American, in the Sept./Oct. issue ofContingencies, the magazine of the American Academy of Actuaries. You might want to be seated before reading this.
Here’s what McCain has to say about the wonders of market-based health reform:
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.
So McCain, who now poses as the scourge of Wall Street, was praising financial deregulation like 10 seconds ago — and promising that if we marketize health care, it will perform as well as the financial industry!