Palin on the Attack

It's time to roll the dice again for the McCain campaign. Therefor expect Sarah Palin to come out swinging. We will see the pitbull in lipstick tonight. She has nothing to lose, if she can look tough and nasty, she will make her base howl in delight and reenergize a following that is beginning to lag. If she crashes, so what, she already has crashed. There is literally nothing to lose for her.

Politico has this report on Palin's strategy tonight:

Sarah Palin plans to go on the attack in tonight’s debate, hitting Joe Biden for what she will call his foreign policy blunders and penchant for adopting liberal positions on taxes and other issues, according to campaign officials involved in prepping her for tonight’s showdown.

The Palin camp is projecting surprising self-confidence in the pre-debate hours, despite the vice presidential nominee’s uneven — and, at some points, peculiar — performances in recent television interviews, the officials say. Top advisers to John McCain privately say Palin’s recent CBS interview was a borderline disaster, especially since it played out in several segments over several days. Tonight will be different, they say.

“This is going to finally put her back into a position where we see her like we saw her the first couple weeks,” a McCain official said. “She was herself. She was authentic, and people related to that. ... Tonight, she’ll get into a rhythm. You’re going to see her in a way that you haven’t seen her yet.”

Looking Ahead To The VP Debate

At tonight's debate debate will be the only vice-presidential match-up before the election. Tonight's debate will be moderated by PBS anchor Gwen Ifill at Washington University in St. Louis.

Tonight Sarah Palin will present her conservative record and ideology to the American public in support of her running mate, John McCain. For the majority of America that do not follow politics or the news every day, this will be an introduction. For all the news Palin is still a relatively unknown figure to the American public.

Despite all the gaffs, miscues, and embarressing interviews that Sarah Palin has suffered over the past two weeks, John McCain recently said, "She's [Palin's] exactly who I need." And President Bush praised McCain's selection of Sarah Palin, calling her "a proven reformer who is a wise steward of taxpayer dollars and champion for accountability in government."

In September, Palin announced the responsibilities that John McCain will entrust to her: "Government reform, energy independence. And helping families and children, those with special needs."

John McCain has been falsely presenting Sarah Palin as a break from the disastrous policies and extreme ideology of the Bush administration. However Sarah Palin's true record in Alaska is less reformer and more opportunist, and John McCain's actual agenda actually represents more of the same failed conservativism that has given America two ongoing wars, a staggering deficit, obscene profits to Big Oil, croneyism gone amok, and a stark decline in the fortunes of the middle class.

FISCAL EXCESS AND CORRUPTION:
Sarah Palin claims that she is a "hard-core fiscal conservative" who said, "Thanks, but no thanks to the Bridge to Nowhere." She claimed this right from the beginning in her introduction speech in Dayton Ohio. We now know this is a lie, one she has been willing to repeat time after time. Appearing on The View, John McCain claimed Sarah Palin didn't request any earmarks as governor of Alaska. In fact, when Palin was mayor of Wasilla she was able to obtain $27 million in earmarks through the use of lobbyists, and yet still "racked up nearly $20 million in long-term debt" for the town of Wasilla. This amounts to $3,000 in debt per resident of this small town.

Calling Sarah Palin a reformer is laughable; she has demonstrated long and committed support for the Bridge to Nowhere. And Palin has requested earmarks of the very type that John McCain routinely mocks. "In her time inoffice, which is still lesss than two years, the state of Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation," according to the AP.

John McCain and Sarah Palin also misrepresent their economic plans. Senior economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin claims tax cuts for the wealthy "are not anywhere" in McCain's agenda. However, the Tax Policy Center writes that "McCain's tax cuts would primarily benefit those with very high incomes, almost all of whom would receive large tax cuts." They also claim they will balance the budget by the end of their first term and that no "real cuts would even be required." McCain and Palin spend so much on tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations that they could eliminate ten cabinet agencies and still not balance the budget.

ENERGY 'LA-LA LAND':
According to John McCain, Sarah Palin "knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the United States of America." Yet Sarah Palin shows no real knowledge of alternative energy sources, and dismisses renewable energy as "far from imminent." She instead supports a conservative favorite of "drill, drill, drill." This energy platform is based on oil being plentiful, and a move towards "clean, green natural gas." Despite only proven reserves that equal just 3% of the world's reserves, Sarah Palin says that we as a nation can "drill our way" out of our energy problem. She also claims that drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would produce oil in "five years," and "should help reduce price volatility." Those who don't agree, she says, "are living in La-La Land."

In reality, the U.S. Energy Information Administration has found that opening drilling in protected areas "would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices."

Sarah Palin told Charlie Gibson of ABC News that her state "produces nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy," and told Katie Couric of CBS that "we're supplying 16, 17 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy." Neither of these claims were true. In fact, Alaska produces 3.5 percent of domestic energy and only 13 percent of U.S. oil.

It has becom apparent that Sarah Palin's definition of energy does not include anything that is not oil or natural gas -- and her ideas on an energy policy seems to ignores the role of energy efficiency. Just like George W. Bush did with Dick Cheney, John McCain seems intent on putting someone in charge of energy policy who disagrees that global warming is caused by man-made emissions, even as "worldwide emissions of carbon dioxide from fuel burning and cement production increased by 3.5 percent per year from 2000 to 2007, nearly four times the growth rate in the 1990s."

ENDANGERING HEALTH CARE:
John McCain and Sarah Palin's program of "quality and affordable health care for every American" calls for the elimination of "the current tax exclusion of the value of health insurance from employees' taxable compensation." A recent survey of benefits officers at large U.S. companies found that 74 percent of firms believe that a repeal of the exclusion "would have a strong negative impact on their workforce." Among those who would lose their health care are 56 million Americans with pre-existing chronic health conditions.

In particular, John McCain's health care policy will make it next to impossible for special needs children to get sufficient health care. The entire employer health insurance system could unravel, ending this as an option for Americans who prefer it. In place of employer-based health care, McCain-Palin would provide a "refundable credit amounting to $5,000 for all families and $2,500 for individuals purchasing health insurance." This credit comes up grossly short for all but the most insufficient plans -- and ignores the steady rise in health coverage costs. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, “the total cost for family coverage now averages $12,680 a year, up 5 percent from 2007,” and $4,704 for single coverage.

Did We Witness Something Huge Today?

Americablog so far seems to be the only place that caught this, but I wonder did we just see John McCain have some sort of medical problem today? Watching the video of John McCain I seriously wonder if he had some type of medical problem while up on the stage, and then he seemed genuinly confused.



Americablog has more here, here, and here.

Here is the video from today's speech, in slow motion, and something seems to be physically wrong with John McCain:


LibertyAir Blog

By large margin, Senate passes bailout bill

From Politico:

Treasury’s $700 billion rescue plan for the financial markets passed the Senate Wednesday night, giving the White House new confidence it has turned the corner and can win final approval from Congress by Friday.

The 74-25 roll call endorsing the package featured a rare joint-return appearance by the two major presidential candidates, Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain, both of whom supported the measure.

The Senate galleries, usually empty at night, were packed with visitors on the left and right, and senators voted from their desks as if to underscore the seriousness of the legislation. Shortly before the vote, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) tried to capture the moment for posterity, calling this breakthrough “one of the finest moments in the history of the Senate. This is the kind of vote we are sent by our people to cast.”

Majority Leader Harry Reid added that “each United States senator this evening is facing a critical test of leadership.”

A second vote was needed immediately after to complete final passage, but that is not in doubt. The first vote Wednesday night was the bigger test and the administration is betting that with this bipartisan showing, it can marginalize the remaining opposition in the House, due to vote Friday....

[T]he revised Senate package blends in more than $100 billion in popular tax breaks as well as aid to rural schools important to House Republicans. And to build support among small town community banks, the bill raises the cap on insured deposits from $100,000 to $250,000.

The American Promise

Highlights from the Obama/Biden Campaign, and the grassroots movement they have been building. This really is a movement for change. This video was put together by the campaign and includes never-before-seen Super 8 film shot at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. (Music composed by Greg Kuehn for Peligro Music & Sound Design)


LibertyAir Blog

Barack Obama's "Spending Spree" Ad

The Barak Obama campaign came out with a new television commercial today, and it is a hard hitting spot. "Spending Spree" highlights John McCain's big spending, including his tax plan bringing along three trillion in debt, his plan to privatize social security and his tax breaks for companies who ship jobs over seas.

LibertyAir Blog

Bill Clinton Gives a Barn Burner Speech Today

President Clinton had been ticking me off the last week or so, as he seemed to have all types of great things to say about McCain and Palin, yet today he came out and gave a great speech for Obama and Biden. Check out this great video from Talking Points Memo.


LibertyAir Blog

Update: Witness flips in Troopergate

On the Daily Kos there is a blog post reporting that a private contractor now admits under oath that she was pressured by Palin's office over Sarah Palin's attempt vindictively to fire her ex-brother-in-law.

Rice and Torture

Because of the economic news and the current campaign season, a very big story has fallen by the way side. It turns out that Condoleezza Rice led Bush administration discussions of torture techniques, this according to documents secured and released by Senator Carl Levin as part of a congressional inquiry.

I can't tell from this article how complicit Condoleezza Rice was in authorizing torture but that she was in the meetings and complicit in policy-making on the issue now seems very clear. And we all know what the outcome was of these meetings. A dark stain on the honor of this country.

Evidence of Credit Crisis

I have heard a number of people on the radio start saying there really is no credit crisis. While I agree that we are not at a Great Depression, there is a serious problem that is damaging our economy. Yet I sometimes get the feeling that if we are not in Great Depression territory than we are not in trouble.

Now reports are coming out that cities, states and other local governments have been effectively shut out of the bond markets for the last two weeks, raising the cost of day-to-day operations, threatening longer-term projects and dampening a broad source of jobs and stability at a time when other parts of the economy are weakening.

THIS does affect Main Street, and will be felt by everyone.

World News Round Up

Iraq Government takes over 'Sons of Iraq'

The Iraqi government of PM Nuri al-Maliki takes over responsibility for 50,000 Sunni Arab fighters, in what are called 'Awakening Councils', whom the US has been paying $300 a month. The Shiite government is suspicious of these fighters, many of whom had earlier been guerrillas in cells attacking US troops and Iraqi police. Al-Maliki has been reluctant to accept them into the the formal army or police. The Awakening Council members are suspicious that al-Maliki plans to disarm and demobilize them, and to arrest and try many of them for their earlier guerrilla operations.

Turkey's Top Foreign Policy Aide Worries about False Optimism in Iraq

Ahmet Davutoglu, the chief foreign policy aide to Turkey’s prime minister, warned that recent optimism on Iraq in the United States overlooks significant, dangerous problems which remain unresolved and set out a viewpoint that says Iraq should be seen as a Yugoslavia on the verge of breakdown.

Spanish report ties Pakistan spy agency to Taliban

A report marked confidential and bearing the official seal of Spain's Defense Ministry charges that Pakistan's spy service was helping arm Taliban insurgents in 2005 for assassination plots against the Afghan government.

US Envoy takes New Nuclear Proposal to North Korea

Washington's top nuclear negotiator took a new proposal to North Korea on Wednesday to try to salvage a derailed disarmament pact amid reported signs of activity around the communist country's nuclear test site.

Fatah politicos consider launching third intifada

There are concerns in Israel that Fatah's political faction may wish to reconcile with Hamas and redirect Palestinian anger at Israel. Anger is risng over continued incidents between extremist settlers and Palestinians coupled with lack of progress in the peace talks, and continued construction in the settlements.

Irannian Influence in Iraq

Suspected US missile strike kills 6 in Pakistan

A missile strike by a suspected U.S. drone killed at least six people in a Pakistani tribal region near the Afghan border, two Pakistani intelligence officials said Wednesday. American forces recently ramped up cross-border operations against Taliban and al-Qaida militants in Pakistan's wild border zone, a possible hiding place for Osama bin Laden.

Solar powered cars race in South Africa

Africa's first-ever solar-powered car race is underway in South Africa to raise awareness about alternative energy and promote science and technology, organisers said Wednesday.

New Barak Obama Ad: "Same Path"

Barak Obam releases another longer add where he outlines what he would do.


LibertyAir Blog

Another Palin Couric Moment

It pretty much speaks for itself. On the CBS Evening News, host Katie Couric asked Sarah Palin which sources she relies on for her news consumption.

COURIC: And when it comes to establishing your world view, I was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this — to stay informed and to understand the world?

PALIN: I’ve read most of them again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media —

COURIC: But what ones specifically? I’m curious.

PALIN: Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me over all these years.

COURIC: Can you name any of them?

PALIN: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news.

LibertyAir Blog

GOP backs off claim that Pelosi’s ‘partisan’ speech made them vote against the bailout.

Yesterday, after the proposed bipartisan bailout package failed to pass, the House Republican leadership cried their eye's out that House Speaker Nancy Pelosis had hurt their feelings in a press conference. One after another we saw Republican after Repuglican cry that Nancy Pelosi was to blame for GOP opposition to the bill.

I guess today after being ridiculed by Democrats, media observers, and even some conservatives, those cry baby Republicans are now walking back that claim:

– Rep. Michele Bachmann: “We are not babies who suck their thumbs.”

– Minority Whip Roy Blunt: “I think you don’t want to give too much blame to that speech.”

– Rep. John Shadegg: “It was embarrassing for leadership on both parties to lose the bill, so they went out and made a stupid claim.”

– Rep. Marsha Blackburn: “That speech was not the reason I voted against the bill.”

– Rep. Mike Conaway said that Pelosi's speech "didn’t" have any effect on his vote and that he "didn't" know of any lawmakers who turned against the bill because of the speech.

So now that House Republicans are insisting their vote against the bailout yesterday had nothing to do with Pelosi’s supposedly “partisan” speech, you might wonder why at least 10 Republican Representatives flipped their votes. Minority Whip Blunt really thought he had these votes for the bill, right up until they voted no.

Now NBC’s Andrea Mitchell is reporting that conservatives may have been taking their marching orders from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who “was whipping against this up until the last minute” — despite the fact that he issued a statement supporting the bill as the vote was about to take place:

MITCHELL: I’m told reliably by leading Republicans who are close to him, he was whipping against this up until the last minute when he issued that face-saving statement. Newt Gingrich was telling people in the strongest possible language
that this was a terrible deal, not only that it was a terrible deal, that it was a disaster, it was the end of democracy as we know it, it was socialism. And then at the last minute comes out with a statement when the vote is already in place.

Could Newt Gingrich have recognized that there is no real leadership in the Republican Party? Could he be situating himself so he can be seen as the God Father of the Republicans? It will be interesting to watch.

Why I'm Still Concerned about Yesterday's Vote and its Impact on the Economy

John Aravosis (DC) of AmericaBlog has a great post about the economy, and why people should be concerned: Why I'm still concerned about yesterday's vote and its impact on the economy

"I find fascinating this entire discussion of whether or not voting down the bailout bill yesterday poses an economic danger to the US. Markos, quoting Davis Sirota, isn't worried. It's worth reading what Markos is saying, as I think it represents what many of our own readers believe. But I have to say, I still am worried."

"Sirota says that critics are saying that anyone who is against the bill wants to see America go into another depression. Perhaps some are, but that's not really the point. It's irrelevant what your motivation is for opposing the bill. All that matters if what the economic consequence is of that position. Markos points to the market being up a few hundred points today, and says this is a sign that all is not lost. But credit markets are still frozen."

"Practically no one in America can get a loan right now. No one. So I decided to use the Google and find out more about what this credit crunch really means.But first I talked to our own financial expert, Chris, who told me:"

A market moving up as it is today in NO WAY represents a positive long term direction. Often markets that are going down and are about to capitulate will have radical swings up and down before a big bottom. Many called this crazy movement a few weeks ago and I think I mentioned it at one point. It may or may not be the case this cycle but it's completely wrong, wrong, wrong to say the movement today suggests everything will be OK. Everyone's anger is understandable, but the bigger issue is lessening the impact of this very serious recession that's upon us.

John Aravosis has more that can be read here. He also pulls together a number of articles from different economists and market watchers who point out that there is a lot that is going on which will need to be fixed. We are not out of the woods.

RNC Ad, Was Cut, & Sent Out Before the Vote

Yesterday the Republican leadership tried to blame Nancy Pelosis for the failure of Republicans to support the bailout package, yet now it is beginning to slip out that the Republican National Committee's new ad critical of the the Wall Street "bailout" was produced and sent to television stations in key states before the bailout vote failed.

Get it? The Repuglicans were planning on the bill passing, and then were going to attack Democrats who voted FOR the bill.

Talk about gutless Repuglican politicians. Put the economy in harms way for a few cheap political points.

Don't Be Fooled

There are those who are watching the stock market today, where the Dow was recently up more than 250 points, and getting the mistaken impression all is well with the world on the Tuesday after the latest Black Monday. Don't be fooled. Overnight dollar Libor rates more than doubled to 6.875%, as banks are hoarding cash, most probably for the end of quarter that is fast approaching, but still this is another sign that the financial crisis is spreading.

I think some people are fooled by the Great Depression, and what is going on now. They remember looking at their history books and reading about the stock market crash, and seeing pictures of bread lines, and then look around and do not see the same things today, and think well we are not really in trouble.

Yes the disaster that is facing America is not clearly visible, if you look outside today you see people at the grocery store, buying a Big Mac, and getting on with life, but this is just the surface, and there is a lot of turmoil in the economy right now. Take for example the Libor rate, something most people don't know about, but last night banks were so desperate for funds that they paid 11% for $30 billion in overnight funds from the European Central Bank (ECB), up from 3% just Monday. This premium for overnight liquidity is "out of control," and will make it hard for central banks to instill confidence in the future.

Yes a second round of dollars from the ECB and a 28-day injection of funds from the Fed Reserve helped calm some of the worst panic in the markets, but the world economy is a long way from normal.

Credit is near frozen, in part because institutions are hoarding liquidity for the end of the quarter. Problems with the credit market will make it harder for stores who are setting inventory for the upcoming holiday season. Do you see the problem we could be facing?

World News Round Up

Iraq PM Comments on US deal

In an interview with the Associated Press, PM Nuri al-Maliki warned that the future is dark if Iraq and the US do not agree on a security pact. And without a pact, he said, all the security progress made in the last year would be at risk. He points out that the alternative is to go back to the UN security council for an extension of Chapter 7 authorization of foreign troops in Iraq, and that UNSC approval is no longer assured because Russia may be in a bad mood. PM al-Maliki still insists that US troops who are off base and not on a military mission, who commit crimes in Iraq, must be tried in Iraqi courts. Al-Maliki also wants a timetable for US withdrawal by the end of 2010.

Jews and Muslims Share Holy Season in Jerusalem

Once again, Iraq's Ramadan Ends In Violence

Sunday's bombings in Baghdad, and the killing of nearly 100 civilians in Baghdad during Ramadan, raise questions for Iraqis. Is this increase in violence a secular trend, a sign of deterioration, or is it just that guerrillas have more spare time during the month of fasting (when typically people do not work full work days, and lots of people circulate for dinner (i.e. breaking-the-fast) parties. Although this Ramadan was 40% less deadly than last year, it was also more deadly than July and August.

EU Georgia monitors fully deployed; Meet with Russians

EU mission to monitor the ceasefire in Georgia is fully deployed and has met
Russian forces to discuss their pullback from positions deep inside the Caucasus
country. Under a deal brokered by France after last month's Russia-Georgia war,
Russian forces are due to withdraw from two "security zones" adjacent to
breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia by Oct. 10.

Flawed Victory for 'Last Dictator' Lukashenko as Belarus Elections Denounced

Western monitors denounced the Belarussian parliamentary elections — in which all the President's men swept to victory — as flawed. “Voting was generally well conducted but the process deteriorated considerably during the vote count,” said the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in a statement.

Mikhail Gorbachev Returns to Russian Politics

Mikhail Gorbachev has announced he is making an unlikely political comeback almost 17 years after stepping down as the Soviet Union's last leader. Mikhail Gorbachev, now 77, revealed that he and business partner Alexander Lebedev, a maverick ex-KGB officer turned billionaire banker, would form a political party to contest parliamentary elections in 2011. He and Mr Lebedev described the Independent Democratic Party of Russia, the working title of the new movement, as an opposition group.

US Navy Watches Seized Ship With Sudan-Bound Tanks

U.S. helicopters on Monday buzzed a hijacked Ukrainian cargo ship carrying 33
Soviet-designed tanks and other weapons that officials fear could end up in the
hands of al-Qaida-linked militants in Somalia if the pirates are allowed to
escape. The pirates aboard the blue-and-white Ukrainian-operated freighter are
demanding $20 million to release the ship, its 21 crew members, one of whom has
died of an apparent heart attack, and its cargo of T-72 tanks, rifles and
ammunition. The ship, now anchored off Somalia's coast near the central town of
Hobyo, apparently was destined for Sudan when armed pirates overtook it, likely
from a speedboat, and climbed up the side of the ship.

Mr. Irrelevant Urges Congress To Take Action

President Hoover I mean Bush went before cameras this mornin and said he was "disappointed" by the rejection of the $700 billion bailout plan in the House. He urged Congress to take legislative action to save the economy. "We are facing a choice between action and the real prospect of economic hardship for millions of Americans," Bush said. "Our economy is depending on decisive action from the government."

US Market Lost Over $1 trillion Dollars

It is almost incomprehensible. One trillion dollars gone like that. It is estimated that 62 million Americans have retirement monies invested in a 401k. Those 62 million people have just lost 7% of the total money they had for invested for retirement.

Charlie Gibson on ABC noted that losing 7% on the market in a year would be a huge story; we lost it in a day.

From MarketWatch:

The S&P 500 Index dropped 106.59 points, or 8.8%, to 1,106.42, with energy,
financials and materials fronting sector losses that spread across all 10 of the
index's industry groups.The sell off is the largest percentage drop for the
S&P 500 since Oct. 26, 1987. It also translates into a $700 billion loss for
the day for the S&P, according to Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst
at Standard & Poor's.

Currently the US economy is in a financial limbo with markets unsure what to do next. This nation's economy is built on the ability to move capitol, which is no longer happening as it should. Loans for practically anything are becoming more difficult.

There is a real crisis here that needs to be addressed. It is time for Democrats to stop coddeling Republicans, and develop a real fix, and then cram it down the throat of Republicans. We can no longer coddle the cry baby Republicans.

Palin/Fey Side by Side

Tonight on Countdown with Keith Olbermann, they ran a clip of Sarah Palin's sit down with Katie Couric right next to Tina Fey's portrayal from SNL. It shows how much of Tina Fey's jokes were verbatim from Palin's actual interview, which made the jokes that much funnier.

LibertyAir Blog

Countdown: Krugman on the Bailout Failing

Keith Olbermann spoke with Paul Krugman about the failure of Congress to pass the economic rescue plan.


LibertyAir Blog

Barack Obama's Speech to Fredericksburg, VA

Here is more of Barak Obama's address to over 25,000 people in Fredericksburg, VA this last Saturday night. In the speech Senator Obama calls for the political and economic reform needed to fix our broken economy.

Be warned, this is a long video.


LibertyAir Blog

New Barak Obama Ad: McCain and Golden Parachutes

Obama's newest ad, the "Parachute" highlights how Obama is fighting to stop the practice of corporate executives giving themselves million dollar golden parachutes while leaving workers high and dry.

LibertyAir Blog

Jack Cafferty Today

Jack Cafferty gives his take on the Congressional Meltdown today. He does not hold back on John McCain and all of our Federal Government.


LibertyAir Blog

An Interesting Take On The Fiscal Rescue Plan

This is a very interesting take on the economy and the trouble we are in.

I'll Speak Very Slowly [UPDATE].
by RenaRF

Little known fact: I have a degree in economics. I went to one of the top three economics schools in the country, and graduated with honors. Caveat: The area I studied was WAY academic. Rather than adhere to market economics, my school focused on the inherent rationality and irrationality of actors in markets. In other words, it focused on the role of investors and their individual and collective emotions as market drivers in and of themselves, completely outside of principles of accountancy or market math.

So with that, over the fold and I'll give my dumbed-down impression of the state of the economy and markets.

I'll try to forget that I've just heard Boehner, Blunt, and Cantor blame Pelosi's SPEECH for the failure of the Rescue Bill. And make no mistake - this is a rescue bill. Stop thinking of its central premise as that of a "bailout". While some "bailing out" will, by necessity, occur, the rescue is the key focal point of this bill.

Imagine that that human body, in its entirety, is the economy. Different parts of the body represent different sectors of the economy. So maybe an arm is the pharmaceutical sector. And maybe a leg is the IT sector, and another leg the energy sector. But the central system to the human body is the heart. If it doesn't function, all other systems in the body shut down.

Blood that flows to and from the heart is comparable to money that flows through the market. The availability of money to leave the heart and travel to other areas of the body - market sectors - is what drives the overall economy. It touches EVERY area of the economy.

The financial services sector is the heart of the economy.

For more read here.

A Different Suggestion For a Bailout

Brad DeLong is another economist who was reluctantly supporting today's bailout plan, and is probably not shedding to many tears for today's defeat. DeLong has all along thought the 1992 Swedish plan makes more sense.

Here’s what he had to say on the subject today:

Nationalization has the best chance of avoiding large losses and possibly even making money for the taxpayer. And it is the best way to deal with the moral hazard problem. It might work like this.

Congress:

• grants the Federal Reserve Board the power to take any financial firm whatsoever with liabilities and capital of more than $25 billion that is not well capitalized into conservatorship

• requires the Federal Reserve Board to liquidate any financial firm in its conservatorship when it judges that the firm is insolvent paying off in full or not paying off in full the liabilities of the firm at its discretion, unless

• the Federal Reserve Board finds that preservation as a going concern is in the interest of the taxpayer, in which case Congress

• grants the Federal Reserve Board the power to transform equity stakes in the firm into junior preferred stock at par value and then transfer ownership and custody of the firm to the Treasury

• requires the Federal Reserve to terminate conservatorship if the firm becomes
well-capitalized once again.

Fire Spreads to Europe

Some of the headlines from across the Atlantic today shows that the current financial crisis is more than an American problem. Globalization means that this financial crisis cannot be confined to the United States, but could affect the entire world economy. European politicians are engaged in a very delicate balancing act right now, trying not to get sucked into the same problems that US legislators are dealing with, but facing many of the same problems.

Additionally, the European Central Bank joined with the U.S. Federal Reserve in doubling the credit swap line that makes dollars made available to cash-hungry banks from $120 million to $240 million. The Bank of England doubled dollar availability to $80 billion, while other central banks offered smaller amounts. Once again European governments are attempting to avert a growing crisis of confidence in the financial markets and the broader economic implications of the current turmoil while not returning to many of the socialist or apperance of socialist responses.

UK Government Nationalizes Bradford & Bingley

The British government on Monday confirmed it was nationalising Bradford & Bingley after hammering out a deal with the Spanish bank Santander, which will buy the embattled UK mortgage lender's £21bn deposit book and branch network for about £600m.

The bank was taken into public ownership on Monday after B&B saw retail savers withdraw "tens of millions of pounds" in recent days as uncertainty grew.

Fortis, Huge European Bank, Partially Nationalized

Dutch-Belgian bank and insurance giant Fortis NV was given a 11.2 billion euro ($16.4 billion) lifeline to avert insolvency as part of a wider bailout plan agreed to by Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, officials said Sunday.

Basically the governments of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg took partial control late Sunday of struggling bank Fortis NV.

Hypo Real Estate Gets $50 Billion in Emergency Credit

Germany's second-biggest commercial-property lender, Hypo Real Estate, will receive a 35 billion-euro ($50 billion) loan guarantee from the government and a group of banks to save it from potential collapse.

Iceland takes over Glitnir

The Icelandic government on Monday said it had taken over Glitnir, the island’s third largest bank, by injecting €600m ($862m) of equity after the lender’s funding position sharply deteriorated.

The bank rescue confirmed market worries about the ability of Iceland’s banks to withstand the current credit squeeze, given their weak base of deposits at home and their dependence on wholesale funding. Icelandic banks have increased their balance sheets aggressively in recent years to expand out of their volatile home market.

House GOP - Irresponsible Cry Babies

House Republicans realizing that they are going to take the blame for today's failure, have come up with a novel defense; blame Nancy Pelosis. Yes I know this is completely new, we have NEVER seen House Republicans blame Nancy Pelosis before. This one takes the cake though. House Republican are now claiming Nancy Pelosi torpedoed any spirit of bipartisanship that surrounded the bailout bill with her scathing speech near the close of the debate.

"We could have gotten there today had it not been for the partisan speech that the speaker gave on the floor of the House," House Minority Leader John Boehner said. Pelosi's words, the Ohio Republican said, "poisoned our conference, caused a number of members that we thought we could get, to go south."

Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., the whip, estimated that Pelosi's speech changed the minds of a dozen Republicans who might otherwise have supported the plan.

First you can read Pelosi's remarks for yourself and judge if it was so scathing that it could have poisoned the Republican conference, and is worth risking the entire US economy.

During the largest financial crisis in this country's history since the Great Depression, the House GOP has decided to characterize itself as a caucus of cry babies who will not support this country if someone hurts their feelings. Talk about irresponsible cry babies.

Barney Frank has an offer for them:

"Give me those twelve people's names, and I will go talk uncharacteristically nicely to them, and tell them what wonderful people they are, and maybe they'll think about the country."

Here's video of the Republicans whining about Pelosi, and of Frank telling them to grow up:

LibertyAir Blog

Steve Benen of the Washington Monthly Political Animal has the best slogan for the Republicans to describe there stand:

"Vote Republican -- We're More Concerned With Our Feelings Than Your Future."

Don't be fooled people, what we saw today in Congress was a complete failure of the Republican Party leadership, and it was a failure of historic proportions. When needed, the Democratic leadership was able to deliver the votes on an unpopular rescue plan, while Republicans voted, 2-to-1, against it, and they voted against for purely political reasons. This had noting to do with Pelosi's harmless speech, but a last gasp of a Party trying to stave-off a blood bath in the congressional elections in November.

The Dow finished down 777.68 points

For better or worse, and again I think it's for the worse, our economy is judged by how the market is doing. Today was a really bad day for the markets. The Dow finished down 777.68 points .

From The Associated Press:

Wall Street's worst fears came to pass Monday, when the government's financial bailout plan failed in Congress and stocks plunged precipitously — hurtling the Dow Jones industrials down nearly 780 points in their largest one-day point drop ever. Credit markets, whose turmoil helped feed the stock market's angst, froze up further amid the growing belief that the country is headed into a spreading credit and economic crisis.

Stunned traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, their faces tense and mouths agape, watched on TV screens as the House voted down the plan in mid-afternoon, and as they saw stock prices tumbling on their monitors. Activity on the floor became frenetic as the "sell" orders blew in.

The plan's defeat came amid more reminders of how troubled the nation's financial system is — before trading began came word that Wachovia Corp., one of the biggest banks to struggle due to rising mortgage losses, was being rescued in a buyout by Citigroup Inc. It followed the recent forced sale of Merrill Lynch & Co. and the failure of three other huge banking companies — Bear Stearns Cos., Washington Mutual Inc. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.; all of them were felled by bad mortgage investments.

Liquidity Is Still A Huge Issue

From Marketwatch:

The Fed said it was boosting the size of its dollar swap arrangements to $620 billion from $290 billion previously. The agreement, with nine central banks, allows authorities to provide short-term dollar loans to commercial banks in an effort to ease short-term funding woes that have resulted from reluctance by commercial banks to lend short-term funds to each other through the interbank market...

"Market participants are reluctant to engage in transactions with each other because of heightened counterparty risk and fear that they could be the next in line to experience a 'bank run' and therefore need all the liquidity they can get themselves," wrote economists at Danske Bank in Copenhagen.

Such fears left Bradford & Bingley and Fortis struggling for funding. Their subsequent collapse then contributed to further tensions in the money market.Amid the money-market tensions, central banks have been "forced to get more and more active in providing liquidity to the market because the market isn't doing it internally," said Don Smith, an economist at brokerage firm ICAP.

House to Wall Street: Drop dead

Rex Nutting has the best line of the day on MarketWatch.com, about today's failure to get a bailout passed: "House to Wall Street: Drop dead" In the article Mr. Nutting correctly places the blame and/or credit with House Republicans for today's failure to get a deal.

His final two lines though I think correctly sum up where we are today, after the failure to pass the bailout bill.

Rejection of the plan means there's no political solution to this financial crisis on the horizon. As it now stands, the markets are on their own.

The next six weeks will tell whether the coup d'etat in the House on Monday has created a political crisis to match the financial one.

What Does Paul Krugman Think?

I have to admit that when it comes to the economy, the person I trust the most is Paul Krugman. I do read other economists, but the one I follow the most is Professor Krugman. It has been his take on the financial crisis and the bail out that I trust the most. Today he has an interesting post (Bailout questions answered) on his Blog: Conscience of a Liberal about the need for some type of government intervention in today's financial crisis.

Bailout Questions Answered

I’m being asked two big questions about this thing: (1) Was it really necessary? (2) Shouldn’t Dems have tossed the whole Paulson approach out the window and done something completely different?

On (1), the answer is yes. It’s true that some parts of the real economy are doing OK even in the face of financial disruption; big companies can still sell bonds (and have lots of cash on hand), qualifying home buyers can still get Fannie-Freddie mortgages, and so on. But commercial paper, which is important to a lot of businesses, is in trouble, and I’m hearing anecdotes about reduced credit lines causing smaller businesses to pull back. Plus there’s a serious chance of a run on the hedge funds, which could make things a lot worse.

With the economy already looking like it’s headed into a serious recession by
any definition, the risks of doing nothing look too high.

It’s true that we might be able to stagger through with more case-by-case rescues — I think of this as the “two, three, many AIGs” strategy; in fact, we might not be at this point if Paulson hadn’t decided to make an example of Lehman. But right now it’s not even clear who to rescue, and the credit markets are freezing up as you read this (1-month t-bill at 0.04 %, TED spread at 3.5)

On (2), the call is tougher. But putting myself in Barney Frank or Nancy Pelosi’s shoes, I’d look at it this way: the Democrats could start over, with a bailout plan that is, say, centered on purchases of preferred stock and takeovers of failing firms — basically, a plan clearly focused on recapitalizing the financial sector, with nationalization where necessary.

That’s what the plan should have looked like.

Maybe such a plan would have passed Congress; and maybe, just maybe Bush would have signed on; Paulson is certainly desperate for a deal.

But such a plan would have had next to no Republican votes — and the Republicans would have demagogued against it full tilt. And the Democratic leadership cannot, cannot, be seen to have sole ownership of this stuff.

So that, I think, is why it had to be done this way. I don’t like it, and I don’t like the plan, but I see the constraints under which Dodd, Frank, Pelosi, and Reid were operating.

This Was Helpful??? Part Four

John McCain and his surrogates has been trying to claim credit for a bail out deal, which was always a joke, but now just looks pathetic. Republican Party leader John McCain returned to Washington claiming he was going to get a deal done. McCain and his surrogates boldly claimed that he would get House Republicans on board.

Over the weekend a deal was hammered out, even though John McCain stayed home and did not go to the Hill. The claim was he worked the phones (though he did not talk to a single Democrat), and then went to dinner with Joe Lieberman instead of joining the actual negotiators on the Hill. The one honest thing that John McCain could claim was that he talked to House Republicans, yet when the vote came up today, the majority of Republicans voted against the bill and killed it.

A majority of Democrats voted for the bill. Had the majority of Republicans done the same, it would have passed. John McCain supported this bill, and he is the leader of the Republican party, so why was he unsuccessful in getting House Republicans to join?

Why?

Because John McCain is not some great Congressional leader. Many Republicans hate him. He has no real base on the Hill. The canard that he was going to somehow bring everyone together in a bipartisan manner was just a joke. And today is the perfect example of the extent of John McCain's great powers to bring people together.

A basic break down of the last five days is that John McCain faked ending his campaign, took 22 hours to make a 60 minute trip, crash landed into the negotiations in Washington, blew up the talks, claimed he would not debate unless there was a deal, then debated even though there was no deal. He then declared he would return to Washington DC and bring House Republicans into the talks, get their concerns assuaged, but then failed to deliver that which he promised when he couldn't get his party on board.

John McCain was just tested, and failed miserably.

PROSECUTOR NAMED FOR U.S. ATTORNEY SCANDAL....

One bit of news that is being lost in the total meltdown of this country's economy is that Attorney General Michael Mukasey appointed a Special Prosecutor to pursue possible criminal charges against Republicans who were involved in the controversial firings of U.S. attorneys. Throughout the U.S. Attorney purge scandal, Republicans insisted this was just a routine personnel matter, of no real consequence. They couldn't have been more wrong. This move has long been demanded by Democrats in Congress, but had been resisted by Mukasey. Yet the appointment of a Special Prosecutor was the leading recommendation of a Justice Department investigation that harshly criticized the Bush administration, Republican members of Congress and their aides. The report by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine stated the firing of the US Attorneys could be seen as politically motivated.

The report states that "serious allegations involving potential criminal conduct have not been fully investigated or resolved." This criminal conduct may include lying to investigators, obstruction of justice and wire fraud.

One really weird finding of the IG report is that Attorney General Gonzales is innocent because he was too stupid to be guilty. The IG report states that Gonzales was largely clueless about the events going on around him, and had no real idea as to his responsiblity. Incredibly it may not have been an act, Attorney General Gonzales may have been that stupid, and had no involvement with decisions regarding U.S. Attorneys. The report also concluded that Gonzales, as the head of the Justice Department at the time, bears "primary responsibility" for what transpired, but he was nevertheless "remarkably unengaged."

Nora Dannehy, a career federal prosecutor is being appointed as the Special Prosecutor.

TPM Muckraker, which has been all over this story from the very beginning, has more on today's report and reactions to it on the Hill.

Do Over?

The House has decided to try a do-over on the Bail Out vote later today. The House bill on the Bail Out failed, 228 to 205. I guess the House leadership want to see if the same lawmakers vote differently this time. Not sure what difference this will make. My guess is there is some serious arm twisting.

Stocks tumble as House defeats Bailout Plan

Associated Press:
TIM PARADIS September 29, 2008 02:12 PM EST Associated Press

NEW YORK — Fear swept across the financial markets Monday, sending the Dow Jones industrials down as much as 705 points, as the financial bailout package was defeated by the House.

As the vote was shown on TV, stocks plunged and and investors fled to the safety of the credit markets, worrying that the financial system would keep sinking under the weight of failed mortgage debt.

"Clearly something needs to be done, and the market dropping 400 points in 10 minutes is telling you that," said Chris Johnson president of Johnson Research Group. "This isn't a market for the timid."

The markets were highly volatile, with the Dow regaining ground to trade with a loss of about 360, then falling backing again, trading down 481.39, or 4.32 percent, at 10,661.74. Broader stock indicators also fell. The Standard & Poor's 500 index declined 63.13, or 5.20 percent, to 1,150.14, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 124.29, or 5.69 percent, to 2,059.05.

With Wall Street nervous that the plan may not pass, the yield on the 3-month Treasury bill fell to 0.68 percent from 0.87 percent on Friday. That showed that investors were prepared to get meager returns on an investment as long as it was secure.

The Federal Reserve declined to comment on the market's decline.

BREAKING: HOUSE FAILS TO PASS BAILOUT...

Associated Press:

By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The House on Monday defeated a $700 billion emergency rescue package, ignoring urgent pleas from President Bush and bipartisan congressional leaders to quickly bail out the staggering financial industry.

Stocks plummeted on Wall Street even before the 228-205 vote to reject the
bill was announced on the House floor.

When the critical vote was tallied, too few members of the House were willing to support the unpopular measure with elections just five weeks away. Ample no votes came from both the Democratic and Republican sides of the aisle.

Bush and a host of leading congressional figures had implored the lawmakers to pass the legislation despite howls of protest from their constituents back home.

The vote had been preceded by unusually aggressive White House lobbying, and spokesman Tony Fratto said that Bush had used a "call list" of people he wanted to persuade to vote yes as late as just a short time before the vote.

Lawmakers shouted news of the plummeting Dow Jones average as lawmakers crowded on the House floor during the drawn-out and tense call of the roll, which dragged on for roughly 40 minutes as leaders on both sides scrambled to corral enough of their rank-and-file members to support the deeply unpopular measure.

They found only two.

Bush and his economic advisers, as well as congressional leaders in both parties had argued the plan was vital to insulating ordinary Americans from the effects of Wall Street's bad bets. The version that was up for vote Monday was the product of marathon closed-door negotiations on Capitol Hill over the weekend.

"We're all worried about losing our jobs," Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., declared in an impassioned speech in support of the bill before the vote. "Most of us say, 'I want this thing to pass, but I want you to vote for it — not me.' "

With their dire warnings of impending economic doom and their sweeping request for unprecedented sums of money and authority to bail out cash-starved financial firms, Bush and his economic chiefs have focused the attention of world markets on Congress, Ryan added. "We're in this moment, and if we fail to do the right thing, Heaven help us," he said.

McCain is NOT a Foreign Policy Expert

During the debate on Friday, John McCain made numerous mistakes that many in the media have simply glossed over. These are mistakes that a so called foreign policy expert should be making.

One mistake was when he referred to his "Hero" Ronald Reagan, who he claimed would not sit down with Soviet Premiers Brezhnev, Andropov or Chernenko. McCain claimed that Reagan would not negotiate with the Soviets until Gorbachev was ready with glasnost and perestroika. Brad DeLong has found an April 26, 1982 Time article which says otherwise:

In an interview with Pravda, the Communist Party newspaper, Brezhnev rejected President Reagan’s proposal, made earlier this month, that the two leaders meet informally in New York this June after the disarmament talks at the United Nations General Assembly…

In short, McCain is either ignorant or dishonest. And ignorance in this kind of situation is a form of dishonesty. Why bring up Reagan’s refusal to meet with Brezhnev if you haven’t looked up the facts? John McCain was a congressional candidate running for his first term in his forties with a background as a military officer and as a lobbyist for the US Navy. He presumably had an opinion about Ronald Reagan’s conduct of Cold War diplomacy.

Next John McCain seriously misstated his vote concerning the Marines in Lebanon. He claimed that in 1983 he voted against deploying the Marines in Beirut. Except the Marines were sent to Lebanon in 1982, before McCain came to Congress. Now McCain did vote against a measure to invoke the War Powers Act and to authorize the deployment of U.S. Marines in Lebanon for an additional 18 months.


Next John McCain badly misstated the history of Pakistan. McCain claimed Pakistan was a failed state before President Musharraf came to power. This is not true, Pakistan was a democracy when Musharraf took power in a military coup in 1999. Granted Pakistan was a weak democracy, with a great deal to reform, but still had a democratically elected government, and not a "failed state". For someone claiming extensive foreign policy knowledge, this is simply not acceptable.

In one of the most contentious parts of the debate, Barak Obama made the statement that even Henry Kissenger is for more direct talks with Iran. McCain went apoletic, yet at a foreign policy forum on Sept. 15, Kissinger said: "I am in favor of negotiating with Iran."


McCain again claimed that Russia attacked Georgia without provocation, despite numerous reports from OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) observers who were on the ground in the Caucasus that show Georgia had been actively preparing a military strike against South Ossetia and began the attack before Russian tanks entered the Roksky tunnel connecting South Ossetia and Russia. OSCE observers also provided NATO with radio intercepts which show that the Georgian authorities ordered that the attack on South Ossetian civilians at night when they were sleeping. Unfortunately Senator Obama agreed with this mischaracterization.

John McCain is no longer a foreign policy expert, if he ever was one, and is not the captain we should want sailing this country through the troubled waters of the world in the years ahead.

Barack Obama leads John McCain, 50% to 42%

Barack Obama leads John McCain, 50% to 42% among registered voters in the latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday -- just one point shy of his strongest showing of the year.

Deal Reached On Bailout

It is being reported that a deal has been reached on the Wall Street bailout, this after a week of frenzied negotiations, and it looks like concessions were made to both Democratic and Republican critics. The bailout plan is designed to end a vicious downward spiral that has battered all levels of the US economy. Hundreds of billions of dollars in investments based on mortgages have soured and stopped many banks' willingness to lend.

As the largest government intervention in financial markets since the Great Depression, it casts Washington's long shadow over Wall Street not seen in a while. To some extent, key Democratic demands on Congressional oversight and consumer protection have all been met. This the biggest U.S. bailout in our country's history has the tentative support of both Barak Obama and John McCain.

The plan would give the administration broad power to use billions upon billions of taxpayer dollars to purchase devalued mortgage-related assets held by cash-starved financial firms. The Democratic leadership was able to ensure that Congress has a stronger hand in controlling the money than the White House had wanted. Still the basics of the plan still includes the idea that the Federal government will take over huge amounts of devalued assets from beleaguered financial companies in hopes of unlocking frozen credit.

Currently Republicans and Democrats are huddled in private meetings to learn the details of the 110-page bill, and voice their concerns. Democrats did have to surrender their cherished goals of letting judges rewrite bankrupt homeowners' mortgages and steering any profits gained toward an affordable housing fund. However the plan will help struggling homeowners by requirering the government to renegotiating bad mortgages it acquires with the aim of lowering borrowers' monthly payments so they can keep their homes.

The Democrats were able to get some of their biggest demands, such as Executive Compensation, where the rescue would only be open to companies who deny their executives "golden parachutes" and limit their pay packages. Also firms that got the most help through the program - $300 million or more - would face steep taxes on any compensation for their top people over $500,000. The plan also states that the government would receive stock warrants in return for the bailout relief, giving taxpayers a chance to share in recipients' future profits.

The House will Vote tomorrow, Monday morning, and the Senate will Vote Wednesday.

Read The Full Bailout Plan Here

Obama and Biden Give Speech to Thousands

26,000 Virginians showed up in the rain to see Senator's Barak Obama and Joe Biden in Fredricksburg, Virginia on Saturday evening. This is Fredricksburg, Virginia folks, this is not a big Democratic area in the state. This could mean Virginia is bluer than many have thought. It would be huge if Virginia goes for Obama. This video is from a local NBC affiliate and has a great soundbite from the veteran supporting Obama.


LibertyAir Blog

Tina Fey Nails Palin Again

And now for something fun...

LibertyAir Blog

Obama's full statement on the deal

“The breakthrough between Congress and the Administration is the culmination of a sorry period in our history, in which reckless speculation and greed on Wall Street and lax oversight from Washington led to a meltdown of our financial markets. But regardless of how we got here, a failure to deal with the current crisis would have devastating consequences for our economy, costing millions of Americans their jobs and retirement security.

“To understand how this tentative deal was reached, it's important to remember how this all began. The Bush Administration initially asked for a blank check to respond to this problem, which I strongly opposed. It would have been unconscionable to expect the American people to hand this Administration or any Administration a $700 billion check with no conditions and no oversight when a lack of oversight in Washington and on Wall Street is exactly what got us into this mess. If the American people are being asked to pay for the solution to this crisis, their tax dollars must be protected.

Bailout Agreement Reached in Congress.

Reuters:
U.S. lawmakers on Sunday were set to sign off on a deal to create a $700 billion government fund to buy bad debt from ailing banks in a bid to stem a credit crisis threatening the global economy.After marathon talks into the wee hours of Sunday morning, congressional leaders from both parties emerged with an agreement that altered key parts of a Wall Street bailout program initially proposed by the Bush administration.

Let us hope we never see this

A very scarey video.


LibertyAir Blog

Count the Lies 78

After last night's debate the count went way up. John McCain is not even trying to be honorable or honest any more.

McCain's Lie Counter.

Obama Is Right: McCain Was Wrong

Jed Lewison of the Jed Report has put together another great video.

McCain had no defense for Barack Obama's best riff of the night. Fact is,
McCain was wrong on Iraq. As they say, the YouTube doesn't lie:

LibertyAir Blog

Biden on NBC

One of the more interesting side notes of last night's debate was that while Senator Biden was on CBS, CNN, NBC, MSNBC, and ABC, while Governor Palin was completely absent.

Here is Biden on NBC.

LibertAir Blog

Barack Obama's "America's Leadership" TV Ad

A really strong add. One that keeps up the positive. I know some wish Barak Obama was hitting harder, but I think the positive message of hope can be more affective, if used right. It also feels more authentic for Senator Obama.

LibertyAir Blog

Barack Obama on the Debates in Greensboro, NC

Barak Obama was back on the stump again today. Here is part of his speech from North Carolina. Senator Obama is going after John McCain about the middle class. A really great populist speech.

LibertyAir Blog

Barack Obama's After Debate Ad

Frank Lutz Group

Fox pollster Frank Luntz who has become a mainstay of debate reporting had a focus group last night, and in his report he showed that a majority of his group was “moved” by Obama’s performance.

Fox pollster Frank Luntz’s focus group showed that a majority was “moved” by Obama’s performance.

McCain's Smirks and Facial Contortions

One of the things I noticed during the debate last night was John McCain could not sit calmly, he seemed to feel a need to react to everything that Obama said. A clip circulated by Democrats showed the McCain demonstrating all of those traits: smirking when Obama gave his answers, eyes blinking, unwilling to even look at his opponent.

The media narrative did make mention of this, it will be interesting to see if it holds.

LibertyAir Blog

This Was Helpful??? Part Three

House Republican Whip Roy Blunt was just interviewed by Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC, and he told Mitchell that McCain killed the deal at the White House on purpose yesterday:

"I do think that John McCain was very helpful in what he did. I saw him this morning, we've been talking with his staff. Clearly, yesterday, his position in that discussion yesterday was one that stopped a deal from, uh, finalizing that no House Republican, in my view, would've been for. Which means it probably wouldn't have passed the House. Now, Democrats are in the majority, they can pass anything they want to without a single Republican vote. But they don't seem to be willing to do that. I'm pleased we can have negotiations now that get us back to things that we think can protect the taxpayers better, create more options, are, frankly, be better understood in the country than the plan, than the path that we were on just a couple of days ago."

I could not believe what I was hearing. Blunt was saying that John McCain was "helpful," because he killed the deal - not because he was looking to create compromise. John McCain was not there to help get a deal done, but to kill it.

That isn't a maverick bringing everyone together as a leader, it's the erratic, confused actions of someone who has no clue. Remember McCain was not going in opposed to the compromise plan. He had totally coopted Barak Obama's principles.

Is this what we can expect from a President McCain? When the choice is between making war or brokering peace, John McCain always goes for war. It's what hot-heads do. Especially when they're no longer at their prime.

This Was Helpful??? Part Two

Think Progress has more on what John McCain did at the White House yesterday.

House GOP Aides: McCain ‘Not Familiar With The Details’ Of The Financial Bailout

Bailout negotiations “dissolved into a verbal brawl” at the White House yesterday, as some House Republicans, led by Eric Cantor (R-VA), said they wouldn’t back a bipartisan negotiation on the package. The House GOP faction stunned the participants at the meeting yesterday by announcing their own plan which “advocates tax cuts and relaxed regulations.”

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has said the House GOP proposal would not work.

“Democratic leaders questioned McCain’s involvement in the House Republicans’ opposition to the plan.” McCain met with House GOP leaders before heading to the White House, but neither party seemed to know what they were talking about:

Boehner and McCain discussed the bailout plan, but Republican leadership aides described the conversation as somewhat surreal. Neither man was familiar with the details of the proposal being pressed by House conservatives, and up to the moment they departed for the White House yesterday afternoon, neither had seen any description beyond news reports.

At 1:25 p.m., McCain left Boehner’s office through a back door, walking across the Capitol’s rotunda to the applause of tourists. Graham conceded the group knew little about the plan the nominee had come to Washington to try to shape.

At the bipartisan White House meeting that McCain “didn’t speak until 43 minutes into the meeting.” He “sat silently for more than 40 minutes, more observer than leader, and then offered only a vague sense of where he stood, said people in the meeting.”

Sen. Chris Dodd said, “Instead of being a rescue plan for our economy it was a rescue plan for John McCain.” Sen. Chuck Schumer urged Bush to “respectfully tell Sen. McCain to get out of town. He’s not helping.” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid added, “We had [Republican] Senator [Bob] Bennett, a high ranking official, who said these are the principles. And then, guess who came to town? And it all fell apart.”

McCain’s handling of the negotiations serves to underscore his comment in Dec. 2007 that he is “not an expert on Wall Street” and “not an expert of some of this stuff”.

Breaking: McCain Will Debate

John McCain has decided to try the tried and true tactic of retreat and declares victory. McCain’s campaign said Friday morning that he will attend tonight’s debate with Senator Barack Obama at the University of Mississippi, reversing his earlier call to postpone the debate so he could participate in the Congressional negotiations over the $700 billion bailout plan for financial firms.

Even though no deal is on hand, McCain has decided it is on firm enough footing that he can deign being in Mississippi for the evening. Of course he wants you to know that he will be right back to Washington DC.

What Do They Think?

I'm genuinely curious as to what earnest Republicans and/or conservatives think about Sarah Palin now that she has done three interviews. Did they watch her full interview with Katie Couric? Did they hear it like I did, or did they hear something that gave them confidence in her as a Vice President? Did they hear Governor Palin ramble incoherently about the bailout like me, or did they feel she is ready to deal with a major financial crisis? When they listened to Palin struggle to rehash talking points about the Middle East were they concerned? Or like me are they bothered by the way she rejects diplomacy with Iran and think that it's audacious for her to describe diplomacy as "beyond naive" and "beyond bad judgment," despite the opposite conclusion from Colin Powell, Madeleine Albright, Warren Christopher, James Baker, and Henry Kissinger.

Listening to her stumble trying to explain why the U.S. must never "second guess" Israel's "security efforts" gives me chills. What do reasonable Republicans or conservatives think? When I first heard the argument that Russia was next door to Alaska so Palin has foreign policy experience, I laughed. But I have to wonder did a reasonable person watch her explain why Alaska's proximity to Russia really does offer her foreign policy experience, and think she made a valid argument?

Reasonable people can disagree about the nature of Palin's difficulties. Some will argue that Palin just hasn't had time to learn about government and policy issues. Others will argue she isn't very bright. Others still may make the case that she's just cracking under the pressure. But the cause isn't especially important -- reasonable people should agree that the Republican vice presidential nominee is way out of her depth, and has no business seeking national office.

At the risk of sounding impolite, Sarah Palin is embarrassing herself, her party, her ticket, and her supporters. The notion that she could be the leader of the free world is a joke. It has nothing to do with her being a woman, or being from Alaska. It has everything to do with the fact that she is not prepared, does not seem to have done any preperation before being nominated, and shows little interest in learning now.

Really, what does an earnest honest Republican think about Palin after watching any of her three interviews? Does it give him or her pause? Does he or she cringe, but suppress the fear for the good of the party?

I would like to know.

This Was Helpful???

Democrats and some Republicans had made a lot of headway on the bailout plan. Then Republican John McCain came to town (having never read the bipartisan plan) and instead promoted "tax cuts for corporate America and less regulation". Again lets remember that for decades John McCain has been for deregulating the economy, and has up until the last two weeks run on an economic plan of tax cuts for corporate America and less regulation, so his grand idea was more of the same. Republican John McCain's radical injection of himself into the bailout negotiations is just more of the same and is exactly what led us into this economic failure.

For a week John McCain tried to cast himself as a populist, but then when a deal was about to be made he threw out an alternative plan that Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke had already said would not work in Congressional testimony to the House (which McCain probably missed as he was meeting with U2's Bono) and came out against the plan.

Some highlights of the bailout plan that John McCain now doesn't want:

- Two oversight boards would be formed—one with congressional representation, another would have the power to undo decisions by the Treasury Secretary.

- The Treasury Secretary would be prohibited from acting in an arbitrary or capricious manner or any way inconsistent with existing law.- Regular, detailed reports would be made to Congress disclosing exercise of the Treasury Secretary's authority.

- An independent inspector general would be set up to monitor the use of the Treasury Secretary's authority.

- The Government Accountability Office would be required to perform audits to ensure proper use of funds, appropriate internal controls, and to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse.

- Maximize and coordinate efforts to modify mortgages for homeowners at risk of foreclosure.

- Loan modifications would be required for mortgages owned or controlled by the federal government.

- A percentage of future profits from the bailout fund would be made available to the Affordable Housing Fund and the Capital Magnet Fund to meet America's housing needs.

Breaking News: WaMu fails

This just in.

Washington Mutual, the giant lender that came to symbolize the excesses of the mortgage boom, was seized by federal regulators on Thursday night in the largest bank failure in American history.

Regulators simultaneously brokered an emergency sale of virtually all of Washington Mutual to JPMorgan Chase. The remainder of WaMu, the nation’s largest savings and loan, will be operated by the government. Shareholders and some bondholders will be wiped out. WaMu deposits are guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation up to the $100,000 limit for each account. WaMu customers are unlikely to be affected.

McCain Bailout plan: More deregulation

Remember how McCain was going to come in and save the day? What he really did was try to ambsush the Democrats, and score some cheap points. McCain came into the White House where a deal was imminent and suddenly offered an alternative plan that would include fewer regulations and more corporate tax breaks for businesses. Got that? We are in a crisis because of deregulation and what is McCain's solution? More deregulation.


LibertyAir Blog

John McCain said this was a crisis that needed to be dealt with, and then politicized the deal that was almost done. The Politico has more.

And Now Something Just For Fun

JibJab puts out some great videos, and I needed to put something on fun. The news has been a little too depressing lately.

LibertyAir Blog

Brave New Films: John McCain's health records must be released

Brave New Films treads where the main stream media dares not go. They ask the question, where are John McCain's health records. Months ago the McCain campaign put out some of John McCain's medical records in a highly controlled process that saw a few reporters given three hours to scan over a thousand pages, where they could not take any pictures, make copies, and had limited notes. It was ridiculous that the media let this go, but they did. Today I saw a television add put out by Brave New Films that declared that "John McCain's health records must be released."

I went to look for the Ad, but instead found this longer version. Watch it, it's very interesting.

LibertyAir Blog

Barack Obama's New One Minute Ad On Economy

LibertyAir Blog

John McCain: I haven't read the Paulson plan

John McCain made big news about "suspending" his campaign (he didn't) because he was going to ride into Washington and save the day, but it turns out that as of Tuesday he had not read the Paulson plan. Watch here:

LibertyAir Blog

Palin Talks With Katie Couric About Russia

Sarah Palin was not ready to speak with Katie Couric last night, she is not ready to be Vice President, and she is definitely not ready to lead this country.

In the video below, Katie Couric asks Sarah Palin to explain why Alaska's proximity to Russia gives her any foreign policy experience. It is almost sad to watch Sarah Palin grasp at an answer. She does not understand why her answer that you can see Russia from Alaska is being mocked, which is just sad. How has she not improved her answer since she was asked the same question by Charlie Gibson?



LibertyAir Blog