Is It Over For McCain?

  I missed the debate last night because I was stuck at the border crossing, in line, waiting to get back into the United States. Mexico must have has some kind of a sale going on, who knows.

  But from the videos that I have taken peeks at, it appears that John McCain bit the dust in this debate also. I was amused with McCain's  " dear in headlights " look and a few other facial expressions that he had. I see that he still can't get past the " grumpy old man " attitude.

   That being said...

   Joan Vennochi  of The Boston Globe has an interesting take on McCain's performance and his chances for the White House.

IT'S OVER. John McCain still hasn't told the country why he should be president.

He has talking points. He is against taxes, earmarks, and pork. But he can't knit what he opposes into a coherent economic philosophy that would inspire voters to get behind him in the final days of this presidential campaign.

He has an inspirational life story. But in this campaign, he never connected his biography to his presidential ambition, and he never told voters how it would shape a McCain administration and make him a better president than his opponent.

McCain has long years of political experience, exactly what Democrat Barack Obama lacks. But McCain is unable to explain why his experience makes him better able to lead the country.

Obama grinned; McCain grimaced.

Each knows his destiny. One man is walking to the White House. The other is just a politically dead man walking.

   McCain and the Republican have only one hope left for the White House. That is either to steal this election or the voter disenfranchisement which they have been hard at work on. Get as many Democratic voters off of the voting rolls as possible as we have seen in Ohio and their lame attempt to do so in Montana. This action by the GOP will be spreading to other states at a more rapid pace.

Technorati Tags: John McCain,Barack Obama,Debates,Democrats,Republicans,Voters,2008 Election

GOP Trying To Disenfranchise Ohio Voters

   As if this was unexpected from the cowards in the republican Party? These morons cannot win an election fairly and they have no issues to stand on, so the only way for them to gain any traction is by having voters purged from the rolls. The case in Ohio covers some 660,00 voters which the Republicans would clearly love to see taken off of those rolls.

Breaking: GOP Attempts to Disenfranchise 600,000 Voters In Ohio

by Big Blue  @ DKos Tue Oct 14, 2008

With millions of new voters registering nationwide, the GOP has gone on the offensive to prevent as many of these new voters from making it to the polls as possible.  And as of today, they've scored a massive victory in Ohio...

 

Talking Points Memo has the story:

The full 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati upheld a lower court ruling that Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner must use other government records to check thousands of new voters for registration fraud.

A three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit had disagreed last week, but the full court's ruling overturns that decision.

Ohio Republicans had sued Brunner, a Democrat. Her spokesman had no immediate comment Tuesday.

About 666,000 Ohioans have registered to vote since January, with many doing so before the contested Democratic primary election last March between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Since then, Ohio Republicans have filed a series of challenges to the registrations and Brunner's administration of election rules. They have helped voters file lawsuits against local boards of election over registration rules, absentee ballot requests and a weeklong period that allowed registration and voting on the same day.

Brunner previously said there was no way to set up the system with such speed.

Last week, a three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit had sided with Brunner, but after hearing an appeal the full panel sided with the GOP and U.S. District Judge George C. Smith in Columbus. Smith had ordered Brunner to develop a way to verify voter registration information and make it available to local election boards.

So basically, now we have to trust the always reliable DMV and Social Security Adminstration to have accurate information on all the newly registered voters.  Hmm... who here thinks that citizens are more likely to know how to spell their names and where they live than the DMV is?

We need to promote this story and fight it tooth and nail.  The GOP is intentionally undermining voter confidence in the electoral system despite having not a shred of evidence to prove any conspiracy to commit voter fraud.  In fact, a five year investigation by the Bush Adminstration revealed only 120 prosecutable offenses of voter fraud in a nation where 100 million people turn out for presidential elections.

And now 600,000 people in Ohio could possibly lose their right to vote just so the GOP can "insure the integrity of the voting system."  Just like the Clear Skies Act (which reduced air pollution controls) and the Patriot Act (which undermined the Constitution), we can always be sure that whatever Republicans are claiming to do, they are really doing the exact opposite.

UPDATE: Let me add something here in response to some of the comments that we shouldn't worry about this, or that this is hyperbole.  I agree that the GOP won't succeed at dumping all 600,000 voters off the rolls, but they may very well succeed in dumping several tens of thousands.  There was a story in last week's New York Times that dealt with the issue of voter purges and how tens of thousands were being denied the right to vote because something didn't match up in their Social Security information.

The time to worry about these actions is not after the election, it's right now.  One eligible voter deprived of the right to vote is one too many.

UPDATE II: HungryCoyote asks a good question.  If Social Security files are accurate, then why has the Social Security Administration asked states not to use them to verify voters (unless they simply don't have a valid driver's license)?

UPDATE IV: HungryCoyote points out a good excerpt from that New York Times article:

The six swing states seem to be in violation of federal law in two ways. Michigan and Colorado are removing voters from the rolls within 90 days of a federal election, which is not allowed except when voters die, notify the authorities that they have moved out of state, or have been declared unfit to vote.

So, this seems top to bottom to be a pretty scummy thing for the GOP to be doing.

UPDATE V: On a related note, I covered some of this topic in a blog post the other day dealing with ACORN and the GOP's misleading claims of voter fraud.  I suppose we all have a good bead on that story by now, but if not, you can read more on that here.

UPDATE VI: Some in the comments have wondered just what they can do.  At first I had posted the contact info for a couple of SoS offices so that we could voice our support for Sec. Brunner standing up for voting rights, but some think that this might be counter productive, so I've deleted that and am now simply recommending writing to Ohio newspapers.

If you live in Ohio, then I suggest you take the time to write a letter to the editor of a major Ohio newspaper:

Email The Columbus Dispatch or Visit the Cincinnati Enquirer

Technorati Tags: GOP,Election Fraud,Ohio,Jennifer Brunner,2008 Election

Presidential Polls For Monday, October 13, 2008

  As if you do not already know which nominee is leading in these polls. In case you have had a memory lapse, the leader is, STILL, Democratic nominee, Senator Barack Obama!

 

Source

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama,John McCain,Polls,Democrats,Republicans,2008 Election,President

The Bradley Effect

   I was scouring the Internet at lunch time and I ran across this article which I heard about by way of DailyKos.com.

   The article is from an individual who once lived in the Caribbean, but who now resides in the United States. The author states that just about everyone is watching our election to see which America will emerge after the votes are counted. The author see's two America's in this election.

  So what about the " Bradley Effect"?

The Bradley effect

Wayne Brown

Sunday, October 12th 2008

By the polls, it should already be over: Obama is leading McCain nationally by a 'washout' six points, and Electoral College vote tallies (EVs) suggest he's unassailable. With 270 EVs required for victory, the two leading aggregate pollsters, RealClearPolitics and Pollster.com, both put him already over the top.

(Between 'Solid' and 'Leaning', RCP gives Obama 277 EVs to McCain's 158. This means that even if McCain were to run the table in the remaining eight toss-up state she'd still fall short.)

Several recent major polls show Obama crossing the 50 per cent threshold: something no Democratic candidate has done since Jimmy Carter, and none as late as this. White women, those 'security moms' who in 2004 went for Bush by 11 points over John Kerry, are currently favouring Obama by three points; and Palin is now losing female voters faster than she attracted them after the Republican National Convention.

Meanwhile, Obama's 21-point disadvantage among white men is roughly no worse than the margin by which every Democratic presidential candidate since Lyndon Johnson has lost that demographic.

Equally telling,Obama is currently attacking McCain in red states where Democrats have long feared to tread. Meanwhile, McCain - with Palin now almost always at his side - has been campaigning exclusively in the reddest districts of states he's visited: a desperation akin to the Titanic's crew trying to bail its flooding bilges with buckets. A candidate still trying to excite (or incite) his base with just three weeks to go is a candidate staring at ruin.

McCain's recent rallies have been degenerate; as one blogger put it,'less political in nature than tribal, primitive anger fests. These are festivals of hate against Obama, Democrats, liberals and the media.' The despair is palpable.

So why has no commentator yet called the election? Why has virtually every Obama supporter this columnist has quizzed - West Indian or American, white or black - responded with a painful mix of hope and dread, a misty-eyed or husky, 'God, I hope so!'- as if affirming belief in an Obama victory were something that lay at the very limit of his/her courage?

The answer, of course, is 'the Bradley effect': the suspicion that, whatever white Americans tell the pollsters, in the privacy of the voting booth enough will vengefully cast their vote against the black man to throw the election to McCain, after all. American racism has been such a chronic obscenity in the eyes of the world (including millions of Americans) that it's hardly conceivable that a society that has so festered morally for so long could 'suddenly' turn around and elect a black president.

Reports Politico: 'A racial backlash that is not visible in today's polls is increasingly the subject of obsessive interest in the nonstop, not-for-attribution conversation that takes place between reporters, political analysts and campaign sources in the heat of an election. There's the assumption that racial antagonisms are an unexploded bomb in this contest.'

One day last week on MSNBC, the prospect of 'Bradley' confounding the polls so traumatised Democratic activist James Carville that he began, 'If Obama goes into the election with a five-point lead and loses'- and couldn't finish the sentence.

The Bradley effect will occur, of course - no society shed sits cunning knuckle-draggers in one fell swoop. The question is on what scale. In the Democratic primaries, it appeared most virulently in New Hampshire ('the most racist state north of Mason-Dixie,' a white American colleague who'd lived there confided to this columnist), confounding a 17-point Obama lead in the polls - though the CW preferred to ascribe the turnaround to women's sympathy at Hillary's sudden tears when facing the prospect of her peremptory ejection from the race. And in states like Massachusetts and California, it was probably 'Bradley' that gave Clinton her bigger-than-predicted wins.

Among Hispanics, the phenomenon apparently functioned in Nevada and Texas, which, by the polls, Obama should narrowly have won but narrowly lost. But one expects this factor to be much muted this time: Mexican-Americans' most urgent concerns (the Florida Cubans are a different matter) are the economy, health care, education and immigration; and McCain's suspect credentials in these arenas suggests that, by and large, they'll come home to the Democrat.

In fact, with the first generation of Cuban exiles dying off, Obama is currently almost splitting the Cuban vote in southeast Florida. He needs to make only small further gains with that demographic to clinch a state where he's already leading - and which by itself would give him the presidency.

Elsewhere in the primaries, 'Bradley' was not apparent at all: in the northwest (Oregon, Washington), or the 'white' Midwestern states of Iowa and Wisconsin, or the Chesapeake states - as well as, surprisingly, Indiana. These were all states where Obama's results either matched or exceeded the polls' predictions.

The Bradley effect seems likeliest to function in the Rust Belt, in Ohio and Pennsylvania. It's worth noting that while, in the primaries, it didn't operate in either, something closely related to it did.

What happened was that, in both states, Obama actually overtook Clinton in the polls - until, in the very last days, the Undecideds broke heavily for Clinton, giving her each by ten points. 'Undecided' was clearly the self-ascription by which 'Reagan democrats' in these states fended off the pollsters, until the last minute. Since they did, however, announce for Clinton before entering the voting booth, theirs wasn't an example of 'Bradley'.

Perhaps crucially, the percentages of Undecideds at this point are much smaller than they were in the primaries; but the polls in Ohio (where Obama leads by 4 points) and Pennsylvania (by 12) must remain suspect. Skeptical Obama supporters will be watching these states closely in the first three days of November. A sudden tightening of the polls in either at that point would not bode well for Obama in them.

But Obama is currently attacking-and leading-in so many red states-Colorado, Ohio, Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, Missouri, Nevada, Indiana, New Hampshire - that, even without blue Pennsylvania, he has all manner of different routes to 270 EVs. By contrast, McCain would need to hold all the above-mentioned states, as well as grab Pennsylvania: the Bradley effect, in other words,would have to operate powerfully in all of them.

But Bradley was 26 years ago; and the US has changed greatly since then. For the first time, young voters seem likely to come out in their numbers on election day. Most are genuinely 'post-racial', and most support Obama. Being largely cell phone users, they have been consistently under-represented in the polls: a fact that at least partially counters the potential of 'Bradley'.

Additionally, Obama reportedly has the best ground game and get-out-the-vote outfit in US presidential elections' history.

And finally - and we in the Caribbean intuitively know this -African-American turnout in this election is a tsunami about to happen.

In fact, it's already happening. In Georgia, where early voting began last week, lines to the polling stations stretched several blocks; and eyewitnesses reported they were almost wholly comprised of African-Americans.

And what those startlingly precocious queues were saying, in effect, was: 'Closet racists, bring it on! We'll see your 'Bradley' and raise it with ourselves.'

Technorati Tags: The Bradley Effect,Barack Obama,John McCain,2008 Election,George Bush,Democrats,Republicans,Racist

The McCain/Palin Hate Rhetoric Not Well Liked

   ABC News

The McCain campaign’s more aggressive tone is prompting pushback from the public: Registered voters by a broad margin now believe John McCain is more focused on attacking his opponent than on addressing the issues in the 2008 presidential election.

Barack Obama, by contrast, is perceived even more widely as sticking to the issues, this new ABC News/Washington Post poll finds – a striking point of differentiation between the two.

  It would seem that John McCain has underestimated the mood of the general public. Are we surprised?

 Candidate is mainly:
            Addressing    Attacking 
            the issues   his opponent 
Now: 
 McCain        35%           59 
 Obama         68            26 

8/22:

McCain                  45%                      48


Obama                   64                        29

The important question here is, what about those coveted Independent voters.

   The deciding factor, as ever in presidential politics, is independents. They see McCain as mainly attacking his opponent, by 61-33 percent, but Obama as mainly addressing the issues, by 68 -26 percent.

  McCain does not poll very well with anyone other than Republicans, which is no surprise. The old man and the P have nothing to run on. Let's face it shall we? McCain and the Republican's are afraid of the issues which confront both you and I.

Technorati Tags: John McCain,Barack Obama,ABC News,Polls,2008 Election

John McCain: “Obama Is A Decent Person"

  Well, it certainly took Senator McCain long enough to try to slow the hate rhetoric down at both he and his sidekick's town-hall meetings. I think that this is just a little to late as far as his campaign is concerned. He is toast and he has a special thanks to his VP nominee Sarah Palin to thank for that. Her hate filled speeches and attempts at getting her crowds worked up enough to say " kill him "  ( Barack Obama ) should have her ass arrested.

  So what do they think about this bullshit in the press overseas? Let us go take a read from a German newspaper.

  Translated  by the fine people at  Watching America

By Jörg Lau
John McCain played this disastrous game for too long a time and now he’s forced to confront his own supporters. That’s the honorable thing to do and it befits his maverick image.
Translated By Ron Argentati
11 October 2008
Germany - Die Zeit - Original Article (German)
After almost daily attacks on Barack Obama, mainly by Sarah Palin, John McCain has slammed on the brakes. On Friday, he said in a townhall meeting with supporters that Barack Obama was “a decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared of as president of the United States.”
With that, John McCain gave proof of his own decency. After the attacks of recent days when Obama was accused of “palling around” with terrorists, people were beginning to wonder about McCain.
This nasty attack style, introduced by McCain’s new campaign manager, Steve Schmidt, didn’t exactly arrive at an opportune moment. But McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin, had no reservations right from the beginning about running a dirty campaign. The terrorism attacks came from her.
John McCain has now taken over control of his campaign. He wants to win (or, more correctly, lose) on his own ideas and character, a decision that does him honor.
At Republican campaign events recently, more and more of McCain’s hate-filled supporters were becoming vocal. At the mention of Obama’s name, many yelled “terrorist” and even “kill him.”
At one townhall meeting, a woman said “I don’t trust Obama. I’ve read about him. He’s an Arab.” McCain had to go against the crowd: “No, ma’am,” McCain said several times, shaking his head in disagreement. “He’s a decent, family man, [a] citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that’s what this campaign is all about.”
John McCain played this disastrous game for too long a time and now he’s forced to confront his own supporters. That’s the honorable thing to do and it befits his maverick image.
But it also means the Republicans are finished as far as this election is concerned.

CLICK HERE FOR ORIGINAL VERSION

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama,John McCain,Sarah Palin,2008 Election

The Week For Conservatives..

   wasn't a very good week. We had the party's true colors ( bigots, racist, hate-mongers ) show up in full force complete with the backing of both John McCain and Sarah ( Brainless Barbie ) Palin.

by DarkSyde @ DKos  Sat Oct 11, 2008

It's chilling to contemplate just how many more weeks like this one the country can take. Bad week, real bad; ugly start to nasty finish. What sucks even more is the entire nation is gripped ever more tightly in an eternal conservative nightmare from which it cannot yet wake.

This Week in Conservatism we learned that even as Lady Liberty stumbles and falls to her knees, crying out for a candidate that will unite us in purpose and lead us to solutions, the Plain-McSame campaign somehow concluded that what the Homeland really, actually, desperately needs is more hatred, ignorance, and division amongst ourselves. We learned that Conservative economic ideology leads to economic collapse with all too real and all too terrible consequences. And we learned that Sarah Palin is an official bald-faced liar.

Exhibit I: What a wondrous & magical free, unregulated market the GOP has brought us. This week we followed that conservative incarnation of the miraculous free market to its logical end: utter collapse. If the stock market part of the market is a forward looking indicator, The Great Republican Recession is almost upon us and, hey, it could get even worse:

"I've never seen a panic like this," said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's. "I've seen stock market drops, but not an overall panic." The plunge came in a stomach-churning 90 minutes. The Dow was down just 140 points in the early afternoon. But then, wave after wave of selling began to roll through the market. Stocks are on track for their worst year since 1937.

Exhibit II: I'm pretty sure, given the level of prideful ignorance and raw hatred on display at GOP rallies these days, that even if McCain did know the "projector" he used to diss Obama was a cosmic space-time learning machine for humans, he wouldn't have cared, in part because he truly does not comprehend the technical advances made in FX/Graphics in the last four decades:

Well, shock of shocks — it turns out McCain’s characterization of this was all wrong. In fact, I would call it a lie. He knows it wasn’t for an overhead projector, a piece of classroom equipment that costs a couple of hundred dollars. That money was for Adler’s Zeiss Mark VI star projector: a venerable piece of precision fabricated equipment that projects the stars, constellations, and other objects inside the planetarium dome. Adler’s Zeiss is 40 years old ...

Exhibit 3: Sarah Palin abused her power and violated Alaskan statutes.

Technorati Tags: Sarah Palin,John McCain,Conservatives,Wall Street,2008 Election

McCain, Palin, and Republicans Show Their Values

   DKos

It won't stop. This is how they do things.

by Kagro X   Fri Oct 10, 2008

It's clearly the right thing to do to demand that John McCain and Sarah Palin's sick incitements to domestic terrorism must stop.

But it's not going to. This is how they do things. When Republicans are in power, as they are now, they use the mechanisms of government to do their political violence to the constitutional order, as they've done by "normalizing" the existence of the surveillance state, of secret government, and even of nationalization of entire economic sectors.

It's when Republicans fall out of power, or fear falling out of power, that the violence they do to what used to be our system of government threatens to turn physical. And it's the fear of being overwhelmingly rejected at the ballot box that's bringing it out in them now.

It's no coincidence that the traditional media is noticing a disturbing uptick in violent rhetoric at McCain/Palin events, both inside and out, and from both the candidates and the crowds. It had to happen. Sarah Palin's entire political career is steeped in the same wingnut "black helicopter" militia insanity that manifested itself in the Oklahoma City massacre and other infamous explosions of blood-spattered, far-right paranoia like Ruby Ridge and Waco. Wading in up to their hips right at the peak of it all, though admittedly at the far-flung fringes of it all, were Sarah Palin and the man whose bizarre personal vendettas she lives to prosecute: Todd Palin.

  Now, I've known some ignorant people in my time, but the ones in the video below take the cake.  Ignorant, dumb, and stupid are the folks in this video. Just what John McCain and the Republican Party seek.

Technorati Tags: John McCain,Sarah Palin,GOP,Barack Obama,2008 Election

John McCain: Terrorist At Large

  John McCain has obviously lost his fucking mind and Sarah Palin obviously does not have a mind! The bullshit that they have been edging on in their town-hall meetings and other campaign get together's with their base is nothing but the most obscene political dirty tactics known to mankind and this shit should be stopped! If some of the crazies at these rally's actually do something stupid, it will be on John McCain's head, not that he would care.

The next McVeigh is on McCain

by ron ray @ DKos  Fri Oct 10, 2008

I hoped, perhaps, it was just me.

I saw the hateful crowds at at McCain and Palin rallies. I heard the weak denials (they can't hear the threats, I watched a mouthpiece tell a talking head, though it's clear on one video that McCain reacts when some yells 'terrorist'.) I waited for the candidates to at least say that calling for violence is uncalled for. Still waiting.

It worried me. But perhaps, I told myself, I worry too much.

I grew up in violent times. My earliest political memories are watching on TV the processions that brought Bobby and MLK to their graves. But that couldn't happen again, could it?

Of course, it has.

I've visited several times the site of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. It happened when political divisions and hatreds inspired a community of vigilantes armed against their own country, which helped hide a couple of even crazier extremists -- who made their statement by blowing up a building of innocent workers including 19 children.

When you start calling people traitors, or calling Obama a terrorist -- the modern equivalent of calling MLK a communist -- you help people excuse these sort of acts.

So Mr. McCain, if one of these crazies turns to violence, you share the blame.

If you've never been to the Oklahoma City memorial, it's sobering place. Monuments freeze forever the time -- 9:01 a.m., on April 19 -- that the bomb went off.

On a grassy lawn are 16 chairs representing the victims. Nineteen of those are tiny, for the children who's only crime was being in a day care center when the blast occured.

Among President Clinton's statement at a the time blaming hate speech for inspiring the blast -- which got conservatives and talk-radio folks up in arms. But he was right.

This was not long after the GOP takeover of Congress, through campaigns that often fed off conspiracy theories and outright hatred of anything democratic. I covered one as a journalist, of a woman named Helen Chenoweth, who courted militias.

At the time, you could go onto Phyllis Schafley's Web site (she an inspiration for conservative women like Sarah Palin) that suggested the Clintons were about the hand the country over to the UN. There were secret messages on the backs of road signs, and black helicopters in the air. As crazy as that sounds now, the video featured a number of GOP lawmakers.

On talk radio, they insisted Clinton and Reno killed the followers of David Koresh, actually the victims of a murder/suicide by their leaders. Forgotten was the fact that the Koreshis opened fire on cops.

But then again, the right wing entirely forgot the old Republican committment to supporting law officers. The NRA christened them jackbooted thugs. G. Gordon Liddy, friend to Republicans like John McCain, instructed listeners to shoot them in the head because they wore vests. Rush Limbaugh said "The second violent American revolution is just about--I got my fingers about a quarter of an inch apart--is just about that far away," according to the Washington Post.

A lesser talk radio head circulated a bumper sticker that read "Lee Harvey Oswald: Where are you now that we really need you?"

It was against that background that Timothy McVeigh acted. Oh, he was much crazier than anyone on talk radio, a race hater from a far-right christian sect. But he clearly thought he would inspire a revolution.

What I see today is eerily similar. Just as Newt and his closest allies didn't officially say Clinton was a traitor, McCain and Palin don't say exactly say Obama is a terrorist. They're just 'raising the question' about his 'associations,' with a wink and a nod. Other people say it for them.

Drill down just a little from them and you find the conspiracy theorists and haters. Drill on down and you'll find the crazies.

Again, I had hoped it was just me. This couldn't be real. John McCain is at heart an honorable man, he wouldn't play this game. Then again, he did pick Palin -- whose husband until recently belonged to a secessionist party of kooks -- to be his attack dog.

As I read this morning, I see sober people like David Gergen seeing the same things I do. A former governor of Michigan and the son of William Buckley denounce McCain. It's not just me.

I pray nothing happens, but this is a scary moment in politics. I've never seen major candidates for president and vice president stoop so low.

And I think of those tiny chairs on a lawn in Oklahoma. McCain, the next time, it could be on you.

Technorati Tags: John McCain,Sarah Palin,Timothy McVeigh,Terrorist

FISA: Just Spying On Terrorist? Not Exactly

  Courtesy of ABCNews we get to learn that the Bush administration is still reading your emails and listening in on your private phone calls.

   Despite pledges by President George W. Bush and American intelligence officials to the contrary, hundreds of US citizens overseas have been eavesdropped on as they called friends and family back home, according to two former military intercept operators who worked at the giant National Security Agency (NSA) center in Fort Gordon, Georgia.

"These were just really everyday, average, ordinary Americans who happened to be in the Middle East, in our area of intercept and happened to be making these phone calls on satellite phones," said Adrienne Kinne, a 31-year old US Army Reserves Arab linguist assigned to a special military program at the NSA's Back Hall at Fort Gordon from November 2001 to 2003.

Kinne described the contents of the calls as "personal, private things with Americans who are not in any way, shape or form associated with anything to do with terrorism."

She said US military officers, American journalists and American aid workers were routinely intercepted and "collected on" as they called their offices or homes in the United States.

  So are we to presume that our United States Military's officers are being labaled as terrorist, as well as are the reporters and aid workers?

   Go to the ABC link and read the entire story. You have no privacy, people.

Technorati Tags: FISA,Civil Rights,George Bush,Warrantless Wiretaps,ABC News

BREAKING: How did GOP get $8 million from Wachovia?

by ProgressiveSouth  Thu Oct 09, 2008

Cross-posted at Facing South -- your source for news, politics and trends in the changing South. This in-depth report follows up on a diary by tommytutone  at DailyKos yesterday.This issue needs more attention!

Wachovia Corp., a once-thriving financial giant now teetering on the brink of collapse, confirmed today that it was extending an $8 million loan to the cash-strapped National Republican Congressional Committee for last-minute activites to support GOP House candidates.

Wachovia's decision to lend money to the NRCC -- itself reeling from a damaging financial scandal earlier this year -- is sure to draw charges of favoritism, as Wachovia denies credit and freezes assets for thousands of other customers.

Allegations of favoritism are especially delicate for Wachovia, given the company's disproportionate support of Republican campaigns and organizations.

What's more, Wachovia's loan to the NRCC comes as Wachovia awaits the outcome of precarious buyout negotations which have relied on federal backing -- inviting questions over the political activities of companies whose survival depend on public support.

WACHOVIA'S BIG FALL

In a year of spectacular finance industry failures, the fall of Wachovia Corp. -- the 4th-biggest bank in the country -- was one of the biggest. This past July, Wachovia announced staggering 2nd-quarter losses totaling over $9 billion --  the second-largest bank losses in history. The crisis forced the financial giant to slash over 11,000 jobs and cut $2 billion in expenses.

Wachovia's economic tailspin this year also caused them to drastically cut back on making loans. By July 2008, Wachovia branches were turning down most loan requests that came across their desk, as The New York Times reported:

Banks struggling to recover from multibillion-dollar losses on real estate are curtailing loans to American businesses, depriving even healthy companies of money for expansion and hiring. [...]

Drew Greenblatt, president of Marlin Steel Wire Products, figured it would be easy to get a $300,000 bank loan to finance a new robot for his factory in Baltimore. His company, which makes parts for makers of home appliances, is growing and profitable, he said. His expansion would add three new jobs to an economy hungry for work.

But when Greenblatt called the local branch of Wachovia -- the same bank that had been aggressively marketing loans to him for years -- he was distressed by the response.

"The exact words were, 'We're saying no to almost everybody,'" Greenblatt recalled. [emphasis added]

But Wachovia hadn't hit bottom yet. For the next three months, stock prices kept falling and losses mounted. By the time Washington Mutual failed on September 25, investors had lost all faith in Wachovia, too. Wachovia faced a "silent run" as businesses and institutions began pulling out vast sums of money.

The possibility of total collapse was so real that the FDIC, for the first time ever, used its authority to prevent a failure that could pose a "systemic risk" to the financial system by forcing Wachovia into a rescue buyout by Citigroup.

Wachovia's dramatic fall -- and uncertainty around the Citi buyout -- has forced it to further slash access to capital and credit. In a widely-publicized move, Wachovia announced days later that it was freezing the short-term accounts of nearly 1,000 colleges who invested in the Commonfund -- generating panic at campuses nation-wide, as the Chronicle of Higher Education reported:

The move has left 900 institutions unable to get access to billions of dollars they depend on for salaries, campus construction, and debt payments.

Making matters worse, Wachovia's situation has grown even more precarious over the last week, as the FDIC-engineered buyout by Citi fell apart amid a storm of lawsuits after rival Wells Fargo made a counter-offer for Wachovia's takeover.

BAILING OUT THE NRCC

It was in this context that yesterday, in a little-noticed item in Roll Call (and noted by Chris Bowers at OpenLeft), that the National Republican Congressional Committee had obtained an $8 million loan from Wachovia to help out House Republican candidates in the final weeks of the 2008 elections:

The National Republican Congressional Committee, trailing its Democratic counterpart considerably in cash on hand, has secured an $8 million loan to spend on House races during the last few weeks of the campaign, according to sources.

The NRCC reported $14.4 million in cash on hand as of Aug. 31, compared to $54 million in the bank for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. As it did last cycle, the NRCC is procuring its loan from Wachovia Bank, sources confirmed.

The announcement that Wachovia is throwing a lifeline to the RNCC for the home stretch of the 2008 elections is remarkable for several reasons.

First, the timing – shortly after Wachovia had cut off credit to nearly 1,000 colleges and in the middle of precarious and bitterly-contested buyout negotiations – is a PR problem and financially risky for a company that is still on financial life support.

Wachovia's loan also raises questions about the political involvements of businesses that get the support of the federal government.

In the Citigroup buyout arrangement, the FDIC has agreed to absorb any losses Citi may incur beyond $42 billion -- and therefore ensuring Wachovia's ability to operate and make loans. Financial analyst Karen Petrou described the federal government's central role on the radio show MarketPlace:

[The FDIC-arranged Citigroup buyout of Wachovia] is not a private sector transaction. This is a government rescue.

In order to get Citi to buy Wachovia, the FDIC promised to shoulder most of the potential losses. There are a lot of them. Wachovia purchased a California lender in 2006, which was riddled with bad mortgages. That's added to what is now $312 billion in loans on Wachovia's balance sheet.

Citi is at risk for only $42 billion of that portfolio. The rest of the $312 [billion] goes to the FDIC. [emphasis added]

Since the FDIC first pushed the Citigroup buyout, rival Wells Fargo stepped forward with an alternative proposal that doesn't include federal backing. Citi and Wells Fargo are still trying to iron out a compromise.

But the Citi deal is still one the table. And most importantly, it's only due to the FDIC's promise of support that Wachovia is alive at all, as New York Times business writer Steven Davidoff observes:

According to an affidavit of Wachovia’s chief executive, Robert K. Steel, Wachovia would have filed for bankruptcy protection on Sept. 29 without some kind of government assistance. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation arranged to support the Citi transaction on an open bank assistance basis. [...]

It is uncertain whether Citi would have stepped up to the plate to acquire Wachovia without this assistance. From the affidavit of Mr. Steel filed with the federal court over the weekend, it appears that Wells Fargo initially stated that it would not.

By providing this assistance, the F.D.I.C. allowed Wachovia to survive as a whole entity outside bankruptcy.

In other words, Wachovia is only able to operate and make loans today because the federal government has its back. That Wachovia would turn around and use its financial position to bolster the NRCC at a critical moment in the 2008 elections raises the specter of public resources and influence being used to serve partisan ends.

A TROUBLED CLIENT

Finally, Wachovia's extraordinary move to help the RNCC now is especially interesting given that the RNCC has been a troubling client for Wachovia in the past.

Wachovia also gave the RNCC a loan for $9 million in 2006 (which it didn't pay back until March 2008). But shortly after receiving the loan, the RNCC was wracked by an embarrassing and widely-publicized financial scandal.

In what The Washington Post would describe as "the biggest campaign swindle ever recorded," evidence emerged of widespread financial improprieties. The FBI was brought in to investigate.

It was eventually revealed that the NRCC's Treasurer, Christopher Ward, had embezzled as much as $725,000. Among other misdeeds, to cover up his tracks Ward and the NRCC submitted forged audit reports to Wachovia in 2006 to obtain their loan.

But it wasn't just one bad apple: As Politico reported in February, the problem stemmed from years of financial mismanagement at the NRCC:

The accounting scandal now haunting the National Republican Congressional Committee was preceded by a series of decisions over the past decade to relax internal financial controls at the committee, according to numerous Republican sources familiar with the NRCC’s operations during those years.

As of this spring, the NRCC had failed to conduct an independent audit since 2003.

The NRCC says it has since reorganized and cleaned up its financial systems. But others seeking loans from Wachovia – including those now being denied credit or see their assets frozen – may wonder if they’d be given a similar second chance.

REPUBLICAN CONNECTIONS

The possibility that the NRCC may have benefited from favoritism at Wachovia, especially given the precarious position of both parties, is particularly relevant given the political leanings of Wachovia's leadership.

Like most financial companies, Wachovia spreads its political giving to both parties. But in 2008, Wachovia's PAC contributions to Republicans have been nearly double that given to Democrats. According to campaign finance reports at OpenSecrets.org, 62% of contributions in 2008 from Wachovia's biggest PAC went to Republican candidates and 38% to Democrats.

Wachovia's newly-installed CEO, Robert K. Steel is also a major supporter of the Republican Party. A North Carolina native, in 2006 Steel was appointed by President Bush to serve as Under Secretary of Domestic Finance in the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where he served from October 2006 to July 2008. In July 2008, Steel resigned from the Treasury and was named President and CEO of Wachovia.

According to OpenSecrets.org, Steel has contributed $99,600 to candidates and parties in the 2004, 2006 and 2008 election cycles. Of those contributions, $94,600 -- 95% -- have gone to Republicans and only 5% to Democrats, and that includes a $1,000 donation to Democrat John Edwards that was returned.

Steel's contributions to Republicans include a $25,000 gift to the National Republican Senatorial Committee and a $10,000 donation to John McCain's Straight Talk America PAC in 2006. All of Steel's 2008 donations have been to GOP candidates.

None of these facts prove that Wachovia's loan to the NRCC was politically motivated. But given the grim financial circumstances facing both parties -- and the central role of the federal government in Wachovia's fragile future -- it certainly raises lots of questions.

UPDATE 1: Thanks for rec'ing this!

Question: Can you help me get this out to places where it can get noticed -- MSNBC, other blogs, papers, etc.? I've been contacting media outlets, but it's looking like this is going to require some grassroots viral distribution.

Also: Wachovia stocks (like everyone's) tanked today by 28.85%. All the more reason they shouldn't be giving loans to risky entities like the NRCC while the deny credit to thousands of businesses, colleges and individuals.

UPDATE 2: Citi is pulling out:

Citigroup said late Thursday that it will not try to block a merger between Wachovia and Wells Fargo, but that it would continue to seek billions of dollars in damages after the Charlotte-based bank spurned a $2.2 billion deal proffered by Citigroup at the government’s behest.

That means the FDCI-brokered deal that had the feds assuming a huge chunk of potential losses is off the table. But as noted below, it's important to remember that Wachovia is only alive now because of the promise of FDIC backing -- i.e., U.S. taxpayers may not end up footing the bill, but they made the loan to the NRCC possible.

Technorati Tags: Wachovia,NRCC,Robert Steel,Financial Crisis,Economy,Bailout,Citigroup

Joe Biden Comes Back Swinging At Palin/McCain

  Joe Biden came back to  the campaign trail in full force with a campaign stop down in Tampa, Florida on Wednesday in which he nailed both John McCain and Sarah Palin to the wall.

  Welcome back Joe!

Technorati Tags: Joe Biden,Barack Obama,John McCain,Sarah Palin,2008 Election

Another Friend Of John McCain: G. Gordon Liddy

  I'm not going to get into how the debate went last night as it was a boring affair and we learned nothing new from either candidate. We did get to that that Tom Brokaw is biased for McCain though.

  On to other issues now.

G. Gordon Liddy

In 1971, after serving in several positions in the Nixon administration, Liddy was moved to Nixon's 1972 campaign, the Committee to Re-elect the President (officially known as "CRP" but to opponents known as CREEP), in order to extend the scope and reach of the White House "Plumbers" unit, which had been created in response to various damaging leaks of information to the press.

[SNIP]

For his role in Watergate, which he coordinated with Hunt, Liddy was convicted of conspiracy, burglary and illegal wiretapping, and received a 20-year sentence. He served a total of five and half years in prison, including over 100 days in solitary confinement, before his sentence was commuted by President Jimmy Carter and he was released on September 7, 1977.

Liddy was made to salute the Stars and Stripes Nazi-style by the nuns at his school; even now, he admits, "at assemblies where the national anthem is played, I must suppress the urge to snap out my right arm." His beloved German nanny taught him that Hitler had -- through sheer will-power -- "dragged Germany from weakness to strength."

[SNIP]

When he listened to Hitler on the radio, it "made me feel a strength inside I had never known before," he explains. "Hitler's sheer animal confidence and power of will [entranced me]. He sent an electric current through my body."

The smear associating Barack to Ayers is phony, tenuous, and exaggerated, if not outright false.  Here’s what’s really scary:

Liddy has acknowledged preparing to kill someone during the Ellsberg break-in "if necessary"; plotting to murder journalist Jack Anderson; plotting with a "gangland figure" to murder Howard Hunt to stop him from cooperating with investigators; plotting to firebomb the Brookings Institution; and plotting to kidnap "leftist guerillas" at the 1972 Republican National Convention -- a plan he outlined to the Nixon administration using terminology borrowed from the Nazis.

Liddy has donated $5,000 to McCain's campaigns since 1998, including $1,000 in February 2008. In addition, McCain has appeared on Liddy's radio show during the presidential campaign, including as recently as May. An online video labeled "John McCain On The G. Gordon Liddy Show 11/8/07" includes a discussion between Liddy and McCain, whom Liddy described as an "old friend."  During the segment, McCain praised Liddy's "adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great," said he was "proud" of Liddy, and said that "it's always a pleasure for me to come on your program."    DKos

   Google Liddy and take a look at the Watergate scandal. This is one of McCain's friends?

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama,John McCain,G Gordon Liddy,Watergate,2008 Election

John McCain & Sarah Palin's GOP: Hate-Filled Inc.

  As you have seen in the past few weeks, the racists at large will stoop to the lowest levels of humanity (? ) to get into the White House. Racist and bigoted, this is the true GOP in these United States of America, which you and I have no need for in this modern time.

  Progressives, Liberals, and other Democrats in general have been saying that Barack Obama needs to stoop down to the McCain/Palin level to fight back. I do not agree and I think that soon to be President Obama does not agree either.

 

My job is not to represent Washington to you, but to represent you to Washington. -Barack Obama

 

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama,John McCain,Sarah Palin,GOP,Racist,2008 Election

Barack Obama,Joe Biden,John McCain,Sarah Palin: What You See Is What You Get

  A little humor here, but these are pretty accurate pictures.

(Courtesy of Kdoug)

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama,John McCain,Sarah Palin,2008 Election

Breaking News From The GOP: Barack Obama Is Black!

  I think that in between the McCain/GOP meltdown and the Wall Street burn-down, that we could all use a little humor.

Breaking News!

by spankus maximus  Mon Oct 06, 2008

This just in: Senator Obama is a Black man.

Yes, Senator Obama is an African American and is possibly a terrorist and has been hiding that fact from the general public, so says the McCain campaign. Obama, who's political star has shot dramatically across the political sky in the last five years, has evidently been secretly planning to overtake the United States and her allies through the overt and strategic use of economic surpluses, universal health care, worldwide diplomacy and environmental protection.   

When pressed on the issue of scary blackness and the untold amount of Obama related terrorists cells in both Honolulu and Chicago, McCain spokesperson/campaign beer-bong coordinator Tucker Bounds stated "USA! USA! USA! USA!"

McCain, who was briefed on the issue before his afternoon snack of pudding, is quoted as saying "my friends, he's black - It's true! so my friends, don't vote for the terrorist, vote for the old white guy". After wards McCain was quickly shuttled off for his afternoon nap.

The sheer thought that a candidate for the office of the President of the United States would be able to pull off such a, dare we say "terrorist attack", from within our own borders is unconscionable. We will have more news as this story unfolds.

Now back to our regular scheduled Hallmark channel program:
"Sara Palin: Blessed by the witch doctor"    DKos

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama,2008 Election

Rolling Stone Magazine: Facts About John McCain

  I believe that it was Sunday that I referenced an article which appears in the latest issue of Rolling Stone Magazine about our beloved Senator from Arizona, John McCain.

   As our luck would have it, you and I can now view a video by the writer of the article and hear what he wrote in his article, for the most part.

     It was a sad mistake for the McCain campaign to lower itself to attack ads which hold no substance and now McCain's campaign is going to suffer for it.

Technorati Tags: John McCain,Keating 5,S&L Scandal,Barack Obama,2008 Election

Guilt By Association: Meet John McCain And The Keating 5

  I cannot believe that John McCain and his happy camp of lobbyist have the nerve to start with the negative ads against the Obama campaign! What gall these clowns have!

  I bring up McCain's involvement with Keating not necessarily for you older readers,but, for those of you to young to remember this criminal episode from John McCain's earlier years. This is just the beginning of the McCain saga as he has had his hands in the pockets of quite a few questionable companies and individuals, as you shall see as the election nears.

  I'm not going to explain the Keating 5 scandal to you, as it would take some time. I do present a few videos for you to watch and to learn from as far as McCain's first venture into payoff land went.

Next up...

  But wait! There's more!

   and last,maybe, Rachel Maddow covers the Keating 5 story.

  That is all for now class. please do your homework by reminding your friends and family of McCain's less than honest activities.

   All videos provided by DKos

Technorati Tags: John McCain,Swiftboating,Rachel Maddow,Charles Keating,Keating 5,S&L Scandal

John McCain: Make Believe Maverick?

    Writer Tim  Dickinson has a very interesting article which comes up in the latest issue of Rolling Stone Magazine concerning the real John McCain and the things which have been mostly kept from the public. Some of the material is old news but it is 10 pages of great reading. That is 10 pages in the online addition.

   This is the story of the real John McCain, the one who has been hiding in plain sight. It is the story of a man who has consistently put his own advancement above all else, a man willing to say and do anything to achieve his ultimate ambition: to become commander in chief, ascending to the one position that would finally enable him to outrank his four-star father and grandfather.  Read More

  Hit the above link and go and read this article. It is well worth the time.

Technorati Tags: John McCain,Rolling Stone,Tim Dickinson,2008 Election

New Obama AD To Debut On Monday...

    and of course, you can view it right here, right now. It's good to see Obama coming out swinging at McCain and Palin in advance of the McCain camps negative ad blitz which is forth-coming. McCain and Palin ads and speeches will be nothing but lies and misdirection, but I guess that it's okay because McCain is a POW and Palin is a Christian.

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama,John McCain,Swiftboating,Economy,2008 Election

Sarah Palin/Joe Biden Debate On SNL

  If you did not watch Saturday Night Live to see the VP debate with Tina Fey as Sarah Palin, then you missed a funny comedy sketch. You can watch it at this site, right now.

Technorati Tags: Sarah Palin,Joe Biden,Tina Fey,SNL,2008 election,John McCain,Barack Obama

Republican Candidates Are Starting To Sweat

    In some states you can even smell the fear of defeat on the Republican side of the fence, and with good reason. the failing economy, the financial markets tanking, and the falling job market are owned by the Republicans in general and not just George Bush.

    John McCain owns these problems. Senators Mitch McConnell ( KY ), Ted Stevens (Alaska), Elizabeth Dole (N.C.), and a host of other Republicans, not only from the Senate but the House all own our currant problems. So do quite a few of our Democrats, lest we forget.

  The good news though...

   Washington Post

With the party already struggling to generate enthusiasm for its brand, Republican strategists fear that an outpouring of public anger generated by Congress's struggle to pass a rescue package for the financial industry may contribute to a disaster at the polls for the GOP in November.

"The crisis has affected the entire ticket," said Jan van Lohuizen, a Republican consultant who handled the polling for President Bush's reelection campaign. "The worse the state's economy, the greater the impact."

  So how is it that John McCain and other Republicans are even close in their respective races when Obama should be blowing his ass out of the water? Race, plain and simple. this mind set has to change.

Technorati Tags: Republicans,Economy,John McCain,Elizabeth Dole,Mitch McConnell,2008 election

OJ Simpson Guilty Of Robbery/Kidnapping

  A Las Vegas, Nevada jury has found former football star O.J. Simpson guilty on all 12 counts of robbery and kidnapping in relation to the robbery of two sports collectibles dealers in a hotel last year.

  Sentencing for the crimes will be held on the 5th of December and Simpson could be looking at seeing the rest of his life behind bars. He is now 61 years of age. Of course, his lawyers do plan on appealing the verdict.    Source

   Good luck with that appeal OJ! I do believe that this time around. you will be doing your time.

Technorati Tags: OJ Simpson,Las Vegas

New Obama Ad Made After VP Debate

  Another cool, truthful ad from the Obama campaign made after the Vice Presidential debate Thursday night.

 

 

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama,John McCain,Sarah Palin,Joe Biden,2008 election

Union Workers Protest NRA Actions

  UMWA Workers took a day off from work after the NRA was allowed onto the company property to pass out bullshit pamphlets and to hopefully get mine workers on film saying bad things about Barack Obama.

  Needless to say, it didn't quite work out the way that the NRA had planed.

More than 440 workers who are members of the United Mine Workers of America took what's called a Memorial Day instead of going to work.

Union officials say they took the day to protest after a film crew from the National Rifle Assocation showed up at the Consol mine last week to interview union workers.

They say the crew tried to get union coal miners to speak out against Barak Obama

"Consol doesn't let anybody on their property - never," said Safety Committee Member Mark Dorsey, "And for them to let the NRA come on the property and solicit our membership was totally uncalled for. We made our endorsement to our political process and we didn't bother them and they shouldn't be harassing our membership over this."

Technorati Tags: UMWA,NRA,Barack Obama,2008 election,Consol

Biden/Palin Debate

  I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by Governor Palin's debate performance. I must also say that I am glad that I do not have to sit through another debate with her in it. There's just something about her voice and all of that preppy talk that gets on my nerves.

  Palin, as was expected, dodged a few questions, one dealing with McCain's stance on de-regulation, by changing the subject. This she did quite a few times. Palin made many attempts to pass her and her family off as your average middle class family, which was rather sickening to me. She is not middle class and hasn't been for some time. She did not win this debate but she did manage to not screw up as she has done in interviews the past few weeks. For that, the Republicans will say that she won.

   Biden was well armed with the facts and he also made many attempts to link John McCain's policy's with the Bush administrations policy's. What is really important for Biden is that he kept his cool and he spoke to those of us watching the debate. I should note that Palin did this also at times.

  I do not think that this debate performance was a so-called game-changer. We'll see what the polls say in the next few days.

Technorati Tags: Joe Biden,Sarah Palin,2008 election,Barack Obama,John McCain

CBS News Poll: Obama Lead Widens

  What else is to be expected when you are facing competition who is nothing but a legend in his own mind? Grumpy, senile, old man for President? One who lies every time his mouth opens? I think not.

  Anyway, below are the numbers from polling which show that McCain is on a steady downhill ride thus far.

  NYTimes

A CBS News poll released Wednesday found 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 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 found that President Bush had tied the presidential record for a low approval rating — 22 percent, matching Harry S. Truman’s Gallup approval rating in 1952...

  I expect that John McCain will try just a little bit harder now to distance himself from the Bush Crime Syndicate.

  So what about Obama and McCain's handling of the so-called economic crisis?

  The CBS News poll suggested one sharp contrast in the view of voters of Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain that might have been fed by the different ways the two men responded to the crisis. Forty-five percent said Mr. McCain acted too quickly when he made a decision, compared with 29 percent who said he did not act quickly enough. For Mr. Obama, 23 percent said he acted too quickly, compared with 41 percent who said he did not act quickly enough.

  So what about McCain's pick for VP, Sarah Palin? any good news in that area?

The Pew poll found that 51 percent of respondents said she was not qualified to be president, compared with 37 percent who said she was. That is a reversal from early last month, when 52 percent of respondents said Ms. Palin was qualified to be president.

  McCain/Palin have nothing to offer the people of the United States except for 4 more years of Bush policy. Thanks,but, No thanks.

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama,John McCain,Sarah Palin,Polls,CBS News,New York Times,economy,2008 election

Bailout Bill Heads For Senate Vote

    and this is more than likely where you and the rest of the taxpayers will get screwed, thanks to Senator Harry Reid.

  This bill will have a few add-ons, one being the increase in the FDIC insurance from 100k to 250k. That is the better part. The worst part?

    Politico

Many Democrats were already upset that Republicans and the White House had watered down their effort to require Treasury to impose a fee on Wall Street transactions in five years to help recoup any taxpayer losses. The expanded Senate package envisioned now would compound this loss by adding a set of tax breaks that also will add billions to the deficit without the "pay-fors" many fiscally conservative Democrats want.  ( my emphasis )

  So why are we now going to give some more tax breaks to business?

Technorati Tags: Bailout,Wall Street,Harry Reid,Nancy Pelosi,Democrats,Republicans,Conservatives

Bailout Bill Gets A Great Big " NO " Vote. John McCain Proves He's An Idiot

Well isn't that just sweet? Our government, speaking of Democrats, did the right thing in the House today and voted " no " on the Wall Street bailout bill. Everyone all at once now okay? Clap, clap, clap. I would take it that our government officials had a little bit more fear of their constituents , and their jobs, than they did of Wall Street and the boys who are crying wolf.

   On to something else that is related to the Bill. It seems that Republican asshole/idiot John McCain made an attempt to take credit for the bailout bill before it failed by vote.

DailyKos

by BarbinMD  Mon Sep 29, 2008

How mavericky of John McCain to take credit for the passage of the bailout bill...before it failed:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and his top aides took credit for building a winning bailout coalition – hours before the vote failed and stocks tanked.

The rush to claim he had engineered a victory now looks like a strategic blunder that will prolong the McCain’s campaign’s difficulty in finding a winning message on the economy.

Shortly before the vote, McCain had bragged about his involvement and mocked Sen. Barack Obama for staying on the sidelines.

"I've never been afraid of stepping in to solve problems for the American people, and I'm not going to stop now," McCain told a rally in Columbus, Ohio. "Senator Obama took a very different approach to the crisis our country faced. At first he didn't want to get involved. Then he was monitoring the situation."
McCain, grinning, flashed a sarcastic thumbs-up.

"That's not leadership. That's watching from the sidelines," he added to cheers and applause.

What happened today was more than a "strategic blunder," it was a massive failure of leadership on the part of John McCain.

And let's give McCain's quote, made on the campaign trail, a little more context:

I am a Teddy Roosevelt Republican. I believe our leaders belong "in the Arena", in the arena, when our country faces a challenge, not on the road in a campaign. I've never been afraid of stepping in to solve problems for the American people, and I'm not going to stop now.

Speaking of stepping in it...

   When will everyone finally get tired of McCain and his political stunts and just toss him out onto a cacti?

Technorati Tags: John McCain,bailout Bill,Wall Street,The House,2008 election