Inspire Political Discourse: September 2008

John McCain is out with a new ad that accuses Barack Obama of making the same claim - "the fundamentals of the economy are strong" - that McCain himself was viciously criticized for just a week ago.

But the quote plucked by the McCain campaign is taken entirely out of context, just a day after the Arizona Republican himself decried "gotcha journalism" when it came to his running mate. Continue reading/view ad here.

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Continue reading "Another Lying McCain Ad" »

Posted by Nicole at 04:44 PM in 2008 elections, Arizona, BAILOUTS, ETHICS, Financial Systems, G.O.P. / Republicans, Henry Paulson, John McCain, LIES, Obama, TVads, UGLY, VIDEO | Permalink | Comments (0)

McCain Campaign at Dead End

►Analysis: With bailout, McCain reaches dead end - Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Republican John McCain has maneuvered himself into a political dead end and has five weeks to find his way out.

Last Wednesday, McCain suspended his presidential campaign to insert himself into a $700 billion effort to rescue America's crumbling financial structure. In so doing, he tied himself far more tightly to the bill than did his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama.

Then, as the bailout plan appeared ready for passage Monday in the House, McCain bragged that he was an action-oriented Teddy Roosevelt Republican who did not sit on the sidelines at a moment of crisis. Continue reading here.

Inspire Note: See Intrade Electoral Vote Predictor.

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Continue reading "McCain Campaign at Dead End" »

Posted by Nicole at 04:22 PM in 2008 elections, BAILOUTS, Capitol Hill, Democrats, Economy, Financial Systems, G.O.P. / Republicans, Henry Paulson, John McCain, Obama, the-House | Permalink | Comments (0)

McCain Can Never Resist the Blame Game

►With Deal’s Collapse, the McCain Camp Attacks - New York TImes

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — Besides stockholders whose portfolios were ravaged Monday afternoon, the one person with the most riding on the bailout bill that collapsed in Congress may have been Senator John McCain.

Mr. McCain had announced last week that he was suspending his presidential campaign to work to ensure the legislation’s passage, even at the risk of skipping the first presidential debate unless a deal was locked down. (He later relented, debating without a deal.) He had called for the high-level White House meeting that some participants later called unhelpful. And after some initial hesitation, he had allowed himself to be identified with a bill that he thought necessary even if unpopular.

So when the deal fell apart on the House floor Monday, in no small measure because most of the chamber’s Republicans balked at voting for it, the McCain campaign worked to contain the potential for damage. The first defense was to go on offense. Continue reading here.

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Posted by Nicole at 09:47 AM in 2008 elections, BAILOUTS, Capitol Hill, Democrats, Economy, Financial Systems, Freddie&Fannie, G.O.P. / Republicans, Henry Paulson, John McCain, LIES, the-House | Permalink | Comments (2)

McCain's Medical Records

►New Urgency Over McCain Medical Questions As Election Nears - Huffington Post

Over the last few weeks, the issues of John McCain's age and health have been pushed, with much resistance, back into the heart of the political discussion. Prompted in part by the selection of Sarah Palin as the Republican vice presidential candidate, the topic crested with the release of a political advertisement calling attention to McCain's history of skin cancer and the need for more information about his medical records.

Cable news stations were too skittish to run the spot, produced by Brave New Films. CNN refused to air it, Fox's Bill O'Reilly called it shameful, and MSNBC, which initially aired the ad, reversed course and took it off the air.

All of which has come to the anger and befuddlement of Democrats as well as members of the medical community, both of whom ask a very basic question: what more important information is needed to elect a president other than his fitness for office? Continue reading here.

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Posted by Nicole at 09:31 AM in 2008 elections, G.O.P. / Republicans, qualifications | Permalink | Comments (0)

McCain Campaign Censoring the Press

►Kurtz: Journos Checking Their Tongues On Palin, McCain Cracks Down On Dowd - Huffington Post

Howard Kurtz writes today that, in advance of this week's vice-presidential debate, "some journalists say privately they are censoring their comments about Palin to avoid looking like they're piling on" the beleaguered McCain soul/running-mate, whose interviews last week with Katie Couric more-or-less oscillated between "crash" and "burn." But what gives with the journalistic self-censorship? Kurtz is probably referencing the conversation from this past week's Reliable Sources, in which ABC News' Jake Tapper suggested that the press is having a hard time cutting through the signal-to-noise ratio of the blogosphere: Continue reading here.

Posted by Nicole at 09:20 AM in 2008 elections, G.O.P. / Republicans, John McCain, MEDIA, Sarah Palin | Permalink | Comments (0)

Palin vs Quayle - No Contest

►Has Palin Out-Qualyed Quayle? - Outside the Beltway

Dan Qualye was, rather unfairly in my view, a national joke. From very shortly after George H.W. Bush picked a rising star senator from Indiana that few outside his home state had ever heard of to be his vice presidential running mate in 1988, Quayle became the butt of late night comics, “Saturday Night Live,” and other culture-setting institutions and became generally thought of as a not-ready-for-prime-time nincompoop. People are still recycling the “you’re no Jack Kennedy” zinger that Lloyd Bentsen uncorked in the debates and the man’s supposed inability to spell potato is infamous if untrue.

But here’s the thing: It really didn’t matter. Bush-Quayle won in a landslide over Dukakis-Bentsen and, while they lost to Clinton-Gore in 1992, it had nothing to do with Quayle. Continue reading here.

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Posted by Nicole at 12:06 AM in 2008 elections, G.O.P. / Republicans, President Bush 41, qualifications, Sarah Palin | Permalink | Comments (0)

Palin Endorses Hamas

►Sarah Palin Endorses Hamas - The Alantic.com

29 Sep 2008 10:43 am

How can it be that some people still pretend that Sarah Palin is suited for high office? This country has never seen someone so comprehensively unprepared for the vice presidency; Dan Quayle was Metternich by comparison. I've watched Sarah Palin's interview with Katie Couric three times, and my astonishment does not diminish. Her nonsensical answer about Russia has deservedly been highlighted, but let me focus on another question, this one concerning the export of democracy. Couric asked, "What happens if the goal of democracy doesn't produce the desired outcome? In Gaza, the U.S. pushed hard for elections and Hamas won."
Palin's answer, in full, was this: "Yeah, well especially in that region, though, we have to protect those who do seek democracy and support those who seek protections for the people who live there. What we're seeing in the last couple of days here in New York is a President of Iran, Ahmadinejad, who would come on our soil and express such disdain for one of our closest allies and friends, Israel ... and we're hearing the evil that he speaks and if hearing him doesn't allow Americans to commit more solidly to protecting the friends and allies that we need, especially there in the Mideast, then nothing will."
The issue here is not that Palin didn't know the answer. There are many possible answers to this question, some of which are right and some of which are wrong. The issue here is that she didn't know the question. Because she was apparently ignorant of the subject, she endorsed Hamas' victory, and, in essence, called for the U.S. to "protect" Islamists who seek to use democratic elections to lever themselves into power. Continue reading here.

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Posted by Nicole at 12:00 AM in 2008 elections, Foreign Affairs, G.O.P. / Republicans, qualifications, Sarah Palin | Permalink | Comments (0)

29 September 2008

Regulation and the American Free Market System

►Magic 8-Ball Regulation on Capitol Hill and the Emptiest Street in Lower Manhattan - Killer Buffalo

America’s financial meltdown is taking a massive toll on world markets, sending Japan’s Nikkei 225 and Europe’s Bel 20 indexes each down more than 30% in the past year. Most Americans, the 110^th Congress included, are more concerned with domestic and still potential economic losses than foreign ones. Thus they look to the fundamental factors which have led to the recent financial collapse for reform: most notably the capitalist drive to increase profits coupled with twenty-five years of deregulation. Had the 109th^th Congress three years ago examined what led to America’s financial growth over the past two decades, it might have found two dynamics: the capitalist drive to increase profits and the unregulated opportunity to do so. Continue reading here.

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Posted by Nicole at 10:14 PM in BAILOUTS, Capitol Hill, Economy, Financial Systems, Henry Paulson | Permalink | Comments (0)

US Market Closes Down 600+ Points Due to Failure of Bailout Vote: The Largest One-Day Drop in History

4:00 EST down -603.41

4:16 EST -777.68

Soure: Bloomberg.com

Posted by Nicole at 04:24 PM in BAILOUTS, Economy, Financial Systems | Permalink | Comments (2)

Breaking News: The Republicans Have Defeated the Bailout Plan

►On the Brink: Dow Plunges on Fears House will Not Pass Bailout - ABC News

House Republicans shocked the White House -- and the stock market -- by refusing to approve the Bush administration's gargantuan Wall Street bailout today.

The House vote was expected to be close for the $700 billion rescue plan, but the chance of it passing was put in peril when 132 Republican members of the House voted against it. Only 66 Republicans voted for it.

The impact of the vote was felt even before the voting was concluded. The DOW plunged as the votes were being counted and it was apparent that passage was unlikely. As the voting continued the Dow plummeted to 700 points, then recovered. Continue reading here.

►House Rejects Bailout Package, 228-205; Stocks Plunge - New York Times

WASHINGTON — In a moment of historic import in the Capitol and on Wall Street, the House of Representatives voted on Monday to reject a $700 billion rescue of the financial industry. The vote came in stunning defiance of President Bush and Congressional leaders of both parties, who said the bailout was needed to prevent a widespread financial collapse. Continue reading here.

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Posted by Nicole at 02:17 PM in 2008 elections, BAILOUTS, Capitol Hill, Economy, Financial Systems, G.O.P. / Republicans, Henry Paulson, President Bush, the-House | Permalink | Comments (0)

Stock Markets Worldwide Plunge as Congress Debates Bailout

►Stock Markets Fall Sharply as Congress Debates Bailout Plan - Washington Post

Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, September 29, 2008; 12:58 PM

Stocks took a steep dive around the world today as troubles in the European financial sector offset news that congressional leaders had reached a hard-fought consensus on the $700 billion bailout legislation. The Federal Reserve responded by injecting hundreds of billions of dollars into the U.S. and world financial markets. Continue reading here.

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Posted by Nicole at 01:09 PM in BAILOUTS, BANKS, Bush administration, Capitol Hill, Congress, Economy, Financial Systems, Freddie&Fannie, Global_Economy, Henry Paulson, International, investigations, National, NEWS, President Bush, Stock Market | Permalink | Comments (0)

28 September 2008

Anti-Palin Rally on Saturday Angry About Troopergate

►Anti-Palin rally calls for Colberg removal - The Anchorage Daily News

TROOPERGATE: More than 1,000 protesters gather in downtown Anchorage park.

A protest slamming Gov. Sarah Palin's handling of the state's so-called Troopergate investigation -- and calling for the attorney general to lose his job -- drew more than 1,000 people to the Delaney Park Strip in Anchorage on Saturday. Continue reading here.

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►Legislative subpoenas go unanswered

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►Alaska Politics blog: The Troopergate papers

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►Video: Colberg Friday news conference

►Video: What Palin has said about Troopergate, and what the campaign says now

►Todd Palin Ignores Subpoena in Troopergate Investigation

►Todd Palin Ignores Troopergate Subpoena - CBS News

►Todd Palin Subpoenaed in TrooperGate Investigation

►Alaskans Against Sarah Palin Rally

Posted by Nicole at 12:42 PM in 2008 elections, Alaskan Politics, CBS, ETHICS, investigations, Sarah Palin, Todd Palin, TrooperGate | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bailout Deal Almost Done

►Breakthrough Reached in Negotiations on Bailout - The New York TImes

WASHINGTON — Congressional leaders and the Bush administration reached a tentative agreement early Sunday on what may become the largest financial bailout in American history, authorizing the Treasury to purchase $700 billion in troubled debt from ailing firms in an extraordinary intervention to prevent widespread economic collapse. Continue reading here.

►Negotiators need to settle final details of rescue - The Huffington Post

WASHINGTON — After a breakthrough on a $700 billion Wall Street bailout, lawmakers and Bush administration now must settle the final details on a rescue intended to keep credit flowing and avert a crippling recession. Continue reading here.

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►The Financial Crisis, McCain's Hypocrisy, and Random Thoughts

►Obama Rapid-Response Ad Skewers McCain - The Huffington Post

►Obama Shows Steady Hand in Crisis

►Candidates Seek Changes In Wall Street Rescue Plan - The Washington Post

►US Financial System in Worst Shape Since Depression - How This May Affect the Election

►Dazed Capital Feels Its Way, Eyes on Election

►Finger-Pointing in Financial Crisis Is Directed at Bush

►$700 Billion for Largest Financial Bailout in US History

►McCain Tries to Link Obama to Financial Crisis

►McCain Charges Obama with Taking Advice from Raines

►McCain Embraces Regulation After Many Years of Opposition

Posted by Nicole at 10:36 AM in 2008 elections, BAILOUTS, Capitol Hill, Democrats, Financial Systems, G.O.P. / Republicans, POLICY | Permalink | Comments (0)

27 September 2008

Newsweek Calls for Palin to Step Down

►Palin Is Ready? Please. - Newsweek

McCain says that he always puts country first. In this important case, that is simply not true.

Will someone please put Sarah Palin out of her agony? Is it too much to ask that she come to realize that she wants, in that wonderful phrase in American politics, "to spend more time with her family"? Having stayed in purdah for weeks, she finally agreed to a third interview. CBS's Katie Couric questioned her in her trademark sympathetic style. It didn't help. When asked how living in the state closest to Russia gave her foreign-policy experience, Palin responded thus:

"It's very important when you consider even national-security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America. Where—where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to—to our state." Continue reading here.

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>Kathleen Parker, a Conservative Republican, Calls for Palin to Step Down
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>The Palin Pick -- The Devolution of McCain

Posted by Nicole at 09:10 PM in 2008 elections, Foreign Affairs, G.O.P. / Republicans, qualifications, Sarah Palin | Permalink | Comments (0)

President of Paraguay Declined to Meet With Palin

►President of Paraguay Turns Down Meeting with Sarah Palin - The Washington Note

I'm not kidding.

Paraguay President Fernando Lugo, while attending both the United Nations General Assembly meetings and the Clinton Global Initiative, shared with friends over dinner some of the other meetings he had been having in New York.

He met this head of state. . .and that head of state. . .and so on. . .

. . .but then the room went silent and then broke into subdued laughter when he confided that he was approached about meeting with GOP Vice Presidential candidate and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

President Lugo turned the meeting down.

With all due respect to Paraguay and its great citizens, something is really wrong when the Paraguayan President won't even hang with Palin.

Continue reading here.

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>Kathleen Parker, a Conservative Republican, Calls for Palin to Step Down
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>The Palin Pick -- The Devolution of McCain

Posted by Nicole at 09:01 PM in 2008 elections, Sarah Palin | Permalink | Comments (0)

Palin in Alaska - The Troopergate Investigation

►Today's Headlines on Anchorage Daily News

Legislative subpoenas go unanswered

With state officials again defying legislative subpoenas in the investigation of whether Gov. Sarah Palin abused her power, the war between state lawmakers and Alaska's attorney general is escalating.

Palin, Monegan comments on Troopergate changed over time

Alaska Politics blog: The Troopergate papers

Colberg files suit to quash subpoenas

Video: Colberg Friday news conference

Video: What Palin has said about Troopergate, and what the campaign says now

Posted by Nicole at 08:57 PM in 2008 elections, Alaskan Politics, ETHICS, G.O.P. / Republicans, investigations, Sarah Palin, Todd Palin, TrooperGate | Permalink | Comments (0)

26 September 2008

McCain Campaign Releases an Ad Claiming That "McCain Wins Debate" Prematurely

►McCain Wins Debate - The Washington Post

Although the fate of tonight's presidential debate in Mississippi remains very much up in the air, John McCain has apparently already won it -- if you believe an Internet ad an astute reader spotted next to this piece in the online edition of the Wall Street Journal this morning.

"McCain Wins Debate!" declares the ad which features a headshot of a smiling McCain with an American flag background. Another ad spotted by our eagle-eyed observer featured a quote from McCain campaign manager Rick Davis declaring: "McCain won the debate-- hands down." Continue reading here.

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►McCain Slights Spanish Prime Minister
►McCain zapped by Spain question
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Posted by Nicole at 07:26 PM in 2008 elections, Debates, G.O.P. / Republicans, John McCain | Permalink | Comments (0)

Kathleen Parker, a Conservative Republican, Calls for Palin to Step Down

►Palin Problem - National Review
She’s out of her league.
By Kathleen Parker

If at one time women were considered heretical for swimming upstream against feminist orthodoxy, they now face condemnation for swimming downstream — away from Sarah Palin.
To express reservations about her qualifications to be vice president — and possibly president — is to risk being labeled anti-woman. Continue reading here.

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