Joe Biden: McCain Lost and It'll Be Fatal

Future VP Joe Biden is taking it to little man McCain over his woeful debate. The last line, "John was on his strongest turf today and lost and I think it's going to be fatal."



Where was Palin to rebut Obama?

Debate Live Blogging

There is a good wrap up here at ThinkProgress, pointing out, minute by minute, all the mistakes, errors and misquotes. My summation: 5'7" insecure old guy beaten by future President Obama.

Read on

Flashback: McCain came off like a bully, not very smart, wonder if he was thinking of this:

Ed Schultz: Palin "Clueless"

Radio host Big Ed Schultz tells his listeners about the 800 pound gorilla:

Capitol Hill sources are telling me that senior McCain people are more than concerned about Palin.

The campaign has held a mock debate and a mock press conference; both are being described as "disastrous." One senior McCain aide was quoted as saying, "What are we going to do?" The McCain people want to move this first debate to some later, undetermined date, possibly never. People on the inside are saying the Alaska Governor is "clueless."

That half day vetting process is paying off.

Read on

Conservative Kay Parker To Palin: Bow Out

This is not picking on the dumb kid, this is objective. Sarah Palin is not in the same ballpark, city or even state of what a candidate needs to be. Conservative columnist Kathleen Parker has my back:

"Palin's recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity, and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League.

No one hates saying that more than I do. Like so many women, I've been pulling for Palin, wishing her the best, hoping she will perform brilliantly. I've also noticed that I watch her interviews with the held breath of an anxious parent, my finger poised over the mute button in case it gets too painful. Unfortunately, it often does. My cringe reflex is exhausted.

Palin filibusters. She repeats words, filling space with deadwood. Cut the verbiage and there's not much content there."

She offers a bit of strategery to drop out:

"Only Palin can save McCain, her party, and the country she loves. She can bow out for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn. No one would criticize a mother who puts her family first."

Take heed, Sarah. These are sensible demands.

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Guilty Pleasure: Sacha Baron Cohen

Sacha Baron Cohen interrupted the fashion show of designer Agatha Ruiz de la Prada in Milan making it onto the catwalk dressed as his alter-ego, Austrian model Bruno.



Cohen was in Milan filming Bruno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Male. Can't wait.

Check out pictures of it all here

Stem Cell Alchemy Refined

Wired has an article on a stem cell breakthrough. Yay! for science. Don't tell the Jesus freaks. Does this mean they can unfreeze Ted Williams and Walt Disney now?

"It was the biggest stem cell breakthrough in a decade. No longer would tricky -- and ethically controversial -- manufacturing procedures be required to produce ultra-versatile stem cells. Cloning wouldn't be needed to produce personally customized embryonic stem cell lines, which remain as elusive as they are promising."

Read On

McCain Still Running?

I didn't check, is McCain still running for President or did he postpone, or take a nap, or make a sandwich? It is Friday, maybe he took a long weekend with the wife.

Oh! wait, McCain won the debate that has not happened yet. I bet he will answer all the debate questions when he finally hears them tonight so his online ads will be a prophecy. The profit McCain!

I guess he used his good eye and looked into the future, came back and told his followers. Sounds a bit like fellow old guy Marshall Applewhite and his Heaven's Gate cult. Will the McCain campaign start wearing Nikes with the purple swoosh? Castrate themselves?

Running victory ads before you end up getting pummeled by Barack? Erratic? Foolish? That is the best way to describe Grandpy these days. “It just proves his campaign is governed by tactics and not ideology,” said Republican consultant Craig Shirley, who advised McCain earlier in this cycle. “In the end, he blinked and Obama did not. The ’steady hand in a storm’ argument looks now to more favor Obama, not McCain.”

He was for it, then against it, then won it, then will have to actually do it. I guess it's the same as declaring victory in Iraq. Maybe he should have used Mission Accomplished in his web ads? His followers know that means victory before the fight has even begun.

Sarah Palin: The Disney Movie

Matt Damon joked Sarah Palin's candidacy was like a bad Disney movie, well CollegeHumor made the the movie trailer.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

If Only: The Palin Interview

The Charlie Gison interview redux, via Joe and Noah at 23/6:

Where Are The Chinese In This Bailout?

China has told its banks not to halt lending to US banks. You loaned us all the money to get in this problem, where's the love? You indulged America's nasty credit habit, we need another fix, man. But for real for real, interesting article at FireDogLake about how we borrowed the money, started a war and gave tax breaks to the rich and now we have the bill. But the rest of the world is not chipping in. Can you blame them?

Some nuggets:

So, long story short, the rest of the world doesn't feel much if any sympathy for the US about all this. You borrowed the money, you promised to pay it back, and now it looks like the stuff you gave everyone in exchange for all that money is mostly garbage, worth cents on the dollar. Your IOUs, in other words, are no good. Everyone knows they're getting stiffed, they're just trying to figure out how much they're getting stiffed for. Even if you're holding greenbacks, everyone knows that the currency is going to crash even further and also get eaten up by inflation.

And why the bailout is flawed:

Plus, of course, outsiders are noticing that the "bailout" bill is really just a huge transfer from taxpayers to the rich, and that even your own economists are saying it won't actually fix the problem. So why should they pour more money down the drain when it won't do any good?

Read on

O'Neill: Bush Doesn't Get Financial Crisis, 'It Shows'

Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said today that our nation's leaders, especially President Bush, are "in a panic" and haven't thought through the $700 billion bailout plan in a rush to pass it by the end of the week. Bush not understand a problem, really? Just like the Iraq War was supposed to pay for itself, so is the bailout. O'Neill offers some advice:

"It is possible to re-liquefy the credit system without 'We the People' owning $700 billion worth of homes"

Essentially, O'Neill said, we run the risk of become the largest owner of foreclosed properties in the world. For a guy who sounds like he understands the problems, sees how politicians pander, and calls on intelligent people to tell the truth, it's no wonder Bush fired him.

Read on

McCain And Computers 2.0

via 23/6:

Spoof on Hal from Space Odyssey 2001 talking with Grandpy McLame.....

WaMu Fails, No One Blinks: Largest Bank Failure Ever

You know it's rough times when Washington Mutual is seized by the FDIC and it's not even close to the top story out there. This is the largest bank failure ever! I guess maybe because they knew it was coming after the stock dropped from $36.47 to its 52-week low close of $1.69.

And right on cue, in tough times, the bigger company, JP Morgan, steps in and buys WaMu's assets on the cheap. More consolidation of wealth.

Read on

Sarah Palin: OMG. Dumb Thy Name Is Sarah

Follow the transcript below and feel the dumbest person actually sound dumber than you could ever believe. She simply rambles. They say Evangelicals speak in tongues, maybe this is it. Sarah Palin should be in the short bus back to Alaska.



Transcript:
"That's why I say I, like every American I'm speaking with, we're ill about this position that we have been put in. Where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy. Um, helping, oh, it's got to be about job creation, too. Shoring up our economy, and getting it back on the right track. So health care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions, and tax relief for Americans, and trade -- we have got to see trade as opportunity, not as, uh, competitive, um, scary thing, but one in five jobs created in the trade sector today. We've got to look at that as more opportunity. All of those things under the umbrella of job creation."

Sarah Palin: Mental Midget

Feel how small Sarah Palin's brain is during this interview with Katie Couric as she tries to invent a Foreign Policy-By-Proximity magic story. Incoherent? Like a bratty kid in 5th grade, circumloquacious, with a slight condescending tone. [Note: Matthew Yglesias notes, "Moscow is closer to New York than it is to Anchorage. And yet nobody would say that NY Gov. David Paterson has extensive foreign policy experience thanks to his proximity to Russia."]

It used to be valedictorians would say "I'd like to be President", now the vapid D-student with good hair gets a shot. Old skool Republicans must be so proud of Country First McCain's choice. From Dr. Evil Cheney to this? 30 calculated years of neocons selling their souls all for this shit sandwich.


Watch CBS Videos Online

John McCain's Left Eye?

John McCain's left eye is wonky, it's a bit closed and appears lower than his right eye. You can't help but notice it. Stroke? Tired? Either way, this campaign is killing him. Needs to postpone his campaign? Cancel Debates? Stays away from the press? Video stills are from press conference on Sept 24, 2008.

Bill Bennett: Ivy Educated Dick

Watch this video and see how Republicans are anti-elite, yet, go to Harvard and Yale. [See Yale and Harvard MBA alum George W. Bush]. Uber-dick Bill Bennett is a classic example: Williams College, Harvard Law, PhD in Philosophy. He was a former Secretary of Education under Reagan. All this education, yet he has contempt for intellectualism, even conservatives according to Bennett are not to be taken seriously. Takes balls as Stephen Colbert points out.

Sarah Palin Loves Big Oil

Robery Kennedy Jr has an op-ed in the LA Times about walking disaster Sarah Palin's love of big oil and how it has shaped her:

"Palin's enthusiastic embrace of Big Oil's agenda (if not always Big Oil itself) has been the platform of her hasty rise in Alaskan politics. In that sense she is as much a product of the oil industry as the current president and his vice president. Palin, whose husband is a production operator for BP on Alaska's North Slope, has sued the federal government over its listing of the polar bear as an endangered species threatened by global warming, and she has fought to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and Alaska's coast to oil drilling.

[snip]

I guess the only difference between Sarah Palin and Dick Cheney is ... lipstick."

Read on

Press Conferences In The US

Sarah Palin has given zero since her vice-presidential nomination, in the same time Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran has given one. We have more access to the President of Iran than we do Sarah Palin. That's country first!

No wonder her polling numbers are plummeting.

McCain Busted, Rick Davis Paid By Freddie Mac

David Donnelly, director of Campaign Money Watch:

“John McCain's campaign manager and Freddie Mac had what amounts to a secret half a million dollar lay-a-way plan. For almost three years and as late as last month, Freddie Mac made secret, monthly payments of $15,000 to Rick Davis’s firm for a no-show job, apparently in exchange for providing special access to a future McCain White House.

Today's question is, what other secret deals are Rick Davis and the McCain campaign hiding? The McCain campaign appears to be nothing more than a ‘Rent-to-Own’ operation, staffed and aided by lobbyists who are ready to cash in for themselves and their powerful clients. It’s the worst of the pay-to-play Washington game,”

Read on

Will McCain fire him?

Paulson Takes Lying Baton From Right Wing

Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson claims he left out oversight of the bailout plan on purpose, he thought it was "inappropriate for him to propose the means by which he will be overseen." To the contrary, he now claims he welcomes oversight. Gee willikers! He needs to stop lying.

Does this sound like "I welcome oversight" language?:

Section 8. Review: Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

Watch him lie his way through the hearings today.

Link is here if flash player does not work: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/23/paulson-wants-oversight/

Cell Phones Not In The Polls

I use a cell phone, no landline, I've never been called for a poll. Most of my friends are the same. Are our voices being reflected? Only a few of the polling companies have just started using cell phone data. Alas, there is an article out saying that when you allow cell phone users in the polls, let's say in the Presidential race, Obama gets a consistent bounce up. As much as 2.8%. The article actually says you get a 2.8% depression when you disallow cells, so I've put a positive spin on the bias.

Maybe it's a mirage, maybe smart people get on "no call" lists, but I would think that young people who use cells only are a big unheard demographic. We'll see.

Here's the article

McCain’s 5 Stages Of Grief Over The Economy

Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance. He's got them all.

Inside McCain's skull: We're OK, no we're not. Fire somebody! Regulate but make it sound like I didn't say that. Get me some of Cindy's pills. Should I use WWII reference or get more from Vietnam? Carly made $42 mill, but I like lobbyist. Am I wearing my Depends™? Is Bush still President or can I blame something on Clinton? Hillary or Bill, it doesn't matter. Get CNN out of here!

Great article on McCain's implosion over the past few days. His daily-changing positions, his ignorance of economics, his furious tirades and new ingenious anti-press stance have Grampy McLame struggling to cope with his diminished presidential prospects. Maybe he wants us all to feel sorry for him so he'll get the sympathy vote?

Read about all 5 stages in detail here.

Room temperature IQ, health issues, forgets what he says. Let's find the Maverick a nice blanky and a cup of soup. Bless.

Bin Laden 4 Years Later

From the Osama Bin Laden audio tape released on Nov 1, 2004, almost 4 years ago:

"We are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy. Allah willing, and nothing is too great for Allah,"

Look around. Maybe not all of our problems are due to the war, but wasteful war spending, higher oil prices, and issuing debt to cover the tax breaks for the wealthy sure helped kill the economy. $700 billion and we're still not in the clear?

Bin Laden also said al Qaeda has found it "easy for us to provoke and bait this administration."

"All that we have to do is to send two mujahedeen to the furthest point east to raise a piece of cloth on which is written al Qaeda, in order to make generals race there to cause America to suffer human, economic and political losses without their achieving anything of note other than some benefits for their private corporations."

With no real gains in Pakistan or Afghanistan, Iraq a swamp of nothingness, 4000+ dead, 30,000+ wounded, private corporations having benefitted more than anything else making record profits, and I won't even get started on political losses on the world stage, the quote is pretty accurate.

Bin Laden is the worst of the worst, no doubt, but his predictions from 4 years ago on what he saw would happen are stinging. Compare that to our rhetoric and feel the pain.

CNN article from 2004

Federalism By Republicans Is A Joke

If Republicans believe in federalism, or States' rights to govern themselves, why is the McCain campaign trying to run Alaska right now? Can't the state do it's own business or investigations?

What do Republicans do when they have a problem with abuse of power?

• They aggressively try to shut down all means of inquiring into the reality and record of the mystery that is Sarah Palin.
• They insert yourself into the Alaska legislature's Troopergate investigation in order to stymie transparency before the election.

The only way to curb abuse of power is to abuse power, but on a higher level. Orwellian doublespeak = GOP logic!

Via the Juneau Empire:

"The presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin has taken effective charge of the Alaska state government's response to the legislative investigation into abuse of power allegations against Palin. An investigation that began on a bipartisan basis with several pledges from Palin to participate, is now being manipulated to protect Palin by campaign attorneys who appear to be directing the Palin administration's response, top legislators say."

Federalism is just lip service. Republican national power trumps all local or state institutions. Add this to the long list bullshit principles the conservatives pretend to have.

George Will: McCain Is Unpresidential

Not so much a fan of George Will, more a barometer for the Right Wing white men with zero charisma. The other day he reflected on the race describing Barack Obama as "presidential, calm, and unflustered," and slamming John McCain for "substituting vehemence for coherence," and engaging in "unpresidential behavior." Will added, "John McCain showed his personality this week, and it made some of us fearful."

In his WaPo column today, Will took his view further claiming McLame was "behaving like a flustered rookie playing in a league too high.":

Conservatives who insist that electing McCain is crucial usually start, and increasingly end, by saying he would make excellent judicial selections. But the more one sees of his impulsive, intensely personal reactions to people and events, the less confidence one has that he would select judges by calm reflection and clear principles, having neither patience nor aptitude for either.

It is arguable that, because of his inexperience, Obama is not ready for the presidency. It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency. Unreadiness can be corrected, although perhaps at great cost, by experience. Can a dismaying temperament be fixed?

Seems like another conservative who has had enough of McCain and the list keeps growing.

McCain Loses His Head article

Chris Dodd Stares Down Paulson

Seems like it is the old West on Wall St. Via firedoglake:

So there was "Goldman" Hank, holding a gun on the economy and staring Congress down. "Give me the 700 billion, or the economy gets it!" he threatened. For two days it looked like he was going to get away with it, 700 billion dollars to spend on the Wall Street gang, the boys who'd already shot the economy up so bad it was in danger of bleeding to death.

Then Marshal Dodd came swinging through doors, shotgun in hand, and said "not so fast Hank. Put the gun down, and back away from the economy. We're going to do this my way."

Read the entire article

Paulson is pushing the ticking time bomb, "we must act now" crap. These firms need to change the way they do business and stop the generational looting. The banks don't even trust each other these days. How can we? Dodd and Dems need to stand tall.

Note: Bush is trying to NOT limit the pay of CEOs. Look at compensation packages of these failures[from the aflcio.org/paywatch/ site]

$13,960,382 AIG (Sullivan – CEO - 2007)
$40,004,315 Bear Stearns (Cayne – CEO - 2006)
$25,520,621 Citigroup (Prince – CEO - 2007)
$42,994,306 Countrywide (Mozilo – CEO - 2006)
$53,966,198 Goldman Sachs Group (Blankfein – CEO - 2007)
$22,052,273 Lehman Brothers (Fuld – CEO - 2007)
$28,286,332 Merrill Lynch (O’Neil – CEO - 2007)
$41,790,854 Morgan Stanley (Mack – CEO - 2007)
$15,795,984 Wachovia (Thompson – CEO - 2007)
$14,364,883 Washington Mutual (Killinger – CEO - 2007)

This is what we're dealing with. Greed that you or me have never experienced.

Cheney Ordered Not To Destroy His VP Records

It shows how bad to the bone the Republicans are.

A federal judge on Saturday ordered Dick Cheney to preserve a wide range of the records from his time as vice president.

Cheney will probably pull out his Unitary Executive Theory handbook and have David Addington or John Yoo help him destroy all his papers and emails. Maybe Scooter Libby will help out, too.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly is a setback for the Bush administration in its effort to promote a narrow definition of materials that must be safeguarded under by the Presidential Records Act.

It's considered a "setback". To not destroy the VP files and papers is a setback? Is that not a perfect representation of Republicans destroying laws set up to protect America.

End result: Cheney will blow this ruling off and destroy everything. Comply with lawful demands? Cheney? It's beneath him.

Read article here.

McCain: Throwing Stones From His 7 Glass Houses

via oliverwillis.com

Quote This

"Whatever the New York Times once was, it is not today by any standard a journalistic organization. It is a pro-Obama organization that every day attacks Senator McCain, attacks Governor Palin, and excuses Senator Obama,"

- Steve Schmidt, McCain's chief "strategist".

The New York Times is in the tank for Obama, but Fox News is unbiased I guess according to Steve. Maybe that's why Palin appeared with Sean Hanity the other day. It's as if they are equating asking questions or searching for truth for being in the tank for someone.

So, to McCain, truth and transparency, by association, are synonymous with Democrats?

To prove how off base the McCain campaign is, they were outraged the New York Times hasn't covered the lobbying work done by Joe Biden's son. Too bad The Times ran a story last week on the lobbying work done by Joe Biden's son.

Don't Trust Bush

If President Bush says the $700 billion bailout is something we have to sign fast, with no accountability, and that we have to trust him, isn't that the kind of government behavior what got us into this mess? I say yes, this is something that has to be treated quickly, but let's put some effort into this. Don't these 32 words, taken from the proposed bailout package, scare you:

Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

Unchallengeable by courts and ungovernable by the People's duly sworn representatives?

I know a lot of people are to blame, but Bush is a great lighting rod because he is an idiot guy who makes poor decisions based on cronyism and ideals. He hates debate and oversight and his mindset has influenced the markets to bend the rules because they know they would not be caught or prosecuted, and in the event of total failure, they would be bailed out. Bush stood on the sidelines of the economy he crafted and watched it crumble, but not just boo-hoo crumble, it historically failed. Between his made up wars and corporate bailouts, Bush has wasted and squandered more taxpayer money than anyone else. And the money who couldn't spend, he just borrowed with interest from the Chinese. Worst. President. Ever.

Senate Banking Committee chairman Sen. Chris Dodd sums up some of my feelings:

"I spent quite a bit of time last night with my colleague from Alabama, Sen. Shelby, who is the ranking Republican on the banking committee. I ran into Mel Martinez of Florida, the Republican senator from that start. I’ve talked to others here. This isn’t just Democrats. This isn’t a natural disaster like the Gustav hurricane. This is a man-made, avoidable, preventable problem — and a lack of oversight and accountability was one of the problems."

I also like it because Dodd’s comments were a swipe against President Bush, who last week cited the financial crisis in the same breath as terrorist attacks and natural disasters.

Sarah Palin Failure

It is now 24 days since Sarah Palin was announced as a potential "heartbeat away from president of the United States" next January and she still hasn't given a news conference or has any plans to hold one.

Will she avoid the press for much longer? The WaPo writes:

Mr. McCain is entitled to choose the person he thinks would be best for the job. He is not entitled to keep the public from being able to make an informed assessment of that judgment. Ms. Palin's speech-making skills are impressive, but the more she repeats the same stump speech lines, the queasier we get. Nor have her answers to the gentle questioning she has encountered provided any confidence that Ms. Palin has a grasp of the issues.

Republicans have destroyed the last 8 years, now they want to hide from it.

$700 Billion Bailout

Great op-ed in the New York Times on the $700 billion bailout.

Nugget #1:

But make no mistake, this crisis could have been avoided if regulators had enforced rules and officials had dared to question risky lending and other dubious practices.

Nugget #2:

Finally, Americans need to be told a more fundamental truth: This crisis is the result of a willful and systematic failure by the government to regulate and monitor the activities of bankers, lenders, hedge funds, insurers and other market players. All were playing high-stakes poker with the financial system, but without adequate transparency, oversight or supervision.

Nugget #3:

The regulatory failure, in turn, was grounded in the Bush administration’s magical belief that the market, with its invisible hand, works best when it is left alone to self regulate and self correct. The country is now paying the price for that delusion.

The fundamental truth is Republicanism is dead. The "invisible hand" the free-market conservatives use to justify their greedy objectives is actually the middle finger and it's forcibly shoved in our face.

Read the article here

Sarah Palin: Twit

Her mocking tone is just so religious-y.



The unJoke: How do you know Sarah Palin is lying? When she's moving her lips.

McCain Pet Peeve

John McDoleCain pronounces it waRsh-ing-ton. Is that annoying or what? Doe she say idea-R, too?

[this will be an on going category]

Barack in FL

That growing landslide Barack Obama addressing women voters in Florida. He's using McCain's own words, in context, to make his points.