McCain Is Herbert

Now that Grandpa McCain has a whistle when he talks, he sounds like Herbert from The Family Guy. Paper boys beware.

McCain: Now Is Not The Time For Blame, But I Blame Obama

John McCain: "Now is not the time to affix the blame."



Ten minutes later, McCain said "Obama Stood By, Did Nothing, And Showed No Leadership On The Bailout Negotiations."

Whether you like the bill or not, Monday morning McCain was dancing in the endzone, done deal. His suspended campaign was a success. Monday afternoon, the GOP told McCain and Bush to eff off as 67% of them voted "no". Can't phone that in. Why no questions after your afternoon campaign stop? Too full eating crow?

McCain logic: Obama "did nothing" so McCain had to step up and pass the bill. Then Obama "did nothing" again and the bill failed. Barack was responsible for passing and failing the bill.

Reality check: your party is broken, you are clueless, you have zero leadership, your big gamble did not pay off. You just shot your load and Bush was the victim. You've sealed the Congressional failure for your party. Free market conservatives encouraged the behavior that killed the market then stood by and watched it die. GOP RIP.

Maybe you think the fundamentals of your party are sound.

Vote Republican: We're More Concerned With Our Feelings Than Your Future

via Steve Benen at Washington Monthly:

On its face, this is comically stupid. House Republicans wanted to vote to prevent a financial collapse, the pitch goes, but the Big Bad House Speaker made them mad with a speech. You can read Pelosi's remarks yourself -- if it strikes you as the kind of speech that's worth risking the economy over, let me know.

But more important that than is the truly ridiculous frame Republicans are establishing for themselves by using Pelosi's speech as an excuse for their own failure. The House GOP, for reasons that defy comprehension, has decided to characterize itself as a caucus of cry babies. Worse, they're irresponsible cry babies who, according to their own argument, are more concerned with their precious hurt feelings than the nation's economic stability.

It's a great slogan for the election season, isn't it? "Vote Republican -- We're More Concerned With Our Feelings Than Your Future."

If you don't like the bill, say that. It wasn't the greatest bill, but to blame a speech is weak. King Bush, John Boehner and McCain wanted this bill to pass and it failed. The GOP is dead.

Read on

A Terrible Vote

Um, you're voting on a bill. Not a person. Not a speech.

Andrew Sullivan:

"The bottom line of today, however they try to spin it, is that a Republican president failed to win more than a third of his own party in the House in what most regard as a financial emergency. The collapse of the Republican party as a coherent organization is pretty much complete - and it's silly to blame Nancy Pelosi."

and Jennifer Rubin:

"...the only thing worse than the vote was the complaining afterwards that Nancy Pelosi’s speech was too partisan. So they voted against the only viable measure to prevent a market meltdown because Nancy was mean to them?!,"

Are You Better Off Than You Were 8 Years Ago

Hechuva job, Georgie.

DOW January 19, 2001: 10,587.59
DOW September 29, 2008: 10,365.45

NASDAQ Jan 19, 2001 = 2770.38
NASDAQ September 29, 2008 = 1983.73

CPI, January 19, 2001: 175
CPI, September 29, 2008: 219

Dollar exchange with Euro, January 19, 2001: 1.068
Dollar exchange with Euro, September 29, 2008: .695

Read on

A non-economic fact:

PSSVP*, September 17, 1787 - January 19, 2001 - 1
PSSVP*, January 19, 2001 - September 29, 2008 - 1

* People Shot by Sitting Vice President

Conservative Ed Rollins: Failure Of Bailout Will Hurt McCain

Two-thirds of the Republicans voted "no" to a bill he approved. How does McCain explain his leadership?

"To a certain extent, I think John [McCain]gets hurt by this," said Ed Rollins, a CNN contributor who worked on former Gov. Mike Huckabee's primary campaign earlier this cycle. "He obviously, at the end of the day, said he was for it. But more important than that, he said he was the one who would bring them to the table and to a certain extent he will be viewed now as not being able to do that."

Rollins added, "McCain is our nominee and [congressional Republicans] will do everything they can to help him, but they are not going to go over the cliff for him. They did that for Bush, and they thought that this measure was just too dramatic for their constituencies."

UPDATE: On MSNBC, Chris Matthews faulted McCain's leadership, arguing that McCain called "charge" while the Republicans "retreated." CNN's Ed Henry commented, that the McCain campaign is going to try to "run away" from the fact that this failed.

Read on

Dow Down 777 Points

At least it will be an easy number to remember. This failed Republican Administration always setting new highs when it comes to bad news.

According to Bloomberg News, "stocks lost $1.1 trillion in value, meaning the market loss was larger than the size of the $700 billion bailout."

Palin Answer Generator

Can't find where Sarah Palin is being hidden? Not sure what she thinks on key policies? "Thinks" may be too strong a word, what she repeats on key issues is more like it. Here's a site that helps you understand her positions through a simple Q&A, InterviewPalin.com

Although a parody site, it's hard to tell:

Q: How will you fix the economy?

The economy and putting it back on the side of the leadership there. I do agree with taking the fight to the mission, the mission that we're on, reform of this state that I worked on as chairman of the construction bonds and the insurance carrier duties of AIG. But first and shoring up our economy. It is, somebody was saying this morning, a toxic waste there on Wall Street. Well, it certainly does because our our next door neighbors are foreign countries. They're in the war. You can't blink. You have to second-guess what their efforts would be if they believe that what you are seeking, also? That strategy that has much to do things better.

Sadly, Palin is the punchline.

Read on at InterviewPalin.com

Quote This

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

Also, check the S.& P. 500 Index which "roughly describes the performance of mutual funds owned by millions of people." It's tanking.

Embrace The Post-American Age

Interesting article at Wired by Parag Khanna. In his book The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order, Khanna, 31, describes a planet dominated by a trio of superpowers: the US, China, and Europe.

"The geopolitical wooziness Americans are feeling isn't decline. It's realignment."

From Canada to Uzbekistan, Khanna identifies the unexpected flash points, overstated threats, and hidden opportunities the next US president might confront. He breaks it down into 8 regions, here's an example:

Region 1: Mexico and Canada
Integrate, don't isolate
America's oil comes from a volatile region half a world away. That's lunacy, Khanna says. "An energy partnership with Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Brazil could make the US much less dependent on oil from the Middle East." That's also why building a wall along our southern border is foolish. "We should treat Mexico like Europe treats Turkey — integrating, elevating, and partnering with it."

Read on

McCain's Missing Advisors

via Ezra Klein:

"[Paul] Krugman also makes a point I've been wondering about: What's happen to the GOP's adviser class? When Barack Obama wants to convey strength and experience on the economy, he call Robert Rubin, Larry Summers, Warren Buffett, Paul Volcker, Laura Tyson, Joe Stiglitz, and Gene Sperling. McCain calls...Meg Whitman? Phil Gramm? Carly Fiorina? Kevin Hasset? Mitt Romney? An online auctioneer, a sour deregulator, a failed CEO, a guy who wrote a book saying that Dow would hit 36,000 right before the market crashed, and an early-model android?

It wasn't always like this, Say what you will about him, but Romney had serious economic advisers playing prominent parts in his campaign: Greg Mankiw and Glen Hubbard in particular. McCain has Doug Holtz-Eakin, but he's playing campaign flack rather than acting as an adviser. McCain has been in Washington for 24 years. Hes been prominent for virtually that whole period. That he's not built better or stronger relationships with serious economic minds is extremely telling. Plenty of economists and financial analysts would have happily advised him over the years and then naturally assumed visible roles during his presidential campaign. That few have done so says a lot about how little interest McCain has shown in these issues throughout his career."

There are simply no Republicans left in Washington to work in a McCain Administration. The Republican brand is dead.

Read on

McCain Looks Beaten In More Ways Than One

Americablog is picking up what I'm putting down. I said old man McCain's left eye looks messed up. Here's what they noticed.

"McCain looks horrible. Something is wrong with him. I'm watching McCain be interviewed by Stephanopoulos, and in addition to being even more comatose than usual, McCain's bottom lip looks swollen, his top lip doesn't even move, and he sounds like he's lisping a bit now (his "s" is whistling). Watch it. His mouth is swollen, and I'm not talking about his swollen left cheek from the cancer surgery. I wish they would tell us what is going on with McCain's health. Any readers have any expertise in this - is it botox, a mixture of that and some ailment, or what? This brings me to mind McCain's other odd health issue, his left eye and its out of synch blinking."

This campaign is killing him.

Read on

Zakaria: Palin Is Ready? Please

My boy Fareed Zakaria at Newsweek roasts the vapid Sarah Palin, and for picking her for such an important position, John McCain.

"Can we now admit the obvious? Sarah Palin is utterly unqualified to be vice president.

Obviously these are very serious challenges and constraints. In these times, for John McCain to have chosen this person to be his running mate is fundamentally irresponsible. McCain says that he always puts country first. In this important case, it is simply not true."

To the conservative deniers, I really feel for you. You probably think Newsweek is a leftwing rag that trumpets the Democratic platform. For you, the truth is actually a Democratic value, thanks for the compliment. You must fight the Democrats and fight the truth!

As for Palin: Worst. VP. Pick. Ever.

Read on

Fox News Laughs At Housing Crisis In 2006

Via OliverWillis.com:

Watch this clip from Fox' Bulls and Bears from 12/16/2006. Why would you ever watch Fox Noise to get your news? They panel laughed at Peter Schiff who was right about the coming housing crash, two years ago.



Note: Peter Schiff named Economic Advisor to the Ron Paul 2008 campaign.

McCain's Bizarre Earmark Obsession

This is how John McCain is going to balance the budget. His obsession with earmark spending highlights his Senate life and a one dimensional approach to a very complex situation. Cool that you think earmarks are corrupting Washington, but it's a small piece of the pie.



Via Foreign Policy:

"What's more, McCain seems not to understand that earmarks are just a tiny piece of the fiscal picture. As Barack Obama pointed out during the debate, earmarks represent just $18 billion out of a much larger pie. Compare that to the projected 2009 deficit (not counting the bailout) of roughly $500 billion. Or compare it to the total federal budget of about $3 trillion."

Read on

SNL Palin Skit Pt 2

Real Palin quotes used within the the sketch, you can't tell the difference. No parody required. Except no lifelines or phone a friend in the real world.

McCain Retracts Palin's Pakistan Comments

Human muppet Sarah Palin contradicts her father John McCain on Pakistan policy at a stop in Philly. Here is how she responded to a Temple graduate student about whether the U.S. should cross the border from Afghanistan into Pakistan."If that's what we have to do stop the terrorists from coming any further in, absolutely, we should." Sounds like Obama's stance.

McCain retracts her statement. Maybe he patted her on the head after he scolded her and put her in the quiet chair for a timeout. But listen to his lame explanation:

"In all due respect, people going around and… sticking a microphone while conversations are being held, and then all of a sudden that's—that's a person's position… This is a free country, but I don't think most Americans think that that's a definitive policy statement made by Governor Palin."

Sticking a microphone? She was asked a direct question, to which she aswered. How much are they going to protect Palin? It's getting to the point where Palin has to be kept in a literal bubble to not totally destroy McCain's chances.

The Washington Monthly points out:

"So, just because Sarah Palin says something in public doesn't mean Palin actually believes what she's saying. And for goodness sakes, no one should think that Palin's comments are a reflection of the campaign's position on an issue.

Second, how are voters to know the difference between the things Palin says that are "definitive policy statements," and the things she says that should be ignored? How is the public to know when Republican candidates mean what they're saying and when they don't?"

Read on at CNN