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Americans are - gasp! - cooking at home because of economy

This is not such a bad thing anyway. I did not grow up in a household that could afford to eat out more than a couple of times per year so now when I come back to the US, it surprises me how much people dine at the restaurant. What makes it surprising is how bad the factory food chains can be, yet people still go. Even here in Paris where the standard is much higher, I still prefer just buying good quality food (by bargain hunting, of course) and cooking myself or with friends. Lots of AMERICAblog readers do a lot of cooking, so what are your favorite food sites or specific food recipes that you can share?

A few sites that I like:

Simply Recipes. This is great a great comfort food, autumn meal though I like to add fresh, chopped Piments d'Espelette, when I can find them.

Chocolate & Zucchini. Best and easiest chocolate cake, ever. I once had a friend tell me it was better than his mothers chocolate cake. In France, such praise is rare.

Marmiton. (It's a French site) Lots of fast and easy recipes. Run a search (under recettes) for "Filet mignon de porc en croûte" and you will find a bunch of great versions of this meal. In French "filet mignon" is pork tenderloin, not beef. After trial and error I have my own adjustment that works. It's a puff pastry crust filled with the seared pork tenderloin, wrapped with ham slices, covered with slow cooked onions that melt in your mouth and then chunks of a creamy St Felician cheese. For me, Gruyere/Swiss cheese is too heavy when cooked.

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Russian stock market closed twice this week

Trading in Moscow was halted twice this week. Once because it dropped too much, too quickly and the second time after it reopened it increased too quickly. (The extreme movements up and down sound like Wall Street, to a degree and such extremes are signs of a troubled market.) So why does this matter to Americans or anyone else outside of Russia? Think back ten years ago when Russia had its last crash and was an basket case, looking for money from everywhere and looking for direction. Russia found its direction with Putin, with his hyper-macho attitude and dreams of returning Russia to its former glory as a world player.

To Russia's credit, Russia now has a growing middle class and anyone in IT knows just how important St Petersburg (and to a lesser degree Moscow and beyond) has become. In addition to that IT middle class, Russia has brought a lot of manufacturing into St. Petersburg with automakers from around the world setting up shop there. (St. Petersburg just happens to be Putin's home town, so it has profited enormously during the Putin years.) In recent years, Russians have become very visible in exclusive European places such as Monaco and the Alps, buying up property everywhere and driving their massive Rolls Royce's, Benley's, Maybach's and Mercedes Benz models that I never knew existed. The world luxury market (today) is highly geared towards the elite Russians who will pay whatever it costs, preferably at the highest possible price. This summer all the talk in the south (in France, not Alabama) was how the Russians owned the Riviera. One mansion was purchased for almost $800 million by a Russian billionaire but every exclusive house on the coast seemed to have been bought by a Russian. Obviously after the '98 crash and years of Putin making or breaking business executives, the new billionaires have planted their cash reserves outside of Russia. These are the people who have profited under Putin and who brought a certain flash back to Russia.

As the price of oil falls to "only" $100 or less and the Russian stock market slides into chaos, where is Russia headed? Putin his number two, President Medvedev, are still eager to flex some of Russia's former muscle though they may not have the money to do so. Re-building an old and creaky military, funding a failing banking system, handling a stock market that has lost half of its value in a few months, flexing muscle and keeping the dream of Russia's return sounds less likely than it was a year ago. If nothing else, this will make Russia less stable on the world scene and that is not good for any of us. Read More......

Obama really was on fire today

John had excerpts of the Obama speech earlier today. Watching the video is even better. Obama looks like he's having fun:



Our candidate is on a roll. The first line of the Washington Post article captures it perfectly:

Barack Obama unloaded on John McCain this morning at a rally in Daytona Beach.

And, I love the way Obama is using McCain's own words to eviscerate McCain. Read More......

Hillary speaks about Palin

Not sure she should have used the "change" word:

"I think that a lot of people were excited to see the Republicans have a woman on their ticket. We had a woman vice presidential candidate in 1984; the Republicans have one this year. I think that is something to be excited about because it is a change. But that's not reason enough to vote for the McCain-Palin ticket," she said, according to a transcript from NY1 News.

She also spoke of the way women are covered by the press.

"I think you have to ask yourself and it's a little exercise I'd like everybody in the press, and really all of us, to go through: Would the same thing be said about a man in a similar position and the answer 99 times out of 100 is no. I think it's been a long time since anybody covered what Barack Obama, Joe Biden, or John McCain wear or their hairstyle or any other personal characteristic like that."

Maybe. But I'm not sure you'd catch Obama, Biden or McCain wearing a bright red suit either. (And to be fair, we've harped on McCain's $520 Ferragamo 'Pregiato' Moccasins and how he looks like he's gotten awfully elderly recently). And another thing, Todd Palin didn't wear a $300,000 outfit to the convention. Cindy McCain did. Read More......

McCain confuses National Guard and Army

It's not a simple gaffe when it never happened before and now it's happening all the time. It's not a simple gaffe when it's your signature issue. This is like confusing Spain and Latin America. It's something so basic, especially to someone with an expertise in the area, that it's looking increasingly indicative of McCain's failing mental acuity. Senility, dementia? We don't know because the corporate media thinks it's impolite to ask. Yes, impolite to ask if our possible future president during war time is losing part of his mind. Read More......

Today's Taliban: "larger, better armed and more confident militia, capable of mounting sustained military assaults."

Bush and McCain ignored Afghanistan. This is the result:

Just one year ago, the Taliban insurgency was a furtive, loosely organized guerrilla force that carried out hit-and-run ambushes, burned empty schools, left warning letters at night and concentrated attacks in the southern rural regions of its ethnic and religious heartland.

Today it is a larger, better armed and more confident militia, capable of mounting sustained military assaults. Its forces operate in virtually every province and control many districts in areas ringing the capital. Its fighters have bombed embassies and prisons, nearly assassinated the president, executed foreign aid workers and hanged or beheaded dozens of Afghans.

The new Taliban movement has created a parallel government structure that includes defense and finance councils and appoints judges and officials in some areas. It offers cash to recruits and presents letters of introduction to local leaders. It operates Web sites and a 24-hour propaganda apparatus that spins every military incident faster than Afghan and Western officials can manage.

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Wash Post headline says it all

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Obama blasts McCain, a lot

This is really good. And I can just see McCain's head exploding:

The Democratic presidential nominee used McCain's own words to attack him as an opponent of federal regulation of the banking industry, said his rival's support for partial privatization of Social Security could jeopardize retirement security for many Americans and fought back on the question of which candidate has closer ties to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Speaking at Bethune-Cookman University at an event highlighting his campaign's efforts to appeal to women voters, Obama invoked the current financial crisis by taking aim at an article carrying McCain's name in the current issue of Contingencies magazine, published by the American Academy of Actuaries.

In it, McCain wrote, "Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation."

"So let me get this straight -- he wants to run health care like they've been running Wall Street," Obama told the audience. "Well, Senator, I know some folks on Main Street who aren't going to think that's such a good idea."

McCain has attacked Obama this past week for ties to former executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, including in two television ads. But he said it's McCain whose campaign is replete with current or former lobbyists for the mortgage giants. He cited comments by the former head of Fannie Mae's government relations office, who was quoted in Politico as saying, "When I see photographs of Sen. McCain's staff, it looks to me like the team of lobbyists who used to report to me."

"Folks," Obama said, "you can't make this stuff up."

On Social Security, Obama said, McCain's support for privatization would leave senior citizens at risk at a time when the stock market has plummeted. "I know Senator McCain is talking about a 'casino culture' on Wall Street -- but the fact is, he's the one who wants to gamble with your life savings and that is not going to happen when I'm president of the United States."

He said that if McCain had his way, "the millions of Floridians who rely on it would've had their Social Security tied up in the stock market this week," although McCain has not called for full privatization of the system.

McCain is a notorious gambler, as in gambles with real money. So this is a cute jab that. Read More......

The "John McCain as Bob Dole" theme takes hold

Yesterday, Adam Nagourney from the New York Times established the emerging story line that new John McCain is actually Bob Dole:

These days, Mr. McCain sounds less like his old self than Bob Dole, another Republican senator who ran for president in 1996, sounded in the closing days of his campaign — speaking louder or repeating statements that he thinks might be overlooked.

Olbermann kept it up with a segment titled "McCain's 'Bob Dole Moment?'"



It's good.

Also, wanted to give a shout out and send good thoughts to Raquel in Pennsylvania. Glad to know she's a fan and hoping that we're doing our part (along with Keith O.) to distract her these days. Read More......

Anchorage Daily News: Palin "has surrendered important gubernatorial duties" to the McCain campaign

Palin has ceded control of Alaska to John McCain's campaign staff. That can't be good for Alaskans:

Gov. Sarah Palin has surrendered important gubernatorial duties to the Republican presidential campaign. McCain staff are handling public and press questions about actions she has taken as governor. The governor who said, "Hold me accountable," is hiding behind the hired guns of the McCain campaign to avoid accountability.

Is it too much to ask that Alaska's governor speak for herself, directly to Alaskans, about her actions as Alaska's governor?

Apparently, the answer to the question is "Yes." Instead, Alaska's governor is speaking directly to the rest of America -- and, like her running mate on the Palin-McCain ticket, is lying to our faces. Read More......

AP: McCain lied again

McCain has no economic experience, other than running 1,000 or so banks into the ground as a result of his Keating Five scandal. And let's not even talk about Sarah Palin taking over America's economic crisis should McCain die in office or have to step down should his melanoma return. So what do you do when you have no economic experience while America faces an economic crisis? What do you do when your campaign manager made hundreds of thousands of dollars as a lobbyist charged with keeping regulators away from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the very problem that led to the crisis we face today? You lie. Repeatedly. And hope no one notices that your inexperience poses a danger to the country:

Obama has said he would raise taxes on people making over $250,000 a year and would cut taxes on the middle class. McCain restated his claim that Obama had voted to raise taxes on people who make just $42,000 a year — a claim that has been widely debunked by nonpartisan fact check organizations.

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McCain admits he was responsible for deregulating banks

Markos and his diarist have a great find here. McCain admitting that he was responsible for deregulating Wall Street over the past decade. Nice. So now that we know that McCain's campaign manager was a lobbyist paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight off regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and that McCain himself is now taking credit for deregulating Wall Street, I think John McCain has worked his Keating Five magic once again. Read More......

McCain wants our health care system to be like our banking system

Yes, you read that title correctly. There are so many reasons John McCain shouldn't be president. Put this one near the top of the list. Via Paul Krugman:

OK, a correspondent directs me to John McCain’s article, Better Health Care at Lower Cost for Every American [It's a pdf] in the Sept./Oct. issue of Contingencies, the magazine of the American Academy of Actuaries. You might want to be seated before reading this.

Here’s what McCain has to say about the wonders of market-based health reform

Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation.

Okay. Our financial system was on the verge of collapse because there was not enough oversight and regulation. That's the kind of health care system John McCain wants for you.

John McCain doesn't understand how the nation's private health insurance system -- or doesn't understand how it works for most of us. He gets government run health care, which serves him well. Richard Kirsch, from Health Care for America Now (HCA), issued this statement about McCain's health care plan yesterday -- shortly before we knew McCain wanted the system to be run like the banking system. But, even before that, we knew that McCain was just plain wrong about health care:

McCain’s health care plan is a sham. But he wouldn't understand that because he doesn’t have to navigate the independent, unregulated, bureaucratic insurance market.

See, Senator McCain enjoys the government health care he keeps attacking. He has coverage through the Veterans Administration, which is government run, socialized medicine. He’s covered under the Federal Employees Health Benefit System, which is government paid for, regulated private insurance. And as a senior citizen, Senator McCain is eligible for Medicare which is government health insurance. All these allow McCain to “see [his] doctor fairly frequently” as he told reporters in March.

And yet he believes none of these solutions are right for the rest of America, many of whom can’t afford to see their doctor at all.

If McCain wants the health insurance system to be like the banking system, he wants a government takeover. Read More......

NYT: US was literally days away from a complete financial meltdown

How did the Republicans let it get this far? And just as importantly, how can America trust the stewardship of our country to an economic neophyte like John McCain? America can't afford the inexperience that John McCain brings to the table on economic issues. McCain's only financial claim to fame is sinking 1,000 banks. Well that's not entirely true. He also is now saying that he was responsible for deregulating the banking industry and leading us to the current disaster. Read More......

Saturday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

The Saturday cartoons are brutal this week. Brutally on target. Brutally, funny. Sarah Palin is the gift that keeps on giving to the cartoonists. And, they are especially harsh on the negative, lying campaign of the guy running with Palin.

The poem of the week is "Love Sonnet XI" by Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. It's "a spicy one."

Enjoy...and then back to business. Read More......

Now that we own Wall Street and their problems, shouldn't we have some say on pay?

And who out there doesn't like the sound of "toxic debt" in our budget? Now that we're about to be the proud owners of hundreds of billions or even a trillion worth of rubbish from Wall Street, a very small details are coming out. It's still debatable whether we're actually paying an inflated or fair price or if we will ever see the dreamy returns (12% over two years, hooray!) on our AIG bailout. (People are hearing what they want to hear on AIG and I remain unconvinced so far.) Democrats have thrown in a good issue to this bailout debate, which is that we ought to control the level of executive compensation for firms involved in this oh-so-sweet, lifestyle saving deal.

That's not a bad starting point, but hello, has anyone looked at annual compensation throughout those companies? I have repeatedly said we are funding their lifestyle and yes, even if we cut back the money at the top, the money being made in this industry is well above the norm. What part of "they made a killing by selling trash" are people not understanding here? Even fresh out of school youngsters with no experience are easily raking in $150,000+ because there was so much profit from selling trash to the world. Why should everyone in America, who just financed tax cuts for the wealthiest and who fund oil-rich Iraq and who bailed out Freddie, Fannie and AIG, also continue to fund this money craze on Wall Street? This lifestyle of luxury goes so much deeper so let's quit pretending that we don't have any say in this, because we do.

We effectively own Wall Street's future so let's debate this through while we have their attention and some control. I'm not comfortable with former Goldman Sachs executive Hank Paulson making these decisions. He's a Wall Street insider who has a soft spot for his friends. He's not an elected official and should not make this call. I understand that greed is what makes Wall Street tick and to a large degree I'm fine with that. When proper oversight is present, the system generally works well for the US. However, when that greed becomes our collective problem, this is a completely different story. It is more than fair to ask "what are we getting out of our bailout and toxic debt purchase?" Rushing through this process to save their sorry asses is no excuse. The taxpayers of America have saved the day for the Wall Street spongers and free market phonies so now could not be a better time to have this discussion. Asking for our fair share back makes sense, but so does altering this dysfunctional system that is dragging us all down. Read More......

And now for the next phase of the Wall Street crisis

State budgets (and of course federal budgets) are going to be slashed, meaning program cuts and/or tax increases. It's unsettling to me that in the rush to bail out the system we've skipped past the big picture of what happens to everyone else. It's doubtful that anyone was really surprised at the failures of this past week and if they were, maybe it's time they move on. What nobody wants to talk about now that it's an election year is that yes, we can extend bailouts to a point, but what about the cost tomorrow? Just as it was bad judgment to give tax cuts during a so-called war, it will problematic to hand out tax cuts during these economic times.

So onto the latest phase from the state of Massachusetts, though it could be any state at this point. Golly, I guess those brave, fearless, rugged folks from Alaska can quit sucking our federal tax dollars and figure out how to live on their own with the windfall profit taxes that Palin set up. Don't call us, Alaska, we'll call you when we need money.

Governor Deval Patrick's administration is considering widespread emergency cuts in the state budget after tax collections plummeted by $200 million in the first two weeks of September, fueling fears of a deeper financial crisis as the nation's economic outlook worsens.

The precipitous drop puts the state's revenue far below what state officials had budgeted for this point in the fiscal year that began July 1, according to a Department of Revenue report. Moreover, officials expect the budget situation to worsen as the turmoil in the nation's financial markets weakens the economy, resulting in lower tax revenues for the state.

"The current economy and its impact on the state are going to complicate what's already been a challenging budget problem," said Leslie Kirwan, Patrick's secretary of administration and finance, who has grappled with consecutive $1 billion budget deficits. "We will be watching this very closely for the rest of the month."

The state anticipated it would collect about $1.1 billion in the first two weeks of September. Instead, it generated only $889 million, an 18.4 percent drop from the same period last year. Overall, budget officials hoped to end the month $80 million ahead of September 2007 collections, a threshold that now seems unreachable given the shaky economy.

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NY launches water turbine experiment

It's small but good to see NY starting the process of testing potential new energy programs.

On a recent morning, a crane sank a 16-foot rotor into the waters of the East River and divers swam deep to bolt it to the bottom. By early evening, as the northerly current sped up, the rotor began to spin, a big thunk sounded in the control room, a green light went on, and electricity began to pour into a nearby supermarket.

The scene represents an experiment in tidal power, using turbines that look like underwater windmills, and it is the first of its kind nationwide and one of only a few such pilot projects in the world.

"This is just the beginning of a project, but the project itself is emblematic of a whole new industry," said Trey Taylor, the president of Verdant Power, a small company that created the experiment and hopes to expand it to commercial use with 300 turbines in the East River that could power up to 10,000 homes in the city.

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Nashville is out of gas, literally

There was a panic, and everyone raced to the pumps. Now 85% of the city's stations are without gas. I'm waiting for the same thing to happen to the banks. We're are really screwed. Read More......

ABC: Palin may have lied in a court document re Troopergate

Yeah, thing is, lying to a judge, even in George Bush's America, is a lot more serious than simply lying to the American people. Palin and McCain can derail a lot of investigations, perjury isn't one of them. Read More......

AT&T issues new 2500-page customer service agreement

It's not clear, but I think AT&T now has the rights to your first child. It's astonishing the arrogance of corporate America nowadays. After gladly helping the government illegally spy on its own customers, AT&T should be showing a little deference. Read More......

Okay, it's official - Sarah Palin is really a cheap $9.99 wind-up doll made in China

I have an Ann Coulter doll that acts an awful lot like Sarah Palin. Has a vocabulary of ten nasty sentences that repeat in random order.

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Avast, maties!

It's talk like a pirate day! Or, rather, is the day to talk like a pirate, argh. Okay, I'm not so good at it. But was kind of wondering why Reddit was operating in pirate speak today. Now we know. Every September 19. I'm setting my computer calendar now for next year.

Top Ten Pickup lines for use on International Talk Like a Pirate Day

(We came up with these in an effort to interest The Other Dave (Letterman) in TLAPD. His staff liked 'em, but alas, his show was"dark" the week of Sept. 19.)

10 . Avast, me proud beauty! Wanna know why my Roger is so Jolly?

9. Have ya ever met a man with a real yardarm?

8. Come on up and see me urchins.

7. Yes, that is a hornpipe in my pocket and I am happy to see you.

6. I'd love to drop anchor in your lagoon.

5. Pardon me, but would ya mind if fired me cannon through your porthole?

4. How'd you like to scrape the barnacles off of me rudder?

3. Ya know, darlin’, I’m 97 percent chum free.

2. Well blow me down?

And the number one pickup line for use on International Talk Like a Pirate Day is

1. Prepare to be boarded.

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In a crisis, we saw the stark difference between Barack Obama and John McCain

In an earlier post, a reader compared the styles of Obama and McCain when addressing the massive economic crisis earlier today:

I think it is extremely telling to read Obama's remarks (and, notably, answers to questions) in Florida today and then to read McCain's in Wisconsin. For one thing, as Obama said elsewhere on the stump, McCain can only propose attacking Obama as a solution to our problems. For another, McCain's all over the map with a hodge-podge and rehash of previous and loopy proposals, most of which are bandaids and doctor's office lollipops on a seriously bleeding artery.

That seems to be the consensus. Having watched both speeches myself, there really was a sharp contrast between the angry accusatory tone of McCain and the steady, measured message from Obama. Several political reporters picked up on the fact that McCain's economic plan was basically an attack on Obama.

Jed also analyzed the differences and put it on video, with this very astute description:

One the one hand, in Barack Obama we've got a statesman who wants to work together to get things done for all Americans. On the other hand, in John McCain we've got a yipping little dog (apologies to canine lovers everywhere) who will tear anything down to get ahead.

Starkly different styles. Does anyone feel comfortable putting that John McCain in charge of the economy? Or anything for that matter. Read More......

McCain campaign manager Rick Davis paid several hundred thousand dollars to lobby for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac against federal regulation

Politico:

To The Editor:

Yesterday, Senator John McCain released a television commercial attacking Barack Obama for allegedly receiving advice on the economy from former Fannie Mae CEO Franklin Raines. From the stump, he has recently tried tying Senator Obama to Fannie Mae, as if there is some guilt in the association with Fannie Mae's former executives.

It is an interesting card for Senator McCain to play, given that his campaign manager, Rick Davis, was paid by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac several hundred thousand dollars early in this decade to head up an organization to lobby in their behalf called The Homeownership Alliance. ...

I worked in government relations for Fannie Mae for more than 20 years, leading the group for most of those years. When I see photographs of Sen. McCain's staff, it looks to me like the team of lobbyists who used to report to me. Senator McCain's attack on Senator Obama is a cheap shot, and hypocritical.

Sincerely,

William Maloni
Fannie Mae Senior Vice President for Government and Industry Relations (1983-2004)

What did Rick Davis know and when did he know it? Actually, we already know. Joe just found this little bombshell from earlier this year. Wasn't so relevant in February when it was written. It is now. McCain's campaign manager's previous job was ensuring that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac didn't get regulated by the feds:

Davis, was president of the Homeownership Alliance, a Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac-led advocacy group which has tried to fend off regulation sought by large private banks and mortgage lenders.

The front story of the Homeownership Alliance is that it sought to make home ownership affordable to the broadest possible range of people and feared that that this mission would be compromised if Congress stepped in with too many rules.

The back story, according to critics, is that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac feared that Congressional meddling would lower their healthy profits.

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Americans prefer watching football with Obama

(NOTE FROM JOHN: This may sound fun and silly, but it's actually quite serious stuff. The conventional wisdom is, and I agree with it, that Americans vote for who they like in their gut, who they'd like to watch a game with, have a beer, share dinner. And while the numbers for Obama and McCain are close, though Obama is ahead, Obama intrigues people on the right whereas McCain horrifies people on the left. That's interesting, in terms of how it might play with independents. Cuz let's face it, would you rather hang out having a beer with someone around your age, or with your grandpa?)

And if Obama can help my Buckeyes learn how to quit choking in big games (besides against Michigan) all the better. What is especially interesting about this new poll is that even normal Republican voters understand that McCain can't control his temper. Democrats have struggled with the "likeability" factor in the last few campaigns but this year Obama has won over Americans.

People would rather watch a football game with Barack Obama than with John McCain....

[R]eflecting a sense some voters have of McCain based on the complaints of a few Senate colleagues, he added warily, "I bet he'd probably get pretty angry and lit up if his team was losing."

Democrat James Smith, 29, of Asheville, N.C., picked Obama because he believes he and the Democratic senator from Illinois have more in common.

"With McCain, I have such an age difference," said Smith of the Arizona senator, who is 72. But with Obama, 47, he said, "If things went well with the conversation, the football game would be forgotten. There'd be a lot of back and forth."

Such views are significant because in many elections, candidates considered more likable have an advantage.

McCain backers were a bit more intrigued by watching with Obama than the Democrat's supporters were with making McCain their football buddy. While fewer than one in 10 Obama backers wanted to watch with McCain, nearly one in five McCain supporters wanted to kick back with Obama.

"He seems intensely focused in a way I'm not sure he does sit down and relax," McCain supporter Lanita Linch, 41, of Harrison, Ark., said of the Republican. She said she'd rather watch with Obama because he seemed like "someone you could be comfortable and at ease with," but cautioned, "If he's not a Cowboys fan, we'd have a problem."

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Sarah Palin is scaring the bejeesus out of Floridians

Fascinating article Ben Smith just posted about how undecided Floridians are now moving towards Obama because of Sarah Palin. Seems they aren't very thrilled with "ideologues" like Palin. I'm going to guess that part of the reason is a visceral distrust of where the arch-Christian Palin comes down on the question of Jews and issues they care about. Actually, it would be a fascinating question to ask Palin, if she thinks Jews need to be "saved," and whether they're going to hell. In the menatime, let's not forget that the anti-Semitic Pat Buchanan claims that Palin was a big supporter of his presidential campaign. Palin denies it, but then again, she and McCain have been lying every single day since McCain picked her, so we're to believe Palin doesn't have a personal problem with Jews because she, a serial liar, tells us so? Pat Buchanan thinks she's swell, and says she was a big supporter. Here he is:"

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Obama vs McCain on the economy

Reader DB writes:

I think it is extremely telling to read Obama's remarks (and, notably, answers to questions) in Florida today and then to read McCain's in Wisconsin. For one thing, as Obama said elsewhere on the stump, McCain can only propose attacking Obama as a solution to our problems. For another, McCain's all over the map with a hodge-podge and rehash of previous and loopy proposals, most of which are bandaids and doctor's office lollipops on a seriously bleeding artery. But above all, Obama has a far better grasp of the actual crisis AND in his remarks manages to tie the problems of Wall Street to, as he puts it, the problems on Main Street. Stimulus for the former won't work without stimulus for the latter.

Some people complain Obama can sound didactic, like Al Gore; but in a situation like this, he's actually pedagogic, teaching Americans (and reporters) about the crisis and about what the political leadership should be addressing.

Obama transcript
McCain transcript

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McCain's proposal to privatize Social Security would have been a disaster this week with stocks diving

Yeah, great idea McCain had, privatizing Social Security and investing all of your retirement savings in the stock market. Buh bye. Read More......

Top 10 Reasons for McCain to Attack Spain

From Pinko Magazine

10) 1992 Summer Games: WORST. OLYMPICS. EVER.
9) Tapas.
8) Spanish Government banned illegal downloads of Cindy’s favorite album, Global House Diva, Volume 2: Live in Ibiza.
7) Immigrants flooding Texas and New Mexico. Can’t they manage their own border?
6) I WAS A POW I'LL ATTACK WHO I WANT. INCOMING!
5) "Compañero de Cuarto de Papa," the Spanish version of Daddy’s Roommate, rocketed to #4 on Spanish Amazon.
4) Sarah Palin saw it from the window of her plane to Kuwait and she just didn’t like what she saw.
3) “You rhyme the name of your country with my last name I’ll f--- you up.”
2) Pesky rule requiring America to defend the territorial integrity of fellow NATO allies elitist, sexist.
1) That trollop Penelope Cruz.

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Obama: 'McCain is a little panicked right now'

Panicked? Meeow.:-) Here's the video and the transcript is below:



Transcript:

This morning Senator McCain gave a speech in which his big solution to this worldwide economic crisis was to blame me for it.

This is a guy who's spent nearly three decades in Washington, and after spending the entire campaign saying I haven't been in Washington long enough, he apparently now is willing to assign me responsibility for all of Washington's failures.

Now, I think it's a pretty clear that Senator McCain is a little panicked right now. At this point he seems to be willing to say anything or do anything or change any position or violate any principal to try and win this election, and I've got to say it's kind of sad to see. That's not the politics we need.

It's also been disappointing to see my opponent's reaction to this economic crisis. His first reaction on Monday was to stand up and repeat the line he's said over and over again throughout this campaign -- 'the fundamentals of the economy are strong' -- the comment was so out of touch that even George Bush's White House couldn't agree with it.

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WSJ: McCain economic statements 'unpresidential'

The Wall Street Journal:

John McCain has made it clear this week he doesn't understand what's happening on Wall Street any better than Barack Obama does. But on Thursday, he took his populist riffing up a notch and found his scapegoat for financial panic -- Christopher Cox, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission....

Mr. McCain clearly wants to distance himself from the Bush Administration. But this assault on Mr. Cox is both false and deeply unfair. It's also un-Presidential....

In a crisis, voters want steady, calm leadership, not easy, misleading answers that will do nothing to help. Mr. McCain is sounding like a candidate searching for a political foil rather than a genuine solution.

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Bail-out to cost $1 trillion

$1 trillion. But you'll be glad to know that the Democrats are trying to waste even more of your money on yet another "stimulus package" (read: hand-out/bribe) that yet again doesn't go to those of us "rich" people who live in big expensive cities and put ourselves through college (i.e., who didn't amass great wealth because we were paying it to our student loan lenders for 15 to 30 years). But my friends with million dollar homes WILL probably get the stimulus, just like they did last time, because their income says they're not rich. Uh huh. Absolutely ridiculous. And we wonder why we have a hard time winning elections when we keep asking people to vote against their own pocketbook. Read More......

McCain's economic plan: Attack Obama

Obama will speak on the economy shortly. Rob live-blogged McCain's "Herbert Hoover" speech earlier today. McCain seems to have forgotten that he's been in Washington for 26 years. And, he's also forgotten his involvement with the Keating 5. Instead, McCain's major speech on the economy was just an attack on Barack Obama. And, McCain just kept repeating lies that have already been debunked.

NY Times:

Senator John McCain gave a few new details of his economic proposals at a speech here Friday morning, but the address seemed as much a political shot at Senator Barack Obama as a policy prescription.

Washington Post:

Republican presidential candidate John McCain offered few new details this morning on how he would respond to the crisis in the nation's financial markets, instead renewing his criticism of Democratic rival Barack Obama's ties to former heads of mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

The campaign yesterday had promised more information about McCain's economic plan. But McCain, in a speech to a hastily assembled meeting of the local chamber of commerce, mostly repeated his call for a new government trust that would identify and help rescue failing financial institutions and a set of principles to guide future regulation and legislation.

No new details, but plenty of political attacks. That's not exactly the kind of leadership that would calm the markets and instill confidence. In the middle of the worst financial crisis since the Savings and Loan debacle, McCain's speech was just more of the same. He really is just a nasty guy with no vision for the country. Read More......

Wash Post: "What we are witnessing may be the greatest destruction of financial wealth that the world has ever seen"

I don't claim to understand everything in this article- Chris is our financial guru - but it strikes me as a damn good explanation of what happened this week, and where things are heading. From the Washington Post:

What we are witnessing may be the greatest destruction of financial wealth that the world has ever seen -- paper losses measured in the trillions of dollars. Corporate wealth. Oil wealth. Real estate wealth. Bank wealth. Private-equity wealth. Hedge fund wealth. Pension wealth. It's a painful reminder that, when you strip away all the complexity and trappings from the magnificent new global infrastructure, finance is still a confidence game -- and once the confidence goes, there's no telling when the selling will stop.

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John McCain's Herbert Hoover Speech

Watching John McCain's economics speech in Wisconsin. It's like watching a modern day Herbert Hoover live. He really doesn't get it. (I'll be writing more as review on Tivo):

- What's up with McCain's left eye?
- John McCain is giving us his "educated guess" on what started the current financial crisis - this from the man who said: "I'm going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated"
- So John McCain just said that Fannie and Freddie are to blame for our current economic crisis. Seriously? That was the big problem?
- McCain just lied and said that Franklin Raines has been advising Obama on housing policy. From Franklin Raines: "I am not an advisor to Barack Obama, nor have I provided his campaign with advice on housing or economic matters." Obama's campaign put that out in a statement last night. (link coming)
- McCain just said Obama should "admit to his own poor judgment in contributing to these problems" - Right, it's Obama's fault, not McCain who has been in Washington for decades and was Chairman of the Commerce Committee - McCain really has no shame.
- He's going on about the lack of transparency in the financial markets - that would come in the form of regulation - something that McCain and the Republican Party have argued against for a generation. And the public is supposed to believe that this John McCain is different from the John McCain who Tuesday said don't bail out AIG. Oh of course, because this is the John McCain who on Wednesday said we should. Wonder which John McCain would become President? The deathbed convert or the decades long deregulating Republican?
- McCain just said that the regulatory agencies were lax at carrying out their responsibilities. Maybe a Republican administration is going to encourage that environment? Say like they did during the Keating Five scandal? When John McCain was in the room with the regulators pressuring them to be more lax? Uh huh...
- "The Chairman of the FEC should resign and be replaced."

Clearly he was talking about the SEC's Chris Cox, but even still, this financial crisis goes WAY past just the SEC and McCain doesn't get it. He's standing behind a huge gaffe, just like the Spain one. He's really being reckless in covering up these mistakes. When is the media going to start calling him out on this stuff?
- McCain is proposing a Homeland Security-style single regulatory body for all financial markets. Yeah, Katrina didn't show the failure of that approach.
- He went through a castigation of the Fed and basically told them to stay out of this - I mean, does he really not understand that the Fed was designed to regulate the financial markets? These investment and insurance companies, given their enormous size, are effectively a part of the financial services system. That was the rationale for nationalizing them instead of letting them fail. The Fed has been doing exactly what they are supposed to. Now the Treasury Department, that's a different question - does McCain know the difference? After years on the Commerce Committee one would expect so, but maybe not.
- McCain is saying that his tax plan, a xerox copy of Bush's, is better than Obama's middle class tax cut? And his health care, another copy of Bush's tax credit-style way to pay for huge health care costs, is better than Obama's? He's offering up nothing but more of the same. How does he think people can't see this? This isn't reform at all.
- McCain went on about a strong dollar and now he's talking about how 1 in 5 jobs are export related - doesn't he get that a stronger dollar is bad for exports, making them more expensive? I'm not taking a policy position one way or the other, I'm just saying that these two things are opposite and yet they are in the same speech.

There weren't any new ideas here at all - it was all the same blather. McCain shamelessly tried to say that Obama was under the influence of lobbyists. McCain and his lobbyist packed campaign are truly shameless.

If this weren't the worst financial crisis of a generation, then this would be a fine Republican campaign speech - packed full of lies and half truths. But in what should have been an opportunity for McCain - after a week of bumbling and flip flopping - to prove to the public that he get's the problems facing our economy he failed. This speech didn't do that. On the biggest issue of our day McCain just doesn't get it. Read More......

NY Times: The "New McCain" is the Old Bob Dole

Adam Nagourney, like so many of the old gang from the Straight Talk Express, seem to miss their old friend, John McCain:

There are now not one but two drawn curtains on Mr. McCain’s plane separating his spacious quarters from the press corps. Left idle is the couch that was built in the front of the plane — called “Straight Talk Air” — to reproduce at 30,000 feet the freewheeling chats with reporters that were the stock-in-trade on his bus; the other morning it was covered with newspapers. Mr. McCain, who promised to hold weekly news conferences if elected president, has not held one in more than a month.

Two curtains! How cruel. The traveling press was so looking forward to sitting in that couch.

It's hard to lose a friend because that friend start hanging out with a new crowd. But, that's what happened to all the reporters who used to love hanging out with John McCain. Under the tutelage of the Karl Rove crew, that old John McCain has morphed into somebody new:

These days, Mr. McCain sounds less like his old self than Bob Dole, another Republican senator who ran for president in 1996, sounded in the closing days of his campaign — speaking louder or repeating statements that he thinks might be overlooked. “The American economy is in a crisis!” Mr. McCain said. “It’s in a crisis!”

To the press corps, McCain has become Bob Dole. Ouch. That's what McCain gets for ditching them. Read More......

Friday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

What a week, huh? This was a very fun week and I think we should have six more just like this one. Obama was on fire this week. And, McCain couldn't have been a bigger disaster.

Stay on alert for the next GOP smear attack on Obama. The way things are going with their candidate, it'll have to be extra ugly. I mean, who knew McCain would bring us back to the days of saber rattling against Spain? It's so 1898. Just wait for the new McCain campaign slogan: "Remember the Maine." And, don't forget, McCain does fancy himself a "Teddy Roosevelt" kind of guy.

Okay, let's get it started... Read More......

Obama slams McCain on economic crisis

And better still, he has been meeting with numerous financial heavyweights on both sides of the isle and will deliver his program on Friday. The same old thinking and the same old people who created this mess have to go. It's not a matter of giving the boot to one or two people. The problems in our financial system are much broader than that and go layers deep. Of course, we could say the same about all of the Bush-McCain people who have been running the country. Their half-baked theories are bringing us all down.

Obama also mocked McCain's promise to fire the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission if elected.

"I think that's all fine and good but here's what I think," Obama said. "In the next 47 days you can fire the whole trickle-down, on-your-own, look-the-other way crowd in Washington who has led us down this disastrous path.

"Don't just get rid of one guy. Get rid of this administration," he said. "Get rid of this philosophy. Get rid of the do-nothing approach to our economic problem and put somebody in there who's going to fight for you."

Obama came up with yet another way to poke fun at McCain for his comment Monday that the fundamentals of the economy were strong. "This comment was so out of touch that even George Bush's White House couldn't agree with it when they were asked about it. They had to distance themselves from John McCain."

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Paulson's bad debt purchase to cost a HALF A TRILLION, and then some

The number missing from this horrible boat anchor tied to the American public is the lost retirement money from this fiasco. Does this mean Paulson is going to bail out Americans for their personal losses? Yea, I know it may not have enough of an impact on the national economy though it sure as hell has a major impact on individual economies. What do we tell those people? What about retirees who have lost retirement money? Who will tell grandma and grandpa that they have to go work at McDonald's because the McCain-Bush-Gramm economic theory failed so badly? We all better be getting something in return because even now, we continue to fund the lifestyle of the same bastards who dragged us down, the same bastards who received all of the Bush-McCain tax cuts who McCain wants to help out with even more tax cuts. Yes, McCain wants to give these people even more in his third Bush term. Read More......

83 Wall Street lobbyists work for John McCain

Consider it McCain's own personal bail-out plan for Wall Street. From David Corn at Mother Jones:

[T]he Democratic National Committee, using publicly available records, has identified 177 lobbyists working for the McCain campaign as either aides, policy advisers, or fundraisers.

Of those 177 lobbyists, according to a Mother Jones review of Senate and House records, at least 83 have in recent years lobbied for the financial industry McCain now attacks. These are high-paid influence-peddlers who have been working the corridors of the nation's capital to win favors and special treatment for investment banks, securities firms, hedge funds, accounting outfits, and insurance companies. Their clients have included AIG, the newest symbol of corporate excess; Lehman Brothers, which filed for bankruptcy on Monday sending the stock market into a tailspin; Merrill Lynch, which was bought out by Bank of America this week; and Washington Mutual, the banking giant that could be the next to fall. Among these 83 lobbyists are McCain's chief political adviser, Charlie Black (JP Morgan, Washington Mutual Bank, Freddie Mac, Mortgage Bankers Association of America); McCain's national finance co-chairman, Wayne Berman (AIG, Blackstone, Credit Suisse, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac); the campaign's congressional liaison, John Green (Carlyle Group, Citigroup, Icahn Associates, Fannie Mae); McCain's veep vetter, Arthur Culvahouse (Fannie Mae); and McCain's transition planning chief, William Timmons Sr. (Citigroup, Freddie Mac, Vanguard Group).

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We're going to bail out this?

Thanks to Ford, we can now see just how incredibly stupid Ford has been with its planning. Who in the world could ever imagine that a gas guzzler (16 mpg!) would not sell forever? Gosh, next thing you know Wall Street and the Republicans will tell us that the housing prices will always go up. For those out there wondering if Ford had any business sense and change with the times, the answer is pretty clear. Sure, they will gladly update their plans as long as tax payers foot the bill. As soon as taxpayers cough up money for Wall Street bailouts, Iraq costs, tax cuts for the wealthy and whatever new bailout we're going to be committed to whether we like it or not, giving another chunk of billions should be easy. It's all going to be a breeze now that the great American credit experiment is finished. Read More......

Get our blog posts via Twitter, and a question about Facebook RSS

Per a friend's rather brilliant suggestion, I've set up a Twitter account that streams the RSS feed from AMERICAblog, so you can now get the latest headlines from the blog via Twitter. The Twitter account name is, of course, AMERICAblog and the Twitter address is:
https://twitter.com/americablog

And now a question. My brilliant friend suggested I do the same with Facebook. But I'm wondering exactly what people recommend I do with Facebook, in order to stream our content. I don't want to annoy people by sending too much stuff. Do I set up an entirely separate account for AMERICAblog, do I use my current Facebook account and somehow use the AMERICAblog group I created a while back? What are the options for streaming blog post RSS via Facebook? Our comments section on the blog have recently been revamped, so I'm told they should be easier to log in now (there were some problems the past couple of days). But if it's too confusing, feel free to email me your suggestions, advice. Thanks guys, JOHN Read More......

Paulson (taxpayers, actually) now planning to buy Wall Street bad debt

Are you f**king kidding me? I can't wait to see how much more Wall Street's problems are going to cost us. Go back and pick their goddamn pockets of every cent they've made in recent years and then come back and ask us. This is one of the most sickening periods in American history and McCain wants us to somehow believe him when he tells us he can take care of it. You know, just as he did for the Keating Five S&L crisis. Just as he did with Phil Gramm, close confident and economic brain. We sure as hell better get out pound of flesh from Wall Street for this historical disaster. Tax cuts for the rich? Hell. They can all go Cheney themselves.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is working on setting up a government facility to take on bad debts from financial institutions to prevent a worsening of the global credit crisis, Wall Street sources have told CNBC.

The facility would be similar to the Resolution Trust Corporation, which was set up in the late 1980s to take on all the failed thrift assets during the savings and loan crisis, these sources said. [Chris's note: HINT, HINT...McCain and Keating Five, anyone?]

The news sparked a big rally in stocks after a day in which investors remained nervous about the spreading effects the global credit crisis. Europe and Asia closed lower.

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How many times?

Reader John writes:

How many times do we have to hear:

We don't have ENOUGH MONEY to fix Social Security.
We don't have ENOUGH MONEY to fix Medicare.
We don't have ENOUGH MONEY to provide health care to ALL Americans.
We don't have ENOUGH MONEY to help out Americans losing their homes.
We don't have ENOUGH MONEY to help all our veterans returning from war.
We don't have ENOUGH MONEY to rescue "no child left behind".

BUT...

We DO HAVE ENOUGH MONEY to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
We DO HAVE ENOUGH MONEY to bail out Bears Stearns.
We DO HAVE ENOUGH MONEY to bail out AIG.
We DO HAVE ENOUGH MONEY to pay for an unnecessary TRILLION DOLLAR war.

When the LITTLE GUY needs help, they scornfully say, "GET A JOB!"
But when one of their BIG GUY CRONIES need a bailout, what do they say? SURE, NO PROBLEM. Where's the checkbook?

"But what about the debt we're leaving on the backs of our childen and their future?"
"Children? WHOSE Children? OUR children won't have to pay for this. YOUR children will."

The Republicans have had their hands in our pockets for well over 8 years.
Now they are robbing us blind IN BROAD DAYLIGHT and smiling about it!!!!
The Republicans have shown their true colors and now they expect us to vote them back into office?

What's next? Should we bend over and spread 'em? Oh, I'm sorry, but we've ALREADY DONE THAT!!
SEVERAL TIMES!!!

Vote for REAL change this November.

VOTE BLUE

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The First Dude "who participates in state business in person or by e-mail" won't testify in Troopergate

Sarah Palin is proving she can play the Washington game as well as anyone. With the help of the McCain operatives, Palin is stonewalling the investigation into her abuse of power. Todd is right in the thick of all of this -- and he's refusing to testify:

Gov. Sarah Palin's husband has refused to testify in the investigation of his wife's alleged abuse of power, and a key lawmaker said today that uncooperative witnesses are effectively sidetracking the probe until after Election Day.

Todd Palin, who participates in state business in person or by e-mail, was among 13 people subpoenaed by the Alaska Legislature. McCain-Palin presidential campaign spokesman Ed O'Callaghan announced today that Todd Palin would not appear, because he no longer believes the Legislature's investigation is legitimate.

Sarah Palin initially welcomed the investigation of accusations that she dismissed the state's public safety commissioner because he refused to fire her ex-brother-in-law, a state trooper. "Hold me accountable," she said.

But she has increasingly opposed it since Republican presidential candidate John McCain tapped her as his running mate. The McCain campaign dispatched a legal team to Alaska including O'Callaghan, a former top U.S. terrorism prosecutor from New York to bolster Palin's local lawyer.

Palin fits right into the GOP "culture of corruption." And, I think we're going to keep learning a lot about Todd. In many ways, he's a natural successor to Lynne Cheney. Read More......

Foreign Policy 101 for John McCain

Since John McCain is no longer able to keep track of whether Spain is in Europe or Latin America, the Guardian newspaper is helping him out with a little primer:

So, to clarify matters for McCain: Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is the lefty prime minister of Spain. The Zapatistas are armed revolutionaries who have declared war on the government of Mexico. Zippy is an irascible non-human character in the children's TV series Rainbow, and Captain Zep was the star of an awesome 1980s British children's sci-fi drama. Franco Zeffirelli is a celebrated Italian film director who I once pretended to know the first thing about in order not to look stupid in a conversation in a restaurant.

By the way, this must be a truly depressing day for our friends at Spain For McCain. We can assume they're not Zapatero fans, but still: their hero isn't even sure where their country is located? How dispiriting.

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John McCain Invented the Blackberry (Techno remix)

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McCain would rather lose a NATO ally than admit a mistake

By now, if you've visited our blog earlier today, you know that we've been dogging this story about John McCain, during an interview with a big Spanish newspaper, seeming to repeatedly suggest that Spain was in Latin America and run by a dictator. And for that reason, McCain wouldn't say whether he'd be interested in meeting at any time in the future with the leader of Spain, a NATO ally and longtime friend of America.

Now, McCain had just said five months ago, in another interview with the same Spanish paper, that he'd love to meet with the Spanish leader. So it was a little odd that McCain suddenly wanted to start a cold war with Spain this week. Some in the media have been generous to McCain and are suggesting that he simply got confused and thought the interviewer was asking him about a petty dictator in Latin America and not the leader of Spain. Hmmm. The woman asked McCain the question four times, and she twice mentioned "Spain" and even said that she was talking about "the president of Spain." So it's rather generous to suggest that it was unremarkable that McCain didn't understand that she meant Spain when she said Spain.

But, let's say we give him that. Let's say we agree that McCain simply had a bad phone connection and couldn't hear a thing the interviewer was saying. The problem is that McCain's campaign didn't admit to confusion, they didn't say that the interviewer had an accent, or that McCain couldn't hear her well over the phone. Instead, the McCain campaign puffed up their collective chests and said that McCain meant every word he said - McCain is not sure he wants to meet with the Prime Minister of Spain because, apparently, as McCain said earlier in the interview, McCain is not sure that Spain believes in democracy and human rights.

Understandably, McCain's comments, and his re-confirmation that this is exactly what he intended to say, has caused a bit of a firestorm in Spain. After all, a potential future American president just accused a NATO ally of possibly not believing in democracy and human rights. So, in a nutshell, rather than simply admit he screwed up, for whatever reason, McCain is now risking serious damage to America's relationship with a NATO ally that has troops supporting our mission in Afghanistan. Joe Klein at TIME summarized the situation thusly:

Does that mean Spain's membership in the League of Democracies is on hold? Seems to me that putting a chill in the relationship with one of our NATO allies simply because McCain misheard a question is going a bit far.

Even those who don't find McCain's mistake, on an issue that is his signature issue, foreign policy, remarkable, note that McCain's dogged insistence on sticking to his story is downright odd, if not reckless. This from TNR:

What's shocking is that, rather than own up to this excusable error, the McCain camp has dug in, claiming that McCain understood every word and meant exactly what he said.... The evidence seems pretty overwhelming that John McCain made an excusable mistake in the interview, but his campaign has tried to cover it up with an inexcusable falsehood, one that may significantly complicate relations with a NATO ally should he be elected.

Let me reiterate. For all of the McCain campaign's statements today insisting that he meant to suggest that he wasn't sure he'd want to meet with the Spanish leader, McCain already said five months ago that he'd love to meet with the Spanish leader. Unless some huge schism just happened in Spanish-American relations, and we all missed it, McCain is simply lying to suggest that he now believes it would be imprudent to agree to meet with the Spanish. Was McCain therefore imprudent when he welcomed the meeting five months ago?

What's going on is that McCain is so egotistical and so reckless that he'd rather risk major damage to our relationship with a lead US ally than admit that he misheard a series of questions during an interview. Somebody is seriously paranoid about giving voters any impression that his mind is slipping. And that only makes us wonder all the more if it is. Read More......

Bernanke - alone - controls $888 billion of our money

But to be fair, who really needs a democratic system anyway? Barney Frank just doesn't understand that this is the new Republican model that does away with pesky democratic controls and streamlines the system.

Setting up such an entity also would give lawmakers a chance to determine the parameters of future bailouts, as opposed to leaving the decision in Bernanke's hands. While most lawmakers said they trust Bernanke's judgment, Frank said he was troubled to learn in the meeting Tuesday that Bernanke has legal authority to use the central bank's reserves, which total $888 billion, to make loans to any entity under any terms he deems economically justified.

"No one in this democracy -- unelected -- should have $800 billion to dispense as he sees fit," Frank said. "It may be that there is so much bad debt out there clogging our system that we may have to have some intervention. But it shouldn't be the unilateral decision of the chairman of the Federal Reserve with the backing of the secretary of the Treasury."

It's probably OK as well that neither Bernanke or Paulson could address the financial impact on the federal budget or to taxpayers. Let's just leave them be and let it all work itself out. What could go wrong and why do we need democracy interfering with this? Read More......

Foreign Policy Dementia

Steve Benen over at Political Animal/Washington Monthly notes that McCain's recent confusion, thinking Spain was located in Latin America and run by a dictator, is only the most recent of McCain's increasingly odd foreign policy gaffes:

Let's also not lose sight of the broader pattern. McCain thinks the recent conflict between Russia and Georgia was "the first probably serious crisis internationally since the end of the Cold War." He thinks Iraq and Pakistan share a border. He believes Czechoslovakia is still a country. He's been confused about the difference between Sudan and Somalia. He's been confused about whether he wants more U.S. troops in Afghanistan, more NATO troops in Afghanistan, or both. He's been confused about how many U.S. troops are in Iraq. He's been confused about whether the U.S. can maintain a long-term presence in Iraq. He's been confused about Iran's relationship with al Qaeda. He's been confused about the difference between Sunni and Shi'ia. McCain, following a recent trip to Germany, even referred to "President Putin of Germany." All of this incoherence on his signature issue.

I'm curious. What do you suppose the reaction would be from the political establishment if Barack Obama had made these mistakes over the course of the campaign? What would reporters, pundits, and Republicans have to say about Obama's ability to lead a complex world in a time of war and uncertainty?

I think an intellectually honest person would agree that if Obama had made these same mistakes he'd be labeled "clueless" on foreign policy. So, why the double-standard?

As an aside, a number of you have been writing in about how Zapatero is not the president of Spain, but rather, is the prime minister. Well, you're right and wrong. First, the Spanish reporter called him "president," so we were just quoting her. But more importantly, in Spain, Prime Minister Zapatero is called "president." You can see the proof in El Pais here ("El presidente José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero ") and here ("El presidente del Gobierno, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero"), and here ("El presidente del Gobierno, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero"), for example. Read More......

Where are they finding the bailout money?

A reader asked yesterday how it was even possible that Bush could write a check to bailout AIG without Congress, since Congress is supposed to control the budget.

There was a great read yesterday about this point but after reading dozens of articles on the subject it's all a blur, unfortunately. One point made in that article was exactly that point. The fact that Paulson and a few others could just casually go to Congress (for a briefing) and then hammer out this deal with AIG only goes to show how weak the system has become. The previous system or regulations and procedures has been swept away because heavens no, we would never want to slow down a comfy bailout. Sure, there needs to be flexibility for urgent times, but let's not forget that there has been very little actual debate about taxpayers dishing out $600 billion - yes, $600 billion - in 2008. Wow. That's an amazing amount of money and we all know there is plenty more to come. (It's also doubtful that the American taxpayer will ever receive the AIG money back.)

So back to the $600 billion that we're on the hook for courtesy of the McCain-Bush credit crisis.

The federal government has pledged eye-popping amounts — more than $600 billion in the past year — to bail out, or help bail out, some of the biggest names in American finance. The latest was American International Group Inc.

Now the credit crisis is starting to tax even the Federal Reserve's deep resources.

On Wednesday, the central bank took the unprecedented step of asking the Treasury Department to sell debt on behalf of the Fed. The first of those auctions raised $40 billion, and two more to raise an additional $60 billion are scheduled for Thursday.

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AP and CNN weigh in on McCain thinking Spain is in Latin America

Here's AP on the story we've been reporting on all day, in which John McCain appears to believe that Spain is in Latin America, and run by a dictator:

Jose Luis Rodriguez Who? John McCain either doesn't want to meet Spain's prime minister any time soon or isn't quite sure who he is.

In a radio interview broadcast in Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries Thursday, the Republican presidential candidate repeatedly dodged questions as to whether he would invite Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to the White House if McCain wins in November.

"All I can tell you is that I have a clear record of working with leaders in the hemisphere that are friends with us and standing up to those who are not," he said. "And that's judged on the basis of the importance of our relationship with Latin America and the entire region."

He had been asked, however, about a leader outside the hemisphere.

McCain added, when that was pointed out: "I am willing to meet with any leader who is dedicated to the same principles and philosophy that we are for human rights, democracy and freedom and I will stand up to those that do not."

Responding to the first of four questions on whether he would confer with Zapatero, McCain said he'd talk with leaders who are cooperative with the United States. Then he discussed Mexican President Felipe Calderon and his work in fighting drug cartels.

AP fails to note that McCain had offered to meet with Zapatero in April, so there's a pretty major, and inexplicable, flip-flop from McCain here.

And here's CNN, which does a good job of showing how inexplicable and confused McCain's answers were:

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Yet another bizarre non-answer from the McCain campaign about whether McCain forgot where Spain is

As our part of our continuing coverage of McCain seemingly thinking that Spain is in Latin America and run by a dictator, I wanted to point out that the Atlantic's Marc Ambinder had a back and forth with the McCain campaign today, trying to get them to explain why, if the campaign now says it would be unwise to rule in or out any future meetings with foreign leaders such as Spain's prime minister, did McCain offer an invitation to just such a meeting to Spanish leader Zapatero just five months ago? Contradiction much? The McCain campaign's response, explaining why the sudden change? Gobbley-gook. Here's their response:

In this week's interview, Senator McCain did not rule in or rule out a White House meeting with President Zapatero, a NATO ally. If elected, he will meet with a wide range of allies in a wide variety of venues but is not going to spell out scheduling and meeting location specifics in advance. He also is not going to make reckless promises to meet America's adversaries. It's called keeping youtr options open, unlike Senator Obama who has publically committed to meeting some of the world's worst dictators unconditionally in his first year in office.

That wasn't the question. The question was why McCain today thinks he shouldn't rule in or out any such meeting, but last April he offered such a meeting to the Spanish leader. If it's called "keeping your options open," then why didn't McCain "keep his options open" last April? And for that matter, why did McCain respond to a question about Spain - four questions about Spain, in fact - by answering with a non sequitur about Mexico and Latin America?

Answer the question, McCain campaign. You were for meeting Zapatero and McCain downright gushed about mending relations with Spain in April, yet today you claim it would be imprudent to be publicly in favor of any such meeting. (And to top it off, McCain seemed to suggest that he wouldn't meet with Zapatero, the leader of Spain, unless and until Spain embraced "democracy and human rights" - what does McCain think, this is the 1970s under Franco? That's crazy talk). So was McCain imprudent back in April when he publicly extended the invitation to such a meeting with Zapatero? Or are you just lying in order to hide what Ambinder calls "a senior moment"? Read More......

US ambassador to Spain says it's "prudent" McCain didn't commit to meet Zapatero. Oh. So was it "imprudent" in April when McCain invited him to US?

The McCain campaign can't have it both ways. If the US ambassador is now saying that it was "prudent" for John McCain to not commit to meeting with the Spanish prime minister should McCain win the election, then it must have been awfully "imprudent" for McCain to invite the Spanish leader to Washington back in April. McCain just keeps digging himself in deeper and deeper. McCain would rather tell a lie, and rupture relations with a top US ally, than admit the damaging truth that he no longer has the mental acuity he did in his youth. But hey, I'm game. Let's play along. Do tell us, McCain campaign: What was it between April and today that convinced John McCain that he needed to take a hard line with the Spanish, 6 weeks before the US election, contradicting everything McCain said about relations with Spain only five months ago? Seriously, let's play this game - answer the question and convince us that John McCain didn't just suffer a mental lapse on tape.

One more point, for our friends in the corporate media. The fact that McCain is now dragging in the Bush administration to defend him on this issue means that McCain is very worried that this issue will get traction. Why? Not because he's worried about the all-important Spaniard vote - no offense to our Spanish friends, but American voters really don't care if McCain disses Spain. There has to be some reason that the McCain campaign is having the Bush administration weigh in to save him on this one. McCain is worried that we got a very real glimpse of him seemingly showing signs of old age or illness. McCain is 72 years old and has had 4 bouts of serious melanoma. It's time the media stopped beating around the bush. Everyone knows McCain isn't as intellectually spry as he once was. These mistakes are happening more frequently. What if they happen during an international crisis? We'll have Sarah Palin to help him out? Read More......

MSNBC tries to equate foreign policy credentials of Biden and Palin

Okay, I've seen a lot of absurdities during the election, but this latest effort by MSNBC's Contessa Brewer to somehow equate Biden and Palin on foreign policy takes the cake. The MSNBC anchor actually said that both Biden and Palin will "try to bolster their foreign policy credentials." Biden doesn't have to bolster his foreign policy cred. He's chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, for christ sakes. Palin got her passport last year....photo ops with foreign leaders doesn't bolster her cred, it makes her look more unprepared and unqualified. All of this coming right when we learn McCain doesn't know where Spain is. Watch this, it's classic. Absurdly classic:



Yeah, you might say Biden has "the edge" on experience -- by a 2 to 1 margin. Even if the traditional media is doing contortions to equate the experience of Biden and Palin, the American people get it:
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Palin puts herself on the top of the ticket. It's now "Palin and McCain"

We all know McCain's been having a rough couple days. No worries, Sarah Palin is taking matters into her own hands. Today, she unveiled the Palin/McCain ticket. I've never heard a vice presidential candidate putting themselves first before. It's an unwritten rule that the president is always first. But, not for Sarah. She touted the "Palin and McCain administration":



Sarah is the star attraction for the ticket -- and she knows it. And, this report from Radio Iowa at the Palin/McCain event today bears it out:

I look up, about five minutes into McCain's address and see a steady stream of people walking out of the rally. They just came to see Palin apparently.

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Senator McCain, Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still seriously dead

(UPDATE: I've translated McCain's interview from April with the Spanish press - that translation is at the end of this post. He couldn't have been more clear that he's interested in having fantastic relations with Spain, and in fact, McCain invited the Spanish leader to the White House should be win the election. It's clear that McCain is now lying when he says that he meant to distance himself from Zapatero yesterday.)

It appears that John McCain now believes that General Franco, who died in the 1970s, is still ruling Spain.

That's the only explanation for why the McCain campaign is now saying that McCain won't meet with the Spanish President should McCain win the election (in the Spanish press, Zapatero is in fact referred to as "the president"). This is the excuse the McCain campaign is now giving reporters to explain why McCain recently told an interviewer with the Spanish paper El Pais that he wasn't sure he'd be interested in meeting the Spanish president. It's clear from the interview, which we posted below, that McCain was having some kind of mental lapse during the interview so that he didn't even understand that Spain was in Europe. But the McCain campaign can't admit that John McCain appeared to have a senile moment, and that his dementia was caught on tape. Instead, the McCain campaign is now embracing the only argument they have left - they're actually now claiming that McCain meant every word he said.

Really?

Let's analyze, then, what McCain said.

1. When asked about Spain and the president of Spain, McCain responded about "Mexico" (twice), "Latin America," and "the hemisphere." All of those are references to Latin America and not Spain. Why would McCain answer a question about Spain - four questions about Spain, in fact - by talking about Latin America?

2. McCain is now claiming that he won't meet President Zapatero of Spain, should McCain become president. That's rather odd, since in April, McCain did an interview with the same Spanish newspaper saying bygones were bygones, it was time to "look to the future," and that he'd welcome Zapatero visiting him in the White House. So, why the sudden change now? We're seriously to believe that McCain just decided, 6 weeks before the election, to bash the entire nation of Spain when 5 months ago he said he was happy to meet with the Spanish leader?

3. The reason McCain gives for not wanting to meet with Spain's president is that he only meets with leaders who embrace democracy and human rights. Uh, McCain thinks Spain doesn't embrace democracy and human rights? What does he think, it's the 1970s and General Franco is still in charge? On its face, what McCain said makes no sense. He thought he was talking about Chavez or someone in Latin America, even though the interviewer repeatedly told him she was talking about "Spain" and "the president of Spain." That's the only explanation. Or, McCain suddenly thinks it's the 1970s and that General Franco is still alive.



Here is the translation of the first part of the interview McCain did with the Spanish paper in April. It's clear that McCain is now lying when he says that he meant to say he wouldn't meet with Zapatero - the interview couldn't be more positive:

Republican presidential candidate, John McCain, is ready to change the policy of estrangement with the Spanish government that was put in place for four years now by George Bush. He declared that he was ready to fully normalize bilateral relations and that Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was invited to the White House. In an interview on board his plane, which had just left Memphis, where he had participated in a ceremony honoring the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, and en route to his home en Phoenix, McCain said that "it's time to leave our differences with Spain behind us" and he added: ""I would like President Zapatero to visit the United States. I am very interested, not only in normalizing relations with Spain, but in developing good and productive relations that address the many issues and challenges that we need to be addressing together," he said.

McCain did not want to discuss issues like the withdraw of Spanish troops from Iraq, Zapatero's comments about the presence of other countries there, about the internal politics of the United States or his actions with regards to the American flag. He thinks those problems are now buried.

"You have to understand," he explained, "that things happen during election campaigns, things are said, decisions are made in certain political circumstances... And you have to understand also that there are coincidences ("coincidencias" ?) and disagreements." "But I believe that this is the time to leave those things behind us," he added, insisting that he didn't want to talk about the past, "and to look towards the future with the perspective that we have many more values and goals that unite us than that divide us."

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McCain forgets where Spain is. English version of interview now available.

LISTEN TO THIS: It's only 2 minutes long.

As I reported last night, John McCain recently did an interview with a large newspaper from Spain, El Pais, and seemed to not know that Spain was in Europe. The interviewer kept asking specifically about "Spain," and McCain kept responding about Mexico and Latin America and "the hemisphere." McCain then refused to say whether he would be willing to meet with the President of Spain should McCain win the presidency, oddly setting down the precondition that the President of Spain would first have to embrace democracy and human rights before McCain would meet him (the president of Spain already does embrace both of those, and in fact, this past April McCain did another interview with El Pais in which he said he'd be happy to meet with the President of Spain). Huffington Post has more.

It's clear that McCain had no idea she was talking about Spain, or the president of Spain, even though the interviewer repeatedly told him she was asking about "Spain" and "the president of Spain." This isn't a case of McCain forgetting something. He quite literally didn't comprehend what this woman was saying. His mind was gone, he was on auto-pilot, giving pat answers because he seemingly didn't understand what Spain was.

Last night we had the Spanish translation of the interview, but now we have the original English-language version of the interview, the original interview, that McCcain did with the paper. Reporters out there really need to listen to this. Here is a 2 minute clip of the segment of the interview dealing with Spain. And here is the exact transcript:

QUESTION: Senator, finally, let's talk about Spain. If you're elected president, would you be willing to invite President Jose Luiz Rodriguez Zapatero to the White House to meet with you?

MCCAIN: I would be willing meet, uh, with those leaders who our friends [sic] and want to work with us in a cooperative fashion, and by the way, President Calderon of Mexico is fighting a very very tough fight against the drug cartels. I'm glad we are now working in cooperation with the Mexican government on the Merida plan. I intend to move forward with relations, and invite as many of them as I can, those leaders, to the White House.

QUESTION: Would that invitation be extended to the Zapatero government, to the president itself?

MCCAIN: I don't, you know, honestly I have to look at relations and the situations and the priorities, but I can assure you I will establish closer relations with our friends and I will stand up to those who want to do harm to the United States of America.

QUESTION: So you have to wait and see if he's willing to meet with you, or you'll be able to do it in the White House?

MCCAIN: Well again I don't, all I can tell you is that I have a clear record of working with leaders in the hemisphere that are friends with us, and standing up to those who are not, and that's judged on the basis of the importance of our relationship with Latin America, and the entire region.

QUESTION: Okay... what about [either "you" or "Europe"], I'm talking about the President of Spain?

MCCAIN: What about me what?

QUESTION: Okay... are you willing to meet with him if you are elected president?

MCCAIN: I am willing to meet with any leader who is dedicated to the same principles and philosophy that we are for human rights, democracy and freedom, and I will stand up to those that do not.

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McCain event becomes Obama rally

Happened yesterday in Michigan. The workers didn't love McCain. "Obama 08":

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John McCain just forget where Spain was. Seriously, not kidding.

UPDATE: I now have the English-language version of the interview. Listen to it here.

Bumped. This is a very important story.

(UPDATE: I now have the Spanish version of the interview cropped to the 1 minute 37 seconds in question. You can listen to it here, but it's in Spanish.)

This isn't funny. It's actually quite serious. We may have the first evidence, on tape, that McCain's age, or illness, or both are catching up with him and he's losing his mental faculties.

I just listened to an interview John McCain did with a Spanish journalist recently. The interview is in English, but there's a Spanish translator translating the tape into Spanish at the same time. So the English part is difficult to hear. I am however fluent in Spanish, and what Josh reports is exactly what the Spanish version shows.

Namely, that John McCain didn't appear to know that Spain was in Europe, or that the leader of Spain was named Zapatero, even after he was told that Zapatero was the leader of Spain.

When asked about Spain and Zapatero, by a Spanish reporter for a Spanish newspaper, McCain responded about Mexico and Latin America. A reader suggested something that Josh had already considered, that perhaps McCain thought the reporter was talking about the Zapatistas in Mexico, the guerilla group. But that's not possible as the reporter clearly said she was talking about Spain and Spain's leader, Zapatero. She told McCain this twice. Let me tell you exactly what she asked McCain (per the translation):

"Senator, finally, let's talk about Spain. If you're elected president, would you invite President Zapatero to meet with you in the White House?"

McCain then gives this odd answer about America's friends and America's enemies. He also, oddly, talks about Mexico (why Mexico? The question was about Spain) and how he'd invite friendly leaders to the White House. She then asks him again, would that invitation include President Zapatero? He says again that he'd have to review relations first, blah blah. She then says again, "so you'd have to wait to see, so would you meet with him in the White House?" He again repeats his weird statement about friends and enemies. McCain also throws in, oddly, to the Spanish reporter, when she's asking him about meeting the Spanish president, a line about the importance of our relationship with Latin America (this is now the second time he answered a question about meeting the president of Spain with an answer about Latin America). She then says to McCain one last time:

"Okay, but I'm talking about Europe - the president of Spain, would you meet with him?"

This time, there was no room for confusion. McCain then gives this very bizarre answer:

"I will meet with any leader who has the same principles and philosophy as us in terms of human rights, democracy, and freedom and I will stand up to those who do not."

What does concern about human rights, democracy and freedom have to do with a prerequisite for meeting the president of Spain? Especially when you told the same paper 5 months ago that you'd be happy to meet with him.

McCain had no idea what was going on in the interview. She specifically told him, twice, that she was talking about Spain and the Spanish president. She's a Spanish reporter with one of the largest, if not the largest, newspaper in Spain, El Pais. I know this paper, McCain certainly knows this paper (and it's not like McCain's staff didn't tell him who he had the exclusive interview with for ten minutes). She made it clear she was asking about her own country and her own president and Mccain had no clue what she was talking about.

Either McCain had no idea what the woman was talking about when she said "Spain," and then said "the President of Spain," repeatedly, or McCain intentionally snubbed the country of Spain tonight for no apparent reason, which is very hard to believe, especially given his earlier interview in which he said he was fine meeting Zapatero. The interview is absolutely bizarre, especially in that it sounds like McCain wasn't even lucid, it sounds like he simply doesn't have complete control over his faculties anymore. And judging by the fact that just a few months ago McCain was fine with Zapatero, it sounds like McCain simply wasn't quite all there any more during the interview. He got horribly confused and didn't know what was going on.

This is just incredibly disturbing. And remember, this is hardly the first time in the last year that McCain has become confused about his signature issue, foreign affairs. It's happened a lot in the past year, and it never happened before. There's a pattern here, even if in polite company the media isn't supposed to talk about. McCain is having trouble focusing and understanding what's going on around him. He gets increasingly confused. And that's just scary. Read More......

Breaking - jobless claims up 10,000

The Bush-McCain economy continues. We can't afford a third Bush term. Read More......

Thursday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Wow. McCain is having a disastrous week. It's bad enough that he screwed up on the economy. Now, he's massively confused on foreign policy. Spain stumped him. We'd expect that from Palin, but foreign policy is supposed to be McCain's strong suit.

On the other hand, Obama has hit his stride. He's been great. Keep it up.

This, of course, means McCain will have to launch some massive distraction against Obama. You know it's coming. And, this will pose a real challenge for the traditional media types. Will they see through it? Or fall for it? Okay, we know the answer. They'll fall for it. So, we've got to be prepared to fight back.

So, hold on. There is massive turbulence ahead. Read More......

Where are the free market phonies hiding?

The free market phonies and Wall Street types always used to tell us endlessly about how bad and evil the government was. Until they needed everyone else to bail them out. "Just leave us alone and let business be business" is what we would had to listen to over and over. Right. So where are they now? Cowards and hypocrites. Each and every one of them. Read More......

Dow is back to where it began under Bush and still falling

Remember all of the hype during the Bush years about how well the market was doing, as if that was proof that America was doing well? Guess what? On Clinton's last day, the Dow closed at 10,587 and the S&P500 at 1,342. And the numbers yesterday? The Dow closed at 10,609 and the S&P500 is now 1,156. Your 401K? How's that doing? We know by now that the Wall Street hotshots have made a killing in the last eight years thanks to the McCain-Gramm-Bush economic policies that created havoc. For average Americans who have been counting on their retirement money to grow, tough luck. Americans assumed - wrongly, of course - that somehow we still had basic regulations on Wall Street and that we would be protected. The GOP crowd told us that sure, it's all fine because "the market" would take care of things and we would be fine. Gambling is OK when you have millions and billions but when you have to scrimp and save every penny, you deserve much more. The Republicans all lied so their friends could have high times.

What makes all of this an even greater concern is that even with the Bush-McCain economy tanking, we are not at the end nor is the end even close. This analyst believes we are only 40% through the market capitulation. The direction of the market is pointing towards much more volatility, with more failures and more bailouts. Another very bad sign - similar to what we saw last year when British bank Northern Rock failed - is that banks have stopped lending to each other. This suggests a system that is locking up, even though taxpayer dollars have been repeatedly injected into the banking system. The banks are getting "free" money (at 2% when official inflation is closer to 4%, real inflation is much closer to 10%) from the taxpayers but they are too busy covering their own bad positions, they don't care about money movement.

When we get through this, and we will eventually, we have to re-think our current system. "Too big to fail" failed us in the Great Depression and is failing us yet again. (Common thread here...Republican economic theory.) Market consolidation is where we are headed in the near term but long term, that system can not bring us back to this same problem again and again. We need a common sense approach and not a fool talking gibberish to cover up his close ties to the creator (and coward who hides from it) of this mess, Phil Gramm. (h/t to Jerry O for pointing out the zero growth on the Dow under Bush.) Read More......

Top 3 Merrill Lynch execs to receive $200 million windfall?

When a company is having a fire sale due to risky business practices, should they be receiving this kind of compensation? I realize this team came in after Stanley O'Neal led them into this problem but this still seems excessive. Let's not forget that taxpayers have been giving away billions in loans that are about half the rate of *official* inflation, so it's not as though Wall Street has been on their own. Looking at how poorly this sector is doing and the fact that former CEO Stanley O'Neal walked away with $161 million, this is a problem. CEO Thain has himself only been at Merrill since last December.

The tax code - that helps makes all of this as easy and pain-free as possible for companies and CEOs - has to be updated. Is it fair that companies pay for the taxes of executives? How many Americans have such giveaways and how is that even allowed? Nobody is asking for handouts (besides CEOs) but Americans are looking for some fairness. When business does well, everyone should profit accordingly, not just a couple of people. As we are seeing yet again, the profits are always limited to the top of the food chain. Read More......

Palin Does the Full Cheney: State Employees Will Defy Troopergate Subpoenas

Just another sleazy politician with something to hide. Read More......

Biden blasts McCain for opposing GI Bill and not supporting the troops

You remember the new GI Bill? The one that John McCain opposed because it was TOO GENEROUS to our troops fighting and dying in Iraq and Afghanistan.

McCain can remind us again and again how he was a POW, so this proves that he cares about the troops, and I suspect he'll remind us of that fact yet again in response to this latest criticism from Biden, but it doesn't negate the fact that there are American service members in Iraq and Afghanistan who aren't getting more benefits because of John McCain. Tell them why John McCain didn't think their sacrifice merited all the benefits Senator Webb's bill was offering them. The Republicans like to talk all patriotic, but when you put their patriotism into practice, it doesn't look very patriotic at all. Make John McCain explain exactly what constitutes "too generous" for our troops?

From CBS:

"George Bush initially opposed it, John McCain stood with him and he called Jim Webb's effort, quote, too generous. Ladies and gentlemen, if John McCain had his way on that G.I. Bill, those military personnel who served two tours in Iraq or Afghanistan would not qualify for the same benefits that anyone in the 'regular Army or Marine corps' did."

"Ask yourself the question, who supports our troops? Who supports those National Guard personnel? Who supports those reservists who make up 40 percent of the people?" asked Biden, and turned to Gov. Ed Rendell, D-Pa., in the crowd.

"I don't have to tell you that, Governor. You see them dispatched every day from your state, and you're there like I am when that flag-draped coffin comes home for some."

As he speech went on, Biden's tone turned from critical to one of disgust.

"I am sick and tired of this Republican garbage," Biden said to applause from the crowd of 3,000 supporters. "I am sick and tired of being told that we don't care."

While the McCain campaign called Biden's comments "absurd", a McCain campaign aide speaking on background, when asked if Biden was accurate in saying that McCain had called the G.I. Bill 'too generous', said "I don't know."

McCain, who is a veteran, said last spring that he feared the bill would deter soldiers from re-enlisting.

John McCain didn't even bother showing up to vote for the GI Bill when it came up on the Senate floor. Here is what Obama had to say at the time:

I respect senator John Mccain's service to our country. He is one of those heroes of which I speak. But I can't understand why he would line up behind the president in opposition to this G.I. bill. I can't believe why he believes it is too generous to our veterans. I could not disagree with him and the president more on this issue. There are many issues that lend themselves to partisan posturing, but giving our veterans the chance to go to college should not be one of them. I'm proud that so many Democrats and Republicans have come together to support this.

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Bush says there may be even more bailouts

Uh, where's this money coming from? Bush-McCain blew the bank with their failure to regulate and now they want everyone else to bail out the richest due to mistakes of their own. Bush-McCain wants America to give more handouts to the folks that already received tax cuts. Can you imagine?

While Bush is on the topic of potentially more bailouts, great read here about how the Chrysler bailout was not the great success that is suggested and it may have hurt the company more than helped. We may be looking at more future problems by bailing Wall Street, Detroit and everyone else out. Read More......

Distraction Alert. You know it's coming.

Given the current state of the McCain/Palin campaign (it's crashing) -- and the horrible state of the economy (it's crashing) -- you have to know some major distraction is in the pipeline from the GOP. McCain has to do something to change the subject. So, expect some vintage Rovian trick. But, this one will have to be extra ugly.

This poses a real challenge for the traditional media. The political reporters know they get played by the GOP over and over. (Read Eric Boelhert to more fully understand this.) So, the question is whether the campaign reporters continue to cover the real issues -- like the horrible state of the economy -- or whether they take the bait and cover whatever new ridiculous lie John McCain comes up with. The safe bet is that the reporters will fall for the GOP distractions AGAIN. McCain and Palin are counting on the press being gullible. And, they have good reason. The press corps always falls for it. (Think Mrs. Greenspan, Candy Crowley and all of FOX News)

And, we know that Chris Cillizza, the self-described Drudge-ologist, will do whatever Drudge tells him to do. It's actually pathetic how gullible Cillizza is. The Washington Post editors really need to read Cillizza's Drudge column paean and think about just exactly what it is they get from "The Fix" if "The Fix" just regurgitates Drudge.

In any case, possibly as soon as tomorrow, McCain's going into Red Alert distraction mode. You've been warned. Read More......

Did you hear the one about the fish and the oil platform

John McCain has a John McCain moment talking to a crowd tonight:

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New McCain royalty surrogate, Her Royal Highness Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, calls voters "rednecks"

"The people out, you know, who are the rednecks or whoever, are bitter." - McCain surrogate Her Royal Highness Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, CNN, 9/17/08

Ah yes, nothing shows that John McCain understands the plight of working Americans like a woman with a royal title and $100 million referring to American voters as "rednecks" in the middle of an economic crisis. I'm thinking Her Royal Highness is about to join Carly Fiorina in a secret undisclosed location for the rest of the campaign.

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Newsweek: Is there any excuse for McCain's gaffe about the economy?

Newsweek seems to think there isn't any excuse. We have one. John McCain has no clue what he's talking about when it comes to the economy. He's run this race as a war hero, and now we're finding out that, as one voter said on TV a while back, it's great that you're a war hero but how does that help me get a job? A war hero who is clueless about the economy is of little use to America during an economic crisis.

More from Newsweek:

The question remains: Are the fundamentals sound? Was McCain right, or hopelessly rosy-eyed? It depends on which fundamentals you want to emphasize. There are times when all the fundamentals are unsound, as was the case in 1931. And there are times when all the fundamentals appear to be sound, as was the case in the mid- to late 1990s. The rest of the time, the fundamentals reside somewhere between the two poles (the left pole signifying we're totally screwed and the right pole signifying that happy days are here again). Today, we're closer to being totally screwed.

Consider. The U.S. needs to create about 150,000 jobs per month just to keep pace with growing population. When payroll jobs fall for eight straight months and the unemployment rate spikes, and when new weekly unemployment claims remain above 400,000, the economy may not be fundamentally sound.

When inflation in the past 12 months has run at 5.4 percent, well over the twice the level with which central bankers are comfortable, the economy may not be fundamentally sound.

When foreclosures are running at record rates and housing prices fall by nearly 16 percent year over year, the economy may not be fundamentally sound.

When the two largest financial institutions in the nation, which guarantee about half of the mortgages, fail and have to be taken over by the government, when the fourth-largest investment bank files for Chapter 11, and when the Federal Reserve effectively nationalizes a massive insurance firm that is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the economy may not be fundamentally sound.

In an economy where consumption constitutes 70 percent of activity, retail sales falling two months in a row may indicate that the economy may not be fundamentally sound.

When industrial production decreases, the economy may not be fundamentally sound.

When the nation's three major automakers, some of the largest remaining manufacturing entities, report sales declines of over 20 percent and beg the taxpayers for loans, the economy may not be fundamentally sound.

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ABC News slams McCain flip-flops on economy, says McCain supported policies that led to economic meltdown

ABC shows how John McCain supported the very deregulation rules that companies like AIG exploited in order to get in to the economic mess they're in. That links McCain directly to the current crisis. Transcript after the video:



CHARLIE GIBSON: And with apologies for our technical difficulties, we're going to turn back to the difficult economy, and the way the presidential candidates are dealing with it, particularly John McCain. Here's David Wright.

DAVID WRIGHT: John McCain was against the government bailout of AIG, before he was reluctantly for it. Here he was yesterday on "Today."

JOHN MCCAIN: We cannot bail AIG or anybody else. We have to work through it.

WRIGHT: Asked about the same topic today on "Good Morning America" -

MCCAIN: I don't think anybody I know wanted to do that. But there are literally millions of people whose retirement, whose investments, whose insurance were at risk here. And they were going to have their lives destroyed.

WRIGHT: Senator McCain appears to have changed his tune on regulation in a fundamental way. Today on the stump, he's a champion of reigning in Wall Street with tough regulations.

MCCAIN: We're going to put an end to the reckless conduct, corruption and greed that have caused a crisis on Wall Street.

WRIGHT: But for more than 25 years in the Senate, McCain has fashioned himself as a champion of smaller government, less regulation.

MCCAIN: I am less government, less regulation, lower taxes, et cetera.

WRIGHT: In the mid 1990s, he supported a measure to ban all new government regulations. McCain supported legislation a decade ago that broke down the firewalls between commercial and investment banks and insurance companies -- the very rules companies like AIG exploited to get in the current mess. And as recently as March of this year, after the collapse of Bear Stearns, McCain was all for deregulating Wall Street.

MCCAIN: Our financial market approach should include encouraging increased capital in financial institutions by removing regulatory, accounting and tax impediments to raising capital.

GEORGE WILL: When the deregulation was the wave through Washington, he surfed that wave. Now it's not, and the populist inside John McCain is out.

WRIGHT: Today, the Wall Street Journal accused McCain of selling out his free market ideals. Said today's top editorial -- "denouncing greed and Wall Street, isn't a growth agenda,"

GEORGE WILL: It's a conversion of convenience, some will say. Read More......

Obama hits McCain poor record on energy

Me likey

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Tweeties Gone Wild

Oh my God. Chris Matthews just destroyed Republican congressman Eric Cantor (R-VA) on Hardball. The congressman was on as a McCain surrogate, and wow. Matthews excoriated the guy for basically, as Matthews put it, trying to change uniform mid ballgame (echoing Jackie's point in the post below). I.e., trying to claim that McCain and company aren't really Republicans, so they're not responsible for the state of the economy. Wow. Then he lectured the guy about why George Bush hasn't gone on TV to reassure the nation about the economic situation. Cantor refused to embrace and defend Bush. It was wild. It was the way Hardball and other shows used to be. They actually held their guests responsible for their BS. The above video is only 4 minutes of a 15 minute segment. Read More......

On Their Watch

Random thought. It seems to me an effective Obama ad campaign right now would capitalize on the fact that our nation is going down the tubes fast... on the Republicans' watch. The Republican party has run our country into the ground. McCain and Palin are Republicans. They work with Republicans. President Bush and his Republican cohorts have effectively destroyed our economy in the most spectacular fashion.

Why aren't we seeing ads all over the place connecting the dots? You are losing your house...ON THEIR WATCH. You are bailing out corporations...ON THEIR WATCH. You can't afford gas...ON THEIR WATCH.

Boil it down. Easy. Simple. They screwed it up. Get rid of them. Read More......

Obama mocks McCain for saying he'll take on 'the old boys network.' Says Obama, 'in the McCain campaign, that's called a staff meeting.'

Obama is on a roll -- and he's not letting up. This is good stuff. McCain's message on change must be mocked. It's the only response.

Read More......

The Keating Five is back

I really am amazed how one of the unspoken rules of this election has been NOT to mention John McCain's involvement in the Keating Five scandal.

Let's remember that this isn't a scandal involving his home or his church. It's a scandal involving John McCain abusing his federal office. It's a scandal that cost the American taxpayer billions. It's also a scandal that deals with failed banks - kind of relevant to today. How is it that John McCain's entire record is relevant, going back to the 1960s no less, but somehow we're supposed to skip the 1980s scandal years because that would be "rude"? Seriously, I don't get it. Only the Republicans could make something John McCain did in office, and was chastised for officially on the Senate floor, and turn it into something "personal' and off-limits, like it's his daughter or his mistress. No, it's his job. And he screwed up, wilfully. And it's relevant to the very economic crisis we're discussing today. It's also relevant to any discussion of his honor.

Anyway, it wasn't so personal and off-limits yesterday:

One of the Senate's most progressive members ripped John McCain on Tuesday for offering a phony populist self-portrayal in the wake of the current crisis in the financial markets. In the process, Sherrod Brown of Ohio raised the Republican nominee's involvement in the Keating Five scandal as evidence that voters couldn't trust McCain's record on both the economy and ethics.

"It is not so much his economic proposals but his economic record," Brown said of McCain. "His main adviser is Phil Gramm -- he was his mentor in the Senate -- and you just tie it all together. Of course John McCain supported the oil industry, he has oil lobbyists working for him. Of course John McCain supported these trade agreements, he has got Wall Street people working for him... It is all wrapped up together. John McCain is a creature of these interest groups in Washington. He is no maverick and, from the Keating Five on, his ethics have been questionable. He's not a maverick and Barack has got to just keep hammering on that."

And when McCain's people say how unscrupulous this attack is, and how they won't even dignify it with a response, someone in the media has to ask the McCain campaign "why is it sleazy and unscrupulous to mention an ethics violation that McCain has admitted to, and one he did on the job?" Read More......

Did Sarah Palin's Yahoo email get hacked?

UPDATE: It's confirmed. They actually hacked Sarah Palin's yahoo email account. Wow.

UPDATE: Since the images of the alleged Palin emails were taken down, I'm posting one that I copied (before it was removed) as a sample. You can see what appears to be the discussion of work on this personal account. Again, I have no idea if this is real or if this is a hoax. But it's out there, so it is news either way. Best way to find the truth is to expose this to sunlight and let the experts have a look.



UPDATE 1:05 PM: The page has now been taken down. Jokes don't usually get taken down.

UPDATE 1PM: More evidence to suggest this might be real. Including the claim that they have more emails they haven't released yet.

Could be a hoax, could be real. Important enough to ask you guys, especially any hacking experts, to look into it and decide for yourselves.

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"Profits have been privatized and losses socialized"

Nouriel Roubini really lowered the boom on Wall Street and the Republican system of ignoring basic regulatory obligations. I wish CNBC would allow video to be embedded, but watch the video in this link. Roubini had been predicting this financial failure for a few years so what he has to say is always interesting. Before this implosion, the GOP economists dismissed what he had to say though today, they've all gone quiet. Read More......

Dow dropped 449 today

Another horrible day on Wall Street.



Just further confirmation that John McCain was absolutely wrong when he said on Monday that the fundamentals of the American economy are strong. I mean, McCain has been so adamant about the strength of the economy all year. But, then, McCain is taking the lead of his economic mentor, George W. Bush.

Just wait til you get your 401-k quarterly statements -- and when you do, thank George Bush and and his GOP allies, including John McCain. (I do fault John McCain.)

McCain is going to have to come up with some new technological miracle, like the Blackberry, to stimulate the economy. Read More......

Harry Reid rips the fenders off the Straight Talk Express

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) gave this speech earlier this am:



Here is a rough transcript broken up in relevant segments.

The Straight Talk Express Has "Fenders Ripped Off It": McCain's Three Bad Days This Week

After eight years of this failed approach, we have what have here. On Monday, with one major investment bank headed for bankruptcy, another sold at bargain price to avoid the same fate, tens of thousands of people loosing their – tens of thousands of people losing their jobs and one of the worlds largest companies teetering, John McCain declared that the fundamentals of the economy are strong.

Now, Mr. President, the Straight-Talk Express is really in bad shape. This vehicle has fenders ripped off it. It's – there are very few seats left inside it and it hit another big wall Monday, hit another big wall on Tuesday and today it hit another big wall. The wall today is – John McCain said today – this just came out on the Associated Press – he said today that the reason for all this stuff is lack of good regulation. Huh.

How in the world could the Straight-Talk Express say that? And I think that's one reason that I'm not sure the Straight-Talk Express is even running after the last three collisions. It's in very, very bad shape.

John McCain's Flip Flop In Just Last 24 Hours

But yesterday, Even John McCain finally acknowledged what everyone else already knew. He no longer, I guess, thought that the fundamentals of the economy were great, as he had said only a day or so before that. What he said is that the economy is broken. That's some switch, isn't it. From being "fundamentally sound" to "broken?"

On Bush Administration's request for bailouts

The economy is not going to turn around overnight. We can't snap our fingers or pass a bill and expect our problems to be solved instantly. We were told that last night by Chairman Bernanke and Secretary Paulson. The whole situation is not going to be easy. It's going to take bipartisan cooperation, and I know for certain that we're not going to fix our economy with a candidate who only yesterday woke up and realized there's a problem.

Mr. President, I would like for once, this administration to come to me with a problem that they would like to help us work on, to help the middle class. They come to us all the time to bail out that big company or that big company or this big conglomerate, but where are they for these emergency meetings to help people who can's afford gas, can't afford health insurance, can't afford to keep their kids in college?

We're paying record prices for gas, for groceries, healthcare. That didn't happen yesterday. Millions of families are losing their homes to foreclosure and are seeing their home equity disappear. That didn't happen yesterday.

Monday's McCain v. Tuesday's McCain:

Monday's McCain said our economy is strong. Tuesday, McCain said our economy is broken. Wednesday's McCain said it's because of lack of regulation. Try to figure that out, Mr. President.

This is – This is a Straight-Talk Express which is broken, in bad shape and he can't find passengers anymore. Perhaps Today's McCain will explain how a candidate spent thirty years in Washington siding with Wall Street over Main Street, who changed the economy 180 degrees in 24 hours. I think he's running himself.

Is he prepared to lead us to the road of economic recovery? I don't think so.

Why we need new leadership:

The extraordinary economic challenges we now face demand leadership and a new approach. The United States Senate will continue to listen intently to any proposal that the Administration offers, but we know that the real chance we need will come only when we have a president who will act as a guardian of the American People.

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McCain on "Annie Mae" and "spic"

UPDATE: Apparently ABC got the "Annie Mae" part wrong. Still, McCain did get Bear Sterns wrong (he wrote "Bare"), and then there's that little problem of "spic."

Insert joke here. He's just making it too easy.

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'We have lost seven years of savings'

A reader writes:

My wife and I are in our 40s. We've been putting money away in our respective 401k plans since 1999. When Bush took office the Dow was around 10,659 (approx.). Today the Dow is approaching the same level as when Bush took office (by contrast, Clinton added about 7000 points to the DJIA). We have lost 7 years of savings. How are we supposed to make that up? What if another Republican is elected? Another 8 years of this and we'll be in our late 40s with practically nothing saved for retirement and we'll probably be sucked dry by the health insurance costs for our family of 3 (soon to be 4) since, under McCain, it's unlikely that employers will continue to provide coverage.

On top of our retirement that's disappearing, we've got to consider exploding day care, education, fuel, and other CPI costs while our income stagnates or declines. You guys think Europe, China, or Russia are gonna go down the tubes with us? Hell no, if Americans elect another Republican those countries are going to begin isolating the U.S. in an effort to protect their own economies. Republicans are right, the End Times are near.

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Russian stock exchanges halt trades, drop 60% since May

(The Dow is down 350 as of 1:44PM Eastern)

If only the US was the only country experiencing stock market problems. China's Shanghai exchange is about one third of its peak number last November. Russia had been experiencing a big boom in recent years courtesy of the oil run but they may be coming to an end, which could mean instability in Russia.

Russia halted stock and bond trading on Wednesday amid the worst market falls since the country's 1998 financial collapse and the Finance Ministry pledged a total of $60 billion of funds to help local banks.

Trading in shares, bonds and mutual funds on Russia's MICEX and RTS exchanges was suspended after less than two hours, preventing further selling on top of Tuesday's record-breaking falls.

It was not clear when the bourses would reopen.

"The crisis has a shade of panic to it. The decision to stop trading was motivated by the desire to remove this panic element," said Stanislav Ponomarenko, head of research for Russia at ING bank.

Russian stocks, once touted by the government as a safe haven, have now plunged around 60 percent since May.

Traders say global financial turmoil mixed with falling oil prices and Moscow's war with Georgia have formed a lethal cocktail.

"We don't give a damn anymore as to what happens in the West. The market is falling as people are in dire need for cash," said Maxim Gulevich, director of equities trading at UBS.

The Kremlin was silent on the crisis on Wednesday but Deputy Finance Minister Pyotr Kazakevich, announcing new measures to boost liquidity, said there was no fundamental problem.

"What we have on the market is mainly a confidence crisis and only secondly a liquidity crisis," Kazakevich said.

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ABC: McCain lied when he said that he warned econ crisis was coming

ABC's Jake Tapper quotes McCain just last December saying that he never knew this was coming at all. Such a freaking liar. Or utterly lost his mind.

[Jake Tapper quoting McCain yesterday]

"Two years ago, I warned that the oversight of Fannie and Freddie was terrible, that we were facing a crisis because of it, or certainly serious problems," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told CBS this morning. "The influence that Fannie and Freddie had in the inside the Beltway, old boy network, which led to this kind of corruption is unacceptable and I warned about it a couple of years ago.”

How does this claim of foresight square with this interview that McCain gave to the Keene (NH) Sentinel, discussing the subprime mortgage crisis, in December 2007?....

“But so, in this whole new derivative stuff, and SIBs and all of this kind of new ways of packaging mortgages together and all that is something that frankly I don’t know a lot about.

"But I do rely on a lot of smart people that I have that are both in my employ and acquaintances of mine. And most of them did not anticipate this. Most of them, I mean I can find some that did. But, a guy that’s on my staff named Doug Holtz-Eakin, who was once the head of the Office of Management and Budget, said that there was nervousness out there. There’s nervousness. There was nervousness that we had such a long period of prosperity without a downturn because of the history of our economy. But I don’t know of hardly anybody, with the exception of a handful, that said ‘wait a minute, this thing is getting completely out of hand and is overheating.'

"So, I’d like to tell you that I did anticipate it, but I have to give you straight talk, I did not.”

Yeah, Doug Holtz would be the guy who claimed that McCain miraculously invented the BlackBerry. That's who McCain relies on for economic advice. The tooth fairy's best friend in the land of make-believe. Read More......

New Obama 2-minute ad about the economy

It's a good ad. I believe Rob will be writing up an analysis of it in a bit. In the meantime, here's Greg Sargent's take (including a transcript), and here's the ad:

Read More......

So what is John McCain's position on rape and child molestation?

Creepily, McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, has an increasingly bad record when it comes to being on the side of those who have been raped and sexually abused. First, we learned that while mayor, she charged rape victims for their rape kits (she was the only mayor in the state to do so, and the state had to pass a law to get her to stop it). And now we learn that Palin says the reason she fired the trooper in her Troopergate scandal is because he was too aggressively trying to stop child predators. So twice now we have Palin siding with rapists and child molesters. Anybody else smelling an ad campaign? Read More......

McCain supporter Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild thinks poor Indians are buying Estee Lauder lipstick

Gee, John McCain suddenly befriending a "sparkly blond" worth $100 million. Haven't we read this story before?

This is the Hillary fundraiser who is now supporting McCain, and McCain is touting it as a sign of - a sign of - what exactly? The best person John McCain could find to deliver a middle class message to Americans was some rich "lady," literally, with a "de" in her name - not to mention a "Rothschild". I guess to the McCains, having a title and $100 million makes you middle class. Ben at Politico points out the irony of John McCain's latest celebrity endorsement:

Lynn Forester de Rothschild has said she thinks Democratic nominee Barack Obama is arrogant and has a problem connecting with average Americans.

Rothschild is a member of the DNC's Democrats Abroad chapter and splits her time living in London and New York.

And here's a great quote from her talking about why she's investing in India instead of America. Apparently all the Indians want to buy Estee Lauder and Starbucks. They're not quite at Chanel, yet, according to Lady de Rothschild, but a poor untouchable can dream.

On why she's investing in India: "You know, there are more billionaires in India than anyplace else. Let me put it this way: Every day in India, the entir