September 2008 Archives

The $700 billion bailout provision, negotiated over the last week, failed in the House yesterday 208-228.  Two/thirds of the Republicans voted against it, even as McCain crowed on the campaign trail about personally saving it.  A little over 1/3 of Democrats voted against it.What happened?  This bill was pre-ordained by the leadership, the White House, and apparently John McCain, to pass.  The vast majority of Republicans, virtually all of the right wing of the GOP,...

The right wing of the Republican party, desperately trying to be relevant in the massive effort clean up the mess that they helped create, whipped up an issue yesterday that is at the same time silly and illustrative of a very successful technique they have used over the years.  It's silly because it is not a real issue and illustrative because it fabricates an issue to motivate the base to apply pressure to the opposition. ...

The right wing has now whipped up another fake issue to get mad about, falsely stating that Obama is using the memorial bracelet given him by the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq for political purposes.  During the debate on Friday, McCain bragged about wearing a bracelet of a soldier killed in Iraq given to him by the mother, telling him to not let her son die in vain.In a gotcha moment, Obama pointed...

There has been an interesting chain of events in the last few days involving John McCain’s actions during the financial bailout negotiations and his performance in the presidential debate, which gives us an insight into not only John McCain the man, but what we might expect from a President McCain. The picture it paints is not an appealing one. It is that of a condescending, angry, borderline hostile, disrespectful man, and an indecisive and detached...

Despite the McCain campaign buying ad space declaring victory over 24 hours before McCain decided to actually debate, last night's result was nowhere near his premature assertions.  I doubt seriously if anyone who already had a preference was swayed last night, but it gave a clear opportunity to compare the candidates.  McCain was angry, refused to look at Obama even when he reluctantly shook his hand before and after the debate.  He repeated right wing...

In a bald-faced grandstanding play at the White House today, John McCain contributed nothing but silence to the bipartisan Congressional meeting, only speaking at the end expressing his "doubts" about the proposed plan.  Repub  conservatives fell into line, suddenly talking about "economists opinions" blah, blah, expressing their "concerns" for success of the proposal.  Even though virtually everyone in the room at the White House meeting agreed in principle to a plan, conservie house and senate...

After one of the largest blunders in modern election history, John McCain, rejected even by his own party, tucked tail and reluctantly headed for Mississippi today to face Barack Obama in the first Presidential debate of 2008.  His cynical grandstand play, trying to distract from his flailing campaign and his horribly unqualified running mate stumbling from gaffe to gaffe, didn't work.  When the market continued to fall this morning and the public outcry reached fevered...

UPDATED: I'm watching the debate and McCain is doing a lot of teeth grinding.  It's apparent that he's seething right beneath the surface as Obama has landed some serious blows on the economy, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran.  He's railing right now about the diplomacy issues.  As the debate goes on, he's getting madder and madder.More later.UPDATE: McCain was insulting and dismissive of Obama during the entire debate.  He distorted most of Obama's positions, which Obama...

John McCain rode into Washington, D.C. on his white horse yesterday, after suspending (not really) his presidential campaign, and proceeded to sabotage negotiations which had produced a tentative agreement on a plan to rescue the crumbling financial markets. In an attempt to revive his sagging poll numbers by exerting leadership and looking presidential, McCain attended a meeting at the White House, along with Congressional leaders from both parties. His contribution, according to those in attendance,...

John McCain tried to upstage Barack Obama to gain political advantage yesterday, biting the hand of bipartisanship that Obama offered to help calm the markets and millions of Americans.  It was a cold, calculated move by his Rovian campaign to worsen an already bad situation in order to appear "Presidential".  Perhaps he thought it was an opportunity to answer George Will's charge last Sunday that his temperament made him unsuited for the Presidency and not...