5 posts tagged “mccain”
McCain Camp insiders say Palin "clueless"
Capitol Hill sources are telling me that senior McCain people
are more than concerned about Palin. The campaign has held
a mock debate and a mock press conference; both are being described as "disastrous." One senior McCain aide was quoted as saying, "What are we going to do?" The McCain people want to move this first debate to some later, undetermined date, possibly never. People on the inside are saying the Alaska Governor is "clueless."
[McCain] found himself in the midst of a remarkable partisan showdown, lacking a clear public message for how to bring it to an end.
At the bipartisan White House meeting that Mr. McCain had called for a day earlier, he sat silently for more than 40 minutes, more observer than leader, and then offered only a vague sense of where he stood, said people in the meeting.
Still, by nightfall, the day provided the younger and less experienced Mr. Obama an opportunity to, in effect, shift roles with Mr. McCain. For a moment, at least, it was Mr. Obama presenting himself as the old hand at consensus building, and as the real face of bipartisan politics.
By CHARLES BABINGTON, (from the AP)
Friday, September 26, 2008
A White House summit meeting on Thursday meant to shore up John McCain's shaky campaign "devolved into a contentious shouting match." And that's how McCain's own campaign described it.
The meeting revealed that President Bush's $700 billion bid to combat the worst financial crisis in decades had been suddenly sidetracked by fellow Republicans in the House, who refused to embrace a plan that appeared close to acceptance by the Senate and most House Democrats.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson begged Democratic participants not to disclose how badly the meeting had gone, dropping to one knee in a teasing way to make his point according to witnesses.
And when Paulson hastily tried to revive talks in a nighttime meeting near the Senate chamber, the House's top Republican refused to send a negotiator.
"This is the president's own party," said Rep. Barney Frank, a top Democratic negotiator who attended both meetings. "I don't think a president has been repudiated so strongly by the congressional wing of his own party in a long time."
By midnight, it was hard to tell who had suffered a worse evening, Bush or McCain. McCain, eager to shore up his image as a leader who rises above partisanship, was undercut by a fierce political squabble within his own party's ranks.
Both McCain and his Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama, would leave the White House without comment, and the meeting was described as among the wildest in memory. A beleaguered President Bush had to struggle to maintain order and reassert himself. And when Democrats left to caucus in the Roosevelt Room, Paulson pursued them, begging that they not "blow up" the legislation.
The former Goldman Sachs CEO even went down on one knee as if genuflecting, to which Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Cal.) is said to have joked, "I didn’t know you were Catholic."
It was McCain who had urged Bush to call the White House meeting but Democrats made sure Obama had a prominent part. And much as they complained later of being blindsided, the whole event turned out to be something of an ambush on their part—aimed at McCain and House Republicans.
"Speaking professionally," said one Republican aide, "They did a very good job."
When Bush yielded early to Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D- Nev.) to speak, they yielded to Obama to speak for the assembled Democrats. And it was Obama who raised the subject of the conservative alternative and pressed Paulson on what he thought of the idea.
House Republicans felt trapped—squeezed by Treasury, House Democrats and a bipartisan coalition in the Senate. And while McCain spoke surprisingly little after asking for the meeting, he conceded that it appeared there were not the votes for the core Paulson plan without major changes.
by Kula2316
Fri Sep 26, 2008
Well, we've all had a day to digest the latest "razzle dazzle" - as Chris Matthews likes to say - from the McCain campaign. So how is it spinning? Does it look like McCain made the right decision or did his latest attempt to shake up the campaign backfire big time?
Reading through today's editorials and analysis, I can't help but think that this is going to be a worse week for McCain than we realize. Pretty much across the board, the reaction is that this was a desperate move that is not going to end well for McCain.
- Kula2316's diary :: ::
E.J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post:
McCain could yet play a constructive role by rounding up votes from restive Republicans. Oddly, the biggest obstacle to a bill may not be Democrats but Republicans who refuse to go along with their own president. And -- yes, there is an election coming -- Democrats will be wary of going forward unless a substantial number of Republicans join them.
But McCain's boisterous intervention -- and particularly his grandstanding on the debate -- was less a presidential act than the tactical ploy of a man worried that his chances of becoming president might be slipping away.
Delco Times (PA) Editorial, There's no dispute, McCain should debate:
Apparently, Thursday's White House summit failed to reach any breakthrough in the negotiations. Members of Congress are expected to be working into this morning to hammer out a deal.
That being said, there's no reason why John McCain and Barack Obama can't go to the University of Mississippi tonight for their debate. Americans go to the polls in 38 days to decide who has to inherit this mess. They deserve to take the measure of the men who would take that mantle.
Evansville Courier & Press (IN) Editorial:
McCain's action was a diversionary tactic and a rather crass one at that. He was not one of the key Senate negotiators needed to hammer out a congressional deal on the bailout. He could vote up-or-down on the bill and still debate.
No, McCain's duty and obligation is to be at the debate site, with Obama, so Americans can assess each candidate's ability, grasp of the issues and reasoning skills.
David Brooks at the NY Times waxes nostalgic about the old McCain, recites his many past accomplishments, and then accuses him of relying on "tactical gimmicks":
No, what disappoints me about the McCain campaign is it has no central argument. I had hoped that he would create a grand narrative explaining how the United States is fundamentally unprepared for the 21st century and how McCain’s worldview is different.
McCain has not made that sort of all-encompassing argument, so his proposals don’t add up to more than the sum of their parts. Without a groundbreaking argument about why he is different, he’s had to rely on tactical gimmicks to stay afloat. He has no frame to organize his response when financial and other crises pop up.
Matt Welch, Los Angeles Times, has a great opinion piece detailing the history of McCain's ol' razzle-dazzle. It's worth reading the entire piece:
But as many Great Men come to learn, there is a colossal downside built into running a campaign on outsized personal virtue. The line between stoic, honorable service and showy moral vanity is oftentimes difficult to maintain. And when a candidate confuses his own political ambitions with the fortunes of his country, that's when Great Men turn into self-parodies.
"I have craved distinction in my life," McCain wrote in his 2002 political memoir, "Worth the Fighting For." "I have wanted renown and influence for their own sake. That is, of course, the great temptation of public life. ... I have never been able to conquer it permanently, but I have tried."
Don't say he didn't warn us.
I truly have been looking for some Friday print reaction to John McCain that is favorable, and I thought I came across one when I found an editorial entitled "The Maverick" from The Barre Montpelier Times Argus (VT), but alas this one was negative too:
And that leads to perhaps the biggest reason McCain, the self-styled maverick, called a temporary halt to his campaign: Polls are now showing that Barack Obama has pulled ahead in the race for the White House and that the numbers are clearly moving his way. Perhaps the American people are fed up with candidates who rely too heavily on negative depictions of their opponents while unapologetically telling outright lies to dress up their own campaigns.
Even Chris Coffey, Republican strategist who writes on the Faux News blog, Fox Forum, didn't sound very positive:
Ultimatums are delivered to defenseless foes, not to vital opponents. They are a form of intimidation intended to trigger subservience. That is why McCain now risks looking like a duplicitous bully with little interest in bipartisan cooperation, even though he has spent a lifetime cultivating the opposite image.
Whatever the case, the McCain campaign has put itself in the unique position of being unable to campaign before an election. Suspension means suspension. If one staffer shows up for work, this whole gamble turns into a media stunt. I hope I am wrong and that this wager pays.
But never fear, the analysts and pundits aren't forgetting about Sarah Palin altogether in the midst of this financial crisis. James Rainey at the Los Angeles Times thinks the McCain campaign should be glad attention is focused elsewhere:
A global financial crisis and a not-quite-suspended presidential campaign dominated newspaper front pages and television reports over the last couple of days. Bad news for America. But good news for Sarah Palin.
The economic crisis and John McCain's surprising response have drawn attention away from the Republican vice presidential nominee just as she has started to answer more pointed questions from the media. Her third nationally televised interview, with CBS anchor Katie Couric, found Palin rambling, marginally responsive and even more adrift than during her network debut with ABC’s Charles Gibson.
Palin's unblinking certitude gave way at other times in the interview to a striking imprecision, as when she struggled to respond to Couric's suggestion that the $700-billion bailout might be better funneled through middle-class families instead of Wall Street firms. "That's why I say I, like every American I'm speaking with, we're ill about this position that we have been put in . . ." Palin began, before meandering off in fruitless pursuit of coherence.
Even Peggy Noonan at the Wall Street Journal couldn't put a positive spin on Palin's week:
As for Sarah Palin, the McCain campaign continues to make mistakes. They don't seem to understand her strengths and weaknesses. The U.N. photo-ops were a staged embarrassment. Keeping the press away made her look infantilized. When she finally began to sit for television interviews, the atmosphere was heightened, every misstep magnified. With Katie Couric she seemed rattled. In the Charlie Gibson interview it was not good when she sounded chirpy discussing possible war with Russia. One should not chirp about such things. Or one wouldn't if one knew the implications. And knowing the implications is part of what we hire leaders for.
Mrs. Palin is a two-term mayor and has two years as a governor of an American state. She is well-liked and highly regarded back home. She rose for a reason. She has to show America what she showed Alaska.
And for your morning sleaze fix: Charles Krauthammer lays the blame for the economic crisis - not on the Republican's policies of deregulation or greedy corporations - but on those pesky minorities and poor people who had the gall to believe they should be able to own a home!
For decades, starting with Jimmy Carter's Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, there has been bipartisan agreement to use government power to expand homeownership to people who had been shut out for economic reasons or, sometimes, because of racial and ethnic discrimination. What could be a more worthy cause? But it led to tremendous pressure on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- which in turn pressured banks and other lenders -- to extend mortgages to people who were borrowing over their heads. That's called subprime lending. It lies at the root of our current calamity.
I can't leave you on that note, so here's something to make you smile. What was the most-watched political video of the week on YouTube? Letterman's skewering of John McCain, who will regret the day he cancelled that appearance!
CNN reports that both campaigns have their advance teams in Mississippi, but I wouldn't take that to mean that the debate will definitely go forward as planned. Although, given the reaction, I don't think there is any way that McCain can not show up... it would be the end of his campaign, in my opinion. So my prediction is that the debate goes on as planned. But, just in case he doesn't, Sam Stein is reporting that Obama will hold a 90-minute townhall as an alternative. That would be awesome.
Your Abbreviated Pundit Round-up
by DemFromCT
Fri Sep 26, 2008
House Republicans try to bail out McCain while the markets and average American's pensions twist in the wind.
Paul Krugman: Where are the grown-ups?
Drama King to the Rescue
John McCain is rapidly making his temperament an inescapable issue in the presidential campaign. Does the nation really want so much drama in the White House?
Instead he [McCain] found himself in the midst of a remarkable partisan showdown, lacking a clear public message for how to bring it to an end.
At the bipartisan White House meeting that Mr. McCain had called for a day earlier, he sat silently for more than 40 minutes, more observer than leader, and then offered only a vague sense of where he stood, said people in the meeting.
...
Still, by nightfall, the day provided the younger and less experienced Mr. Obama an opportunity to, in effect, shift roles with Mr. McCain. For a moment, at least, it was Mr. Obama presenting himself as the old hand at consensus building, and as the real face of bipartisan politics
John McCain's sudden intervention in Washington's deliberations over the Wall Street bailout could not have been more out of sync with what was actually happening.
Charles Krauthammer: Just shoot a few investment bankers, give the rabble their bread and circus, and let's move on and save the rich.
OK, you run to the fire hydrant, cut left, and then when he gets to the Buick, John, you heave it.
Sarah Palin loves the word "exceptional." At a rally in Nevada the other day, the Republican vice-presidential candidate said: "We are an exceptional nation." Then she declared: "America is an exceptional country." In case anyone missed that, she added: "You are all exceptional Americans."
I have to hand it to Palin, she may be onto something in her batty way: the election is very much about American exceptionalism.
David Brooks: McCain was a POW. I'm where Richard Cohen was two months ago, except Cohen realized McCain was full of shit and a toxic serial liar, and I'm not intellectually honest enough to admit it to myself.
Added:
Kathleen Parker: I don't know what's with Brooks, but even I know Sarah the Unready is a disaster. And David, McCain chose her. What does that tell you about McCain?
Breaking News from Big Eddie:
McCain Camp insiders say Palin "clueless"
Capitol Hill sources are telling me that senior McCain people
are more than concerned about Palin. The campaign has held
a mock debate and a mock press conference; both are being described as "disastrous." One senior McCain aide was quoted as saying, "What are we going to do?" The McCain people want to move this first debate to some later, undetermined date, possibly never. People on the inside are saying the Alaska Governor is "clueless."
by Excelscior1
The speculation I'm hearing now from various radio reporters (including Errol Lewis here in NY), is that McCain is really trying to back Palin out of her debate. The memo must be spreading.
Joe Scarborough, Pat Buchanon and Mike Murphy all simultaneously, argued that Palin was not the best choice today on Morning Joe. Scarborough said:
If she can't answer basic questions, that's tough. Katie did not ask her tough questions, her questions were very fair. Apparently Katie asked her, "what's the worst thing Dick Cheney did", and she answered "Shooting his friend with the gun". Us Elections aren't a meritocracy, about picking the most qualified people, it's obvious she has very little knowledge of US facts. She may be a good person and a good governor, she has also has a high approval rating, but is this is the best person you can find for Vice President? but what does this say about Palin and McCain's judgement?
Mmmmh. That was Joe.
Former McCain campaign Manager, "Hot" Mike Murphy, said that:
Is my Mike on, Lol. Well you know Pat, I never agreed with the Palin pick in the first place. I said she's a good base pick, but this is not a base vote type of year. The McCain camp has problems, because it seems CBS has more footage, and it's not any better, then what we've seen.
Pat Buchanon says:
Either way, McCain doesn't look good. If he doesn't support the bailout, they'll say he killed it, but if he does, the house democrats will be angry. But at this point he has to go.
What Is This Money Even For?
by Hunter
Fri Sep 26, 2008
The $700 billion figure isn't an explainable one, given the purported problem at hand of "bad mortgages".
And that's where we get that math problem. 1% of all mortgages -- the amount now in default -- comes out to $111 billion. Triple that, and you've got $333 billion. Let's round that up to $350 billion. So even if we reach the point where three percent of all mortgages are in foreclosure, the total dollars to flat out buy all those mortgages would be half of what the Bush-Paulson-McCain plan calls for.
Then we need to factor in that a purchased mortgage isn't worth zero. After all, these documents come with property attached. Even with home prices falling and some of the homes lying around unsold, it's safe to assume that some portion of these values could be recovered. In the S&L crisis, about 70% of asset value was recovered, but let's say we don't do that well. Let's say we hit 50%. Then the real outlay for taxpayers would be around $175 billion.
Which, frankly, is a number that Wall Street should be able to handle without our help. After all, the top firms on Wall Steet payed out $120 billion in bonuses alone between 2000 and 2006. If they've got that kind of mad money, why do they need us to step in now? And why do they need twice as much as all the mortgages that are even likely to implode?
Talk about rapid response! McCain uttered his "the fundamentals of the economy are strong" claim yesterday morning. The Obama campaign has already immortalized it in rap-style repetition in this TV ad which has just gone on the air.
When it comes to their policies toward Wall Street, even a New York Times reporter can see that presidential candidates Obama and McCain have diametrically opposite approaches:
Mr. McCain... has consistently characterized himself as fundamentally a deregulator and he has no history prior to the presidential campaign of advocating steps to tighten standards on investment firms.
He has often taken his lead on financial issues from two outspoken advocates of free market approaches, former Senator Phil Gramm and Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman. Individuals associated with Merrill Lynch, which sold itself to Bank of America in the market upheaval of the past weekend, have given his presidential campaign nearly $300,000, making them Mr. McCain's largest contributor, collectively.
Mr. Obama sought Monday to attribute the financial upheaval to lax regulation during the Bush years, and in turn to link Mr. McCain to that approach.
"I certainly don't fault Senator McCain for these problems, but I do fault the economic philosophy he subscribes to," Mr. Obama told several hundred people who gathered for an outdoor rally in Grand Junction, Colo.
Mr. Obama set out his general approach to financial regulation in March, calling for regulating investment banks, mortgage brokers and hedge funds much as commercial banks are...
It's as simple as that.
One candidate, McCain, has said for years that "I am, fundamentally, a deregulator":
In early 1995, after Republicans had taken control of Congress, Mr. McCain promoted a moratorium on federal regulations of all kinds. He was quoted as saying that excessive regulations were "destroying the American family, the American dream" and voters "want these regulations stopped." The moratorium measure was unsuccessful.
"I'm always for less regulation," he told The Wall Street Journal last March, "but I am aware of the view that there is a need for government oversight" in situations like the subprime lending crisis, the problem that has cascaded through Wall Street this year. He concluded, "but I am fundamentally a deregulator."
The other, Obama, clearly believes that the financial industries on Wall Street and elsewhere need firmer government regulation:
In March 2007... he warned of the coming housing crisis, and a year later in a speech in Manhattan he outlined six principles for overhauling financial regulation.
In fact, it was a year ago this week that Senator Obama went to Wall Street and "chastised" the money changers to their faces:
Senator Barack Obama chastised Wall Street executives yesterday as failing to protect middle-class interests and called for increased federal oversight of credit rating agencies, including a government investigation...
Our free market was never meant to be a free license to take whatever you can get, however you can get it," Mr. Obama said. "And so from time to time, we have put in place certain rules of the road to make competition fair and open and honest."
That speech (here's the text) began by invoking President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the great regulator of the last century.
A day later, he went to Washington and said that the "social compact is starting to crumble."
That was a year ago, before current events hung decades of deregulation and its disastrous consequences out to dry in full public view.
The Shakespearian question in response to Wall Street's problems that are wreaking havoc on Americans (and people across the world) of every economic class is to regulate... or not to regulate.
McCain is out there using a different "re" word, "reform," trying to blur his decades-long opposition to regulating the financial giants.
But the operative word here is "regulate."
The two candidates, their records, and their instincts, couldn't be more opposite.
Let the contrast begin.
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GoogleIn his acceptance speech McCain continually told us how he would fight for us. How he is not afraid to fight for you. John McCain used the word "fight" more than 40 times in his speech.
(oh wait a minute John McCain is 72 yrs old, he won't be doing any fighting, young men and women like my brother,
your son,your sister,they will)
. In my listening all I heard was bomb bomb bomb Iran, Russia or something! He is a risk taker, and gambling with the soul of America right now. I question his judgment.
"I make [decisions] as quickly as I can, quicker than the other fellow, if I can," Mr. McCain wrote, with his top adviser Mark Salter, in his 2002 book, Worth the Fighting For. "Often my haste is a mistake, but I live with the consequences without complaint."- John McCain
I appreciate that he was a POW, POW, POW, but that does not mean I should make him president, as fact it seems quite the opposite to me, for all i know he could be shell shocked, who knows what effect war had on him already. Several POW's have already come forward and said as much
There were several POW protesters along with the group code pink at his convention speech. One held up a sign that said John McCain doesn't care about Vets. John McCain voted against funds and relief for vets. You can check his record. DON'T BE FOOLED BY THE STAGE AND HIPE THIS TIME PEOPLE check the record.
These politicians can say anything, and they will say anything for a vote. none of them are perfect, but you can see who is in this for the people and not for ambition.
One man has run on a platform of changing the way things are done and one main has run on his experience and POW stats for the past 18 months, now all of a sudden that was not working so he changed his theme now he is running on "a change" theme. John McCain will change his word to you just as fast as he has changed his theme. Whatever works to get the vote. Don't be fooled this time. Insanity is doing the same old things over and over again and expecting different result. You can not get different results from the same old thing. that is insanity.
Let us not be fooled, let us wake, and God save us from McCain/Palin ticket.
They have fooled us for the past 8yrs, shame on them, if they fool us for 4 more years, shame on us!
WAKE UP PEOPLE WE CAN NOT GO BLINDLY INTO THIS ELECTION, NOT THIS TIME!'WE CAN NOT AFFORD TO PLAY RUSSIAN RULLET WITH OUR FUTURE ANYMORE. THE SHIP IS SINKING, IT HAS BEEN FOR 8YRS NOW, AND THE REPUBLICAN CAPTIANS ARE TRYING TO TAKE US DOWN WITH THEM, THEY ARE TRYING TO DISTRACT YOU WITH THE PALIN BAND, DON'T BE FOOLED INTO ANOTHER 4 YES OF THE SAME OLD BUSH TACTICS. IT'S TIME TO GET ONBOARD A NEW SHIP. DON'T BE FOOL BY THE HIPE AMERICA WAKE UP!! PLEASE!
Republicans like to run elections on fear mongering and invoking visual fear like that disgusting 911 pandering video they used to tug at your heart and stir your fears thursday night, and the American people usually buy into it, so I hope the thought of Him provoking war and bomb bomb bombing anything he can get his hands on is scaring the hell out of you.! Enough to say Enough! and Not this time!
I'm sorry but I am fighting for my grandchildren's future.If we allow McCain in the white house this is what America will look like
I am totally and utterly disgusted with the RNC for invoking 911, and that video of the dead with there bull shit political fear mongering tonight. I am shaking as i write this and I don't care who don't like it. That was disgusting and totally uncalled for. To deminish the deaths of 911 in such a way of propaganda and pandering for fear votes, shame on you RNC, shame on you. I hope the American people have the good sense to send a message, no more, enough of this pandering as our nation falls apart.
And more over i will say what the MSM and republican won't have the guts or balls to say. That speech sucked!
I don't think God is a conservative republican, seems like he just might be a demalibralindependent..
by BarbinMD
With Hurricane Gustav bearing down on the Gulf Coast, John McCain is playing President Wannabe in Mississippi today, showing just how concerned and presidential he is. Which makes this a good time to remind people of what he was doing three years ago when Hurricane Katrina was devastating the Gulf Coast.My Groups
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Freethinkers Updated: 7 minutes ago
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United for Peace Updated: 7 minutes ago
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Craftistas Updated: 1 hour ago
