Tag: John McCain

The best moment in Friday’s presidential debate, for me, was when John McCain brought up the bracelet he has been wearing during the campaign. McCain gave Barack Obama an opening and Obama came back with a knockout punch.

It was great that Obama had bracelet too, but what made the counter punch so devastating was what Barack did with the opening McCain’s bracelet story provided.

But first, here is some background. McCain has been using the bracelet anecdote on the campaign trail repeatedly. Back in March, ABC News wrote about McCain and the bracelet.

Toward the end of almost every speech he gives or informal remarks he delivers at a town hall-style meeting, Sen. John McCain tells the same story.

If you watch him carefully, you can even tell when it’s coming.

The Arizona senator will shoot his right arm forward in his suit sleeve, revealing a dark metallic band low on his wrist. It’s probably an unconscious gesture. He doesn’t hold up the bracelet. He doesn’t look at it. But very soon he will tell the story. He has told it hundreds of times.

Everyone knows that the first Presidential Debate is supposed to take place tonight, but once again we have a member of the GOP trying to put the skids on Democracy, read the 2000 election and the supreme’s, by refusing to show because, admitted himself he understands little about economics, he’s going to save Wall Street Bankers and the Country from Collapse. Now he’s coming to the rescue some 10 or so days after all the bad economic news started survicing, but for Our Savior “Better late than never, Not!”.

My guess is that if there is a Debate tonight it won’t be on the main subject lines it was to cover: Foreign Policy and National Security. It will be covering the economy or at least much of it will be because of the News that has sucked the air out of everything else.

But wether it covers the intended subject matter, tonight or in another, or not, just in case there are extremely important things to be brought to the Debate about our now lack of a Foreign Policy especially as to our National Security.

I’m with Kos:

The American people aren’t happy with this bailout. Democrats are giving McCain a gift by allowing him to be seen as its slayer. Yet Democrats sit there thinking that lining up behind Bush’s proposal will somehow be a political plus.

Yet every challenger across the nation, Democratic and Republican, is running against this thing to public cheers. The tone deafness on this is shocking.

At this point I really don’t know who is more incompetent, the Democratic Leadership or the Bush Administration.

All day Thursday – all frickin’ day – we were treated to one pic after another showing Democratic politicians working feverishly to pass a bailout plan that NOBODY WANTS – except Wall Street Fat Cats, Foreign Loan Sharks, and George W. Bush of course.

First, we had shots like this of Chris ‘Fred Flintstone’ Dodd and Barney ‘Rubble’ Frank in a desperate barefoot spin to get this 700 billion ton jalopy moving.

Next we had that uber-embarrassing White House meeting with Pelosi and Reid flanking George Bush like they were his guardian angels.

How bad does this look?

You’ve got polls showing an anemic 30% public support for the bailout, the AFL-CIO picketing Wall Street and Congressional mail coming in at 19 to 1 against, and yet the Dem Leadership somehow thinks it’s to their political advantage to be seen as large and in charge of this monstrosity?

Clueless.

According to this Huffington Post by Tom D’Antoni, the reason Paulson was rushing to put the bailout deal through — and the reason Democrats are supporting the basic need for the bill — is because hedge funds come up for renewal on October 1st.  

Without a shoring up of that market, D’Antoni explains, there would have been (and may still be) a run to pull out money from hedge funds that could have (and may still) spur a worldwide collapse:

During the White House meeting, it appears that Sen. John McCain had an agenda. He brought up alternative proposals, surprising and angering Democrats. He did not, according to someone briefed on the meeting, provide specifics.  One of the proposals — favored by House Republicans — would relax regulation and temporarily get rid of certain taxes in order to lure private industry into the market for these distressed assets.

(snip)

The real reason why there is such a [Democratic] clamor for [Paulson’s) bill, and a rush to get it passed is that there may be billions of dollars pulled out of the hedge funds…money that is due on October 1. This may be the famed October surprise, but one that nobody figured was coming. If that money is due and the hedge funds can’t pay, they will collapse.

But Paulson’s [Republican] Wall Street pals are clamoring for help to clean up the mess that their irresponsible lending and greedy practices brought us, with McCain only pouring fuel on the fire he and his GOP deregulatory cronies helped start.

More at this link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…

That is, unless John really doesn’t debate on Friday.

Tonight was an eye-opening experience. Running behind all day long, Hubby and I decided to order a meat-lover’s stromboli for two, and I drove down the road to our local pizza place to pick it up.

There are some things you don’t do in life. You don’t start whistling in the check out line at the grocery store. You don’t give out your personal banking information to the Prince of Nigeria, regardless of how desperate that email sounds.

And, you don’t talk politics at the local pizza place.

All that changed tonight.

All right, Chicken Littles.  You wanna play “the sky is falling?”  Okay, I’ll bite.  How ’bout these possible outcomes?:

Cheney becomes Temporary President in January, 2009…or… casts a tie-breaking vote in Senate balloting to determine who will be Succeeder to the Decider…or…Obama is elected President, but is saddled with Cariboucuda as his Vice President…

All this misery – and more! – can be yours, for the simple price of an Electoral College vote of 269-269.  Join me, if you will, in the Cave of the Moonbat, where tonight’s theme is “The Implausible and its Potentially Apocalyptic Consequences upon Humankind.”  The subject is the ticking time bomb represented by the Twelfth Amendment – and just for fun, let’s look at some best- and worst-case scenarios it might spawn in the event of an Electoral tie.  The suggested headgear for the evening is a tinfoil hat; umbrellas might also be helpful, since everyone knows that the sky can’t be falling if you can’t see it headed toward you.