Jack & Jill Politics

BWAHAAHAHAAA!!!!

People at the Salon are evil geniuses! They've found Consistent Charlie -- i.e. Charlie Gibson asking the same "do you agree with the Bush Doctrine?" question during the January 5, 2008, Republican Debate. Now please show me the articles where Krauthammer & Co. argued that Gibson got the Bush Doctrine wrong, etc.

Oh and Salon also found where Gibson questioned Obama's stance on Al Qaeda in Pakistan, calling it an exercise in the Bush Doctrine. Hmmm....

Biden

McCain=Bush 44!

I love that.

MEGAN MCARDLE: "Obama is seeking to blame the current crisis on the Bush Administration. This is high-test hooey. This was not some criminal activity that the Bush administration should have been investigating more thoroughly; it was a thorough, massive, systemic mispricing of the risk attendant on lending to people with bad credit. (These are, mind you, the same people that five years ago the Democrats wanted to help enjoy the many booms of homeownership.) Lehman, Bear, Merrill and so forth did not sneakily lend these people money in the hope of putting one over on the American taxpayer while ruining their shareholders and getting the senior executives fired. They got it wrong. Badly wrong. So did everyone else. . . . This kind of foolish grandstanding is not the change we need. It's just more of the same."

Given Obama's close connections to Fannie Mae and Lehman, he shouldn't press this issue too hard.

This not factually true. I was a former employee of Fannie Mae (in headquarters), and I worked in the auditing department, where I know where the risk was being spread out. And, It was not only the lending to borrowers with bad credit, but it was how the MBS(mortgage backed securtites) were not fully spread over less riskier loans., such as investments) So, there is not one group of loans that wasthe risk and the mispricing of them. Also, you can not just choose one group of connections to one party because both Democrats and Republicans had lobbyists working with Fannie Mae.

What happened in the housing market and the huge credit crisis and current stock market ills cannot be compacted into the paragraph you just prepared. Just goes to show you have no idea of what's really going on.

Side note: Some of the people (the people you claim the Democrats wanted to enjoy home ownership (and we know who you're referring to) had credit that would carry a traditional loan, however, they were placed in subprime markets. ENOUGH AND ENOUGH OF YOU.

Troll go away!

Obama is going to have to sue Copy-cat McCain for royalties...

CNN just showed a clip of McCain saying, "Enough is enough." I believe this was in McCain's afternoon speech where he put the spin on the "fundamentals", if you know what I mean. The funny thing about all this is Obama just noted how McCain was biting his rhymes & line as McCain described one of his proposals as " the change we need."

He's stolen The Change We Need, Turn The Page, Enough Is Enough, and many, many more Barack lines.

If they keep this up, McCain/Palin will become the Milli Vanilli of this election. SMH.

carolinagirl: GREAT ONE!!! LOL! LOL! :>) :>)

Milli Vanilli - LMAO

Hits from Milli Vanilli '08:

"Girl you know it's true...ooh ooh ooh ya campaign is through"

"Blame it on McCain"

Town: Were you attempting to allow me to retrieve the You Tube??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0qTOkUPlGk
Girl You Know It's True - Milli Vanilli

Here it is!! :>)

ENJOY! :>)

LMAO at "Blame it on McCain". Love it!

It was interesting watching McCain’s surrogates spin the statement he made saying that “The fundamentals of the economy are strong. . . ” Hoover said the same thing! t was stupid statement when Hoover said it, and it was a dumb statement today when McCain said it.

I wouldn't run into any other person in this country who thought this economy was doing well...unless I ran into John McCain."

Joe Biden today.

LOL

They are clowning McCan't

McCain:Economics = Palin:Bush Doctrine

Joe Klein with a great line: John McCain knows as much about economics as Sarah Palin does about the Bush Doctrine.

In the current Congress, 271 lawmakers have collected nearly $3 million since 1989, with 72 percent going to Democrats. Democratic presidential candidates and senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama top the list of all-time recipients for the company, collecting $410,000 and $395,600 respectively. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., a member of both the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee and the Senate Finance Committee, hauled in $181,450, while Sen. Chris Dodd, chair of the Senate banking committee, has collected $165,800.

Lehman associates gave only $117,500 to Sen. John McCain, even though he has been in Congress far longer than either Obama or Clinton — as the Obama campaign has been only too eager to remind us.

Lehman’s bankruptcy comes on the heels of the federal government takeover of government-sponsored mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, whose associates were also big givers to Obama and Clinton.

Barack Obama has extensive ties to the subprime mortgage industry, starting with his National Finance Chairwoman, Chicago billionaire Penny Pritzker.

It's worth responding to (sorry, Craig) because you might get asked this if you are calling or visiting voters.

First, as Nick points out, these are company EMPLOYEES. The company itself does not and cannot give money to the candidates. Companies' usual route of influence is through much less transparent means than mere campaign contributions. (This is why elections law required open disclosure of your employer).

Second, when corporations do attempt to influence lawmakers through donations, they always invest in both teams, but more heavily in the one in power. This is because they are rational, not ideological. Even though the Republican Party is friendlier to big business, they will give money to both parties, just to be "safe," and when the Democrats are in power they would rather give money to the party in power, even if less friendly, to maintain access.

The fact that more money is going to Democrats is a consequence, not a cause, of the Democrats rising to power. If that's a bothersome system, then it's time to put real money into public campaign finance and eliminate 527's. (There's a pesky First Amendment problem, of course, but whatevs).

Are you really trying to link EMPLOYEE donations to the markets failure?

Don't feed the beast.

These trolls are desperate.

I guess the polls in VA have depressed the resident trolls. They feel down. Let's give them some McCain Points™ to make them feel better, hmm?

Here I am! Seriously, the last of couple of days of infighting is not good for the Campaign or us as a community, so I apologize for my part. We're in this together.

I'm in Northern Virginia aka Obama country. Believe me, most polls are NOT accurately gauging what's going on in Virginia. Quiet as kept, the 2004 election and the last Virginia census do NOT reflect the rapidly changing complexion of Virginia. Believe me, most pollsters are using an outdated model of the racial demographics of this state, particularly Northern Virginia. I don't want to jinx it by saying it aloud, but I can assure you there is a hidden vote in Virginia, a vote that is hiding in plain site among a particular demographic. Mark my word, that group will carry Virginia for Obama. On election night, you'll be reminded of the slogan, "we can't vote, but our kids can."

I have so much faith in the ground campaign and folks like yourself who are out there knocking on doors and making calls. THAT'S what will make the different in November.

LOL si se puede!

Both CraigHickman and I have posted VA's results as of today from SurveyUSA.com but I'll post it again:

Virginia Men, Voters Age 50+, Independents, Take Another Look At Obama: In an election for President of the United States in Virginia today, 09/15/08, 7 weeks till votes are counted, Democrat Barack Obama defeats Republican John McCain 50% to 46%, according to this latest SurveyUSA poll conducted for WDBJ-TV in Roanoke, WJLA-TV in Washington DC, WTVR-TV in Richmond, and WJHL-TV in the Tri-Cities. Compared to an identical SurveyUSA poll released one week ago, immediately following the Republican National Convention, Obama is up 3 points; McCain is down 3. The movement solidifies Virginia place as America's 2008 battleground.

One week ago, McCain led among men by 11 points. Today, McCain and Obama tie. One week ago, McCain led among voters age 50+ by 14 points. Today, McCain leads by 1. One week ago, Obama led among lower income voters by 6 points. Today, Obama leads by 20. One week ago, McCain led among Independents by 21 points. Today, McCain leads by 4. 17% of Republicans today crossover to vote Democrat, up from 11% last week and 7% last month. 12% of Democrats cross over to vote Republican, compared with 10% in the two previous polls. Strikingly: week-on-week movement in the DC suburbs was to McCain; movement in the Shenandoah and Central VA was to Obama.

In Virginia, there is still no evidence that Sarah Palin is attracting women to the GOP ticket. McCain polled at 44% before he picked Palin, and at 43% in each of the two polls conducted after Palin was announced.

Say it again.

When the highly-paid CEOs of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac felt reformers closing in, they needed a defender. They knew where to send their money. The Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd... and Barack Obama. They gave Obama more than $126,000, in less than four years. While Fannie and Freddie was running aground, Dodd, Obama, and Congress looked elsewhere. Ask yourself who can really bring change to Washington, and keep our financial system from running aground.

Obama wants to portray America as on the brink of disaster, but voters need to be aware of both the real challenges and the real strengths of the American economy. A knee jerk lurch towards big government liberalism is not the answer.

We are not on the brink of another depression. This is mostly a financial crisis growing out of bad financial decisions by a host of actors large and small.

Pro-growth, pro-investment policies will bring help to stabilize the economy.

How does Obama's plan to increase marginal tax rates and the cost of doing business through increased regulation help stimulate innovation and growth?

What specific types of oversight and regulation could have prevented this problem or are likely do so in the future? And why should American trust Obama to implement them when he has no record of doing so and the companies involved are major campaign donors?

These financial market problems are not a result of widespread economic weakness, otherwise known as a recession. In fact, real GDP has grown 2.2% in the past year and accelerated to a 3.3% annualized growth rate in the second quarter. The economy is not taking down investment banks; lousy lending standards and the excessive use of leverage are taking down investment banks.

The good news is that this financial earthquake is unlikely to turn into an economic earthquake. The bad loans made earlier this decade did not create a wide spread economic boom; and the realization of how bad some of these loans are will not create an economic bust. The non-housing economy, which is roughly 95% of total US economic activity, has been remarkably stable. In the three years ending March 2005, non-housing real GDP grew at a 2.7% annualized rate. In the three years since then, non-housing real GDP has grown at a 3.2% average annual rate.

If you think the republican party, whose zealous pursuit of foolish deregulation in the name of trickle down economics, is the answer to our current problems you're mistaken. It has been these exact tactics disguised as "pro-growth" and "pro-investment" which have driven this economic downturn.

The problem of trickle down investment style economics fails one major test of government lead macro economics: it is poorly targeted and more often than not bypasses the very economy it is meant for, ours. Given the interconnected economies of the modern age simple investment style fixes won't work. Why? Because any smart investor is not going to invest wholly (and for some at all) in the US. So, one answer is to target a lower level of the economy by investing in the US directly. This is down by closing cooperate loopholes and giving targeting tax credits to those people and industries which create jobs and capital in the US (i.e. Obama's tax plan).

Personal investment is not the only engine to growth and by ignoring infrastructure, education, and home grown industry in favor of a faux growth pro-investment only plan the conservative movement has buried huge swaths of the American economy in debt and contracted the wealth of the majority of Americans while swelling the very top.

As for the inevitable argument that the top 1% creates all the jobs I say only this. They also will benefit far more from investments in infrastructure, education, and American industry as well. The difference is that the bottom 99% will benefit from these things as well, rather than be left behind by investment schemes that funnel American capital to other nations and swell the pockets of the top percentile.

Why does this matter? Because it is the bottom 90% of American workers who are the engine of the economy and if we continue to fail them our economy will truly begin to die. Let's take the warning signs of the last year seriously and change our strategy. And when I look at the platforms of both major party candidates I see things I don't like. However, one of these men has plans that look just like the last 7 years and one has some plans that depart from the current script in ways I think will benefit the economy overall.

You're wasting your time. This guy is a troll who knows how to copy-paste from other websites and that's about it. If you think he even knows what he's talking about, or appreciates your responses, you'll be spending way too much time on the Web trying to ejukate the kiddies

Save it for your white paper. All most folks want to know is how they are going to make it through the end of the month.

flagged for LYING.

This post is for our friend Karmi who loves to come to this blog spammin' up the place but deletes posts I've made on his blog logically debunking his logically indefensible claims including his hack-afied support for the mindless, ahistorical nonsense forwarded by NBRA that MLK = Republican. (Karmi didn't like the fact that I called NBRA "dumbasses" and how I quoted PRIMARY SOURCES, MLK himself, to dispute NBRA's nonsense which Karmi tried to defend.)

Anyway, I just wanted to drop this link for Karmi:

Bitter White Folks For Obama

Anyone who thinks [Obama's "guns and religion" comment] is "insulting" to working-class rural people is either a complete moron, is being dishonest with themselves or hasn't actually read the speech itself - once again, a soundbite is taken completely out of context and twisted around in order to smear the only person running who has any experience at all organizing around working class issues - Obama

Dow is now down 504.48.

I think we can all agree that this wall street meltdown is a godsend for Obama. It's now just a matter of how fast and lethal Team Obama will strike. I don't thik it's unreasonable or too critical to expect the most hard hitting ad from this Campaign to rech tv's by tomorrow morning. Afterall, the McCain Campaign has an ad running today on the crisis. Now is the time to bring out the big gun: Bill Clinton. Voters need to be reminded of when the economy was working. Bill Clinton--with Obama--can deliver that message.

but craig, it's all in our imagination

Yup Yup....this is just a mental recession. Go shopping rikryah!

OMG, that split screen during Biden's talk is HILARIOUS.

Yeah, that was a nice touch on CNN's part.

I saw the ad..I was like WTF?