another intelligent and insightful response by mark ! On Sep 29, 6:32 am, mark <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > yawn zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz > > On Sep 29, 4:38 am, "mike532 [ Republicans for Obama ]" > > > > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > McCain's Suspension Bridge to Nowherehttp://www.truthout.org/092808Y > > What we learned last week is that the man who always puts his 'country > > first' will take the country down with him if that's what it takes to > > get to the White House. > > > When John McCain gratuitously parachuted into Washington on > > Thursday, he didn't care if his grandstanding might precipitate an > > even deeper economic collapse. All he cared about was whether he might > > save his campaign. George Bush put more deliberation into invading > > Iraq than McCain did into his own reckless invasion of the delicate > > Congressional negotiations on the bailout plan. > > > By the time he arrived, there already was a bipartisan agreement > > in principle. It collapsed hours later at the meeting convened by the > > president in the Cabinet Room. Rather than help try to resuscitate > > Wall Street's bloodied bulls, McCain was determined to be the bull in > > Washington's legislative china shop, running around town and playing > > both sides of his divided party against Congress's middle. Once others > > eventually forged a path out of the wreckage, he'd inflate, if not > > outright fictionalize, his own role in cleaning up the mess his > > mischief helped make. Or so he hoped, until his ignominious retreat. > > > The question is why would a man who forever advertises his own > > honor toy so selfishly with our national interest at a time of crisis. > > I'll leave any physiological explanations to gerontologists - if they > > can get hold of his complete medical records - and any armchair > > psychoanalysis to the sundry McCain press acolytes who have > > sorrowfully tried to rationalize his erratic behavior this year. The > > other answers, all putting politics first, can be found by examining > > the 24 hours before he decided to 'suspend' campaigning and swoop down > > on the Capitol to save America from the Sunnis or the Shia, or whoever > > perpetrated all those credit-default swaps. > > > To put these 24 hours in context, you must remember that McCain > > not only knows little about the economy but that he has not previously > > expressed any urgency about its meltdown. It was on Sept. 15 - the day > > after his former idol Alan Greenspan pronounced the current crisis a > > 'once-in-a-century' catastrophe - that McCain reaffirmed for the > > umpteenth time that the 'fundamentals of our economy are strong.' As > > recently as Tuesday he had not yet even read the two-and-a-half-page > > bailout proposal first circulated by Hank Paulson last weekend. 'I > > have not had a chance to see it in writing,' he explained. (Maybe he > > was waiting for it to arrive by Western Union instead of PDF.) > > > Then came Black Wednesday - not for the stock market, which was > > holding steady in anticipation of Washington action, but for McCain. > > As the widely accepted narrative has it, his come-to-Jesus moment > > arrived that morning, when he awoke to discover that Barack Obama had > > surged ahead by nine percentage points in the Washington Post/ABC News > > poll. The McCain campaign hastily suited up its own pollster to > > belittle that finding - only to be drowned out by a fusillade of new > > polls from Fox News, Marist and CNN/Time, each with numbers closer to > > Post/ABC than not. Obama was rising most everywhere except the moose > > strongholds of Alaska and Montana. > > > That was not the only bad news raining down on McCain. His camp > > knew what Katie Couric had in the can from her interview with Sarah > > Palin. The first excerpt was to be broadcast by CBS that night, and it > > had to be upstaged fast. > > > But even that wasn't the top political threat McCain faced last > > week. Bigger still was the mounting evidence of the seamless synergy > > between his campaign and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage > > monsters at the heart of the housing bust that set off our current > > calamity. Most of all, it was the fast-moving events on that front > > that precipitated his panic to roll out his diversionary, over-the-top > > theatrics on Wednesday. > > > What we were learning - through The New York Times, Newsweek and > > Roll Call - was ugly. Davis Manafort, the lobbying firm owned by > > McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, had received $15,000 a month > > from Freddie Mac from late 2005 until last month. This was in addition > > to the $30,000 a month that Davis was paid from 2000 to 2005 by the so- > > called Homeownership Alliance, an advocacy organization that he headed > > and that was financed by Freddie and Fannie to fight regulation. > > > The McCain campaign tried to pre-emptively deflect such > > revelations by reviving the old Rove trick of accusing your opponent > > of your own biggest failings. It ran attack ads about Obama's own > > links to the mortgage giants. But neither of the former Freddie-Fannie > > executives vilified in those ads, Franklin Raines and James Johnson, > > had worked at those companies lately or are currently associated with > > the Obama campaign. (Raines never worked for the campaign at all.) By > > contrast, Davis is the tip of the Freddie-Fannie-McCain iceberg. > > McCain's senior adviser, his campaign's vice chairman, his > > Congressional liaison and the reported head of his White House > > transition team all either made fortunes from recent Freddie-Fannie > > lobbying or were players in firms that did. > > > By Wednesday, the McCain campaign's latest tactic for countering > > this news - attacking the press, especially The Times - was paying > > diminishing returns. Davis abruptly canceled his scheduled appearance > > that day at a weekly reporters' lunch sponsored by The Christian > > Science Monitor, escaping any further questions by pleading that he > > had to hit the campaign trail. (He turned up at the '21' Club in New > > York that night, wining and dining McCain fund-raisers.) > > > It's then that Angry Old Ironsides McCain suddenly emerged to bark > > that our financial distress was 'the greatest crisis we've faced, > > clearly, since World War II' - even greater than the Russia-Georgia > > conflict, which in August he had called the 'first probably serious > > crisis internationally since the end of the cold war.' Campaigns, > > debates and no doubt Bristol Palin's nuptials had to be suspended > > immediately so he could ride to the rescue, with Joe Lieberman as his > > Robin. > > > Yet even as he huffed and puffed about being a 'leader,' McCain > > took no action and felt no urgency. As his Congressional colleagues > > worked tirelessly in Washington, he malingered in New York. He checked > > out the suffering on Main Street (or perhaps High Street) by > > conferring with Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, the Hillary-turned- > > McCain supporter best known for her fabulous London digs and her > > diatribes against Obama's elitism. McCain also found time to have a > > well-publicized chat with one of those celebrities he so disdains, > > Bono, and to give a self-promoting public speech at the Clinton Global > > Initiative. > > > There was no suspension of his campaign. His surrogates and ads > > remained on television. Huffington Post bloggers, working the phones, > > couldn't find a single McCain campaign office that had gone on hiatus. > > This 'suspension' ruse was an exact replay of McCain's self-righteous > > 'suspension' of the G.O.P. convention as Hurricane Gustav arrived on > > Labor Day. 'We will put aside our political hats and put on our > > American hats,' he declared then, solemnly pledging that > > conventioneers would help those in need. But as anyone in the Twin > > Cities could see, the assembled put on their party hats instead, > > piling into the lobbyists' bacchanals earlier than scheduled, albeit > > on the down-low. > > > Much of the press paid lip service to McCain's new 'suspension' as > > it had to its prototype. In truth, the only campaign activity McCain > > did drop was a Wednesday evening taping with David Letterman. Don't > > mess with Dave. Picking up where the 'The View' left off in speaking > > truth to power, the uncharacteristically furious host hammered the > > absent McCain on and off for 40 minutes, repeatedly observing that the > > cancellation 'didn't smell right.' > > > In a journalistic coup de grâce worthy of '60 Minutes,' Letterman > > went on to unmask his no-show guest as a liar. McCain had phoned > > himself that afternoon to say he was 'getting on a plane immediately' > > to deal with the grave situation in Washington, Letterman told the > > audience. Then he showed video of McCain being touched up by a makeup > > artist while awaiting an interview by Couric that same evening at > > another CBS studio in New York. > > > It's not hard to guess why McCain had blown off Letterman for > > Couric at the last minute. The McCain campaign's high anxiety about > > the disastrous Couric-Palin sit-down was skyrocketing as advance > > excerpts flooded the Internet. By offering his own interview to Couric > > for the same night, McCain hoped (in vain) to dilute Palin's primacy > > on the 'CBS Evening News.' > > > Letterman's most mordant laughs on Wednesday came when he riffed > > about McCain's campaign 'suspension': 'Do you suspend your campaign? > > No, because that makes me think maybe there will be other things down > > the road, like if he's in the White House, he might just suspend being > > president. I mean, we've got a guy like that now!' > > > That's no joke. Bush has so little credibility he can govern only > > through surrogates (Paulson is the new Petraeus). When he spoke about > > the economic crisis in prime time earlier that same night, he > > registered as no more than an irritating speed bump en route to 'David > > Blaine: Dive of Death.' > > > It's that utter power vacuum that gave McCain the opening to > > ... > > read more »- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
