Delusional Palin team: She's "vindicated" by the one part of the report we like, but ignore that unlawful abuse of power part

These Palin people really are delusional. They just make stuff up. Again, The Anchorage Daily News:

Gov. Sarah Palin's communications director says investigator Steve Branchflower's report vindicates the governor with a finding that she "acted within her constitutional authority" to remove executive employees who serve at her pleasure.

That is a reference to former public safety commissioner Walt Monegan.

"However," said a statement issued about 6 p.m. by spokesman Bill McAllister, "along with several members of the Legislative Council, we question how Mr. Branchflower reached the conclusion that Governor Palin abused her power with respect to Trooper Mike Wooten."

Of course, Sarah and Todd don't want you to read that pesky section on her unlawfully abusing her power and violating Alaska's executive branch ethics act. Just read the stuff that kinda makes her look not so bad. Read More......

More on Palin's unlawful abuse of power: "Palin violated the state's executive branch ethics act"

The operative word here is "unlawful." This is from the Anchorage Daily News:

A legislative investigation has concluded that Gov. Sarah Palin abused her power in pushing for the firing of an Alaska state trooper who was once married to her sister, or by failing to prevent her husband Todd from doing so.

The report by investigator Steve Branchflower was made public late this afternoon by a bipartisan 12-0 vote of the Legislative Council, which authorized the investigation.

Branchflower's report contains four findings. The first concludes that Palin violated the state's executive branch ethics act, which says that "each public officer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust."

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Witness the hate that McCain and Palin are now fomenting at their events

From a McCain/Palin rally in Bethlehem, PA on October 8, 2008. Watch this, then ask yourself: Do you really want to be one of these people voting for McCain?

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BREAKING: AP: Sarah Palin Abused Her Power

Well, there you have it. Buried late on a Friday night, but the news just broke that Sarah Palin did violate state ethics law:

Alaska panel finds Palin abused power in firing

...The panel found that Palin let the family grudge influence her decision-making even if it was not the sole reason Monegan was dismissed. "I feel vindicated," Monegan said. "It sounds like they've validated my belief and opinions. And that tells me I'm not totally out in left field."

Branchflower said Palin violated a statute of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act....

According to the AP, the report "does not recommend sanctions or a criminal investigation." Read More......

AIG reluctantly cancels next boondoggle

Unfortunately, it's not obvious that they get it yet. Some idiot - in the highest levels of AIG - even wanted to run advertisements explaining why the junkets made sense. Uh huh. I've been on my fair share of these junkets thanks to business success and yes, they're great fun and great rewards, but when the ship is sinking you have the common sense. Most Americans could care less if AIG fires everyone without severance or bonuses or free trips and starts over from scratch. Until AIG starts to understand that the people who are funding their business lifeline are angry and struggling themselves, they will continue to have problems.

AIG's decision Thursday followed rebukes from Congress, the White House and Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus demanded more details from the Federal Reserve on the canceled Ritz-Carlton event, saying he wanted to know "who we can fire."

"This kind of behavior is an insult to taxpayers," the Montana Democrat wrote in a letter to Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke. Baucus asked for a response by Oct. 23.

"I cannot fathom how in the same day -- the very same day -- that AIG asked the government for another $37.8-billion loan, the company would even consider moving forward with plans to host another large conference at another luxury resort," said Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, a Maryland Democrat.

The event next week aimed to "motivate and educate" about 150 independent agents who sell AIG coverage to high-end clients, AIG spokesman Nicholas Ashooh said Wednesday.

AIG decided against it a day after striking an agreement that would enable it to access an additional $37.8 billion from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Liddy, the CEO, told Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson on Wednesday that the company would rethink expenses.

AIG considered buying advertisements to explain its position, only to be told by its public relations consultant, George Sard, that it would be "a really bad idea."

Gee, ya think? It's also a pretty bad idea to let the former CEO sell off $1 billion in deflated stock while this bailout is underway so perhaps someone can step in there as well. Read More......

Betty White on Palin and Obama

She's still Sue Ann Nivens.


(via Ben) Read More......

Why are the Republicans getting loans from Wachovia when the rest of us can't?

Ari explores further the rather peculiar story of how the Republican party just got an $8m loan from failing Wachovia bank, when the rest of us can't even get loans for our cars and our businesses.

So let me get this straight:

- Wachovia is on the brink of insolvency, to the point where is needs to be first sold to Citigroup with the help of the FDIC, only at the last minute to be bought by Wells Fargo.

- People cannot get mortgages and those are backed by houses, which while declining in price still have some value.

- But its financially sound to make unsecured multimillion dollar loans to their Republican buddies.

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THIS JUST IN: Erratic McCain issues two statements defending supporters who want to assassinate Obama

I have to say, issuing two statements defending people calling for the assassination of your opponent is, well, beyond erratic. It enters senility territory, because honestly, no one could be that big an a-hole as to defend assassination talk. I'm not even going to post the McCain campaign statements, you can Google them. But they just issued two, defending their supporters who have called for Obama to be killed. That's pretty sick, even for the "new," angrier than ever John McCain.

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Weekend reading, Joseph Stiglitz on the economic crisis

AMERICAblog's favorite economist has an excellent summary of how we got to where we are today and where this is going. It's a long article but also, a long history. John McCain loves to talk about the Reagan years as if it was yesterday and while we may be twenty years down the road from Reagan, it's the mindless faith in ideas brought in back then that ushered in this era. Business is unable to function properly without regulation and self regulation? Don't even get me started.

There is no easy way out but we can still take the wrong path and make this bad situation even worse. Read on and stay alert as our political leaders talk about next steps. We're all in this together and we all need a solution that works for us as a country. Read More......

The climate of hate that McCain and Palin have created

(click photo to see a larger version)

Someone directed me to this Craig's List posting from yesterday, that's now been taken down (I grabbed a screen capture before it was taken down). As David Gergen has warned, McCain/Palin rallies are "whipping around anger that could really lead to some violence." McCain's tactic of trying to whip up hatred of Obama, of not saying a word when his and Palin's crowds call for Obama to be assassinated, is simply beyond bizarre. It's inexplicable. How does fomenting death threats against Obama help McCain? Joe and I have tried to avoid this story for much of the week, but McCain and Palin have gone too far, now that their supporters are repeatedly talking about killing Obama. When does it stop? When does Senator McCain find the courage to make it stop? Or is that expecting too much of a man who increasingly appears to be a shell of his former self?

UPDATE: Here's another one:

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McCain campaign manager Rick Davis: There is little a president can do to fix the markets, all we can do is "hope that they correct themselves"

Hope that they correct themselves? You mean, like they have over the past ten years when McCain campaign manager Rick Davis was being paid $2m by Fannie and Freddie to stop the government from stepping in and correcting this mess before it all came to this?

Very little a president can do? How about coming off more confident than a deer in the headlights? Are these guys kidding? CNBC just said that traders are waiting to hear the results of the G-7 meeting, a meeting comprised of finance ministers and central bankers from around the world. How is it that McCain's campaign thinks the US government isn't involved with that? The Wall Street seems to think so.

Imagine what the markets will do if our future potential president says "you're on your own, my friends!" What an incredibly stupid, dangerous thing for McCain's top aide to say:

McCain didn't talk about the stock market yesterday, and didn't put out a statement on it, while Obama did both, and McCain campaign manager Rick Davis was asked about that on a conference call (about Acorn!) this afternoon.

"There’s very little a candidate for president can say and very little the president can say about what’s happening in the stock markets except hope that they correct themselves," Davis said, adding that McCain's mortgage plan could be an "elixir" for the financial crisis.

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Ten years on the Dow - a lost decade?

The graph below shows the "growth" of the Dow over the past ten years. You'll note we're back to where we started.


(From CNBC.com)

This is quite a statement about the bad policies on Wall Street and in Washington. Lots of commission money has been made pushing whatever it is that Wall Street was selling, but to be back where we were ten years ago is shocking. It's hard to imagine anyone (John McCain and the Republicans) wanting to move their Social Security retirement money into such a market when you look at this picture. You'd be quite literally back to where you were ten years ago - ten years of gains, ten years closer to retirement, wiped out.

For the sake of all Americans, we need a Wall Street that is productive for investors and business. In recent years it's only been about a few people profiting and the rest being stuck with the bill. Where this market is going is anyone's guess. Read More......

Dow is down 500 points to 8,000

This unfortunately means that John McCain will be inciting even more threats of violence against Barack Obama, in order to change the subject from the economic crisis.

As an aside, I heard yesterday on CNBC that OPEC is talking about having an emergency meeting in order to discuss cutting back oil production so they can artificially bump oil prices up again. You see, oil is down to $80 a barrel or so, and OPEC can have none of that. So the thieves are going to collude to screw the world while we're teetering on the edge of a worldwide depression.

Do we need any more evidence that OPEC, and its leader Saudi Arabia, are our enemy?

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GOP Rep. David Dreier (R-CA) urged to come out

Come out in opposition to Prop 8, the anti-gay proposition in California that's on the verge of winning. What did you think I meant?

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GOP supporters now screaming for terrorist attack against Obama

John McCain and Sarah Palin should be very proud of the modern Republican party they've helped to create. The GOP has for years been a party far too cozy with hate and intolerance - with racists, anti-Semites, gay-bashers, and religious extremists - that's why many of us left the Republican party years ago. And now John McCain and Sarah Palin, in a last-ditch effort to win at any cost, have whipped up calls for violence against their opponent that we've never seen in an election season that I can recall. Repeated calls at Palin/McCain rallies, and at election events around the country, for Obama to be assassinated. That'll go over well with women and independents. And the Republicans wonder why more and more people are fleeing their party.

John McCain and Sarah Palin have entered very dangerous territory here. Read More......

Connecticut Supreme Court rules in favor of gay marriage

The Connecticut Supreme Court just released its decision in the case of Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health. By a 4-3 decision, the Court ruled that same-sex couples have the right to marry:

We conclude that, in light of the history of pernicious discrimination faced by gay men and lesbians, and because the institution of marriage carries with it a status and significance that the newly created classification of civil unions does not embody, the segregation of heterosexual and homosexual couples into separate institutions constitutes a cognizable harm.

Just got this via email from State Rep. Mike Lawlor, who is the long-serving House Chair of the Connecticut Legislature's Judiciary Committee. He applauded the decision and provided some key historical background, noting the Connecticut legislature will pass marriage equality:

The State of Connecticut has a bipartisan history of supporting equality for all citizens, gay and straight.

In 2005, our state legislature passed civil unions, which granted full state marriage rights to same-sex couples, but only under a different name. That law passed with overwhelming bipartisan support and was signed into law by Republican Governor M. Jodi Rell. Connecticut became the first state in the nation to grant full marriage rights to same-sex couples without a court order to do so.

In 2007, the legislature’s Judiciary Committee successfully passed a bill to change the name of “civil unions” to “marriage.” That bill came out of the committee on a bipartisan, 27-15 vote. In fact, 25% of all the members of the legislature sit on that committee.

All of Connecticut’s political leaders, Democrat and Republican, have supported equal rights for gays and lesbians. All of our members of Congress support this as well. For example, Chris Shays, our state’s only Republican congressman, has spoken numerous times about his support for full same-sex marriage rights and has said that if he was a member of the state legislature he would vote in its favor.

For nine years, Connecticut’s legislature and courts have been moving along the same path towards full equality for gays and lesbians. It is almost certain that the 2009 session of the legislature will vote to support marriage equality. The Supreme Court said our constitution requires it. The legislature will do it because it is the right thing to do. In Connecticut, this has been a bipartisan effort from the start and I’m sure the next legislature will overwhelmingly endorse today’s ruling.

UPDATE: Connecticut's Republican Governor, Jodi Rell, won't fight the ruling:

“I disagree with today’s State Supreme Court ruling but as governor, I will uphold it. I continue to believe that marriage is the union of a man and a woman.

I also believe that the historic civil union law that I proudly signed in 2005 is equitable and just. We were the first state to enact such a law through legislative action and not a court mandate.

The Supreme Court has spoken. I do not believe their voice reflects the majority of the people of Connecticut. However, I am also firmly convinced that attempts to reverse this decision – either legislatively or by amending the state Constitution – will not meet with success. I will therefore abide by the ruling.”

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Former McCain aide warns of "angry mob mentality" at McCain/Palin events

More Republicans are worried about the angry tenor of the McCain/Palin campaign events. The "angry mob mentality" is what John Weaver calls it:

The raw emotions worry some in the party who believe the broader swath of swing voters are far more focused on their dwindling retirement accounts than on Obama’s background and associations and will be turned off by footage of the McCain events.

John Weaver, McCain’s former top strategist, said top Republicans have a responsibility to temper this behavior.

“People need to understand, for moral reasons and the protection of our civil society, the differences with Senator Obama are ideological, based on clear differences on policy and a lack of experience compared to Senator McCain,” Weaver said. “And from a purely practical political vantage point, please find me a swing voter, an undecided independent, or a torn female voter that finds an angry mob mentality attractive.”

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Bush approves transition planning. The long national nightmare is almost over.

The first piece of good news to come out of the Bush White House in eight years:

A piece of paper that President Bush signed Thursday helps ease his way out of the White House when his term ends and clears the way for his successor.

For seven years and nearly nine months has signed virtually every memo or order or piece of legislation imaginable. He even vetoed a few bills, but the directive he put his name on Thursday was one that few talk very much about. Basically, it's the executive order that turns the keys to the White House over to whomever is elected president on Nov. 4.

Whomever is elected better be Barack Obama -- and he is inheriting an unbelievable mess in the U.S. and the world because of George Bush, Dick Cheney, John McCain and the rest of the Republican hacks.

But, the Bush presidency will be over. Thank god. Read More......

McCain campaign officials spilling to the press about strategy fights, which means they're already trying to salvage their reputations

From the beginning, the McCain campaign has been high drama. Internal fights, new campaign managers, bickering -- it all spilled into the media. The trouble starts at the top, of course. McCain is an erratic manager. However, when "McCain campaign officials" start spilling to the press with just 25 days to go til the election, it's not about strategy, it's about cover. (Yeah, CYA.) We'll start to see more of these "off-the-record" comments as top GOP operatives try to distance themselves from the impending disaster:

Top McCain campaign officials are grappling with how far to go with negative attacks on Sen. Barack Obama in the final weeks of what is turning into a come-from-behind effort.

Sen. John McCain has allowed a series of increasingly harsh broadsides in new campaign ads and in speeches by his wife, Cindy, and his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin. But the Arizona Republican has rejected pleas from some advisers to launch attacks focusing on Sen. Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Some McCain campaign officials are becoming concerned about the hostility that attacks against Sen. Obama are whipping up among Republican supporters. During an internal conference call Thursday, campaign officials discussed how the tenor of the crowds has turned on the media and on Sen. Obama.

Those "McCain campaign officials" are really more concerned about their careers and reputations at this point. Let them spill the dirty laundry. The more time they spending covering their butts, the less time they'll have to work on getting out the GOP vote.

Republican campaigns up and down the ticket are having the same kind of internal battles. They're fighting within the McCain campaign. Republican candidates are fighting the McCain campaign. It's all beautifully self-destructive. Read More......

Obama predicted the GOP's attack strategy

Some of the nitwits in the political punditry seemed surprised by the ugly, nasty tenor of the McCain campaign, but Obama knew what was coming. He had the GOP's ugly strategy figured out over the summer. And, it's come to pass as Jed shows us:

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David Gergen: McCain/Palin rallies "whipping around anger that could really lead to some violence"

David Gergen is considered very somber and portrays himself as one of the wise ones. Last night, on CNN, Gergen said the angry frenzied mobs at the McCain and Palin rallies could lead to violence. Violence. In 2008. McCain and Palin are basically inciting violence on the campaign trail:

COOPER: There's also the question of ruling after this and bringing the country together. It's going to be all the more harder to do that whoever wins with all this anger out there.

GERGEN: Yes. There is this -- I think one of the most striking things we've seen now in the last few days. We've seen it in the Palin rallies. We saw it at the McCain rally today. And we saw it to a considerable degree during the rescue package legislation.

There is this free floating sort of whipping around anger that could really lead to some violence. I think we're not far from that.

COOPER: Really?

GERGEN: I think it's so -- well, I really worry when we get people -- when you get the kind of rhetoric that you're getting at these rallies now. I think it's really imperative that the candidates try to calm people down. And that's why I've argued not only because of the question of the ugliness of it.

I think David Gergen is right. John McCain and Sarah Palin are responsible for fomenting the anger. Now, they're on notice.

Remember how McCain used to be opposed to campaigns that were only negative? That was a long time ago. Read More......

Friday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

25 days.

It's stunning to think about the damage George Bush has done to our nation and the world. Stunning. Watching the market drop yesterday was a little scary. Hearing the term "crash" sounded so 1929. That's just one of the things Bush did to us. Bush is going to address the crisis this morning -- as if that helps.

Clearly, McCain's campaign wants to change the subject and harp on crazy negative attacks, but everyone is talking about the economy. Okay, I mean everyone I know is talking about it. But, then I don't know people who are part of the angry mob showing up at McCain/Palin rallies. Those people are out of control. And, the candidate is erratic.

In fact, at 7:30 AM Eastern, even Joe Scarborough just said of McCain, "It seems to be an erratic campaign." Yes, it is. And, McCain is erratic.

25 days. We all have to do everything we can between now and then to change America -- from the top of the ticket to state legislatures. Everything.

Let's get it started... Read More......

McCain confused on his newest housing bailout plan

Confusion is bad enough, as we're familiar with that routine from McCain almost every day, but being illegal is even worse. Each day he throws something out there more bizarre than yesterday, hoping that something will stick. This is a campaign that is in turmoil without any clear direction. His newest plan to buy up bad mortgages has infuriated the right (and beyond) and runs contrary to previous statements about bailing out buyers who were irresponsible. More from Marc Ambinder:

They point me to Section 101e of the law, which requires the Secretary of the Treasury to "take such steps as may be necessary to prevent unjust enrichment of financial institutions participating in a program established under this section"

Here's the key part...

... "including by preventing the sale of a troubled asset to the Secretary at a higher price than what the seller paid to purchase the asset." Any loan that is not held by the originator, and the vast majority loans are not, would fall under this provision."

So -- if the bank gave you a 100 dollar loan.... and sold it for 80 bucks last year, and it's trading at 50 dollars now, the law prohibits the government from buying it at $100 -- face value -- because that would "unjustly enrich" the entity which purchased the mortgage from the bank.

Under TARP, the government wouldn't be able to buy it for more than $80... which isn't face value.

So if they buy it at face value, wouldn't they violate the law?

McCain himself, one week ago, praised TARP's taxpayer protection planks and his campaign has claimed credit for pressuring Congress to add them in.

The McCain campaign did not respond to e-mails seeking comment.

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Bankrupt Wachovia lends Republicans $8 million

What the? How in the world is this even possible? With the credit crisis freezing the lending market for large businesses down to home loans it has to be difficult enough but lending $8 million for a political campaign when you just went bankrupt? Indirectly, taxpayers are going to be floating the loan to the NRCC for the 2008 campaign. Roll Call via OpenLeft:

The National Republican Congressional Committee, trailing its Democratic counterpart considerably in cash on hand, has secured an $8 million loan to spend on House races during the last few weeks of the campaign, according to sources.

The NRCC reported $14.4 million in cash on hand as of Aug. 31, compared to $54 million in the bank for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. As it did last cycle, the NRCC is procuring its loan from Wachovia Bank, sources confirmed.

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Global selloff continues, lending rates stay high

Paulson may have been suggesting a cash injection into the banks "by the end of October" but I don't see how they can avoid doing this any longer. Take the preferred shares, semi-nationalize them and get the credit moving again. This won't stop the markets from falling but it will help ease the larger credit problem. A few more low-lights from around the world after the massive US sell off.

- Hong Kong down 8.54%
- Tokyo down 9.62%
- Shanghai down 3.57%
And the European markets are opening to pretty hard declines as well.
- London down 6.54%
- Frankfurt down 8.16%
- Paris down 7.54%

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Biden zings Palin: "She was in sixth grade the last time John had a new idea"

Obama and Biden have done a good job at sticking to the issues, basically THE ONLY issue -- the economy. Seems like everyone in the country is talking about the economy -- except John McCain, Cindy McCain, Sarah Palin and their creepy surrogates. While our guys are sticking to the issues, our v.p. candidate didn't miss a chance to take a swipe at McCain and McCain's idiotic running mate:

After weeks of treading carefully on all things Palin, Biden has showed a new willingness to take the Alaska governor on on a host of issues. The latest example came as he discussed McCain’s mortgage plan and made reference to one of Palin’s criticisms of himself.

“Sarah Palin says, 'You know, I was in second grade when Joe Biden was elected to the United States Senate at age 29,’” he said this afternoon. “That’s true, but she was in sixth grade the last time John had a new idea.”

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Sarah Palin releases her own ethics report clearing herself

Was it written in crayon? Read More......

McCain again changes his mortage bailout plan, angers "conservatives"

I don't see how he can even stick with his breakfast decision two minutes ago let alone guiding the US out of this recession. The more he wobbles, flips and flops, the more erratic and unprepared he looks to everyone including those who should be aligned with him. This is a desperate person who will say anything in an attempt to win (or send his wife out to smear) so be ready for even more outrageous attacks.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) made an overnight change in the homeowner bailout he proposed at Tuesday’s presidential debate, making it more generous to financial institutions and more costly for taxpayers.

McCain's staff says it was always meant that way.

Of course it was meant to be that way. Of course it was. There there, John. Have a cup of warm milk and try again tomorrow. Read More......