CNN's Campbell Brown accuses McCain of sexist treatment of Sarah Palin

Wow. Campbell Brown, my hero? My world is turned upside down. :-) Seriously, a rather amazing commentary by Campbell Brown on CNN today. Huffington Post has the details. Again, wow. Here's the transcript, go to Huff Post for the video, it's worth it:

"Tonight I call on the McCain campaign to stop treating Sarah Palin like she is a delicate flower that will wilt at any moment," said Brown. "This woman is from Alaska for crying out loud. She is strong. She is tough. She is competent. And you claim she is ready to be one heart beat away from the presidency. If that is the case, then end this chauvinistic treatment of her now. Allow her to show her stuff. Allow her to face down those pesky reporters... Let her have a real news conference with real questions. By treating Sarah Palin different from the other candidates in this race, you are not showing her the respect she deserves. Free Sarah Palin. Free her from the chauvinistic chain you are binding her with. Sexism in this campaign must come to an end. Sarah Palin has just as much a right to be a real candidate in this race as the men do. So let her act like one."

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Retirees hit hard by Bush-McCain economics

Listening to the continuing rich payouts on Wall Street (even for those who were supposed to be bankrupt, like Lehman) is sickening when you compare that to the millions of retired Americans who have little or no opportunity to recover from this failed economic model. What do we tell them? It's bad enough that younger Americans now have to work more and save more because the Republican system let them down but how can we tell retired Americans "sorry, I guess you lost everything so better luck next time"?

Older Americans with investments are among the hardest hit by the turmoil in the financial markets and have the least opportunity to recover.

As companies have switched from fixed pensions to 401(k) accounts, retirees risk losing big chunks of their wealth and income in a single day’s trading, as many have in the last month.

“There’s a terrified older population out there,” said Alicia H. Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. “If you’re 45 and the market goes down, it bothers you, but it comes back. But if you’re retired or about to retire, you might have to sell your assets before they have a chance to recover. And people don’t have the luxury of being in bonds because they don’t yield enough for how long we live.”

Today’s retirees have less money in savings, longer life expectancies and greater exposure to market risk than any retirees since World War II. Even before the last week of turmoil, 39 percent of retirees said they expected to outlive their savings, up from 29 percent in 2007, according to a survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, an industry-sponsored group in Washington.

Note from Joe: Politically, retirees are a key voting bloc -- especially in Florida. They pay attention, very close attention. Latest polling in Florida from NBC/Mason-Dixon shows Obama has moved ahead: 47% - 45%. Of note, "McCain's four-point lead among seniors (48%-44%) is not as big as he needs it to be to offset the electorate-changing demographics among blacks and young voters."

Confirmation of a shift in older voters from Ohio where McCain and Obama are tied, via Political Wire:

Key findings: "As McCain struggled with his response to last week's economic news, his support among segments of the voting population that might seem vulnerable to a weak economy declined... The most distressing news for the McCain camp comes from senior voters and independents. In our last survey McCain enjoyed a more typical 52% to 41% lead among voters age 65 and over. In this latest survey McCain and Obama are even with 46% of the senior vote each."

CNN's latest national polling also found movement for Obama with seniors:

Fifty-one percent of registered voters are backing Obama, who now holds a 5 point edge over McCain, at 46 percent. McCain and Obama were tied at 48 percent apiece in the previous CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey. Obama's advantage, while growing, is still within the poll's sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Where did Obama make his gains?

"In two core McCain constituencies: Men, who now narrowly favor Obama. And seniors, who have also flipped from McCain to Obama," says CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider.

When including only those people most likely to vote, the results are pretty much the same: Among likely voters, Obama has a 4 point lead, 51 percent to 47 percent.

The economic numbers are going to get any better anytime soon. These polls numbers should continue in the same direction. Read More......

The Jonah hidden in the bailout plan

I got an email from a reader, Allison, who was worried about a provision supposedly buried in the Treasury bailout proposal.

Countdown just reported that Section 8 of the Bailout Proposal states:

"Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency."

What the hell is going on here? They're saying we need accountability and transparency, but they've written secrecy into the proposal! Am I reading this wrong?

Now, I'm sure Allison is a nice person and all, but I have to admit that I saw her email and went "oh God, another conspiracy theory." Then I asked around town, and guess what - Allison's not so crazy. The provision is real, and it's apparently causing some real concern in town. Yes, George Bush hid a little provision in the bailout bill to give his Treasury Secretary powers that are, well, basically like what they did with the Patriot Act, as DailyKos diarist FSL3 (I love these blog pseudonyms) writes. King Paulson to go along with King George. These people really are pathetic.

(Okay, Cryptic Title alert. I'd read a story, when I was in grade school, about something called "a Jonah." It was a muffin, or cake, or cookie that you stuffed with pepper or something equally vile, then hid it in a pile of perfectly good muffins. The person who got the jonah, the muffin with the yuk inside, well, I'm not sure I remember what happens next. But I do recall the story, and the term Jonah, and now can't find it anywhere. Am I crazy? Was this just a short story, or, was this some cultural tradition we were learning about (I think it was the latter). Anyone?) Read More......

John McCain and his GOP are unequivocal: They strongly oppose regulation

The Republicans put it in McCain's platform, via Ben Smith:Not that anyone pays attention to party platforms, least of all McCain, but a reader spots this rather unambiguous section of the platform just passed by the GOP:

We do not support government bailouts of private institutions. Government interference in the markets exacerbates problems in the marketplace and causes the free market to take longer to correct itself.

Sometimes the candidate and his surrogates actually preach the language of the platform, like they did on regulation:
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Obama: George Bush's "stubborn inflexibility is both unacceptable and disturbingly familiar"

Unlike John McCain, who as Rob reported "gave Main Street the finger," Barack Obama actually is concerned about how the proposed Bush bailout affects real Americans. And, Obama actually talked to reporters and took questions about it today:

“Yesterday, the President said that Congress should pass this proposal to ease the crisis on Wall Street without significant changes or improvements,” the Illinois senator told reporters, arguing that everyone has a stake in solving the crisis to protect the jobs and the life savings of millions. “Given that fact, the President’s stubborn inflexibility is both unacceptable and disturbingly familiar. This is not the time for my-way-or-the-highway intransigence from anybody involved.”

Obama is right. This is classic Bush. But, the response can't be the same as always. Bush is sitting at the White House expecting the Democrats to cave, like they have in the past.

Read this post from Markos and ask yourself: What is the rush? And, why should George Bush be driving this debate? Read More......

NYT: McCain lied about campaign manager Rick Davis' ties to Fannie and Freddie

A rather thick article from the NYT, but the gist of it is that McCain on Sunday night said that his campaign manager, Rick Davis, who was paid $2m by Fannie and Freddie to help keep them deregulated, had nothing to do with either group since he left their employ in 2005. Not true, we learn, via the NYT.

One of the giant mortgage companies at the heart of the credit crisis paid $15,000 a month to a firm owned by Senator John McCain’s campaign manager from the end of 2005 through last month, according to two people with direct knowledge of the arrangement. The disclosure contradicts a statement Sunday night by Mr. McCain that the campaign manager, Rick Davis, had no involvement with the company for the last several years. Mr. Davis’s firm received the payments from the company, Freddie Mac, until it was taken over by the government this month along with Fannie Mae, the other big mortgage lender whose deteriorating finances helped precipitate the cascading problems on Wall Street, the people said.

They said they did not recall Mr. Davis doing much substantive work for the company in return for the money, other than speak to a political action committee composed of high-ranking employees in October 2006 on the coming midterm congressional elections. They said Mr. Davis’s his firm, Davis & Manafort, was kept on the payroll because of Mr. Davis’s close ties to Mr. McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, who was widely expected by 2006 to run again for the White House....

Freddie Mac’s roughly $500,000 in payments to Davis & Manafort began immediately after Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in late 2005 disbanded an advocacy coalition that they had set up and hired Mr. Davis to run, the people familiar with the arrangement said....

Between 2000 and the end of 2005, Mr. Davis had received nearly $2 million as president of the coalition, the Homeownership Alliance, which the companies created to help them oppose new regulations and protect their status as federally chartered companies with implicit government backing. That status let them borrow cheaply, helping to fuel rapid growth but also their increased purchases of the risky mortgage securities that were their downfall.

On Sunday, in an interview with CNBC and the New York Times, Mr. McCain responded to a question about Mr. Davis’s role in the advocacy group by saying that his campaign manager “has had nothing to do with it since, and I’ll be glad to have his record examined by anybody who wants to look at it.”

After the Homeownership Alliance was dissolved, Mr. Davis asked to stay on a retainer, the people familiar with the deal said. Hollis McLoughlin, who was chief of staff to Richard F. Syron, Freddie Mac’s chief executive, arranged for a new contract with Davis & Manafort, at the reduced rate of $15,000 a month...

So, McCain said on Sunday that Davis had nothing to do with Fannie and Freddie after he left their employ at the end of 2005. Now we learn that, in fact, Davis continued to be on retainer with Freddie, and then when he was forced to take a leave from his company because of having joined McCain's campaign (though he continues to share in the firm's profits), the company continued to take money from Freddie until this month. While the Roll Call story we published earlier did have the information about Davis' ongoing ties, they didn't clearly explain that this means McCain lied on Sunday. Or, again, he's so confused nowadays that he simply doesn't know what is going on around him. Read More......

Is anybody on McCain's staff NOT being paid by Fannie Mae?

Roll Call:

The lobbying firm of Rick Davis, Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) campaign manager, remains on the payroll of mortgage giant Freddie Mac, according to two sources with knowledge of the arrangement.

The firm, Davis Manafort, has collected $15,000 a month from the organization since late 2005, when Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae dissolved a five-year-old advocacy group that Davis earned nearly $2 million leading, the sources said....

McCain’s inner circle has its own ties to the companies. Among the newest revelations: William Timmons, a lobbyist reportedly expected to lead McCain’s presidential transition team, has earned $260,000 this year lobbying for Freddie, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday.

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Should we prosecute those who caused this economic problem?

As it stands today, we have given a free pass to those CEOs who profited enormously and then were pushed out, with hundreds of millions. How can we watch our once vibrant economy fall apart like this, forcing an expensive bailout (and likely higher taxes, reduction in standard of living and even more cutbacks) and then do nothing? These are the same people who complained about "welfare mamas" so again, let them live by their own rules. Regardless of his other positions, Sarkozy is not wrong on this.

Those responsible for the crisis that has swept global financial markets should be punished, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said overnight in his first reaction to the latest bout of economic turmoil.

In an acceptance speech at an award ceremony attended by U.S. and French business leaders, Sarkozy called for the "truth" on the crisis to be uncovered.

"Today, millions of people across the world fear for their savings, for their apartment, for the funds they have put in banks. It is our duty to give them clear answers," he said.

"Who is responsible for this disaster? May those who are responsible be punished and held accountable," he said hours before he was due to give a speech to the U.N. General Assembly.

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Yepsen blasts Palin and McCain

David Yepsen at the Des Moines Register:

And Sarah Palin's effect may be peaking. She seems uncomfortable in the rare interviews she grants. She doesn't leave you with the impression she'd be any more competent to handle the nation's economic anxieties than its foreign relations. Yes, she may be pro-family and a mom with five kids. That's great but Americans are looking for someone to handle Wall Street and Iraq, not Bristol and Track.

Then the McCain campaign rolled out a Hillary Clinton supporter, Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, to endorse McCain and accuse Obama of being elitist.

Is being attacked as an elitist by a de Rothschild more like the pot calling the kettle black, or putting lipstick on a pig?

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McCain gives Main Street the finger

Watched McCain's press conference - his punch list of concerns was a stale version of Obama's conference earlier today. But what is pretty clear is that McCain wants to bail out Wall Street but not average Americans. When asked about a stimulus package for Main Street his answer was no. Instead he talked about the business tax rate in Ireland. Yeah, this guy is in touch with America's problems.

NOTE FROM JOHN: Now, Rob, remember that Sarah Palin did a 30 minute refueling stopover in Ireland. And I hear she can see clovers from her window in Alaska. She has a very special bond with that country. Read More......

Another medical professional weighs in about melanoma

A reader writes:

Being a Dermatology Physician Assistant and a cancer survivor, I recently reviewed John McCain's medical records (which were made public earlier this year after he was the Republican nominee) about his melanoma, the type of skin cancer that is very frequently fatal. He has had 4, possibly 5 melanomas. The most serious one was on his left temple, in 2000. It was considered a deep melanoma (2.2 mm-- which is very risky). There was also another melanoma in the same area, which could have likely been a metastasis from the bigger melanoma on the temple, there is no way to know. They had to take out all his lymph nodes on that side of his head and neck, that is why his cheek looks so misshapen. That thickness of melanoma (whether or not it is in the lymph nodes) usually gets about 1 year of interferon (a form of chemotherapy), which would have been standard of care. But, since this happened right at the time of the 2000 election conventions, McCain opted not to have the chemo.

He has had another melanoma appear on his nose in 2002, again, no real way to tell that this was not a metastasis, or a new melanoma. The other 2 melanomas were prior to 2000. Frankly, I'm surprised that he has survived this long. Melanoma is very unpredictable and aggressive. With his history of multiple melanoma episodes, as well as other types of skin cancers and pre-cancers, this means McCain's immune system is poor. Melanoma can metastasize to any part of the body including the brain. It lurks until it starts to cause problems in whatever organ it starts to grow in. The only way to know if it spread is when it invades something and causes that organ to malfunction. There are no blood tests or other screening tests to catch metastasis "early" other than frequent skin checks and that would only find it again on the skin. When melanoma spreads, there is not any good treatments to stop it. So, I think that it is a very real possibility that John McCain will have more melanoma.

I try to inform all of my patients each day of the risks of melanoma and I spend my work days hunting for melanomas at the earlier superficial stage that can be treated. McCain's is in the deeper, more dangerous, category. At least in dermatology, we don't worry too much about the melanoma's less than 1 mm. His was 2.2 mm. It was likely an aggressive one, because it seems that it was not observed at his derm exam, then his family doctor found it during an interim appointment. I am sure that a dermatologist would have seen it and biopsied it given his history. So, it probably grew extremely quickly in several month's time since McCain would have been seen by derm at least every 6 months. This reminds me of one my patients-- she had a melanoma removed on her shoulder with clear margins, her lymph nodes were negative. On her first follow up visit in 3 months she had no visible sign of any recurrence. 1 month later she came in because she had some unusual bumps appearing in the area. She had metastases locally, and when they checked a PET scan, she had melanoma throughout her body. She only lived a few more months.

Here is an article that appeared soon after the medical records were released (and I have also read the actual medical reports that were released).

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What is Disney's involvement with the gay-hating marriage ban in California?

It's a small hateful world, after all.

I received an email from a source I trust, and it's allegedly an update from the gay-haters in California (who are trying to nullify the marriages of thousands of gay families in California), notifying them that their anti-gay signs won't be ready for a few weeks because they're still coming from China. Putting aside the irony of the gay-haters outsourcing their hate to a place that has one of the worst human rights records on the planet, what really got my interest was why an official Disney.com email account appears to be coordinating the gay-bashers' activities in California.

I'm going to delete the name of the person involved - we'll just call her by her initials, GD - as there's been enough hate to go around, but if someone from Disney (or any enterprising journalists out there) would like to investigate why Disney appears to be donating its corporate resources to spearhead gay-bashing legislation, feel free to give me a holler and I'll be happy to let you know who the alleged employee is. This is a real downer, if you get my drift:

From: G.D. @disney.com
Subject: Prop 8 Yard Signs
Date: Thursday, September 18, 2008, 10:52 AM

Volunteers:

The YES on Prop 8 yard signs have been delayed in route from China. We expect to distribute them within the next two weeks. I will email you as soon as they arrive so we can make sure you have one immediately. In the interim, please continue to take note of any friends or family who would like one as well.

If any of you would like to make calls, please email me and I will arrange a training session in Burbank and provide you with all the necessary materials.

Thanks so much,

G. D.

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McCain permits press to observe Palin meeting with Colombian president, for a whole 15 to 20 seconds, then kicks them out

Wow, brave media. After treating the press like dirt this morning and refusing to let anyone cover Palin's meetings with foreign leaders at the UN, leading CNN to cancel its camera coverage of Palin's phony photo opps, the Palin/McCain campaign promised the media that it was all a misunderstanding. So during the next event, the media was let in to cover it. All for a grand total of 15 to 20 seconds. Then they were told to get out.

Have none of you people ever watched any Charlie Brown? Are you people stupid or something? You never had any clue that Palin/McCain woud pull the football out from under you again. And again and again. Seriously, stop covering these phony photo opps. Stop sending people on McCain's bus and plane (when you're not even on McCain's bus anyway, real journalists were kicked off of that thing long ago). It's like the Stockholm Syndrome with you people. I'm expecting the Palin/McCain campaign to release a photo any day now of Candy Crowley with a Tommy Gun. Read More......

Video of truck-bomb catching fire moments before it blew up the Marriott in Pakistan

It's creepy watching the security guys trying to put out the fire on the truck, the initial fire that looks like it was used to light the bomb, obviously not knowing what was coming next.

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Dear Media, pull your reporters from the Straight Talk Express

In the aftermath of the revolt against the Palin/McCain campaign kicking reporters out of the photo opps Sarah Palin is holding at the UN today, there's a larger question that remains. Why is the corporate media continuing to subsidize John McCain's free photo opps by having staff on his bus and plane? It costs a fortune to have reporters embedded with the candidates. And for what purpose? When you travel with Palin and McCain you will not ever be permitted to pose a single question. You are window dressing, there to take pictures and parrot the Palin/McCain message of the day. That's it. Sometimes Palin and McCain let you send a producer in to the meeting - not a real reporter, just a producer. Why not just send your mother? Why is the media putting up with this? Just pull your staff from the bus (well, van) and plane. You people serve no more purpose than FOX News. You're there to parrot what Palin and McCain want you to parrot. Stop it. CNN and CBS took a good first step today, by pulling their reporters from a phony Palin photo opp. Now it's time to go for the Full Monty. Pull your reporters from coverage of the McCain campaign until Palin and McCain start acting like big boys and girls, like potential future leaders of the free world. McCain's voters don't read your papers, they don't watch your news. Yet for some reason, you keep sucking up to them. Stop it. They're playing you for fools. Read More......

McCain campaign kicks press out of Palin meeting with world leaders, CNN says f-you and pulls cameras ending TV coverage of Palin publicity stunt

Wow, CNN grew a few. Good for them. AP apparently protested as well. Yes, Virginia, there is a media. And it's starting to wake up. I'm really shocked that CNN did this. CNN was the network providing television coverage for all the networks, and after McCain's people said there would be no coverage of Palin's actual substantive (if you'd call it that) conversations with world leaders, CNN pulled the plug. Wow. Here's AP's coverage, it's good:

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who has not held a press conference in nearly four weeks of campaigning, on Tuesday banned reporters from her first meetings with world leaders, allowing access only to photographers and a television crew.

CNN, which was providing the television coverage for news organizations, decided to pull its TV crew, effectively denying Palin the high visibility she had sought.

Palin planned to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe in New York on Tuesday as the United Nations General Assembly convenes this week. She also was expected to meet with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

Those sessions and meetings scheduled for Wednesday are part of the Republican campaign's effort to give Palin experience in foreign affairs. She has never met a foreign head of state and first traveled outside North America just last year.

Huff Post has more, and notes that the media also seems to have gotten ticked at McCain this morning for refusing to take questions. Well here's an idea: Stop covering him. Pull your reporters on the McCain's bus (well, they're no longer in the bus at all, now they follow in vans) and stop covering McCain as there is nothing to cover. That will get his attention. Read More......

REQUEST FOR URGENT BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP

CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS PROPOSAL

Dear Mr. American,

Good day and compliments.

I am HENRI PAULSON, the Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America, and the personal financial adviser to GEORGE W. BUSH (the eldest son of the former dictator of America, GENERAL GEORGE HUSSEIN WALKER BUSH).

This letter will definitely come to you as a huge surprise, but I implore you to take the time to go through it carefully as the decision you make will go off a long way to determine the future and continued existence of the entire members of my country.

It is with deep sense of purpose and utmost sincerity that I have the privilege to write you this letter knowing full well how you will feel as regards to receiving a mail from somebody you have not met or seen before. There is no need to fear, I got your address from a Wall Street business directory which lends credence to my humble belief. I also assure you of my honesty and trustworthiness. I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.

During the last Military Regime here in America, the Government officials set up companies and awarded themselves contracts which were grossly over-invoiced in various ministries. My country has had great crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of US$800,000,000,000.00 (eight hundred billion US dollars) in cash for safe-keeping. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be of most profitable for you.

I am working with the honourable MR. PHIL GRAMM, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As Senator, you may know him as leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s.

This is a matter of great urgence. We need a immediate blank cheque. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because as civil servants we are constantly under surveillance by Democratic members of Congress, the media, and the American public. My family lawyer, MR. RICK DAVIS, advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.

Please note that this transaction is 100% safe and we hope to commence the transfer latest seven (7) banking days from the date of the receipt of the following information: all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. This way we will use your country's name to apply for payment in your name. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds. That's all. Let me know what you think about this.

We are looking forward to doing this business with you and solicit your confidentiality in this transaction.

May Allah show you mercy as you do so?

Your faithfully,

Dr. Minister of Treasury Paulson

(NOTE FROM JOHN: There's a version of this floating around the Net. I spiced it up with a bit more text from actual Nigerian spam solicitations.) Read More......

George Will thinks McCain isn't ready to be president

As a leading conservative writer and thinker, this is big. Note particularly the paragraph in which Will talks about McCain's "impulsive, intensely personal reactions to people." Will is talking about McCain's temper, but he's also talking between the lines about Sarah Palin. I suspect George Will is disgusted by McCain's choice of Palin, and and it's evidence, in both Will's mind and ours, of a certain hotheaded recklessness in McCain. He's a gambler, he goes with his gut, he's willing to risk it all - his reputation or your economy - all on whimsy. And America can't afford another playboy frat boy in the Oval Office.

McCain Loses His Head

Under the pressure of the financial crisis, one presidential candidate is behaving like a flustered rookie playing in a league too high. It is not Barack Obama.

Channeling his inner Queen of Hearts, John McCain furiously, and apparently without even looking around at facts, said Chris Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, should be decapitated. This childish reflex provoked the Wall Street Journal to editorialize that "McCain untethered" -- disconnected from knowledge and principle -- had made a "false and deeply unfair" attack on Cox that was "unpresidential" and demonstrated that McCain "doesn't understand what's happening on Wall Street any better than Barack Obama does."

To read the Journal's details about the depths of McCain's shallowness on the subject of Cox's chairmanship, see "McCain's Scapegoat" (Sept. 19, Page A22). ...

Conservatives who insist that electing McCain is crucial usually start, and increasingly end, by saying he would make excellent judicial selections. But the more one sees of his impulsive, intensely personal reactions to people and events, the less confidence one has that he would select judges by calm reflection and clear principles, having neither patience nor aptitude for either.

It is arguable that, because of his inexperience, Obama is not ready for the presidency. It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency. Unreadiness can be corrected, although perhaps at great cost, by experience. Can a dismaying temperament be fixed?

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If Wall Street can do it, so can you. Sell your "distressed assets" on this new Web site.

Like most of my fellow Americans, I've been learning a lot about economics over the past week. Lesson 1: "Distressed assets" = Shitpile. Your government is getting ready to buy a whole heap of "distressed assets."

Well, if Wall Street CEOs can unload its useless assets for a cool 1 trillion, why shouldn't you have that opportunity too? Offer your "distressed assets" to Henry Paulson via the latest Internet phenom a friend of our put together, www.buymyshitpile.com:

With our economy in crisis, the US Government is scrambling to rescue our banks by purchasing their "distressed assets", i.e., assets that no one else wants to buy from them. We figured that instead of protesting this plan, we'd give regular Americans the same opportunity to sell their bad assets to the government. We need your help and you need the Government's help!

Newsday says the site "captur[es] the spirit of the moment, provides a form for ordinary Americans to offer their various and sundry garbage -- broken toys, transistor radios, musty books, smelly tennis shoes -- to the Treasury Department." There's a lot of useless stuff out there. Read More......

Lobbyist leading McCain's transition team has been lobbying for Freddie Mac

Yesterday, we learned the blockbuster news that John McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, made millions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Sarah Palin and John McCain have been railing about those companies out on the campaign trail. You'd think McCain would fire Davis.

There's more.

William Timmons, who is leading John McCain transition efforts (which will hopefully never come to be), is a "prominent Washington lobbyist" according to Time Magazine. That's bad enough. It gets worse in light of McCain's feigned outrage at Fannie and Freddie. McCain's transition leader had been lobbying for Freddie Mac "through this month" -- until Freddie had to stop lobbying :

The lobbying firm of the man Republicans say John McCain has chosen to begin planning a presidential transition earned more than a quarter of a million dollars this year representing Freddie Mac, one of the companies McCain blames for the nation's financial crisis.

Timmons & Co., whose founder and chairman emeritus is William Timmons Sr., was registered to lobby for Freddie Mac from 2000 through this month, when the federal government took over both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

Newly available congressional records show Timmons's firm received $260,000 this year before its lobbying activities were barred under terms of the government rescue of the failed mortgage giant. Timmons, 77, is listed as a lobbyist for Freddie Mac on the company's midyear financial-disclosure form.

While Republicans say Timmons is making plans for the transition if McCain wins in November, the campaign wouldn't confirm his role. Timmons didn't return a phone call seeking comment.

McCain has labeled Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae as prime culprits in creating the financial storm that has roiled Wall Street and Washington.

This is just another example of McCain's blatant hypocrisy. McCain has been making stuff up about Obama's ties to Freddie and Fannie. Meanwhile, McCain's top guys have hauled in tons of dough from them. Read More......

GOP support for CEO pay is sticking point on bailout. Make them vote for it publicly.

Today's NY Times gives an update on the state of negotiations on the bailout package -- the $700 billion bailout package for which the lame duck president who got us into this mess wants his package and nothing else:

But lawmakers in both parties voiced anger over the steep cost and even skepticism about the plan’s chances of success.

As heated debate began on Capitol Hill, Congress and the administration remained at odds over the demands of some lawmakers, including limits on the pay of top executives whose firms seek help, and new authority to allow bankruptcy judges to reduce mortgage payments for borrowers facing foreclosure.

Yes. The GOP is fighting for the Carly Fiorinas of the world. Republicans are trying to protect those poor CEOs who have no one else to watch for them. Dana Milbank documented the GOP concern for the CEOs:

"While it is very appealing to think about executive compensation as being a part of this, one of the drawbacks to that is perhaps that we would have fewer entities participate in what is essentially a voluntary act," Sen. Mel Martinez (Fla.) said on CNBC yesterday morning.

"It should be up to the board of directors of a private corporation to set the compensation of an executive; it shouldn't be Congress's role," Sen. Richard Shelby (Ala.) proclaimed on CBS News.

Bush issued a statement yesterday warning lawmakers not to "insist on provisions that would undermine the effectiveness of the plan," and White House press secretary Dana Perino, asked about Democrats' plans to limit executive compensation, advised them to pass the legislation as Paulson proposed it, "the cleaner the better, and the quicker the better."

Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the Senate minority leader, went to the floor to decry those who would make the bailout legislation "flypaper for partisan add-ons."

Call their bluff. After eight years, please just call their bluff.

If the Republicans are so committed to the nation's CEOs who helped precipitate this mess (and we know they are), let them vote for protecting the multi-million dollar wages of the very men and women who got us into this mess, the very men and women we're bailing out with YOUR money. Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker Pelosi should insist on a separate vote on the CEO pay provision. Make that a condition of the package. No deals behind closed doors. Make them vote. We deserve a roll call vote -- and it will be good for the CEOs to see just who their friends are. Let Bush threaten a veto over the CEO pay provision. Embrace that.

With six weeks left to the election, the anger about the economic situation is palpable. People are pissed and worried. And, our tax dollars shouldn't be used to bail out companies that are paying excessive salaries to their leaders. If the Republicans are so adamant about it, let them vote for it. Read More......

Tuesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Six weeks -- 42 days -- til Election Day.

The campaign is, of course, consumed with the economic crisis and the bailout. Congress is in a frenzy over it. The only thing more volatile than the markets is John McCain's reaction to the crisis. There never is a clear answer from the Palin-McCain campaign. (Mainly because Palin and McCain don't know anything about the economy, but there are also a lot of lobbyists on the Palin-McCain campaign staff. It's got to be killing them to miss out on all the billable hours they'd be charging for the bailout bill.)

Okay, let's get started.. Read More......

CNBC "victims" of the credit crunch

Hmmm, I'm not entirely sure being fired and handed $161 million after years of annual payouts for bad business really makes one a victim. The worst thing Stanley O'Neal has had to suffer is mild embarrassment on TV for a few made-for-TV tongue lashings by our fearless members of Congress. Oh the horror. It's no wonder Wall Street acts the way they act, because nobody will ever lift a finger and do anything. Somehow missing from CNBC's list of "victims" is the American citizen who will now foot the bill on stagnate wages and deal with a weak economy for years to come. Read More......

Americans blame the GOP for the economic problems

And it's not even close. The GOP must have forgotten that they ran on the "deregulation" theme for decades, so of course that is what everyone remembers about them.

By a 2-to-1 ratio, Americans blame Republicans over Democrats for the financial crisis that has swept across the country the past few weeks, a new national poll suggests.

That may be contributing to better poll numbers for Sen. Barack Obama against Sen. John McCain in the race for the White House.

In a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey out Monday afternoon, 47 percent of registered voters questioned said Republicans are more responsible for the problems currently facing financial institutions and the stock market; only 24 percent said Democrats are more responsible.

Twenty percent blame both parties equally and 8 percent say neither party is to blame.

The poll also indicates more Americans think Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, would do a better job handling an economic crisis than McCain, the Republican presidential nominee.

Forty-nine percent of those questioned said Obama, D-Illinois, would display good judgment in an economic crisis, six points higher than McCain, R-Arizona.

And Obama has a 10-point lead over McCain when it comes to who respondents think would better handle the economy overall.

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French banks "much more solid" than US banks

Freedom fry that. And look, no nationalization programs or bailouts. Who would have guessed that the nouveau-socialist Bush would finish his two terms looking more like a 1980s Francois Mitterand than Ronald Reagan?

French banks have lost about $28.5 billion so far this year in the global financial crisis, but they remain much healthier than banks in the United States, France's finance minister said Monday.

Speaking on French radio station RMC, Christine Lagarde said French banks lost 1.5 billion euros ($2.14 billion) last week alone because of the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings, but added "there's nothing to worry about."

"All the banks in the world are necessarily affected," Lagarde said, adding "French banks are much more solid than American banks."

Lagarde said the French banking system is "solid" because it is "much more diversified and much more balanced than the American system."

Banks around the world have written off billions of euros in losses stemming from bad mortgage debt.

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Consumers spending less on health care as economy softens

This really is pathetic. Families are having to postpone or delay health care or medicine because the SOBs on Wall Street and their Republican friends like McCain and Phil Gramm had to ditch regulation and oversight. Wall Street continues to have plenty of bonus money as we can see from the $2.5 BILLION sum for Lehman. How bad off are they if they can fail and still have $2.5 billion to hand out?

The number of prescriptions filled in the U.S. fell 0.5% in the first quarter and a steeper 1.97% in the second, compared with the same periods in 2007 -- the first negative quarters in at least a decade, according to data from market researcher IMS Health. Despite an aging and growing U.S. population, the number of physician office visits also has been declining since the end of 2006. Between July 2007 and 2008, the most recent month for which data are available, visits fell 1.2%, according to IMS.

In a survey by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners last month, 22% of 686 consumers said that economy-related woes were causing them to go to the doctor less often. About 11% said they've scaled back on prescription drugs to save money. Some of the areas being hit include hip and knee replacements, mammograms, and visits to the emergency room, according to a survey conducted by D2Hawkeye Inc., a Waltham, Mass., medical data analytics firm, on behalf of The Wall Street Journal.

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Federal deficit to be $800 billion to $1 trillion thanks to bailout

Another legacy of the deregulation efforts by McCain and the Republicans.

Where will the money come to buy the mortgage-paper?
The funds are going to be borrowed by Treasury and it will be repaid over decades by taxpayers.
As a result, the deficit for next year, fiscal 2009 that starts October 1, is likely to jump to an eye-popping record range of $800 billion to one trillion dollars, according to Stan Collender, a long-time budget analyst.
Earlier this month, before the government nationalized Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the giant American Insurance Group, the Congressional Budget Office forecast the deficit would rise to $438 billion next year.
For 2008 fiscal year, which ends at the end of the month, the CBO forecasts a $407 billion deficit.
The war in Iraq is costing roughly $180 billion per year. The price tag on the war is approaching $800 billion, Collender said.
All of this spending will crowd out private investment, some economists said.
And it comes at a time when Congress must also take steps to close the gap between revenues and promised benefits for Medicare and Social Security.

Read More......