AP: Obama jumps on McCain adviser's health remarks

FYI, this is the same McCain adviser who said that McCain invented the BlackBerry. Funny, the female McCain advisers only get one mistake and they're gone. From AP:

Barack Obama's presidential campaign claimed Tuesday that comments by a top adviser to John McCain reinforced Obama's contention that millions would be worse off if they lose employer-sponsored health coverage and end up buying it themselves.

McCain wants to change the current income tax treatment of health insurance, treating payments toward health insurance as taxable wages. In exchange, individuals would get a $2,500 tax credit and families would get a $5,000 credit when buying health coverage.

Some health analysts say the Republican's plan would erode employer-based health insurance coverage by encouraging younger, healthier workers to shop around and find a better deal directly from an insurer in the individual market. And, if those workers dropped employer coverage, some companies would eliminate coverage entirely because of the costs associated with insuring older or less healthy employees.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a domestic policy adviser for McCain, attempted to assure that such a scenario would not occur, but gave Obama an opening.

"Why would they leave?" Holtz-Eakin said in a story published by CNNMoney.com "What they are getting from their employer is way better than what they could get with the credit."

Obama's campaign quickly seized on the comment. In remarks prepared for delivery Tuesday in Harrisonburg, Va., Obama described Holtz-Eakin's comments as a "stunning bit of straight talk, an October surprise from his top economic adviser."

"(Holtz-Eakin) said that the health insurance people currently get from their employer is and I quote 'way better' than the health care they would get if John McCain becomes president," Obama said. "Now this is the point I've been making since Sen. McCain unveiled his plan. It took until the last seven days of this election for his campaign to finally admit the truth. But hey, better late than never."

Read the rest of this post...

DressLikePalin.com

Cute.

Read the rest of this post...

Memories, of the times we've left behind...

I just grow misty-eyed, when I read these stories about how much the media misses the old John McCain. The tire swings. The donuts. The barbeques. The way he conned every reporter in the country into thinking he was a decent guy:

A During the five years I spent covering Capitol Hill, I enjoyed few things more than interviewing Sen. John McCain. He was funny and irreverent, and, more important, thoughtful and tough. He had a deep understanding of any issue reporters would throw at him.

So it's been hard for me to watch the campaign he has run -- or that Republican Party operatives have run on his behalf -- in Indiana....

And so, for a few more days, Republican mailings will warn that Obama "isn't who you think he is." Here's something more accurate: John McCain isn't who he used to be.

Call Liz-the-Donut, she misses him too. Read the rest of this post...

McCain's fishy $70,000 donor from Taiwan

Good thing McCain hasn't made campaign donation ethics one of his big issues. More from the Chicago Trib:

Big campaign donors typically come with deep pockets and influence. But in Illinois this election cycle, no one not running for office himself has given more to the nation's federal campaigns than Shi Sheng Hao of Roselle, a virtual unknown in business and political circles.

Before September 2007, Hao's name had never appeared in the 15-year-old federal database of campaign contributors. Since then, however, his donations have topped $120,000 — including $70,100 on a single June day to Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

Over the same time frame, a network of Hao relatives has kicked in more. The take from this group over the last 13 months exceeds $269,000, a small amount to Democrats but most of it to McCain and the Republican National Committee, records show.

Hao didn't register to vote at the northwest suburban address attached to his donations until October 2007, a month after he wrote his first political check, $25,000 to the RNC.

The circumstances surrounding Hao's sudden and prolific political activism are curious and his whereabouts unclear. His name isn't listed on property records or the mailbox at the unassuming tract home listed on his donations. Hao lives "overseas," insisted a man who answered the door at the Roselle home recently. The man declined to identify himself.

Read the rest of this post...

Obama Television Event Liveblog

We're liveblogging the Obama television event.

UPDATE: In case you missed the 30 minute program, you can see it here:



Rob @ 8:02: Barack Obama is making his closing statement. John McCain has been asking who is Barack Obama - this entire spot talks to the America that Obama sees. Who he has selected for these stories tells you about him and his values.

Joe @ 8:05: I feel like he is talking to us like we are adults.

Rob @ 8:06: Obama is detailing out exactly what he's going to do to solve the economic crisis - and he explains how he's going to do it. For a closing statement, this is exactly what he needs to do.

Rob @ 8:07: We've moved on a little to the testimonial portion of the program - lots of leaders from different places around the country talking about why they support Obama.

Rob @ 8:08: I like the text for voting information at the bottom of the screen. It's a good way to give people a way to get info without having to make a phone call or have a computer to go online.

Rob @ 8:10: I really like this direct to camera format - while some don't like it, Barack Obama has to close the deal and the only way he can do that is face-to-face with the American people. This isn't an infomercial, it's a commitment to help voters understand exactly what his priorities are and understand his values.

Rob @ 8:12: Obama is going right at Iraq - there isn't a single issue of this campaign that Obama has ceded the ground to McCain.

Joe @ 8:16: I can't help but compare this to the way McCain and Palin have been campaigning lately with all their screeching and negative attacks. I don't think John McCain could never pull this off. He doesn't have the ideas -- or the temperament. This is all about the issues people are actually talking about.

Joe @ 8:21: That health care discussion was very powerful. For anyone who doesn't know Obama's personal story, it was very important to hear. He gets the health care issue because he's lived it.

Rob @ 8:22: There isn't a single thing that McCain can rail against here. It's not all bio or all issues - it answers both who he is and what he'll do as President. It is the closing argument he needed to make to wrap up what has been a historically consistent campaign.

Rob @ 8:27: Now a live feed from Florida with Obama.

Joe @ 8:30: I really want that man to be my president. No surprise, I'm committed and have been for a long time, but this still blew me away. And, my mother just called to tell me that she was got teary-eyed. Read the rest of this post...

Preview of Obama's event tonight

Tonight at 8PM Barack Obama will be running a full 30 minute television event called American Stories, American Solutions. Ben Smith at Politico has more, as does the NYTimes. Here's a quick preview:

We'll be liveblogging the event if you want to check in and share your thoughts. Rumor is that the event will go live for the last few minutes. Read the rest of this post...

What's wrong with this picture? Obama leads PA by 13, but it's a battleground. McCain is ahead in Arizona by 2, but it's not a story.

Today, two new polls, Franklin & Marshall/Daily News and the Marist poll, were released from Pennsylvania both showing a 13 point lead for Obama. But, if you pay any attention to the political pundits, you'd think that state is a toss-up. Why? Because the latest tactic from the McCain campaign has been to spin the idea that Pennsylvania is a lot closer than it seems. The traditional media dutifully adopts the GOP's narrative about Pennsylvania because 1) they always fall for GOP tactics and 2) it makes for a good story. Chuck Todd continued to play along with the Pennsylvania bluff today:

Clearly, the McCain campaign is counting on something happening in Virginia or Pennsylvania, as a lot of new money and candidate time is being poured into both states.

But will it be enough?

No, because it's not going to happen and everyone knows it. There are 6 days left....when is this alleged movement for McCain going to show up somewhere besides the talking points of the Republicans?

Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, another toss-up state has emerged -- Arizona:

Sen. John McCain's once-comfortable lead in Arizona has all but evaporated, according to a new poll that has the underdog Republican presidential candidate struggling in his own backyard.

With less than a week until Election Day, McCain is leading his Democratic rival, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, by 2 points, 46 to 44, down from a 7-point lead a month ago and a double-digit lead this summer, according to a poll from Arizona State University.

Factor in the 3-percentage point margin of error, and a race that was once a nearly sure thing for McCain is now a toss-up, pollsters say.

The pollsters who did that poll from ASU are considered the "gold standard" for Arizona polling. So, this should be a huge, just huge, story. Greg Sargent at TPM Election Central reports McCain and the RNC have started their nasty robo-calls about Obama into Arizona. This is real. But, the political media has been slow to cover this development. Why? If Arizona is in play, this election is going to be a blow-out. And, that destroys the traditional media's story line that the race is closer than we all think. (Because, you know, they have access to the McCain campaign and the McCain campaign told them that.)

So for the next couple days, we'll be subjected to intense scrutiny of every poll showing movement for McCain. After all, as John reported below, McCain's pollster, has told the political punditry about McCain's "internal polls" -- and the political punditry loves it. In reality, the "internal polls" line is the last bastion of losers.

So, what's really the bigger story here? Pennsylvania or Arizona.

And, if the race tightened to two points in Illinois, would the traditional media be covering it? Read the rest of this post...

Palin already talking about her plans for 2012 if she and McCain lose: "I'm not doing this for naught"

Wow. This is pretty stunning. Sarah Palin just threw McCain under the Straight Talk Express. Palin told ABC News that she is indeed already thinking about 2012:

Gov. Sarah Palin suggested that if the Republican ticket is defeated on Tuesday she expects to be a player in the next election four years from now, saying "I'm not doing this for naught."

In an interview with ABC News' Elizabeth Vargas, the Republican vice-presidential nominee was asked about 2012, whether she was discouraged by the daily attacks on the campaign trail, and would instead pack it in and return to her home state of Alaska.

"I think that, if I were to give up and wave a white flag of surrender against some of the political shots that we've taken, that would bring this whole & I'm not doing this for naught," Palin said.

I've never heard of a candidate on a ticket publicly admitting they are thinking beyond Election Day IF THEY LOSE.

CNN's Dana Bash got the reaction from a "senior McCain adviser" to whom she read Palin's quote. Bash reported, "I think it's fair to say that this person was speechless. There was a long pause and I just heard a 'huh' on the other end of the phone." Even Wolf seemed shocked that Palin would say anything besides she's only looking to Tuesday.

UPDATE: Just got the CNN video:


NOTE FROM JOHN: Well, the cat's out of the bag. All the reports about Palin being a rogue elephant, about Palin and McCain fighting behind the scenes, are now clearly true. Palin just stabbed John McCain in the back, and now she actually thinks she's presidential material. Someone needs to sit her down and explain the difference between being chosen to be a vice presidential candidate and actually having the qualifications to be vice president or president. I can call my goldfish a lion, that doesn't make it so. Read the rest of this post...

More on Waxman's battle with Wall Street

Now this is the Henry Waxman that I've been waiting to see. Wall Street still thinks that they can call the shots and get away with anything including $70 billion in year end bonus money and bonus increases. Now is the time to have this argument. January is too late. From the Washington Post:

Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, noted that before the infusion, the banks had spent or allocated $108 billion on employee compensation and bonuses for the first nine months of 2008, nearly the same amount as last year.

"I question the appropriateness of depleting the capital that taxpayers just injected into the banks through the payment of billions of dollars in bonuses, especially after one of the financial industry's worst years on record," Waxman wrote in a letter to the banks.

Lawmakers across the political spectrum want to ensure that the government's bailout program results in increased lending, not bigger paydays for executives.

Banking industry officials said they fully intend to use money from the government's bailout program to make loans and increase liquidity. They noted that bonuses are a normal part of compensation packages. The fact that the allocations on compensation so far in 2008 are identical to last year suggests that the bailout money will be not used to boost bonuses, they said.

"Waxman's barking up the wrong tree," said Scott E. Talbott, senior vice president of government affairs for the Financial Services Roundtable, which represents the nation's most powerful banks, brokerages and insurers. "We reject his basic premise. The institutions fully intend to use the money to start making loans."

But a new study suggests that financiers are still bullish about their bonuses. More than two-thirds of Wall Street professionals are expecting a bonus this year, and 36 percent are anticipating a larger bonus than last year, according to a survey by eFinancialCareers, a career networking company.

Note the feedback from Wall Street. Bonuses are a "normal part of compensation packages" but what about bailouts? Are they normal? They can all go Cheney themselves because normal was thrown out the window and driven over, back up and driven over again by an 19 wheeler. Read the rest of this post...

Nasty Dole ad against Kay Hagan

It looks like Elizabeth Dole is running to knock off Saxby Chambliss as the Republican with the most repulsive twisting of reality to win an election. Kay Hagan is a Sunday school teacher, elder, and goes on missions with the First Presbyterian Church. Her family has been going to First Presbyterian for over 100 years. In North Carolina, this issue matters. Down in the polls, Elizabeth Dole's campaign has left the reality-based world and is now running this nasty ad:



It shows that all Dole wants to do is get off the topic of the economy and she's doing it in a particularly nasty way. Maybe it's because Dole doesn't want the citizens of North Carolina hear her real record on the economy:



Help Kay Hagan defeat Elizabeth Dole:
Read the rest of this post...

Oh my God, McCain is catching up!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my God, he's really not!

And now, with just six days left before voters go to the polls, McCain lead pollster Bill McInturff is out with a memo in which he argues that the race continues to move in his candidate's direction...

McInturff's argument that the race is closing is on sound ground as it relates to recent history. Presidential elections do tend to close as the end nears and McCain, by all accounts, has been underperforming among soft Republicans who may well be coming home to him in these final days.

And, there are some national polls that show some level of tightening. Check out pollster.com's map of all national surveys and notice the slight uptick for McCain and slight dip for Obama of late.

Yet, it is important to remember that the presidential election is a state by state race -- not a national one -- and there remains scant evidence of a McCain boomlet in key states.

Although McInturff refers to the gains the campaign has seen in state polling, he makes mention of no specific state data.

Of the public data available -- as numbers guru Nate Silver (of the 538) makes clear -- the vast majority points to continued Obama momentum in the states.

"Stop me if you've heard this one before," writes Silver. "Although the national trackers look slightly stronger for John McCain than they did a couple days ago, Barack Obama once again had an exceptionally good day in the state-level numbers."

And, judging by recent ad traffic -- one of the only true ways to monitor where things stand -- Obama remains on offense as the Republican National Committee is now up with ads in Montana and West Virginia, states that had long been considered GOP strongholds in this election.

Do national polls show McCain closing the gap slightly? By and large, they do. Is that movement meaningful and reflective of a broader momentum change for the Arizona senator? That seems less likely judging by where things still stand in the states.

Read the rest of this post...

Help Alice Kryzan win in New York's 26th District -- a toss-up race for the open seat held by guy who ran the House GOP's campaign committee

In the post below about McCain undermining the GOP candidates for House and Senate, there's a mention of New York's 26th Congressional District:

In New York's 26th District, internal GOP polls show McCain trailing Obama by a narrow margin, sources said. Bush won the Buffalo-based district by 12 percentage points in 2004. The race to replace retiring Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds (R-N.Y.) is considered a tossup.

That retiring member, Tom Reynolds, used to run the House Republican's campaign committee. What a fitting send-off to turn his seat Democratic.

This is an open seat-- and the Democratic candidate, Alice Kryzan, can win with some help. Just yesterday, the Cook Report changed the rating from "Lean Republican" to "Toss up."

Kryzan is a true progressive. She's been endorsed by the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle and the Buffalo News, which wrote:

It is Kryzan, though, whose position on the important issues earns her the chance to go to Congress.

Kryzan is having no more of the Bush administration’s nonsense about the solution to every problem being another tax cut for the rich. And she resists the lure of cheap, and environmentally damaging, oil, turning instead to a new, green economy that will not only battle the trends toward climate change but also promise economic benefits to previously troubled areas such as Buffalo and the Great Lakes.

She also sees the Iraq war for what it is, a needless and expensive diversion from the real threat to the United States and world civilization, a threat that continues to hide in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Alice Kryzan should be elected to Congress from the 26th District.

Her opponent, millionaire Chris Lee, gave his campaign an additional $230,000 this week, bringing his total contributions to himself up to $1.1 million -- most of that money has been used to run negative ads against Kryzan. And, listen to this douchebag move. Over the weekend, Kryzan and Lee were both scheduled to appear on a local radio show, WBEN's "Hardline with Hardwick." Lee chickened out. But, during the call-in segment, Lee's campaign manager called and started asking questions. So, the boss won't show up, but sends his hack to attack. How weak is that? Typically Republican.

This race isn't on a lot of people's radar screens, which is one reason we're shining a light on it today. But, it's a good pick up opportunity. Read the rest of this post...

Lieberman likely to lose Senate chairmanship

There will be a lot of committee changes in the next Congress and it won't be good for Joe Liebermen. From The Hill:

Democratic leaders are discussing a major reshuffling of Senate committee chairmanships, according to multiple sources, and the proposed changes include ousting Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) from his coveted chairmanship.

Lieberman, a former Democrat who supports Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for president, is likely to lose his gavel on the Homeland Security Committee he has chaired since January 2007, say the sources who see him being replaced by Sen. Daniel Akaka (Hawaii), the committee’s third-ranking Democrat.

Lieberman spokesman Marshall Witmann dismissed the speculation, saying Lieberman “is focused on doing all he can to elect John McCain as president rather than post-election Washington politics.”

One Democratic source said Lieberman is not likely to lose his position in the Democratic caucus, even if the party picks up several seats in next week’s election. While Democrats could approach or exceed the filibuster-proof threshold of 60 votes, they may still need Lieberman’s vote often.

“There’s no sense in cutting off our nose to spite our face,” one source said.

It's time for a little payback. When you spend all your days focused on doing all you can for the candidate of the opposition party what do you expect? As Joe highlighted on Sunday, Lieberman has been saying an awful lot of nasty things about Obama and Democrats. From his speech at the Republican Convention:

But my friends, eloquence is no substitute for a record, not in these tough times for America.

In the -- in the Senate, during the three-and-a-half years that Senator Obama's been a member, he has not reached across party lines to accomplish anything significant, nor has he been willing to take on powerful interest groups in the Democratic Party to get something done. And I just ask you to contrast that with John McCain's record of independence and bipartisanship.

Payback, aint it a bitch. Read the rest of this post...

McCain gave nearly a million bucks to anti-Jewish terrorist spokesman

McCain is criticizing Obama's ties to a guy McCain gave a million bucks to. Now that's ballsy. And more than a tad erratic. ABC's Jake Tapper has more.

McCain has his own connection to Khalidi.

In 1993, McCain became chairman of the International Republican Institute. He still chairs that respected organization.

That same year, Khalidi helped found the Center for Palestine Research and Studies, self-described as “an independent academic research and policy analysis institution” created to meet “the need for active Palestinian scholarship on issues related to Palestine.” (Its archived website is HERE.)

Khalidi was on the board of trustees through 1999.

According to tax returns the McCain-chaired IRI funded the organization Khalidi founded and served on to the tune of $448,873 in 1998 (click HERE to see the tax return) and to the tune of $389,621 in 1999 (click HERE) as first reported by Seth Couter Walls at HuffPo.

Of course, that's not all. Only one candidate in this race has ties to Nazi sympathizers, and that's John McCain.

PS Don't forget McCain's buddy who said that Hitler was sent by God to kill the Jews.

NB And don't even get me started on Sarah Palin's extensive ties to anti-Semites. Read the rest of this post...

John McCain can't stop lying about his own record on taxes and Obama's record

If John McCain knew about the internets, he'd know about that thing called "YouTube." And, he'd know that Jed is catching him on his serial lies about his and Obama's record on taxes:



What's up with McCain and those air quotes? Is it just me or does it make him look even angrier and creepier? Read the rest of this post...

The Sarah Palin Modeling Agency

Previously on Extreme Makeover meets the Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency...

Sarah thought John had Steve and Nicole buy her the clothes then deny it in order to set her up. Nicole said she never bought a thing, but Nicole's and John's unnamed friends said Sarah was a diva and a whack job and that it was Sarah in fact who was setting John up, just as she has all her friends before her. In today's episode, Nicole says there's a conspiracy after her and she's not even sure she'll survive! Fred, who previously criticized Nicole and wanted her fired, has now apologized. But the question remains, if it wasn't Nicole and Steve, then just who did set Sarah up? In the closing moments, the villain's face becomes clearer...

Mitt!!!!

Next week, see Sarah blame all her woes on Grampa John.

Read the rest of this post...

Palin giving policy speech 6 days out - first speech of 2012?

Sarah Palin is in Toledo, Ohio this morning talking about energy policy - and taking up all the major news networks. Who gives a policy speech 6 days out from an election? Talking about energy independence isn't going to win over Ohio. And how often does the VP nominee make policy speeches?

Note the podium - this is a policy speech, no doubt about it. What's really at work here? Well, when the circular firing squad has set up in your camp, the smart ones start to look to the next election. Sarah Palin may be saying "we" and "our administration" but it's clear that this is the first speech of Sarah's 2012 run.

NOTE FROM JOHN: Oh she means "our administration" all right - her administration in 2012. Read the rest of this post...

The GOP blame game is in full swing. McCain is bringing down GOPers in the House and Senate, all of whom supported the Bush agenda.

Today's Washington Post previews the carnage expected for Republicans on election day. The GOP once viewed McCain as their anti-Bush savior. McCain became Bush, hired his campaign staff and ran a Bush-like campaign. Now, the McCain-Bush combo could bring down once "safe" GOPers in the House and Senate:

When McCain clinched the nomination earlier this year, GOP leaders in Congress hailed him as the best possible standard-bearer because he had crafted an image independent of Bush. Leaders urged incumbents and challengers alike to lash themselves to McCain's brand.

Instead, the dynamics of the presidential race have created opportunities for Democrats that even they were not anticipating, particularly after the financial meltdown began in mid-September.

In Georgia, where Bush won by 17 points in 2004, Obama has cut McCain's lead roughly in half since Labor Day. At the same time, former state representative Jim Martin (D) has closed in on Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.).

In New York's 26th District, internal GOP polls show McCain trailing Obama by a narrow margin, sources said. Bush won the Buffalo-based district by 12 percentage points in 2004. The race to replace retiring Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds (R-N.Y.) is considered a tossup.

In Virginia's 2nd District around Virginia Beach, Bush won in 2004 by 16 points, more than in 2000. In recent private GOP polling, McCain is ahead of Obama by two percentage points, and Rep. Thelma Drake (R) has gone from being favored to fighting for her seat.

I think we'll be seeing a lot more of these "blame game" articles over the next several days. Republicans love the blame game.

This is the fun part -- McCain is saying he's the answer to Democratic dominance because the House and Senate are looking so bad. But, the GOP leaders in Congress are basically admitting that McCain is going to lose and they're the firewall. The final strategies of the Republican presidential candidate and the Republicans in Congress are at exact cross-purposes. They're just trashing each other:

On the stump, McCain implicitly acknowledges the GOP's pending collapse in congressional elections by suggesting a vote for him is a check against unbridled Democratic power. On Monday in Cleveland he called Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) a "dangerous threesome."

House and Senate Republicans, meanwhile, are arguing that it is they, rather than McCain, who are the only check against Democrats. "Without a strong conservative leader, the Obama/Pelosi/Reid machine will steamroll a host of new taxes and left-wing social policy across the Senate Floor. There'd be an effective 'gag order' on independents and conservatives," McConnell wrote to supporters.

And, the best thing is that they're all going to lose. Lose badly. Very badly.

Read the rest of this post...

McCain's choice

At the Republican debate on November 28, 2007, John McCain, who repeatedly admitted he didn't know much about the economy said he "might have to rely on a vice president" for expertise on economic issues. His choice:

Read the rest of this post...

Wednesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Six days. Next Wednesday when we wake up, we'll have a new president.

Obama will be on tonight with his 1/2 hour ad. That will dominate the news cycle today and tomorrow and is already the talk of the poltical reporters, pundits and cable news. Meanwhile, McCain better start campaigning in his home state of Arizona. Seems like people there don't really like him.

How pathetic is it that McCain and Palin canceled a rally in Pennsylvania because of the rain yesterday? The GOPers are deterred by rain? Obama isn't. Great picture from the Obama website:



Have at it...six days to change the world.

Read the rest of this post...

Henry Waxman joins Andrew Cuomo - let's talk about that bonus money

Thank you. It is unthinkable that everyone else should suffer due to incompetence, greed and complete mismanagement on Wall Street yet they would still pay out a whopping $70 billion in 2008 bonus money. Outside of Wall Street, Americans are uninterested in sacrificing just so Wall Street can swim in another sea of cash.

The hot-button issues of CEO pay and the Wall Street bailout may soon collide with the real world of Wall Street bonuses, taxpayer and shareholder anger over the financial crisis, and a Treasury secretary with deep roots on Wall Street. And that collision could be loud and ugly.

The first salvos were fired late Tuesday when Rep. Henry Waxman, who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, disclosed that he sent letters to the first nine major banks set to receive a capital injection from the government, seeking information on their compensation and bonus plans for 2008 and other years.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday that he would also be looking into the issues, though he isn't opening a formal investigation at this time.

Though what's commonly known as the Wall Street bailout package includes modest restrictions on CEO pay, it hardly prevents participating financial firms from paying bonuses to top executives and others.

And in an environment of beaten-down stock prices, rising layoffs, recession and huge government bailouts, experts and legislators say big end-of-year bonuses will cause a firestorm of public outrage and likely provoke a Congressional backlash.

"The corporate community doesn't seem to get it," says a seething Nell Minow, founder of the Corporate Library, which focuses on corporate governance issues. "If the corporate leaders don't come to the American people with some accountability, they are going to find themselves in a world of pain. Congress will set CEO pay."

And then some.

"People are going to be demanding that someone go to jail," say Rep. Peter DeFazio (R.-Ore), who says his constituents have applauded him for voting against the legislation. "It will require Democrats to revisit restrictions [on CEO pay]. "

DeFazio says he would also recommend Congress "empower a division in the FBI and Justice Department to investigate the fraud and misdeeds that went on."

And the best part...

Rep. Waxman's letter cited reports about billions in bonuses and quotes an unnamed analyst as saying: "Had it not been for the government’s help in refinancing their debt, they [the companies] may not have had the cash to pay bonuses."

Read the rest of this post...

Public pension funds down, taxes likely to go up

Shocking, isn't it? The Republican economic model that saved everyone from higher taxes and liberated business from the hassles of government interference is now going to force government at all levels to raise taxes and increase regulation. Brilliant work but what do you expect from the people who are in love with Sarah Palin and who still think Dick Cheney is what we need? These are the same people who are screaming about Marx and socialism even though they're own team has instituted the largest government intervention into business in decades. How's that "let business self regulate" theory going?

The market downturn is ravaging public pension funds across the United States, with many state and local governments seeing more than 20 percent of their retirement pools swept away in the turmoil.

Even before the financial crisis, many large pension funds already were considered to be inadequately funded, according to the Government Accountability Office. The losses could force some states and local governments to ask taxpayers to pay more into the funds or to demand more contributions from the police, teachers and other government employees whom the benefits cover.

Public pension funds dropped 14.8 percent in value for the year ended Sept. 30, according to Northern Trust, an investment company. The funds, which typically have most of their money in stocks, have probably dropped far more than that because the markets have dropped 20 percent more since then.

"We expect this is going to be the worst year we've seen since we've been tracking the funds," said William Frieske, of Northern Trust Investment Risk and Analytical Services, which began watching the funds 14 years ago. "It's got all the hallmarks of a bad -- really bad -- year."

Read the rest of this post...

BP reports another record quarter - $10 billion

They deserve a tax cut much more than the middle class because BP works much harder than everyone else. It's patriotic to help them fund their exploration projects because to ask Big Oil to invest in their own business development is asking much too much in these tough times. As an individual, if you ask, you're just greedy and hate the American way. Read the rest of this post...

Ashley Todd pulled this kind of stunt before

You remember Ashley Todd, the McCain staffer who made up a story that a large black man carved a B (backwards) into her face because she was a McCain supporter. Well apparently she's quite the little trickster - this isn't her first hoax.

Read the rest of this post...

Whirlpool to cut 5000 jobs

How many billions in bonus money do you think the fired Whirlpool workers will receive or is that only available to complete failures such as Wall Street?

Whirlpool Corp. said Tuesday it will cut about 5,000 jobs by the end of 2009 because of the global credit crisis and its expectation for continued reduced demand in North America and Europe.

The nation's largest home appliance maker also reported that its earnings fell 7 percent during the third quarter on lower global unit volumes and higher material costs. Whirlpool lowered its earnings outlook for the year.

"The global credit crisis has had a profound negative impact on what was already a weakening and very fragile global economy," Jeff M. Fettig, chairman and chief executive, said in a release. "Declining home values, rising unemployment and very low consumer confidence levels will likely prolong a negative demand environment at least through the middle of 2009."

Read the rest of this post...

David Sedaris on the undecided voters

This is something that most people on either side can agree on. Sedaris always makes me laugh with his dysfunctional family stories, including my favorite passive aggressive dinner table pot shots. I was the recipient of quite a few stern lectures spoken to my sister (sitting next to me) at the table so just love these stories. I'm guessing my sister doesn't like these stories quite as much. Take a break for a few minutes from the stress of these last few days and have a chuckle.

I don’t know that it was always this way, but, for as long as I can remember, just as we move into the final weeks of the Presidential campaign the focus shifts to the undecided voters. “Who are they?” the news anchors ask. “And how might they determine the outcome of this election?”

Then you’ll see this man or woman— someone, I always think, who looks very happy to be on TV. “Well, Charlie,” they say, “I’ve gone back and forth on the issues and whatnot, but I just can’t seem to make up my mind!” Some insist that there’s very little difference between candidate A and candidate B. Others claim that they’re with A on defense and health care but are leaning toward B when it comes to the economy.

I look at these people and can’t quite believe that they exist. Are they professional actors? I wonder. Or are they simply laymen who want a lot of attention?

Read on... Read the rest of this post...