AT&T; issues new 2500-page customer service agreement

It's not clear, but I think AT&T; now has the rights to your first child. It's astonishing the arrogance of corporate America nowadays. After gladly helping the government illegally spy on its own customers, AT&T; should be showing a little deference. Read the rest of this post...

Okay, it's official - Sarah Palin is really a cheap $9.99 wind-up doll made in China

I have an Ann Coulter doll that acts an awful lot like Sarah Palin. Has a vocabulary of ten nasty sentences that repeat in random order.

Read the rest of this post...

Avast, maties!

It's talk like a pirate day! Or, rather, is the day to talk like a pirate, argh. Okay, I'm not so good at it. But was kind of wondering why Reddit was operating in pirate speak today. Now we know. Every September 19. I'm setting my computer calendar now for next year.

Top Ten Pickup lines for use on International Talk Like a Pirate Day

(We came up with these in an effort to interest The Other Dave (Letterman) in TLAPD. His staff liked 'em, but alas, his show was"dark" the week of Sept. 19.)

10 . Avast, me proud beauty! Wanna know why my Roger is so Jolly?

9. Have ya ever met a man with a real yardarm?

8. Come on up and see me urchins.

7. Yes, that is a hornpipe in my pocket and I am happy to see you.

6. I'd love to drop anchor in your lagoon.

5. Pardon me, but would ya mind if fired me cannon through your porthole?

4. How'd you like to scrape the barnacles off of me rudder?

3. Ya know, darlin’, I’m 97 percent chum free.

2. Well blow me down?

And the number one pickup line for use on International Talk Like a Pirate Day is

1. Prepare to be boarded.

Read the rest of this post...

In a crisis, we saw the stark difference between Barack Obama and John McCain

In an earlier post, a reader compared the styles of Obama and McCain when addressing the massive economic crisis earlier today:

I think it is extremely telling to read Obama's remarks (and, notably, answers to questions) in Florida today and then to read McCain's in Wisconsin. For one thing, as Obama said elsewhere on the stump, McCain can only propose attacking Obama as a solution to our problems. For another, McCain's all over the map with a hodge-podge and rehash of previous and loopy proposals, most of which are bandaids and doctor's office lollipops on a seriously bleeding artery.

That seems to be the consensus. Having watched both speeches myself, there really was a sharp contrast between the angry accusatory tone of McCain and the steady, measured message from Obama. Several political reporters picked up on the fact that McCain's economic plan was basically an attack on Obama.

Jed also analyzed the differences and put it on video, with this very astute description:

One the one hand, in Barack Obama we've got a statesman who wants to work together to get things done for all Americans. On the other hand, in John McCain we've got a yipping little dog (apologies to canine lovers everywhere) who will tear anything down to get ahead.

Starkly different styles. Does anyone feel comfortable putting that John McCain in charge of the economy? Or anything for that matter. Read the rest of this post...

McCain campaign manager Rick Davis paid several hundred thousand dollars to lobby for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac against federal regulation

Politico:

To The Editor:

Yesterday, Senator John McCain released a television commercial attacking Barack Obama for allegedly receiving advice on the economy from former Fannie Mae CEO Franklin Raines. From the stump, he has recently tried tying Senator Obama to Fannie Mae, as if there is some guilt in the association with Fannie Mae's former executives.

It is an interesting card for Senator McCain to play, given that his campaign manager, Rick Davis, was paid by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac several hundred thousand dollars early in this decade to head up an organization to lobby in their behalf called The Homeownership Alliance. ...

I worked in government relations for Fannie Mae for more than 20 years, leading the group for most of those years. When I see photographs of Sen. McCain's staff, it looks to me like the team of lobbyists who used to report to me. Senator McCain's attack on Senator Obama is a cheap shot, and hypocritical.

Sincerely,

William Maloni
Fannie Mae Senior Vice President for Government and Industry Relations (1983-2004)

What did Rick Davis know and when did he know it? Actually, we already know. Joe just found this little bombshell from earlier this year. Wasn't so relevant in February when it was written. It is now. McCain's campaign manager's previous job was ensuring that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac didn't get regulated by the feds:

Davis, was president of the Homeownership Alliance, a Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac-led advocacy group which has tried to fend off regulation sought by large private banks and mortgage lenders.

The front story of the Homeownership Alliance is that it sought to make home ownership affordable to the broadest possible range of people and feared that that this mission would be compromised if Congress stepped in with too many rules.

The back story, according to critics, is that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac feared that Congressional meddling would lower their healthy profits.

Read the rest of this post...

Americans prefer watching football with Obama

(NOTE FROM JOHN: This may sound fun and silly, but it's actually quite serious stuff. The conventional wisdom is, and I agree with it, that Americans vote for who they like in their gut, who they'd like to watch a game with, have a beer, share dinner. And while the numbers for Obama and McCain are close, though Obama is ahead, Obama intrigues people on the right whereas McCain horrifies people on the left. That's interesting, in terms of how it might play with independents. Cuz let's face it, would you rather hang out having a beer with someone around your age, or with your grandpa?)

And if Obama can help my Buckeyes learn how to quit choking in big games (besides against Michigan) all the better. What is especially interesting about this new poll is that even normal Republican voters understand that McCain can't control his temper. Democrats have struggled with the "likeability" factor in the last few campaigns but this year Obama has won over Americans.

People would rather watch a football game with Barack Obama than with John McCain....

[R]eflecting a sense some voters have of McCain based on the complaints of a few Senate colleagues, he added warily, "I bet he'd probably get pretty angry and lit up if his team was losing."

Democrat James Smith, 29, of Asheville, N.C., picked Obama because he believes he and the Democratic senator from Illinois have more in common.

"With McCain, I have such an age difference," said Smith of the Arizona senator, who is 72. But with Obama, 47, he said, "If things went well with the conversation, the football game would be forgotten. There'd be a lot of back and forth."

Such views are significant because in many elections, candidates considered more likable have an advantage.

McCain backers were a bit more intrigued by watching with Obama than the Democrat's supporters were with making McCain their football buddy. While fewer than one in 10 Obama backers wanted to watch with McCain, nearly one in five McCain supporters wanted to kick back with Obama.

"He seems intensely focused in a way I'm not sure he does sit down and relax," McCain supporter Lanita Linch, 41, of Harrison, Ark., said of the Republican. She said she'd rather watch with Obama because he seemed like "someone you could be comfortable and at ease with," but cautioned, "If he's not a Cowboys fan, we'd have a problem."

Read the rest of this post...

Sarah Palin is scaring the bejeesus out of Floridians

Fascinating article Ben Smith just posted about how undecided Floridians are now moving towards Obama because of Sarah Palin. Seems they aren't very thrilled with "ideologues" like Palin. I'm going to guess that part of the reason is a visceral distrust of where the arch-Christian Palin comes down on the question of Jews and issues they care about. Actually, it would be a fascinating question to ask Palin, if she thinks Jews need to be "saved," and whether they're going to hell. In the menatime, let's not forget that the anti-Semitic Pat Buchanan claims that Palin was a big supporter of his presidential campaign. Palin denies it, but then again, she and McCain have been lying every single day since McCain picked her, so we're to believe Palin doesn't have a personal problem with Jews because she, a serial liar, tells us so? Pat Buchanan thinks she's swell, and says she was a big supporter. Here he is:"

Read the rest of this post...

Obama vs McCain on the economy

Reader DB writes:

I think it is extremely telling to read Obama's remarks (and, notably, answers to questions) in Florida today and then to read McCain's in Wisconsin. For one thing, as Obama said elsewhere on the stump, McCain can only propose attacking Obama as a solution to our problems. For another, McCain's all over the map with a hodge-podge and rehash of previous and loopy proposals, most of which are bandaids and doctor's office lollipops on a seriously bleeding artery. But above all, Obama has a far better grasp of the actual crisis AND in his remarks manages to tie the problems of Wall Street to, as he puts it, the problems on Main Street. Stimulus for the former won't work without stimulus for the latter.

Some people complain Obama can sound didactic, like Al Gore; but in a situation like this, he's actually pedagogic, teaching Americans (and reporters) about the crisis and about what the political leadership should be addressing.

Obama transcript
McCain transcript

Read the rest of this post...

McCain's proposal to privatize Social Security would have been a disaster this week with stocks diving

Yeah, great idea McCain had, privatizing Social Security and investing all of your retirement savings in the stock market. Buh bye. Read the rest of this post...

Top 10 Reasons for McCain to Attack Spain

From Pinko Magazine

10) 1992 Summer Games: WORST. OLYMPICS. EVER.
9) Tapas.
8) Spanish Government banned illegal downloads of Cindy’s favorite album, Global House Diva, Volume 2: Live in Ibiza.
7) Immigrants flooding Texas and New Mexico. Can’t they manage their own border?
6) I WAS A POW I'LL ATTACK WHO I WANT. INCOMING!
5) "Compañero de Cuarto de Papa," the Spanish version of Daddy’s Roommate, rocketed to #4 on Spanish Amazon.
4) Sarah Palin saw it from the window of her plane to Kuwait and she just didn’t like what she saw.
3) “You rhyme the name of your country with my last name I’ll f--- you up.”
2) Pesky rule requiring America to defend the territorial integrity of fellow NATO allies elitist, sexist.
1) That trollop Penelope Cruz.

Read the rest of this post...

Obama: 'McCain is a little panicked right now'

Panicked? Meeow.:-) Here's the video and the transcript is below:



Transcript:

This morning Senator McCain gave a speech in which his big solution to this worldwide economic crisis was to blame me for it.

This is a guy who's spent nearly three decades in Washington, and after spending the entire campaign saying I haven't been in Washington long enough, he apparently now is willing to assign me responsibility for all of Washington's failures.

Now, I think it's a pretty clear that Senator McCain is a little panicked right now. At this point he seems to be willing to say anything or do anything or change any position or violate any principal to try and win this election, and I've got to say it's kind of sad to see. That's not the politics we need.

It's also been disappointing to see my opponent's reaction to this economic crisis. His first reaction on Monday was to stand up and repeat the line he's said over and over again throughout this campaign -- 'the fundamentals of the economy are strong' -- the comment was so out of touch that even George Bush's White House couldn't agree with it.

Read the rest of this post...

WSJ: McCain economic statements 'unpresidential'

The Wall Street Journal:

John McCain has made it clear this week he doesn't understand what's happening on Wall Street any better than Barack Obama does. But on Thursday, he took his populist riffing up a notch and found his scapegoat for financial panic -- Christopher Cox, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission....

Mr. McCain clearly wants to distance himself from the Bush Administration. But this assault on Mr. Cox is both false and deeply unfair. It's also un-Presidential....

In a crisis, voters want steady, calm leadership, not easy, misleading answers that will do nothing to help. Mr. McCain is sounding like a candidate searching for a political foil rather than a genuine solution.

Read the rest of this post...

Bail-out to cost $1 trillion

$1 trillion. But you'll be glad to know that the Democrats are trying to waste even more of your money on yet another "stimulus package" (read: hand-out/bribe) that yet again doesn't go to those of us "rich" people who live in big expensive cities and put ourselves through college (i.e., who didn't amass great wealth because we were paying it to our student loan lenders for 15 to 30 years). But my friends with million dollar homes WILL probably get the stimulus, just like they did last time, because their income says they're not rich. Uh huh. Absolutely ridiculous. And we wonder why we have a hard time winning elections when we keep asking people to vote against their own pocketbook. Read the rest of this post...

McCain's economic plan: Attack Obama

Obama will speak on the economy shortly. Rob live-blogged McCain's "Herbert Hoover" speech earlier today. McCain seems to have forgotten that he's been in Washington for 26 years. And, he's also forgotten his involvement with the Keating 5. Instead, McCain's major speech on the economy was just an attack on Barack Obama. And, McCain just kept repeating lies that have already been debunked.

NY Times:

Senator John McCain gave a few new details of his economic proposals at a speech here Friday morning, but the address seemed as much a political shot at Senator Barack Obama as a policy prescription.

Washington Post:

Republican presidential candidate John McCain offered few new details this morning on how he would respond to the crisis in the nation's financial markets, instead renewing his criticism of Democratic rival Barack Obama's ties to former heads of mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

The campaign yesterday had promised more information about McCain's economic plan. But McCain, in a speech to a hastily assembled meeting of the local chamber of commerce, mostly repeated his call for a new government trust that would identify and help rescue failing financial institutions and a set of principles to guide future regulation and legislation.

No new details, but plenty of political attacks. That's not exactly the kind of leadership that would calm the markets and instill confidence. In the middle of the worst financial crisis since the Savings and Loan debacle, McCain's speech was just more of the same. He really is just a nasty guy with no vision for the country. Read the rest of this post...

Wash Post: "What we are witnessing may be the greatest destruction of financial wealth that the world has ever seen"

I don't claim to understand everything in this article- Chris is our financial guru - but it strikes me as a damn good explanation of what happened this week, and where things are heading. From the Washington Post:

What we are witnessing may be the greatest destruction of financial wealth that the world has ever seen -- paper losses measured in the trillions of dollars. Corporate wealth. Oil wealth. Real estate wealth. Bank wealth. Private-equity wealth. Hedge fund wealth. Pension wealth. It's a painful reminder that, when you strip away all the complexity and trappings from the magnificent new global infrastructure, finance is still a confidence game -- and once the confidence goes, there's no telling when the selling will stop.

Read the rest of this post...

John McCain's Herbert Hoover Speech

Watching John McCain's economics speech in Wisconsin. It's like watching a modern day Herbert Hoover live. He really doesn't get it. (I'll be writing more as review on Tivo):

- What's up with McCain's left eye?
- John McCain is giving us his "educated guess" on what started the current financial crisis - this from the man who said: "I'm going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated"
- So John McCain just said that Fannie and Freddie are to blame for our current economic crisis. Seriously? That was the big problem?
- McCain just lied and said that Franklin Raines has been advising Obama on housing policy. From Franklin Raines: "I am not an advisor to Barack Obama, nor have I provided his campaign with advice on housing or economic matters." Obama's campaign put that out in a statement last night. (link coming)
- McCain just said Obama should "admit to his own poor judgment in contributing to these problems" - Right, it's Obama's fault, not McCain who has been in Washington for decades and was Chairman of the Commerce Committee - McCain really has no shame.
- He's going on about the lack of transparency in the financial markets - that would come in the form of regulation - something that McCain and the Republican Party have argued against for a generation. And the public is supposed to believe that this John McCain is different from the John McCain who Tuesday said don't bail out AIG. Oh of course, because this is the John McCain who on Wednesday said we should. Wonder which John McCain would become President? The deathbed convert or the decades long deregulating Republican?
- McCain just said that the regulatory agencies were lax at carrying out their responsibilities. Maybe a Republican administration is going to encourage that environment? Say like they did during the Keating Five scandal? When John McCain was in the room with the regulators pressuring them to be more lax? Uh huh...
- "The Chairman of the FEC should resign and be replaced."

Clearly he was talking about the SEC's Chris Cox, but even still, this financial crisis goes WAY past just the SEC and McCain doesn't get it. He's standing behind a huge gaffe, just like the Spain one. He's really being reckless in covering up these mistakes. When is the media going to start calling him out on this stuff?
- McCain is proposing a Homeland Security-style single regulatory body for all financial markets. Yeah, Katrina didn't show the failure of that approach.
- He went through a castigation of the Fed and basically told them to stay out of this - I mean, does he really not understand that the Fed was designed to regulate the financial markets? These investment and insurance companies, given their enormous size, are effectively a part of the financial services system. That was the rationale for nationalizing them instead of letting them fail. The Fed has been doing exactly what they are supposed to. Now the Treasury Department, that's a different question - does McCain know the difference? After years on the Commerce Committee one would expect so, but maybe not.
- McCain is saying that his tax plan, a xerox copy of Bush's, is better than Obama's middle class tax cut? And his health care, another copy of Bush's tax credit-style way to pay for huge health care costs, is better than Obama's? He's offering up nothing but more of the same. How does he think people can't see this? This isn't reform at all.
- McCain went on about a strong dollar and now he's talking about how 1 in 5 jobs are export related - doesn't he get that a stronger dollar is bad for exports, making them more expensive? I'm not taking a policy position one way or the other, I'm just saying that these two things are opposite and yet they are in the same speech.

There weren't any new ideas here at all - it was all the same blather. McCain shamelessly tried to say that Obama was under the influence of lobbyists. McCain and his lobbyist packed campaign are truly shameless.

If this weren't the worst financial crisis of a generation, then this would be a fine Republican campaign speech - packed full of lies and half truths. But in what should have been an opportunity for McCain - after a week of bumbling and flip flopping - to prove to the public that he get's the problems facing our economy he failed. This speech didn't do that. On the biggest issue of our day McCain just doesn't get it. Read the rest of this post...

NY Times: The "New McCain" is the Old Bob Dole

Adam Nagourney, like so many of the old gang from the Straight Talk Express, seem to miss their old friend, John McCain:

There are now not one but two drawn curtains on Mr. McCain’s plane separating his spacious quarters from the press corps. Left idle is the couch that was built in the front of the plane — called “Straight Talk Air” — to reproduce at 30,000 feet the freewheeling chats with reporters that were the stock-in-trade on his bus; the other morning it was covered with newspapers. Mr. McCain, who promised to hold weekly news conferences if elected president, has not held one in more than a month.

Two curtains! How cruel. The traveling press was so looking forward to sitting in that couch.

It's hard to lose a friend because that friend start hanging out with a new crowd. But, that's what happened to all the reporters who used to love hanging out with John McCain. Under the tutelage of the Karl Rove crew, that old John McCain has morphed into somebody new:

These days, Mr. McCain sounds less like his old self than Bob Dole, another Republican senator who ran for president in 1996, sounded in the closing days of his campaign — speaking louder or repeating statements that he thinks might be overlooked. “The American economy is in a crisis!” Mr. McCain said. “It’s in a crisis!”

To the press corps, McCain has become Bob Dole. Ouch. That's what McCain gets for ditching them. Read the rest of this post...

Friday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

What a week, huh? This was a very fun week and I think we should have six more just like this one. Obama was on fire this week. And, McCain couldn't have been a bigger disaster.

Stay on alert for the next GOP smear attack on Obama. The way things are going with their candidate, it'll have to be extra ugly. I mean, who knew McCain would bring us back to the days of saber rattling against Spain? It's so 1898. Just wait for the new McCain campaign slogan: "Remember the Maine." And, don't forget, McCain does fancy himself a "Teddy Roosevelt" kind of guy.

Okay, let's get it started... Read the rest of this post...

Obama slams McCain on economic crisis

And better still, he has been meeting with numerous financial heavyweights on both sides of the isle and will deliver his program on Friday. The same old thinking and the same old people who created this mess have to go. It's not a matter of giving the boot to one or two people. The problems in our financial system are much broader than that and go layers deep. Of course, we could say the same about all of the Bush-McCain people who have been running the country. Their half-baked theories are bringing us all down.

Obama also mocked McCain's promise to fire the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission if elected.

"I think that's all fine and good but here's what I think," Obama said. "In the next 47 days you can fire the whole trickle-down, on-your-own, look-the-other way crowd in Washington who has led us down this disastrous path.

"Don't just get rid of one guy. Get rid of this administration," he said. "Get rid of this philosophy. Get rid of the do-nothing approach to our economic problem and put somebody in there who's going to fight for you."

Obama came up with yet another way to poke fun at McCain for his comment Monday that the fundamentals of the economy were strong. "This comment was so out of touch that even George Bush's White House couldn't agree with it when they were asked about it. They had to distance themselves from John McCain."

Read the rest of this post...

Paulson's bad debt purchase to cost a HALF A TRILLION, and then some

The number missing from this horrible boat anchor tied to the American public is the lost retirement money from this fiasco. Does this mean Paulson is going to bail out Americans for their personal losses? Yea, I know it may not have enough of an impact on the national economy though it sure as hell has a major impact on individual economies. What do we tell those people? What about retirees who have lost retirement money? Who will tell grandma and grandpa that they have to go work at McDonald's because the McCain-Bush-Gramm economic theory failed so badly? We all better be getting something in return because even now, we continue to fund the lifestyle of the same bastards who dragged us down, the same bastards who received all of the Bush-McCain tax cuts who McCain wants to help out with even more tax cuts. Yes, McCain wants to give these people even more in his third Bush term. Read the rest of this post...

83 Wall Street lobbyists work for John McCain

Consider it McCain's own personal bail-out plan for Wall Street. From David Corn at Mother Jones:

[T]he Democratic National Committee, using publicly available records, has identified 177 lobbyists working for the McCain campaign as either aides, policy advisers, or fundraisers.

Of those 177 lobbyists, according to a Mother Jones review of Senate and House records, at least 83 have in recent years lobbied for the financial industry McCain now attacks. These are high-paid influence-peddlers who have been working the corridors of the nation's capital to win favors and special treatment for investment banks, securities firms, hedge funds, accounting outfits, and insurance companies. Their clients have included AIG, the newest symbol of corporate excess; Lehman Brothers, which filed for bankruptcy on Monday sending the stock market into a tailspin; Merrill Lynch, which was bought out by Bank of America this week; and Washington Mutual, the banking giant that could be the next to fall. Among these 83 lobbyists are McCain's chief political adviser, Charlie Black (JP Morgan, Washington Mutual Bank, Freddie Mac, Mortgage Bankers Association of America); McCain's national finance co-chairman, Wayne Berman (AIG, Blackstone, Credit Suisse, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac); the campaign's congressional liaison, John Green (Carlyle Group, Citigroup, Icahn Associates, Fannie Mae); McCain's veep vetter, Arthur Culvahouse (Fannie Mae); and McCain's transition planning chief, William Timmons Sr. (Citigroup, Freddie Mac, Vanguard Group).

Read the rest of this post...

We're going to bail out this?

Thanks to Ford, we can now see just how incredibly stupid Ford has been with its planning. Who in the world could ever imagine that a gas guzzler (16 mpg!) would not sell forever? Gosh, next thing you know Wall Street and the Republicans will tell us that the housing prices will always go up. For those out there wondering if Ford had any business sense and change with the times, the answer is pretty clear. Sure, they will gladly update their plans as long as tax payers foot the bill. As soon as taxpayers cough up money for Wall Street bailouts, Iraq costs, tax cuts for the wealthy and whatever new bailout we're going to be committed to whether we like it or not, giving another chunk of billions should be easy. It's all going to be a breeze now that the great American credit experiment is finished. Read the rest of this post...