Trust, But Verify
From Chris Cillizza at WaPo
Among the gems he offered up during his sitdown with King:
• On experience, Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain: “The experience issue, at least in the Democratic primary, was virtually irrelevant to people … maybe prior public service and hard effort, making hard decisions, maybe doesn’t amount to anything.”
• On his wife’s (and his own) support for Obama: “If you look at what Hillary has done, she has already done more for him, notwithstanding the unusual circumstances of this primary, than any runner up has in a nominating process in 40 years.”
• On his role in the campaign: “I just don’t believe that, you know, getting up here and hyperventilating about Governor Palin or Senator McCain, for that matter, is a productive use of a former president’s time, and is not a vote-getter.”
• On the Palin pick: “I think that she and her husband and their kids come cross gutsy, spirited and real… . I think it’s best to say that Senator McCain looks like he knew what he was doing. He picked somebody who gave him a lot of energy, a lot of support.”
TBV Random Thought
Earlier this week Democrats in the House and Senate were critical of the White House and Secretary Paulson’s call for an immediate approval of the proposed plan - they wanted to slow things down, discuss, and debate. However, as soon as McCain says he will skip the debate and come to Washington to work on a deal, the Dems in the Senate now say they have reached a deal - and Sen. Reid is stating that the Senate voting schedule will not interfere with the debate. How politically convenient for Obama, sounds like the Dems are all members of the “Me First, Country Second” club.
- AP
UK Daily Mail reports:
The internet is buzzing today with the rumour that Barack Obama’s gaffe-prone running mate Joe Biden will drop out of the race for health reasons - to be replaced by Hillary Clinton.
[…]
Most are dismissing the rumour as the usual internet chatter. But it has been given added weight by those who have not addressed it - namely Fight the Smears.
Fight the Smears is a website the Obama campaign set up to quash just such damaging Internet rumours - but it has not yet touched this one, though that may be out of fear of fuelling the rumour.
The Obama campaign has not commented on it, other than to say that Biden’s medical records will be released soon.
Snopes.com, a site devoted to picking apart online rumors and urban legends, has labeled the status of the claim “undetermined.” Several online discussion boards have been loaded up with denials.
Biden has caused a few hiccups for the Obama campaign. On Monday, he had to issue a clarification after he called one of his own campaign ads “terrible” in an interview with CBS News. He also faced a rebuke from Obama after he spoke out against the government bailout of American International Group last week before Obama was ready to take a position.
On Tuesday, he said that President Franklin Roosevelt had gone on television in 1929 to discuss the Wall Street crash (Herbert Hoover was president in 1929 and the TV hadn’t been invented yet).
At one point, he even said Hillary Clinton might have been a better pick for Obama’s No. 2.
The Republican National Committee has gleefully set up a Biden “gaffe clock” to monitor his rhetorical flubs on the campaign trail.
Reid Tries to Sneak Drilling Ban Onto Bailout?
From Erick at Redstate:
Harry Reid (D-NV) thinking the public and Senate are both distracted by the Paulson plan to bailout Wall Street intends to sneak the drilling ban back in the continuing resolution.
He is doing it right now.
Call your Senator right now at (202)224-3121 and tell him to tell Harry Reid not to put the drilling ban back in the continuing resolution.
8 years ago, who would have thought that we Republicans could embrace B-Clint so
ABC’s Nitya Venkataraman (fellow Pak!) reports that Bill CLinton says that McCain’s request to delay the debate was done in good faith.
“We know he didn’t do it because he’s afraid because Sen. McCain wanted more debates,” Clinton said, adding that he was “encouraged” by the joint statement from McCain and Sen. Barack Obama.
“You can put it off a few days the problem is it’s hard to reschedule those things,” Clinton said, “I presume he did that in good faith since I know he wanted — I remember he asked for more debates to go all around the country and so I don’t think we ought to overly parse that.”
If the debate moves forward as planned for Friday night, Clinton says “they should be able to talk about this some of the debate because it is a security issue.”
The former president thought Bush’s address Wednesday night on the economic crisis had a “positive reaction”.
“I thought it was the clearest statement of why we’re in the fix we’re in, at least what the nature of it is and why some national action is needed,” Clinton said.
He said that both Democrats and Republicans “should move as quickly as they can” on the president’s economic rescue plan but that both parties “want to know exactly how this $700 billion is going to be invested..to stabilize the system.”
President Bush’s bipartisan meeting on the economic crisis will take place at 4pm at the White House, both Obama and McCain will be in attendance.
I talked about this yesterday. Here is a more in-depth analysis by Dan McLaughlin of RedState. In particular, he notes some things I did not:
Option Two: Obama refuses to debate Palin
Potential upsides for McCain:
(1) After weeks of pushing the story that Palin is afraid of reporters, the media has to report that she was willing to face off against Obama and he was afraid of her.
(2) Obama faces the possibility that he comes off as thinking debating Palin is beneath him, which plays into the issues above as well as more general problems with the image of him as simultaneously arrogant, full of himself and glass-jawed.
(3) The media has prepped like crazy for Friday. They have hotel reservations in Mississippi. They won’t be happy if there is no debate.
Downsides:
Honestly, I don’t see one. The Obama camp would spin this as a gimmick, but everything that happens in campaigns is a gimmick. They would argue that McCain’s afraid to debate Obama (he is apparently playing this now as “McCain can’t multitask”) but everybody already knows McCain’s ready to be Commander-in-Chief, and all Obama does then is lower expectations for McCain entering the last two debates. The only loss is if Obama then argues that he doesn’t need any debates at all on national security and refuses to reschedule a third debate, but that is unlikely to go well for him.
Racial Politics and the 2008 Election
Arnold Trebach at seattlepi.com has an interesting article on the effect of race on the race:
The first major group would be the blacks who view his candidacy as a vindication of centuries of abuse and as a matter of healing grievous wounds that still fester in the hearts and souls of the black experience in this country. The second major group is composed of whites, mainly liberals, who believe that this nation must demonstrate to the world that America has put its bigoted past behind it and welcomes with open arms its first nonwhite chief executive.
Obviously, neither of these groups are issues based voters. The economy, the border problem, terrorism, and every other issue that faces Americans in 2008 is less important than a feel good vote. I take offense with both groups, the first because they are incorrect in their assessment of Obama and the second because their vote is guided by white guilt.
Let the Chips Fall - by TBV’s AP
John McCain says he will suspend his campaign, head to Washington, and work on a bipartisan effort to put together a bill that is palatable to lawmakers, the White House, and “Main Street” (why can’t they just say the American Taxpayer? – no one lives on “Main Street” anymore). Obama says the debates must go on. The Commission on Debates says the debates must go on. So here we stand. The press is already on The One’s side.
As Truth But Verify’s friend Laura S. in Dallas notes: “It is a sad day in America when we lament the lack of leadership in Washington, and yet deride an individual trying to show some.” She is right.
From a policymaker standpoint, McCain is rising above the political fray, staying true to his name as a lawmaker who breaks impasse, moves the ball forward, and drives good ideas through the great wall called partisanship. McCain is a moderate – a maverick, and one who is more likely to earn additional reformer stripes than Barack “what box does the leadership want me to check?” Obama.
From a political campaign standpoint, McCain is in a win-win. We have a looming crisis where large amounts of credit will dry up - a lack of liquidity that will begin to cripple areas of our economy that no one imagined. It is like predicting hurricanes a few decades ago – we know it is coming but have no idea how big it will be or where exactly it will hit – not to mention how long it will take to repair the damage.
McCain is heading to Capitol Hill. He does draw a salary paid for by the American taxpayer. He is going to earn his money. The same taxpayer that pays McCain and Obama’s salaries is being asked to contribute 700 billion dollars for an asset purchase that may or may not make any money. This is unprecedented in scope, so the hesitation is understandable. The Dems are too worried about how to play this very large card politically. Harry Reid even asked that McCain subscribe to the bill before they would – in order to make sure it doesn’t explode (politically) in their lap. McCain is basically telling them, “I don’t play that game – lets get to work and knock this out – it is our job after all.” Obama is on the sidelines.
So what is Obama going to do? Surely he will “reach across the ailse”? He is the Dem’s nominee for President of the United States – how about showing some leadership? Well, as any self-interested “me first, country second” politician, he is more worried about prepping for a debate on foreign policy, attending the debate on Friday, and going to Washington ‘if they need him.’ Obama is more concerned with wedging this foreign policy debate (his weak point) between a Friday news cycle focused on the crisis at hand, and a Monday news cycle focused on the same crisis – his potentially poor performance will be buried by the media’s coverage of the financial crisis. Obama came out today and said the debate will go on. God forbid he follows McCain’s lead and actually go to work, push back the debate a bit, and show your bipartisan stripes. The truth is, Obama has never done that – EVER. McCain would not be McCain if he did not dive in and do what he was elected to do.
How Will The Chips Fall? Here is a breakdown:
McCain goes to Washington and skips the debate. Obama will be stuck in the awkward position of criticizing McCain for working on a weekend b/c he cares how 700 billion of taxpayer money is spent – and cares that the taxpayer has a real voice in the matter. I doubt the taxpayers in MI, PA, OH, FL, CO, IA, MN, VA, WI and NH will give McCain a hard time for working on such an important matter. If Obama chooses to later follow McCain, he will demonstrate some common sense, but a lack of leadership – McCain will win (politically), for not waiting to see which direction the wind was blowing. If Obama chooses not to go, he can campaign, give speeches, but all the while McCain will be hammering out a bill.
So what about the Dems in Congress? They are in the awkward position of working in a bipartisan fashion and coming to an agreement – now led by McCain’s push for a solution. If they are successful – McCain scores a big win, the Congress looks like they are grown ups, but Obama will have to explain why he was reluctant to do what McCain did - lead and be blind to party lines. Alternatively, if Congress stalls b/c they do not want to give McCain such a critical win (politically) less than 6 weeks before the election, then the people will point at the “me first, country second” Democrats in Congress, wonder why Obama didn’t inject himself to work at a bipartisan solution since he is their party’s leader at this point, and give McCain the credit he deserves for staying true to his campaign’s theme: Country First.
Let the Chips Fall.
- TBV’s AP
Commission: Debates To Go On
Roll Call Staff
September 24, 2008, 9:13 p.m.The Commission on Presidential Debates today rejected the proposal of Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) to postpone Friday’s debate so he can travel to Washington and help lawmakers craft a bill to bailout Wall Street.
“The plans for this forum have been underway for more than a year and a half,” the Commission said in a statement. “We believe the public will be well served by having all of the debates go forward as scheduled.”
Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) said he planned to attend the debate. The Obama campaign announced Wednesday that President Bush invited Obama to come to the White House Thursday to discuss the bailout, and that Obama had accepted.
Despite the bickering over the debate, McCain and Obama released a joint statement asserting the need to “rise above politics” to avoid risking an “economic catastrophe” should Washington fail to act.
“Now is a time to come together – Democrats and Republicans – in a spirit of cooperation for the sake of the American people,” the statement says. “The plan that has been submitted to Congress by the Bush Administration is flawed, but the effort to protect the American economy must not fail.”
