September 2008
303 posts
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Awesome B-Clint Quotes From Larry King →
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...
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...
Gallup: Tied →
Zogby: McCain up 46-44 →
Eagleton Watch: UK edition →
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...
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.
B-Clint Keeps it Real →
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”...
Red State: Should Palin Debate Obama →
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...
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...
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...
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...
Tancredo Introduces Legislation to Move U.N. Out... →
Rep. Tancredo:
“If the U.N. is so keen to accommodate the foreign policy demands of rogue nations and dictatorships, perhaps the world body might be more comfortable relocating to one,” concluded Tancredo. “I’m sure Ban Ki-Moon will have no trouble securing a new location in downtown Pyongyang or Tehran.”
Eagleton Looms - Biden Out Rumor Thrives on Web →
TBV thanks our friend Austin in Texas for affirming that Eagleton still looms.
Foxnews notes an interesting fact: Obama’s anti-smear/rumor website has yet to touch this one.
- AP
Time/CNN Battleground polls →
Colorado: Obama 51, McCain 47 Michigan: Obama 51, McCain 46 Montana: McCain 54, Obama 43 Pennsylvania: Obama 53, McCain 44 West Virginia: McCain 50, Obama 46
McBrilliant and the Path to Endgame
This probably won’t transpire, but let me play out what would be the most awesomest of all scenarios. McCain’s platform is leadership experience and country first and he is showing that by heading back to Washington. He left open a trap for the O-meister and he took it apparently insisting on a debate. McCain should agree that the debate goes on.
The last few weeks the media has...
Obama Camp: "The Debate is On"
Obama Camp’s initial response to McCain suspeding campaign, delaying debate, and heading to lead a bipartisan effort this weekend: “the debate is on”. (politics as usual)
- AP
Sen. John McCain on Wednesday said he would “suspend” his presidential campaign to come to Washington to help negotiate a financial bailout bill, a dramatic move designed to seize a powerful issue.
...
Jonah Goldberg's opinion →
From the Corner:
There are two ways to score this: politically and as a matter of civics.
Politically, I think it is shrewd, even wise. It demonstrates McCain’s willingness to make politics and partisanship a secondary concern. Obviously, some of McCain’s detractors will see it as a gimmick. But politics is all about gimmickry in a sense. Symbolic gestures, tactical positioning,...
Stupid fast news →
The unreliably reliable Ben Smith of Politico says that Obama hatched this idea first:
At 8:30 this morning, Senator Obama called Senator McCain to ask him if he would join in issuing a joint statement outlining their shared principles and conditions for the Treasury proposal and urging Congress and the White House to act in a bipartisan manner to pass such a proposal. At 2:30 this afternoon,...
Obama: Debate is on. Obama first, Country Second →
Check the link for what Tapper and ABC say.
Great move on the part of Team Maverick. Reid had painted them into a corner stating that McCain had to vote with them for the bill to get passed. Now what happens, McCain goes back to DC. If Obama goes to DC, he will be seen as a follower and it will highlight McCain’s leadership skills. If he doesn’t and stays on the campaign trail, it...
McCain to Obama: Delay Friday's Debate - I've Got...
NEW YORK (AP) - Republican John McCain says he’s directing his staff to work with Barack Obama’s campaign and the debate commission to delay Friday’s debate because of the economic crisis.
In a statement, McCain says he will stop campaigning after addressing former President Bill Clinton’s Global Initiative session on Thursday and return to Washington to focus on the...
Eagleton Watch: Biden Coughs on Peanuts, misspeaks... →
Jake Tapper keeps it going:
“1972 campaign,” Biden said, “I was a 29-year old kid nominated for president — excuse me, nominated for senator, nominated for senator, senator, from the state of Delaware.” Next, Biden was hit by a coughing fit.
“There’s a lot to talk about and uh, excuse me,” he said, stepping away from the podium to cough. “I made the mistake of actually...
That ABC/WaPo Obama 9 point lead is an outlier →
This morning, an ABC/Washington Post poll came out indicating that Obama had opened up a 9 point lead. This seemed unlikely because most state polls are close and national polls show Obama with about a 3 point lead. Internals never lie. Thank Ed Morrisey of hotair.com for pointing this out
As some have already noted, the sampling in this poll could explain why. In the raw numbers, the poll...
McCain take on Pro-obama Gray Lady →
This morning, the Obama Paper of Record cme out with a story insinuating that Rick Davis’ firm was paid by Freddie Mac. Jackie Calmes and David D. Kirkpatrick of the NYT note:
One of the giant mortgage companies at the heart of the credit crisis paid $15,000 a month from the end of 2005 through last month to a firm owned by Senator John McCain’s campaign manager, according to two people...
Eagleton to Cabal of Lawyers: "McCain Does Not... →
Jake Tapper reports Joe Biden speaking to a room full of lawyers and saying:
“He has never, never, never, never, never, never, never shared the values set that you share,” Biden said. “He’s an honorable, decent man, but John McCain truly believes, truly believes that you are corporate America’s problem,” he said to the trial lawyers. “And thank God you...
Dems, Paulson and the McCain gambit
I would post some links, but there are far too many for me to do so under the cover of night. As we all know, there is a 700,000,000,000 dollar bailout that Secretary Paulson and the administration are backing. The dems have stepped aside to allow the administration to do what they want at this time. If this bill does not go through, interest rates go up and the debt will fall on taxpayer...
McCain Digs for Coal-State Votes
By Keith Koffler Roll Call StaffSeptember 23, 2008, 2:02 p.m.
The campaign of Republican presidential contender Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) today unveiled the Coalition to Protect Coal Jobs, a nationwide group that includes Members of Congress, state government officials, “and other influential leaders,” according to the campaign.
Several of the leading coal-producing states, including...
Poll: Obama struggling to win over Clinton voters →
WASHINGTON (AP) - Barack Obama’s support from backers of Hillary Rodham Clinton is stuck smack where it was in June, a poll showed Tuesday, a stunning lack of progress that is weakening him with members of the Democratic Party in the close presidential race.
An Associated Press-Yahoo News poll shows that among adults who backed his rival during their bitter primary campaign, 58 percent now...
Hot Air: Eagleton is All Over the Place On This... →
By Ed Morrissey at Hot Air:
Biden: “When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the princes of greed,” Biden told Couric. “He said, ‘Look, here’s what happened.’”
How ignorant is this statement? Let me count the ways:
Franklin Roosevelt didn’t become president in 1929 during the crash. He won the 1932 election and took office in 1933,...
Eagleton Watch: Intrade Sept. 23, 2008 →
Outperforming any of the stocks in my portfolio
Kurtz: Obama and Ayres Pushed Radicalism in... →
Stanley Kurtz in WSJ writes:
One unsettled question is how Mr. Obama, a former community organizer fresh out of law school, could vault to the top of a new foundation? In response to my questions, the Obama campaign issued a statement saying that Mr. Ayers had nothing to do with Obama’s “recruitment” to the board. The statement says Deborah Leff and Patricia Albjerg Graham...
Eagleton Watch: September 23, 2008
First, last night, Joe says Obama’s anti-McCain ad is terrible, via Drudge, via AP:
Asked about the negative tone of the campaign, and this ad in particular, during an interview broadcast Monday by the “CBS Evening News,” Obama’s running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, said he disapproved of it.
“I thought that was terrible, by the way,” Biden said.
Asked why it was...
Rasmussen: Tied at 48 →
Mortimer, we’re back.
The President's Authority Over the SEC Chair
From the D.C. Circuit’s majority opinion in Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), No. 07-CV-05127 (D.C. Cir. Aug. 22, 2008)
Members of the Commission, in turn, are appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate and subject to removal by the President for cause; its chairman is selected by and serves at the pleasure of the...
Dem Lawmakers Muddy Up Financial Rescue Bill
Underlining by TBV
Democrat’s Senate Counterproposal:
The proposal, offered up by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., would require companies who sell assets to Uncle Sam to give the government shares in the company, according to a draft obtained by CNN.
The Senate Democrats’ proposal would also require the government to come up with “a systematic...
If 'The One' Wins - Thinking the Unthinkable
Great article by Jim Geraghty, a contributor to National Review. I’m including the entire text since the perspective he offers is very interesting.
- AP
By Jim Geraghty For a while during the post-Palin euphoria, more than a few Republicans thought the presidential race was breaking their way. And then, as September progressed, the boom faded and Obama retook the lead in several polls....
This is the only poll that says we are up. by one →
Breitbart: McCain Camp Goes After Old Grey Lady →
Breitbart reports:
John McCain’s White House campaign Monday lashed out at the media and declared the venerable New York Times was “150 percent” behind Democratic hopeful Barack Obama.
McCain senior strategist Steve Schmidt rebuked journalists he said had failed in their duty to submit Obama to intense scrutiny and accused news organizations of hounding McCain’s running...
Confirmation: Jon Stewart is still an idiot →
James Kirchick at Commentary writes about the smug one:
Take, for instance, Stewart’s interview last week with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair interview (hat tip: John McCormack). Stewart tries to mock both Blair and President Bush’s belief that if more countries become democratic, there is less chance they will war with each other. This is called Democratic Peace Theory, it’s been in...
History Will Judge - by Charles Krauthammer
One of my favorite commentators sat down with G.W. Bush this past Monday. Here is the full article. In 10-20 years from now, when not only the privileged in the Middle East (who can afford to send their children to study in Europe) but even the less privileged (who will be able to hop a bus and go off to college in Iraq) will be privy to higher education, G.W. Bush should receive the credit for...
Palin Email-Hacker Search Narrows →
Democratic lawmaker father cannot be happy with his twenty-year old son’s outside of class hacking activities - denies any involvment or knowledge.
- AP
Hitchens: Why is Obama so Vapid, Hesitant an... →
The one and only Crhistopher Hitchens writes:
Obama does not, and perhaps even cannot, represent “change” for the very simple reason that the Democrats are a status quo party.
[…]
Why is Obama so vapid and hesitant and gutless? Why, to put it another way, does he risk going into political history as a dusky Dukakis? Well, after the self-imposed Jeremiah Wright nightmare, he...
Bloomberg: How the Democrats created a financial... →
Article by Kevin Hassett:
If Fannie and Freddie “continue to grow, continue to have the low capital that they have, continue to engage in the dynamic hedging of their portfolios, which they need to do for interest rate risk aversion, they potentially create ever-growing potential systemic risk down the road,” he said. “We are placing the total financial system of the future at...
BREITBART: B.D.S. Turns to P.D.S. →
Andrew Breitbart writes:
Palin Derangement Syndrome, a more irrational variant of the Bush contagion, doesn’t require sufferers to know anything about the subject of their hatred. Anonymous, unsourced rumors fuel the fire (book banning, speaking in tongues, creationism, etc.). Lovely family photos hacked from a personal e-mail account displayed on commercial Web sites push more buttons....
SFGate: People who are smarter than you can... →
Jay Garofili writes for the San Francisco Chronicle:
Lizzy Gore was tired of preaching to the blue choir when she was living in Redwood City during the primaries this year and found the same unanimity when she moved to Rhode Island three months ago. So last week, she began an online campaign at thepoint.com where she started raising money for a newspaper ad that would argue that Palin would not...
British Pol Finds American Pol "Horrendous"... →
From Breitbart:
A British government minister attacked Republican US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin as “horrendous” at the Labour Party conference on Saturday.
The outburst from Communities Secretary Hazel Blears threatens to undermine Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s determination for the British government to maintain a neutral position in the US presidential...
Tina Fey shows the proper way to be partisan →
From Nichola Groom of Reuters:
As it turns out, Fey would rather not see Palin become a regular character on “SNL.”
“I want to be done playing this lady November 5th,” Fey said when asked backstage about how she feels about the election. “So, if anyone can help me be done playing her on November 5th…”
The U.S. presidential election is November 4th.
Fey added that Palin “seems like a perfectly...