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up up and away!
snippy snip
the fun never stops with flip flop mcCANT and his brand of "change"
here is some "change" all within 24 hours. Make up your mind knucklehead!
Think Progress » McCain Flip-Flops On AIG Bailout In 24 Hours
Yesterday, the federal government offered insurance giant AIG an $85 billion loan to in the biggest government takeover thus far in the ongoing credit crisis. Interviewed on NBC’s Today Show before the decision yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said that “we cannot have the taxpayers bail out AIG or anybody else”:
No, I do not believe that the American taxpayer should be on the hook for AIG and I’m glad that the Secretary Paulson has apparently taken the same line.
Interviewed on ABC this morning, however, McCain suggested that he supported the bail out:
I didn’t want to do that. And I don’t think anybody I know wanted to do that. But there are literally millions of people whose retirement, whose investment, whose insurance were at risk here. They were going to have their lives destroyed because of the greed and excess and corruption.
ABC observed that McCain today “sound[ed] somewhat accepting of the Fed’s action on AIG.” Watch a compilation
Then this week, [Palin’s attorney Thomas] Van Flein (again assisted by O’Callaghan) filed a new motion with the Personnel Board. This one argued that, after a review of the evidence, including internal e-mails within the governor’s office, the governor’s lawyers had determined there was “no probable cause” to pursue any ethics inquiry into Palin at all. As a result, it argued, the previous motion for an ethics inquiry (which Van Flein himself had filed less than two weeks ago) should be dismissed.
life must not be too good when your own soldiers are turning on you, thus revealing to the american public (at least the part that pays attention, obviously meaning those outside of red state america) that these buffons in the republican party truly are scum.
QUESTION: Do you think [Sarah Palin] has the experience to run a major company, like Hewlett Packard?
FIORINA: No, I don’t. But you know what? That’s not what she’s running for. Running a corporation is a different set of things.
However, in the past, Palin has said that she considers herself to be “the state C.E.O.” for Alaska. Philip Gourevitch reports in the latest New Yorker:
In the past, she said, “Alaska was conceding too much, and chipping away at our sovereignty. And Alaska—we’re set up, unlike other states in the union, where it’s collectively Alaskans own the resources. So we share in the wealth when the development of these resources occurs.” And she said, “Our state constitution—it lays it out for me, how I’m to conduct business with resource development here as the state C.E.O. It’s to maximize benefits for Alaskans, not an individual company, not some multinational somewhere, but for Alaskans.”
Michigan Republicans plan to foreclose African-American voters
The chairman of the Republican Party in Macomb County, Michigan, a key swing county in a key swing state, is planning to use a list of foreclosed homes to block people from voting in the upcoming election as part of the state GOP’s effort to challenge some voters on Election Day.
“We will have a list of foreclosed homes and will make sure people aren’t voting from those addresses,” party chairman James Carabelli told Michigan Messenger in a telephone interview earlier this week. He said the local party wanted to make sure that proper electoral procedures were followed.
State election rules allow parties to assign “election challengers” to polls to monitor the election. In addition to observing the poll workers, these volunteers can challenge the eligibility of any voter provided they “have a good reason to believe” that the person is not eligible to vote. One allowable reason is that the person is not a “true resident of the city or township.”
Tonight, however, Palin played down the role that campaign contributions might have played in the Fannie-Freddie collapse. Instead, she emphasized “the role that lobbyists play in an issue like this”:
HANNITY: Should there be an investigation in terms of the relationship between the political donations and then of course the bankruptcy that ensued and the impact on the economy?
PALIN: I think that’s significant, but even more significant is the role that the lobbyists play in an issue like this also. And in that cronyism — it’s symptomatic of the greater problem that we see right now in Washington and that is just that acceptance of the status quo.
More significantly, the McCain-Palin campaign manager, Rick Davis, “served as president of an advocacy group led by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac” that worked to cripple regulatory initiatives in Congress and protect the two institution’s “healthy profits.” As the Politico reported in July:
Davis headed the Homeownership Alliance, a lobbying association that included Fannie, Freddie, nonprofit groups, real estate agents, homebuilders and consumer advocates. … [The group] worked to oppose congressional efforts to tighten controls on Fannie and Freddie.
HUCKABEE: Regulation isn’t the answer to this. In fact, if we go back and overregulate and tinker with it, we’re going to do more damage than we are in terms of a fix. … John McCain has a long history of being against an overreaching government, regulatory environment. It’s a dangerous place for us to go, and what we need to do is recognize the marketplace will correct itself. It’s painful, but it will correct itself.
“I don’t think anyone who wants to increase the burden of government regulation…has any real understanding of economics and the economy and what is needed in order to ensure the future of this country.” [McCain Town Hall in Inez, KY, 4/23/08]
– “We need to return to the Reagan years. We need to have fiscal conservatism. We need less government. We need less regulation.” [PBS, 1/25/08]
– “I am a deregulator. I believe in deregulation.” [CNN, 7/13/03]
– “I have a long voting record in support of deregulation.” [St. Petersburg Times, 6/5/03]
A Center for American Progress Action Fund analysis calculated that McCain’s plan, complete with its doubling of Bush’s tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, will create a budget deficit of $505 billion in 2009. McCain has claimed that he will balance the budget by eliminating earmarks and cutting $160 billion in discretionary spending.
However, “eliminating every congressional earmark in the federal budget would save an estimated $18 billion a year,” or about 4% of the federal deficit, and McCain can’t explain where the rest of his cuts would come from. George Stephanopolous pointed out that in order to cut the $160 billion he cites, McCain “would have to cut 30% from every single program, including education and veterans benefits.”
Would you be willing to meet with the head of our government, Mr. Zapatero?" the questioner asked, in an exchange now being reported by several Spanish outlets.
McCain proceeded to launch into what appeared to be a boilerplate declaration about Mexico and Latin America -- but not Spain -- pressing the need to stand up to world leaders who want to harm America.
"I will meet with those leaders who are our friends and who want to work with us cooperatively," according to one translation. The reporter repeated the question two more times, apparently trying to clarify, but McCain referred again to Latin America.
Finally, the questioner said, "Okay, but I'm talking about Europe - the president of Spain, would you meet with him?" The Senator offered only a slight variance to his initial comment. "I will reunite with any leader that has the same principles and philosophy that we do: human rights, democracy, and liberty. And I will confront those that don't [have them]."
The implication seemed fairly clear: McCain was refusing to commit to meet with Zapatero, the "socialist" party leader, whose country is a member of NATO and intricately involved in many of America's global financial and national security objectives.
trooper pooper super troopers
snippy snip MotherJones Blog: Palin Contradicts Palin on Troopergate Explanation
In mid-August, Palin spoke with New Yorker writer Philip Gourevitch, who was in Alaska--prior to Palin being named John McCain's running-mate--to do a piece on "the peculiar political landscape" of the state. During his time there, the controversy regarding Monegan's dismissal was in the news in Alaska. And Gourevitch asked Palin about it:
[Palin] said that one of her goals had been to combat alcohol abuse in rural Alaska, and she blamed Commissioner Monegan for failing to address the problem. That, she said, was a big reason that she'd let him go--only, by her account, she didn't fire him, exactly. Rather, she asked him to drop everything else and single-mindedly take on the state's drinking problem, as the director of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. “It was a job that was open, commensurate in salary pretty much--ten thousand dollars less”--but, she added, Monegan hadn't wanted the job, so he left state service; he quit.
********************************************
Yet on Monday, the Palin side offered a much different tale. In a 19-page brief, Palin's lawyer, Thomas Van Flein, contended that Monegan, while public safety commissioner, engaged in "an escalating pattern of insubordination on budget and other key policy issues." Van Flein claimed Monegan had gone behind Palin's back to work with state Senator Hollis French, a Democrat who is now leading the Troopergate investigation, on the budget for his department. And Van Flein maintained that Monegan's "firing"--note the use of that word--came after Monegan planned a trip to Washington, DC, to seek funds for a project to combat sexual assault, an initiative that had not yet been approved by Palin.
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