Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
It's that time of the year again
But those are old references. Anyone have any new ones?
Monday, October 13, 2008
I Don't Know Much About Economics
Here is an article at McClatchy that summarizes part of the cause of the recent economic turmoil. Basically, it was not Fannie/Freddie since they did not have the ability to invest much into the sub-prime market. Instead, financial institutions that were able to wiggle themselves into regulatory gaps backs much of these subprime loans on the secondary market, and when loans began being defaulted on eveything went to hell in a hand basket.
I hope you have enough pork and beans to last you through the winter.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Palin' around with terrorists
Henry Kissinger is perhaps one of the more detestable men from the Nixonian era of Republicant rule. But despite Palin's ability to claim foreign policy experience as being Russia's neighbor, nonetheless the powers of the GOP decided to further her education on foreign policy with Kissinger as her tutor.
Kissinger, as few people may know/recall, was deeply involved with Operation Condor and other acts of terror supported by then Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.
The acts of Ayers and Dohrn from Weather Underground have been linked to a lot of property damage, but not a single instance of life was taken in their terrorist acts. However, Kissinger, who sits as an honorary co-chair of the McCain-Palin campaign, has been sent several summons from various South American countries and France to testify of US involvement in the deaths of Argentinian, French, Brazilian, and Chilean civilians.
Guilt by association is a dangerous game to play. It is like playing with a snake. If you don't do it right, the snake will simply rear its head and bite you. The McCain-Palin ticket is a lost cause if they continue pushing the guilt by association ticket.
But that is all they have left since the past eight years have shown that concentrated conservative policies are the death and destruction of America.
The Danger of Playing "Guilt by Association"
Such is the reality of the McCain-Palin ticket. They initiated the need to stretch the imagination that Obama's presence on an education funding board somehow related Obama to a former leader of a domestic terrorist group.
The McCain-Palin campaign has opened a can of worms. McCain's tenure in Washington is replete with shady characters, particularly his association with Rev. Moon. And though Palin's political resume is less than a page, her career seems to have been born from extremist, anti-government radicals.
Country first? Change we can believe in? I look forward to more ironic mottos from their campaign in the next couple of days.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Analyzing Palin
You know, this video and the content of other Palin stump speeches makes me ponder something. For a candidate who is complaining about the darn media filter, she hasn't really talked about how she would run the country. Instead, her speeches and her answers revert all back to criticizing the opposition. That is nice, and indeed in any debate-setting we would expect criticisms to be exchanged. But when you criticize an idea while not providing one to replace your opponents, now you are simply patronizing for the sake of partisanship. Voters are not ignorant to candidates that come to the table emptyhanded.
Now, onto what she actually says in the video. She mentions a New York Times article, so I will presume she means the one I had linked to previously explaining the relationship between Obama and Ayers. She says that we are learning that Obama was not aware of Ayers' background. I want to know where the article states this, because I see the following passages:
A review of records of the schools project and interviews with a dozen people
who know both men, suggest that Mr. Obama, 47, has played down his contacts with
Mr. Ayers, 63. But the two men do not appear to have been close. Nor has Mr.
Obama ever expressed sympathy for the radical views and actions of Mr. Ayers,
whom he has called “somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I
was 8.”
She then claims Barack launched his political career in Ayers' living room, which seems to be the mantra on the conservative blog circuit. But the mantra is failing to recognize the context of such coffee calls. As we see in the very NYT article I cited, the meeting wasn't meant to plan strategy but as a social gathering of Democrats. Oh, I know; to the kool-ade drinkers and tin-foil hat bearers that is all they need to hear and think "conspiracy! guilt! terrorist!":
It was later in 1995 that Mr. Ayers and Ms. Dohrn hosted the gathering, in their
town house three blocks from Mr. Obama’s home, at which State Senator Alice J.
Palmer, who planned to run for Congress, introduced Mr. Obama to a few
Democratic friends as her chosen successor.
Now she vomits a list of grub to feed to her base, including
- Lieng about Obama's tax plan (again...and again...and again...)
- Misrepresenting Obama's words on military policy in Afghanistan.
The Obama campaign swung into action immediately. By the time the Sunday news shows were taping, Democratic surrogates were hitting McCain with opposition research on his associations with extremist, racist groups (Begala) and the Keating Five (Emanuel).
Today, of course, camp Obama is pushing a new Keating Economics website, which begins streaming a documentary about McCain’s Keating problem at noon.
Obama’s campaign has never pushed the Keating button before, so this attack carries an original punch–and is clearly salient given the current financial crisis. Because the scandal involved McCain’s actions in public service, it is more likely to arise during the remaining two debates.
McCain’s dredging up of Bill Ayers, in contrast, is not only old news but has no link to anything Obama has done in public life. Patrick Ruffini, a Republican operative who worked on Bush’s reelection campaign, said today that McCain’s Ayers attacks are so old that airing them now “appears desperate.”
The economy is a sore subject, and it is what is contributing much to the soring poll numbers for Obama. People simply believe that Obama has a better grasp on how to handle the economy than McCain and company. The Keating Five association is going to hurt McCain badly, especially since he admits guilt in his own memoirs. The trailer from the site follows:
There is a Biblical parable about how people in glass houses should not throw stones. I think in this case, the mentioned parable is an understatement. People in a house of cards shouldn't speak, because simply their voice makes their house come tumbling down.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Peggy Noonan is a tool
But seriously, here is another example of a McCain internet gaffe. Before the debate, let's put out an ad that quotes a famous person without telling us who this famous person is:
And then after the debate, wait for some
famous person tool to say it, verbatim (like...Peggy Noonan!)
I'm with Radley Balko here. I think the McCain camp is sending talking points to favored pundits. This comes from their previous internet gaffe and this one. The evidence is strong on this one.
And no, it isn't wrong. It's just pretty damn pathetic that you have tell your cheerleaders exactly what to say after a completely humiliating lose.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Huffing and Puffing about Former Associations
And it seems that the preemptive strike from Obama has ruffled some of the children's feathers, though admittedly the AP article does hint at racism, which is a bit odd.
But since the children will be focused on Ayers and Rezko, I suppose it is time to remind them about all of McCain's former associations?
The NYT on Obama and Ayers
And somewhere, the puny head of a conservative nitwit is exploding.
