September 26, 2008
Presidential debate with foreign policy focus
University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS

C-SPAN has the live stream. Make sure to check back throughout the night for real-time analysis and observations, as well as all the good video.

Since it is Friday and all, check out Wonkette's drinking game and see if you can keep up. The Seminal has a good one, too.

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10:38 pm: Let's see what the talking heads have to stay. The Spin Wars are on! As Jon Stewart would say, welcome to "Spin Alley."

10:36 pm: To anyone playing the C&L drinking game: McCain playing the POW car=finishing your stock of booze.

10:32 pm: Debate Flashback

10:21 pm: Re: Georgia.... McCain insists Russia committed the aggression. But Colin Powell says it's the other way around. Who's right?

10:15 pm: Henry Kissinger does indeed support direct talks with Iran. Stop lying McCain.

10:07 pm: McCain butchers "Ahmadinejad."

10:05 pm: McCain's "League of Democracies," although lauded by neocons, has been thoroughly rejected by our allies.

10:02 pm: Me to McCain: STOP LYING ABOUT OBAMA'S AFGHANISTAN HEARING RECORD.

Continue reading »

Prominent conservatives are finally starting to realize that an unqualified half-term hockey mom from Alaska might not be the best choice to be a 72 year old heartbeat away from the presidency. Here's the brutal roundup.

Kathleen Parker:

It was fun while it lasted.

Palin’s recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity, and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League.

No one hates saying that more than I do. Like so many women, I’ve been pulling for Palin, wishing her the best, hoping she will perform brilliantly. I’ve also noticed that I watch her interviews with the held breath of an anxious parent, my finger poised over the mute button in case it gets too painful. Unfortunately, it often does. My cringe reflex is exhausted. Palin filibusters. She repeats words, filling space with deadwood. Cut the verbiage and there’s not much content there.

Wingnut extaordinaire K-Lo:

I’m not where my friend Kathleen Parker is — wanting her to step aside to spend more time with her family and Alaska — but that’s not a crazy suggestion.

McCain campaign insiders, via Ed Schultz:

McCain Camp insiders say Palin “clueless”

Capitol Hill sources are telling me that senior McCain people are more than concerned about Palin. The campaign has held a mock debate and a mock press conference; both are being described as “disastrous.” One senior McCain aide was quoted as saying, “What are we going to do?” The McCain people want to move this first debate to some later, undetermined date, possibly never. People on the inside are saying the Alaska Governor is “clueless.”

Etc., etc., etc., etc.

(Oliver) I've always felt that in the debates, America will finally see Obama and McCain side by side discussing important issues and for those that are undecided, decisions will be made. I've written that the debates are essential for Obama to pull ahead and stay there all the way to November. And the imagery alone will favor Obama. He looks confident, reassuring and strong while McCain looks tired and haggard. His face visibly shows the wear and tear of the campaign. That's important in our pop culture world.

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I thought that the economy should have been the first topic that's debated by Obama and McCain because of the awful shape we find ourselves in. Friday's topic was supposed to be "national security," but Marc Ambinder writes:

Friday's Debate Will Focus In Part On The Economy
24 Sep 2008 08:00 pm
It has to, right?

How could Jim Lehrer, a newsman, not ask about the economy?

Well, he will.

A senior Obama adviser says that the CPD has told both campaigns that there will be questions about the economic crisis during Friday's debate. They were told this last week...

Since McCain knew about this last week I wonder if he's trying to duck out because in all the polling that's been done, Obama has a substantial lead on the economy. He pulled his stunt yesterday even though he's not involved in any committee, but it looks like the debate will take place without him. And now there's some thought saying that McCain will vote against the new bill.

CQPolitics:

Interestingly, when President Bush addressed the nation just minutes later, he essentially agreed to the exact same set of principles in his own speech. So the question is: Why wouldn't McCain agree to a fairly innocuous, Mom and apple pie set of conditions for a bill?

Democrats fear this morning that McCain is setting up a scenario in which he will vote against the bill, rally conservatives to his side and, most importantly, distance himself from both President Bush and Congress before the election.

As Digby says:

One thing you can bet on is that if McCain votes for the bill, he will certainly take credit for having knocked the heads together to make it happen. And if it happens before tomorrow, he'll say it was a result of his cunning, well-timed threat to cancel the debate and force a resolution. I don't think it will work, but it's all he's got.

[An on-topic 30-second spot from Media Needle.]

Thomas Frank is the Wall Street Journal's resident liberal, still, this has gotta hurt:

Last week, Republican presidential candidate John McCain called for a commission to "find out what went wrong" on Wall Street. It was an excellent suggestion: Public inquiries into Wall Street practices served the country well in the 1930s.

And Mr. McCain has a special advantage to bring to any such investigation -- many of the relevant witnesses are friends or colleagues of his. In fact, he can probably get to the bottom of the whole mess just by cross-examining the people riding on his campaign bus. So the candidate should take a deep breath, remind himself that the country comes first, pull the Straight Talk Express over at a rest stop, whistle up his media pals, and begin.

Read on. Phil Gramm's wife's connection to Enron? Cindy was having tea with the Keating Five in comparison.

The Huffington Post:

So, because there's a financial crisis, Senator McCain cannot take 90 minutes to address how he will face challenges around the world, including how and when he will send American troops to fight, and possibly die.

Wow. Troops would sure love that luxury.

Unfortunately, though, insurgents in Iraq don't stop shooting at us, or setting IEDs, because our Commander in Chief needs a breather to figure out Wall Street.

Al Qaeda in the Afghanistan/Pakistan border region don't send our troops notes that read, "Hey, I hear you guys are tied up with Wall Street. Your President needs to concentrate on other things, so we'll give you a break. So, to make things easier on you, here's our coordinates." Read on...

Ouch. That's going to leave a mark. John McCain just choked and Soltz just made him pay for it. By hittting him on what has always been perceived as his strong suit Jon shows how he once again -- like his abysmal voting record on veterans issues -- is all too eager to put politics before country. And if he can't handle multiple issues and crises at one time, it is laughable to say that he could ever be the leader of the free world. Flanked by a vice presidential candidate who is woefully inept, corrupt and unqualified, Senator McCain is proving without a doubt that in the moment of truth, when things get tough, he won't hesitate to cut and run on the American people.

As Barney Frank announces that he's pulled together a deal that will get the votes needed to pass through Congress, economists from some of the top schools in the country ask, "What's the hurry?":

To the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate:

As economists, we want to express to Congress our great concern for the plan proposed by Treasury Secretary Paulson to deal with the financial crisis. We are well aware of the difficulty of the current financial situation and we agree with the need for bold action to ensure that the financial system continues to function. We see three fatal pitfalls in the currently proposed plan:

1) Its fairness. The plan is a subsidy to investors at taxpayers' expense. Investors who took risks to earn profits must also bear the losses. Not every business failure carries systemic risk. The government can ensure a well-functioning financial industry, able to make new loans to creditworthy borrowers, without bailing out particular investors and institutions whose choices proved unwise.

2) Its ambiguity. Neither the mission of the new agency nor its oversight are clear. If taxpayers are to buy illiquid and opaque assets from troubled sellers, the terms, occasions, and methods of such purchases must be crystal clear ahead of time and carefully monitored afterwards.

3) Its long-term effects. If the plan is enacted, its effects will be with us for a generation. For all their recent troubles, America's dynamic and innovative private capital markets have brought the nation unparalleled prosperity. Fundamentally weakening those markets in order to calm short-run disruptions is desperately short-sighted.

For these reasons we ask Congress not to rush, to hold appropriate hearings, and to carefully consider the right course of action, and to wisely determine the future of the financial industry and the U.S. economy for years to come.

As the Wall Street meltdown causes John McCain to throw in the towel and George Bush attempts to pull off the biggest heist in history, it's becoming clear that pushing any bailout legislation too far, too fast, could be a total disaster for our country. The Democrats need to listen to people who really know economics, keep a tight leash on Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke, say no to Disaster Capitalism and take the time to get this right the first time.

The list of economists who signed the letter is below the fold.

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Politico: (h/t Scarce for video)

Per Drudge, some brutal late night shots at McCain, who cancelled on Letterman tonight:

David Letterman tells audience that McCain called him today to tell him he had to rush back to DC to deal with the economy.

Then in the middle of the taping Dave got word that McCain was, in fact just down the street being interviewed by Katie Couric. Dave even cut over to the live video of the interview, and said, "Hey Senator, can I give you a ride home?"

"He can't run the campaign because the economy is cratering? Fine, put
in your second string quarterback, Sara Palin. Where is she?"

"What are you going to do if you're elected and things get tough? Suspend being president? We've got a guy like that now!" Read on...

In what can only be described as the most desperate political move in modern presidential campaign history, John McCain is proving that he is wholly unfit to lead our country. I hope David Letterman is not the only one with a national stage to speak the truth about this. McCain is scared out of his mind and this hoax only solidifies the point. The McCain/Palin ticket is plummeting in the polls, the Davis/Freddie Mac scandal is reaching a fever pitch, they're trying to keep Palin locked in a bubble and more and more Republicans are becoming furious with the way this sham of a campaign is being run. Barack Obama needs to stand firm and not give in!

After 40 days of avoiding the press, John McCain finally held a press conference today to address the bailout proposal. After basically reiterating what Barack Obama said a few hours earlier, McCain took a few questions from the press and showed why he avoided them for so long.

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"I'm proud of her record, and so I want everybody to know that Carly Fiorina is a person that I admire and respect."

I'm sure Carly Fiorina is a nice lady, but the context in which the question was asked had to do with CEOs raking in millions of dollars, even as they leave their companies (and thus the economy) worse off than when they started. In other words, McCain employs and puts out there as the public face of his economic policy someone who embodies the very corrupt Wall St. practices McCain suddenly opposes. Change we can believe in? Hardly.

Check below the fold for a thorough accounting of Fiorina's tenure at HP. Read through some of the points and ask yourself: Is that a record worthy of admiration and respect?

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AP:

NEW YORK - Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who has not held a press conference in nearly four weeks of campaigning, on Tuesday banned reporters from her first meetings with world leaders, allowing access only to photographers and a television crew.

CNN, which was providing the television coverage for news organizations, decided to pull its TV crew, effectively denying Palin the high visibility she had sought.

The campaign told the TV producer, print and wire reporters in the press pool that follows the Alaska governor that they would not be admitted with the photographers and camera crew taken in to photograph the meetings. At least two news organizations, including The Associated Press, objected and were told that the decision was not subject to discussion. Read on...

Bravo for CNN, but it would have been nice if the AP would have followed up to find out which "tv crew" would actually be allowed in. She's not ready and it's painfully obvious. The McCain campaign desperately wants to portray Palin as capable and ready to lead, but they're scared to death to let her in front of reporters who could easily expose her.

Think Progress reports that the Bush administration have been playing politics with Iraq withdrawal plans, pressuring Maliki to delay an agreed withdrawal date by a year because the White House was concerned that Maliki’s endorsement of a 2010 time line would damage Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) presidential campaign. The revelation came in an al-Iraqiya interview with Maliki last week:

MALIKI: Actually, the final date was really the end of 2010 and the period between the end of 2010 and the end of 2011 was for withdrawing the remaining troops from all of Iraq, but they [the Bush administration] asked for a change [in date] due to political circumstances related to the domestic situation [in the US] so it will not be said to the end of 2010 followed by one year for withdrawal but the end of 2011 as a final date. Agreement has been reached on this issue. They are willing to respond positively because they, too, are facing a critical situation.

UPDATE: Rachel Maddow covered the topic on her Monday show: Download | play Download | play (h/t Heather)

Matt Duss asks : "What did McCain know about this, and when did he know it?"

Maybe we could ask Iran/Contra liar and current Deputy National Security Adviser for Global Democracy Strategy, Elliot Abrams. Apparently, Abrams is regularly briefing the McCain campaign — McCain's favorite lobbyist for Georgia, Randy Scheunemann, appears to be the main contact — and has told friends and colleagues that he is confident that he will get a top post in a McCain administration.