So Much for Putting Politics Aside to Solve This Financial Crisis

I agree with Senator Obama. I am more interested in hearing from the presidential candidates. At least Senator Obama is consistent while Senator McCain is mercurial. I am sick and tired of the right treating this as a game and of the media for falling for their ruses again and again. The presidential debate does not need to be postponed, and the vice presidential debate should not be alleviated. Americans deserve to see and hear what they are getting.

I'm reading these comments and comments on other random articles and blogs today and am utterly amazed at the uninformed and hardly coherent bashing of oponents. Does anyone actually debate the issues at all?

just a few points for some of the comments above.

1. ridiculing Obama for not being prepared for the debate and cramming is ludicrous. if you actually paid attention to him when he speaks or if you read his extremely detailed policy statements instead of making stuff up to support your position you'd know he is the most knowledgeable candidate by far. You may prefer McCain's politics and leadership style and that is a fine reason to make a choice, but if you try to argue he is more knowledgeable about the issues you aren't very well informed.

2. The senate is not the group coming up with the bail out plan, it is a small group of policy makers and McCain and Obama are not only unecessary they are unwanted and would put politics squarly in the way of the work that needs to be done. Obama made the responsible country-first choice here and McCain is insinuating himself where he can't even contribute. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and not assume it was 100% political maneuvering on his part and he actually thinks he can do something. After all, his support of the plan is in fact needed and wanted - just not his actual presence. But even so he makes me very nervous jumping around throwing out comments, retracting them, making broad sweeping statements without having all the facts and grandstanding. You may prefer this bull in a china closet approach to leadership where decisions are made with a roll of the dice, but I prefer someone who actually thinks before he acts and then acts decisively.

3. And in response to several comments I have seen today that really confused me...off topic I'm afraid. In regards to the press's focus on Gov. Palin and her rather shaky interview with Katie Couric last night. I keep seeing comments to the effect of, "why are they picking on her? They aren't picking on the others!" Huh? I guess that just goes to show that the attention span of the American people is desperately short. The only way you could have missed the extremely intense vetting of all three other candidates is if you didn't bother to care about paying attention until Gov. Palin showed up. She isn't being picked on. In fact she is being handled with kid gloves as if she is breakable. She deserves better than to be coddled by her campaign, by these commentors and by the press - all three. Obviously I am an Obama supporter, but I consider it my responsibility to pay attention to every candidate and give them the benefit of my attention and an open mind. If Gov. Palin has something to say, I am ready to hear it.

I haven't read all of the comments, but I agree with the comments stating that this is strictly showmanship and for those that believe this is an great example of leadership my comments and questions below are for you...

O.k., so today it's the economy. McCain wants all to believe that he is so chivalrous that he has dropped everything for the good of the country, but this action raises a whole different set of questions for me. What is going to happen with future crisis situations? What if two crisis happen at once? Is he going to warf into two people, because it's clear ALREADY that he thinks Palin is too incompetent to carry any of the load... whether it be a presence in DC or the campaign. Just the campaign, not a 9/11 type-crisis, not the war, not a natural disaster, just the McCain Campaign. Every executive in corporate America worth their salt knows how to assess, manage, and delagate when needed. AND at some point in life, every person has thought "Man, why does all of this have to hit at once..." but "HELLO" that's life. This isn't Staples. America doesn't come with an "Easy" button.

Do we really want someone in office that can only juggle one ball at a time? (And clearly chose the wrong running mate, so there is no true back-up.)

Maybe McCain should add a "Pause" button to his campaign. All of you that support him can roll down the rode with "Pause" on your bumpers while the rest of the world passes you by.

AGAIN, I WANT TO REITERATE THAT THE CURRENT CRISIS IS MOSTLY THE RESULT OF POOR WALL ST. OVERSIGHT RELATED TO THE SUBPRIME AND ALT-A MARKETS (DEFINED AS NOT SALABLE TO FANNIE MAE, FREDDIE MAC, GINNIE MAE OR HUD).

THESE LOANS ARE PACKAGED AND SOLD ON WALL ST. WALL ST SET THE GUIDELINES FOR THESE MARKETS (SUBPRIME AND ALT-A), NOT THE GSE'S.

THIS IS A WALL ST. PROBLEM, NOT GSE. IT'S IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT.

Need we mention that Jake Tapper (the author of this post) is a democrat? The reason ABC would make him their senior correspondent is beyond me...

Oh wait, ABC is full of democrats too.

I agree with alot of people in here that mccain is retreating....

couple of facts that led up to this irrational behavior

1. his poll numbers are down, they show that obama is better able to handle the economy over mccain by a 2 to 1 ratio

2. sarah palin does not have the experience to fill in for mccain and go to dc on his behalf, leaving mccain to do it himself

3. Rick Davis, mccains campaign manager was just exposed that he, up till last month, was still recieving money from fannie mae and freddie mac...doesnt look good for mccains "no lobbyist, reformer image"

4. (more of a question) what does mccain think he's going to get done? if he had ideas couldn't he have emailed them? Does he think he is some knight in shining armor that is going to woo everyone to believe what he does?

the MCCAIN/PALIN Team is a FAILURE....if the senate creates a bill to bailout these companies mccain can vote, obama and biden can, but Palin CANT.....

what did mccain do on capitol hill today? He wasnt invited into the discussions about the bill between the real people who have been handling this crisis?

did he just hung out outside with lie-berman, and when the deals crafted he will claim credit

just like he did with the GI bill that he refused ot endorse and refused to show up to vote on...

this guy hasnt been to congress in 6 months, and is the most absent senator to date, even the guy who had a stroke has cast more votes then mccain

suddenly he needs to show up

so pathetic

mccain is a pathetic grandstanding hero complex pow

hows your elitist makeup artist

country first lol so laughable

soooo laughable

Both McCain & Obama have outlined their principles for the bailout:

McCain

-Oversight
-Return for taxpayers
-Transparency of the legislation
-No "golden parachutes"
-No earmarks in the bill

Obama

-Oversight
-Return for taxpayers
-No "golden parachutes"
-Assistance for those in danger of foreclosure

McCain offers no help for homeowners and again rails against earmarks that NO ONE has proposed for the bill!

I am so upset at McCain for injecting so much drama into this crisis. It was bad enough already without him adding fuel to the fire. I feel worse about the crisis then I did before yesterday.

I'm a McCain supporter and lifelong conservative, but I have to admit that it does appear that McCain is "retreating" to DC under the guise of "taking action." Politics is the art of double speak and my candidate is unfortunately practicing this skill at a very high level right now.

America needs this debate. The solution to our economic woes will carry on in it's own way without either candidate participating. I want to see how they handle this debate. It very well may be the most important debate of our lifetimes and it cannot wait. Now is the time. My candidate should be able to handle both events concurrently.

Oh please, McCain's little sideshow in Washington is pure politics - and the polls show that the American people think it is too. He's said so many different things in the past week on the economy that it is literally impossible to keep track of them.

He seems to forget that his former campaign co-chair, Phil Gramm, is at the epicenter of this mess, wrote the bills that allowed it to happen and that McCain himself, with one exception has a 26-year record of supporting deregulation. What hypocrisy.

If Obama moves fast enough, his handlers can retrieve the columns set from Denver, get it to Oxford, and he can stand in front of that. Since his refusal of McCain's offer to reschedule came down to "The People Need to See ME to Be Comforted", we'll find a staff for him to hold up while he speaks.

Otherwise, this little man is paid to be a functioning US Senator and needs to get his behind to DC to get to work.

McCain rides into DC to assist in the financial planning... but what did he say previously about his economic bona fides....

BARTIROMO: Sen. McCain, has Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke cut interest rates aggressively enough?

Has Ben Bernanke cut interests rates aggressively enough?

McCAIN: I’m not…I’m not…I don’t have that kind of expertise to know exactly whether he has cut interest rates suffiently or not.
I’m glad that whenever they cut interest rates. I wish interest rates were zero.

Mission Accomplished

Why is the Press Secretary, saying McCain called the President, after talking to Obama, yet McCain said he talked to Obama, just before making his, 'Stall the Debate Speech'? Who is lying now? McCain or the Press Secretary? Is this turning into a Republican Circus? Is Bush hoping McBush will wear his pants?

America needs to go through both videos again.

Press Secretary Speech 11:39 am Today.
McCains 'Stall' speech yesterday.

I still want to know if McCain will do as Bush asks, and help Middle America? Or will he give in, to the Republicans, and continue to tank, Middle America? Either way, he becomes a 'Mission Accomplished' Bush. Or a Capitolist Bleeder. Either way McCain did say, As of this morning,I will not be campaigning...', during his campaign speech. McMulti-Face, once again, confusses America with Double Talk speech. Is he now taking on Obamas Platform, of helping Middle America? Or will he continue to help only 5% of Capitolists? Will Black Gold continue lining his pockets? Will Rick Davis watch the Debate from prison? McCains 'Hail Mary Pass' was intercepted by Obama. Question now is, can Obama score a touchdown, or will McFumble make a tackle?
Come on Bush, Make McCain help Middle America. I want to hear 'Mission Accomplished, this week.

Still vote 'No', to McWhere is Palin?

How much Bank scandel actually follows McCain? Well, He was investigated and largely exonerated in a political influence scandal of the 1980s as a member of the 'Keating Five'. His connection to Rick Davis, how imbezzeled money from Fannie Mae, as early as last week. And was one of his sons, who was a bank auditor, mysteriously left his job , two months before going bankrupt. I have a question, about any other organizations, he may be a part of.
Skull and Crossbones?
Masons?
Something else?
Americans may be curious to know which one. I suggest transparency be implemented. At least that is McCains platform. It still is, Right?

McNoShow whether he shows
up tomorrow or not, whether
he cancels all debates or
not, is going down in defeat
on November 4.

Obama a leader?
Theoretically he could be President of the United States and has to live with the financial mess for maybe the next 8 years.
But he does not have enough interest to go there and lead the way to get something he can work with.
And if you all think Obama can have any influence on anything in D.C. from the campaign trail, then why don't we save lots of money, close down Capitol Hill and let all the Senators teleconference to work from their home states or travel junkets.

by 1999 Phil Gramm -- who had entered the Senate two years after McCain and quickly become the economic guru of the Keating Five maverick -- put forward the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. This Act passed out of the Senate on a party line vote with 100% Republican support, including that of John McCain. (To be fair, the bill eventually passed again with a wide margin following revisions in the House.)

This act repealed part of the Glass-Steagall Act. This may sound like a bunch of Congressperson soup, but the gist of it is that Glass-Steagall was put in place in 1933 to control the rampant speculation that had helped cause the collapse of banking at the outset of the depression, and to prevent such consolidation of the banks that the nation had all its eggs in one fiscal basket.

Gramm wasn't done. The next year he was back with the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which was slipped into a "must pass" spending bill on the last day of the 106th Congress. This Act greatly expanded the scope of futures trading, created new vehicles for speculation, and sheltered several investments from regulation.

As with both Gramm-Leach-Bliley and Garn-St. Germain, large parts of this bill were written by industry lobbyists. This famously included the "Enron Loophole" that exempted energy trading from regulation and was written by (big suprise) Enron Lobbyists working with Gramm. Not coincidentally, Senator Gramm, the second largest recipient of campaign contributions from Enron, was also key to legislating the deregulation of California's energy commodity trading.

In allowing financial institutions to grow to Godzilla-sized proportions, Gramm-Leach-Bliley helped ensure that we would have financial entities that were "too big to fail." Rather than choosing to enforce rules that kept these institutions apart, the deregulators chose to create monster bankeragasurances whose downfall (and existence) was enough to threaten the whole system.

John McCain may not have had his finger directly on the trigger, but he was there. He assisted. These were his personal friends and philosophical comrades. He may not be the high priest, but he has been a loyal acolyte in the cult of deregulation.

Why do Republican's have to defend every boneheaded McCain move? C'mon we are all adults here we can handle it. Except McCain who has an anger problem, called his wife a **** in a fit of rage in front of reporters.

Hey Obamalovesrezko, what are you getting at?

The bush adminstration in 4/2001 raised red flags, the 2002 budget requests declares Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
"Potential problem.. and can cause strong repercussions in the financial markets"

In 2003 the White House upgraded the warning to a systemic risk that could spread beyond the housing sector.
John Snow Treasury Secretary called for Regulations & Supervision of GSE's.
Barney Frank (D-MA) denied there was any problem " Fannie Mac & Freddie Mare are not in Crisis"
Encouraging the government to do more to get low income families into homes, Ultimately blocking the regulation.

Allan Greenspan , 2/17/2005 spoke about the dangers of Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac "enabling these institutions to
increase in size -and they will once the crisis in their judgement passes-we are placing the total financial system of
the future at a substantial risk

Charles Schumer (D-NY) 4/6/2005 ..."I think Fannie & Freddie have done an incredibly good job, and are an intristic
part of making america the best housed people in the world....if you look over the last 20 or whatever yrs. Theyve
done a very, very good job.

McCain (R-AZ) 5/25/2006 For years I have been concerned about the regulatory structure that governs Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac...
and there sheer magnitude of these companies and the role they play in the housing market...the GSE's need to be reformed without delay."
That bill ( FEDERAL HOUSING ENTERPRISE REGULATORY REFORM ACT) made it out of the senate banking committee with a party line vote all the democrats voted against it.
Senator Obama did not weigh in on the bill