Political Punch

John Nail:

I don't know which comment of mine your referencing.....I made no comment on teleprompters or planted questions...

Handing over 00 billion with no strings attached does not seem to be that great of an idea. Apparently the republicans told the democrats to push through their plan (non-existent) as the democrats did not need the republicans votes to pass the bill. That is when things blew up.

Obama and McCain should be in there doing their job. We are paying them to be senators and stewarts of the nation.

I know there are economists, some of whom I respect, that think this financial crisis will blow over, that it's a crisis in the financial superstructure that won't ultimately affect the country's industrial base. I have never understood the post-1980 stock market very well, but I know something about economic history, and I know that at a certain point, a financial crisis can get out of hand and lead to a credit crunch that will depress the industrial base and set off a vicious cycle of unemployment. I also know a little bit about international economic history--enough at least to appreciate what would happen if nations began to abandon the dollar the way they abandoned the British pound eighty years ago.

That's a long way of saying that it is simply unpatriotic--it's an insult to flag, country, and all the things that McCain claims to hold dear--for McCain to hold this financial crisis hostage to his political ambitions. McCain doesn't know a thing about finance and is no position to help work out an agreement. If we do suffer a serious bank run, or a run on the dollar, it can be laid directly at his feet.

As I said to friends last night, if McCain had been president at this point, I would have wanted to impeach him.

What did Obama do? We see a lot of reporting on what McCain did not do. And of course the media is giving McCain a lot of trouble because he is in Washington doing his job. He and Obama are paid to be our senators.

Lets hear what Obama did.

Hey know who can't block a vote on the bailout plan? House republicans! Thats right, if pelosi delivers her entire caucus House republicans can't do a thing to stop it. So if the agreement is so universal why doesn't she just do her job and call a vote? Oh wait, because then democrats would be responsible if the plan didn't work. Always politics with the democrats.

There are rumors coming out of the McCain camp about Palin:

McCain Camp insiders say Palin "clueless"
Capitol Hill sources saying 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."

Where was Obama's plan. All I have heard are Obama's talking points. John McCain submitted a plan, Obama submitted talking points. Where is his plan? All I can find is that he plans on others doing the work and he can take credit if it works and if it falls short he can say it wasn't his plan.

Rex - that is the dumbest comment I have seen on here. I have been to 2 Obama town halls and there were NO teleprompters and no planted questions as I go to ask one.

He is quite good on his feet, much better than McCain because he doesn't spit out the same talking points he actually has knowledge and connects with his audience for his approach and personality

How shocked am I to find more McCain bashing from Jake Tapper! Funny how these bashings are considered newsworthy!

Let both lay out their proposals uninterrupted to the public during the debate; only then will Americans get a true idea of who has the better plan for solving this crisis.

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Where has the Republican 'plan' been hiding itself for the last week?

The Debate
Sen. McCain let’s talk about the war on Iraq .Thousands of brave Americans dead and injured. Let’s talk about the deregulation of the market and for consequence the collapsed economy. Lets talk of the billions dollars gifted to the oil companies resulting on today price of petrol. * My friends that was Obama fault*.
Senator McCain you are missing the point .What makes a President is the right Judgment. Be cool like cucumber in time of crisis. Not have 7 houses 13 cars or family business hundred million dollars worth. Do not have the temper to pick a fight but the temper to fight every day make the life of the community around you better.* My friends that was Obana job.*.
Sen. you said the fundamentals of the economy are strong. What do you talking about? About the Cindy McCain business? Or about the Wall Street mess?
I don’t know that’s Obama fault to! John McCain is desperate to be President his campaign the most sleazy and shamefully ever!

Jonnie to the rescue save the world one more time! Or I should say the American economy. If jonnie macaroni is not able to debate Obama, he can send always his sidekick chick from Alaska……. Sarah Plaiiiiiiiiin. Is obvious she have more experience from all the USA senators together! ! Friday is debate day If McCain doesn’t come,
Then is chicken McCain or chicken nugget?

I've yet to see Obama lose his cool, unlike McCain's explosions which have been recorded and documented several times before. This is a statement from the McCain campaign and I haven't heard anything like that anywhere else.

If you're doing something to help, you don't have to make a big show of how you're coming in to save the day- your actions will speak for you. McCain doesn't even have to be there all the while-there's no reason why he can't show up for the debate, and he's likely only complicated things, and now the bail out is falling apart.

It's clear to me that Obama has already had a hand in this bailout package - thus the massive handout to ACORN. Too bad we don't have a media to look into that for us.

As for devolving into a shouting match - that's Obama's calling card. If they disagree with you, get in their face and shout them down.

I can't wait until Chicago politics meets the White House. At least I'll have something entertaining to watch while my country goes down in flames.

The events of the last two days can only be considered as posturing.

Let both lay out their proposals uninterrupted to the public during the debate; only then will Americans get a true idea of who has the better plan for solving this crisis.

Looks like another political stunt of McCain's.

McCain, if you want to go to DC to be in touch about the bail-out, that's by all means fine. But WHY do you have to skip the debate? It's only for a couple of hours, you can fly right back to DC if you're that concerned. Number one, Americans deserve to hear what both candidates have to say about foreign policy. Number two, it's nearly impossible to reschedule, and we DO NOT want to give Palin a free pass from facing Biden. ALL candidates have to show up unscripted sooner or later.

Country first? Please. McCain is not the President, neither is he on the Senate Banking Committee or a majority leader that would be needed to break any ties or anything. There's isn't much he can do, and his comment that he will only go to Mississipi to debate if the bail out is done by then just unneccessarily complicates things for the harried senators and congressmen trying to piece together the deal.

North Korea has started reassmebling the nuclear reactor. Foreign policy is equally crucial as is the economy. McCain, you were a soldier in Vietnam-a nightmare people said it was-and many say the conditions in Iraq is similar. There are men and women ducking enemy fire right now in the Middle-East wearing the uniform of the United States. These are the people your foreign policy will affect. They deserve answers.

Do they get a "time-out" from the insurgency?

I think the R's have convinced themselves that the D's always blink. Given the mood of the country and the radioactive nature of the bailout they better realize it's like expecting the D's to cut social security - it ain't gonna happen.

When the R's walk, the timer on the nuke begins its countdown. At some unknowable moment we pass the point of no return and America will become an economic wasteland with McCain as its founding father.

Well done Republicans.

pp and staniam: As senators who do not sit on the relevant committees, neither McCain nor Obama would ordinarily be involved with the negotiations regarding this bill.

Even as President, neither of them would normally be directly involved. They would be expected to keep themselves informed of the progress, talking regularly with those involved in the negotiations.

The idea that it's McCain's (or Obama's) job to rush back to Washington to get directly involved with negotiations on this bill is just incorrect. It isn't.

That's like expecting them to fly out to Iraq or Afghanistan to sit in tactical meetings with military commanders.

So far McCain has done nothing to help this bill. He's essentially yelled "It's going to fail!" by suspending his campaign, then sat in a meeting and done very little, and then issued a statement blaming Obama.

Even if his own statement says he just
said "we need a bipartisan solution". Well, duh. What did he do to actually encourage the formation of that solution? Apparently nothing.

His tactic seems to be to sit by while it crashes and burns (due to the lack of support from members of his and Bush's own party) and try to blame Obama for it.

I don't think that's going to fly.

Just noticed Jack's "meow" at the end. I like that:

McCain - Palin '08 "Meow"

This is McCain's version of "We are raising the threat level to orange." Create fear and the only leader is John McCain to save you.