The Obama campaign continues to rake in its millions, and meanwhile, the Democratic party is stalling an up or down vote on an important piece of consumer protection legislation, the Credit Cardholders
If It’s Not Scottish…
Thanks to Tikkabik for this link to Craig Ferguson, host of the Late, Late Show: “If you don’t vote, you’re a moron”
She’s not Scottish, but Noemie Emery’s column Forgive Me Not: McCain does not owe the press an apology is also recommended.
Despicable
Without knowing the background behind it, just hearing about the Obama campaign’s cheap shot at John McCain – that McCain doesn’t know how to use a computer – was enough to raise my hackles.
More Good Reading
An analysis by John Coleman, Chair of the Department Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, shows that John McCain does, in fact, deserve the maverick mantle.
According to Professor Coleman, McCain bucked the Republican party line more consistently than either Obama or Biden differed from the Democrats. It’s a complex analysis and worth reading.
Creeps
My political preferences are explained in part by the fact that I can’t relate to people who flaunt their big, fat egos. In fact, I find them repulsive and creepy.
Last evening, I was minding my own business playing billiards at the timeshare resort to which we belong. The billiards table is located in a large recreation room which also holds the resort’s indoor pool.
While I was playing, a couple of older ladies came in to swim. They were noisy, but I figured that was their prerogative, so I minded my own business and didn’t interfere with their fitness ritual.
With Friends Like These
The self-destructiveness of the Democratic Party is truly breathtaking.
A quote from an unidentified Obama supporter reported yesterday by Howard Fineman of MSNBC has captured the blogosphere’s attention:
Obama seems to want to do things on his own, and on his own terms. It
This Is Change?
I thought the Obama campaign was about a kinder, more gentlemanly way of doing business.
Given Obama’s educational background, one would have to be pretty naive to think that his reference to a pig with lipstick and an old fish wrapped in paper was merely metaphorical and not a deliberate insult to Palin and McCain.
Either that, or his subconscious is leading the Senator into dangerous oratorical territory, not exactly what we want in a President, either.
Rather than responding with an apology and a getting back to business, Obama shot back with accusations of “Lies, phony outrage and Swift-boat politics.”
Well, he’s right about one thing: Enough really is enough.
Not Earth-Shattering
So, the world’s largest particle accelerator conducted its first test this morning at CERN, and planet Earth was not consumed by a resulting black hole.
Phew.
Give Us a Break
I finally took a few minutes to research the ownership and takeover earlier this month of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, in reference to the supposed “gaffe” by Sarah Palin, in which she said that they had “gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers.”
Palin made that statement in Colorado Springs on the same day that these privately held but government guaranteed organizations (GSEs, or government sponsored enterprises) were taken over by the federal government (the technical term is “conservatorship”).
In other words, the government assumed responsibility for the running of these organizations, including replacing their CEOs*.
The takeover also means that the government has promised to invest (purchase stock) up to $100 billion into each company in any quarter in which they’d otherwise be insolvent.
Sure, there’s the possibility that taxpayers could ultimately profit from this investment, the operative word being “could”.
The point is, at the time Sarah Palin made that statement, the federal government was, in fact, not only running FNMA and FHLMC but had made a commitment to bail them out with infusions of taxpayer funds to the tune of $200 billion. That would be the largest bailout in US history.
I’m no economist, but what Sarah Palin said in Colorado Springs sounds correct to me, unless you believe that a guaranteed investment of public funds would not involve an actual expenditure of public money, the operative words being “would not”.
As it turns out, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) agrees with her, too. They included $25 billion in estimated costs for the bailout in their budget deficit projections.
*Replacing but still rewarding: “Richard Syron, who was ousted from Freddie Mac, could get an exit package reaching $15 million while Fannie Mae’s deposed CEO, Daniel Mudd, stands to leave with $14 million”, per MarketWatch
Recommended Reading
Fastcheck, on the Sliming of Sarah
Pajamas Media
From Tammy Bruce, former president of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Organization for Women, on RCP:
Palin’s candidacy brings both figurative and literal feminist change. The simple act of thinking outside the liberal box, which has insisted for generations that only liberals and Democrats can be trusted on issues of import to women, is the political equivalent of a nuclear explosion.
The idea of feminists willing to look to the right changes not only electoral politics, but will put more women in power at lightning speed as we move from being taken for granted to being pursued, nominated and appointed and ultimately, sworn in.
It should be no surprise that the Democratic response to the McCain-Palin ticket was to immediately attack by playing the liberal trump card that keeps Democrats in line – the abortion card – where the party daily tells restless feminists the other side is going to police their wombs.
The power of that accusation is interesting, coming from the Democrats – a group that just told the world that if you have ovaries, then you don’t count.
Sarah Palin FAQ on Slate