And yet we have a candidate for President we know less than nothing about..and that seems perfectly normal.

agreed Dianatn. isn't it amazing what kind of hipocritical comments like that are rampant out there? we have a presidential candidate who has less experience than any other candidate in history and all they want to point to is gov. palin's inexperience, who has much more experience than he does. sad really and borderline sexcist. i know one thing...she would keep us safer and be much more aggressive on terrorists than mr. diplomacy. it's embarrassing for her to be attacked like this, but it's backfiring for sure.

I am not sure it is as hypocritical, as it is contradictory. Yes, NEITHER Obama or Palin have any international experience, but as it was pointed out, Obama is running for President not Palin.

Yes, McCain could die in office, but as a survivor of 4 heart attacks starting in my 40's, ANYONE could die in office. How do people feel about Biden being President?

He has not been able to be elected to the position and has been trying for how long, 1988? Biden only drew 1% of the vote in the Iowa caucus in January 2008 and is now suggesting that Hillary would have been a better choice? The choice between the two VPs seems clear.

Comparing the two Presidential candidates on experience, there is no contest. While I am not an AVID McCain supporter, the choice is clear.

Governor Palin may not have the experience we usually look for in a candidate, but her integrity and tenacity will make up for her lack of knowledge. She would not be in a vacuum if she had to assume the Presidency and as Henry Ford proved many years ago, one does not need to know everything, but having knowledgeable people around you will make the difference.

Just the fact she is NOT a lawyer is enough to make me trust "her" judgement more than the last three administrations. Hmmm...who was in the White house before that - oh another person who was NOT a lawyer and in retrospect practiced a great deal of the recent allegedly deceased commonsense - Ronald Reagan.

One of her (Gov. Palin's) constituents called into a talk radio program I was listening to one day, when the comentator asked her how she thought Gov. Palin would handle all the criticism - the woman actually laughed and said "the best thing about her...is they'll never see her coming" Anytime I have watched/listened to her speak so far bears that out. I would much rather see someone with "that" as an asset negotiating with our enemies than that idiot Nancy Pelosi...or the ever changing positions of Obamma - but then I would even rather see Hillary than those two - no doubt she'd sell us out to the higest bidder - but to give her her just due - at least she would be like a shark circling her dinner while she did it.

So far my only regret and/or qualm is that she is stuck with John McCain as her senior running mate and mentor.

From my perspective Palin is more of an open book professionally AND personally after only a few short weeks than Obamma is after a year on the campaign trail and how many years in the Senate?

I think it is jumping to conclusions to indicate that Charlie will not ask Obama about what makes him qualified to be president. His Obama interview will be coming up. I'm sure he will ask Obama what Americans want to know as well. If Palin is going to put herself out there, she and her supporters need to expect the tough questions and hope that she can hold up under the pressure. If she can't take this heat, she certainly couldn't take the pressure of being president. And, by the way, Obama has been accused of being arrogant because he is confident. Personally, I want to see all the candidates hit with the hard questions so the voters can see who genuinely has the answers and who is scripted by their party.

I am sorry if I need more tangible evidence from a candidate other than their spoken words of hopes and dreams or promise of change that are dressed up with decorative terminology in hopes of luring people away from real answers. We all need to start demanding more from our government and the candidates because we have been settling for less for many years now.

-- Posted by jaxspike on Fri, Sep 12, 2008, at 10:13 AM

Since you couldn't answer this question in the previous blog... I'll ask it again. What issues from the McCain/Palin team resonate closely with you? Since you all the time want to talk about "issues" I offer you this chance, yet again to be the first to start.

From CNN:

Earlier, campaign aides confirmed reports that Palin's time in Ireland on that trip had actually been a re-fueling stop.

The Obama camp -- which has increasingly accused the McCain campaign of deliberately lying in ads and on the stump -- was quick to highlight to that story, along with a news report that explored whether the McCain campaign have been sending out wildly inflated crowd estimates.

The McCain team has twice pointed to law enforcement as the source for those estimates -- but the same officials denied to Bloomberg News that they had provided the numbers cited by the Republican nominee's campaign.

"The McCain campaign said Governor Palin opposed the Bridge to Nowhere, but now we know she supported it," said Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor in a statement. "They said she didn't seek earmarks, but now we know she hired a lobbyist to get millions in pork for her town and her state. They said she visited Iraq, but today we learned that she only stopped at the border. Americans are starting to wonder, is there anything the McCain campaign isn't lying about?"

A Palin spokesperson also confirmed Saturday that the governor had visited Mexico on a personal vacation trip. She has also visited Canada.

About those issues... here are some that ought to concern ANYONE who claims to want honesty from either party. This is downright pathetic, and if it were Obama who had lied about all this I would be just as appalled.

We don't need to talk about experience in this campaign because if McCain's life history isn't enough experience, then who is qualified. Has anyone bothered to look at Biden's children. What are they doing? I heard through the grapevine, because it hasn't been brought to light, that his son or sons, has been in and out of the court system on numerous charges. We don't need to talk about anyone's children here because no one really has control over what their children do. Someone said that Sarah Palin repeats herself about different issues but all I've heard from Obama is the word CHANGE and I'm tired of hearing it. Yeah, we would definately see some changes, in every aspect of American life, especially religiously. He isn't even American in my eyes because he won't say the pledge of alligience or have the American flag anywhere near him. I think everyone who is for him should wake up and really think about who he is and what CHANGE he will bring.....none of which I think are American at all. Why is everyone picking on Sarah Palin? I haven't heard the first negative comment about Biden. HHHMMMMMMM.............I wonder who the media is for?!

OK LISTEN . . . I am not a Republican and I am absolutely tired of people assuming it because I am not voting for Obama and I have said over and over and over again that I am not voting for McCain. How much clearer can I be. I have voted for Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and John Kerry. I voted for John Kerry because he was the lesser of two evils in my opinion but this election I am not settling for less and if your narrow little minds cant grasp that then that just proves my point that people aren't think for themselves and using party lines to attack people who don't agree with it.

This is why I hate politics . . . too many people are too stupid to stray away from a party line and if you don't agree with their party stance then you must be for the other party. NO . . I am for myself and who best presents that and neither Obama or McCain speaks to my heart and mind.

BTW . . I did not vote for Ronald Reagan but I wasn't old enough to vote for him but that is just another assumption you have made that "I must be a dirty Republican since I disagree with you". You really aren't showing much intelligence in that line of argument. For people that claim to want change, you still seem to want cling to the same old political banter.

Dear Mr. McClanahan:

Perhaps the following conundrum will shed some much needed historical light on the experience question as relates to Governor Palin. As to the clamor, or lack thereof, over Mr. Gibson's claim of arrogancy by Governor Palin, seems to me the source of the accusation should answer that question. 'There exists honor among thieves' and, newscasters! Now for the riddle.

"Who am I?"

"I'm under forty-five (45) years of age, I love the outdoors, I hunt, I am a Republican Reformer, I have taken on the Republican Party establishment, I have many children and, I have a spot on the National ticket as Vice President with less than two years in the Governor's office."

"Who am I?"

I know it has been a while, but President Reagan had a title of Governor of California for 8 years.

I too wish we had better choices, but we don't and I do feel that one is better than the other, so I will vote. If someone truly does not feel one is better than the other, than making a statement by voting for an independent is still a responsible vote.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080914/ap_o...

Whoo hoo ;)

WASHINGTON - Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign announced Sunday that it raised $66 million in August, marking another record fundraising month for the Democrat. The August total tops the $55 million Obama raised last February.

He reached the $66 million mark with help from more than a HALF A MILLION NEW donors.

Obama's total for August was almost $20 million more than the $47 million Republican rival John McCain raised last month.

Obama's campaign said that with the latest figures he had more than $77 million cash on hand.

It's a good thing that had nothing to do with my post... ;)

http://www.fec.gov/DisclosureSearch/mapA...

Obama's money:

Individual: $374,257,359

PAC: $535

Party: $150

$200 and Under: $190,596,311 (more than half of all contributions come in small increments)

$200.01 - $499: $37,380,095

$500 - $999: $31,210,078

$1000 - $1999: $45,182,514

$2000 and Over (max = $2500): $78,995,185

John McCain:

Individual: $141,116,169

PAC: $1,230,001

Party: $11,850

$200 and Under: $53,072,092

$200.01 - $499: $7,975,490

$500 - $999: $13,436,090

$1000 - $1999: $23,066,348

$2000 and Over (max = $2500): $50,519,045

Thus far, by individual donors, Obama has received $200+ million more than McCain..

Also, if you look at the map, Obama has rasied more money in nearly every state (including southern states) than McCain, or for that matter, more money than every major Republican who ran in the primaries this year... Interesting, and the numbers don't lie.

Honestly I could care less who has the largest campaign funds. I never thought that a Presidential election should come down to the "one with the most money wins" If you click on the individual name link you will see who these people are that are contributors. You will find many many special interest groups who have invested in the campaign under individual names. Not that there is anything wrong with that but I had much rather him be honest about where his money comes from that trying to hide the fact of where his money is coming from by using people employed by big business. As Far as PAC money goes Obama was all for PAC money until he started to run for President he had plenty of PAC money that he placed into the HOPE fund. Also if you look into the list of names you will find over half of them unemployed and contributing 1000's of dollars, who in their right mind contributes that kind of money to any candidate when they are unemployed no matter how much you like him?

With less than 2 months until election time one has to wonder what will become of the "extra" money Barack Obama has in his campaign fund as of 7/31/08 he has $65,837,810 on hand, of course that isn't counting his new $66 M he supposedly just received in August. Not a bad take I'd say for just running a campaign not to mention he is still being Paid to be a Senator.

And just to be fair the same question could be ask of John McCain although it seems to be a much lesser amount to be left over.

Sharon22 . . . Hollywood sets and huge stadiums cost more so that is why he needs the extra money. Glitz and glamour aren't cheap!

Also with all that much more money, why is McCain and Obama still in dead heat in all the polls? Evidently there are not that many more people contributing to Obama cause, they are just contributing more per person. I guess Matt Damon and the like have done their part.

I think its absolutely ridiculous that both parties waste so much money on just campaigning when there are many Americans without jobs or food to eat and are struggling with just everyday bills. I think they should eliminate donations and campaign funds and such and just make them to televise debates as their form of campaigning and then we might actually get a better selection of candidates who would be perfect for the job but not the cash cows that McCain or Obama are. Money shouldn't be dictating who wins the election and if either candidate was for "real" change then they would see that is one of the many things wrong with government. Come on . . . do you really need to spend hundreds of millions of dollars if you have a true platform and issues to run on? No, you shouldn't.

I'll have to agree that it doesn't really matter to me how many millions either side has. It's a big waste of money however you look at it, which was actually my point, stated a little sarcastically. We have 2 men spending much, much more than needed to run for a job that pays 400,000 with a 50,000 expense account. Personally I think they both need a red pick-up truck and travel the roads from town to town. We have spent time on these blogs on how much the federal govt. is in deficit, yet both these guys are spending several million dollars on this campaign. I know we've got folks in need, but someone's got some money or neither of these guys would have any.

Ambivalent thinking is why American is in the dire straits it is in today . . .

No wonder the country is nearing a "financial meltdown", Obama has all the money! LOL. Jk.

1834 - On August 4,___________, age 24, is elected to the Illinois General Assembly as a member of the Whig party. Begins to study law. In December, meets Stephen A. Douglas, 21, a Democrat.

1848 - January 22, gives a speech on floor of the House against President Polk's war policy regarding Mexico. In June, attends the national Whig convention supporting General Zachary Taylor as the nominee for president. Campaigns for Taylor in Maryland and in Boston, Mass., then in Illinois.

1855 - Does not get chosen by the Illinois legislature to be U.S. Senator.

1859 - Illinois legislature chooses Douglas for the U.S. Senate over ___________ by a vote of 54 to 46.

1860 - March 6, delivers an impassioned political speech on slavery in New Haven, Connecticut.

November 6, 1860 -___________ is elected as 16th U.S. president and the first Republican. Receives 180 of 303 possible electoral votes and 40 percent of the popular vote.

Who am I?

Abraham Lincoln

It would be hilarious! But it won't happen. Lol. Great photo op.

Speaking of slavery . . . did anyone see where Pulaski is having a White Heritage Festival in mid October and of course the KKK is involved? I am absolutely shocked that this kind of thing even exists or is even allowed and even more ashamed that it is in Tennessee.

Maybe this has been going on for a few years and I have never heard of it . . . they even have religious speakers who claim to promote God's word at this event.

SCARY!

The red pick-up did work for Fred. I think the reason being was he met tenneseans where they are at, which both our lead presidential canidates are not doing. I lead an every day normal life. If I were to run for any office I would have to continue to work and campaign in my off time. That's the problem I have with most recent elections. Here we have 2 senators being paid more than I earn, raising billions of dollars, staying in 5 star hotels nightly (or at least nice ones) and I'll bet they are not eating PB&J for lunch, and they are still earning a paycheck from congress, out of our tax dollars. I have said it before and will say it again, they should be made to take a leave from congress before running for a different office.

I still think they both need to get red pick-up trucks, and yes let make it a 3 speed and not an automatic.

I don't like red... so perhaps a different color. But the problem is, McCain would have 7 different pickups to choose from, if he could remember how many he has.

I believe in full family involvement, put the wife and the kids, maybe the VP nominee in the back and let them throw the candy out, that they bought with their own money, while on leave from their senate jobs.

That is a great idea Sharon22 . . . . I would love to have Cindy McCain and Palin in bikinis throwing candy at me.

Did I say that out loud?

Personally I would perfer if it were a real good looking guy throwing the candy, but.....I think I'm just dreaming out loud.

-- Posted by Sharon22 on Mon, Sep 15, 2008, at 1:31 PM

I would have to agree but I can not think of anyone on the Presidental ticket that I would consider good looking.

Obama in a Bathing suit= No thanks

Biden in a bathing suit= A double no thanks

McCain in a Bathing suit= A triple no thanks

Aren't we glad our retirement Social Security wasn't put into stocks like Bush wanted it done a couple of years ago?

DOW - DOWN 500 POINTS IN ONE DAY

I hope none of you had stock in Lehman Brothers or Merrill Lynch.

Ok - maybe I wasn't an economics major - but - isn't this pretty much the definition of insider trading?

http://www.forbes.com/reuters/feeds/reut...

Uh... learn how to spell, first of all... Secondly, God fearing people have no reason to march as they/we are the majority in this country. Lol, pure and total ignorance.

tazmo

It was a Million Man march and the KKK are just a little more than God Fearing people.

And I don't think John Carney will delete your account for writing KKK

I meant to say "The KKK is considered"

darrick_o4 . . . I hate to break your heart but Senator Biden and Senator Obama voted for funding the Bridge to Nowhere, even when given a second chance by Sen. Tom Coburn, who proposed shifting earmark funds to Katrina relief. McCain voted no for the project. Obama and 81 other senators opposed an amendment in 2005 to strike the infamous $231 million "Bridge to Nowhere" earmark for Alaska and redirect that funding to help with rebuilding New Orleans.

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/gop-...

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/ro...

Evidently Obama has been calling out Palin when in fact he voted for the earmark himself. Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black but at least she changed her mind on the issue while Obama remained steadfast while denying those funds for Katrina victims.

Jaxspike,

Was Obama opposed to the Bridge to Nowhere, then approved it? Palin pretended that she was adamantly opposed to the idea the entire time, when everyone now knows wanted the Bridge while campaigning for Mayor... That is the issue.

I feel as if we are talking in circles. So, with that I digress.

Now the government is announcing plans to bail out Insurance giant AIG! In the amount of $85 billion.

Why is it so easy to hand out billions in aid to giant corporations yet they have fights in Congress over helping working class people. It took Congress over 10 years to pass a minimum wage increase, but less than a week to bail out FreddieMac and FannieMae, and less than a few days to bail out AIG.

J.P. Morgan is advancing over $100 billion in cash to Lehman Brother's...

These are definitely 'financially sound' times.. Just ask McCain.

Exactly...

J.P. Morgan has a large sum of cash on hand as well, apparently...

Interesting note- In 2007 these are the rankings of the largest U.S. Corporations, by revenue... According to my Fortune Magazine ;)

9) Bank of America (bought out Countrywide and Merrill Lynch, but those aren't figured in)

12) J.P. Morgan Chase (bought out Bear Sterns and is lending cash to Lehman Brothers Holding, but these two are not figured in)

30. Merrill Lynch (now bankrupt)

37. Lehman Brothers Holdings (now bankrupt)

104. Countrywide Financial (bankrupt)

156. Bear Sterns (bankrupt)

So... first we were told by some that there wasn't a housing crisis... Is it obvious now since not one, not two, not three but four financial giants are essentially nonexistent now? Hmmm...

Political humor: I wonder which of these companies McCain had loans through, or did he have all 7 houses financed individually through all 7 corporations? LOL

I predict Washington Mutual announces not so pleasant news in the coming days.

But I am just a 22 year old college student who some say, practices limited thinking. LOL

I am afraid the government is borrowing money from places like China to fund all these bailouts and considering Obama wants to make government spending even bigger, I am sure he will continue that policy that Bush started. Believe me, Obama wants to hand out lots of free money also.

Dear Mr. Moderator:

How did we get from Mr. McClanahan's blog concerning ABC's news anchor Charles Gibson's interview with Governor Palin to these vaguely related subjects?

Obama/Biden, not McCain/Palin, endorsed by 6 Women's rights groups!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080916/ap_o...

Women's rights groups endorsed Barack Obama for president Tuesday, asserting the historic selection of a female Republican vice presidential candidate does not make up for John McCain's lack of support on issues important to women.

"We don't think it's much to break a glass ceiling for one woman and leave millions of women behind," said Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation.

Obama also won the support of the National Organization for Women, which said it has not endorsed a candidate for president since Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro shared the Democratic ticket in 1984.

Responding to the McCain campaign about alleged sexism in the media:

"I love it that Republicans have discovered sexism in the media," she said. "Because they didn't see any of it when it was being directed at Hillary Clinton. But once Sarah Palin got a dose of it, which we also pointed out, they were all over it." She did not explain how her group defended Palin from sexism.

Obama was also endorsed by leaders from Business and Professional Women/USA, the National Association of Social Workers, the National Congress of Black Women and the Women's Information Network.

Political humor: I wonder which of these companies McCain had loans through, or did he have all 7 houses financed individually through all 7 corporations? LOL

-- Posted by darrick_04 on Wed, Sep 17, 2008, at 1:02 AM

I realize this was Political Humor but Cindy McCain owns these houses and you can be sure none of them are financed thru any corporation. In Fact Cindy could have probably bailed out AIG better than our Government could have.

I agree Sharon22, plus many Democrats including Obama forget that Bust wanted to fix Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac several years ago but congressional Democrats stopped him. This was taken from the New York Times on September 11th, 2003 in an article by Stephen Labaton.

"The Bush administration today recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.

Under the plan, disclosed at a Congressional hearing today, a new agency would be created within the Treasury Department to assume supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored companies that are the two largest players in the mortgage lending industry.

The new agency would have the authority, which now rests with Congress, to set one of the two capital-reserve requirements for the companies. It would exercise authority over any new lines of business. And it would determine whether the two are adequately managing the risks of their ballooning portfolios.

The plan is an acknowledgment by the administration that oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac--which together have issued more than $1.5 trillion in outstanding debt--is broken.

Among the groups denouncing the proposal today were the National Association of Home Builders and Congressional Democrats who fear that tighter regulation of the companies could sharply reduce their commitment to financing low-income and affordable housing.

''These two entities--Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac--are not facing any kind of financial crisis,'' said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ''The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.''

Representative Melvin L. Watt, Democrat of North Carolina, agreed.

''I don't see much other than a shell game going on here, moving something from one agency to another and in the process weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing,'' Mr. Watt said."

WOW . . . the Democrats were saying that no problem existed with these companies and Bush was saying otherwise and now look at what situation those two companies are in.

Hmmm . . . sounds like the Democrats maybe be just as guilty of the current economic situation as the the Republicans?

That info is probably worthy of its' own blog entry jaxspike. I wonder why the R's have not pointed it out.

They probably won't do it because the D's have something on them. D.C. is such a quagmire of compromised values and ethics.

Hmmm Washington Mutual is looking for takers and Morgan Stanley is in merger talks with Wachovia! HAHA... This has GOT to be the best economic times I've ever seen!

All three of these corporations are on the Fortune 500 list of the largest U.S. firms...

AND

Jaxspike... Do you not believe in Capitalism? Why should the Democrats vote to overhaul Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?

Greasemonkey... You are supposedly against socialism in most forms. What is the difference in the government bailing out multi billion dollar corporations who knew they weren't practicing responsible lending, and the government offering tax breaks for health care? Hmm... The Democrats do PLENTY of wrong. But to be against socialism in one form, and insinuate that Democrats should have gone along with a bailout plan is a complete contradiction.

Diana,

Cindy McCain may be wealthy, but I can guarantee you her income isn't $13 trillion a year, such as the United States GDP. It was entirely political humor ;)

Well - I admit this wasn't something I expected to see today: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...

Though I guess I really shouldn't be all "that" surprised. I once worked for a company owned by Morgan-Stanley so know first hand they are all about the "bottom line" on their P&L's, so it only stands to reason they would be on the edge to show profit, profit, profit.

Another couple of troubling articles:

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080916/bank_depo... and http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?...

Dianatn - I work for a very large information technology company as my "day" job.

Jaxspike - you are right - we are "deeply"..."hugely" in debt to China but to others as well. I read an article after the Bear Sterns bail-out that the money to back it had come from Dubai at the direct request of our Secretary of the Treasury. I'm sorry I can't post a link to it because it has obviously been awhile and I can't even remember what publication I read it out of.

I have to laugh at all the finger pointing and demands for "regulation" from the very people who passed the legislation that enabled this mess while they repealed any laws that provided any kind of protection from it....and before the Bush haters pull out their bullhorns - believe me - this is the only true "bi-partisan" thing they've worked towards for the last 18 years - both parties are equally responsible and the beginnings of it were put into motion well before he took office...the current administration just continued the ball rolling - and by administration I don't just mean the White House.

In fact - I would venture to say the only person in Washington D.C. with a clean conscience right now is probably Ron Paul.

Vindicated wrote in response to Garhawk, "Blogs are open forums and anyone can post anything related or unrelated to the topic at hand. Did nobody tell you that?"

Perhaps you failed to notice my name and likeness was attached to this blog and I authored the prose in the vein of the title of my blog and as outlined in my bio.

Please inform me of the source of the statement you made as I outlined above. Your impertinent question to Garhawk admonishes him in that no body told him you were the Master of the Blogsphere so please inform us poor minions who is supposed to tell us that!

If you want to write a blog, identify yourself, send in a picture and you write, in a proactive voice rather that hide in the bushes and throw rocks in a reactive manner at those who have taken the time to create a blog. I am totally unimpressed with your pseudo-brilliance. If you wish to be taken seriously, write your own blog and quite trying to highjack someone else's. You will find it a little more difficult to create some original thoughts rather than trying to tear someone else's down.

If you want to write a blog, identify yourself, send in a picture and you write, in a proactive voice rather that hide in the bushes and throw rocks in a reactive manner at those who have taken the time to create a blog. I am totally unimpressed with your pseudo-brilliance. If you wish to be taken seriously, write your own blog and quite trying to highjack someone else's. You will find it a little more difficult to create some original thoughts rather than trying to tear someone else's down.

-- Posted by cmcclanahan on Wed, Sep 17, 2008, at 9:55 PM

Perhaps Garhawk and every single person who comments on here without a blog of their should do this huh. LOL... Are you done old man?

I predict Washington Mutual announces not so pleasant news in the coming days.

But I am just a 22 year old college student who some say, practices limited thinking. LOL

-- Posted by darrick_04 on Wed, Sep 17, 2008, at 1:16 AM

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/washington_mu...

Ailing bank Washington Mutual Inc. appeared headed toward a sale Wednesday after a major investor removed a potential stumbling block and nervous banking regulators began approaching the most logical buyers.

Don't say I didn't tell you :)

So ya think I could get The Feds to pay my mortgage?

I don't believe the government (i.e. my tax dollars) should bail out any of these corporations any more than they should bail out an individual who has been fiscally irresponsible. I do highly believe in people helping out people. At this point in our history I think we are finally reaping some of the "rewards" from many of FDR's New Deals after the depression. Don't get me wrong FDR did some good things to get the ecomony moving after the depression, but that started individuals dependance on government assistance, including social security, and we know what mess that is in.

I haven't meant to highjack anything either. The reason I come here so much is because of all the forums I "cruise" ....this is the only one where people are actually "discussing" rather than just blasting one party over another and then each other as a result.

The links - the fact people "here" have obviously thought about and made an attempt to research and share their sources - and dig further if a statment is challenged - instead of just expressing their opinon and calling everyone who believes differently an idiot - was just too cool for me to pass up.

I've learned a lot of intersting information since I've started coming here.

I've seen some really great sense of humour expressed here by several people.

The conversations get more interesting every day.

darrick_04 . . . nowhere in the constitution does it say we should help people out on their mortgages either but I am sure you are for that. Evidently you miss my point which is very typical of you lately . . . what I am pointing out is that it seems to be the crutch of the Democratic party lately to blame all the problems of our country on Bush and the Republican party when in fact both parties had their hand in the cookie jar equally in the problems we are facing. Pointing fingers doesnt solve the problem but it sure is easy to do and the Democrats just seem to be poiting to their hearts content while forgetting the mistakes they made also.

Also for your information, Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac are government sponsored enterprises which were created by the United States Congree . . . so its function is to enhance the flow of credit to targeted sectors of the economy and to make those segments of the capital market more efficient and transparent. So yes, the Democrats should have overhauled it if the system was broken and again, it was created by the government and sponsered by it unlike places like AIG and etc. Maybe people should know these things before commenting.

Also for your information, Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac are government sponsored enterprises which were created by the United States Congree . . . so its function is to enhance the flow of credit to targeted sectors of the economy and to make those segments of the capital market more efficient and transparent. So yes, the Democrats should have overhauled it if the system was broken and again, it was created by the government and sponsered by it unlike places like AIG and etc. Maybe people should know these things before commenting.

-- Posted by jaxspike on Thu, Sep 18, 2008, at 7:29 AM

Hmm.. I am a business major so you really didn't teach me anything. I know what Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are government designed institutions... Don't make assumptions about my knowledge, that is something you tend to be doing lately. One of my econ professors (Dr. Ford) was the President of the Atlanta Federal Reserve bank for years, and knew Alan Greenspan personally. So yeah, I know a thing or two about which corporations are what. However, even though it is a government entity, it is a publicly traded one..

I am not for bailing out IRRESPONSIBLE home owners who knew they preconditions of their loans. However, the individuals who were essentially being lied to in order to make a sale, I feel sorry for... But you didn't answer my question. Are you for capitalism?

Now, not only is Freddi Mac and Fannie Mae governmental entities, so is 79% of AIG. Hmm...

responsible of each person = responsibility of each person

Actually, the United Kingdom has slowly evolved toward socialism and it definitely has no helped them at all. .

I just find it "amusing" that certain Democratic supporters are criticizing the government for bailing out corporations while they want to bail out irresponsible homeowners and give everyone subsidized healthcare. One evil is the same as the other. I am sorry, most of those that claim they can't afford healthcare are the same ones that have a couple of cell phones in their possession and have cable in their house. Maybe people should learn what priorities are? Also, I have read and seen on the news where many people who are having their home repossessed can actually afford the mortgage but think it is "unfair" to make the mortgage payment when their house is worth less than what they pay and owe and so they refuse to pay anymore.

I truly believe in helping the people who are truly in need but so many people are not in that situation.

Sometimes it is best to ignore ignorance instead of recognizing it so that the validity of their argument is then left to wither away and become mute.

Yes, I do believe in capitalism . . . maybe since you are a business major then you could explain the concept to Obama since he fails to understand it truly. I double majored in sociology and criminology while having a double minor in international law and geography but I don't presume to know all but I do try and base my opinion on facts and not party ideology.

- Posted by jaxspike on Thu, Sep 18, 2008, at 9:01 AM

I'm not sure what you are asking him to explain to Obama... Exactly what party ideology are you referring to? You think it is A ok to provide hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to a government financial institution... I have a question for you, why don't they do the same thing for Social Security?

Dianatn - - thanks for the chuckle at the end of a very long day

Get this - I heard on Rush today that Fannie and Freddie borrowed a large sum from the Fed on Monday and invested it in long term bonds(?) at Phillip Morris!

I haven't really seen anyone mention it here - but has anyone read the legislation for the Gramm-Leach-Biley Act?

I read it in it's entirety and felt it encompassed a whole lot more. It either also repealed the Glass-Stegall Act or they repealed it at the same time.

Again, I will be the first to admit I am not highly educated in this area, but if I understood it correctly - I read a lot in it that enabled/created a whole lot of what is going on now including loopholes for financial entities to protect their assests if they made bad decisions, and ways to move their numbers around. I'd just be interested to hear some opionions besides my own.

Pretty much the whole time I was reading it the word Enron kept filling my brain. I was shocked (well - maybe not) to see it passed by such a large margin - hence my comment about Ron Paul because I "know" without even looking he would NEVER - EVER vote for something like this.

Actually today I am beginning to feel very sorry for whoever wins this election;

In the wake of our government creating an entity for large corporations to dump their Bad Debt into, this is in fact saying is Our Government will be taking ALL the bad debt from these companies and dumping it into an account where the is little to no hope for recovery of funds.

These oversized Banks, insurance companies , Finance Companies , broker companies who has this Bad Debt will be able to show nothing but profit. I am thinking Lehman Brothers are wishing they could un-bankrupt and Merrill Lynch could un-sell to Bank of America.

This problem was created by sub-prime mortgages and there are still Billions of Dollars of sub-prime mortgages sitting in America waiting to fail. To me this means more and more money being dumped into this entity of Bad Debt. The housing crisis is far from over for the Average American but it seems to be over for the very ones who created the mess to begin with. But the entity of Bad Debt is just the beginning.

I wish I had seen this coming on Monday I would have bought stock in every large bank in America…the stock market will soar, for a while.

Don't we all wish we could dump our debt into this entity?

Does it make anyone else wonder how much stock was purchased by those people in Washington on Wednesday when the stocks were rock bottom knowing they were about to bailout the stock market.

Most stock prices have tripled since Wednesday...somebody could have made a lot of money in a very short time if they had known there was a bailout in progress.

Nawwww Our government officials wouldn't do that

I could NOT believe it this morning when I read that Obama thinks we still have an extra $50 Billion laying around for the Global Poverty Act. http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/09/19/...

Not only are we about to face a whole lot of poverty right here in our own country from the daily increasing unemployment - this is a very worrisome piece of legislation.

There is an item in there that gives the U.N. authority to supersede our 2nd Amendment - anybody know an MS-13 member who can give me a good deal on an unregistered Baby Glock?

I really don't know who the government thinks it is fooling. Let's be realistic, Palin, if you really look at her, is no more than just what has been implied, a soccer Mom. I do not know a single soccer mom that I feel is a candidate for VP of the USA. We also seem to forget, the education factor, Obama has a extremely impressive resume in that field. What Obama lacks in experience will soon be forgotten by his intelligent performance. It remains unseen what less than four years as governor of a small state would prove as a testimony as to the kind of VP Palin would be. Her speeches are repeats of one another, her inexperience as a speaker are obvious, her candidancy is a mockery to women who look at the issues and not a gender.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/

McCain owns THIRTEEN cars! Obama... owns one ;)

Pretty substantial difference!!

McCain owns 8 properties! Obama... owns one ;)

Do you get the pattern? Republican John McCain thinks somehow he represents the middle class, of course he did say if you're middle class, your annual income is around $5 million. Hmmm....

To be fair here Lets look on the other side of the coin:

Why does Joe Biden lie about a 'drunk driver' killing his 1st wife?

It is terrible to lose family members to a traffic accident. But why on earth would a United States Senator fabricate an embellishment and claim that it was a drunk driver's fault, when the record clearly indicates it was not?

Alcohol didn't play a role in the 1972 crash, investigators found. But as recently as last week, the syndicated TV show Inside Edition aired a clip from 2001 of Biden describing the accident to an audience at the University of Delaware and saying the truck driver "stopped to drink instead of drive."

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs....

So, please tell me how out of touch the Republican party is versus the Democratic Party?

-- Posted by jaxspike on Mon, Sep 22, 2008, at 2:06 PM

Republican John McCain thinks somehow he represents the middle class, of course he did say if you're middle class, your annual income is around $5 million. Hmmm....

-- Posted by darrick_04 on Sun, Sep 21, 2008, at 6:04 PM

Maybe you didn't notice that I mentioned ONE Republican (the one running for president), not all of them...

Obama has met with Bill and Hillary Clinton, top economic advisers and a former Fed Chairman to solidify his position on the situation.

He and most Democrats have stated they will not hand Congress a blank check, without some preconditions consisting of taxpayer protection, homeowner help, etc.

I agree, he does not have all the answers, in fact he has admitted that, but common sense tells you, that the American people are worth FAR more than 5 multi-billion dollar who forgot how to run a business efficiently.

Does anyone find it odd that many of these institutions have more in assets than the government is wanting to lend, so why on earth can they not sell at least half of their assets? Also a few of these companies reported hefty profits last year... Just odd.

Exactly... and for what we might ask? Just to be bailed out for some sort of mess.

This is all so fishy to me and I hope like hell that Congress doesn't just hand over this much money with absolutely no preconditions for the taxpayers!

You just can't get over yourself. He has never once promoted himself as some great savior. Most of the people who are voting for him do not see him as a Savior. It is those who have disdain that continue to AVOID the issues and continue this road of name calling, while all the while pretending to only focus on issues.

He, just like most, has admitted there is more than meets the eye about this situation, and now is the not the time to hamper progress and provide a solution, meanwhile being unforgiving of the guilty.

Yes, many homeowners were guilty, but not all... However ALL of these "financial" institutions knew what they were getting into, the entire time. So, being as we know something will have to be done, there ought to be some measure of protection for taxpayers, including yourself and me, and some relief for those homeowners who are effected by the sub primes mess, etc.

The other day you were saying Democrats should have acted sooner in saving Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, so why shouldn't they act now for millions of Americans? After all, if you don't take care of the underlying problem (i.e. the homeowners who can't afford their loans, which have increased over time), then no matter how many billions and/or trillions you hand over to these institutions, the underlying issue will not be addressed.

I am not advocating handing out hundreds of billions of dollars to anyone, but if it is going to be given to companies who assets quintuple that amount, I would like to see some American people provided help as well.

Lol... Jaxspike. How many times has he been wrong? I can't count many... I haven't noticed many were you have been wrong either, except this instance.

Speaking of "colorful" what about Clay Aiken? Jaxspike, you know you like that news. Don't lie to yourself.

Interesting thoughts:

I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight…

*If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're 'exotic, different.'

*Grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, a quintessential America story.

*If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.

*Name your kids Willow, Trig, and Track, you're a maverick.

*Graduate from Harvard Law School and you are unstable.

*Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.

*If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the State' Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.

*If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.

*If you've been married to the same women for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.

*If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress before finalizing your divorce, you're a Christian.

*If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.

*If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.

*If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave up that to raise a family, your family values don't represent America's.

*If you're husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least on DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and was once a member of a group that advocated the SECESSION of Alaska from the United States of America, your family represents American.

Ok, much clearer now!

Anonymous

Apparently you don't know anything about her. You never seem to dig up the least bit of dirt surrounding her. However, when the name Obama is even mentioned you come running with you nonsense.

The reason people are worried about her is because when she sat down for that interview, with no script in front of her, and no ear piece feeding her the answers, she was PATHETIC, CLUELESS, and it reflects negatively on John McCain for making a calculated political move rather than a responsible, long term move.

Yeah... I think it is because Palin, will be the President if McCain were to die, or become ill... And that is a VERY scary thought, for someone who considers her foreign policy experience as "I can see Russia from Alaska" or someone who didn't get a passport until LAST YEAR!!!! She is pathetic. McCain is not going to lose, he is ready to call off debates Friday... he says so they can pass a bipartisan bill, but we know it is because he doesn't know a THING about the economy except that all of his rich buddies are richer, and the middle class is becoming nonexistent.

And the majority of the companies were over 70+ years old, just like McCain... so you can look at it that way.

Just because you are older and more "experienced" OBVIOUSLY doesn't mean you have the best judgment...Just ask Wall Street.

I found this article very interesting and true!!

BLANKLEY: Media covering for Obama

Tony Blankley

OP-ED:

The mainstream media have gone over the line and are now straight out propagandists for the Obama campaign. While they have been liberal and blinkered in their worldview for decades, in 2007-08 for the first time, the major media are consciously covering for one candidate for president and consciously knifing the other. This is no longer journalism -- it is simply propaganda. (The American left-wing version of the Volkischer Beobachter cannot be far behind.) And as a result, we are less than seven weeks away from possibly electing a president who has not been thoroughly and even half way honestly presented to the country by our watchdogs -- the press.

The image of Barack Obama that the press has presented is not a fair approximation of the real man. They have consciously ignored whole years in his life, and showed a lack of curiosity about such gaps that bespeaks a lack of journalistic instinct. Thus, the public image of Mr. Obama is of a "Man who never was." I take that phrase from a 1956 movie about a real life WWII British intelligence operation to trick the Germans into thinking the Allies were going to invade Greece, rather than Italy, in 1943. Operation "Mincemeat" involved the acquisition of a human corpse dressed as a Maj. William Martin, R.M. and put into the sea near Spain. Attached to the corpse was a brief-case containing fake letters suggesting that the Allied attack would be against Sardinia and Greece.

To make the operation credible, British intelligence created a fictional life for the corpse -- a letter from a lover, tickets to a London theater, all the details of a life -- but not the actual life of the dead young man whose corpse was being used. So, too, the man the media has presented to the nation as Mr. Obama is not the real man.

The mainstream media ruthlessly and endlessly repeats any McCain gaffes, while ignoring Obama gaffes. You have to go to weird little Internet sites to see all the stammering and stuttering that Mr. Obama needs before getting out a sentence fragment or two. But all you see on the networks is an eventual one or two clear sentences from Mr. Obama. Nor do you see Mr. Obama's ludicrous gaffe that Iran is a tiny country and no threat to us. Nor his 57 American states gaffe. Nor his forgetting, if he ever knew, that Russia has a veto in the United Nations. Nor his whining and puerile "come on" when he is being challenged. This is the kind of editing one would expect from Goebbels' disciples, not Cronkite's.

More appalling, NBC's "Saturday Night Live" suggested that Gov. Sarah Palin's husband had sex with his own daughters. That scene was written with the assistance of Al Franken, Democratic Party candidate for Senate in Minnesota. Talk about incest.

But worse than all the unfair and distorted reporting and image projecting, is the shocking gaps in Mr. Obama's life that are not reported at all. The major media simply has not reported on Mr. Obama's two years at Columbia University in New York, where, among other things, he lived a mere quarter mile from former terrorist Bill Ayers-- after which they both ended up as neighbors and associates in Chicago. Mr. Obama denies more than a passing relationship with Mr. Ayers. Should the media be curious? In only two weeks the media has focused on all the colleges Mrs. Palin has attended, her husband's driving habits 20 years ago and the close criticism of Mrs. Palin's mayoral political opponents. But in two years they haven't bothered to see how close Mr. Obama was with the terrorist Ayers.

Nor have the media paid any serious attention to Mr. Obama's rise in Chicago politics -- how did honest Obama rise in the famously sordid Chicago political machine with the full support of Boss Daley? Despite the great -- and unflattering details on Mr. Obama's Chicago years presented in David Freddoso's new book, the mainstream media continues to ignore both the facts and the book. It took a British publication, the Economist, to give Mr. Freddoso's book a review with fair comment.

The public image of Mr. Obama as an idealistic, post-race, post-partisan, well-spoken and honest young man with the wisdom and courage befitting a great national leader is a confection spun by a willing conspiracy of Mr. Obama, his publicist David Axelrod and most of the senior editors, producers and reporters of the national media.

Perhaps that is why the National Journal's respected correspondent Stuart Taylor has written that "the media can no longer be trusted to provide accurate and fair campaign reporting and analysis." That conspiracy has not only photo-shopped out all of Mr. Obama's imperfections (and dirtied up his opponent Mr. McCain's image), but it has put most of his questionable history down the memory hole.

The public will be voting based on the idealized image of the man who never was. If he wins, however, we will be governed by the sunken, cynical man Mr. Obama really is. One can only hope that the senior journalists will be judged as harshly for their professional misconduct as Wall Street's leaders currently are for their failings.

Tony Blankley is a syndicated columnist.

Vindicated . . .what did you mean by this statement?

"Speaking of "colorful" what about Clay Aiken? Jaxspike, you know you like that news. Don't lie to yourself."

Actually, I have a very close friend who is gay and I have always stood up for gay rights and not ashamed to admit it.