If Accurate, Then McCain Is Done

If this report via the McCain camp to US News, also citing Ace, is accurate, McCain's done. There is no such thing as "Straight Talk," if it's to be cowed by fear of being politically incorrect on matters of import. And if McCain isn't willing to call the Dems out on the incompetence and corruption that was and is Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac while defending Free Market capitalism - what good is having him as a Republican president? Frankly, I'd rather see Hillary drafted by the GOP at the last minute than see this nonsense for four years.

Nope, that is not going to happen Why not? 1) It is a complicated argument, and McCain is not good at making complicated arguments, not even about earmarks. (Note, additionally, his lack of defense of the war in Iraq during his debate with Obama. Amazing.)

2) There is a racial component to criticism of the Community Reinvestment Act that can make it sound like you are scapegoating minorities for Wall Street's problems.

3) The campaign believes McCain's time is better spent talking about taxes and energy and healthcare. Really.

Palin should go back to Alaska and bone up on Federal Issues and International Affairs, making it an interesting primary in 2012 if she's of a mind to run. At this point, if the Dems had nominated Hillary this race would already be over. But if McCain's strategy is to continue to insult the base, well, it's over now.

The Straight Talk Express is looking old and mired down in a bunch of liberal BS. I guess there shouldn't be any surprises here. It is McCain, after all.

Ugh!

Comments

[rightwingprof]

It wouldn't work. Unfortunately, perception is everything in elections, and this happened on Bush's watch. No amount of truth telling about the CRA, ACORN, or any of it will change that. McCain can minimize the damage of the Fannie Mae fiasco, but he cannot turn it around against the Democrats. Sorry, but you are being Quixotic here.

[Dan Riehl]

If defending the economic cornerstone of conservatism and democracy itself, Free Market capitalism, is quixotic, then that's what I be.

[Watchman]

I'm still not convinced McCain wants to win...and I'm definitely not convinced he's willing to do what it takes to win. Watching him hold fire in the first debate when Obama (yes, Jim Johnson runs, well ran, my VP select team, why do you ask?) railed against golden parachutes for corrupt executives really turned my stomach. That was a slam dunk winner of a killer soundbite, and all McCain wanted to do was talk about reaching across the aisle.

There are two choices left. Either reach across the aisle and punch Obama in the face for the next thiry days...or lose. I'm afraid I know what McCain is going to pick.

[hdtv]

McCain is in a catch22. Dammed is he does, dammed if he doesn't. But that's the role he chose. Combine that with a few other bad decisions and its a train wreck. I really think the pivot point was when he chose Palin. Out of all the possible candidates, it made no sense and now he is struggling because of it.

[Paul]

Question: would McCain hesitate to name names and ruin careers if the people on those videos, saying that Freddie and Fannie were sound, were members of his own party?

[BobinStamford]

Boo hoo - Grandpa's too old and tired to fight. Best to go home to one of the 8 houses and take one of the 13 cars out for a ride.

Thank you for your service, Maverick!!

Surge on, Sancho Panza!!

[JustOneMan]

The only names he has to connect to the financial melt down are Barry and Joey Hair Plugs...they both took money, looked the other way and hired the disgraced CEO for advice...seems pretty simple...

[IslamoLlama]

"-- I really think the pivot point was when he chose Palin. Out of all the possible candidates, it made no sense and now he is struggling because of it. --"

But... but... it was such a Mavericky move! And I could dig up dozens of Riehl World posts detailing how Palin was going to stomp all over Obama's pointy little head. Nope, I'm with Dan. The reason McCain isn't leading in the polls stems entirely from his inability to attack Obama aggressively enough on as many fronts as possible.

I mean, how could anyone in America NOT believe that Obama is deeply in bed with Freddie and Fannie CEOs and power brokers? After the last six months he's been accused of faking his birth certificate, training as a secret communist, growing up an orthodox Muslim, funding and being funded by numerous terrorist organizations, running corrupt sweetheart land deals, laundering money through a major Chicago hospital to inflate his wife's salary, and surrender Iraq to Ahmadinejad in face-to-face meetings the moment he steals the White House through ACORN-enabled massive voter fraud. After all that, how could anyone not believe another GOP press release claiming that Obama is in bed with the nation's biggest mortgage lender?

Wolf! Wolf damnit! Wooooooooolf!

[redherkey]

I had a coworker point out that it really appears as if McCain is still suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. He seeks the approval and liking of those who are his enemy, while turning on his friends. I'm not sure we should have someone with these persistent issues in the White House.

Of course, neither should we have a Marxist who has zero legitimate experience and has concealed his personal history, working for special handlers who refuse to be seen but wish to control the executive office.

How about we punt the two at the top of their respective tickets and run between Biden and Palin?

[Kitty]

I'm voting for Sarah. McCain just happens to be on the ticket.

...

[seekeronos]

"--- I'm still not convinced McCain wants to win...and I'm definitely not convinced he's willing to do what it takes to win. ---"

I think this election has already been decided... and that the actual procedure of counting the votes is nothing more than going through the motions. Just as nearly every federal election in this country has been since the days of Reagan (who I believe was a wrinkle in the plan) and likely as far back as FDR.

The people - at least where presidential elections are concerned, and likely certain key congressional seats - are not determined by a vote of the populace, or even by the electoral votes (which are easily manipulated) but by power brokers and members of secret cabals such as the CFR, the Bilderberg Foundation, the Club of Rome, the Rothschild family, and many other similar Luciferian groups.

I am convinced that McCain has basically agreed to throw the election to Obama, he is a stalking horse, and is a few shades short of being the same sort of socialist as Obama is, with the exception that the people he wanted to have benefit from the socialism would be his particular group of mega-donors. There could be other issues and dirty laundry that hasn't yet been aired, but if McCain has neglected to thow his best punches by now, likely he won't be doing much more now than to run down the clock just for the sake of continuing the "drama" for entertainment purposes and to feed the news cycle.

Obama is your next president - so now is the time to secure your wealth beyond his reach, and to secure your weapons and ammo caches -- prepare for the worst, and hope that the better will come in 2012 if the republic somehow survives Obama with some shred of its Constitution intact.

And the odds of that aren't too good, either.

The sun has set on the American Empire.

[seekeronos]

And, the fault of mess rests squarely with us - for rejecting the wisdom and the paleoconservatism of giants like Sen. Robert Taft (1889-1953, RIP) and the Hon. Dr. Ron Paul.

We had a chance to choose someone for president who wasn't a complete sell out to the media (during the primaries) or to corporate interests, or to earmarks (pffah to the "Maverick's sharpie pen of Teh Veto")... and we blew it.

We could have selected the "Anti-Bush" (as much as Obama claims to be that) and one-upped the Dems (perhaps even blowing them out of the water), but we didn't. We chose the uber-moderate, the most reachingest-accross-the-aisle Senator instead of a stalwart, unflinching, uncompromising old-school conservative.

There are other words for "moderate":

"Milquetoast"
"Double-minded"
"Unstable in all his ways"
"Two-faced"
"Flip-Flopper"
"Namby-Pamby"

...and I could go on.

We could have had a lion in Dr. Paul, but we settled for the hen-house keeper who gave left the door to the coops open and the lights on for the foxes in McCain.

I can only hope that Obama's taste for socialism which he and his co-conspirators aim to force down our throats is so terribly odious to all that he is ridden on a rail out of office in 2012, if not impeached before then for some high treasonous crime and corruption, things which his cousin Raile Odinga and his other operatives in the Chicago Machine.

May the next four years of Obama be a curse and a pox upon our house, that the people repent of their folly of embracing socialism and entrenched, legitimised gangsterism.

[seekeronos]

Ah, the quote I wanted:

"---- Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. ----" (Barry Goldwater)

[SacTownMan]

Does no one else see that in the last debate McCain was trying to be very careful because the bailout was not yet finished.

Unlike the Chicago Hack pointing fingers and placing blame he was still trying to push this bill through.

Now that the Botox twins of San Fran Nan and Uncle Joey have their fresh faces on and the bill is signed McCain is free to do a little bitch slapping on Xerxes come Tuesday night. He can go out swinging or roll over and play bitch. Either way it's time to shit or get off the pot!

He needs to build on the momentum that Palin brough back to the race last night and step up and do little more schooling of the god king.

There is a month to go and many things can still happen but either way it's time to stop the whining.

Oddball said it best:

"Oddball: Always with the negative waves Moriarty, always with the negative waves."

[Uncle Mikey]

You and Ace are so jumpy, you need to take an election break for a couple of days. Everything's going to be fine.

[JimBob Jones]

seekeronos, sometimes I think you overreach by saying things like: "so now is the time to secure your wealth beyond his reach, and to secure your weapons and ammo caches -- prepare for the worst, and hope that the better will come in 2012 if the republic somehow survives Obama with some shred of its Constitution intact"

Bush did a pretty damn good job killing our wealth. And Bush did a pretty good job killing Constitutional rights. I think either candidate has a good chance of reversing those two things, just because Bush was so extremely bad with them.

[Storybec]

Mind if I ask a serious question? I've seen liberal after liberal claim that Bush has destroyed the Constitution. Can you, JimBob, give one actual example of anyone losing any right? And please link to this loss and only from a serious source. DU, Huff and Kos are not reliable sources. Please convince me.

[seekeronos]

"--- Bush did a pretty damn good job killing our wealth. And Bush did a pretty good job killing Constitutional rights. I think either candidate has a good chance of reversing those two things, just because Bush was so extremely bad with them. ---"

I was actually speaking of personal wealth, but I can see where that interfaces with the general, aggregate wealth of our Republic's citizens.

The collusion of kleptocrats and power-drunk fools in Congress formulated and passed the plans that robbed the treasure of the Republic, and the blood of our countrymen at arms in unnecessary foreign wars to feed their benefactors, and on Constitution-shredding travesties like the Patriot Act.

Bush was only a minor part of the problem, the one who signed off on the foolishness of the Gang of 500+.

We, the People, will be paying for the "rescue" of investment banks, international bankers, the Red Chinese and Japanese sovereign fund holders, and government-sponsored thieves whose connections to Fannie and Freddie are covered with criminal slime... for years if not decades of our tax money. Maybe, and likely, even longer than that, as we will be ground into shameful poverty at the hands of BOTH parties.

Thanks a bunch!

[physics geek]

The campaign believes McCain's time is better spent talking about taxes and energy and healthcare. Really.

Ahh, the good old Maverick who sequestered his biggest asset for the last 5 weeks is now up to his old tricks. And people wonder why I don't like him.

[Wil]

Jimbob

What right did the President took away from you ? Freedom of speech ? You are still posting aren't you and last time I check , NYT , Dan Rather and the rest of the MSM are still trying to destroy him . Destroying America's wealth ?? Let me see , even with the war in Afghanistan and Iraq , the US was doing quite well economically considering that the US was fighting a global war . The US economy went south because politicians on both sides of the aisle especially the Democrats are more interested in staying in power and pocket more money from their lobbyists friends . Fannie May , Freddie Mac would still in business if the Democratic party especially Barney Franks and Maxime Waters did not play politics in 2003 and 2005 and reformed the damn system . Bush did not destroy the economy , irresponsible politics on both sides , the bias media and the entitlement/blame syndrome on the part of many Americans put the US economy in one hell of a mess .

And btw , what President Bush did in protecting the American people does not even compare to what Abe Lincoln did in the US Civil War , Woodrow Wilson during WWI and FDR in WW II . Your problem Jim Bob and the rest of your kind is that you adding more rights to the US Constitution that the Framers never intended nor the added amendments never suggested .

[jharp]

"Palin should go back to Alaska and bone up on Federal Issues and International Affairs, making it an interesting primary in 2012"

You're joking, I'm sure.

If Palin is the best the GOP can come up with in 2012 you all are in for a long dry spell.

A suggestion. Try to come up with someone who is not an ignorant fool when it it comes to foreign policy, the economy (health care, an all time classic), and isn't a total coward about talking with a media person.

Seriously, the GOP is better than this.

Palin as the GOP nominee 2012?

The most ludicrous thing I've heard since I heard that McCain picked her as VP.

[Redteam]

We could have had a lion in Dr. Paul,

and Obama would have been the first person elected with 535 electoral votes.

I would like to see McCain doing 100% straight talk, but even if I knew he was lying 100% of the time, I would vote for him over the socialist black liberationist muslim running on the opposing ticket. I think many people feel the same. I don't think it's over until the polls close on Nov 4.

[North Dallas Thirty]

"Mind if I ask a serious question? I've seen liberal after liberal claim that Bush has destroyed the Constitution. Can you, JimBob, give one actual example of anyone losing any right?"

The actual Constitution, or the one that alleged "constitutional law professor" Joe Biden quoted last night that isn't anywhere close to the actual?

Wonder if jharp can explain that one.....how a brilliant scholar of constitutional law like Joe Biden who (he claims) is smarter than everyone else got that one wrong?

[Denise]

An encouraging article in Washington Post:

McCain Plans Fiercer Strategy Against Obama

"Sen. John McCain and his Republican allies are readying a newly aggressive assault on Sen. Barack Obama's character, believing that to win in November they must shift the conversation back to questions about the Democrat's judgment, honesty and personal associations, several top Republicans said."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/03/AR2008100303738.html?hpid=topnews

[Mere Cadans]

Sorry, you are buying into the liberal dems plan. Get some of McCain's base to not vote and Obama will win. Quite simple. I agree that the bailout was not a good idea.... but do you really think that Obama will be better? You know the answer. Vote McCain even if you have to hold your nose and then Sarah will run in 2012.

[rhodeymark]

"The campaign believes McCain's time is better spent talking about taxes and energy and healthcare"

Who ARE these guys??? Message to wimps - my wife was a strong Hillary supporter who did NOT become a PUMA until she saw Bill Ayers standing on the flag, and learned Obama had lied about the CAC. You're welcome.

[befair]

I still go back to what I have been thinking and posting or awhile now, and that is - Senator McCain is too old, and his age is showing. I honestly do believe that this campaign has worn him down and out. His age and demeanor are unfortunately highlighted by Sarah's youth and exuberance. He has maintained a very strenuous campaign and I do admire his tenacity. Big mistake choosing Palin (although I do think she is adorable and well-meaning), making such a major big deal about "suspending the campaign" and going back to DC to fix everything, and signing a bill with a load of pork (the maverick showed that he did not have the influence he either thought he had or hoped he would). I won't call him out yet - Obama can and does make huge mistakes. However, the fat lady is all warmed up and ready to sing at a moment's notice IMO.

[rhodeymark]

PS - Obama says he specifically wants to fund science education (first debate)? Didn't Kurtz find evidence that a math & science proficiency group was denied a CAC grant? In lieu of Marxist papier mache head grievance theater? MEMO to eunuchs, it ain't racist to focus on Ayers.... he be white.

[Fred Beloit]

Obama has no interest in science or technology, they interfere with several of his BS policies, e.g.: prevention of "climate change" (more accurately global warming), complete freedom from petroleum-based energy in ten years, being for a missile defense system after he was against it.

[Fred Beloit]

McCain is no conservative and only marginally a republican, but I will never, by doing nothing, help elect an outright socialist, radical revolutionary to POTUS. G-- D--- America? Blow up the Pentagon? Spend $100 million attempting to indoctrinate kiddies? Lie in our faces about postracism? Advance the policies of "hope" and "change" (daydreaming and dumping the good with the bad)? No thanks, I'll take chocolate.

[seekeronos]

"--- We could have had a lion in Dr. Paul,

and Obama would have been the first person elected with 535 electoral votes. ---"

I highly doubt that. In fact, if we Republicans had had the courage to vote for Dr. Paul, that would have set the GOP back on track to being the party of "get-off-of-my-front-porch" small government, fiscal responsibility, and creating good will by having a strong, but non-interventionist military defence.

If we (as primary voters in the aggregate) had only looked into Dr. Paul's ideas of sound money, a free market left to moderate itself (with all due diligence to take *government* induced corporate greed to task: it was the government-created CRA and the abuses of certain Democrats who benefited greatly from manipulating FNM/FRE's sponsorship of risky and sub-prime mortgages that lead to most of the speculative real estate bubble of the past half-dozen years)... if we had, as voters, taken the due diligence to ensure that our elected leaders were doing what the Founding Fathers had prescribed in the US Constitution... we'd have no problem supporting Dr. Paul and his (revolutionary - the First American Revolution!) ideas.

And I am convinced that if Dr. Paul were running against Obama, the likelihood of a 535-0 landslide would certainly be much more in Dr. Paul's favour.

...

"--- I would like to see McCain doing 100% straight talk, but even if I knew he was lying 100% of the time, I would vote for him over the socialist black liberationist muslim running on the opposing ticket. I think many people feel the same. I don't think it's over until the polls close on Nov 4.
---"

So would I. And because New York State has some rather difficult hurdles to clear, my favoured candidate, Dr. Chuck Baldwin, won't be available as a write-in choice (as of this posting).

So, that makes my choice fairly easy, if not somewhat bittersweet: the bitterness of McCain offset by the sweetness of Governor Sarah Palin.

[Fred Beloit]

On another thread, Agent (for "change") 112 says:
"Here's the difference between us Fred, you're old school... I'm new school, an agent for change..."
Hmmm, 112 is an "agent for change" of the "new school". Let us examine what seems to be this punk-like braggadocio shall we?

---The government has been growing at a very high rate for many years.
Change = we need to make the government much smaller over the next few years.
---The safety from terrorist attack in our homeland has been improved over the last several years.
Change = We need to allow an increase in the risk of terrorist attack over the next several years.
---The student loan program has been growing over the past several years.
We need to reduce the number of student loans over the next several years
---We now have a new Dem majority running Congress
Change = we need a Repub Congress soon.

I could go on. Being an agent of change means...what?

[ramba]

AND I HOPE...

SOMEONE EXPOSES OBAMA FOR CLAIMING TO HAVE BEEN BORN IN HAWAII (USA).

OBAMA WAS ACTUALLY BORN IN KENYA (MAKING HIM INELIGIBLE FOR THE US PRESIDENCY)!

DON'T BELIEVE IT?

ASK OBAMA CAMPAIGN TO PROVE IT!!!!!

(The docs provided by Hawaiian birth registry are bogus - American Mom/Kenyan Dad, born in KENYA.
Returned to Hawaii days after his birth in Africa.
Birth Certificate = "Lost").

[chsw]

Just remember, the polls are now weighted to reflect all of the ACORN-registered dead, fictitious and illegal voters who will certainly show up on Election Day.

Absentee ballots, anyone?

chsw

[seekeronos]

"--- ACORN-registered dead, fictitious and illegal voters... ---"

Wait for the Ohio state rolls to mysterious swell to twice or three times its 2004 population, with Jennifer "Ms. Fairness" Brunner minding the electoral store.

[rightwingprof]

All you have to do to see why we may lose this election is look at the "party before country" comments in this thread.

Here's a reality pill for you. Let's say McCain comes out with both barrels like you want him to do. Here's what the Dems are going to come back with.

"If they knew it was a powder keg, why didn't they do anything about it when they had majorities in Congress?"

Interestingly, no Republican can give me an answer to that question. Were they too busy expanding federal government power in other areas? Did they just not care? Would it have screwed with Bush's ownership society theme?

I don't know what the answer is, but I do know what the Dems would say it was. They'd point to the opensecrets page and show how many Republicans were getting big contributions from Fannie Mae.

The only thing this line of attack would do is blow up in McCain's face.

[seekeronos]

All things being equal, Prof... we GOP'ers need to seriously look into reforming the party from the ground up.

Or as we in the software engineering biz might say, "create a new fork, and merge in with some code that actually works".

And by that, I mean taking the truly conservative, small-gov't, fiscally responsible members of the GOP and knocking up on the doors of the Constitution Party.

Within a couple-three Congressional election cycles, if we could then get some reliable paleoconservatives-on-shorter-leashes in DC with a (C) after their names... we just might be able to check the power of the socialists who have ruined the Democrats, and who are ruining the GOP.

[joeb]

Well good Sunday morning to all. Seems to me the bad economy will cost McCain the election. That and the MSM attacks on Sarah Palin. Katie Couric who was close to being fired now will be the darling of the Democratic Party for her interview with Palin. Rush Limbaugh may tell his 33 million listeners that McCain can still win but I doubt it. In 1992 the economy went bad and Clinton and the Democrats used it("It's the Economy Stupid")to win. Since money is the only value that counts in our society people will vote their pocketbooks every time. And right now they are scared and believe it is the Republicans fault. I firmly believe this housing bubble started with Clinton and the Democrats changing rules set in place after the great depression so that every American could own a house whether they could afford it or not. Also they(along with the Republicans)let the predatory lenders loose on everyone. Banks became investment firms instead of just banks.
Limbaugh kept telling his listeners in 1992 that George Bush Sr. was going to win despite polls showing the opposite was going to happen. Rush will try this tactic again but it will not work. McCain has been knocked out by the bad economy and Sarah Palin got snookered by Katie Couric. Those two things spell defeat for the Republicans this time out. At least Hillary Clinton will not be President. That is something to be thankful for. I will vote for John McCain because I believe he is the best man for the job. I believe he is a real leader and has the experience to be President and Obama does not.
And I think it is highly possible that this economic crisis was engineered by the Democrats to win this election.

[gbug]

Would you let a doctor with one year experience operate on your dying mother's heart? Probably not. Would you allow a stranger to baby-sit your kids? How can you put a man who has only spent one year as a sitting senator to be our president? Change...change..hope...change.. I have heard that way too much over the past 19 months. Let's add in the usual talking points of... Halliburtin. Big Oil. Blackwater.(That's a mention about the paid for hire killers doing the dirty work for the Starbucks drinkers and Maddin players), Dick Cheney, global warming, Iraq war, Rush Limbaugh, George Bush. Okay. We get it. Let's not talk about how Barney Frank and Chris Dodd ruined the economy by pushing banks and Fanny and Freddy to make loans to anyone who showed up with no down payment or any financial means to pay a mortgage. Very progressive! It would be unfair if people who can't afford homes can't get mortgages. Awesome job Barney Frank and Chris Dodd. That's not biting our asses now... is it? I remember back in 1984 when my parents saved up a 20% down payment to buy a home and put up with Jimmy Carter's 18% housing loan interest and were jazzed to be home owners. Please do not tell me that the people who bought a home with no money down and paid interest only loans are victims. That is an insult to my father and every other hard working American who finds themselves capable of paying their mortgages. Obama might get in as our president, and he may help some people that don't work get some stuff...But for the rest of the hardworking folks who will only see about 32 cents on the dollar after taxes when he gets in(and I don't even make a lot and know this will be my fate)...I will be surprised by how much you love him when you're money disappears.

P.S. Look at his tax plan. No one is safe.

[David Price]

Lots of venom, yet the same index card of talking points going back to the earliest days of the Republican Party. Harping that the Dems will inflate welfare programs, raise taxes and push government into our lives is simply "simple." The attorneys on this panel have it right. The comments about Bush trampling our rights are on target. He has been shameful and embarrassing to all of us... left, center and right.

Google around for the forensic accounting analysis of the McCain and Obama plans to see just how much money you'll pay in taxes comparatively. It turns out that for a household that makes 100,000, the difference would be less than $500. Not bad considering Bush considers us worth a paltry $600.

And the mortgage mess was a pure competitive product debacle between Fannie/Freddie and the Wall Streeters. This will be hard to dig up, but it's true. The crisis was much less the fault of uninformed buyers. Selling the bad debt was the hottest product in the world and Fannie had the market cornered due to their close ties to the actual mortgages. They could sell them cheaper than Wall Street who was forced through more middlemen. Legislation (motivated by Wall Street lobbyists) was passed to curtail Fannie/Freddie's mortgage inventory thus swaying the product stock to the Investment Banks and Insurers. And then greed was set afire.

This crisis is too complex and widespread to be laid at the feet of the predominantly ignorant among us. The complexity alone condemns those able to think in complexities. Hopefully this was a little more than the average talking points.

And for what it's worth, most of us are hard working Americans who love this country.