Will McCain be the death of the Republican Party or it's savior by destroying it so completely that they rethink what they stand for?

Will McCain be the death of the Republican Party or it's savior by destroying it so completely that they rethink what they stand for? 

McCain is so far down in the polls and is running such a dirty campaign that he is bringing the other Repubs. down with him. It looks like the Dems will have control over the house and the white house. But they also might get a filibuster proof 60 votes in the senate which is really important.

For the next 4-8 years at least the repubs will have no control in our government. Three things could arise out of the devastation.

• The republicans would not look inward and realise that their failed policies were to blame, not Obama. They will continue to spout of hate and tax breaks for the rich. When the economy is fixed by the next election they will try to play the hate and fear card and win some seats back.
• The Repubs could realise that their downfall was due to some failed policies and forgetting about who the were. The would go back to being fiscal conservatives (58% of the National debt is from the three Bush terms). Let conservatism lead their way by promising to cut back and give the government back to the states. This might work but is not likely to happen.
• Also, a third party could finally gain some footing. Running on the fiscal conservative but social liberal platform. They could rise above the republicans and compete and we might truly have a 3 party system.

Blog Action Day - Poverty, and growth potential.

Poverty in this country has reached epidemic proportions. 35.9 Million people in the US live in poverty. That is just too much. We have to do something. I hope Blog Action Day helps the cause.

Republicans have been telling us since Reagan to just keep waiting and the wealth will trickle down. Well wealth doesn't fallow the law of gravity, it seems to be rising. The Rich are getting wealthier and poor are getting poorer. We now the even the rich are hitting a wall of failure because the economy is crashing and they don't have any real wealth because the only thing that trickled down to the poor was credit. This fake wealth can only last so long. 

But that can change. We need to expand our economy in a real way and huge untapped resource we have is the poor. When you increase the wealth in the lower class you create customers. When you have customers they buy stuff and the rich will profit from this, much more than some tax breaks. The rich can only buy so much stuff, we need to increase the buying power of the lower class.

Fiscal Conservatives??

Why do Republicans calls themselves Fiscal Conservatives? It makes no sense, so why do we fall for it?

Past Presidents added $660 billion before Carter.

Added during Carter's four years: $337 billion.

Added during Ronald Reagan's eight years: $1.6 trillion.

Added during George H. W. Bush's four years: $1.6 trillion.

Added during Bill Clinton's eight years: $1.5 trillion.

Added during George W. Bush's seven years, nine months: $4.5 trillion.

Portion of the $9.5 trillion added to the national debt during the past 31 years and seven months that came during Republican presidencies: $7.7 trillion.

Percentage of that $7.7 trillion added during George W. Bush's two terms:58%.

They call Democrats Tax & Spenders, what is so bad about being responsible. They are the Spend and Borrowers and we have seen where that leads us. We need to learn from past mistakes and pay for what we spend at all levels in our lives from the Federal Government to small businesses on down to our personal check books. They all need to learn to live within their means. The Republicans have proven that they can not do that.

Connecticut Ruling Overturns Ban on Same-Sex Marriage

Connecticut Ruling Overturns Ban on Same-Sex Marriage would normally be big news. But during financial armeggedon it turns out the Republicans have more to worry about. This is still big news even though the NYTimes only gave in a little 1.5 inch wide column on the front page.

The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled on Friday that same-sex couples have the right to marry, reversing a lower court decision that had concluded that the civil unions legalized in the state three years ago had offered the same rights and benefits as marriage.

With the 4-to-3 ruling, Connecticutbecomes the third state in the nation to legalize same-sex marriage. California legalized gay marriage in May 2008, and Massachusetts in 2004.

It is nice to see some good in this world and not just a bunch of news stories about how everyone in the world is broke. Oh and another good news story is that Oil has fallen to $82.99 so gas is cheaper. But that really doesn't matter because soon we will all be unemployed and will have nowhere to drive.

Obama ready to be President, McCain not even planning on it.

Obama has organised the Obama Transition Project, with roughly a dozen teams of six to eight people to plot out the approach for each agency, according to a Democratic official. This is highly organized approach to get ready to take over in about 100 days. It is a complex government and takes time to plan and get the right team in place.

McCain has no plan in place yet. He is planning on waiting until after the election to start planning. He does want to punt the cart before the horse. Almost every major candidate in resent history as fromed a team of some sort.

This just shows how obama works. He is highly organized and well-thought-out his entire campaign has been and continues to be. It very much shows how he would run his administration. McCain is looking like he doesn't even think he has a chance on winning this.

I Got This

That really should be Obama's new slogan.

Comments from the Republicans

How can they spin this thrashing... by giving up and admiting Obama won. There are just some things that you just can't spin.

Even Bill Bennett, ever the Republican optimist, conceded that the Illinois Democrat scored higher marks. Said this tonight, "I confess I so much admire McCain, but I just don't think the campaign is equal to the story,' he said. "I just don't think it's equal to the man, it hasn't been. ... We needed a breakthrough, talking about the economy. I think he was a little better than last time, but he didn't break through enough, and he's behind. So it just wasn't good enough for McCain in terms of what it had to be."

Most republicans are now saying that McCain needed to hit a grand slam tonight and he didn't do that, even worse he lost the debate by a sizable margin.

The Debate... Clean Sweep For Obama

The post-debate polls, which provide viewers with a somewhat skewed but important insight into how each candidate fared say, by and large, that Obama scored a victory in the second debate.

NBC's focus group of undecided Pennsylvania voters had the Illinois Democrat winning by roughly a 60-40 split. Frank Luntz's focus group, over at Fox, showed undecided voters leaning towards Obama because of his position on health care. CBS's focus group of independents had the Democratic nominee winning the debate at 39 percent to McCain's 27 percent, with 35 percent of the respondents saying it was a tie. Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, a Democratic polling firm, had a focus group of undecideds leaning to Obama by a margin of 42 percent to 24 percent.

Meanwhile, SurveyUSA interviewed 741 debate watchers in the state of Washington, 54 percent of whom thought Obama was the "clear winner" compared with McCain's 29 percent. That same polling firm had the first debate as a tie. In tonight's survey: 42 percent of respondents said McCain was too forceful.

Some of us are still doing good

It is nice to know that some of us can still afford the simple things in life. Like James Denton can affford half a tank of gas not that prices have dropped. Alice Smetke can now afford to get her frozen pizza out of layaway. A-Rod can afford to wipe his mouth with a $100 bill. Well what else would you like him to use, a $20, The commoners touch those.

McCain Voted To Protect Domestic Terrorists Who Carry Out Violence At Abortion Clinics»

This morning on CBS’s Early Show, McCain-Palin campaign spokesperson Nancy Pfotenhauer attempted to defend Gov. Sarah Palin’s (R-AK) debunked claims that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) has been “palling around” with former radical William Ayers. Referencing a recent New York Times article, Pfotenhauer claimed that if McCain “hung out with somebody who had bombed abortion clinics” it would be a legitimate topic of discussion. She explained:

PFOTENHAUER: The article also concluded is that if Senator McCain had hung out with somebody who had bombed abortion clinics, no one would consider [raising the issue] illegitimate.

Pfotenhauer’s invocation of abortion clinic bombers in defense of McCain is ironic given that McCain has repeatedly voted against protecting Americans from domestic terrorists in the anti-choice movement. On multiple occasions throughout his career, McCain sought to limit the government’s ability to punish violent anti-choice fanatics by:

– Voting against making anti-choice violence a federal crime. As the Jed Report notes, McCain voted in 1993 and 1994 against making “bombings, arson and blockades at abortion clinics, and shootings and threats of violence against doctors and nurses who perform abortions” federal crimes.

– Opposing Colorado’s “Bubble Law.” McCain said he opposed Colorado’s “Bubble Law,” which prohibited abortion protesters from getting within 8 feet of women entering clinics [Denver Post, 2/27/00]. The law was later upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

– Voting to allow those fined for violence at clinics to avoid penalties by declaring bankruptcy. NARAL Pro-Chioce America notes that McCain “voted to allow perpetrators of violence or harassment at reproductive-health clinics to avoid paying the fines assessed against them for their illegal acts by declaring bankruptcy.”

Where is the Maveric here, he just sounds like the usual neo-conservative that the Republicans put up here. They like the fight for life when it comes to abortion but also tend to kill tons of people by starting bloody wars and executing people. Got to love the Hypocrit Party. 

Ugly Campaign Season

Obama - Palin-McCain are saying that Obama is qualified because he had a dinner with and served on a charitible board with Bill Ayers, a terrorist who helped found a group called the Weather Underground.  The Weather Underground is a left-wing extremist group that was responsible for bombing both the U.S. Capitol and the Pentagon in the 70’s.  The group was also responsible for a pipe bomb that killed a San Francisco police officer in 1970. Ayers was never actually convicted of a crime and is now highly respected school reformer and professor in Chicago.

The Republicans are getting beaten soundly i n the polls and are going back to what they do best. fear mongering and making up lies to defame their opponent. Well they really should look in their on closet before accusing Obama of have dinner with radical.

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/GOP_hits_rock_bottom_Calls_Obama_in_an_official_release_terrorists_best_friend.html

McCain - "John McCain sat on the board of...the U.S. Council for World Freedom," said Begala, "The Anti-Defamation League, in 1981 when McCain was on the board, said this about this organization. It was affiliated with the World Anti-Communist League - the parent organization - which ADL said 'has increasingly become a gathering place, a forum, a point of contact for extremists, racists and anti-Semites.' 

The USCWF was founded in Phoenix, Arizona in November 1981 as an offshoot of the World Anti-Communist League. The group was, from the onset, saddled with the disreputable reputation of its parent group. The WACL had ties to ultra-right figures and Latin American death squads. Roger Pearson, the chairman of the WACL, was expelled from the group in 1980 under allegations that he was a member of a neo-Nazi organization.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/06/why-mccains-time-with-cou_n_132470.html

Palin - He Husband was a member of the Alaska Independence Party until she ran for Governor. She was not a official member but has done work for them. The Alaska Independence Party is a group that wants Alaska to succeed from the union. This is so dangerous, we could have the first person in office that wants to break up the union since 1860.  Come on we can do better that that.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-mackey/terrorists-secessionists_b_132010.html

Oh yea, and the squeaky clean Governor is also skipping out on a lot of taxes. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122334021713509963.html

Hummer Rage

I was driving down the road in my Malibu when a jerk in a white Hummer H2 decided he wanted to be in my lane and just moved on over without looking or using his turn signal. He forced me into the center turn lane despite my long drawn out honking.

This made something click in my head. Over the past couple of year I have heard all about "Prius Rage" because they go annoyingly slow to get really good gas mileage. No with $4 gas we have changed as a society. We now envy the Prius driver and truly hate the Hummer driver. Now every time I see one it creates a visceral reaction of "Hummer Rage".

The Bailout add-ons that put it over the top.

Well it is good to see that the votes of our congressmen can't be baught by silly addition to bill they hate. Let's see what their last bit of moral cost us. 

Sec. 308. Increase in limit on cover over of rum excise tax to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Sec. 309. Extension of economic development credit for American Samoa.

Sec. 310. Extension of mine rescue team training credit.

Sec. 317. Seven-year cost recovery period for motorsports racing track facility.

Sec. 325. Extension and modification of duty suspension on wool products; wool research fund; wool duty refunds.

Sec. 502. Provisions related to film and television productions. 

Sec. 503. Exemption from excise tax for certain wooden arrows designed for use by children.

Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008

The above does things like extend tax credits on renewable energy and a tax benefit for bicycle commuters (HT Chip).

And finally:

Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008

Which essentially mandates health insurance coverage for mental illnesses (including addiction) be equal to that of physical illnesses.

How it all went down, The Bailout Bill

President Bush says he will sign the bill tonight. What help were our other Presidents?

Congressman Emanuel: I Want To Thank Barack Obama Who Made Numerous Calls To Help Pass This Legislation.  Many congressmen are crediting Obama with changing their minds to vote Yea on this bill.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) says he didn't speak on the Senate floor in favor of the economic rescue plan Wednesday night because he didn't think the Democrats wanted him or his politics there, and he did not want to get in the way of bipartisan progress on the bill, according to the Denver Post.

"The Mavrik"

You have to love democracy, we let these people vote.


Taken by Amanda Marcotte of Pandagon.

The House has Passed the Bailout Bill 263-171

In a dramatic reversal, the House today approved by a comfortable margin a $700 billion financial rescue package that will bring the greatest intervention of the federal government into the private marketplace since the Great Depression, attempting to intervene on the economy slide toward another depression.

The house has passed the bailout bill 263-171. 26 more Republicans voted for it this time. Pelosi says, "there will be accountability". Now we wait for Bush to sign it into law. We expect him to sign it.

The bill passed the house by a comfortable bipartisan margin. Most Democrats voted in favor of the bill (172 yeas to 63 nays), while a slight majority of Republicans voted against the bill (91 yeas to 108 nays).

The Senate approved the plan on Wednesday night by a vote of 74 to 25, after adding a portfolio of popular tax provisions. The bill now heads to President Bush who is eager to sign it.

Formally known as the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, it would authorize Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. to initiate what is likely to become the biggest government bailout in U.S. history, allowing him to spend up to $700 billion to relieve faltering banks and other firms of bad assets backed by home mortgages, which are falling into foreclosure at record rates.

Many lawmakers who changed sides, said they had agonized over the decision amid a torrent of calls and e-mail messages from constituents, and several cited a provision added by the Senate increasing the amount of savings insured by the federal government to $250,000 per account from $100,000.



“Nobody in East Tennessee hates the fact more than me that I am going to vote ‘yes’ today after voting ‘no’ on Monday,” Representative Zach Wamp, a Republican, said in a speech on the House floor.

“Monday I cast a blue-collar vote for the American people,” he said. “Today I am going to cast a red, white and blue-collar vote with my hand over my heart for this country, because things are really bad and we don’t have any choice. We’re out of choices and our backs are up against the wall.”

The Greatest Debate in History (Not really...)

Well ok, maybe it didn't turn out like that. They were no huge moronic sound bite that really stands out from Palin. It was moreover just an overall theme of ignorance coming out of her mouth. When she actually answered the question, which was rare, her answer was wafer thin.

Here are my key points that I got out of it.

- She wants to expand the VP powers beyond what the constitution allows and even beyond what Cheney has done. Palin seems to think that the Constitution allows the Vice President to "flex" between the Executive and the Legislative Branch!

- If she had no clue about an answer she would say getting back to taxes or energy even when it had nothing to do with the question of what Biden was saying. Her answers were so rehearsed that she would reply to thing that he hadn't even come close to talking about.

- The only subject on which Palin displayed superior knowledge was when she corrected Biden on the proper delivery of "Drill, baby, drill!"

- I really don't think she knows what an Achilles heel is, because she went nowhere near that one.

- Biden made great strides when he cried up there talking about what single parents go through just looking for a little help.

- Great non-answer, Ifill: "As Vice President, there's nothing you've promised as a candidate that you would take off the table because of this financial issue?"
Palin: "There is not, and how long have I been at this? Like five weeks?"


An Obama aide summarizes the night's proceeding as such: Palin did a good job, as expected, but Biden was the star of the evening, hitting the right tones, coming off passionate and informed and not seeming demeaning in the slightest to his combatant.

Obama/McCain made some great strides today, they picked up a lot of single parents and women today. Biden showed that he is by leaps and bounds the better VP candidate.