McCain Urges Bush To Spend $1 Trillion On Bailout -- Without Congressional Approval

I'm not making this up. John McCain today urged the Bush Administration -- on more than one occasion -- to immediately and uniliterally spend $1 trillion buying up home mortgages.

I was watching live when he made the proposal this morning, and it seemed like such a staggeringly insane idea that I assumed he couldn't be serious. He couldn't think that Bush should just spend $1 trillion without asking Congress for permission...could he?

But then I saw his economic adviser try to back the idea up, and then I saw McCain make the proposal again during the NBC Nightly newscast. So he's serious. He really thinks that Bush should just spend $1 trillion without talking to Congress, without seeking approval, without building any sort of consensus -- without getting any protections whatsoever for taxpayers.

Update: Here's video of him making the proposal on three separate occasions Tuesday.

End update.

::: ::: :::

This is the same John McCain who just a couple of days ago was railing on the $1 trillion price tag of the bailout (when it was actually $700 billion).

But just a few days after railing against the unbridled power of government, McCain now seems to envision the presidency as a dictatorship. He now thinks that Bush should just spend $1 trillion without allowing anyone to ask any questions -- and he supports doing it just one day after the House of Representatives voted down a $700 billion bailout.

This won't suprise anyone on the left. The question I have is this: when are conservatives going to wake up and realize that despite all his bluster about being a conservative, the Republican nominee for president has proposed the single largest expenditure in the history of this nation -- and that he's proposed that it be made without the approval of Congress?

Comments

[DaOne]

McFacist.

[AmericasMostGangsta]

oops, that's 100 TRILLION. Wow, i tell a joke the way mccain lectures on economics!

[AmericasMostGangsta]

Why not make it 100 Million???

[knowhelpnow]

They have already did that one.

[ChaosTChoir]

Douglas Adams had the right description of McCains's thinking " It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes."

However, still half the country thinks McCain is rational and thinks he is the better choice for the next president.

Why don't they get it that potatoes don't work?

[OhMyGoodness]

Chaos half the country does not think he's rational, half the country cares that he's not black.

[Egalitare]

What a unique and novel idea. A "go it alone", unilateral proposal, completely devoid of oversight.

'Cause if you want to put out a fire, just add more kerosene-soaked logs, right?

[knowhelpnow]

Well what I see if Bush does what McCain says well we can bet on a landslide in November.

[MarkVA71]

This man is seriously reckless. If he becomes president we'll all be dead within minutes!

[poco767c]

screw the Republic, America needs an emperor. Look how well it worked for Rome

[Ivygreen]

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18591.htm

OMG

[metalpipe]

Nice. I feel sorry for my daughters chances at a normal life.

[kma1960]

I can believe this, in the interview with Katie Couric, Palin said that it could be trillion that would be needed to bail out the economy - hmmmmm wonder where she got that number. So yes I believe it.

[metalpipe]

The actual number needed to completely correct for the nefarious activity in our financial sector is closer to 4 or 5 trillion. The numbers I've seen concerning the weight of the sub-prime loans is around 280 billion dollars.

[Ivygreen]

Is this step one in suspension of constitution, and eventually the election?

[onenation]

McCain's proposal is more like somethine the world saw about 60 years ago. It starts with an F and describes government by the corporations.

[NamelessGenXer]

BINGO! Republican Agenda At-a-Glance: The 14 Tenets of Fascism:

1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism
2. Disdain for the importance of human rights
3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause
4. The supremacy of the military/avid militarism
5. Rampant sexism
6. A controlled mass media
7. Obsession with national security
8. Religion and ruling elite tied together
9. Power of corporations protected
10. Power of labor suppressed or eliminated
11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts
12. Obsession with crime and punishment
13. Rampant cronyism and corruption
14. Fraudulent elections

http://www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htm

[metalpipe]

I'm so proud of this country. Who could of thought we could get here from there, wherever 'there' was.

What I see from my very small corner of the universe is a system set by and for the wealthy to maintain their status. We the people have never been more than cattle to be marginally maintained.

[Dap]

When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the Flag carrying the Cross. - C.S. Lewis

[grf67]

McCain has now officially lost it.

[kfdan]

"John McCain today urged the Bush Administration -- on more than one occasion -- to immediately and uniliterally spend $1 trillion buying up home mortgages."

Hell, why not 5 trillion ... it's only money ... we don't have!!! McCain is grandstanding again!

[luvangelHussein330]

Looks like Bush took him up on his word:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a9MTZEgukPLY&refer=home#

[notthistime]

that isn't the same thing.

[thegreatgiginthesky]

Yep, McCain is proving once again that like little George he has no respect for the constitution or the rule of law.