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Sunday Roundup


How busy imploding was John McCain this week? Over three crisis-laden days, he couldn't find the time to read Sec. Paulson's original 3-page bailout plan. How not-ready-for-prime-time was Sarah Palin? When pressed to cite an example of McCain pushing for oversight of Wall Street, she told Katie Couric: "I'll try to find you some, and I'll bring 'em to you." How bitter was Bill Clinton? He couldn't stop singing McCain's praises, from Larry King to The View to Letterman to GMA. How much did Joe Biden need a history book? He claimed, "When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on television." How unhinged was Newt Gingrich? He called McCain's campaign suspension gambit "the greatest single act of responsible leadership ever taken by a presidential candidate." How steamed was David Letterman? See for yourself.

Follow Arianna Huffington on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ariannahuff

 
 
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11:51 AM on 09/29/2008
Ms. Huffington, I usually agree wholeheartedly with every point you make in your articles/blogs. However, in this one, I must take small exception with your criticism of Bill Clinton. I certainly agree that he has not been a "cheerleader" for Obama, but I don't see that as necessarily a bad thing. He is a savvy politician and knows that preaching to the choir does little toward swaying voters who are on the fence. Being conditionally kind to McCain, I think, is his way of not turning off voters with the tiresome "negativity-toward-the-opponent" tactic that just makes undecideds and the likely McCainites (who are not as confident as they once were) tune out anything Bill Clinton might say to sway their vote. True, I wish he sounded more pro-Obama; however, I think he might just be working the "other side" of the room. For all our sakes, I hope his overall strategy works. And, as we get closer to election day, I hope he does share a public enthusiasm for Obama that will put the final positive spin on the undecideds thinking/voting direction.
11:33 PM on 09/28/2008
Arianna

Spot on as always.

McCain does not know the issues. Win, Win, Win,,, what? WIN WHAT? A needless war based on lies and discovered by the whole world? KNOWN THE WORLD OVER?

McCain couldn’t even look up from his podium during the debate. Parents,,,, what would this tell you about,,, Little Johnny,,, and his honesty????

More of the SAME,, McCain,,, A FEAR and HATE, Talking Points. Stump Speeches, and ROVE Mantras.

In context however, I still am forever saying I am going to get that record,,, when CDs have been out, replacing,,, Vinyl 33 rpm Long Playing recordings for decades.

Wait till Sarah Palin bans half the books of Sir Isaac Newton, Copernicus, Galileo, Boyle, Marx, Darwin, and mandates the Smithsonian to build a Creationist wing.

JMO

This Crisis and Bailout is a HOAX!

NOW what to do?

Ummm? Lemmy think?

Ok,, OK,, Got it.

A. Gather groups dressed in suit coats and ties, women in business outfits. Carry Cameras.
B. Go to ALL downtown Business districts.
C. Begin to march,,, NOT IN A LINE,, but in a circle, around City Center. Counter Clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere, Clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.
D. Set leaders at the corners of the march, if the crowd is walking 4 abreast, march 4 blocks square. 6 abreast, march 6 blocks square, and so on.

Walk silently, without any signs, NO chanting, NO slogans or protesting,,, JUST WALK.

Just a suggestion.

All the best

Knute Neo-LIB
12:37 AM on 09/29/2008
Oh,,, sorry,,, I forgot to explain.

The reason for marching Counter Clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and Counter Clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere is symbolic and for identification.

Counter to the Coriolis Effect. The way things are seen to turn on the earth, when viewed from above.

Counter Coriolis,,,,, Symbolic of,,, TURNING BACK TIME.

All the best

Knute Neo-LIB
12:54 AM on 09/29/2008
Oh Doof me. Sorry.

I meant Clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.

(BLUSHING)

Sorry,, I’m OLD and I’m blind,, I use a computer reader to type.

To be very honest, I had even forgotten which way the Coriolis turned. SOOOOO,,, I had to fill a sink in the kitchen with water,, dump in a bunch of Coco Puffs and then drain the sink to see which way it turned. What a Brain Freeze!

Sorry,, Sorry!

I will be back later,,, I need to go clean my sink of soggy Coco Puffs.


All the best

Knute Neo-LIB
09:13 PM on 09/28/2008
Too big to fail is too big.

Hopefully this will be remembered the next time the government is asked to approve a merger.

Oh, I guess they did!

Down the rabbit hole we go!
11:54 PM on 09/28/2008
Rem,,,???

America will be very lucky if it ends up with 4 or 5,, HUGE, HUMONGUS BANKS.

And you are witnessing this Banking takeover and consolidations happen,,,, with FULL Government approval and assistance!

WITH YOUR OWN EYES!

WATCH!

All the best

Knute Neo-LIB
Mildmannered
"Be excellent to each other"
09:10 PM on 09/28/2008
Why didn't McCain look at Obama during the debate?

My answer is that the greatest fear of McCain and of his campaign was that he would lose his cool during the debate (as he has a history of doing).

So to reduce the likelihood of that happening, by being angered watching Obama talk, he decided to not look at Obama at all. Even though that made McCain look small and disrespectful.

However his anger still seeped out around the edges with his contemptuous remarks about Obama and the mutterings under his breath.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
FrictionSoul
09:40 PM on 09/28/2008
I'm an expert lipreader. I'm 100% that McCain said "that's horseshit - horseshit."

See Bob Cesca's blog for more:

http://www.bobcesca.com/blog-archives/2008/09/the_highlight_r.html
10:26 PM on 09/28/2008
He did say that I say the video and heard it too!!
marinade
Not if a pipeline will break, but when.
10:33 PM on 09/28/2008
Somebody needs to take McCain to task and tell him if he can't muster the courage and decency to face the man he is smearing and being condescending to, he should excuse himself from future debates.
01:56 AM on 09/29/2008
Thank you, Thank you for that point you made. Any language or speech therapist stresses the need to make eye contact as common decency. Obama did not deserve that diss. I love Barack, but he is driving me nuts with all that coolness. I know his approach is the right one it is just that I am more pugnacious. I was fit to be tied after the second acknowledgement - ' I agree with John......' - my suspicions were confirmed when less than an hour after the debate ended, the repubs produced a TV ad using a montage of all the times Barack said ' I agree with...' to negatively underscore their contention that he was not fit to lead. However I am consoled by the polls showing that the independent voters were offended by McCain unprofessionalism.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Phalanxman
Everything in Moderation
08:48 PM on 09/28/2008
I guess Bill Clinton doesn't want to be a Supreme Court Justice after all.
11:01 PM on 09/28/2008
Disbarred attorneys are no longer eligible to be Justices.
Mildmannered
"Be excellent to each other"
11:32 PM on 09/28/2008
You don't even have to be an attorney to be a Supreme Court justice
Mildmannered
"Be excellent to each other"
07:58 PM on 09/28/2008
Plenty of ignorant and greedy people and institutions are to blame for this financial mess (to put it very mildly).

However, it was the responsibility of the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, the Secretary of the Treasury and the Chairman of the SEC to have seen the crisis coming a few years ago and if not stop it at least warn us.

(Heck, three years ago a friend and I were talking about how all of these "suicide mortgages" (the term "subprime mortgages" was not in vogue yet) were going to come crashing down and take a lot of innocent people with them.)

Paulson, Cox, and Bernanke were MIA.
09:00 PM on 09/28/2008
We refinanced a conventional loan five years ago and were amazed at all the BS loans you could get, including 1 1/2 % !!! My husband said immediately, "Well, I hope they aren't lending any of MY money for these mortgage schemes."

Then my broker had the nerve to tell me a few days ago that no one saw this coming. Give me a break!!! The greedy boys got theirs and it looks like they will again with this bail out. I bet Wall Street has already found the loopholes needed to scam this system too.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
waitforme
07:48 PM on 09/28/2008
"When pressed to cite an example of McCain pushing for oversight of Wall Street, she told Katie Couric: "I'll try to find you some, and I'll bring 'em to you.""

Actually, she said, 'I'll try to find you some ....and [big, awful grin] I'll bring em to YA.'

The 'YA' is so patronizing that I wondered if Couric wanted to get up and leave immediately. 'Ya' implies an intimacy that just isn't there. It talks down. This locution, including the "'em", made me feel outraged; I happened to see it three times and felt the same, or more, each time.
Mildmannered
"Be excellent to each other"
09:23 PM on 09/28/2008
Did she ever find them?
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Mysticalsister
Changing minds, one pithy comment at a time.
07:57 PM on 09/28/2008
I did...
09:33 PM on 09/28/2008
Done.
08:19 PM on 09/28/2008
Thank you. I did and will pass it along to my friends.
07:37 PM on 09/28/2008
Young students right out of "state-of-the-art" Financial Engineering programs in BIG NAME UNIVERSITIES dropped into quarter million salaries.

If they were able to develop a "COMPUTER OF TRADING TRICK" that made a BROKER ten Billion in an afternoon or a week they took home $30 mill bonuses!

Brokerage FIRMS USED UNIVERSITIES as training grounds to "Take" investors of all types.

BROKERS who hired these "WHIZZES" became the GREAT TRAINING GROUND FOR GREED!

These young people still exist and are still tasked with "DEVELOPING TRICKS!" to SCAM US.

That is why we need "PROTECTION" in the form of REGULATIONS for FAIR MARKETS.

WE NEED ETHICS TRAINING FOR EVERY YOUNG PERSON COMING OUT OF A UNIVERSITY!
Mildmannered
"Be excellent to each other"
07:27 PM on 09/28/2008
Compared to thirty-forty years ago, our "enemies" our different, our technologies are different, our friends are different, our position in the world is different, even the demographics of our people are different.

Therefore our military, foreign policy, economic, etc. policies must be different.

Obama understands this; McCain does not.
07:26 PM on 09/28/2008
The saddest thing about this election is that we can’t look at these two candidates through clear eyes. Our view is skewed by race. If Sen. Obama was white this would be a run away train. His policies are strong, his programs are focused and supported by a great team of experienced people, yet he’s still not taking the polls away. Why? Because we as Americans can’t see two men vying for the top post, we see a Black man and a White man and THAT makes the difference. Would Sen. McCain’s campaign antics be seen as anything but that if Sen. Obama wasn’t the alternative? How could the choice of Gov. Palin as a running mate be seen as any else but calamity and political irresponsibility? I don’t understand, with our county in such dire straights, how we could STILL be in the depths of ignorance.
HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
classc 1
08:14 PM on 09/28/2008
You are spot on right.
08:50 PM on 09/28/2008
I'm a Republican that supported Hillary. I see a man that wants to be President (Obama) and a man that wants to be President at any cost (McCain). I don't care what nationality Obama is....he is not McCain and that is good enough for me.

It is sad that there are many people out there for which race is a consideration....however...this is progress. Twenty years ago Obama wouldn't have even been able to make a serious run for the nomination. Now he could possibly BE the President. Most of the non-white people that I know say that they thought this wouldn't happen in our lifetime. I can't say how proud I am that my 6 year old mixed race niece does not know there was a time that Obama couldn't have even run.
Mildmannered
"Be excellent to each other"
07:22 PM on 09/28/2008
"How unhinged was Newt Gingrich? He called McCain's campaign suspension gambit "the greatest single act of responsible leadership ever taken by a presidential candidate."

How can Newt say that with a straight face?

That is clearly a four out of four on the Pinocchio meter.
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dadw5boys
Disabled Vietnam Vet
07:18 PM on 09/28/2008
HERE IS HOW REPUBLICANS BLOCK SOLDIERS FROM VOTING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SOLDIERS VOTES FROM IRAQ ARE DISALLOWED !!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.truthout.org/video/greg-palast-rove-has-already-fixed-2008-election
06:56 PM on 09/28/2008
Bill find a side or a corner and go to it. But either support Obama or stop talking to the media. I know what you are doing trying to pay all sides of the fence for your charity--but you can't have all the money. Ex. president Bush will understand.
HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
classc 1
08:15 PM on 09/28/2008
He is not trying to play both sides for his charity. THAT is nonsense. He had no problem taking the GOP to task when Hillary was running in the primaries. He is simply trying to undermine Obama at every turn.
09:37 PM on 09/28/2008
I agree.
06:37 PM on 09/28/2008
"Fiscally Conservative" Republicans are blaming the financial meltdown on Democrats. For 6 of the last 8 years they have been in control of both houses of Congress and the White House. It would be laughable, except that these McCain/Palin/pretending-not-to-be-Bush supporters are doing so with a straight face. Bush's and the Republican fiscal conservatives' house of cards is collapsing.

Why is no one talking about the Far Right's desire to hobble government (and the Far Right's Iraqi and financial excess successes to do just that)? Why is no one reminding us that "the government" of the United States of America is US, the citizens of the United States of America? The Far Right has convinced too many of us that all taxes are bad, and that all tax cuts are good. Meanwhile, legal protections for corporations have stripped the financial sector of all personal responsibility. This, while rewarding personal greed.

There was a time when being pro-business meant being pro-manufacturing, pro-research, pro-development, pro public education, pro-American government!

This pendulum has swung way too far. It's time to get it swinging the other way with the election of Obama/Biden and Democrats who know the value of investment in progress and people, not paper. Then we can begin to see moderation in government, and the promise of America, once again.
07:11 PM on 09/28/2008
This meltdown is the direct result of tens of billions of loans to people who should have never received them. To blame this on just on Bush and the Republicans reflects an incredibly high level of naivete and, in fact, ignorance..
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
VegasDealer
The calm before the storm...
07:54 PM on 09/28/2008
"...tens of billions of loans..." Naive? Are there really that many loans involved? Sounds like rockne needs a little reality check.
08:18 PM on 09/28/2008
And who allowed all of those bad loans? Who got rid of regulations that would have prevented this?

While both parties were to blame, the Republicans by far were the worst offenders.
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Soulsurfer
Solar Electrician,Longtime Surfin'Fool
08:11 PM on 09/28/2008
Some names to google; Milton Friedman, Grover Norquist, Phil and Wendy Gramm. This BS goes back to Ronny Raygun's administration, when Cheney and Rummy made their bones. We had an immediate problem with Savings and Loan banks, taxpayers bailed them out, but the neocons just kept de-regulatin'......can we all agree now that "free market" capitalism doesn't freaking work?