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(from "Six Years In Sodom: From The Journal Of James Hartline," 9/4/2006, written from the "homosexual stronghold" of Hillcrest in San Diego).

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"A nutty lesbian blogger."
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'Impotent' Bush's feeble speech on the economic meltdown and bailout

by: Pam Spaulding

Tue Sep 30, 2008 at 10:00:00 AM EDT


Dear Leader, who looked like he wishes January 20, 2009 was here and he could be helicoptered to safety out of DC, stepped before the podium from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House and spoke for a mere four minutes about the devastation going on in the markets and the legislation on the Hill. It was a feeble, inadequate, robotic speech in a time of financial crisis that required real information to be delivered to the average person out there.  (Via Think Progress):


He was immediately scorched. (Think Progress):

Immediately following the address, MSNBC turned to New York Magazine's John Heilemann, who commented:

I don't think that comforts anybody. I don't think that moves a single vote. With due respect and sympathy for the man, that was the picture of a beaten dog. That was the picture of presidential impotence right there. He looked terrible like his bell had been rung. He looked drawn to me.

The Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan added, "It strikes me lately, when the President talks about the economic crisis, that he seems like a commentator upon the crisis as opposed to the leader in the crisis.

You can't give a speech on this topic in 4 minutes at the beginning of a workday. This should have been a primetime address, or even better, a press conference. This isn't leadership. Bush has no juice, no real influence, all the air is out of his sails as he and his buddies ran the economy aground in an orgy of unregulated greed. You can tell he knows his legacy has gone down the crapper.

Regardless of his political position on the matter, at the very least he should have:
1) Explained what happened on the Hill;
2) Reassured the markets that an agreement of some kind will be reached;
3) Describe in detail the impact on the average person who has a bank account, stocks, 401Ks etc.;
4) Outline the effect on small and large businesses and availability of credit.

There are probably dozens of very basic questions that many Americans have that a hands-on President would feel obligated to address. After all, this is part of the job - keeping morale up, outlining the difficulties, show that moves are being made to get factions to work together to craft a solution. He really did look like he felt zero ownership. He phoned this one in.

It was easy for him to stand up on the rubble of the WTC back in 2001 and puff up his chest with tough talk - there was someone else to blame for the horror. In this case, there's nowhere else to credibly point the finger -- this is the Bush/McCain economy. That self-confident, smirking Bush was nowhere to be found today.

More below the fold, including Bush's approval rating downward spiral, and the latest Obama ad on his fix for the economy.

Pam Spaulding :: 'Impotent' Bush's feeble speech on the economic meltdown and bailout
Think Progress also had a chart from the latest Gallup Poll showing the freefall of Bush's approval rating.

Look at what John "Mighty Mouse" McCain, who only a week and a half ago said the fundamentals of the economy are strong, declared about the bailout:

"The first thing I would do is say, 'Let's not call it a bailout. Let's call it a rescue," McCain said in a CNN interview. The Arizona Republican said that "Americans are frightened right now" and it is the job of political leaders to give them both an immediate solution and a longer-term approach to the problem.
New Obama/Biden ad -  taking charge of the economy

This is called "Same Path." It outlines the clear differences between his and John McCain's approach to the economy. It's pretty boilerplate stuff if you've been following the campaign, but at this stage candidates are reaching out to the low-info voters who are just tuning in and seriously looking at them.


BO, direct to camera: For eight years, we've been told that the way to a stronger economy was to give huge tax breaks to corporations and the wealthiest Americans, and somehow prosperity would trickle down. Well now we know the truth.   It didn't work.  

Instead of prosperity trickling down, pain has trickled up. Working family incomes have fallen by two thousand dollars a year. We're losing jobs.  Deficits are exploding. Our economy's in turmoil. I know that that we can steer ourselves out of this crisis. But not by driving down the very same path. And that's what this election's all about.

On taxes, John McCain and I have very different ideas. Instead of giving hundreds of billions in new tax breaks to big corporations and oil companies, I'll cut taxes for small and startup businesses that are the backbone of our economy. Instead of more tax breaks for corporations that outsource American jobs, I'll give them to companies who create jobs here. Instead of extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest -- I'll focus on you.

My plan offers three times as much tax relief to the middle class as Senator McCain's. If you make less than a quarter million a year, you won't see your taxes raised one penny under my plan. And seniors making less than fifty thousand, who are struggling with the rising costs of food and drugs on fixed incomes, won't pay income taxes at all. The tax code we have today is over 10,000 pages long. Almost every bit of it was shaped by some lobbyist taking care of some special interest. Well, it's time we had a President who puts you first.

I hope you'll log on to BarackObama.com and read my full plan. It will help jump-start our economy, create millions of jobs, and bring back our Main Streets all across America. The old trickle-down theory has failed us.  

We can't afford four more years like the last eight. I'm Barack Obama, and I approved this message because I know that with a new direction, and new policies focused on jobs and the middle class, we can lift our economy and our country.

Obama also released a statement on how to move forward on the bailout legislation; that's below the fold.

From Bill Burton of the Obama camp:

"Yesterday, within the course of a few hours, the failure to pass the economic rescue plan in Washington led to the single largest decline of the stock market in two decades.

"While I, like others, am outraged that the reign of irresponsibility on Wall Street and in Washington has created the current crisis, I also know that continued inaction in the face of the gathering storm in our financial markets would be catastrophic for our economy and our families.

"At this moment, when the jobs, retirement savings, and economic security of all Americans hang in the balance, it is imperative that all of us - Democrats and Republicans alike - come together to meet this crisis.

"The bill rejected yesterday was a marked improvement over the original blank check proposed by the Bush Administration.  It included restraints on CEO pay, protections for homeowners, strict oversight as to how the money is spent, and an assurance that taxpayers will recover their money once the economy recovers.  Given the progress we have made, I believe we are unlikely to succeed if we start from scratch or reopen negotiations about the core elements of the agreement.  But in order to pass this plan, we must do more.

"One step we could take to potentially broaden support for the legislation and shore up our economy would be to expand federal deposit insurance for families and small businesses across America who have invested their money in our banks.

"The majority of American families should rest assured that the deposits they have in our banks are safe.  Thanks to measures put in place during the Great Depression, deposits of up to $100,000 are guaranteed by the federal government.

"While that guarantee is more than adequate for most families, it is insufficient for many small businesses that maintain bank accounts to meet their payroll, buy their supplies, and invest in expanding and creating jobs.  The current insurance limit of $100,000 was set 28 years ago and has not been adjusted for inflation.

"That is why today, I am proposing that we also raise the FDIC limit to $250,000 as part of the economic rescue package - a step that would boost small businesses, make our banking system more secure, and help restore public confidence in our financial system.

"I will be talking to leaders and members of Congress later today to offer this idea and urge them to act without delay to pass a rescue plan," said Barack Obama.

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I smile every time Bush shows how little power he has left
Psssst Georgie Junior and Dickwad,

If you want your nuts back, ask Nancy Pelosi in a VERY NICE RESPECTFUL tone, and get your rabid little slime balls like Orrin Hatch to quit smearing her....and MAYBE, just Maybe, she'll open up her purse and give them back to you.

The economic crisis is being blamed on repigs 2 to 1, so you REALLY need to be nice to Democrats who can end your being hated 2 to 1.

Barney Frank find the biggest dick-sized poison pill and make sure Boehner deep throats it on his knees right in front of you. Make sure he is humiliated, after his crock of sh*t "nobody shoves me around." Make that wormy spray tanned SOB look like the last standing member of his team, in a dodgeball game.

"race, taste. and History finally overcome....and you ain't there"
by Tony Kushner


Notice Boehner and Blunt aren't going anywhere near a camera today after the -777 drop
McCain ain't saying a word either. I'd love to see a new batch of polls today, I bet McCain took another 3 point drop.

"race, taste. and History finally overcome....and you ain't there"
by Tony Kushner


[ Parent ]
FLORIDA went toss up......HA
    http://www.electoral-vote.com/...

McCain had a 2 point advantage yesterday

Obama 286, McCain 225, Tie 27

btw Senate Democrats went from 55 to 58
We are getting close to the magic 60....GO TEAM!!!!

"race, taste. and History finally overcome....and you ain't there"
by Tony Kushner


[ Parent ]
Obama + 2 in NC.....outstanding!
   http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/

"race, taste. and History finally overcome....and you ain't there"
by Tony Kushner


[ Parent ]
if they were smart (and, yeah, that's a big if)
they would have just said "please watch a rebroadcast of last night's Rachel Maddow show"  

Maddow had the best description of the current credit constriction last night

(transcripts and video aren't up yet and youtube has every segment but the one I want to post)


Here's the transcript from Laura Tyson on the Rachel Maddow Show
I don't know why it's the only part of Monday's show that youtube doesn't have a clip of:

MADDOW: So, here we are, politically teetering, at least, until Wednesday night or Thursday, when the House reconvene.

In the meantime, the White House has just announced that President Bush will speak to the nation, again, early tomorrow morning about his financial rescue plan. Is this a crisis, or isn't it? Do the folks who killed the bailout deal know something we don't know that ought to be comforting?Joining us now is economist Laura Tyson. She was President Clinton's national economic advisor. She chaired the president's council of economic advisers. She's now at the Haas School of Business at U.C. Berkeley. And she advises Senator Obama.Doctor Tyson, thank you very much for joining us.

LAURA TYSON, FMR. CHAIR, W. HOUSE NAT'L ECONOMIC COUNCIL: Good evening. Nice to be with you.

MADDOW: Let's play political analogy for a second. Is this global warming where it's really bad but there are some people saying, don't worry, don't worry, it's all fine or is this the Iraq war where there's widespread panic, but it's ginned-up and we shouldn't be falling prey to the hysteria?

TYSON: You know, this is not ginned up. I think, if you listen to voices from the economic community, you can hear sounds of great, great concern. You know, all along, this has been called a bailout bill. It's such a misnomer. We are in the midst of a massive credit contraction. It's strangling the economy. It's making it impossible for businesses to borrow, to keep their businesses going. It's making it impossible for students to borrow, to keep their loans going, and homeowners to stay in their homes.

And what we saw today on the stock market, that shows what the market is anticipating. The economy is being strangled by a credit contraction. The stock market is telling us we are going to have lost incomes, lost revenues, lost stubs (ph), lost production, a real severe slowdown, if we don't do something.

MADDOW: Should regular, non-Wall Street-employed folks be concerned right now about our retirement funds, about mutual funds, even our cash in the bank?

TYSON: You know, what people should be concerned about is their income and their jobs, because the credit contraction means that employers, companies, cannot continue operations at their current levels. They cannot get the credit they need to keep their operations moving. The greatest danger now is a real economy recession. Stock markets can go up and down over time, retirement accounts can go up and down over time. The key thing is to get the economy safe from what looks like to be a bit of a serious recession.

MADDOW: I feel like listening to you talk about this as a credit contraction, listening to you put at it in those kinds of terms, I feel like I'm hearing more easy to understand sense about how big the problem is than I have been hearing out of all the talk on Washington and particularly out of the White House.I wonder, if this is, in part, a communication problem on the part of people who are supposedly addressing the problem in Washington. Polls show that Americans really hate the idea of this bailout. Maybe it just hasn't been sold right?

TYSON: You know, I always thought of leadership as being partly educational, partly explaining to people. Now, I actually think if you look at what happened this week, the Democratic leaders did a very good job of talking about jobs, talking about mortgages, talking about employers, talking about investments, talking about recession. I heard silence on the Republican side. I heard arguments that the markets should be free of government intervention. The market is broken right now. This policy is meant to restore the market to some normal functioning. So, yes, we have to communicate this to the American people so the American people understand this is not about Wall Street. It's not about a bailout. It is about Main Street and jobs. And we see, you know, I go back to the Great Depression here. Great credit contractions in U.S. history if left unaddressed caused great slowdowns and great damage to American workers and factories. We need to make sure that a bill passes to address the credit contraction.

MADDOW: I will say, this is one area in which I feel like Democrats in Washington have not been good at communicating. And that is about, I guess, connecting with people's resentment towards Wall Street. For the past eight years, and even longer, I think, a lot of Americans feel like we've been mugged while Wall Street guys are hiring the Rolling Stones to play at their birthday parties.And so, while the Democrats did communicate that there's been a problem with regulation, with Wall Street being able to get away with non-commonsensical stuff, they never should have been able to get away with it. A lot of them made a mint doing it. The Democrats haven't followed through by saying, we are going to re-regulate Wall Street right now as part of this. And that's going to be the condition of them getting any of the money. They're trying to do that later on. Maybe they should be doing it first.

TYSON: Well, I honestly think, first of all, I think it's very important for people to recognize that this period of deregulation was a period of Republican control-Republican control of the presidency and Republican control of the Congress. And their position has been very clear. We deregulate, we let markets roar, and we don't worry about the consequences. We, now, see the consequences.

The Democrats have said very clearly that we need 21st century regulations. Senator Obama has said that again and again. But, you know? Right now, we have an emergency on our hands. We need to do something directly on the credit contraction. Yes, we need to change regulation. But if we sat down tomorrow and changed regulation, we wouldn't solve the credit contraction we are currently facing. So, we need to do both. Now, the other thing I would say to the American people, which is really very important, is, the Democrats work extremely hard all week. Senator Obama, a week ago, had a meeting where he enunciated some principles. He said, look, what we need in this bill is protection for taxpayers. What we need is to control executive compensation on CEOs. What we need in this bill is to help homeowners from foreclosure. We need a variety of things. You know, by the end, the bill that was presented for vote was a bill which has met all of those conditions. It protected the taxpayer, it controlled CEO compensation, it dealt with homeowners and foreclosures, and it did all of this in a way which would directly address the credit crisis. So, we missed an opportunity. What I hope sincerely, is because the danger to the U.S. economy is so great, that we will see a bipartisan effort to get something done.

MADDOW: Laura Tyson, former chair of President Clinton's council of economic advisers, now, a professor at Berkeley, thank you so much for joining us tonight. I really appreciate it.

TYSON: Thank you very much.

 MSNBC

[ Parent ]
Palin Comparison
What has struck in the past few weeks as this country lurches from crisis to chaos, is that McCain has evinced the same contempt for the American electorate as the Bush/Cheney/Rove cabal has shown in the past eight years.  

- Pretending to suspend his campaign

- Picking Palin as a sop to the Hillary voters

- Parading the Palin family in the public eye, then crying "foul!" when the press goes after them

- Gunning for televising Barstool Palin's shotgun wedding before the election

- Grandstanding in DC while the economy tanks and saying, well, nothing, because he admits he knows, well, nothing about the economy and anyway none of his seven houses face foreclosure

- Gunning for drilling when he knows damn well the pumps won't see a drop for at least 10 years

- Touting Palin's foreign policy creds because Alaska's next door (maybe she can fix this Wall St. mess, she lives next to an ATM)

How can he believe people swallow this stuff?  I don't want a maverick in the White House, thank you, it's time that job was given to a grown-up.  And I don't want someone "just like us" an old man's heartbeat away from the job.  I want someone who's bar is higher, A LOT higher, and McCain's standards are so patently low.  Sarah Palin has the intellect of a doorknob, and that's exactly how McCain is using her, as a doorknob to the Oval Office.  

A doorknob with lipstick, sheesh, can these people be serious?  


It was more fearmongering
The failure doesn't know how to do anything else. He basically said now we're doomed unless that plan goes through. Nice work, idiot. Hopefully, he hasn't started wide-spread panic. The shrub is the complete antithesis of what a president - or any leader - should be.

And I truly have come to believe that McLame is worse. Anyone else hear about his gambling problem? It sure explains the Palin pick.


The DNC
should be buying up as much airtime as possible and playing this Obama commercial non-stop, even on Nick Jr and Playhouse Disney!

As well as put this in every newspaper in America.

Click HERE and sign up: Campaign For Military Partners

Click here for DADT photobook


They can't...
They're spending lots of money defending the bigot who runs the the DNC, Leah Daughtry, and Dean against chrages of homophobic hiring and firing practices by their former director of LGBT outreach. They'll pay even more to settle the case. To paraphrase on of my heroes, Malcolm X, this is a case of the pigs coming home to roost.

The DNC is toast.

Whoever wins the elections will inherit a deadly combination of an unwinnable war and an economy in failure mode.

The looter rich much prefer working with Democrats like Obama and the Clintons - they're greedier, they fool more people and they're able to get away with a lot more than Republicans.  


[ Parent ]
He is Alone
The current administration is on his own, all the rats bailed on him during the last year.  Everytime he has had to make a public appearance during the last year the same comments are made. And, many times when a statement from the President was expected, there was nothing.

What is surprising is he isn't in Crawford meeting and making "decisions" there.  The pattern had been anytime something important would come up, he would head to Crawford and a solution to the issue would pop up.  Well, with nobody around to solve problems he has no reason to go to Crawford.  He has to do the work that is completely incapable of doing.  And, that work means sitting in D.C. And, giving 1 or 4 minute "speeches".

He looks aged, finally.  Having never had to be concerned about anything before in his life let him be prez without aging for 7 years.  Now, on his own, trusting his own wits, and maybe seeing (he admits to not being able to read) that he is the worst prez in the history of the United States, the toll of leadership (or whatever little he comprehends) has hit.  January 19 is within sight.

OBTW, the Senate is not in recess.  They will not allow him to sneak in another political crony to destroy another piece of our government.  He just is not trusted.

Pam,
J'aime ma Peau



The Republicans and the Democrats are dinosaurs; they're extinct but too dumb to know it...

"A crap sandwich."

So says House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH describing the $700 billion bailout he supports but fears. He's pissed because he knows his party is going down in flames but he hasn't yet figured out that that's exactly what's in store for the winners too.

It doesn't matter when or even if the bailout passes. The damage has already been done and the economy is in failure mode.

According to the US Treasury the national debt is exactly $9,889,199,531,449.08 (as of yesterday). That's almost $10 trillion dollars and it increased by about $700 billion dollars this year because of the US war to steal oil. By the end of the year it'll be in the vicinity of $2.5 trillion dollars higher. The math is as simple as the consequences will be catastrophic.

Each year the Clinton/Bush genocide goes on costs about $500 billion dollars. This weekend the Congress loaned $25 billion dollars to Ford, GM and Chrysler, but the amount was almost too piddling to be noticed. Add an absolute minimum of $1 trillion dollars for the big bailout, another $1 trillion for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (with out of pocket losses adding about $200 billion dollars), and $85 billion dollars for AIG. Add substantial amounts for losses and for inflation and pretty soon you're talking real money. (That's a joke from a description of Germans carrying baskets of million Mark notes to buy a loaf of bread. Before the Deluge, A portrait of Berlin in the 1920's Otto Freidreich, Harper Perrenial, 1995.)

For a year of two the left has used the term 'looming economic crisis" but now we'll have to stop; it's here. The economy will be crushed under the weight of that debt created by Carter, Reagan, the Bushes and most of all by Clinton.

The left, in addition to our antiwar efforts will be organizing in unions and elsewhere to compel the government to renounce the debt, nationalize failed business without compensation under democratic control. We want the money used instead for social programs, to improve the infrastructure and begin a crash program to deal with the effects of the looming environmental crisis created by the unchecked degradation of programs like NAFTA and Bush's withdrawal from the Kyoto Treaty.

"May you live in interesting times" is an ancient curse. Now it's official: we live in interesting times. Those times are going to destroy McCain and Obama and their parties.  

The looter rich much prefer working with Democrats like Obama and the Clintons - they're greedier, they fool more people and they're able to get away with a lot more than Republicans.  


not worrying yet...
I'm single, middle-aged but not near retirement age, gay, childless by choice, and have no assets...so i'm really not that worried about the "crisis on Wall Street" as yet.  I'm doing what the smart money people do - continue to invest in my 401k plan with dollar-cost averaging that will net me more shares of my funds, which will go up in value when the market rebounds (as it always does and history bears that out) and I should make back whatever I lost, and a bit more.
As far as McBush - it is so patently clear to me that these folks care not for the millions of regular people like me.  I'm voting not only my conscience this year, but my reality - i'm not rich, upper class or well funded, and I live paycheck-to-paycheck.  Obama at least deserves the chance to prove to us that he can do a better job.  I'm planning to give him that chance next month.

I only worry that
...the economy will tank so hard that even if Obama wins in November, he won't be able to stabilize it fast enough and then people will blame HIM, even though he inherited the problem.


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