It has been a bad week, so far. The markets are still in turmoil, the press still continues its vapid adoration of a presidential candidate on one hand while smearing another with the other (not enough words in that sentence fragment to attach the volumes of links to), last night I passed 10 (TEN) gas stations before I found one with any gas at all, my parents are getting jumpy about the economy, an Alabama coach dispenses nasty fashion advice and …. sshheeee’s back.
For the best explanation of HOW we got to this point, see BigLizards. Wow, I feel smarter already.
One can always trust Democrats to find a way, in any crisis, to throw gasoline at the bull.
President Bush (and the upcoming President John S. McCain) must remain stalwart and demand an up or down vote on a clean version of the Paulson-Bernanke rescue plan… no add-in spending, no wage and price controls or upgrading the nation’s infrastructure, and specifically, no damned earmarks.
Anything less than this standard of rectitude and disinterested statesmanship would be an economic betrayal of America… and must lead to electoral ruin for any party which puts immediate self-gratification ahead of national economic survival.
I’m sure there is a bust of Nero in every Democrat’s living room.
Like The Anchoress, at first I wondered at McCain’s real motives at postponing Friday’s debate. I, too, had come to view everything through the murky glass politick. At this point, it appears he is walking the walk of the campaign motto “Country First.” As Jennifer Rubin says, “This is what he does.” With so much on the line, he stops everything and goes back to DC, voluntarily, to work on a solution to the financial mess that literally has the potential to wreck America. Obama, on the other hand, had to be called by The President and (ahem) “invited” to return to DC for the same. Kinda like an invitation to the principal’s office, I’d wager. I guess you think that way when you don’t know how to be a Senator, you just know how to run for office. One leads, one follows. You decide.
It also puts an interesting light on his offer to Barack Obama to return with him to Washington. Having been told of Paulson’s request, McCain decided to return — but then offered to have Obama return with him in order to make it an election-neutral decision. McCain even offered to suspend the campaign. Obama refused, and McCain went back by himself. Bush then summoned Obama back to keep Democrats from backing away from a bill they have supported over the last few days. If McCain can succeed in getting changes in the bill with the points he has been making from the campaign trail, he can put his own stamp on this bill and have yet another example of his work as a crisis manager and bipartisan reformer.
This is a case of life imitating art, if one can describe campaign ads as such. Hillary Clinton’s campaign put out an ad stating that Obama wasn’t ready to answer a 3 AM call during a crisis. This call may not have literally come at 3 AM, but clearly Obama wasn’t ready to lead. McCain, on the other hand, understood the nature of the call and responded appropriately.
Good grief, even Bubba says it was a good move.
Wondering who SHE is? When McCain offered to postpone the debate, guess who stepped up and offered to debate Obama in his place? Egad, you’re right. That first snarky, out of the blue, let’s all have a good laugh guess was spot on. Cynthia McKinney. Yep. Really. Seriously. I’m not makin’ this up. At least she fixed her hair.
UPDATE: Newsbusters (P.J. Gladnick) found a 1999 article in the NYT archives with the NAMES of those pushing Fannie Mae to the brink. Guess. Just guess.
