John McCain announced this morning that he WILL debate tonight. From the campaign's press release:
So McCain said he was suspending his campaign (he didn't) until the bill was completed (it wasn't). It is, of course farther from completion than it was before he arrived in Washington yesterday and all signs indicate that he's the one who threw the monkey wrench into the gears. And now, with that work done, he's going to a debate after all.At a moment of crisis that threatened the economic security of American families, Washington played the blame game rather than work together to find a solution...The Democratic interests stood together in opposition to an agreement that would accommodate additional taxpayer protections.
(Sen. McCain) is optimistic that there has been significant progress toward a bipartisan agreement...The McCain campaign is resuming all activities and the Senator will travel to the debate this afternoon. Following the debate, he will return to Washington to ensure that all voices and interests are represented in the final agreement, especially those of taxpayers and homeowners.
Furthermore, if the bill turns out to be anything like the 700 million bailout that everyone says is necessary, then McCain officially loses the base for not stopping it. I am salivating to read the polls this weekend.
In fact, if this whole financial meltdown has a silver lining, it's the schadenfreude that McCain is generating for Democrats. We don't relish the disaster, just the one guy that it's bringing down. It's kind of like rooting for the crocodile in Peter Pan, I suppose.
Via Powerline, via GWK:
ReplyDelete"Hoping to cover for their "follower" of a presidential candidate, Democrats are claiming that McCain has done more harm than good in the legislative debate. Although this is always a possibility with McCain (and, indeed, just about anyone who is willing to lead), the Democrats' case is absurd.
Their argument is that Congress was on the verge of a deal until McCain entered the picture and caused Republican House members to block it. The problems with this script are several. First, there is no evidence that House Republicans were ever on board with any deal. Second, the support of House Republicans is not needed to pass bailout legislation. The Democrats control the House.
The Democrats counter the second point by saying that a majority of House Dems won't support a deal unless House Republicans provide "cover." But this argument raises more problems than it addresses. First, it is a serious condemnation of House Dems (too gutless to do what they think is right, even in the face of a potential economic meltdown). Second it is a serious condemnation of Nancy Pelosi (too ineffective to whip her troops into line even in the face of a potential economic meltdown). Third, it casts serious doubt on the wisdom of the deal that McCain is falsely accused of scuttling. If the deal made sense, House Dems wouldn't believe they need "cover" from House Republicans.
Fourth, the "cover" argument shows what a non-factor Obama is in all of this. The Dems complain (preposterously) that McCain has riled up House Republicans or failed to bring them around. Meanwhile, no one seems to be asking why Obama hasn't helped the House leadership obtain sufficient support from House Dems.
There's a reason why this question isn't being asked. Obama is lightweight from whom leadership is not, and should not, be expected."
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives2/2008/09/021613.php
Where is the leadership from Obama on this? When it's all said and done, McCain may actually come out of this looking pretty good.
Provided he doesn't put his name on the $700 billion.
via WAMK, via MD:
ReplyDeletehttp://wherearemykeys.typepad.com/where_are_my_keys/2008/09/worth-watching.html
You must be one of the truly 'clueless" Americans on this one, Piker, if you had already seen this at WAMK, and STILL entered this post of yours.
Personally, I don't think you took the time to watch it, 'cause it has facts, and stuff, that kinda blow your random thoughts from the left-side all to hell.
This Powerline is a perfect example of why there's no point in arguing with you guys. Democrats demurring to Republicans is a perfect example of "reaching across the aisle", the kinds of things you guys say they never do. And the bill went down with lots of Democrats voting no. As for GWK and the facts, well they've been pretty fluid this week.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking specifically of the facts in the article & clip posted here, Piker, which ones, specifically, are you claiming are "pretty fluid", please?
ReplyDeleteThe "article" you're talking about is actually an "editorial", first of all. But maybe the most fluid aspect of this I can point out is that McCain lead congress to what exactly? The bill went down by a sizable margin. So if you're rooting for the bill, more Democrats voted for it than Republicans. If you're not rooting for it, McCain vocally supported it.
ReplyDeleteThose are both facts too.
As for the clip, things are so fluid that it's apparently not available any more.
ReplyDelete