Fox News: Palin Thought Africa Was a Country, Not a Continent
Carl Cameron talking to Bill O'Reilly just now on Fox reveals that McCain aides were truly "shocked" at the "gaps in knowledge" Sarah Palin displayed once they were stuck with her. He said that, in the most startling shortcoming, she actually didn't "understand that Africa was not just a country, but a continent." This led, among other things, to her asking how, in that case, South Africa could be a separate country. She also could not name all of the countries in North America, he said, not even the NAFTA partners. And she did not know many of the basics of civics and local/state/national duties. O'Reilly pooh-poohed all of this.
But the "gaps" explain, Cameron said, why tensions erupted as McCain aides were truly alarmed by all of this -- yet Palin wanted to speak out freely. So in the closing week or so, they reveal, she took to yelling and screaming at aides over her press clippings, even "tossing papers" around. She was so out of touch she actually refused coaching before the Katie Couric interviews, then yelled at staffers for not preparing her better or warning her off the interviews. "Temper tantrums," etc. Then there were the clothes bills and greeting McCain aides in a bath towel....UPDATE: Anchorage Daily News asks her to confirm above, she refuses to discuss it at all.
Below is an earlier Cameron interview on Fox today. Shep Smith at least asked, how could they name someone as veep who didn't know that Africa is a continent? -- Greg Mitchell
Although you wouldn't know it from the ignorant boos of his supporters McCain was actually very gracious in defeat. His concession speech reminded me of the McCain I once admired, not the mishandled candidate he became. Too bad that his supporters at the rally had no class - because they will (most) still benefit from an Obama administration. When we say "no one" will be left behind we mean it.
Update | 11:35 p.m. Our colleague Jeff Zeleny, who is in Grant Park with Mr. Obama, says that Mr. McCain called Mr. Obama at 10 pm Chicago time. In the call, Mr. Obama said he was eager to sit down and talk about how the two of them could work together to move this country forward.
“I need your help, you’re a leader on so many important issues,” Mr. Obama told his rival, according to an Obama adviser, Robert Gibbs. via NYT LiveBlog
2002 Speech Against the War in Iraq (text, partial video) "Delivered on Wednesday, October 2, 2002 by Barack Obama, Illinois State Senator, at the first high-profile Chicago anti-Iraq war rally (organized by Chicagoans Against War in Iraq) at noon in Federal Plaza in Chicago, Illinois; at the same day and hour that President Bush and Congress announced their agreement on the joint resolution authorizing the Iraq War, but over a week before it was passed by either body of Congress."
[NOTE: Since that day, the full video of the speech has been lost. The video above is the only known footage of the speech, a single 13-second clip, supplemented by a collage-style re-enactment of the rest of the speech by Obama supporters across the country.]
Keynote Address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention (text, video, Mefi) Obama's break-out moment on the national stage, his inspiring keynote address vaults him from a little-known state senator to political rock star and potential presidential candidate.
"Call to Renewal" (text, video, Mefi) Obama speaks about the role of religion in public life and the best ways to put to rest the partisan divide it often manifests in our politics.
Announcement of Presidential Campaign, February 2007 (text, video, Mefi) Delivered on a cold February morning outside the old Illinois State House -- the same place Abraham Lincoln announced his candidacy.
Speech on Technology at Google (video) Participating in the search giant's "Candidates@Google" program for the second time, Obama discusses his views on technology and takes questions from the audience of Googlers.
Speech at the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner (text, video) Obama's speech at the influential Jefferson-Jackson Dinner in Iowa gives him a chance to sway the electorate in the nation's first caucus.
Iowa Caucus Victory Speech (text, video part 1, part 2, Mefi) After his stunning upset win over presumptive favorite Hillary Clinton, Obama delivers a powerouse address to an ecstatic crowd of supporters in Des Moines.
"Yes We Can" Speech (text, video, music video, Mefi 1, Mefi 2) After an unexpected loss to Clinton in the nation's first primary, Obama gives a surprisingly triumphant speech that forms the basis for will.i.am's "Yes We Can" viral video.
"The Great Need of the Hour" (text, video) Delivered at Martin Luther King, Jr.'s church in Atlanta, Obama's speech calls for the seeking of social justice and economic equality among all people of the United States.
"A More Perfect Union" (text, video, Mefi) After controversial statements by his pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright surface in the media, Obama delivers a bold speech on the nature of race in America.
Clinching the Nomination (text, video part 1, 2, 3, Mefi) After clinching the Democratic nomination, Obama speaks to a capacity crowd in St. Paul -- in the very same arena that will soon host the Republican National Convention.
"A World That Stands as One" (text, video) Delivered in at the Victory Column in Berlin before a crowd of 200,000.
Introducing Joe Biden (text, video, Mefi) Obama debuts Sen. Joe Biden as his vice presidential nominee.
Formally Accepting the Nomination (text, video, Mefi 1, Mefi 2) Obama's formal acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination at Invesco Field in Chicago is followed by a spectacle of fireworks and orchestral music.
Fredericksburg in the Virginia Rain (video) Delivering a determined speech during an evening rainshower to a crowd of 25,000 in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Bittersweet Speech at Charlotte (video, Mefi) On the verge of winning the presidency, Obama speaks emotionally on the death of his grandmother in Hawaii.
General Election Victory Speech in Chicago (text, video, Mefi) [COMING SOON]
Inaugural Address on the Capitol Steps (text, video, Mefi) [COMING SOON]
The following is the text as prepared for delivery of Barack Obama’s speech today in Canton, Ohio, as provided by the Obama campaign.
One week.
After decades of broken politics in Washington, eight years of failed policies from George Bush, and twenty-one months of a campaign that has taken us from the rocky coast of Maine to the sunshine of California, we are one week away from change in America.
In one week, you can turn the page on policies that have put the greed and irresponsibility of Wall Street before the hard work and sacrifice of folks on Main Street.
In one week, you can choose policies that invest in our middle-class, create new jobs, and grow this economy from the bottom-up so that everyone has a chance to succeed; from the CEO to the secretary and the janitor; from the factory owner to the men and women who work on its floor.
In one week, you can put an end to the politics that would divide a nation just to win an election; that tries to pit region against region, city against town, Republican against Democrat; that asks us to fear at a time when we need hope.
In one week, at this defining moment in history, you can give this country the change we need. We began this journey in the depths of winter nearly two years ago, on the steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois. Back then, we didn't have much money or many endorsements. We weren't given much of a chance by the polls or the pundits, and we knew how steep our climb would be.
But I also knew this. I knew that the size of our challenges had outgrown the smallness of our politics. I believed that Democrats and Republicans and Americans of every political stripe were hungry for new ideas, new leadership, and a new kind of politics – one that favors common sense over ideology; one that focuses on those values and ideals we hold in common as Americans.
Most of all, I believed in your ability to make change happen. I knew that the American people were a decent, generous people who are willing to work hard and sacrifice for future generations. And I was convinced that when we come together, our voices are more powerful than the most entrenched lobbyists, or the most vicious political attacks, or the full force of a status quo in Washington that wants to keep things just the way they are.
Twenty-one months later, my faith in the American people has been vindicated. That's how we've come so far and so close – because of you. That's how we'll change this country – with your help. And that's why we can't afford to slow down, sit back, or let up for one day, one minute, or one second in this last week. Not now. Not when so much is at stake.
We are in the middle of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. 760,000 workers have lost their jobs this year. Businesses and families can't get credit. Home values are falling. Pensions are disappearing. Wages are lower than they've been in a decade, at a time when the cost of health care and college have never been higher. It's getting harder and harder to make the mortgage, or fill up your gas tank, or even keep the electricity on at the end of the month.
At a moment like this, the last thing we can afford is four more years of the tired, old theory that says we should give more to billionaires and big corporations and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. The last thing we can afford is four more years where no one in Washington is watching anyone on Wall Street because politicians and lobbyists killed common-sense regulations. Those are the theories that got us into this mess. They haven't worked, and it's time for change. That's why I'm running for President of the United States.
Now, Senator McCain has served this country honorably. And he can point to a few moments over the past eight years where he has broken from George Bush – on torture, for example. He deserves credit for that. But when it comes to the economy – when it comes to the central issue of this election – the plain truth is that John McCain has stood with this President every step of the way. Voting for the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy that he once opposed. Voting for the Bush budgets that spent us into debt. Calling for less regulation twenty-one times just this year. Those are the facts.
And now, after twenty-one months and three debates, Senator McCain still has not been able to tell the American people a single major thing he'd do differently from George Bush when it comes to the economy. Senator McCain says that we can't spend the next four years waiting for our luck to change, but you understand that the biggest gamble we can take is embracing the same old Bush-McCain policies that have failed us for the last eight years.
It's not change when John McCain wants to give a $700,000 tax cut to the average Fortune 500 CEO. It's not change when he wants to give $200 billion to the biggest corporations or $4 billion to the oil companies or $300 billion to the same Wall Street banks that got us into this mess. It's not change when he comes up with a tax plan that doesn't give a penny of relief to more than 100 million middle-class Americans. That's not change.
Look – we've tried it John McCain's way. We've tried it George Bush's way. Deep down, Senator McCain knows that, which is why his campaign said that "if we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose." That's why he's spending these last weeks calling me every name in the book. Because that's how you play the game in Washington. If you can't beat your opponent's ideas, you distort those ideas and maybe make some up. If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run away from. You make a big election about small things.
Ohio, we are here to say "Not this time. Not this year. Not when so much is at stake." Senator McCain might be worried about losing an election, but I'm worried about Americans who are losing their homes, and their jobs, and their life savings. I can take one more week of John McCain's attacks, but this country can't take four more years of the same old politics and the same failed policies. It's time for something new.
The question in this election is not "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" We know the answer to that. The real question is, "Will this country be better off four years from now?"
I know these are difficult times for America. But I also know that we have faced difficult times before. The American story has never been about things coming easy – it's been about rising to the moment when the moment was hard. It's about seeing the highest mountaintop from the deepest of valleys. It's about rejecting fear and division for unity of purpose. That's how we've overcome war and depression. That's how we've won great struggles for civil rights and women's rights and worker's rights. And that's how we'll emerge from this crisis stronger and more prosperous than we were before – as one nation; as one people.
Remember, we still have the most talented, most productive workers of any country on Earth. We're still home to innovation and technology, colleges and universities that are the envy of the world. Some of the biggest ideas in history have come from our small businesses and our research facilities. So there's no reason we can't make this century another American century. We just need a new direction. We need a new politics.
Now, I don't believe that government can or should try to solve all our problems. I know you don't either. But I do believe that government should do that which we cannot do for ourselves – protect us from harm and provide a decent education for our children; invest in new roads and new science and technology. It should reward drive and innovation and growth in the free market, but it should also make sure businesses live up to their responsibility to create American jobs, and look out for American workers, and play by the rules of the road. It should ensure a shot at success not only for those with money and power and influence, but for every single American who's willing to work. That's how we create not just more millionaires, but more middle-class families. That's how we make sure businesses have customers that can afford their products and services. That's how we've always grown the American economy – from the bottom-up. John McCain calls this socialism. I call it opportunity, and there is nothing more American than that.
Understand, if we want get through this crisis, we need to get beyond the old ideological debates and divides between left and right. We don't need bigger government or smaller government. We need a better government – a more competent government – a government that upholds the values we hold in common as Americans.
We don't have to choose between allowing our financial system to collapse and spending billions of taxpayer dollars to bail out Wall Street banks. As President, I will ensure that the financial rescue plan helps stop foreclosures and protects your money instead of enriching CEOs. And I will put in place the common-sense regulations I've been calling for throughout this campaign so that Wall Street can never cause a crisis like this again. That's the change we need.
The choice in this election isn't between tax cuts and no tax cuts. It's about whether you believe we should only reward wealth, or whether we should also reward the work and workers who create it. I will give a tax break to 95% of Americans who work every day and get taxes taken out of their paychecks every week. I'll eliminate income taxes for seniors making under $50,000 and give homeowners and working parents more of a break. And I'll help pay for this by asking the folks who are making more than $250,000 a year to go back to the tax rate they were paying in the 1990s. No matter what Senator McCain may claim, here are the facts – if you make under $250,000, you will not see your taxes increase by a single dime – not your income taxes, not your payroll taxes, not your capital gains taxes. Nothing. Because the last thing we should do in this economy is raise taxes on the middle-class.
When it comes to jobs, the choice in this election is not between putting up a wall around America or allowing every job to disappear overseas. The truth is, we won't be able to bring back every job that we've lost, but that doesn't mean we should follow John McCain's plan to keep giving tax breaks to corporations that send American jobs overseas. I will end those breaks as President, and I will give American businesses a $3,000 tax credit for every job they create right here in the United States of America. I'll eliminate capital gains taxes for small businesses and start-up companies that are the engine of job creation in this country. We'll create two million new jobs by rebuilding our crumbling roads, and bridges, and schools, and by laying broadband lines to reach every corner of the country. And I will invest $15 billion a year in renewable sources of energy to create five million new energy jobs over the next decade – jobs that pay well and can't be outsourced; jobs building solar panels and wind turbines and a new electricity grid; jobs building the fuel-efficient cars of tomorrow, not in Japan or South Korea but here in the United States of America; jobs that will help us eliminate the oil we import from the Middle East in ten years and help save the planet in the bargain. That's how America can lead again.
When it comes to health care, we don't have to choose between a government-run health care system and the unaffordable one we have now. If you already have health insurance, the only thing that will change under my plan is that we will lower premiums. If you don't have health insurance, you'll be able to get the same kind of health insurance that Members of Congress get for themselves. We'll invest in preventative care and new technology to finally lower the cost of health care for families, businesses, and the entire economy. And as someone who watched his own mother spend the final months of her life arguing with insurance companies because they claimed her cancer was a pre-existing condition and didn't want to pay for treatment, I will stop insurance companies from discriminating against those who are sick and need care most.
When it comes to giving every child a world-class education so they can compete in this global economy for the jobs of the 21st century, the choice is not between more money and more reform – because our schools need both. As President, I will invest in early childhood education, recruit an army of new teachers, pay them more, and give them more support. But I will also demand higher standards and more accountability from our teachers and our schools. And I will make a deal with every American who has the drive and the will but not the money to go to college: if you commit to serving your community or your country, we will make sure you can afford your tuition. You invest in America, America will invest in you, and together, we will move this country forward.
And when it comes to keeping this country safe, we don't have to choose between retreating from the world and fighting a war without end in Iraq. It's time to stop spending $10 billion a month in Iraq while the Iraqi government sits on a huge surplus. As President, I will end this war by asking the Iraqi government to step up, and finally finish the fight against bin Laden and the al Qaeda terrorists who attacked us on 9/11. I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but I will only send our troops into harm's way with a clear mission and a sacred commitment to give them the equipment they need in battle and the care and benefits they deserve when they come home. I will build new partnerships to defeat the threats of the 21st century, and I will restore our moral standing, so that America is once again that last, best hope for all who are called to the cause of freedom, who long for lives of peace, and who yearn for a better future.
I won't stand here and pretend that any of this will be easy – especially now. The cost of this economic crisis, and the cost of the war in Iraq, means that Washington will have to tighten its belt and put off spending on things we can afford to do without. On this, there is no other choice. As President, I will go through the federal budget, line-by-line, ending programs that we don't need and making the ones we do need work better and cost less.
But as I've said from the day we began this journey all those months ago, the change we need isn't just about new programs and policies. It's about a new politics – a politics that calls on our better angels instead of encouraging our worst instincts; one that reminds us of the obligations we have to ourselves and one another.
Part of the reason this economic crisis occurred is because we have been living through an era of profound irresponsibility. On Wall Street, easy money and an ethic of "what's good for me is good enough" blinded greedy executives to the danger in the decisions they were making. On Main Street, lenders tricked people into buying homes they couldn't afford. Some folks knew they couldn't afford those houses and bought them anyway. In Washington, politicians spent money they didn't have and allowed lobbyists to set the agenda. They scored political points instead of solving our problems, and even after the greatest attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor, all we were asked to do by our President was to go out and shop.
That is why what we have lost in these last eight years cannot be measured by lost wages or bigger trade deficits alone. What has also been lost is the idea that in this American story, each of us has a role to play. Each of us has a responsibility to work hard and look after ourselves and our families, and each of us has a responsibility to our fellow citizens. That's what's been lost these last eight years – our sense of common purpose; of higher purpose. And that's what we need to restore right now.
Yes, government must lead the way on energy independence, but each of us must do our part to make our homes and our businesses more efficient. Yes, we must provide more ladders to success for young men who fall into lives of crime and despair. But all of us must do our part as parents to turn off the television and read to our children and take responsibility for providing the love and guidance they need. Yes, we can argue and debate our positions passionately, but at this defining moment, all of us must summon the strength and grace to bridge our differences and unite in common effort – black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American; Democrat and Republican, young and old, rich and poor, gay and straight, disabled or not.
In this election, we cannot afford the same political games and tactics that are being used to pit us against one another and make us afraid of one another. The stakes are too high to divide us by class and region and background; by who we are or what we believe.
Because despite what our opponents may claim, there are no real or fake parts of this country. There is no city or town that is more pro-America than anywhere else – we are one nation, all of us proud, all of us patriots. There are patriots who supported this war in Iraq and patriots who opposed it; patriots who believe in Democratic policies and those who believe in Republican policies. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America – they have served the United States of America.
It won't be easy, Ohio. It won't be quick. But you and I know that it is time to come together and change this country. Some of you may be cynical and fed up with politics. A lot of you may be disappointed and even angry with your leaders. You have every right to be. But despite all of this, I ask of you what has been asked of Americans throughout our history. I ask you to believe – not just in my ability to bring about change, but in yours.
I know this change is possible. Because I have seen it over the last twenty-one months. Because in this campaign, I have had the privilege to witness what is best in America. I've seen it in lines of voters that stretched around schools and churches; in the young people who cast their ballot for the first time, and those not so young folks who got involved again after a very long time. I've seen it in the workers who would rather cut back their hours than see their friends lose their jobs; in the neighbors who take a stranger in when the floodwaters rise; in the soldiers who re-enlist after losing a limb. I've seen it in the faces of the men and women I've met at countless rallies and town halls across the country, men and women who speak of their struggles but also of their hopes and dreams.
I still remember the email that a woman named Robyn sent me after I met her in Ft. Lauderdale. Sometime after our event, her son nearly went into cardiac arrest, and was diagnosed with a heart condition that could only be treated with a procedure that cost tens of thousands of dollars. Her insurance company refused to pay, and their family just didn't have that kind of money.
In her email, Robyn wrote, "I ask only this of you – on the days where you feel so tired you can't think of uttering another word to the people, think of us. When those who oppose you have you down, reach deep and fight back harder."
Ohio, that's what hope is – that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better is waiting around the bend; that insists there are better days ahead. If we're willing to work for it. If we're willing to shed our fears and our doubts. If we're willing to reach deep down inside ourselves when we're tired and come back fighting harder.
Hope! That's what kept some of our parents and grandparents going when times were tough. What led them to say, "Maybe I can't go to college, but if I save a little bit each week my child can; maybe I can't have my own business but if I work really hard my child can open one of her own." It's what led immigrants from distant lands to come to these shores against great odds and carve a new life for their families in America; what led those who couldn't vote to march and organize and stand for freedom; that led them to cry out, "It may look dark tonight, but if I hold on to hope, tomorrow will be brighter."
That's what this election is about. That is the choice we face right now.
Don't believe for a second this election is over. Don't think for a minute that power concedes. We have to work like our future depends on it in this last week, because it does.
In one week, we can choose an economy that rewards work and creates new jobs and fuels prosperity from the bottom-up.
In one week, we can choose to invest in health care for our families, and education for our kids, and renewable energy for our future.
In one week, we can choose hope over fear, unity over division, the promise of change over the power of the status quo.
In one week, we can come together as one nation, and one people, and once more choose our better history.
That's what's at stake. That's what we're fighting for. And if in this last week, you will knock on some doors for me, and make some calls for me, and talk to your neighbors, and convince your friends; if you will stand with me, and fight with me, and give me your vote, then I promise you this – we will not just win Ohio, we will not just win this election, but together, we will change this country and we will change the world. Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless America.
Taylor has concerts scheduled in Charlotte, Asheville, Chapel Hill, Raleigh and Wilmington beginning Sunday. Taylor, who was raised in Chapel Hill, has at times used his musical celebrity to highlight political candidates in the state."
"The change that's happening in North Carolina could lead America into a new spirit of engagement and responsibility and get people back into their government again and back into working as a team," Taylor said in a phone interview from the Massachusetts Turnpike. "North Carolina is in a position to own that change."
Early on in tonight's debate I felt as though Obama wasn't responding well to McCain's lies. He seemed to be holding back. Too measured, too cautious. However as McCain continued to interrupt, go long, and generally display a disheveled and cantankerous demeanor it only served to make Obama look more Presidential.
At every turn Obama took the high road, but he did it with spine. He eschewed the soft Palin underbelly target, but he deftly handled the Ayers/ACORN/Lewis charges, AND, he did it without slinging mud. He truly showed my inner Hater how to defend without giving offense. You could tell: this is a man who knows a. what he is talking about, b. where he is going, and c. how to get us to go there together. He defused every single "OMG! did Schiffer just ask that?!" moment. Finally, we have a candidate worthy of respect, and the highest office!
McCain looked like a tired, frustrated, soul-less shell of a man. The grimmace. The snorts. The shame. He leads the tattered, embarrassing remains of his party to doom.
The best thing we can do when Barack Hussein Obama is elected is to show love. Sure we have vitriol over the last 8 years of bad sport, lies, and the mess they've left us in as a nation. It will be extremely tempting to return some of the snark, gloating and dividing. We AS A PEOPLE must avoid this trap of hate, show some compassion for the misled, work together as one, and let the world see what kind of citizenry a PRESIDENT Obama inspires.
"Don't be ashamed, dude. You went to a Sarah Palin rally and thought it would be cute to put an Obama bumper sticker on a monkey. And then you saw the camera and tried to be slick.
But you're not slick. I'll give you this much--you saw the camera and knew, even though in your heart you might have a racist feeling or two, that to be openly exposed as a racist is not good in today's society, and that means you're improving. Some of your fellow Republicans could learn a lesson or two from that." (via Incertus)
More video from outside (when he thought it was only repuglicans filming him, not CBS)
Somehow, everything about the Obama campaign projects calm, when actually a million things are going on at once, from the grassroots level on up. The dude is not just playing chess, he's playing crazy three-dimensional Star Trek chess. On several boards at once. While simultaneously reciting Emerson from memory and whipping a tasty creme brulee.
In the midst of all the nastiness going on in the media, the campaign quietly releases this 15-minute video, a sweet, incredibly well-made, behind-the-scenes look at the Denver convention. It the last three days, it's gotten over a quarter of a million views on YouTube.
It's worth watching, not just for its feel-good-ism, but for how politically skilled it is. I can't even count how many sweet spots it hits, how many implicit attacks it counters.
Follow Barack, Michelle, Joe, and their families behind-the-scenes at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado. (Music composed by Greg Kuehn for Peligro Music & Sound Design)
Hockey Mom Sarah Palin was welcomed in the city of brotherly love Saturday night with a resounding chorus of boos when she took center ice for the ceremonial puck drop. Gotta love the clearly visible Obama/Biden signs in the background.
Looks like Sarah brought her daughters along as a human shields:
The GOP Vice-Presidential nominee said at an earlier fundraiser that she would stop some of the booing from the rowdy Philadelphia fans by putting her seven year old daughter, Piper in a Flyers jersey. She said, "How dare they boo Piper!"
Stay classy, Wasilla.
By the way, Rangers won 4-3 and improved their record to 4-0, making this their best start in 25 years. Only 78 wins away from a perfect season.
Synopsis A special program about the housing crisis produced in a special collaboration with NPR News. We explain it all to you. What does the housing crisis have to do with the turmoil on Wall Street? Why did banks make half-million dollar loans to people without jobs or income? And why is everyone talking so much about the 1930s? It all comes back to the Giant Pool of Money.
Stay updated! Alex Blumberg and Adam Davidson (the guys who did this program) have a new daily, free podcast and blog applying that same explanatory power to each day's breaking news on the financial crisis: Planet Money.
The current economic crisis demands that we understand John McCain's attitudes about economic oversight and corporate influence in federal regulation. Nothing illustrates the danger of his approach more clearly than his central role in the savings and loan scandal of the late '80s and early '90s.
John McCain was accused of improperly aiding his political patron, Charles Keating, chairman of the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association. The bipartisan Senate Ethics Committee launched investigations and formally reprimanded Senator McCain for his role in the scandal -- the first such Senator to receive a major party nomination for president.
At the heart of the scandal was Keating's Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, which took advantage of deregulation in the 1980s to make risky investments with its depositors' money. McCain intervened on behalf of Charles Keating with federal regulators tasked with preventing banking fraud, and championed legislation to delay regulation of the savings and loan industry -- actions that allowed Keating to continue his fraud at an incredible cost to taxpayers.
When the savings and loan industry collapsed, Keating's failed company put taxpayers on the hook for $3.4 billion and more than 20,000 Americans lost their savings. John McCain was reprimanded by the bipartisan Senate Ethics Committee, but the ultimate cost of the crisis to American taxpayers reached more than $120 billion.
The Keating scandal is eerily similar to today's credit crisis, where a lack of regulation and cozy relationships between the financial industry and Congress has allowed banks to make risky loans and profit by bending the rules. And in both cases, John McCain's judgment and values have placed him on the wrong side of history.
For the past few years, the Inland Empire in Riverside County has been one of the fastest growing counties in the state - home to a major housing boom. But now the Inland Empire is pretty much the poster child for the foreclosure crisis. In the newer developments, house after house sits vacant - either up for auction, for sale by a bank or going for what’s called a “short sale” which is when the owner owes more than the house is worth.
SoCal Connected tracked down some surreal sights associated with the crisis - a company that specializes in removing whatever people leave behind in their foreclosed homes. The process is called a “trashout” - a term the company came up with because it perfectly describes what happens. Everything that’s left is dumped in a trailer and taken to the landfill. Then there’s the guy who started a business to spray-paint dead lawns. That’s right. He paints brown lawns green. We also tag along with a couple of code enforcement officers who are spending more and more of their time having to drain slimy, abandoned pools.
Finally, we meet a typical couple who bought their first home, thinking it was a great investment and tax write-off. Now the place is worth only half of what they paid for it and their neighborhood has almost as many vacant homes as occupied ones.
One of the code enforcement guys sums up the problem in a single sentence - “You know you’re in trouble when the lawns are brown and the pools are green!”
A while back, on Real Time w/Bill Maher, the comedian Gary Shandling, of all people, synthesized the connection between our current economic crisis and 9/11 and the Iraq War in a way I have not heard:
On 9/11, Al Qaeda had no expectation of a traditional military victory against the United States. The point of the attack was economic -- to draw the U.S. into expensive and protracted foreign wars that would deplete our resources and destabilize our government. By invading Iraq, George Bush became the happy idiot to assist Al Qaeda in this goal. Now, Sarah Palin and John McCain take the leaders of Al Qaeda at their word when they say Iraq is the major front in the war on terror.
Neither consider the possibility that Al Qaeda wants Iraq to be the major front because it furthers their goal of weakening the U.S. while inflicting minimal damage on their operations.
Seven years after 9/11, we are seeing Al Qaeda's long-term goal being realized: the destabilization and economic collapse of the United States. Even as it's happening, the people who supported it all along want to continue facilitating our own long-term disintegration by clinging to simplistic concepts of traditional military victory and defeat. In this sense, they are possibly the most myopic, least strategic thinkers in the history of this nation.
As Gary Shandling said, with this approach, our only hope of killing Osama Bin Laden is that he'll laugh himself to death.
The Wikipedia has a long article on voter turnout discussing the various factors that affect turnout. While Americans like to think of the U.S. as the world's best example of a democracy, if one uses voter turnout as the metric, the data show a different picture. Here are the voter turnout numbers for elections in a number of democracies from 1960 to 1995.
Country
# of elections
Turnout
Notes
Australia
14
95%
Voting is compulsory
Malta
6
94%
Austria
9
92%
Belgium
12
91%
Voting is compulsory
Italy
9
90%
Luxembourg
7
90%
Voting is compulsory
Iceland
10
89%
New Zealand
12
88%
Denmark
14
87%
Germany
9
86%
Sweden
14
86%
Greece*
10
86%
Venezuela
7
85%
Voting was compulsory until 1988
Czech Republic
2
85%
Brazil
3
83%
Voting is compulsory
Netherlands
7
83%
Excludes compulsory elections (before 1968)
Costa Rica
8
81%
Norway
9
81%
Romania
2
81%
Bulgaria
2
80%
Israel
9
80%
Portugal
9
79%
Finland
10
78%
Canada
11
76%
France
9
76%
United Kingdom
9
76%
South Korea
11
75%
Ireland
11
74%
Spain
6
73%
Japan
12
71%
Estonia
2
69%
Hungary
2
66%
Russia
2
61%
India
6
58%
United States
9
54%
Includes only Presidential election years
Switzerland
8
54%
Poland
2
51%
As you can see, voter turnout in the U.S. is far less than such beacons of democracy as Malta, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria. It is kind of embarrassing having to explain this to your Maltese, Czech, and Bulgarian friends. What the table doesn't show, but is absolutely the case, is that in other countries elections are about the issues and what the parties and candidates will do if elected. Who is the most friendly and likeable person doesn't play much of a role elsewhere. What the U.S. needs is an elected King or Queen who would be chosen for his or her user friendliness so the presidential election could focus on the candidates' respective plans for governing.
Jack has been, umm, less than charitable towards Sarah Palin, and Tuesday night was no exception.
Last Friday, we ran a piece of tape from an interview Governor Sarah Palin did with “CBS Evening News” anchor Katie Couric. She was asked about the bailout package. Palin rambled on incoherently for nearly a minute about trade, jobs, health care… Everything but the bailout package. […]
How can anyone, including John McCain, take this woman seriously?
Couric: But [Rick Davis] still has a stake in [his lobbying company] so isn’t that a conflict of interest?
Palin: [Blank look on face]
Stewart: If you look closely in the reflection of her glasses, I think it says buffering…buffering…buffering… I love this show — it’s like the first season of Lost, only it makes less sense.
I trust no one. I say pass anything that allows the government to profit from the buyout and mandates some congressional oversight. There's no time to do the bill right, it's too complex and too massive to slap together even in a week.
So we need to elect Obama. After watching the debates, I'm convinced that McCain is arrogant and incompetent enough to mess this up catastrophically. If you don't want to vote for Obama because he's black or muslim, here's a deal. Vote for him anyway, and you can just direct all your racist hate at me by proxy.
The day after the inauguration, convene a panel to completely rewrite the whole dadgum thing from start to finish, with gruesome limits on CEO bonuses, mandating market transparency, new accounting rules, etc. This will take months. Get the people who disagree the most, get them in a room, and set them arguing. Publish the arguments in Congressional reporter or federal register so we can get everyone who's anyone on the record. Addd to the bill a provision that if the govt loses money on these assets, a tax on banks and their CEO's will be levied until the govt is made whole.
Simultaneously with convening this panel, launch SEC, IRS, and FBI investigations of every single trader or lawyer who ever touched a CDO, credit default swap, or mortgage derivative. Investigate them as if they were al qaeda. Prohibit any travel outside of the U.S. for all of these people. Audit the current and former CEO, CFO and board member of every one of the thirty largest banks from 2002 to the present, including an audit of their family members. I'm convinced that most of these people had no stinking idea what they were trading, or whether the thing they were trading was real or fraudulent.
All trials should be broadcast on television, and all documents posted to the internet.
..can make Sarah Palin capable of being in national government, much less VP. She is dumber than a sack full of hammers. SHE CANNOT SPEAK IN COMPLETE SENTENCES MUCH LESS INCORPORATE AT LEAST TWO CLAUSES INTO A SENTENCE, something that demonstrates complex reasoning. I'd pay good money to see someone diagram her sentences.
Never thought anyone could make GW Bush sound articulate. Behold the train wreck that is Palin:
Bush Amps Up The Fear Factor In Economic Speech By: Nicole Belle @ 6:00 AM - PDT
Be afraid, be very afraid…
President Bush said Wednesday that lawmakers risk a cascade of wiped-out retirement savings, rising home foreclosures, lost jobs and closed businesses if they fail to act on a massive financial rescue plan. “Our entire economy is in danger,” he said.
“Without immediate action by Congress, American could slip into a financial panic and a distressing scenario would unfold,” Bush said in a 12-minute prime-time address delivered from the White House East Room that he hoped would help rescue his tough-sell bailout package. “Ultimately, our country could experience a long and painful recession.”
Said Bush: “We must not let this happen.”[..]
“With the situation becoming more precarious by the day, I faced a choice: to step in with dramatic government action or to stand back and allow the irresponsible actions by some to undermine the financial security of all,” Bush said.
You know, if we hadn’t heard some variation on this “mushroom cloud” speech more than a half dozen times from Bush over the last eight years, it might actually have some more weight. Not that there isn’t a crisis, but he’s threatening us with a “long and painful recession“? Has he not been paying attention recently? Steve Clemons:
Tonight, George Bush succeeded I think in scaring Americans that this crisis could be a systemic threat. Bush said “our entire economy is in danger.”
That’s the fear button. He pushed it. And he said the clock was ticking.
This seems like a bad episode of “24.”
What is shocking about the presentation by Bush — and the deal that is unfolding is that we don’t see any acceptance of responsibility for the failure of his team’s stewardship of the economy. We didn’t hear acknowledgment that the compulsive deregulation mantra of Bush’s political and economic allies created a massive bubble where lots of billionaires were created and now tens of millions of less fortunate Americans are holding the bill.
We didn’t hear Bush say that it’s time to reverse the tax cuts that he put in place to help those who have already benefited from the perverse finance and housing bubble that was pumped up.
We didn’t hear a firm commitment from Bush to help the working families who hold these sub-prime and adjustable rate mortgages to stay in their homes and to help stabilize the lives of hard-hit Americans, their neighborhoods and their jobs. All the while, the macro players and big firms and their stakeholders are bailed out.
We probably do need to float major funds into the financial sector — but there needs to be a quid pro quo written in to the deal, a new social contract that does away with the “winner takes all syndrome” that has helped rot out America’s economic promise.
And we need to hear what comes after the bail out. This nation is heading into recession — and is probably already there.
With his actions, lies, contradictions, grossly inexperienced running-mate, and "git off my lawn" demeanor, how in the world can anyone with a brain vote for John McCain? I won't be calling any names, or insulting you, but if you were part of Bush's 51% or part of McCain's rapidly diminishing 46% then this is aimed right at you. I mean, what's your track record over the last two elections? How'd "W" turn out? Some of you still have his 2004 "W"sticker proudly (ignorantly) displayed on your SUV LOL.
Since this diatribe is coming from me and not FAUX news, Lie mbaugh, or some other right-wing shill you'll likely flush it.
Just know this: You won't have a majority ever_again unless you join Obama and the rest of us, take care of your brothers/sisters first, and quit letting big business and the neocons push your buttons. ---------------- You all castigated Kerry 4 yrs ago for waffling. Admit it: In addition to many houses, vehicles and beer John McCain owns the waffle factory.
Deregulator to regulator
Against Bush tax cuts, now pledges to make them permanent
Fundamentals of economy "sound" on Monday, "Sky is Falling" on Friday
Palin, Please who are you kidding this person has NO BUSINESS being a heartbeat away from the US Presidency. What kind of candidate picks a shrill, faith healing political novice as their running mate? Why is it OK for Sarah's pastor to go on Witch Hunts? You are all so worried about Obama's pastor's remarks. Admit it. Aren't you the least bit embarassed by your candidate and his VP choice?
Mavericks don't support a president like Bush with 95% of their senate votes
Lies and then when called on it Lies again
How many houses again?
Alaska = 20% of US oil production - AS IF
Palin foreign policy experience = 1. Lying about going into Iraq, 2. Can see Russia from Alaska, and 3. Just got my passport!!
Palin abstinence, no real sex-ed, no condoms results in??
Palin uses office for vendettas
Earmarks to the tune of over $300M, but: "I'm a reformer"
You can't see McCain through all the lobbyists on his staff, but yet he tries to co-opt the Obama "Change mantra".
Transparency in Government Yeah right, directs subordinates and Palin's husband to refuse subpoenas (just like Cheney/Bush/Rove). Like to see one of you repubs try that on a personal level.
Do you really want to hear Palin's harpy-like voice for 4 years? Like nails on a chalkboard or chewing on tinfoil. Do we really want to hear about her husband's affair?
Palin thinks rape victims should pay for their own rape evidence kits. Her state leads the nation in rape/incest. That's it: rape the poor in Alaska and get away scot-free!
CHURCH<---------------------------->STATE, not CSHTUARTCEH. Do you people even know who Thomas Jefferson is?? Oh, that's right, you wipe your ass with the US Constitution and Bill of Rights (except for Arming Bears that is).
THANKS, but NO THANKS
Who looks more presidential now? Who is calmly searching for answers to the Wall St. / Banking crisis? Who is using it as an excuse to fear-monger, suspend campaigning and duck a debate he is SURE to lose?
Why can't Sarah answer questions, or be interviewed?
Postpone Debates? I want a president that can multi-task. I also want someone to ask him the hard questions. So far he and Palin only show up for softball interviews.
You still think Trickle Down economics works? Your conservative deregulation allowed the richest to game the system to the tune of over $700Billion. What have they done for you except find loopholes and avoid taxes. Where are the jobs? How is your salary keeping up with inflation? How bout them gasoline prices? WHAT DOES IT TAKE FOR you to realize you are voting against your own best interest (unless you are a millionaire) when you vote Republican?
-------
Not stopping here:
Keating Five (whats that you say? ) take a couple of minutes and watch this:
Define war HERO for me. Just going to war does not a HERO make. Crashing five planes, getting captured, getting treated better than other prisoners because your dad is an Admiral and the VC think you are royalty, these don't make me think of hero. A hero jumps on a grenade to save his buddy, a hero carries his buddy through a minefield to safety. Graduated at the bottom of his class at the US Naval Academy, daddy got him into flight school.
For 23 combat missions (an estimated 20 hours over enemy territory), the U.S. Navy awarded McCain a Silver Star, a Legion of Merit for Valor, a Distinguished Flying Cross, three Bronze Stars, two Commendation medals plus two Purple Hearts and a dozen service medals.
"McCain had roughly 20 hours in combat," explains Bill Bell, a veteran of Vietnam and former chief of the U.S. Office for POW/MIA Affairs -- the first official U.S. representative in Vietnam since the 1973 fall of Saigon. "Since McCain got 28 medals," Bell continues, "that equals out to about a medal-and-a-half for each hour he spent in combat. There were infantry guys -- grunts on the ground -- who had more than 7,000 hours in combat and I can tell you that there were times and situations where I'm sure a prison cell would have looked pretty good to them by comparison. The question really is how many guys got that number of medals for not being shot down."
In case you missed it, Jeffrey Klein at HuffPo had an interesting piece on McCain’s refusal to release his service records, a piece which also mentioned the Senator’s poor showing at Annapolis, his curious assignment to the prestigious service of naval aviator, and his 5 plane crashes. The article concludes: “It wouldn’t be surprising if his naval superiors worried that McCain was just too defiant, too reckless and too crash prone. . . ”
Recently, McSame joined McBush in beating the off-shore oil drilling drum, and an article in the Miami Herald points out that the ramifications of this position in a key battleground state may have been a tad reckless as well:
John McCain’s support for offshore drilling could hurt his prospects in the nation’s largest battleground state, where voters have long favored safeguarding the economically and environmentally precious coastline.
Several high-profile Florida Republicans in Tallahassee and Washington broke with their party’s presumptive presidential nominee. Two of McCain’s chief supporters, U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez and Gov. Charlie Crist, this week dropped their opposition to lifting the ban on offshore drilling in favor of limited drilling, presumably far off the coast.
Ray Sansom, the incoming leader of the Florida House, told reporters in Tallahassee he opposes drilling. Another GOP leader challenged McCain’s assertion drilling would increase oil supply and lower gas prices.
”For anyone to represent that someone drilling off the coast in Florida is going to lower gas prices here or anywhere in this country is disingenuous and a flawed argument,” said Republican House Speaker Marco Rubio, who added that he supports drilling off Florida’s coast if it can be done safely.
Of course, the precise argument McCain and Bush are making is that drilling off the coast in Florida is going to lower gas prices.
As much as Wingnuttia tries to fabricate the meme that Obama is gaffe prone, McCain has the demonstrated ability to crash his plane into the ground all by himself, and to do so repeatedly.
Oh, and by the way: JESUS WAS A COMMUNITY ORGANIZER! (he was most likely black too-at the very least he was brown.)
Only the stupid, stubborn, or bigoted are voting for McCain, which one are you? (Some of you hit the trifecta and should be deported). By the way: Patriots, by definition, DO NOT LIKE or TRUST their GOVERNMENT. Stop co-opting the term. What you call a Patriot is actually a Nationalist- look it up.
As the meltdown on Wall Street continues, American voters would do well to regard John McCain and his Republican Party with suspicion when it comes to the resuscitating the economy. McCain’s acknowledged ignorance on economic issues, happy talk about strong “fundamentals,” ties to lobbyists and disturbing involvement in the 1980’s savings and loan disaster aren’t the only reasons voters should flock to Barack Obama for solutions to the mushrooming financial crisis. As history has proven time and again, Wall Street and the economy overall simply do better under Democratic presidents.
Obama will only increase taxes for the top 1% of incomes; and this isn't really an increase: he's simply going to let the Bush tax cuts expire
Please E-mail your friends and family about ObamaTaxCut.com so that they can learn about what Obama's tax policies mean for them. All numbers are from the independent, non-partisan Tax Policy Center. Obviously, you'll note that filling out your taxes is a lot more complicated than just listing your income, filing status, and number of children -- these are estimates based upon the stated policies of the candidates and average deductions claimed by folks in similar economic conditions. Luckily, Obama promises to simplify the filing process. The number reported above is the estimated difference between income taxes paid under current law and the taxes under the Obama plan.
ObamaTaxCut.com is a project of AlchemyToday.com and has no relation to the Obama campaign or any other organization whatsoever.
John McCain has made much of how he was correct about the Surge in Iraq when his opponent was saying it wouldn’t work. Barack Obama has been moving gradually further towards McCain’s position, propelled there by a narrative that questions his original judgement in the face of drastic cuts in Iraqi violence which have popularly been ascribed to the Surge. He’s now at the point of saying it “succeeded beyond our wildest dreams.”
But how close to reality are McCain and Obama’s positions? Well, for a start it’s unclear that it’s actually the Surge that has been instrumental in lowering Iraqi violence (to parity with some of the world’s bloodiest conflicts instead of being in a class of its own). The Sunni Awakening and a ceasefire by the Shiite Sadrist movement must also take a large part of the credit and, despite McCain’s attempt at rewriting history, both pre-dated the Surge. Indeed, even General Petraeus admits the possibility that, due to these entirely local developments, violence in Iraq might have fallen just as much even without the Surge.
Paying the Awakening movement some $30 million a month to not attack US troops wasn’t originally a part of the Surge plan that McCain backed and it’s unlikely he would have supported such a move in any case. John McCain has made much of Barack Obama’s supposed wish for “appeasement” of terrorists in negotiating with Iran or Hamas - how much worse is it then to bring terrorists onto the payroll? Many of the Awakening’s so-called Sons of Iraq were previously members of the insurgency.
John Amato: McCain wants us to forget that if he wins the election—America will be controlled by the Republicans for four more years that have produced such disastrous results. And the media will only help make this election about personalities instead of issues and then use Palin to distract us from those issues.
Listening to McCain, you’d think it was the Democrats who occupied the White House the last seven-plus years and it was time to throw the bastards out.
Given that 82 percent of voters believe we are heading in the wrong direction, it’s a logical position to take. But for the American people to buy into the notion that McCain, who has raced to Bush’s side on tax cuts, on offshore drilling — even on torture — is this campaign’s agent of change, it’s going to require an incredible suspension of disbelief. Or a serious case of amnesia.
And this is clearly McCain’s campaign strategy: inducing amnesia about the past and confusion about the future, attempting to hoodwink the American people about what he has become. Which is where Sarah Palin comes in. As a major distraction. In the effort to divert attention from the matter at hand — McCain’s embrace of all things Bush — Palin is the perfect storm…read on
Carl Cameron talking to Bill O'Reilly just now on Fox reveals that McCain aides were truly "shocked" at the "gaps in knowledge" Sarah Palin displayed once they were stuck with her. He said that, in the most startling shortcoming, she actually didn't "understand that Africa was not just a country, but a continent." This led, among other things, to her asking how, in that case, South Africa could be a separate country. She also could not name all of the countries in North America, he said, not even the NAFTA partners. And she did not know many of the basics of civics and local/state/national duties. O'Reilly pooh-poohed all of this.
Jon Stewart recaps Sarah Palin’s 
Jon finds some eerie similarities between John McCain’s convention speech and the one given by George W. Bush eight years ago.