Obama Picks Up Phone on Economy

I agree with Obama. He is NOW acting like a leader and I’m impressed. Now if he can get the rest of the dems behind him and not back down, he will have passed a huge test!

Those are the statements of today. He was so Presidential and the speech was so penetrating that my friend broke down in tears. She is about lose her home. I pray he wins.

I’m glad Ralph Emmanuel is on the case.

This is no specifics, Obama has no plan. How can we expect him to lead?

“How can we expect him to lead?”
..asks midwestmom?! Seriously? How about you hit “refresh” on your browser and read this article one more time. There is a seven-point plan?
Oh, but wait. You say that “Obama has no plan.”
You know, some people will just never get it. Midwestmom, maybe you need an election-season time-out until you can think more clearly.

Midestmom shows her ignorance by not understanding roles & responsibilities, as well as the process that goes into implementing actionable plans.
Obama has clearly outlined the guidelines. Right now Paulson has NO specifics other than he wants Congress to give him a blank check to do whatever he wants.
The first part of establishing any plan is to set guidelines and parameters, and then breaking them further into details. Secondly that’s what the Banking Committee should be working on. Can you honestly say that George W. Bush is in his office typing up a detailed plan?
One thing that I can’t stand are people who are stupid and yet spout off opinions. We just have WAY too many idiots in America today.

Pander.

Midwestmom, what do you mean Obama has no plan? What precisely is the Bush plan? Asking for $700 billion with no oversight, no judicial review, and no post hoc adjustments?!? That’s a real humdinger coming from our President….
Obama has been calling for a new regulatory structure, much like the New Deal did under FDR. Do you expect him to talk point by point about the specifics?
Obama’s seven principles are far more detailed than anything Bush or McCain has put out; all McCain wants to do is fired the SEC Chief. Not much of a plan there.
Midwestmom, wake up!!! The Republicans have run this country into the ground. What could Obama possibly do that would be worse?

Obama is a leader and McCain is a whiner.

It all comes down to whether or not you think we should continue the bush policies. If you think the war should continue indefinitely, while we spend $10,000,000,000 a month, and you think that bush has done well with the economy then mc-more-war is your man. If you think that it’s time we start to get out of iraq and do some positive things for the average American instead of just the top 1% then vote for Obama.

MidWestMom. Here are the specifics you requested:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/economyplan

Very strange that some American seriously consider John McCain a very suitable candidate for the role of POTUS. I am no fan of Romney, but he would have been a very qualified candidate. McCain’s choice of Palin was his first really said a lot about a man who didi not ssem to appreciate the stakes. Senator Kay would have been an excellent choice.
And his inability to comprehend the precarious nature of the global economy is shocking!!!

Ron Paul saw this financial mess coming
It’s not like there wasn’t anybody who saw the economic woes of the week on the horizon.
On Sept. 10, 2003, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, testified before House Financial Services Committee, which was holding hearings regarding special privileges extended to government sponsored enterprises (GSEs). Think Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In his testimony. Paul criticized such privileges in general and warned of the potential for disaster posed by government involvement with Fannie and Freddie specifically.
Paul noted that according to the Congressional Budget Office, housing related GSEs received $13.6 billion in indirect federal subsidies in fiscal 2000 and had a line of credit with the United States Treasury exceeding $2 billion. That line of credit Paul said was an explicit promise by the Treasury to bail out GSE’s in times of economic difficulty. (Sound familiar?)
“[The line of credit] helps the GSEs attract investors who are willing to settle for lower yields than they would demand in the absence of the subsidy,” Paul testified. “Thus, the line of credit distorts the allocation of capital. More importantly, the line of credit is a promise on behalf of the government to engage in a huge unconstitutional and immoral income transfer from working Americans to holders of GSE debt.”
As Paul saw the situation some five years ago, the government backing isolated GSE management from market discipline. If Fannie and Freddie were not underwritten by the federal government, he told the committee, investors would demand the institutions held to higher management and accounting practices.
“Ironically, by transferring the risk of a widespread mortgage default, the government increases the likelihood of a painful crash in the housing market,” Paul predicted. “This is because the special privileges granted to Fannie and Freddie have distorted the housing market by allowing them to attract capital they could not attract under pure market conditions. As a result, capital is diverted from its most productive use into housing. This reduces the efficacy of the entire market and thus reduces the standard of living of all Americans.
“Despite the long-term damage to the economy inflicted by the government’s interference in the housing market, the government’s policy of diverting capital to other uses creates a short-term boom in housing,” Paul went on. “Like all artificially created bubbles, the boom in housing prices cannot last forever. When housing prices fall, homeowners will experience difficulty as their equity is wiped out. Furthermore, the holders of the mortgage debt will also have a loss. These losses will be greater than they would have otherwise been had government policy not actively encouraged over-investment in housing.
“I hope today’s hearing sheds light on how special privileges granted to GSEs distort the housing market and endanger American taxpayers,” Paul concluded. “Congress should act to remove taxpayer support from the housing GSEs before the bubble bursts and taxpayers are once again forced to bail out investors who were misled by foolish government interference in the market.”
On the same day, Paul introduced the “Free Housing Market Enhancement Act.” The legislation would have removed government subsidies from the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), and the National Home Loan Bank Board. The bill had no cosponsors; it stalled in the committee process.
A plan at ready
The past few days, major party presidential candidates have scrambled to come up with a solution to the financial crisis on Wall Street and members of Congress and the media have been searching through the thesaurus to find synonyms for “greed.” Writing in “Forbes” back in March in an op-ed entitled “the Rapidly Approaching Economic Meltdown,” Paul proposed a four-part plan calling for lower taxes, less spending, a sound monetary policy and regulatory reform. His plan would:
• Make the Bush tax cuts permanent, repeal the estate tax, end taxes on Social Security benefits, end taxes on income from tips, end taxes on forgiven mortgage debt, and end the income tax and abolish the IRS;
• Reform spending by first cutting back on “our trillion-dollar overseas budget” and shore up the “programs Washington has forced so many citizens to depend on,” while enabling young people to opt out of these programs and save for their own retirements and health care needs.” Veto any unbalanced budget.
Paul argued that lower taxes and less government spending put more money in working people’s pocket — pretty standard Republican line. But he also opined for bolder out-of-the-box actions calling for a sound monetary policy to increase the value of money and drive down the cost of living and a regulatory approach that is the inverse of what we’re hearing from presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama. Paul proposed:
• Requiring more transparency at the Federal Reserve Board and legalizing competing currencies. He cited the historical evidence of the inevitable failure of paper money systems. However, “I believe that for our economy to be secure in the long term,” he wrote, “Congress must reassert its authority and end the unconstitutional Federal Reserve.”
• Undertake regulatory reform and revisit the myriad federal regulations that “have stymied the innovative spirit of the American people.” At the top of the list Paul put Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) — regulation imposed after the spate of corporate scandals earlier in the decade.
In his Forbes article, Paul noted three studies. A survey by Financial Executives International put the average cost of compliance with SOX at $4.4 million. The American Economics Association estimated SOX could cost American Companies as much as $35 billion in aggregate. Wharton Business School found that the number of American companies delisting from public stock exchanges nearly tripled the year after SOX became law (198 firms “went dark” compared to 67 the year before).
“One of the best things Congress could do for the American economy is to repeal this damaging legislation,” Paul wrote.
Economic lifeblood
In short, Paul’s message is that money is the lifeblood of any economy, and control over a nation’s currency means control over its economic well-being. Fed bankers quite literally determine the value of our money by controlling the supply of dollars and establishing interest rates. Their actions can make us richer or poorer overnight, in terms of the value of our savings and the buying power of our paychecks. How’s that been working out for you lately?
Paul concludes his piece with a call to return to principle that is, perhaps, even more fitting today than earlier in the year.
“Unless we embrace fundamental reforms, we will be caught in a financial storm that will humble this great country as no foreign enemy ever could,” he wrote. “We can find safe harbor in our ideals. Reclaiming our historic legacy of principled commitment to liberty will, once again, unleash the innovative spirit that propelled our nation to the heights of prosperity.”
Or, we could keep putting lipstick on a pig.

Nothing new here, where is this idea xeroxed from??
It’s like student’s thesis outline in school project, not deep.

Go Obama! Hardball ‘em all the way. If they want our money, they’d better give it up OR be prepared for the whole system to crumble. This ain’t no charity for the wealthy! This is business! Paulson’s got a week to decide.
Obama/Biden 08!

JH,
Just like Paulson stole the plan of the now bankrupt Lehman, Obama wasn’t about to let McCain/Bush steal his economic plan. McCain has attempted to steal the “change” message, the “environmentalist” message and many, many more ideas from Obama.
=========
Paulson wants 700B without any details or explanation other than fear!
U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulson is a Republican. He was also the CEO of Goldman Sachs, the company that forced Lehman out of business with short-sales and rumor-mongering. Lehman is the only company the Bush regime forced into bankruptcy while all the other Wall Street gang gets a bail-out.
Paulson has worked for Republicans his entire life — as far back as the Nixon administration.
The Republican SEC Chairman, Christopher Cox was not asleep at the wheel. He deliberately left Lehman, Fannie and Freddie to fight off the rest of the Wall Street gang by NOT enforcing current laws on short-selling. When forced, he put in place some new rules that should have been made permanent. Instead, he let the rules expire. During the expired month which left the market unregulated, Lehman, Fannie and Freddie all failed. Immediately following these beat-downs of these companies, Cox made permanent the rules that would have saved them.
This is no coincidence. This is the Republican machine and cronism working as intended.
Just like in physical war, when it comes to financial battles, the Republican machine is as vindictive as ever. They have no shame. You’re either with them or they will crush you in the name of protecting the tax payer.
Lord help us if the Republicans “deregulate” any other major industry and bail them out when the bubbles burst at taxpayer expense.
At some point, the American taxpayers are going to call for an investigation of these Republican crooks. We’re just waiting to see which one of Bush’s friends buys up all these assets at reduced prices.
Obama/Biden 08!

Just because mc-more-war was a pow does not mean he should be president. The guy used to have a spine but now is nothing but a flip-flopper and a panderer. He’s also an OLD fart. The real straight-talker, John Murtha said that the Presidency is no place for an OLD man. There’s a reason they make pilots retire at age 60. mc-more-war needs to retire with his millionaire wife. (The one he had an affair with after his first wife waited for him to come back from the war.) Obama 2008!!!

Bush has nothing left. The driver of this deal is Obama and the election isn’t for another few weeks.

Where are you midwestmom?
Hiding in your room with your buddy, “W”?

MCaina showed typical impetuosity “kill-the-messenger” approach to problemsolving when he said the SEC Chairman should resign. The man’s temper is legendary and it has NOT mellowed. He is DANGEROUS.
and Sarah Palin? a whack job!

Susan, thank you for your response to midwestmom. You were doing such a great job until the end:
“One thing that I can’t stand are people who are stupid and yet spout off opinions. We just have WAY too many idiots in America today.”
That’s not what should be about. You negated the paragraphs you spent educating her by your last one where you did nothing but insult her. Do you think she will walk away considering your points (and maybe changing her mind), or will she walk away hating the “other” side more because they are elitists who think she is stupid (just like McCain tells her)?
She’s here. She gets to “spout” her opinions just like anybody else. The objective should be to show her enough of the truth (politely) that you can change those opinions.
She’s not stupid, just uninformed. SO many Republicans and conservatives are voting Obama this year, and we need every one of them.

McCain Supporters… With Section 8 considered can you help me understand what principles and values apply that would make you support this plan.
Did you see George Will on This Week ABC Sunday morning show? If you can’t support Obama what about a no vote or third party vote instead? I hope we can all vote by our values and principal and not blind faith.
Draft Plan Section 8: Sec. 8. Review.
Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.
Text of draft plan: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/business/21draftcnd.html?ref=business

Ouch! Barack and the Black Grinch Michelle should be VERY concerned ..
http://thecolumbusdispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/09/21/OHIOPOLL21.ART_ART_09-21-08_A1_HDBCHUM.html?sid=101

Hey everybody vote for me. I plan to give you:
1. Universal Health Care with no restrictions at all
2. Bail out all homeowners
3. Bail out 1 Trillion dollars of debt from Wall St financial firms
4. Give tons of money to people who don’t have any
5. Increase all social programs
6. Free college education for all!
Hey, why wouldn’t you vote for me. I’ll give everybody everything!
What’s that you say, how will we pay for this……..nevermind, shush!

JA – cmon .. isn’t that the American way? SIGH!

BettyLou,
You need to get informed you sheep. Barack Obama is supporting the bail out of Wall St firms. He has stated so repeatedly. This will cost close to 1 Trillion.
He says he wants to do this in a responsible way, and that is where his mistake is. THERE IS NO RESPONSIBLE WAY. YOU ARE MAKING THE AMERICAN TAXPAYER PURCHASE JUNK FINANCIAL DERIVATIVES PRODUCTS.

JA: So what will happen with no bailout whatsoever? What are the effects on individuals, the larger economy, retirement portfolios, etc? Please inform me.

Overvalued 600,000 homes are not junk. There are simply no buyers that can really afford it while there are no jobs. Thanks Republicans for outsourcing and insourcing foreigners to cripple the American buying power.
Bush’s cronism is what is at work here. Paulson is a Wall Street crook:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/695796.html
Obama/Biden 08!

bettylou,
It still won’t trickle down. That is what will happen.
Obama/Biden 08!

Sarah Mooseburger will save us!

McCain and Sarah Palin can’t wait to get their hands on our Social Security and health care.
They know they can still squeeze something out of the middle class.

It doesn’t matter what 0bama says.
No one trusts him with their money.

Lesser of all evils. I’d rather trust Obama with my money than any other choice we have. Bush, McCain, Wall Street, major corporations, the drug companies (shall I continue?) have all shown us that they are willing to take our money, tell us what we want to hear, and run.

JJones:
I would prefer that if you know something we don’t, you divulge it here. We are all trying to look at facts and make the best voting decisions we can. The vast problems we face require information, not vapid griping. If you have something to contribute, please do so.

Obama calls Pelosi and Reid. Wow! Larry, Curly and Moe to the rescue.

Proof that Obama lacks judgement and confidence. Why did he need to reach out to so many people for a plan. Can Obama do anything without a teleprompter or a bunch of advisors?
If I were Hillary I would have hung up on him. He obviously didn’t think too highly of her opinion when it came to VP chosing time.
Pathetic.

Intresting! The people who are saying negative statements about Obama must think that this crisis will all be over by the end of the week,and some how Obama should be able to fix it by then,if not, then that proves he can not lead.
Most likely these people are pretty comfortable,not facing any money problems or fear of a job loss..Yet.
Sadly these are the people will be caught off guard when payday comes and there is no paycheck, or they go to the bank and the bank door is locked.
Wake Up!!!

Senator Obama was at the head of the line when the “hogs” lined up at the Fannie and Freddie trough for campaign bucks. The top three U.S. Senators getting big Fannie and Freddie political bucks were Democrats. Number two is Senator Barack Obama. He’s only been in the Senate four years, but still managed to grab the number two spot behind Chris Dodd who is chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. Fannie and Freddie are creations of Congressional Democrats and President Bill Clinton, designed to make mortgages available to people who couldn’t afford them. Fannie May and Freddie Mac are where big Washington Democrats to go to work in the semi-private sector and pocket millions. Clinton administration White House budget director Franklin Raines ran Fannie and collected $50 million dollars. Obama is part of the Fannie and Freddie problem, not the solution.

How is Obama going to have a full detailed plan when Washington doesn’t? Instead of bluster & trying to score cheap political points, Obama is calm and cool & most of all…he listens. This crisis isn’t something one person alone can solve and a half a day and hit the golf course.

Wow! Obama is even more clueless than I thought. He is calling the very people who put us into this mess and who have failed to lead for advice. The man is dangerous and should be no where near the White House. He is a fool who would lead the US to a socialsist hellhole. People, please do like many od us have done…research before you vote. Obama would be a huge mistake.

arora, did you even read abcblogger’s post. That is it in a nutshell! Your own Chris Dodd was on the banking committee!!!

The list of people he consulted with is very enligtening. Of course, Barney and Chris can give him some ideas, considering they have had strategic roles for oversight and did nothing. Then, there are the Clintons who finally have some stature in leadership coming from a green inexperienced candidate who denigrated them throughout the campaign. I am not certain that there is enough time for him to make crucial decisions in an emergency. That is a long list of consultants. How impressive!

Beside the issue, Lynne. Dodd is a politician like all the rest. He doesn’t belong to me any more than he belongs to you.
Yeah, a lot of folks pushing the numbers of what Obama received from Freddie/Fannie are reacting to the wrong statistics.
We’re in crisis mode and we should be looking at the best plan to bail out these orgs that are threatening to take our economy – and our entire way of life – out.
Now I know you’ve heard all sorts of bad nasty things about the candidate. If you listen open mindedly, I’m sure you’ll find that you’re getting too excited about the wrong information.
On the freddie/fannie thing, maybe you should look at where McCain gets his money, and how much. Information means nothing when its in a vacuum.

Well, well. Looks like despite what Sarah Palin says, Obama DOES HAVE A PLAN AFTER ALL. Not only that, it makes sense. What Republican wouldn’t want to add more regulatory oversight and protect the taxpayers and homeowners right?!

abcblogger, you need to get your facts straight: Your numbers are from just employees. If you look at the contributions from Fannie and Freddie’s BOARDS OF DIRECTORS AND LOBBYIST – MCCAIN TOPS THE LIST! “The New York Times looked at contributions from Fannie and Freddie’s boards of directors and lobbyists, who are technically not employees. That analysis found Fannie and Freddie-related contributors gave $116,000 to John McCain and his related committees, compared with $16,000 to Obama and his related committees.”

Ummm…to Someonedidpredictthis…you can put a different shade of lipstick on a pig, and it’s still a pig. And still a Republican. You lost me at “make the Bush tax cuts permanent.”
I don’t disagree with everything else, but overall, I’m not impressed.

Nice lies and convoluted rhetoric Smber. You fail.
The Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lobbyists are working on the McCain Campaign.

it a nutshell what obama is talking about is the basic premise of what is being proposed already-this was all discussed ALL DAY ON ALL NEWS CHANNELS-nothing original not one thought. what obama did was he waited until their was a general consensus as to where this thing was going and then just embellish on it like it was all his idea.

Wow, LynneG, you’re just a plain old liar.

LynneG – I don’t know where you’re getting your information from, but it’s wrong! You’re exactly the kind of voter McCain and Palin are counting on. They are trying to confuse you with their lies – the more they say them, the more people will believe them. If you’re putting all your money on Palin – God help you. She became mayor of Wasila with zero debt and left it with millions of dollars in debt and oh by the way, she can see Russia from Alaska. What a farce! By the way, even though the Democrats have been in control since 2006 (you got you year wrong there), it’s obvious you don’t understand how Congress works. The Republicans are counting on this! In the Senate, Republicans have routinely filibustered every major piece of Democratic legislation. (They need 60 votes to end filibusters.) This was reinforced by over 119 veto threats by President Bush(who never issued a veto as the previous Republican congresses ran up record deficits). Majority rule has essentially been repealed. Then of course George Bush there are the times he has use his veto! The strategy hasn’t been a secret. Conservatives have openly gloated about it.

ok let me see if i get this. what this article is doing is crediting obama for engaging in a BIPARTISAN approach by making phone calls- what a joke according to this story the bipartisan pols he contacted are all democrats.
NOT ONE REPUBLICAN.
schumer clinton emmanuel reid pelosi dodd-frank ect are all democrats so how is this bipartisan?

abcblogger: McCain should look first to his campaign staffers as the cause of that debacle. One of them was Fannie Mae’s head of lobbying, and spread tens of millions of dollars around Washington in the form of lobbying contracts. A number of McCain staffers were on the receiving end of those contracts, collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars each from the lenders to rep their interests. And McCain’s campaign manager served as president of a lobbying association that fought to protect Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae from the sort of regulation that McCain is now proposing.And other current McCain campaign staffers were the lobbyists receiving shares of that money. According to the Senate Lobbying Database, the lobbying firm of Charlie Black, one of McCain’s top aides, made at least $820,000 working for Freddie Mac from 1999 to 2004. The McCain campaign’s vice-chair Wayne Berman and its congressional liaison John Green made $1.14 million working on behalf of Fannie Mae for lobbying firm Ogilvy Government Relations. Green made an additional $180,000 from Freddie Mac. Arther B. Culvahouse Jr., the VP vetter who helped John McCain select Sarah Palin, earned $80,000 from Fannie Mae in 2003 and 2004, while working for lobbying and law firm O’Melveny & Myers LLP. In addition, Politico reports that at least 20 McCain fundraisers have lobbied for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, pocketing at least $12.3 million over the last nine years. (THERE ARE MORE!)

Teri, Bill Clinton signed the legislation. Democrats are to blame.

Obama will lose in November palin and simple.

abcblogger”Bill Clinton signed the legislation” You need to keep up with the blogging. I was answering LynnG who was blaming the “2004 congress” which she thought was Democratic – here’s her quote which again is factually wrong, (but who cares about the facts)! “And remember the Democrats have been in charge since 2004 and have planned this big crisis to happen right before the election.” How stupid is that – of course, the Republicans were in charge then!

stop blaming bill, its not his fault. Bush hasn let the economy down for the past 8 years, and now you want to blame Clinton because Bush squandered a record surplus.

Soon as Obama and Michelle is in the white house, Obama will introduce the five year plan for all of us.

Most on here just yell support.
The meltdown goes back to 1977 with the community reinvestment act with Carter. Was then tweaked by Clinton, supercharged with easy cash from greenspan and supported by senate and congress for not creating leverage rules for non-banking entities.
Calling on Dodd, Pelosi, Frank et all who are knee deep in this crap, is ignorant to say the least.
Paulson/Bernake are not magic, but they are partisan, so it would make more sense to trust them than either the repub or dem cabal.
But you clowns need to understand what you are talking about before you scream, you look foolish to folks who understand.
T

Who reported this for ABC? Don’t they know that it’s not Ralph Emanuel, it’s Rahm? But, that’s ABC for you.
Go Obama!!

Lets look at what Obama’s spokesperson said..”quick, bipartisan solution”. Now look at who Obama talked to on the phone…not a single one of them is a Republican, how can that be bipartisan? Ok she used the word quick, well duh the meltdown was occuring all week and Obama waited till everyone had already met and resolved the primary panic.
Now lets look at what he says about Main street and Wall Street…They are they the same. Main street needs to pay their mortgages. Didn’t anyone ever watch Its a Wonderful Life? George Bailey says is very clear. DUH

SARAH PALIN IS UPSET
SHE IS UPSET THAT OBAMA DIDN’T OUTLINE HIS PLAN BEFORE, SO THEY COULD STEAL IT AND CALL IT THEIR OWN JUST LIKE THEY DID WITH THE ‘CHANGE’ CAMPAIGN.

If Obama is so keen on getting the job done for the economy why not come back to Washington in lieu of talking to people on the phone. It might be helpful to see him in action with real politicians. Maybe if we are lucky he will jet into Washington and vote but I would not surprised if he did not vote.

“Typical” NoBama….”empty suit, no substance!”

Hey, for those who say Obama has no specific plan, read down to about 2/3 of the way in this speech Obama gave to Wall Street folks on March 27, 2008.
http://www.barackobama.com/2008/03/27/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_54.php
Man if we had implemented his ideas then, things would be much better now.

What’s wrong with the economy?…Simple..two things…you CAN’T give out mortgages to people who can’t afford them no matter what the DEMS think. Second…GAS PRICES!!!…No drilling DEMS the problem AGAIN!

More words that Obama can’t deliver on!
He is a follower and not a leader. He has to ask the democrat party what he should say! obama is for party over country! :(
Also, Obama has been feeding at the trough of Freddie and Fannie and is just part of the problem! :(
But, Governor Palin drew a crowd of 60,000 in Lady Lake Florida while Obama drew a crowd of 20,000 where he was stumping!
Palin knows how to talk to people and has an intuitive gift of taking their pulse! :)
America needs Senator McCain and Sarah Palin to deliver the reforms they need! They have the experience and the proven record of doing just that!
McCain/Palin 08!

Obama is just doing a song and dance like all politicians do to try to look good. Experts on wall street have already said that Obama is clueless.

Party first for Obama! Ah-ah-ah-ah – what should I say now he equivocates and the dems tell him! :(
More words that Obama can’t deliver on!
He is a follower and not a leader.
Also, Obama has been feeding at the trough of Freddie and Fannie and is just part of the problem! :(
But, Governor Palin drew a crowd of 60,000 in little Lady Lake, Florida while Obama drew a crowd of 20,000 where he was stumping!
:)
Palin knows how to talk to people and has an intuitive gift of taking their pulse! :)
Americans need Senator McCain and Sarah Palin to deliver the reforms they need! They have the experience and the proven record of doing just that!
McCain/Palin 08! Country first! :)

Obama wants to negotiate with terorists and rouge nations “withhout pre-condition. He stated that.
Read below what the IMC of Pakistan stated today:
“It is a direct hit on the integrity of Pakistan,” Rehman Malik, the Interior Ministry chief, told ABC News in an interview late on Sunday. “We have become hostage in the hands of these terrorists.”
al Qaeda, the Taliban and allied groups had been warning they would attack Pakistan’s cities. Malik said that “all roads point to South Waziristan,” the volatile tribal district along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border where senior al Qaeda leaders are believed to be hiding. Malik said the explosives included “military-grade” RDX and ammonium powder.
I say we blow them up and take names. The hiipy party wants to takl. How nice….

But, Governor Palin drew a crowd of 60,000 in Lady Lake Florida while Obama drew a crowd of 20,000 where he was stumping!
Do you right wing nuts every do fact check. Just this week it was proving that Palin crowds have been lies. Also, I watch it today and there was not on 60,000. Why you nuts keep repeated lies over lies. They only reported that becasue Obama on any given day gets a crown over 20,000 and now they want to said Palin get 40,000 more. YOu right wing nuts will all your lies is the reason the USA is in just a bad shape. Bush Administration lie to the Congress, the Senate, House of Representive, and the American people regarding Iraq and now the troops are fighting a war becasue of all the lies the Bush Administration told. Why would any American people believe any think that come up of Palin mouth when she is refuseing to talk to investator regard claims of power of abuse. 60,000 yet, I like to see that one on paper not by her word. I take her word with a grand of salt. Palin is a bigger joke than McShame. You sound like a fool repeating any think Palin or McShame say 60,000 they wish.

rhonda obama did not wait for the facts to make an informed statement. he waited until the consensus was made as to the direction to take for the bailout playing it safe and then he supported it and is starting to claim it as his own. he waited to see what direction the political wind was blowing. no integrity.
as always obama supports what is in his best interest. and other peoples ideas and words this guy is still voting present. nothing new or innovative. undecided purple person

Mox – Instead of spending all your time on website how about watching some fact check you right wing nuts seem to not wacth because you right wing nuts continue to point out all the lies McShame and Palin have been saying about Obama and the fact check repeated time after time that the McShame camp is right out lying. So, it would be wise, which I am aware you right wing nuts are not so wise, need to do some fact check before commmenting a what McSane and Palin say about Obama. That is what fact check is there for, but i guest you right wing nuts do really want to hear the truth so you continue to repeat all the lies coming for Mcsane mouth to try to get those native American people to believe the lies. We all know that you right wing nuts believe if you repeat a lie over and over the American people will start believe it. You right wing nuts lies have got up to you and now the American people don’t believe any think that come up your mouths.

G:
your are officially a douche as well

Don’t feed the McCain trolls all.
We know what we have to do. Stay focused.
Heads down. Eyes on the prize. Let’s take this thing to the finish line.
5 weeks to go.
Go Obama/Biden/We the People 08

After 7+ years of a shoot-from-the-hip-speak- before-you-think administration I appreciate someone who gathers the facts and gives careful consideration to the situation before weighing in on the problem.
McCain spoke immediately, stumbled repeatedly over his own (or someone’s) ideas and looked like an incompetent fool. And Palin thinks it needs a little “shakin’ and fixin’.” Bring in a third member of the comedy team and we’ll have the Three Stooges.
Can’t wait to see Tucker explain this!

The greatest danger facing America as a democracy is not our corrupt self-serving politicians or the threat from Russia, Iran, China, and North Korea to name a few. Rather, it is the threat from uninformed, brain-washed and perpetually ignorant American citizens that choose to vote along party lines, gender, race, or religion even when knowing fully well that the future our nation is at stake. These people are the real threat to America and our democracy.
I believe our founding fathers never saw this potential threat, and thus it would have probably served this nation better if there was some kind of IQ test requirement for voting in presidential election in America.

Seah,
Many respected, serious and objective sources agree that the very plan being put forward by the government is the biggest nationalization and socialization proposal in global history. And you think Obama came up with this? THE GOVERNMENT PLAN IS TO NATIONALIZE THE DEBT! Make the taxpayers liable! So we all can pay for it for the next 35 years!
Can you seriously so misunderstand what is going on?
Obama simply wants to ensure that you, your family and all ordinary Americans are not going to be mugged by Wall Street and the Republicans. You are being mugged NOW by Paulson! How can you not see this?
If in the next 48 hours Obama does not succeed in modifying the Paulson/Bush plan to socialize debt, all Americans will be handing over a huge proportion of their income to Wall Street gamblers for years to come. It’s that simple.

JH said: “Obama was too slow to come out and reassure the American people. He hid behind his stump speeches with empty rhetoric. And now, after every expert and pundit and advisor has offered opinions and advice, Obama has something to say. The phone rang at 3 am and Obama did not answer!!”
__________
Boy, you truly must be an idiot. The whole point is that Obama took the time to get his facts straight, spoke to advisors and got it right, while all McCain did was flip out and insist on firing someone who can’t be fired by the president, then ask the wrong chairman to resign and then try to blame Obama for everything that’s wrong with the system.
Well, which is it? Does Obama not have the experience or is he so experienced that the deregulation that McCain has championed and devised by his ecomonic advisor Phil Gramm is Obama’s fault?!
Get your head out of the sand and think logically for once, for the love of Pete!

what can a racist do for this country?
What can a terrorist link do for this country
OBAMA = ZERO

Of course, Obama waited to put out his plan until he decided what points of the McCain Plan to plagiarize as his own.
Typical of his performance against Hillary Clinton in the primary, so no one should really be surprised.
And, as with most Obama economic gibberish, his “plan” offers no specifics, only a broad “pie in the sky” approach designed for his trademark flip-flops when needed.
George W. Bush could not have done any better.
Anybody But Obama…

Obama is NOT experienced enough, NOT knowledgeable enough, and he has NOT sacrificed anything in life for this country. All Obama knows is to repeat what others have said or what others want to hear. Because he has NO independent knowledge about how to address urgent and more serious crisis confronting America, that is why he could NOT at least make any sound suggestions when the recent major financial situation came about on Wall Street. All Obama does is to blame other people who have at least tried to do something for their country. I totally agree with Ms. Palin that Obama is NOT the leader for America. I am a black man who would like to be very objective especially when it comes to the issue about the leadership of our great nation. This is NOT race issue. It is about who is the more qualified and well-experienced candidate to lead America especially in the face of major crisis. And McCain has shown wisdom and leadership most of the time and also he is the candidate who have actually served this country and who has also sacrificed a lot in his life for this nation and he deserves the highest office of the land regardless of his race. To be objective, Obama does NOT deserve to be Commander-in-Chief of the US Army.

As for the comment that Obama has never sacrificed anything for his country, sorry can’t let that pass. When you’re president of the Harvard Law Review, you can pretty much get any legal job you want after law school, and if you want that can be a short road to millions. Instead, Obama chose community service. That’s a huge financial sacrifice! If serving your community at great personal sacrifice isn’t patriotic, then nothing is.

McCain the FUNDAMENTALIST is a loser

Scare Politics: Factcheck Reveals Obama’s Social Security Whopper
“He tells Social Security recipients their money would now be in the stock market under McCain’s plan. False.”
“All current retirees would be covered by exactly the same Social Security benefits they are now under what the Obama campaign likes to call the “Bush-McCain privatization plan,” which Bush pushed for unsuccessfully in 2005.”

I see that Obama called and spoke with all of the people who were responsible for pressuring lending institutions to forego sound lending practices that started this whole mess. GOOD LEADERSHIP! GO TO THE PEOPLE WHO STARTED THIS MESS AND ASK THEM TO CREATE AN EVEN BIGGER MESS.

For all of the folks on here whining about specifics I submit the following: Without Googling, please outline the specifics of the Paulson plan and explain in detail why you support. Please support your position with prior examples of macroeconomic management by either a state government or a national government. Please also fully cite any sources and include only published data.
Bottom line: You wouldnt know what to do with a “specific” if it was laid out for you by USAToday. My challenge above is what a freshman economics student would be expected to provide. But you’d know that if you went to college.

The real Obama at
http://townhall.com/Columnists/KevinMcCullough/2006/07/23/bamboozled_obamas_big_black_lie

We Americans must stand together in this time of great need for the United States of American. We must come to realize that Obama is nothing more than an egotistical harmful person to America is. Taxing the rich and business is a smoke screen used by Obama to tax all Americans with hidden taxes. Obama will be a puppet to his campaign contributors at the cost of taxing all Americans. There is no free ride.
Private interest groups and tax hungry government officials feared seventy-three old President Reagan as a governor of California and later as President of America. Why? They all knew that President Reagan was his own man. John McCain is his own man. The man is John McCain.
Sarah Palin is her own woman. Many are making disgusting comments about Sarah Palin out of fear and envy. The catty women would love to have the opportunity presented to Sarah Palin, but they know in their own hearts it will never happen.
News commentators pick at everything about Sarah Palin because she has what they cannot tolerate in a woman. Sarah has the intellect to be a mayor, a governor, a vice-president and a president of our great nation. Some men fear that Sarah Palin could rise to the highest office and be President of the United States of America. Obama does not have executive experience. Sarah Palin has executive experience.
The ABC News Panel says that it fears John McCain. These weak men fear John McCain and Sarah Palin. These weaklings have forgotten the powers of congress to control a president. The ABC News Panel’s true fears are that a woman may become the President of the United States of America. It does not matter who she is or what her qualifications are they fear a woman. These weaklings of men live in fear that a woman will receive the powers of the President of the United States of America. What boyish sissies the ABC News Panel is.
Any woman that does not vote for Sarah Palin votes against herself. Women must band together and know that a vote for Sarah Palin is a vote for you.
News commentators and writers want you to believe Sarah Palin is not the person for Vice-President. There is fear in their words that Sarah Palin will become the next president of the United States of American. There are men that cannot tolerate the thought of women in high responsible positions. The fear is not on Sarah Palin’s true qualifications, but based only on that she is a woman.
John McCain does not fear women. Obama has less women working in his office. John McCain has more women workers on staff. Obama women workers earn much less than then the men on his staff do. John McCain women workers earn more than the men on his staff do.
I can sense the fear that a woman could actually become president of the United States of America. I am like John McCain and it does not matter to me the sex of the person. As vice-president or president, Sarah Palin can do it for American.
It better to back a woman and not the little no nothing boys that runs against her.
For those Obama voters click here:
http://townhall.com/Columnists/KevinMcCullough/2006/07/23/bamboozled_obamas_big_black_lie
McCain is the man. The man is McCain.

Obama has ZERO experience to be President. He has a college degree, has worked in the community, which millions of Americans are doing, and he has voted present in the senate.
In addition, he is not what he says he is. Obama’s father figure mentor was Frank Marshall Davis, leader of the Communist Group USA, which makes him very dangerous for our country. See link:
http://www.aim.org/aim-column/obamas-communist-mentor/
Plus, we do not want our country to be controlled by Pelosi, Reid, Obama, and Biden. No thanks to socialism!! No thanks to higher taxes!! No thanks to more government agencies!! No thanks to a failed Congress!!

Louis: “Obama has ZERO experience to be President. He has a college degree, has worked in the community, which millions of Americans are doing, and he has voted present in the senate.”
A college degree from Harvard that he earned on merit not from a silver spoon ride.
Work in community when he could have been getting rich on Wall Street.
And 4000+ votes in the senate, of which about 130 were present. Many of these votes were at the advice of his party leadership as a political strategy – if Dems voted present, then Republicans were given cover to also vote present and deprive a nice sounding but fundamentally flawed law passage. McCain never votes present, he simply does not show up to vote at all. You can decide which is the more admirable approach.
Starting from his election date, McCain has missed far more votes in the federal senate – including meaty ones on issues like renewable energy – than Obama.

Liberals are nothing but ANGRY morons

When are you Dems going to get it? We don’t care about facts or plans or anything else. We wouldn’t remmeber the specifics if you tatooed them on our forheads backwards so we saw them in the mirror every morning. We’re just to scared to elect a non 100% white man who might take our money and give it to causes without concrete motives like greed or fear.

Playoffs, dont talk about playoffs! Plan, what plan?..
This is a wish list. Obama could’nt be anything more then a fluffer in a porn movie, except that he can’t make any “hard” decisions. This is nothing more then affirmation for the moronic obamacites to stay on board….
http://www.deathbydemocraticparty.com

Liberals are nothing but ANGRY morons… so what are Conservatives?.. a bunch of buck-tooth looking, over-all wearing, bible loving, moose hunting, hillbillies?

WOW, BIG SURPRISE NOBAMA HAS NO IDEAS.
PALIN 08

This is to all who call themselves Democrats. Were are you at? Why did you let the liberal morons take over your party. Liberals are nothing but liars, so that means they lied to you too. Look what they did to Hillary, and they call themselves the people of change and then attack minorities themselves, then call people racist if they don’t vote for Obama. People, please wake up, liberals have no morals! That is why they hide behind the face’s of minorities and think they can call themselves Christians, what HYPOCRITES. Obama is a racist, Obama lies, Obama is sexist, and anyone who votes for him are morons who love being lied to.

Any a-holes that says the next thing about Obama having no plans, where’s yours? Post them up and I’ll be the judge of it.

Mcbush, you really are a moron, this is a fact too. The majority of what people hillbillies vote democrat, LOL.

Name calling and insults are the last resort for the ignorant…go back and check who is doing all the insulting, and you’ll catch on…

Let the banks that are having the problems fail. Then they will get sold to companies who might have a chance of getting them back on their feet by people who know how to handle money.
Cause clearly the people that are doing it now aren’t doing a good job. And We all know how the govenment handles money, So they should just stop, look and learn.
I would really hate to live in a country that was just bought out by Foreign interest because our Gov’t goes backrupt itself.
It would clearly suck to instantly become Communist because China Buys out the US.
I wouldn’t put faith into either side politically right now until they grow up and act like adults. This elementary style of government and political bashing is stupid.
I believe in a gov’t for the people by the people. Not the gov’t that doesn’t take the consideration of what the people really want. Reactive politics ends up screwing everyone.
Grum

You Republicans are truly a sad bunch of idiots. You criticize Obama for coming out with this, while your halfwit canditate can’t get his facts or his position straight. All you do is bitch in the same Republican manner about whose fault it is! Give us all a break.
Forget blaming and lets all start working towards fixing this.
As far as McShame is concerned… and his token female VP – they should be utterly ashamed of themselves. McShame beleives he should be president because he was a POW? Palin pimping out her son in active duty?
That sort of behaviour sickens me. Nothing more than emotional blackmail.
On top of the fact they are both completely clueless. Hell I bet McShame is *still* saying that Palin never accepted any funding while running Alaska.
Don’t suppose any of you Repubs saw Palin (the most experienced person on Energy in the US – John McShame) being interviewed on that very subject? Get real people. No McShame/Palin.
Oh. And I’m a white guy. A white guy *not* voting for an aging old flipflopper and his alaskan floozie.
Obama/Biden 08

I would like another condition. I want to see some blood. I’ll sign off on giving the financial system $700 billion after I see some of the executives responsible for this mess put to death.

Of all the comments I read (slightly more than half was plenty), I am most encouraged by the sheer number of Obama supporters and most discouraged by Teri from Ohio, although midwestmom runs a close second. Teri sounds smart enough to know better — but obviously doesn’t!
Some people, even after the last eight years, just don’t get it. Whatever else you want to say about the Democrats, it wasn’t them who brought this country to where it is now. They didn’t do much to help in the past two years, but you have to understand by now that it was “unregulated Republicans” that have done this to us. And that is the real American tragedy! This year I’d vote for my cat to run the country before giving it back to the Republicans again. I was going to say I’d vote for the village idiot, but unfortunately, we’ve already tried that one!

It’s amazing at the amount of the pro-McCain comments. It’s obvious that these people don’t have the knowledge about McCain and the Keating Five; here’s a clue for the clueless, this isn’t McCain’s first financial crisis. McCain was a member of the Keating Five, who ultimately caused the Savings and Loan Scandal in the 80′s-90′s, the cost to clean up that mess was 3 Billion. McCain is the last person that needs to handle our money. Between these two de-regulators Phil Graham and McCain this country would be bankrupt more than it already is, if that’s possible.
This financial mess is the result of Republican policy actually being implemented. It’s De-Regulation at it’s finest. Lets not forget that the Republican’s has been in power for the last 8 years. McCain and Palin are running like the Dems were the ones who were in power. It’s amazing really. Black is now White and White is now Black. The Republicans are like kids at a birthday party, when the cake is gone all they want is more cake, and they scream and they cry until they get it; never mind where the cake comes from. Only this time the cake costs $700 Billion and they want it all to themselves. It’s sad really.
The founding fathers wouldn’t even recognize the country that we have become.
The facts are that McCain is going to lose on Nov. 4th, for one reason and one reason only; because people care about the issues. Because it’s these issues that are making them lose their houses, making them work harder for less pay, and making a impact in their lives. All they have to do is remember that the Republicans got them in this mess and the Democrats will bail them out once again.

To ask where is his plan is idiotic- the plan came from the current administration and the Congress is in control of the purse strings. Obama is only stating what needs to be included in the plan- the plan will not be given a blank check and these principles need to be included. Don’t you think that talking with fellow members is the right thing to be doing? Don’t you think we need to not be hoodwinked like with the Iraq Plan? It will be stupid to give out 700 billion dollars and only have one person in control with no judicial oversight.
If you had been reading all of the news of the week you would find Obama has been in contact with the top economic advisors in the nation and who has McCain talked with? Thats right he was at his 50th class reunion and it was more important.
I am tired of hearing the same lies repeated- Raines, muslim, fannie mae and freddie mac (Truth- McCain has Rick Davis, Arthur Culvahouse Jr., and Mark Buse as advisors), ect. When your lies are debunked you should stop using them- except you are programmed to continue showing how stupid you are.
Spout hate and bs to show support for McCain! Woo hooo! I so smart to spout bs!

VOTING PRESENT means he neither voted yea nor nay. It means he believed there needed to be MORE DISCUSSION on the matter. what is wrong with that?

LynnG, you are a very sad person. If you took the same amount of time you’ve spent posting on this board to go to factcheck.org and look up the facts about Obama, you’d realized that half of the crap you’re spewing — especially the Obama is Muslim nonsense — are complete lies fed to you by the Republican party.
I mean, if you honestly believe what you’re saying, I feel very sorry for you.

CW, so he needed 132+ times to figure something out in his politcal career, hhmmm! He is a power hungry liberal with no experience on even commensense jugdement. He may have big ears, but his balls are small.

There’s nothing scarier than a power hungry liberal! We have no understanding of their motives! To any courage inhibited conservative if you aren’t in it for greed or fear it’s a complete unknown, which is absolutely terrifying!

Liberals are Idiots:
Thanks for my daily dose of Republican Talking Points. It’s refreshing to get a “fair and balanced” view of the world, I thank you for that.
See the beauty about McCain and Palin is that we liberals don’t have to lie about them, all we have to do is fact check them and point out their lies. As much as they are lying and getting caught; It’s almost as if they want to throw the election.
Now back to reality, if you done typing hyperbole and lies it would be nice to get back to the discussion about the issues.
Oh, that’s right republican’s don’t talk about the issues; you guys only talk about lies and hearsay and lipstick on a pig. By the way McCain’s lipstick shade needs to change, he’s had the same on for 24 hours. Isn’t it time for another flip-flop? Or a lie?

Common Sense: Good leaders are smart enough to gather information on subjects from a number of sources before making a decision. No one should be so arrogant as to think that they know all.
Obviously he called some people and gathered information and opinions. Does that mean that he merely parroted their suggestions back to the media? Possibly. More likely he took their advice and created his own plan derived from the suggestions and his own knowledge.
It sounds better than “700 billion dollars, please!”.

Hey, Exdemformaccain, um, your talking points are showing again. After eight years of folks like you dismissing all criticism of the current regime, most of us have little respect for your assessment of what real leadership. Your attempt to lay the blame on people like Franks…as if THEY’VE been in charge for eight years, well, it’s just sad.

How did we get here?
That’s easy to answer. His name is Phil Gramm. A few days after the Supreme Court made George W. Bush president in 2000, Gramm stuck something called the Commodity Futures Modernization Act into the budget bill. Nobody knew that the Texas senator was slipping America a 262 page poison pill. The Gramm Guts America Act was designed to keep regulators from controlling new financial tools described as credit “swaps.” These are instruments like sub-prime mortgages bundled up and sold as securities. Under the Gramm law, neither the SEC nor the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) were able to examine financial institutions like hedge funds or investment banks to guarantee they had the assets necessary to cover losses they were guaranteeing.
This isn’t small beer we are talking about here. The market for these fancy financial instruments they don’t expect us little people to understand is estimated at $60 trillion annually, which amounts to almost four times the entire US stock market.
And Senator Phil Gramm wanted it completely unregulated. So did Alan Greenspan, who supported the legislation and is now running around to the talk shows jabbering about the horror of it all. Before the highly paid lobbyists were done slinging their gold card guts about the halls of congress, every one from hedge funds to banks were playing with fire for fun and profit.
Gramm didn’t just make a fairy tale world for Wall Street, though. He included in his bill a provision that prevented the regulation of energy trading markets, which led us to the Enron collapse. There was no collapse of the house of Gramm, however, because his wife Wendy, who once headed up the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, took a job on the Enron board that provided almost $2 million to their household kitty. And why not? Wendy got a CFTC rule passed that kept the federal government from regulating energy futures contracts at Enron.
If John McCain gets elected and chooses Phil Gramm as his Treasury Secretary, which many politico types see as likely, they will be able to talk about the good old days when Gramm was in congress and McCain was in the senate and they were in the midst of the Savings and Loan crisis.
The S and L scandal, which may look precious when compared to our present cascade of problems, isn’t hard to understand, either. But it is impossible to take John McCain seriously on our current financial Armageddon since he was dabbling in the historic collapse of 747 S&Ls that occurred during Ronald Reagan’s era. In the early 80s under the Republican president, congress deregulated the savings and loan industry in much the same way that Gramm made sure there were no laws hindering our current financial malefactors on Wall Street. S&Ls simply lobbied until they had less regulation and then began making rampant, unsound investments.
Edited
Complete Article Here –> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-moore/a-nation-of-village-idiot_b_127340.html
Read It!!

What we have here, folks, is trickle-down Communism.

It is so clear seeing this unfold from outside the US. If you elect the Republicans again, after the last 8 years, after they have destroyed your economy and your reputation and left your nation on the brink of demise, you are the dumbest group of people to have ever walked the earth.

Obama is a fraud. Chekc this out. His platform is all plagiarised
http://www.charlesrehn.com/charlesrehn/books/aconversationwithamerica/talkbacktoleaders/obamaandthedncplagiarism.htm/democratobamaplagiarism.htm