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Wall Street Bailout: The End of Free Markets?
Tweet Share on Facebook October 14, 2008 Comment (8)Is Monday's stock market surge (following massive worldwide intervention by the U.S. and European governments) proof that the so-called free market isn't so free anymore? Is it proof the free market will fail left to its own devices?
In his announcement of a $250 billion bank stock purchase deal, President Bush insisted that the move was "not intended to take over the free market but to preserve it".
Oh yeah? Normally, I'm a believer in allowing the free market to function. But not when a president has an addiction to spending that clobbers that of the most heroin-dependent druggie on the planet. The free market cannot function when unwinnable wars costing $10 billion per month are launched. The free market cannot function when banks, unfettered by regulation, offer billions of dollars in mortgages to clients who cannot repay them.
By mistake, President Bush finally did something right this week by pushing through part of the $700 billion bailout, er, recovery package. But it was only by mistake. This president has done more to wreck the U.S. economy and its financial system than any prior president and, let's hope, any future president could possibly do.
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Barack Obama, John Lewis, John McCain, and Despicable Relationships
Tweet Share on Facebook October 14, 2008 Comment (68)On Saturday, Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat and icon of the civil rights era, lashed out at John McCain for "sowing seeds of hatred" and compared the GOP candidate to a racist.
"During another period, in the not-too-distant past, there was a governor of the state of Alabama named George Wallace who also became a presidential candidate," Lewis said. He added:
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Obama and the Republican Machine's Voter Fraud Hoax
Tweet Share on Facebook October 10, 2008 Comment (19)I read with interest Bonnie's post about Obama, ACORN, and allegations of voter fraud. While I don't claim expertise on ACORN specifically, I am always leery when I hear GOP claims of voter fraud because, as Josh Marshall has noted previously, they're mostly nonsense.
Marshall writes today: "The Republican party is grasping on to the ACORN story as a way to delegitimize what now looks like the probable outcome of the November election. It is also a way to stoke the paranoia of their base, lay the groundwork for legal challenges of close outcomes in various states and promote new legal restrictions on legitimate voting by lower income voters and minorities. The big picture is that these claims of 'voter fraud' are themselves a fraud, a tool to aid in suppressing Democratic voter turnout."
He goes into more detail—his entire post is worth a read.
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Obama's ACORN Connection to Voter Fraud
Tweet Share on Facebook October 10, 2008 Comment (88)Hate to say it, but when one thinks of voter fraud, one usually associates it with the GOP, the 2000 election, and the debate over who won Florida. You remember, voting machines that didn't work, long lines to vote in predominantly Democratic districts, and recounts that weren't accurate.
This election brings with it stories of voter fraud, but this time on the Democratic side. It seems ACORN, a community organizing group that normally helps poor people with low-income housing issues, has registered thousands of people to vote in Democratic districts. Some of these supposed voters reportedly are dead, nonexistent, or use storefronts as their home addresses, as told by CNN:
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The Republican Party, McCain, and Palin Need a Timeout
Tweet Share on Facebook October 10, 2008 Comment (26)I don't know why Republicans want, so desperately, to remain in power. If ever there was an institution that needed a breather, it's the Republican Party.
And when one considers the awful problems the next president will inherit from George W. Bush, is it so crazy to suggest that now is an opportune moment for the GOP to hand over the reins?
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Conservatives Slam Report on Palin's Troopergate Problem
Tweet Share on Facebook October 10, 2008 Comment (21)Some conservatives will never "get it." The New York Times prints a front-page story, essentially summarizing information that's been around for quite some time (even before Sen. John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate) on the Alaska governor's Troopergate problem, and the Weekly Standard calls it a "hit piece."
This is paranoia of unprecedented proportions—so steep that they ought to change the name of the mag/rag to The Weakly Standard.
Don't believe me—read it for yourself:
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The Palin Plane and the Troopergate Report
Tweet Share on Facebook October 10, 2008 Comment (24)The Alaska Troopergate story will re-enter the public view today when independent investigator Steve Branchwater presents his findings before a legislative hearing. Details started to leak Thursday—like the testimony of Todd Palin about his involvement with the firing of Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan.
The Palins have offered a variety of reasons for why Monegan was fired. Josh Marshall sums them up nicely and puts them in context.
But the early bits at least have some humor.
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Over? Did Someone Say the McCain-Obama Race Is Over?
Tweet Share on Facebook October 9, 2008 Comment (27)We've had a fun debate today at Thomas Jefferson Street over whether or not the election is over. I argued this morning that, as a practical matter, the presidential election is over, that Barack Obama is in line for a comfortable victory.
Bonnie, Jack, and Michael took an, ahem, alternative view.
Here's my question for readers: Who's right? Is the race over or can John McCain stage a comeback.
My own view remains the same. But I was somewhat surprised that my TJS colleagues missed the most obvious refutation of my argument, which is presented in video form after the jump. Enjoy:
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The Race Isn't Necessarily Over for Barack Obama and John McCain
Tweet Share on Facebook October 9, 2008 Comment (182)Does Obama have it all locked up? My colleague at Thomas Jefferson Street, Robert Schlesinger, thinks so. And he may very well prove to be right. When we look back over the course of the campaign some time after November 4, we may very well conclude that Barack Obama sprinted to a lead during the two weeks following the coagulation of credit on September 18. Obama's coolness during the financial crisis, combined with John McCain's impulsiveness, convinced many voters that Obama was the safer choice, the story line will go. And Obama's big advantage in television advertising contributed to his advance in target states, as Republican blogger Patrick Ruffini argues. As Robert notes, Obama's current leads in several Bush '04 states means that McCain must change the basic tenor of the campaign in order to win; eking out a narrow margin in one or two states won't do it in the current state of opinion. And no one has a clear idea of how McCain can change the dynamic. So, the argument goes, Obama has this thing locked up.
But maybe not.
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Sarah Palin—Feminist or Victim of Sexism?
Tweet Share on Facebook October 9, 2008 Comment (40)The Republican right, in all its glory, is going bonkers over a Newsweek cover with what some call a highly unflattering picture of their fearless leader, Gov. Sarah Palin.
Despite countless magazine pictures and covers with similarly unflattering pix of Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama (and his wife, Michelle), this one, they whine, shows too many wrinkles and too much unsightly facial hair and was taken from too close an angle. Apparently you've got to see one in person to get the full effect.Meanwhile, Reuters ran some pictures of Palin that truly are tasteless and deserve more attention than the volumes of blogosphere venom spewed on the Newsweek cover. Taken through Palin's legs and from behind her, they make it appear that male members of the audience are peering right up her skirt. Now that's deserving of conservative alarm.
Don't take my word for it—take a look for yourself.
Meanwhile, a gadfly president of a local chapter of the National Organization for Women endorsed Palin this week at a rally in California. Shelly Mandell even said, in reference to Palin, "This is what a feminist looks like."
Let's not go there. Palin has called herself a feminist (in her now infamous interview with CBS's Katie Couric), and every American gets to choose his or her own labels, no matter how inappropriate they may be. Feminist is not the first word I would link with Palin. Lipstick and pit bull are much higher up on the list.
