×
- Over the weekend the magnitude of the Bush/Paulson $700 billion
blank checkbailout plan sunk in, with a number of economists and financial commentators coming out strongly against it. Unsurprisingly, the Bush plan was the product of intense lobbying by the financial sector, leading Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi to come out against the bailout and demand that the final legislation protect taxpayers, provide oversight and regulation, and offer more punitive measures for those responsible for the crisis. John Boener, speaking for the GOP House leadership, seemed to think that enough had already been done for Main Street, and not enough for Wall Street. John McCain appears to be against the bill in its current form but hasn't provided any specifics about what should be done instead. For more recent commentary on the politics of the bailout, see James Ridgeway on the Democrats' past timidity in confronting Wall Street, Jake Tapper on how much the CEOs of the big five investment houses were pulling down in bonuses last year, and Think Progress on Bush's legacy of squandering taxpayer money. [EDIT: Democrats, led by Chris Dodd, appear to be rejecting Paulson's plan, offering up much better legislation (full text here [PDF]).] - The New York Times reports on the finalized debate formats for the candidates, including the McCain campaign's request for a more tightly controlled debate format for the relatively inexperienced Sarah Palin when she faces Joe Biden on Oct. 2. The Times pieces goes on to note that Barack Obama and John McCain were largely in agreement with having Friday's debate focus on foreign policy -- originally scheduled as the final debate. Meanwhile, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee political scientist Tom Holbrook argues that, historically, debates have provided little in the way of bounces for candidates.
- John McCain raised over $47 million in August, a campaign record, including over $6 million on August 30, the day after the Sarah Palin announcement. In other numbers, the Obama campaign spent $55 million last month, including $33 million in advertising. McCain spent $41 million, with $23 million going toward advertising expenses.
- The McCain campaign has consistently denied that it would be a third term of George Bush, but according to this profile in The Washington Post, the campaign is absolutely packed with Bush alums.
- Steve Schmidt complains in a conference call that The New York Times article about Rick Davis' long and lucrative career with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae proves the Gray Lady is a "pro-Obama organization," and whines the Paper of Record hasn't spent nearly as much time as it should covering Hunter Biden's lobbyist ties. Marc Ambinder points out that Biden has been covered by the Times before, twice in fact, and Ben Smith fact-checks the rest of Schmidt's accusations at his Politico blog.
- Over the weekend, Paul Krugman flagged an article written by John McCain for the current issue of Contingencies, the magazine of the American Academy of Actuaries, in which the senator observes that "Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation." Douglas Holtz-Eakin argued that McCain was only referring to deregulation within individual states, not at the federal level, but Jonathan Cohn isn't biting, pointing to the numerous examples of fraud that have resulted from in-state deregulation, leaving the sick holding the bag for medical expenses they thought they were insured for.
- Barack Obama, realizing that his 50-state strategy probably isn't the wisest move with 43 days left on the election calendar, pulls his staff from North Dakota and moves them to Minnesota and Wisconsin.
- Demonstrating his unmatched expertise in military affairs, John McCain confuses the National Guard with the U.S. Army, telling supporters in Michigan that "I also know, if I might remind you, that she [Palin] is commander of the Alaska National Guard. In fact, you may know that on Sept. 11 a large contingent of the Alaska Guard deployed to Iraq and her son happened to be one of them. So I think she understands our national security challenges." In fact, as Moira Whelan observes, Palin's son is in the Army, not the Guard.
- And finally, the McCain campaign sues the Ohio secretary of state for unlawfully rejecting absentee-ballot requests. The reason? "The forms, printed by the McCain campaign, had something extra -- a box that asked voters to verify that 'I am a qualified elector and would like to receive an Absentee Ballot for the November 4, 2008 General Election.'"
--Mori Dinauer
