Joe Biden's list of foreign heads of state he's met with - more than 150!

On the day that Sarah Palin finally met her first head of state, Senator Joe Biden's office released the list of foreign heads of state and other governmental bodies (i.e. UN, NATO) that he's met with. The "partial" list is 8 pages long and names more than 150 leaders.

Here's the link to the list: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/23/meetings_with_foreign_leaders.html

Hillary: Instead of asking each other 'Who are you for?' ask, 'Who is for you?'

My dad called at noon to let me know I was hearing it from him first: He believes that the blowback from Biden's gaffes - as when he said he thought an Obama ad was 'terrible' - would result in him being pulled from the ticket and replaced with Hillary.

On the Early Show this morning, Hillary said:

I've campaigned all over for Barack," she said. "I've been to Florida, Ohio, Nevada, New Mexico, from, you know, New Hampshire to California, and I always say to people, "I know how interested you are in this election, but instead of asking each other 'Who are you for?' ask, 'Who is for you?' And there isn't any other answer except Barack Obama and Joe Biden."


Obama reiterated that he is

"a great admirer of Sen. Clinton's," he said. "And she has been extraordinary in her support of our campaign. She's been campaigning with me. . . . She's a close, close advisor and hopefully will be that going forward. Joe Biden is also an outstanding public servant and I am very proud of the choice that I made."

Read the whole story at the LA Times.

George Will on John McCain

Wow - no holds barred here! In his Washington Post article, "McCain Loses His Head," Will starts off by quoting Lewis Carroll:


"The queen had only one way of settling all difficulties, great or small. 'Off with his head!' she said without even looking around." -- "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"

Under the pressure of the financial crisis, one presidential candidate is behaving like a flustered rookie playing in a league too high. It is not Barack Obama.

Will concludes the article by virtually endorsing Obama for President:

Conservatives who insist that electing McCain is crucial usually start, and increasingly end, by saying he would make excellent judicial selections. But the more one sees of his impulsive, intensely personal reactions to people and events, the less confidence one has that he would select judges by calm reflection and clear principles, having neither patience nor aptitude for either.

It is arguable that, because of his inexperience, Obama is not ready for the presidency. It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency. Unreadiness can be corrected, although perhaps at great cost, by experience. Can a dismaying temperament be fixed?

"The cleaner the better, and the quicker the better"

The Bush White House is making one last contribution to the wealthy elite who have been running his administration - a $700 billion golden parachute.

In today's Washington Post, Dana Milbank writes in the Sketch:

Bush issued a statement yesterday warning lawmakers not to "insist on provisions that would undermine the effectiveness of the plan," and White House press secretary Dana Perino, asked about Democrats' plans to limit executive compensation, advised them to pass the legislation as Paulson proposed it, "the cleaner the better, and the quicker the better."

Chris Dodd almost bought this, thanks to the horror film presentation Paulson made in meeting with Congressional leaders over the weekend. At least Barney Frank was paying attention:

Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House banking committee, made his way into the House media gallery to face 75 reporters yesterday afternoon. The hard-hearted chairman hitched up his trousers, took his seat, and showed no remorse toward the CEOs who stood to lose so much.

"The Endangered Species Act apparently does not apply to financial institutions," he joked, cruelly.

He vowed, callously, that there will be "no golden parachutes while we are the owners" of Wall Street firms' bad debts.

"It's inconceivable that people would say the taxpayer should put some money at risk because of bad decisions made by people who would then continue to be rewarded without any restriction and, in fact, would be rewarded for their mistakes," the merciless chairman argued.

He then cynically turned Paulson's defense of the Wall Street executives upside down. "Let me defend CEOs against Hank Paulson's attack on them," Frank said with feigned sincerity. "Here is this absolutely essential program that's needed to keep the economy going, but there are CEOs who won't participate in it if a few of their many millions are going to get nicked? That's really what he's saying, that some CEOs put their ability to get unrestricted excessive compensation, including rewards for failure, over and above trying to cooperate and help the economy. If that's true, we're in worse shape than we think."

It was a brazen attempt to exploit the suffering of the CEOs, but it was irresistible to Frank's fellow Democrats.

"If you're taking a federal dollar to bail yourself out, you ought to get a federal salary," Sen. Jim Webb (Va.) said on the Senate floor.

"It is wrong to have executives who have created all kinds of problems and cost the taxpayer millions, if not billions, then walk away with golden parachutes,"

Meredith Viera gets tough with McCain on "Golden Parachutes"

You go, girl! Meredith Viera held McCain's feet to the fire as he tried to disclaim any knowledge of Fiorina's $45 MILLION severance package and stock buyout, all while Hewlett Packard fired 20,000 employees.

Here's the video:



You know I have a soft spot for Meredith as she also is a big David Cook Fan. Here is THAT video:

The Supreme Court - presidential election has grave implications

A September 20th NY Times editorial lays out its interpretation of the candidates' positions vis a vis the Supreme Court in an editorial, the gist of which is that John McCain would appoint radically conservative justices committed to overturning Roe vs. Wade; while Obama would likely appoint moderately liberal justices. The closing lines of the editorial are a tocsin that this election is vitally important for more than just issues like the economy and foreign policy:

"That means that if Mr. Obama is elected, he might merely keep the court on its current moderately conservative course. Under Mr. McCain, if a liberal justice or two or three steps down, we may see a very different America."

Bernie Sanders - why a blank check is wrong

Sen. Bernie Sanders has written a great article called The Middle Class Must Not Be Forced to Bail Out Wall Street Greed that explains what American taxpayers have a right to expect from a bailout plan. He has great suggestions as to what the bailout package should include to protect the average American and to help taxpayers recoup the money invested by the government in the bailout.

The best line is at the end:

"These are the last days of the Bush administration, the most dishonest and incompetent in modern American history. It is imperative that, at this important moment, Congress stand up for the middle class and for fiscal integrity. The future of our country is at stake."

Obama says "NO BLANK CHECK"

Obama's speech in Charlotte today highlights just what I love about him. He doesn't start out slinging mud, laying blame. He just tells it like it is. His best line: "The said they wanted the economy to run free. Instead they let it run wild." Contrast that to the video posted below that, where an ABC Roundtable discusses John McCain.

Obama speaks in Charlotte on the Big Bailout:



Check out this video of Sunday's ABC Roundtable, which contrasts Obama's and McCain's reactions to the economic meltdown - even George Will dumps on McCain!

Tucker Bounds thrashed again ...

Remember Tucker Bounds, the one who couldn't list for Campbell Brown any of Sarah Palin's foreign policy qualifications? Well he was clinging to the bottom of the bus again today on an appearance on MSNBC. Asked if he could deny that Phil Gramm would be appointed as Secretary of the Treasury in a McCain administration, he could not give a straight answer. Watch the video - again it would be funny if it were not so important.

Some thoughts on the BIG BAILOUT

James Moore's posting on the Huffington Post, called 'A Nation of Village Idiots' has this frightening fact:

"The public bailout of insurance giant (becoming a dwarf) AIG is estimated at $85 billion. According to one report, that's more than the Bush administration spent on Aid to Families with Dependent Children during his entire time in office. That amount of money would also pay for health care for every man, woman, and child in America for at least six months. "

Credo Action (Formerly Working Assets) sent the following information in an e-mail today:

Congress is on the brink of making a one-sided deal to give George W. Bush a blank check to bail out his pals - offering nearly (or perhaps more than) a trillion taxpayer dollars to Wall Street to cover its bad debts. That works out to somewhere between $2000 and $5000 from every American family.

So what do the taxpayers get in return? Nothing. No new regulation or oversight to help avoid this kind of crisis in the future. No public interest givebacks to help people whose homes are in the hands of the banks. Perhaps most shockingly of all, the taxpayers get absolutely no share in the profits if and when these finance giants bounce back, even though we are now assuming a great deal of the risk.

This is worse than a bad deal - this isn't a deal at all. This is a blank check to some of the richest companies in the world. There is some good news, though: Congress doesn't have to agreet to a blank check. Instead, it can choose to impose a few sensible conditions on the bailout to ensure that it will be used responsibly.

Why should we lose our homes so the CEOs can keep theirs? If Wall Street doesn't like these conditions, then it is welcome to find private investors to help it out of this debacle. But if the American people are going to take this hit, then we must have a say in the terms of the deal - even if we don't have an army of high-paid lobbyists at our disposal like they do. Congress must take swift and prudent action to avoid making a burgeoning crisis that much worse.

Here is the link where you can sign the petition to make your voice heard to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Finance Chair Barney Frank, Senate Banking Chair Chris Dodd, and the de facto leaders of the two parties: Senators Barack Obama and John McCain. As elected officials, these people are all responsible to the taxpayers, not the Wall Street firms who line their campaign war chests. Please take action today.