Home > Jay Bookman > Archives > 2008 > September > 25 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USThe superpowers of John McCain
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Leaders of the House and Senate, Democrats and Republicans alike, have announced they’ve reached a basic deal on the Wall Street bailout package and will present it to the president this afternoon.
“We are very confident that we can act expeditiously,” said Sen. Chris Dodd, Democratic chair of the Senate Banking Committee.
“I now expect that we will indeed have a plan that can pass the House, pass the Senate, be signed by the president,” said Sen. Bob Bennett, a Utah Republican.
“There really isn’t much of a deadlock to break,” according to Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.
So I guess I gotta ‘fess up:
That John McCain must be a real magic man. He leaves the campaign trail and shows up in Washington today and — voila!! — barely an hour later, a deal emerges, just like that.
I mean, Big John is so good he didn’t even have to go to the meeting. Just the mere rumor that he might be in town was apparently enough to heal divisions, erase disagreements and get all of Congress to start singing Kumbayah in perfect unison and right on pitch, like a regular Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
In fact, with superpowers like that the guy ought to be on “Heroes.”
Now … about that debate?
UPDATE: Seriously, doesn’t this make McCain look utterly foolish? Just this morning he was in New York, insisting there was a logjam in Washington. “”It has become clear that no consensus has developed to support the administration’s proposal to meet the crisis,” he said. “I do not believe that the plan on the table will pass as it currently stands, and we are running out of time.”
Meanwhile, at the White House, Press Secretary Dana Perino was telling reporters that things seemed to be progressing well, that negotiators were making good progress.
Well, that’s not what McCain is saying, someone pointed out.
Perino shrugged.
“Maybe he has information that I don’t have that makes him think the deal is almost dead,” she said.
It’s fascinating — McCain’s fellow Republicans in the White House and Congress didn’t even try to give him any cover on this.
Comments
By Ted Striker
September 25, 2008 2:00 PM | Link to this
It’s not every day when The Manchurian Candidate shows up for work. If he actually votes on the proposal (that other people crafted), it’ll be his first vote since April 8th.
By GMAN
September 25, 2008 2:01 PM | Link to this
Well, its looking like Jethro Bodine may have to be at the debate after all. Get your popcorn ready to watch the mismatch of the century!
Bush/McCain - Gambling with your children’s future!
By hillbilly ragger
September 25, 2008 2:02 PM | Link to this
He must have ridden the SUPERTRAIN to get there.
oops, wrong blog…
By getalife
September 25, 2008 2:03 PM | Link to this
McDeregulator who helped create this problem will try to take the credit for the solution.
The debates are on so that gamble looks weak.
For the uninormed it might work but for the informed, he rolled the dice and came up a loser.
BTW, Palin is a moron.
By ByteMe
September 25, 2008 2:04 PM | Link to this
Surprised that McCain didn’t send Palin instead to shoot some moose around the halls of the Capitol. Made about as much sense.
So, Jay, my back-of-the-napkin estimate is that this “rescue” plan will cost more like $1.2 - $1.4 trillion. With this “deal”, how will the next president be able to go back to the well for the rest of the money?
(The numbers: $700 billion covers 5% of all mortgages out there, that’s where that magic number came from. But 4.5% of mortgages are now either in foreclosure or 90+ days past due, so on their way to foreclosure. Another 1.8% is 30+ days past due already. And that’s before the 3-year ARMs written in 2006 — the really tainted ones written near the end of the bubble — reset next year. My estimate is that 8-10% of all mortgages out there will have to be bought to keep these banks afloat. We’re only buying 5% with this deal. Where’s the money for the rest going to come from in 2009?)
By TW
September 25, 2008 2:08 PM | Link to this
It’s really only appropriate for McSame to dodge the debate, being that the ‘w’ admenstruation has spent the last eight years shunning dialogue.
By Paul
September 25, 2008 2:14 PM | Link to this
Jay,
I guess the rest of the report didn’t support your thesis?
[[ But there were fresh signs of trouble in the House Republican Caucus. A group of GOP lawmakers circulated an alternative designed to attract private capital back into the credit markets with less government intrusion…
[[ Rep. John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, the minority leader, was huddling with McCain on the rescue. Earlier, asked whether the GOP presidential nominee could corral restive Republicans to support the plan, Boehner said, “Who knows?”…
[[ And Rep. Spencer Bachus of Alabama, the only House Republican in the bargaining meeting, did not directly say he agreed with the other lawmakers who emerged describing an imminent deal.’..]]
Maybe you’re correct - Obama’s presence would have been irrelevant, as Dems seemed all on board. But the recalcitrant Republicans might have/will respond to some gentle encouragement from the person who may be Pres.
And if it turned out McCain hadn’t gone, and the recalcitrant Republicans said they just didn’t feel enough pressure to adopt their ideology to reality, would you have not criticized McCain for not going? Speculative, I know, but it seems he’d have been damned if he did, damned if he didn’t.
This does have an upside for Democrats. They adopted the Republican position on offshore drilling and their constituency’s attention is diverted. Every cloud has a silver lining.
By Midori
September 25, 2008 2:18 PM | Link to this
Getalife: I saw the CBS interview.
You’re being too kind to her.
By Hillbilly Deluxe
September 25, 2008 2:18 PM | Link to this
That this deal has gone through with such haste gives me pause.
I wonder if Obama or McCain, whoever wins, will wake up Nov. 5 and ask themselves, “What have I gotten myself into?”
By Paul
September 25, 2008 2:18 PM | Link to this
N-GA, if you’re still here -
Appreciated the repost in the prior thread. As with you, I asked a question earlier and had no response. Seemed most were content to continue with “you did! did not, you did! uh-uh, you…”
And the question is, as lack of regulation and oversight seem to be primary causative factors (though not necessarily the root cause..) any idea what form the regulations will now take? Tough enforcement of the provisions you cited, with nothing else? Or will the practices you cited (creative financing) be prohibited, regardless of the impact for those requiring affordable housing?
By Road Scholar
September 25, 2008 2:20 PM | Link to this
Since McRegulator has solved the dilemna without actually being involved, can he stop in Atlanta on his way to Mississippi and solve our gas problems? Heal! (said with a southern Baptist shouting voice) If not, please take Sonny with you.
By Arcturus
September 25, 2008 2:20 PM | Link to this
Yea, A deal may have come without Obama there either. And if Obama got there, it wasn’t because he wanted to it was because he was shamed.
By ByteMe
September 25, 2008 2:21 PM | Link to this
Paul: no one wanted to talk about regulations with almost no time to think about them or to work out a good compromise. Congress and BushCo seem to prefer throwing our money at the problem.
By Evan Sayet
September 25, 2008 2:22 PM | Link to this
Actually, you have it right. By making it clear that the American people were going to be watching, that there was going to be a stateman coming to the town of partisan hacks, McCain did encourage the parties to get their work done. It was the same when the oil markets finally heard talk of America’s willingness to drill for oil after years of leftist preventionism and gas prices suddenly dropped.
By Paul
September 25, 2008 2:25 PM | Link to this
Hillbilly Deluxe
LOL! I’ll bet Michelle and Cindy were alike in their response: “You want to what? Are you nuts?!!?”
Really, I think my pat answer gets to the reality, though. Money and power. Most everything can be reduced to money and power.
By getalife
September 25, 2008 2:26 PM | Link to this
If you look at the run up to this meltdown, both w and McCain were dead wrong as usual.
Make a good ad for Obama.
By TW
September 25, 2008 2:30 PM | Link to this
Midori - I keep waiting for CBS to tell us it was really Tina Fey…
What an idiot.
By getalife
September 25, 2008 2:30 PM | Link to this
Midori,
Now that she is a proven moron and they are hiding her from the press, Obama will attack McCain’s health.
We already have a moron in office.
A fear card of Palin, if you will.
Protesters are hitting the streets on this socialism .
This could get ugly.
By Paul
September 25, 2008 2:31 PM | Link to this
BytMe
Well, I suppose that’s the first step. But nothing prevents Congress from holding hearings at different points to see if their legislation is doing what was intended, or is causing things not intended, then taking appropriate action.
(Background music of Nurse Nellie from South Pacific singing “They call me a cockeyed optimist”)
By RW-(the original)
September 25, 2008 2:32 PM | Link to this
Polly,
I posted this downstairs, but I’ll give a reprise since if this guy is right your local gas stations can fix the problem themselves.
I was just talking to a guy that owns a Chevron station up the road from me. His station has been out of gas once for about an hour. According to him the real problem is that stations are waiting until they’re nearly out before placing an order in the hopes that they’ll pay a little less.
He also said he’s raking it in because people are coming from all over town.
If things get too bad in the rest of town I’ll fill up and then give you guys the address.
By Ted Striker
September 25, 2008 2:32 PM | Link to this
Even Sayet - I wouldn’t know whether gas prices have dropped or not. I’m having a hard time finding any.
As for a deal getting done because a “statesman was coming to town” — that just made diet coke come out my nose when I read it. Thanks for the laugh.
By Dusty
September 25, 2008 2:33 PM | Link to this
Here’s a hankie, Bookman.
McCain is already a hero. A real one. Sorry you haven’t heard. He does not need a phony TV show hero (like Obama?) to put on an act.
So McCain came to Washington and did the job he was elected to do. Yeah, that is strange to a liberal like you. Politics is just one big show job, not am elected official position with duties.
Kumbaya!! Sound like your old hippie days. I bet you even liked THE GREAT SPECKLED BIRD. Got your journalistic “experience” there? Lotsa practice for anti-war stuff too.
Who needs a real military hero like McCain? Nawww..we need a Harvard hero who can organize ..a whole…community and sometimes get himself “present” in Congress.
But not when there is a crisis. Time to be elsewhere, promoting the ErrrErrrEr elocution of Obama the Great Missing-in-Action Junior Senator.
By JDSausage
September 25, 2008 2:34 PM | Link to this
This one goes out to all you Big Bad John lovers out there. A little something to remember your hero by. Feel free to sing along with ole’ Jimmy. And don’t forget to enjoy some of that Jimmy Dean sausage while you are at it.
By getalife
September 25, 2008 2:34 PM | Link to this
Did Sonny lead a prayer for more gas?
By Midori
September 25, 2008 2:38 PM | Link to this
T and Getalife,
and after seeing her in action, the nitwits still have the gall to keep going back to the “teleprompter” well.
the idiots.
By getalife
September 25, 2008 2:40 PM | Link to this
I guess Palin pastor’s witch chant for this blog did not work.
crusty is still here.
I will email him to try again so nobody gets in a car accident.
Witch be gone!
By AmVet
September 25, 2008 2:44 PM | Link to this
Poor Sarah.
She knows diddly squat about the topics her job will demand of her.
(I know, I know, after this administration it’s not exactly a novel situation.)
And even The First Librarian says that the Moose Hunter has no relevant foreign policy education or experience.
Therefore Gradma-to-be Sarah has bought a BIG telescope. (for deeper peering into Russia.)
And has acquired two books - Statesmanship for Dummies.
And George Bush’s, “Why I Were the Best Ambassader of the 21st Sentury”.
By Ted Striker
September 25, 2008 2:46 PM | Link to this
Hey, Dusty -
Do you think the crew of the SS Minnow would be qualified to serve on McCain’s cabinet because they were stuck somewhere they didn’t want to be, just like him?
I’m all for a Harvard guy who can organize a few things. After all, the Yale guy currently in office has given us 8 years of failure.
And if you’re keeping score on Obama being away from Washington, you might want to check out the guy who hasn’t recorded a vote in the longest time of anyone — McCain, back on April 8th.
By Paul
September 25, 2008 2:52 PM | Link to this
Anyone care to discuss the importance given in the past to ‘experience’ for past vice presidential candidates?
Or for certain (one or two-term governors) presidential candidates?
By findog
September 25, 2008 2:52 PM | Link to this
Senator McCain was miquoted. What he said was he needed to get back to DC to change the RNC platform because it wouldn’t pass the smell test: “We do not support government bailouts of private institutions. Government interference in the markets exacerbates problems in the marketplace and causes the free market to take longer to correct itself.”
— Republican Party platform, 2008
By RW-(the original)
September 25, 2008 3:04 PM | Link to this
Or for “community organizers” that want the top job?
By all means, getalfe, let’s have a look back to see how we got here.
By findog
September 25, 2008 3:12 PM | Link to this
Road Scholar @2:20 You have to place your forehead to the screen at the moment of inflection to receive the healing power…
Arcturus @2:20 Maybe Senator Obama is polite enough to come to a meeting the president requested, maybe he is there because it will take 60 senators to ensure passage, maybe he is there just to vote present [or present to vote]…
As I recall in 2003 our president wanted to act before the regulators/inspectors were finished because he knew there were WMD in Iraq and we didn’t want to wake up to a mushroom cloud/recession. Same as it ever was, Bill Clinton’s fault!
By Dusty
September 25, 2008 3:17 PM | Link to this
Dear Ted Striker,2:46
If your imagined Navy man had graduated from Annapolis, served as an officer and was a POW/tortured for 5 years, still loyal to his country and serving as a Senator in Congress for many years, YES, I think he would have great experience and know-how to be President of the USA.
If you want to count votes, why don’t you give us the total number McCain has presented in his terms in Congress against the number os votes presented by Obama in his term (and I don’t think “present” counts as a vote.) Try that one.
Sorry you don’t like Bush keeping this country safe and freeing two others from tyranny. I guess you don’t like that kind of thing.
AmVet aka “I think I is so bright”@2:44
Get over your little hate-wise-women thing. It’s a new world out there. Sarah Palin is going to be the best, most refreshing and outgoing diplomatic VP we have ever had. Get used to it.
I’ll let you in on something you missed: George W. Bush is not running for a third term. You can drop the insults now.
Getalife aka “Ol Cajun Coot” @2:40
Put down your fetish and your water pipe.
Kiss your armadillo.
I have already voted for McCain the Man.
He’s all the magic we need.
By RW-(the original)
September 25, 2008 3:27 PM | Link to this
Going very much against the media meme that the current financial crisis is all George W. Bush and the Republicans’ fault, Bill Clinton on Thursday told ABC’s Chris Cuomo that Democrats for years have been “resisting any efforts by Republicans in the Congress or by me when I was President to put some standards and tighten up a little on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac”
Fox News Blames Democrats for Financial Crisis, Bill Clinton Agrees
Sounds like Billy Jeff knows that any digging will expose Democrats and he doesn’t want the shovels coming his way.
By ByteMe
September 25, 2008 3:28 PM | Link to this
Paul, does anyone remember past VP debates?? All I remember was Adm. Stockdale saying “Why am I here?” And we really weren’t sure.
By findog
September 25, 2008 3:30 PM | Link to this
Please, The only reason the republicans want oversight is to be able to hawg tie the Obama administration when they inherit this mess.
RW @2:32 I have had to travel beyond the boutique fuel zone and those areas are hit and miss too, I believe your Chevron guy has called it right. The oil peddlers have learned that if they run out they can keep the prices high and feed off the fears of the car based economy.
Dusty @2:33 As always you are entitled to your own facts, but that’s what blogs are for…
By Paul
September 25, 2008 3:39 PM | Link to this
ByteMe
That debate was pretty embarrassing.
But my question was more on the ‘experience’ question. I do not buy the argument that it’s more important now because of McCain’s age. We do not need to review the longevity changes nearly guaranteed by medical advances. Lloyd Bentsen was what, 67 when he ran as VP? I must say he looked every bit as old as McCain, and I’d imagine if something had happened, McCain would stand a better chance of coming out of it well today then Bentsen would have back then.
So when I look at past VP picks, let alone presidential nominees, and I hear all this clamor about experience and foreign travel and such, I have to wonder, what’s changed?
Besides the nominee, of course.
By Ted Striker
September 25, 2008 3:43 PM | Link to this
Dusty,
You want to talk about Obama not having enough “votes” in the Senate — how many has Sarah Palin ever cast in the U.S. Senate?
You want to say it takes the military record and POW experience of a John McCain to be President — how does Sarah Palin stack up there?
You want to criticize Barak Obama because he was editor of the Harvard Law Review and taught constitutional law — but you want to hail George W. Bush — who has eviscerated the US Constitution and jepardized our economy and our international standing.
You may be a nice guy, but you don’t get it. You’d support Nixon if they dug him up and put him on the ticket.
By Bosch
September 25, 2008 3:43 PM | Link to this
Paul@2:52,
But in the past, it wasn’t so likely that the Presidential candidate would drop dead at any moment.
Sure Reagan was older than dirt, but Daddy Bush was a good alternative (probably better).
McCain has had cancer 4 times.
By AmVet
September 25, 2008 3:51 PM | Link to this
Me? Hate women?
No, Dusty. I just realize that, like men, some are dumber than a bag of rocks.
Palin’s no dummy, just another phony.
You, however…
By Paul
September 25, 2008 3:54 PM | Link to this
Bosch
Skin cancer? The last one eight years ago? Any idea how often his doctors examine him for recurrence?
I rather think the health card is overplayed. Heck, if Bill survived Hillary through all those escapades…
By Ted Striker
September 25, 2008 3:55 PM | Link to this
If you look back at the transcripts for from the 1988 VP debate between Bentson and Quayle, you’ll see questions about qualifications being raised 4 separate times with the candidates by the questioning panel. (Brit Hume, Tom Brokaw, etc).
It was a big deal. Don’t think that Benston got a pass either — he was even being questioned about what made him qualified to run for president back in 1976. I didn’t remember that part till I read the transcripts.
By Copyleft
September 25, 2008 3:56 PM | Link to this
Dusty, you can jump off that “war hero” line any time now. We all know you have zero interest in voting for war heroes (like Kerry and Gore) unless they worship at the Clueless Conservative altar along with you.
By JDSausage
September 25, 2008 4:00 PM | Link to this
Dusty,
Today’s delivery of pork is ready for you to slop up. Those Republicans sure know how to feed at the trough, don’t they. With McCain pushing this package through just in the nick of time, he can get back out on the campaign trail and brag about really bringing home the pork to all his wall street buddies. He really does Phil Gramm proud, don’t he now. How do you spell pork? Big Bad John! Oink, Oink. $700 billion worth of pork. Now that’s a lot of bridges to nowhere, a lot of moose meat, a whole lot of pounds of flesh over in Iraq, a lot of oil, a lot of drilling for oil, a lot of tax cuts, a lot of Social Security checks… I think this pretty much seals it for the Republicans. They not only believe in really big government, they believe in piling on a big heaping helping of pork — enough to smother those wall street boys. They just got to be happy with them good ole boys for this almost October surprise. They really are bringing home the bacon, those Republicans.
By Goldie
September 25, 2008 4:29 PM | Link to this
I think George Will got it right about McBush this week — Unfit to be prez!
By Paul
September 25, 2008 4:40 PM | Link to this
Ted 3:55
That’s good information, thanks. I imagine the answer went along the lines of “I was a senator and I blah blah blah.”
I still like the answer “I’m over 35 and a natural-born American. It was good enough for the Founding Fathers.”
By reebok
September 25, 2008 4:53 PM | Link to this
I assume the Fox “News” spin will be that McCain’s ‘strong, presidential response’ jarred the warring sides into making a deal.
By Goldie
September 25, 2008 4:53 PM | Link to this
Does anyone here have a favorite McBush platitude? I’m having a hard time deciding between these four:
“Regime change in Iraq will be fairly easy.”
“We will be greeted as liberators…”
“The fundamentals of our economy are strong.”
“I am suspending my campaign until this economic crisis is solved.”
By @@
September 25, 2008 5:52 PM | Link to this
Once again jay, you come off “half-cocked” in today’s column.
You need to get a handle on that nasty habit buddy.
There’s no debate about that.
McCain went, he met with colleagues, and the negotiations on the handling of foreclosures remains unresolved.
By Uncanny Valley
September 26, 2008 5:59 AM | Link to this
Half Cocked? R U suggesting, @@, that Jay is like John Wayne Bobbit, who also goes around half cocked?
That’s a serious charge. Jay, are you going to let this waitress get away with that? R U a clown for her amusement?
What’s the world coming to?