Thinking Right

By lrd

September 29, 2008 8:27 AM | Link to this

Bail out of Financial industry, bail out of the automakers… do tell Jim what industry is left that the President does not wish to socialize? And will McCain as President continue to subsidize American Industry?

And please post proof of what exactly McCain did to show leadership to get the GOP House members to vote to give away our tax money?

By Steven d.

September 29, 2008 8:29 AM | Link to this

Jim, What planet are you on?

By Reaity Check

September 29, 2008 8:39 AM | Link to this

Jim,

WHAT!!!! John McCain is coming across as a nervous and scared old man. He is tripping and darn near falling at every turn. What he did last week was not lead, but panic and run around like chicken little. From Monday to Friday, His thoughts on the state of the economy went from “fundamentally strong” to “dire”. He really looked like a lost old man, and everyone that is not a blind loyalist knows it.

By Churchill's Mom

September 29, 2008 8:39 AM | Link to this

Here’s today’s Palin

Palin Is Ready? Please. Will someone please put Sarah Palin out of her agony? Is it too much to ask that she come to realize that she wants, in that wonderful phrase in American politics, “to spend more time with her family”? Having stayed in purdah for weeks, she finally agreed to a third interview. CBS’s Katie Couric questioned her in her trademark sympathetic style. It didn’t help. When asked how living in the state closest to Russia gave her foreign-policy experience, Palin responded thus:

“It’s very important when you consider even national-security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America. Where—where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to—to our state.”

There is, of course, the sheer absurdity of the premise. Two weeks ago I flew to Tokyo, crossing over the North Pole. Does that make me an expert on Santa Claus? (Thanks, Jon Stewart.) But even beyond that, read the rest of her response. “It is from Alaska that we send out those …” What does this mean? This is not an isolated example. Palin has been given a set of talking points by campaign advisers, simple ideological mantras that she repeats and repeats as long as she can. (“We mustn’t blink.”) But if forced off those rehearsed lines, what she has to say is often, quite frankly, gibberish.

Couric asked her a smart question about the proposed $700 billion bailout of the American financial sector. It was designed to see if Palin understood that the problem in this crisis is that credit and liquidity in the financial system has dried up, and that that’s why, in the estimation of Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, the government needs to step in to buy up Wall Street’s most toxic liabilities. Here’s the entire exchange:

COURIC: Why isn’t it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families who are struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries; allow them to spend more and put more money into the economy instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?

PALIN: That’s why I say I, like every American I’m speaking with, were ill about this position that we have been put in where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health-care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy, helping the—it’s got to be all about job creation, too, shoring up our economy and putting it back on the right track. So health-care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans. And trade, we’ve got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, scary thing. But one in five jobs being created in the trade sector today, we’ve got to look at that as more opportunity. All those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that.

This is nonsense—a vapid emptying out of every catchphrase about economics that came into her head. Some commentators, like CNN’s Campbell Brown, have argued that it’s sexist to keep Sarah Palin under wraps, as if she were a delicate flower who might wilt under the bright lights of the modern media. But the more Palin talks, the more we see that it may not be sexism but common sense that’s causing the McCain campaign to treat her like a time bomb.

Can we now admit the obvious? Sarah Palin is utterly unqualified to be vice president. She is a feisty, charismatic politician who has done some good things in Alaska. But she has never spent a day thinking about any important national or international issue, and this is a hell of a time to start. The next administration is going to face a set of challenges unlike any in recent memory. There is an ongoing military operation in Iraq that still costs $10 billion a month, a war against the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan that is not going well and is not easily fixed. Iran, Russia and Venezuela present tough strategic challenges.

Domestically, the bailout and reform of the financial industry will take years and hundreds of billions of dollars. Health-care costs, unless curtailed, will bankrupt the federal government. Social Security, immigration, collapsing infrastructure and education are all going to get much worse if they are not handled soon.

And the American government is stretched to the limit. Between the Bush tax cuts, homeland-security needs, Iraq, Afghanistan and the bailout, the budget is looking bleak. Plus, within a few years, the retirement of the baby boomers begins with its massive and rising costs (in the trillions).

Obviously these are very serious challenges and constraints. In these times, for John McCain to have chosen this person to be his running mate is fundamentally irresponsible. McCain says that he always puts country first. In this important case, it is simply not true.

By Churchill

September 29, 2008 8:46 AM | Link to this

Today’s Palin

Poor Sarah I spent the past week in New York, helping my mother recover from surgery. It was a new role for me, taking care of my mom. It must, I think, have been somewhat destabilizing.

Perhaps when previously untapped wells of care-for-others are accessed, there’s no stopping the flow. Or perhaps it was just that, after five days locked in stare-downs with my mother’s cat, my eyes were playing tricks on me.

This may explain why, on Tuesday afternoon when I went to The Times Web site and saw the photo of Sarah Palin with Henry Kissinger, a funny thing happened. A wave of self-recognition and sympathy washed over me.

That’s right — self-recognition and sympathy. Rising up from a source deep in my subconscious. I saw a woman fully aware that she was out of her league, scared out of her wits, hanging on for dear life. I saw this in the sag of her back in her serious black suit, in the position of her hands, crossed modestly atop her knees, and in that “Mad Men”-era updo, ever unchanging, like a good luck charm.

Governor Palin met with former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger. (Photo: Stan Honda/ AFP-Getty Images) Why, all of a sudden, was I experiencing this upsurge of concern and kinship? I knew, on the one hand, that this new vision of Palin had to be a mirage. Only a few hours earlier, I’d nodded along knowingly as a band of old-school liberals, gathered in my mother’s apartment to cheer her through her convalescence, tore the Alaska governor apart.

“He’s probably the first Jew she’s ever met,” one older gentleman, who himself had grown up as one of the only Jews in pre-World-War-II Lincoln, Neb., said of her meeting with Kissinger.

“No, there was Joe Lieberman,” his wife reminded him, putting me in a mind of the comedian Sara Benincasa’s utterly hilarious Palin parody, as a chorus of “despicable” and “disgusting” filled the room.

My friend Mary has long said that I have a tendency to develop a Stockholm-Syndrome-like empathy for the people I write about. But I don’t think that’s what was going on here.

I think — before I blinked — I had an actual flash of insight. I think I finally stumbled upon a major piece of the puzzle of how it is that so many Republican women can so passionately claim that Sarah Palin is someone they relate to. (It’s worth noting that polls have definitively shown that John McCain’s Palin gambit has not paid off in attracting disgruntled Democratic women voters.)

That the women who agree with Palin would also like her is not surprising. But the whole business of relating? That has remained mysterious for me. What, I’ve wondered, could the kinds of suburban moms I met, for example, at the McCain-Palin rally in Virginia, some of them former professionals with just two children apiece, one a former grad student making links between Palintology and the work of Homi Bhabha, have in common with a moose-killing Alaska frontierswoman with her five kids, five colleges and pastoral protection from witchcraft?

I think I’ve seen it now. In her own folded hands, her hopeful, yet sinking posture, her eager-to-please look. Sarah Palin is their — dare I say our? — inner Elle Woods.

I had thought of Elle Woods, the heroine of the 2001 and 2003 “Legally Blonde” and “Legally Blonde 2” films, a great deal during the week that Palin became McCain’s running mate and made her appearance at the Republican National Convention. The thoughts didn’t actually originate with Palin; my daughter Julia had recently discovered the soundtrack of “Legally Blonde: the Musical” and then the movies that inspired the Broadway show.

Re-watching the movies with Julia, I’d been surprised at how time, and motherhood, had tempered my affection for Elle Woods — a frilly, frothy blonde who charms her way into Harvard Law School and takes the stodgy intellectual elitists there by storm with her Anygirl decency and non-snooty (and not-so-credible) native intelligence.

I’d found the “Legally Blonde” movies fun the first time around. Viewing them in the company of an enraptured 11-year-old, who’d declared Elle her new “role model” after months of dreaming of growing up to be a neuroscientist in a long braid and Birkenstocks, was another story.

“You can’t,” I’d admonished Julia, “accomplish anything worthwhile in life just by being pretty and cute and clever. You have to do the work.”

“It’s just fun, Mom,” she protested.

Right.

You don’t have to be perennially pretty in pink — and ditsy and cutesy and kinda maybe stupid — to have an inner Elle Woods. Many women do. I think of Elle every time I dress up my insecurities in a nice suit. So many of us today — balancing work and family, treading water financially — feel as if we’re in over our heads, getting by on appearances while quaking inside in anticipation of utter failure. Chick lit — think of Bridget Jones, always fumbling, never quite who she should be — and in particular the newer subgenre of mom lit are filled with this kind of sentiment.

You don’t have to be female to suffer from Impostor Syndrome either — I learned the phrase only recently from a male friend, who puts a darned good face forward. But I think that women today — and perhaps in particular those who once thought they could not only do it all but do it perfectly, with virtuosity — are unique in the extent to which they bond over their sense of imposture.

I saw this feeling in Palin — in a flash, on that blue couch, catty-corner to Kissinger, as her eyes pleaded for clemency from the camera. I’ll bet you anything that her admirers — the ones whose hearts really and truly swell with a sense of kinship to her — see or sense it in her, too. They know she can’t possibly do it all — the kids, the special-needs baby, the big job, the big conversations with foreign leaders. And neither could they.

The “Legally Blonde” fairy tales spin around the idea that, because Elle believes in herself, she can do anything. Never mind the steps that she skips. Never mind the fact that — in the rarefied realms of Harvard Law and Washington policymaking — she isn’t the intellectual equal of her peers. Self-confidence conquers all! (“Of course she doesn’t have that,” said Laura Bush of Palin this week when asked if the vice presidential pick had sufficient foreign policy experience. “You know, that’s not been her role. But I think she is a very quick study.”)

Real life is different, of course, from Hollywood fantasy. Incompetence has consequences, political and personal. Glorifying or glamorizing the sense of just not being up to the tasks of life has consequences, too. It means that any woman who exudes competence will necessarily be excluded from the circle of sisterhood. We can’t afford any more of that.

Frankly, I’ve come to think, post-Kissinger, post-Katie-Couric, that Palin’s nomination isn’t just an insult to the women (and men) of America. It’s an act of cruelty toward her as well.

By jmoss

September 29, 2008 8:53 AM | Link to this

Hi Jim,

As a voter, McCain scares me. Why doesn’t he scare you?

By catlady

September 29, 2008 9:01 AM | Link to this

NOBODY WINS. Least of all the middle class taxpayer who pays through the butt both ways.

By fearless fosdik

September 29, 2008 9:03 AM | Link to this

Jim, One understands that you are part of the right-wing spin machine.

But, to say “credit should go to John McCain for pushing their concerns to center stage.” Is totally ludicrous!

McCain when asked about the proposal admitted he hadn’t even read the 3 pages put forth by Paulson.

Even his fellow republicans said he had nothing of substance to offer at Fridays meeting.

Mr. McCain doesn’t know much about economics — he’s said so himself, although he’s also denied having said it.

And, where was McCain Saturday night as negotiators were working on the “bail-out?” Was he part of the negotiations that he rushed back to Washington, DC to rescue? Was he valiantly battling the forces of the status quo to get something done for Main Street?

NOOOOOOOO!!!! McCain was dining at one of Washington’s most expensive restaurants!

Jim, at least tell the truth…It doesn’t hurt that much.

By hillbilly ragger

September 29, 2008 9:03 AM | Link to this

Riiight. Just like “we’re winning in Eye-rack.”

By jim d

September 29, 2008 9:04 AM | Link to this

jmoss,

Don’t know about jim—or anyone else for that matter. But Mc doesn’t scare me because he seems to understand you can not tax yourself out of a recession. He also realizes that we can not continue to spend our way out of it.

By Peter

September 29, 2008 9:11 AM | Link to this

The “Songbird of Hanoi” had zero to do with the bailout process except make it more political that it already was.

The Funny THING JIM….

BUSH was wanting to give away Millions to his Buddies, they guys that were at the TOP of the Chain…… but both parties were against that…….

Your own party Particularly P**……and NOT willing to cave to our King George…….good job to that !

You are a funny GUY JIM……why don’t you try to SPIN the real truth about why Vietnam POW’s don’t like McLost ?

Tell the truth about this guy who has blocked all the legislation to help find the MIA’s around the world !

Vietnam Vets hate this guy for all the legislation he has blocked to help them…….on the other hand Ron Paul, has voted to help vets 100 % of the time !

Your party doesn’t really like McLost, and I am sure all is hoping after the loss he fades away !

They will also find out Palin is all for PORK Jim, her record shows it…….Americans will understand the numbers her state has received, and realize change for McLost / Palin, is like putting the Wolves in charge of the Hen House !

The Youth will find out Jim, they look at U-Tube….and they won’t vote McLost, and Soccer Mom !

By Manny

September 29, 2008 9:12 AM | Link to this

This $700 Billion bailout makes us all losers. And I am personally offended that someone would actually think that some politician or political group claimed some benefit from this debacle.

This entire thread should be taken down, because now I have to go to work to pay for this mess. And my sons. And possibly my grandchildren.

By Senator Saxby Chambliss

September 29, 2008 9:12 AM | Link to this

Stop sending me letters without checks attatched. My staff barely has time to take care of the important stuff, like shaking down bankers, so something has got to go. You will be proud that I am selling your vote to the highest bidders and will make all citizens of Georgia happy with the amount we collect. If any of you big moneyed bankers want to buy a little extra please contact my son Bo at his Lobbyist office. Thank all of you who have sent money & you suckers who are going to vote for me.

By Jimbo Christ Uber Shill

September 29, 2008 9:25 AM | Link to this

Finally, the long awaited sequel to Jesus Christ, Superstar:

Jimbo Christ, Uber Shill,

Kiss McCain’s hiney on the bailout bill

By Commander Guy

September 29, 2008 9:32 AM | Link to this

I realize it’s a tough job carrying water for a team as spectacularly inept as Palin/McCain. I sympathize with Wooten on one level…I’ve been asked to do the impossible before, with no way to do the job without bending one’s principles and integrity beyond the breaking point. But some things are just not worth the degradation you bring on yourself, and the only wise choice is to walk away.

Wooten seems to sense this, as he fritters column inch after column inch away on such non-topics as judicial elections and other such like. On those days, it is as though he cannot bear to swallow another spoonful of bu|l5hit, and so he writes about something — anything!! — else in a flailing attempt to keep even a shred of dignity. But somebody must have a cache of photos or incriminating documents, because Jim is soon back to spouting the kind of patent foolishness as today, knowing full well that all the thanks he’ll get for his self-abasement is a dismissive, “Your money’s on the dresser, sweetheart, I’m through with you.”

You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?

By The Anti-Wooten

September 29, 2008 9:37 AM | Link to this

I was fully prepared to take Jim to task for his utterly erroneous ramblings today but it seems that my fellow thoughtful people have already done so.

Jim, from the moment that McBush “suspended but no not really suspended” his campaign, loitered around NY for a day and a half and finally went to a posh Washington hotel to hang out that he was nothing other than an empty suit on the bailout nagotiations. In fact, many on both sides of the aisle have now taken him to task for interrupting the process and making it worse. His erratic behavior should scare anyone that is even considering voting for him, this is not someone that we can trust to run our tattered nation.

Bush has instituted policies during his presidency that have caused the economy to be a cash engine without restraint or good judgement. Then his tax policies have placed burdens on the middle class unparalleled in history. His response was to borrow, borrow and borrow some more. Now we get to pay for it.

As the number one Atlanta area shill for Bush and McBush you should have your right to vote and that of your descendents revoked for at least a generation.

By AnonyMoose

September 29, 2008 9:38 AM | Link to this

Am I the only one who heard either CNN or MSNBC comment, very briefly, that a staffer for Congressman Boehner said that last weeks bailout negotiations were halted after the White House meeting in order to allow McCain to take credit for whatever new plan they could come up with. That’s not putting Country First.

By AnonyMoose

September 29, 2008 9:46 AM | Link to this

My Republican friends, check out the latest polls:

NORTH CAROLINA Rasmussen Obama +2 Civitas/TelOpinion (R) Tie PPP (D) Tie CNN/Time McCain +1

VIRGINIA Rasmussen Obama +5 NBC/Mason-Dixon McCain +3 ABC News/Wash Post Obama +3 SurveyUSA Obama +6 InAdv/PollPosition McCain +2

COLORADO CNN/Time Obama +4 Rasmussen Obama +3 InAdv/PollPosition Obama +9 PPP (D) Obama +7 Quinnipiac/WSJ/WP Obama +4

MICHIGAN Detroit Free Press Obama +13 Strategic Vision (R) Obama +3 NBC/Mason-Dixon Tie CNN/Time Obama +5 National Journal/FD Obama +8 Det. News (EPIC/MRA) Obama +10 FOX News/Rasmussen Obama +7

PENNSYLVANIA Morning Call Obama +4 Rasmussen Obama +4 SurveyUSA Obama +6 Strategic Vision (R)Obama +1 CNN/Time Obama +9 National Journal/FD Obama +2

Now, my Republican friends, practice saying this with me: President Obama.

By Peter

September 29, 2008 9:47 AM | Link to this

Having Sarah Palin for VP is NOT PUTTING AMERICA FIRST……..

So we see the “Songbird of Hanoi”, still up to his old tricks………Me First……..

Say McLost passes……..Sarah Palin for President ?

HA HA HA……… yes here is a woman who knows about foreign policy………

Here are her credentials………

She stayed at a “Best Western” Last night ……..I guess she could see Russia from the window !

By CTG

September 29, 2008 9:55 AM | Link to this

Wow Jim….McCain wins and the House Republicans win. So much for putting County First!!

By andyt

September 29, 2008 10:01 AM | Link to this

So by saying “i don’t like it” and then adding a minute detail to the plan you deserve credit? Oh please, I’ve had people try to do this with my work at the office and suffice to say it doesn’t go down well with folks.

McCain’s “suspension” of his campaign was a pure political ruse used to break the momentum of his sliding polls, it failed. What he did was put the country at risk for his campaign last week…and there is no way he is going to recover from his reckless, self-serving moves last week (and with his selection of his inept VP). His campaign suspension wasn’t even real…his ads were still going, his offices where almost all open and accepting donations and volunteers all through Wednesday and Thursday. I guess perhaps he has a different way of defining “suspension” just like his interpretation of “economic fundamentals”.

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 29, 2008 10:02 AM | Link to this

Good morning all. The deal that has seemingly come together is pretty much as we forecast in this space last week. I am not conversant with the current version, but accept Jim’s analysis as likely, as that is where the negotiations were going. The conservative republicans got almost everything they wanted – everything except the potential amount of commitment by the government, which is much closer to the original Paulson level than that of the house republicans. McCain called the shots. When the house republicans objected to the Pelosi-Reid version of Paulson’s proposal, McCain stood with the conservatives – an encouraging sign of where he will be when the chips are down.

Mildly amusing to see President Bush and the Senate RINOs mostly siding with Paulson and the democrats last Friday, only to see McCain and the conservatives flip the deal. I have not heard any statement by Roy Blount – I think he was the negotiator for the house republicans – and that is ominous. Everyone is slapping backs and is seemingly pleased with themselves over the deal, and he is conspicuously missing from the news reports. I am unconvinced that House Republicans will vote for the proposal. I understand that, as the US economy is catching a cold, Europe is now in pneumonia. WSJ today has a headline – I am slow, have not yet read – that suggests the Lehman collapse killed Europe. May be an interesting week.

By jim d

September 29, 2008 10:04 AM | Link to this

AnonyMoose,

watch out for Sara as she hunts moose!

Fraid the press won’t be able to sway this election.

By Peter

September 29, 2008 10:10 AM | Link to this

The “Song Bird of Hanoi”………Today’s modern day Benedick Arnold………..

McLost is a Liar about his POW activities…….Thus he has blocked all legislation to HELP POWs still MIA………

How many video’s did he make for the Communists ? 32 is the number…….. How many Plans were shot down after McLost (Song Bird) sang…….. so many the Bombing routes, and supply routes had to be changed !

America’s Benedick Arnold……..(Song Bird of Hanoi) for President…….. Soccer Mom for VP………

Remember folks she see Russia from the boarder, she is soooooooooo knowledgeable about Foriegn Policy !

By Ga Values

September 29, 2008 10:13 AM | Link to this

I will be voting for McCain but Jim your facts are a little wrong. We have been sold out to speciial interest.. The insurance soluation is only optional, the cap on bail out salaries is easily circumvented & McCain was really out of his element thursday. He needs to go back to talking about his sucesses on the surge & let Obama trip in the economics area. Bottom line is the Georgial Taxpayer is screwed in this deal & only our Republican Repesentaitives are trying to help. Saxby & Johnny are as usual RINOes are working for special interest & with Pelosi, Reid, & Franks. WHAT A MESS, this bunch of crooks have destroyed the USA.

By AnonyMoose

September 29, 2008 10:13 AM | Link to this

jim d, the polls don’t poll members of the press. They poll real live voters. Voters who are clearly favoring Obama/Biden. Numbers don’t lie.

As far as Sarah hunting moose, I think that’s great. She will have plenty of time for moose hunting post November.

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 29, 2008 10:16 AM | Link to this

Dear AnonyMoose @ 9:38, “Am I the only one who heard either CNN or MSNBC comment” – probably, nobody else watches either one.

Dear CTG @ 9:55, “McCain wins and the House Republicans win. So much for putting County First!!” You erroneously equate “Country” with “President Bush and the democrats.” The house conservatives were Horatius at the bridge, and I credit McCain with standing behind them. The story I heard is that McCain said only one sentence at the Friday meeting: “The Paulson Plan, as written, is unacceptable.”

By ron

September 29, 2008 10:17 AM | Link to this

Good morning,To say I was disappointed in McCain’s actions last week would be an understatement.

Peter knows a lot about McCain’s service record and we don’t know a thing about Peter’s service record.We know about Jim’s.

Can you say albatross,Jim? The albatross of the Bush administration is hanging heavily around McCain’s neck and it’s a heavy albatross.McCain is gallantly dragging it along,but it’s wearing him down.

I still like Mrs.Palin.Even if she did talk to Couric,a person I can’t stomach.

You’ve got to write a lot more words on the subject,Jim,to convince me that McCain made any difference in last weeks negotiations in the giving away of taxpayer dollars.I’ll give him the benefit of being completely neutral.Neither useless nor ornamental.He has one vote in the approve,disapprove vote coming up.

By Jimbo Christ Uber Shill

September 29, 2008 10:21 AM | Link to this

Next from Jimbo Christ Uber Shill, Wooten explains how Michael Vick was the real winner, by “suspending” his football career to bring awareness to animal rights issues.

By AnonyMoose

September 29, 2008 10:22 AM | Link to this

You’re probably right Ragnar, no one watches CNN or MSNBC. Their advertisers spend millions on ad time to broadcast to no one.

By The Anti-Wooten

September 29, 2008 10:22 AM | Link to this

Ragnar posits that it should be an interesting week, well that’s just lovely. You are just another shill for where we’ve been led to the point that I’m honestly surprised that there’s no Clinton DeflectionÍ® in your statement.

Reagonomics, free-marketeer and trickledown economics have now been toally and completely debunked and shown to be the trash that they are. So have all of you that espouse those positions. It’s now coming back to bite all American’s on the tookus.

You should all be ashamed.

To use one of Jim’s favorite tropes: When I’m the king of this world, I’d order the compilation of several lists. Free-marketeers(maybe that should be Mooseketeers), Twice voters for Bush and Intellectually challenged pundits like Jim. You’d get an immediate bill for this mess.

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 29, 2008 10:25 AM | Link to this

Now that I have read the significant contents of the bill, I will affirm the accuracy of Jim’s analysis. Seemingly this is the House conservative bill except for the “golden parachute” provision added by democrats – this was not an issue for conservatives either way – and the level of potential commitment, which was pushed by Paulson.

By The Anti-Wooten

September 29, 2008 10:26 AM | Link to this

Ragnar posits that it should be an interesting week, well that’s just lovely. You are just another shill for where we’ve been led to the point that I’m honestly surprised that there’s no Clinton DeflectionÍ® in your statement.

Reagonomics, free-marketeer and trickledown economics have now been toally and completely debunked and shown to be the trash that they are. So have all of you that espouse those positions. It’s now coming back to bite all American’s on the tookus.

You should all be ashamed.

To use one of Jim’s favorite tropes: When I’m the king of this world, I’d order the compilation of several lists. Free-marketeers(maybe that should be Mooseketeers), Twice voters for Bush and Intellectually challenged pundits like Jim. You’d get an immediate bill for this mess.

By Davo

September 29, 2008 10:30 AM | Link to this

JW is still in panic mode 7 years after 911. Is fear the only thing that you republicans can respond to?

Top 5 Reasons to Vote Against Wall Street’s $700 Billion Bailout http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2008093928/top-5-reasons-vote-against-paulsons-700-billion-bailout

Please read this article everyone and realize that our gov’t is totally out of control.

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 29, 2008 10:31 AM | Link to this

Dear Anti @ 10:22, you post a curious argument, that “free” market had something to do with the failure of the housing bubble created by the Federal Reserve and FNMA and FHLMC. Don’t you mean the “free” market exposed the brainlessness of the big government schemes?

By Shrugging Atlas

September 29, 2008 10:33 AM | Link to this

But don’t worry about Sarah Palin. She’ll be fine - she’s got special protection.

A grainy YouTube video surfaced Wednesday showing Sarah Palin being blessed in her hometown church three years ago by a Kenyan pastor who prayed for protection from “witchcraft” as she prepared to seek higher office.

The video shows Palin standing before Bishop Thomas Muthee in the pulpit of the Wasilla Assembly of God church, holding her hands open as he asked Jesus Christ to keep her safe from “every form of witchcraft.”

And who is Bishop Thomas Muthee? According to the UK Times:

The pastor whose prayer Sarah Palin says helped her to become governor of Alaska founded his ministry with a witchhunt against a Kenyan woman who he accused of causing car accidents through demonic spells.

(snip)

According to the Christian Science Monitor, six months of fervent prayer and research identified the source of the witchcraft as a local woman called Mama Jane, who ran a “divination” centre called the Emmanuel Clinic.

Her alleged involvement in fortune-telling and the fact that she lived near the site of a number of fatal car accidents led Pastor Muthee to publicly declare her a witch responsible for the town’s ills, and order her to offer her up her soul for salvation or leave Kiambu.

(snip)

According to accounts of the witchhunt circulated on evangelical websites such as Prayer Links Ministries, after Pastor Muthee declared Mama Jane a witch, the townspeople became suspicious and began to turn on her, demanding that she be stoned. Public outrage eventually led the police to raid her home, where they fired gunshots, killing a pet python which they believed to be a demon.

After Mama Jane was questioned by police - and released - she decided it was time to leave town, the account says.

Can it get any worse? Well, yes, as it turns out, it can. During the same sermon in which he blessed Sarah Palin, Muthee said this:

The second area whereby God wants us, wants to penetrate in our society is in the economic area. The Bible says that the wealth of the wicked is stored up for the righteous. It’s high time that we have top Christian businessmen, businesswomen, bankers, you know, who are men and women of integrity running the economics of our nations. That’s what we are waiting for. That’s part and parcel of transformation.

If you look at the — you know — if you look at the Israelites, that’s how they work. And that’s how they are, even today.

By BS Aplenty

September 29, 2008 10:38 AM | Link to this

AnonyMouse

Your statistics class must have been taught on Fantasy Island. None of the data you reflect is adequate to draw much of any conclusion.

Unless you show the “Margin of Error” for each of those survey samples you cannot hope to interpret the results accurately. Depending on the sample size and methodology in these surveys you could have a Margin of Error approaching 5-7% - or more. That basically says you can conclude nothing in these close states.

Your brand of fantasy statistics may make for a better time for Dems with lotion and visions of Obama but in the real world these results are going to feel a lot more like a cold shower.

Poll on.

By BS Aplenty

September 29, 2008 10:38 AM | Link to this

AnonyMouse

Your statistics class must have been taught on Fantasy Island. None of the data you reflect is adequate to draw much of any conclusion.

Unless you show the “Margin of Error” for each of those survey samples you cannot hope to interpret the results accurately. Depending on the sample size and methodology in these surveys you could have a Margin of Error approaching 5-7% - or more. That basically says you can conclude nothing in these close states.

Your brand of fantasy statistics may make for a better time for Dems with lotion and visions of Obama but in the real world these results are going to feel a lot more like a cold shower.

Poll on.

By hillbilly ragger

September 29, 2008 10:40 AM | Link to this

Ragnar, perhaps sharing bong-hits with Ayn Rand has made you a little loopy, but for the record, the only “big-government schemes” responsible for the housing bubble and subsequent big-sh!tpile manifestations were a lack of oversight and an unwillingness to step in when the lunatic securitization Ponzi schemes became a license to print money.

Face facts—an Administration that wasn’t obsessed with “victory in Iraq” and covering its @ss on torture, packing Justice with right-wing morons, and doling out patronage goodies to industry buddies could’ve nipped this in the bud. Bush didn’t.

By findog

September 29, 2008 10:42 AM | Link to this

Jim, Did you read the bill, or even the highlights? The maverick insurance counter plan from the House GOP membership, section 102, allows financial institutions to cover 100 percent of their troubled assets on a premium basis that is not established. Not even a minimum like say the overnight Fed rate. If the secretary feels justified that the need exists he/she could set the rate at near zero. Hear is the high points for those too busy to read the 110-page draft bill, or even original three page plan:

SUMMARY OF THE “EMERGENCY ECONOMIC STABILIZATION ACT OF 2008”

I. Stabilizing the Economy The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA) provides up to $700 billion to the Secretary of the Treasury to buy mortgages and other assets that are clogging the balance sheets of financial institutions and making it difficult for working families, small businesses, and other companies to access credit, which is vital to a strong and stable economy. EESA also establishes a program that would allow companies to insure their troubled assets.

II. Homeownership Preservation EESA requires the Treasury to modify troubled loans – many the result of predatory lending practices – wherever possible to help American families keep their homes. It also directs other federal agencies to modify loans that they own or control. Finally, it improves the HOPE for Homeowners program by expanding eligibility and increasing the tools available to the Department of Housing and Urban Development to help more families keep their homes.

III. Taxpayer Protection Taxpayers should not be expected to pay for Wall Street’s mistakes. The legislation requires companies that sell some of their bad assets to the government to provide warrants so that taxpayers will benefit from any future growth these companies may experience as a result of participation in this program. The legislation also requires the President to submit legislation that would cover any losses to taxpayers resulting from this program from financial institutions.

IV. No Windfalls for Executives Executives who made bad decisions should not be allowed to dump their bad assets on the government, and then walk away with millions of dollars in bonuses. In order to participate in this program, companies will lose certain tax benefits and, in some cases, must limit executive pay. In addition, the bill limits “golden parachutes” and requires that unearned bonuses be returned.

V. Strong Oversight Rather than giving the Treasury all the funds at once, the legislation gives the Treasury $250 billion immediately, then requires the President to certify that additional funds are needed ($100 billion, then $350 billion subject to Congressional disapproval). The Treasury must report on the use of the funds and the progress in addressing the crisis. EESA also establishes an Oversight Board so that the Treasury cannot act in an arbitrary manner. It also establishes a special inspector general to protect against waste, fraud and abuse.

By Peter

September 29, 2008 10:44 AM | Link to this

Hey……..By Ragnar Danneskjöld …..let’s get this Correct………the “golden parachute” provision..was part of the BUSH Proposal………

By getalife

September 29, 2008 10:46 AM | Link to this

Vote yes?

Watching real conservatives on C Span and they are voting no.

Wow, Jim is a lib.

By rightytighty

September 29, 2008 10:46 AM | Link to this

The most successful thing about this bill is in its complete squashing of the trillion dollar socialization of health care. Investing in poor assests with growth potential is most definitely better than throwing away assests on growing asses with no potential…

By Devastator

September 29, 2008 10:50 AM | Link to this

We put together an ad today that captures Barack’s victory in last night’s debate in 30 seconds.

Take a look and make a donation of $25 or more to get it on the air for those who may have missed it:

After his erratic and reckless response to the economic crisis, McCain needed a game-changer last night to restore his campaign. He didn’t even come close.

In a CBS News poll, uncommitted voters see Barack as the debate winner. When it comes to the economy, 66% say Barack would make the right decisions versus 42% for McCain.

The CNN poll results are also clear:

Who did the best job tonight? Barack: 51 McCain: 38

Who would better handle Iraq? Barack: 52 McCain: 47

Who would better handle the economy? Barack: 58 McCain: 37

These are not the kind of reviews John McCain needed, but they show that Barack is offering the change we need.

Barack broke through last night with voters who were watching — but we need to get the word out to the millions who didn’t tune in.

Will you watch our latest ad and make a donation of $25 or more to show your support?

https://donate.barackobama.com/debatevideo

Thank you for everything you are doing,

David

David Plouffe Campaign Manager Obama for America

By BS Aplenty

September 29, 2008 10:55 AM | Link to this

AnonyMouse

Your statistics class must have been taught on Fantasy Island. None of the data you reflect is adequate to draw much of any conclusion.

Unless you show the “Margin of Error” for each of those survey samples you cannot hope to interpret the results accurately. Depending on the sample size and methodology in these surveys you could have a Margin of Error approaching 5-7% - or more. That basically says you can conclude nothing in these close states.

Your brand of fantasy statistics may make for a better time for Dems with lotion and visions of Obama but in the real world these results are going to feel a lot more like a cold shower.

Poll on.

By carolyn

September 29, 2008 10:57 AM | Link to this

Jim, It’s idiots like you and McShame, who see this as a battle between the Dems and Repukes, rather than what is right for America that are the problem. The more I read your articles, the quicker it is to conclude that you have become as delusional and senile as John Sidney McShame. I will be happy when the AJC recognizes this and you retire.

By getalife

September 29, 2008 10:59 AM | Link to this

Ron Paul said this will destroy the dollar and makes the problem worse. He said the economists that predicted this are still ignored and they are listening to the ones that created this mess.

Many dems are voting no unlike Jim the lib.

Looks like this vote will be close but will pass.

By AnonyMoose

September 29, 2008 11:01 AM | Link to this

Say what you want BS Aplenty, but when a poll comes out showing McCain ahead I would be willing to be that you’ll view it as proof positive that he is doing better than Obama. Keep on BS’n man!

By findog

September 29, 2008 11:07 AM | Link to this

Peter @10:10

Have you ever been in prison? Ever been tortured? Ever even been in the American armed forces? Ever been in a debate where you could not hide behind Wooten’s skirt [sorry Jim metaphorical devise]?

By SayNo2McCain

September 29, 2008 11:09 AM | Link to this

Jim Wooten,

They will be back asking for more BILLIONS, because the mortgage messs is NOT OVER.

If you don’t help the homeowners, you aren’t fixing the problem. I’m sick of seeing all the empty homes, buildings and half finshed construction projects.

Wachovia is a good example of where we are headed. It’s not over because CitiGroup purchsed the problems, it’s just going to be a bigger company with a PROBLEM.

So, if McCain wants to take credit, if I were OBAMA, I wouldn’t argue. Let them have it.

By TW

September 29, 2008 11:15 AM | Link to this

Win?

By agreeing to spray water on the house they burned down, they won?

God I miss the real Republicans.

By Ga Values

September 29, 2008 11:15 AM | Link to this

Davo

September 29, 2008 10:30 AM

Thanks for the link,, I have sent it to everyone in myaddress book..

By BS Aplenty

September 29, 2008 11:16 AM | Link to this

In the last debate, Obama looked like the proverbial underdeveloped deer-in-headlights. You know, the small-rack animal not comfortable dealing with mature alpha males. Stammers, stutters and constantly looks at the Big Buck (McCain) for approval. Continually tries to makes “friends” with alpha male by using first name.

Telling, very telling.

McCain/Palin ‘08 - they already have big racks.

By Peter

September 29, 2008 11:17 AM | Link to this

By findog

September 29, 2008 11:07 AM | Link to this

Peter @10:10

Have you ever been in prison? Ever been tortured?

ANSWER……NO………..

So I never have been involved in KILLING AMERICANS…….. I have never been compared to the “SONG BIRD of HANOI”…..

I have never been involved in crushing HOPE for Veterans and POWs, and the families of those still MIA ……… by legislation…..!

Check you facts guy…….. POW’s hate McChicken !

He has voted against help for Vets, and for finding the remaining MIA POW’s !

See Ron Paul’s record, he is a guy they support !

By bit

September 29, 2008 11:23 AM | Link to this

Ask the shareholders of AIG how they feel about insuring subprime loans. Republicans are delusional if they think the same fate will not await the federal government.

If the bailout doesn’t restore faith in the system, then bankers will continue to increase lending standards, and nothing will change. Maybe the government should penalize Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s and the other bond rating agencies for calling something AAA when it was just really junk. This whole crisis sounds like Enron all over again.

How can anyone pretend that there are winners in this bailout fiasco? Certainly not the economies of the United States and the world.

By $$$$

September 29, 2008 11:24 AM | Link to this

That was your perception BS. To me and everyone I have talked to about the debate, McCain seemed rattled and angry. I don’t trust anyone who can’t look the other person in the eye when debating them. He never even looked at Obama. Again, that’s my perception. We will see how most people felt when the votes are tallied.

By Glenn

September 29, 2008 11:26 AM | Link to this

Jim, how simplistic. McCain “won” nothing. He’s no more than a common thug and never has been more than that. His childish act of playing “hero” (Yawn) by going to D.C. is but another example of this shallow little man. Did nothing. said nothing. Just sat there with that goofy little grin midst his host of demons and obsessive dysfunctions for power. The man is an empty phony and always has been. Your blind adoration of such inferiors is embarrassing. Or should be. How is it possible to be so empty, so blinded??

By Soulfinger

September 29, 2008 11:27 AM | Link to this

Nice try, Jim.

By Peter

September 29, 2008 11:32 AM | Link to this

Who WINS JIM ?

Do Americans ?

I doubt that……… when is the Victory Parade Jim ?

By findog

September 29, 2008 11:37 AM | Link to this

Ron @10:17 In golf an albatross is great — double eagle. It is although unfortunate that Senator McCain cannot golf…

Ragnar @10:25 I find it hard to give credit to the House GOP for an optional clause. Water always follows the path of least resistance, as I assume you might agree that bankers will do the same with this recovery bill. How could a banker justify the insurance option to his shareholders, the good of the country? I would have jumped all over this bandwagon if they had at least gotten a twenty-five percent requirement for their option. Looks like a RINO put a toothless lion into the bill to try and claim victory.

BS Aplenty @11:16 I do believe true Alpha male stares down the young buck; rather than gaze out at the herd as if there were nothing to be concerned with. I would agree that Senator Obama is a lightweight, but he did two things worthy of note: first he looked directly at Senator McCain when he called him on the mistakes on Iraq, and second he is capable of saying McCain was right in several [six] areas. Under the blind squirrel nut hunting act of 2006 McCain would have to found at least one thing Obama has done right to keep the bipartisan crown he claims to protect…

Peter @10:10 The one POW I actually know does not hate McCain. Therefore following your line of logic all POW’s must not hate him either. The only swift boat veteran I know liked Kerry so why didn’t all the other swift boat vets like him too? It Seam that, as Representative Paul is not on the ballot that your sources are taking this election cycle off. Too bad, I normally consider veterans to be engaged in the political process; especially in a time of war…

By Davo

September 29, 2008 11:39 AM | Link to this

Hey JW…I found a real member of congress that gets it…Oh…but she’s a democrat. It’s funny though…she seems to be very conservative.

Sounds Like Insider Trading To Me! Rep Kaptur

http://cspanjunkie.org/?p=635

By catlady

September 29, 2008 11:46 AM | Link to this

Too bad Obama did not call him on some of his bs. Like “John, it does not really matter which dead famous people you have known. We live in the here and now.”

On the bailout, I am urging all the congress to vote NO WAY. In 6 days God created the heavens and the earth. NO WAY our politicians can fix something quicker than God Himself.

The bailout stinks. It has NOTHING to recommend it. It is just another gift courtesy of the middle class and their hard work.

By BS Aplenty

September 29, 2008 11:48 AM | Link to this

findog

Can’t argue too much with that analysis.

By findog

September 29, 2008 11:48 AM | Link to this

Ragnar,

The “Troubled Assets” definition (B) for other financial instruments … transmittal of such determination … to the appropriate committees of Congress.

Does not call on Congress to approve such non-mortgage related securities prior to the secretary acting. You being the lawyer, and me the mere engineer, is not that a fairly large loophole?

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 29, 2008 11:50 AM | Link to this

Dear Hillbilly @ 10:40, you err. “the only “big-government schemes” responsible for the housing bubble and subsequent big-sh!tpile manifestations were a lack of oversight and an unwillingness to step in when the lunatic securitization Ponzi schemes became a license to print money.” There were three big government schemes that created the housing bubble:

(1) The Federal Reserve maintained interest rates below the inflation rate, thus causing too much money to chase too few investment opportunities.

(2) The Congress created – long ago – FHLMC and FNMA, to “facilitate” home ownership via the implicit backing of the taxpayer. As investment opportunities became less attractive, rather than scale back operations, FHLMC and FNMA facilitated “creative” financing options, and greatly increased the level of potential funding per loan, both squarely placing the taxpayer higher on the hook. There is a partial truth in your affirmation – but for Congressional acquiescence in the elevated risk to taxpayers, i.e., avoiding regulation of the Federal entities although pushed by McCain four years ago, the bubble would not have grown. It was Barney Frank (in the house) who pushed Chris Dodd and senate democrats to kill the McCain proposal via threat of filibuster. Thus the democrats won that battle against regulating the government, to the everlasting cost of all of us.

(3) For 30 years, CRA, HMDA, FHA, and ECOA have been used as mallets by bank regulators to compel banks to “find ways” to lend to the less than creditworthy. We now know 700 billion reasons this was a bad idea.

Dear Peter @ 10:44, Hank Paulson, Secretary of the Treasury, is a democrat. I think we can all agree this was a bone thrown to the democrats, and it did exist in the Reid/Pelosi rewrite. That and the total amount are about the only things that are still there.

Spamalert @ 10:50.

Dear bit @ 11:23, great argument. The implications for social security and medicare and all other government schemes are fairly obvious. I wonder if there are any presidential candidates who think we ought to be cutting spending rather than increasing it?

Dear $$$$ @ 11:24, I think winning debates has nothing to do with presidential elections. Pretty sure the pundits proclaimed Gore the winner in 2000 and Kerry the winner in 2004. Probably smarter to look at debates as performance art – I cannot imagine someone so shallow that he/she would choose a candidate from debates or advertising, although I am equally certain such creatures exist. For the record Chairman Ann said the debate was not even close; she gave Captain Queeg an A-, and Chauncey Gardener a C+. I, of course, did not even watch; the Braves were on, and I was visiting with my parents.

By ButtHead

September 29, 2008 11:55 AM | Link to this

I feel sorry for America that a loser like Obama even gets a chance at becoming president. The people that would vote for him are living proof that the education system is a failure.

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 29, 2008 12:01 PM | Link to this

Dear findog @ 11:37, good morning and good argument. You are correct about the “insurance” option. The only circumstance where that will be used is if things get pretty desperate. That sounds like the only time any of these options ought to be used. The one thing I like is the potential suspension of “mark to market” – that is a huge issue when a securities market is thin, as is demand for mortgage securities right at this moment. (And if I may jump in on your note to Peter, you are undoubtedly right about the military vote, McCain will take 70% +. Obama will get most of the black military vote, however.)

@ 11:48, the instructions for preparation of call reports have a specific definition for renegotiated troubled assets, but there is a lot of play in the definition. I listened into an FDIC accounting teleconference last week, and troubled assets were a significant portion of the conversation. FDIC gave every indication that it is bending the rules as much as it can to make life tolerable for the bankers. So that probably does mean more taxpayer relief is possible.

By Lorraine

September 29, 2008 12:02 PM | Link to this

Conservatives get your head out of the sand! How can you possibly say you support McCain when this man isn’t truly a conservative? He spits in the face of every Christain when he continues to say that he believes in Evolution(see the article that came out this month on CBS.com). Would you prefer a president who does not believe that God created the world or one who says they are for a woman’s right to choose? How hypocritical to say that McCain’s views line up better with the view of Evangelicals. Dr. Dobson had it right the first time when he said McCain is no conservative!

By cal

September 29, 2008 12:02 PM | Link to this

This just in: The Obama campaign has asked the police in Missouri to arrest anyone saying anything negative about Obama. Check it out on the Missouri station kmov.com. How embarrassing for the democrats.

By Chaz

September 29, 2008 12:05 PM | Link to this

Obama (reportedly) won the debate on ‘substance’? Whenever I read something so nakedly absurd, I remind myself of the millions of Americans that eat lunch at McDonald’s, thinking it’s ‘good’.

By Lorraine

September 29, 2008 12:07 PM | Link to this

Conservatives get your head out of the sand! How can you possibly say you support McCain when this man isn’t truly a conservative? He spits in the face of every Christain when he continues to say that he believes in Evolution(see the article that came out this month on CBS.com). Would you prefer a president who does not believe that God created the world or one who says they are for a woman’s right to choose? How hypocritical to say that McCain’s views line up better with the view of Evangelicals. Dr. Dobson had it right the first time when he said McCain is no conservative!

By Peter

September 29, 2008 12:08 PM | Link to this

Amazing………….By ButtHead

September 29, 2008 11:55 AM | Link to this

I feel sorry for America that a loser like Obama even gets a chance at becoming president. The people that would vote for him are living proof that the education system is a failure.

Obama a guy with a FANTASTIC EDUCATION……..

McLost, a guy who almost finished last in his class…….

I see you would vote for LESS EDUCATION………..

This guy will vote for the “Song Bird of Hanoi”….a guy how was responsible for MORE AMERICAN DEATHS in Vietnam than any other American……..

Never mind the Deaths he was responsible for on the Aircraft Carrier…….

Please see his voting on Veteran Affairs…….He has blocked all those of legislation to help vets…….. INCLUDING those coming back from Iraq !

PLEASE VOTE FOR AMERICA’S……. Benedict Arnold !

By dave

September 29, 2008 12:14 PM | Link to this

Peter the “song bird of hanoi?”

Can tell you’ve never served in the military, and are about as low a life as can be. Wish you’d had to have spent just one week and we’d see cry life and baby and turn in your momma to make them stop.

By DebbieDoRight

September 29, 2008 12:19 PM | Link to this

It looks like Jim is off of his dementia meds again. Jim, PLEASE SEEK HELP!! Before it’s too late. Oh, and ask about the discounted rate for republicans who suffer from delusions of grandeur; I heard it’s “fiscally conservative”.

By ron

September 29, 2008 12:22 PM | Link to this

FindDog—-The literary albatross was hung around the neck as a punishment.They’re punishing McCain for being a maverick.

FindDog—-Peter has never done much of anything except fish.,I mean carp,of course.

Lorraine,—-I support McCain because he’s not a conservative.You can either support him or you get Obama.Your choice.

Ragnar—-One of the big sticking points of the bailout is that the combatants don’t actually know the value of the assets,read repossesed houses.If they’re valued too high they won’t sell.If they’re valued too low,your house value drops like a rock.Ain’t this going to be fun?

Next comes the destruction of the main street economy.Banks will withhold needed credit until the economy implodes.Crdt has become the new 4 letter word.

By getalife

September 29, 2008 12:30 PM | Link to this

Jim should hang this art in his office

Fiscal con?

No, Jim is a lib.

By jim d

September 29, 2008 12:33 PM | Link to this

Manning Proposes to Vote for Obama

By Say what?

September 29, 2008 12:46 PM | Link to this

Ummm the press said that when McCain returned to Washington on Saturday, he stayed at home in Arlington, went to his campaign headquarters around the corner and then went to dinner at a ritzy restaurant with Lieberman… So how did he save the world again?

By jim d

September 29, 2008 12:47 PM | Link to this

Best of Manning

By fearless fosdik

September 29, 2008 12:49 PM | Link to this

By cal

You said this at 12:02 P.M.

“This just in: The Obama campaign has asked the police in Missouri to arrest anyone saying anything negative about Obama. Check it out on the Missouri station kmov.com. How embarrassing for the democrats.”

CAL…You heard that nonsense on Limbaugh’s morning COMEDY hour! Didn’t you?

The facts are .. Just like in any other campaign the two camps scrutinize what the other camp is saying and try to react to the lies, distortions and other misleading ads etc.

Last Tuesday without any fanfare, the Barack Obama campaign announced Jennifer Joyce and Bob McCulloch, the top prosecutors in St. Louis city and St. Louis County, were joining something called an Obama truth squad.

They plan to respond immediately to any misleading advertisements and statements that might violate Missouri ethics laws.

“We want to keep this campaign focused on issues,” Joyce told me. “Missourians don’t want to be distracted by these divisive character attacks.”

The truth squad’s plan is to indentify false attacks and respond immediately with truthful information, Joyce and McCulloch say.

Read the entire article here!

http://www.kmov.com/topstories/stories/kmovelection092808truthsquad.bec69e89.html?ocp=2#slcgmcomments_anchor

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 29, 2008 12:53 PM | Link to this

Dear Ron @ 12:22, I should be embarrassed to say it, but I am not yet fully persuaded of the necessity of the “bailout.” The “mark to market” suspension is big, and may be sufficient to cure the tangible problems. But “panic” is the real, if intangible, problem. I suppose the cure for a big panic is a big cure, so long as the cure does not kill the patient itself.

By getalife

September 29, 2008 12:59 PM | Link to this

Suddenly Americans are concerned about our country.

My friends on the left have been deeply concerned about our country for eight long years. Disaster after disaster they have been screaming but fallen on deaf ears.

Welcome to the real world concerned Americans. I hear the same from the drunk, bible thumping, radical right, neighbors and I tell them.

Told ya and welcome to our nightmare.

It’s your failed ideology stupid!

But you are too late with your concern and your candidate is stuck in this failed ideology.

Country last. Greed first.

By Peter

September 29, 2008 1:00 PM | Link to this

Hey ……..By dave

September 29, 2008 12:14 PM | Link to this

Peter the “song bird of hanoi?”

Can tell you’ve never served in the military, and are about as low a life as can be. Wish you’d had to have spent just one week and we’d see cry life and baby and turn in your momma to make them stop.

Yes DAVE that is what they called him………..

THE SONG BIRD OF HANOI………….Go to U-TUBE see some of the clips there………..see the Former POW’s at their meeting talking about McChicken, and how he sang, ESPECIALLY how he has stopped legislation to FIND AMERICAN’S Missing in Action…….and how he has VOTED AGAINST help for surviving Vets !

Find out how many American’s were shot down after McChincken told the Vietcong the fly routes of American Plans in the war !

Please look it is awful !

Contact these organizations…see for yourself I am not telling you a lie !

McChicken for President………Soccer Mom for President !

By Andrea

September 29, 2008 1:01 PM | Link to this

LOL! Yea ok Mr. Wooten.
To those who said McCain would out debate Obama I’m sure you felt sick after the debate on Friday seeing as those that DID NOT happen. Obama held his own and then some. And we already know that Palin is going to do poorly in her debate against Biden but I do pray that Palin has been studying, has good test taking skills and has good cramming skills so that Biden doesn’t embarrass her too much.

By Bo Chambliss LOBBYIST

September 29, 2008 1:06 PM | Link to this

Looks like our 7 Republican Congressmen are voting for the Georgia Taxpayer with a big NO to this RIPOFF. Our 2 RINO Senators are followling their LOBBYIST with a big YES to RIPOFF the taxpayer.. McCain SAYS COUNTRY FIRST..Saxby SAYS LOBBYIST(especially his son Bo) FIRST

By Mrs. Godzilla

September 29, 2008 1:08 PM | Link to this

With lines like, “credit should go to John McCain for pushing their concerns to center stage”, Wooten proves he could write for SNL.

Too funny!

By Cheryl

September 29, 2008 1:21 PM | Link to this

Used to be afraid of Obama….now I am terrified of McCain. I have no faith in him or his planned continuance of the fiasco we have (because that is what he will do). For the first time, I am going Democrat. Obama for President!

By Dennis

September 29, 2008 1:22 PM | Link to this

Mr. Wooten writes, “It’s uncertain now House Republicans will vote yes on the bailout, but passing it is essential.”

Ah, Mr. Wooten, you gonna flipp-flop too?

On any other day, you’d be pushing “free market”, “free enterprise”, and against people who can’t manage their money; against those waiting for a government handout instead of a hand up; people who make bad/wrong decisions.

But now that it’s YOUR big boys messing up and can’t manage their money, you want government to bail them out.

You too want socialism for the rich at the expense of hard working Americans.

(On the other hand, maybe you’re just calling for these handouts to protect your own portfolio).

And, “And it’s unlikely to get much better.”

Meaning what, Mr. Wooten?

Today’s column shoots you and your credibility in the foot.

You don’t have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.

By WillieBkind

September 29, 2008 1:32 PM | Link to this

wow…you wacko’s are fired up over Obama’s filibustering the debate…oh I got to respond to that….how many times did he do that… is it not like a typical liberal. After all the media hype by all the biased media and it is a tie? That makes McCain a superman….OK next blog only three liberals can respond and the rest must be independent or conservative. I wonder if that would be the same as the media.

By jim d

September 29, 2008 1:50 PM | Link to this

Democrats responsible for Economic Disaster…

By findog

September 29, 2008 1:51 PM | Link to this

Andrea @1:01

This could be another case of misunderestimation… It could all be a clever plot to lull Senator Biden into a false sense of over security with a big one liner up her sleeve. For some if she just says, “There you go again,” she will be crowned the true heiress to Reagan’s crown…

Cheryl @1:21

Snap out of it! Fear should not drive debate; if it does then Nixon, Rove, and OBL win; now girl-up and study the platforms: “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

See all better

By getalife

September 29, 2008 1:52 PM | Link to this

Close vote on bailout. All eyes on the board.

95 dems are voting no, 65 gop voted yes, crossing party lines.

Yes, it failed.

205 yea 228 Nay

Jim lost, Americans won.

By hillbilly ragger

September 29, 2008 2:01 PM | Link to this

Ayn Rand Bonejumper @ 11.50, at least your item #1 is correct.

The other two are pure moose poop, historical revisionism intended to whitewash the Bush Administration.

Oh, and Jim? General Petraeus would like you and McCain to stop talking about “victory” in Eye-rack.

By hotlanta

September 29, 2008 2:04 PM | Link to this

I wannd thank Sarah Palin for again bashing another myth that ALL white women are smart and that black women are jealous of them. From what you have shown the world we have nothing to be jealous of. We have been trying to get that message out for years but with her she is doing a good job for us. How did she get her jobs by way of the white version Affirmative Action. That is just by underqualified/being white and knowing someone. If Condeleeza Rice was acting like that I can see white folks now asking the same question. How did she get that job.

By hotlanta

September 29, 2008 2:04 PM | Link to this

I wannd thank Sarah Palin for again bashing another myth that ALL white women are smart and that black women are jealous of them. From what you have shown the world we have nothing to be jealous of. We have been trying to get that message out for years but with her she is doing a good job for us. How did she get her jobs by way of the white version Affirmative Action. That is just by underqualified/being white and knowing someone. If Condeleeza Rice was acting like that I can see white folks now asking the same question. How did she get that job.

By Ga Values

September 29, 2008 2:05 PM | Link to this

Thank god there are actually 132 real REPUBLICANS in the house.. Looks like Saxby has ripped off the Lobbyist cause it is NOT going to make it out of the House. I don’t know why 94 Democrats voted against this taxpayer RIPOFF but we should not look a gift horse in the mouth.

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 29, 2008 2:07 PM | Link to this

Dear Getalife @ 1:52, so 140 democrats (60%) voted for the bailout, and 133 republicans (67%) voted against it. Sounds about right.

By $$$

September 29, 2008 2:15 PM | Link to this

I have no idea who Anne, Queeg, or Chauncey are.

By Dusty

September 29, 2008 2:15 PM | Link to this

JIM WOOTEN IS DOING GREAT AND DRIVING LIBERALS CRAZY

If you don’t believe it, just read the wild and crazy lib comments here. Jim got them stirred up. The phones at DNC headquarters are ringing off the hooks for more “trash”. They are hustling out propaganda at record speed for the sinking Obama. Devastator even threw in a request here for more money.

Money won’t do it because;

McCain looks and acts very PRESIDENTIAL.

McCain did not linger hesitantly but spoke decisively in debating.

McCain showed humanity with respect to his sick friend and fellow senator, Kennedy.

McCain spoke against the Iranians but no attack words, as did Obama.

McCain showed respect for our armed forces and mentioned a young soldier KIA. Obama jumped up with “Me too” and tried to remember whom he was honoring.

McCain met a crisis face to face, not on the phone lingering until somebody told him to go.

McCain’s input gave the start of a change in the financial crisis. While others ran in circles, he sood firm in his concern for the American taxpayer, taking a definite stand.

McCain and Obama are both intelligent men. But McCain is like the lighthouse for the ship of state while Obama is the flashlight.

Jim Wooten knows and he got it right. McCAIN IS A WINNER.

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 29, 2008 2:15 PM | Link to this

Dear Ragger @ 2:01, let us know if you ever get a brain or learn to argue honestly.

By Captain Freedom

September 29, 2008 2:19 PM | Link to this

As the Dow hurtles towards 10,000 with breakneck speed, THE Captain congratulates St John for his leadership in handling this crisis. For as Mr Wooten said so well, everything about this episode is coming up roses for Johnny Rictus.

In further news, Sarah Plain is poised to make mincemeat out of Joe Biden just as she made Katie Behold the Camera Up My Hinie Couric quiver and quake under the full force of her Snowbilly Street Smarts.

Joe Biden. pffttt. Like the guy on Fix News said yesterday of the gaffe prone veep nominee: “Here’s a guy who thinks FDR was president during the Great Depression.” THE Captain says, yeah, anyway, to that. Does Biden think we just fell off a turnip truck?

THE Captain is sure glad He has all His cash stuffed under the mattress with His gold bullion.

By Famuan

September 29, 2008 2:23 PM | Link to this

* OK WOOTEN…HOW YA GONNA SPIN IT NOW?? LOL…tomorrow’s column will be “how the House GOP stood down tyranny” or something comical like that*

By Commander Guy

September 29, 2008 2:24 PM | Link to this

Dusty -

Riddle: What’s the diff between a pro5titute and a s1ut? The s1ut does it for free.

cf. this post

Geez, at least Jim draws a salary.

By hotlanta

September 29, 2008 2:25 PM | Link to this

Wooten take off your flag draws the bailout failed. Is McCain gonna take credit for that. Read the paper.

By hotlanta

September 29, 2008 2:26 PM | Link to this

Wooten take off your flag draws the bailout failed. Is McCain gonna take credit for that. Read the paper.

By getalife

September 29, 2008 2:26 PM | Link to this

The market is correcting.

Mark this day on the calender that the lobbyists finally lost and the people won.

This is a great day in history.

Both dem and gop leadership were against the people. Dump them.

Heads need to roll.

Enough with the no accountability.

Lock em up FBI. Do it for your country.

By Grandma Betrayed

September 29, 2008 2:28 PM | Link to this

Now that my four oh one flippin kay is DOA, I guess I can work ‘till I’m 85. IF there are jobs to be had for Grandma, that is, what with more and more competition for the few sh-tty jobs that will remain. And as long as I don’t need to be able to afford health insurance or medication of any kind.

I can take comfort knowing lots of deserving folks lost their houses, which is what they deserve! Not sure how to internalize the execs who stashed their billions offshore and in wifey holes, who’ll never go hungry our without. Well, freedom ain’t free, that’s for sure! Grandma knows who will pay the price while the thieves in this country run unabated, barefoot through their money. Thanks Reagan, for imparting the belief to future generations of Americans that some people matter, some people don’t, and it’s only the swagger that counts. Family values. If you’re a member of the right family, of course.

By mike hussein smith

September 29, 2008 2:30 PM | Link to this

Were you really foolish enough to think that the House GOP members would help pass the bailout bill? You’re out to lunch, out of touch and out of ideas. You nurtured the demons of the GOP, so defeat of the bill should be no surprise. And it is absurd to think McCain won anything last week. In the daily Gallup tracker, he went from a tie with Obama on Thursday to 8 points behind by Sunday. Show me the victory.

By Peter

September 29, 2008 2:32 PM | Link to this

Yes The “Song Bird of Hanoi” is showing some respect for Vets Dusty…….

As long as he is not voting…….. since his record is to vote down legislation to help the sick, and hurt from the wars….and to help hinder the locating the Missing still out there !

What amazes me the most is how thoughtful the REPUBLICANS have been this past 8 years……..

Since they were able to “SEE” the crisis coming, while they were in power for the first 6 years of Bush’s term………

They did so wonderful in cutting spending, and creating this enormous SURPLUS We CURRENTLY have today…….

Thank God…….we are a cash RICH country that won’t have any problems with the Bailout of Republicans on Wall Street !

Go Republicans keep Blaming someone else…..!!!!

Vote the “Song Bird of Hanoi” for President……..heck he makes Jane Fonda look Patriotic !

By Mid-South Philosopher

September 29, 2008 2:34 PM | Link to this

Good afternoon, Jim.

The conservatives in Congress had more guts than I thought! Maybe there is hope after all.

Now, next thing that needs to happen is the resignation of George W. Bush. It is clear that he totally inept.

With the public’s finger on the Congress, Dickie Cheney couldn’t do too badly over the next four months. Besides, love him or hate him, he is head and shoulders smarter that than swaggering, smirking, reformed drunk from Crawford, Texas.

By Seeking Truth

September 29, 2008 2:36 PM | Link to this

Wow did you call it wrong - as usual Wooten. They did nothing but kill the bill. offering nothing better is not doing the right thing. Let’s face it - Republicans suck!

By George

September 29, 2008 2:38 PM | Link to this

“It’s uncertain now House Republicans will vote yes on the bailout, but passing it is essential. And it’s unlikely to get much better.”

“McCain made the right decision in returning to Washington and speaking up for conservatives in the House. He won. They won.

The course now is to vote yes.”

Okay, so the Republicans and THE DEMOCRATS who voted no and defeated this monstrosity, what happened to them? Did they and us, the US Taxpayer, did we all lose with todays vote? Tell me exactly how that works now since you backed the plan and now it has been defeated. You can’t be a winner and loser at the same time JIM. And you are now on record as having backed this b.s.. You are so hypocritical. You back big government when it’s a Republican proposal. You are no conservative at all.

By ghost rider

September 29, 2008 2:43 PM | Link to this

Dusty, I came to the conclusion a long time ago that you are an absolute MORON!

But, today at 2:15 PM with your idiotic comments you cemented the deal!

By Southern Democrat

September 29, 2008 2:45 PM | Link to this

Good Gosh a’mighty… I feel like it’s 2006 all over again! The GOP is absolutely giving this election away. The vote rejecting the bailout coupled with the scathing report on the U.S. Attys’ firings will remind all voters of what the past 8 years has been like. Too funny.

By Cindy

September 29, 2008 2:49 PM | Link to this

As I watch my retirement go down the tubes, I have only Mr. Bush and co. to thank for falling into Bin Laden’s plan to ruin the US’s financial footing. Billions to war and billions to bailout.
Anybody with any sense and especially Reagan supporters (because of the insult this administration has made to his Republican party) will do something to make a change in November.

This current administration is a humiliation to the US.

By Mableton Mom

September 29, 2008 2:53 PM | Link to this

The radio quotes John McCain as saying its Obama for the failure of this bill.Could someone please explain this to me?

By getalife

September 29, 2008 2:55 PM | Link to this

Will Jim flip flop back to being a fiscal con?

Poor confused Jim.

Like McCain, he knows it is time to retire.

By jungleland

September 29, 2008 2:56 PM | Link to this

Failed bill showed three things

By Steven d.

September 29, 2008 2:57 PM | Link to this

The Repudlickers just threw us all in the river. Just like my dead father-in-law once said, ” I can’t wait to see 15 idiots chasing one rabbit across a field just to have something to eat.” The time is nigh folks.

By fearless fosdik

September 29, 2008 2:58 PM | Link to this

By Mableton Mom

September 29, 2008 2:53 PM | Link to this

“The radio quotes John McCain as saying its Obama for the failure of this bill.Could someone please explain this to me?”

Be glad to Mableton Mom, It’s called republican B*l Sit!

By hotlanta

September 29, 2008 3:04 PM | Link to this

What McShame. Blame the black man for everything that goes wrong but praise the white man when everything goes right. Why is McShame blaming Obama for the failure of this bill and he is not taking the blame himself for this mess. It has been popping Cindy’s pills.

By hotlanta

September 29, 2008 3:04 PM | Link to this

What McShame. Blame the black man for everything that goes wrong but praise the white man when everything goes right. Why is McShame blaming Obama for the failure of this bill and he is not taking the blame himself for this mess. It has been popping Cindy’s pills.

By Commander Guy

September 29, 2008 3:05 PM | Link to this

House GOP leader Boner (known drunk and whiny a55 t!tty baby) says that the bill failed because Pelosi hurt his wittle feelings. Sweet jumping jesus, the Repubs sure do have thin skins.

Fine. GOP wants to hang this bill on the Dems, then let’s game on. Write this bill without regard to the GOP whiners and make it a cornerstone of 21st Century New Deal legislation. Instead of a half-mil cap on executive pay, make it 100k. Instead of allowing current golden parachute plans to remain in place, cut em all off at the knees.

And most of all, just make the damned plan a buyout of the firms. Fed money goes in, fed ownership is the result. Sell it back to the private sector later on at prevailing market rates.

Look, the GOP — and Wooten, too! — is already on record having embraced socialism in principle. Carpe diem.

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 29, 2008 3:05 PM | Link to this

Dear $$$$, sorry for short hand. “Chairman Ann” is columnist Ann Coulter, who refers to herself as Chairman Ann. Captain Queeg is my pet name for John McCain, taken from the lunatic captain in The Caine Mutiny. Chauncey Gardener was the lead character in the classic comedy Being There, and I confess I was not the first to so-address Barack Obama.

Dear Mableton Mom @ 2:53, a better target might be Speaker Pelosi. Her disparagement of the opposition probably hurt her cause. Of course, in the view of 40% of democrats and 67% of conservatives, that means she gets credit for killing a defective bill? I suppose if you really wanted to blame Obama, you could charge that he did not invest himself into the bill, unlike McCain; although McCain’s efforts gave cover to house republicans. Not much room for blame-throwing between them.

By rc

September 29, 2008 3:07 PM | Link to this

not only is our gov mia now with money and gas issues….he really is part of the problem….read bill shipp latest at athens banner….note current gov backed by teachers, flag nuts, and big bankers. gov cfo and ceo were former bankers. connect the dots.

By ron

September 29, 2008 3:09 PM | Link to this

I asked my Representative and Senator person to vote no.Now I’ll have to check to see if they did.Someone sure did.I don’t know where we go from here,but let’s get started.You bankers start sucking it in.We’re after everyone of you that had a hand in this debacle and I think we’ll get you.You failed,just like the home owners you repossssed on.How you like it?

By fearless fosdik

September 29, 2008 3:12 PM | Link to this

Did anyone catch John Boehner CRYING on C-SPAN saying it’s Pelosi’s fault because she gave a partisan speech. What jokers. A speech made them vote against it.

Will this cause McCain to fake suspending his campaign again and try to cancel Palin’s debate?

My head is spinning!

By Commander Guy

September 29, 2008 3:12 PM | Link to this

More straight talking maverickiness:

How out of touch is John McCain with his own campaign? Today during a speech in Columbus, Ohio, Mcain was still peddling the fiction that he had “suspended” his campaign last week, saying:

You know, remarkably, some people have criticized my decision, but I will never, ever be a president who sits on the sidelines when this country faces a crisis. I know that many of you may have noticed, but it’s not my style to simply “phone it in.”

Except he did phone it in.

John McCain is staying in Washington this weekend to keep working on the bailout legislation. He will not be visiting Capital Hill, however, preferring to work out of his campaign office.

“He can effectively do what he needs to do by phone,” said senior adviser Mark Salter.

By Political Foreskin

September 29, 2008 3:13 PM | Link to this

CNN just reported that they’ve recorded a successful collision of quantum particles at the Large Hadron Collider creating trillions of tiny little Energizer Bunnies, killing everyone inside the 17 mile circle.

Palin 08: Nobody doesn’t like Sarah P.

Jbmlaw: Lose the movie character references and think for yourself. (then stick your head in the toilet.)

moron.

jklol

By Soulfinger

September 29, 2008 3:16 PM | Link to this

House rejected bailout…I guess we can give that credit to Mcfake also huh Jimbo?

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 29, 2008 3:18 PM | Link to this

Realistically the end of the bailout does not mean the end of the world. I think President Bush was looking for authority to handle problems that might arise over Christmas – the better course is always to call Congress into session. President proposes, Congress disposes. Handling problems ad hoc was always the alternative, now it is the preferred alternative.

By Beau L. Chevik

September 29, 2008 3:18 PM | Link to this

Maybe now we can nationalize the financial markets, health care and energy to make them well-run by dedicated bureaucrats in the public interest. I pray to the Great State, please make it so.

By dirty harry

September 29, 2008 3:22 PM | Link to this

During the debate McCain utttered H*se Sht twice…Watch video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y46k-1-tElY&watch

By Political Foreskin

September 29, 2008 3:24 PM | Link to this

Read Wooten’s article today and understand the depths this once entertaining and informative journalist has fallen. I dont really think he believes anything he writes, but he did write it, and offered it as a mature adult in a professional capacity for our consumption. And he still thinks he deserves a co-modicum of respect from readers who are smarter than a fifth grader.

‘muff said.

By Dusty

September 29, 2008 3:25 PM | Link to this

I told you Jim had Liberals UPset Today. They are losing it!!

Cammander Guy @2:24

Does NOT like my thoughts of a Presidential McCain. Starts telling stories about prostitutes to prove his point.

Peter @ 2:32 refers to a US veteran and POW (McCain)as the “Songbird of Hanoi” to show his “respect” for the military and those that suffer for our country.

GhostRider @2:43 decides that anyone who supports a Republican candidate should be called a “moron”.

Thus liberals show their integrity and impartiality. No wonder Pelosi speaks like she does. She’s trying to PLEASE HER CROWD.

By Dutchman

September 29, 2008 3:27 PM | Link to this

Soulfinger,

Actually, if you read anything, Pelosi couldn’t get her folks to vote for the bailout.

Where was BHO’s leadership, or have they not called him yet?

The democrats have a save majority and can pass anything they want, but it must have been so bad, that the democrat vermin wouldn’t even vote for it.

By Dusty

September 29, 2008 3:30 PM | Link to this

I think McCain was talking to you by name, dirty hairy@3:22. Twice. Your ears perked up right away.

By Commander Guy

September 29, 2008 3:30 PM | Link to this

One piece of the puzzle I left out…absolutely allow bankruptcy judges to redefine mortgage terms, including the ability to reduce principal to reflect prevailing market rates. Include language that penalizes flippers who take advantage of adjusmtnets to turn a quick profit, much the same way we will prohibit the bailed out companies from profiting from the bailout.

There may even be a method of allowing this redefinition of terms before bankruptcy. Or do we prefer to punish people before we offer relief?

While we’re at it, a wholesale redefinition of bankruptcy codes and credit laws is overdue. Alas, with Joe Biden (S-MBNA) in the picture, that might be a hope too far.

By Political Foreskin

September 29, 2008 3:31 PM | Link to this

Admit you have no idea what the failure of the vote to approve the bailout means, jbmlaw, or stfu. and stay of the blog.

I’m in charge now. this is too serious for trolls to fook things up, so get lost.

Ditto Dusty.

Cnn just reported that they’ve achieved a collision of sub-atomic particles at the Large Hadron Collider creating trillions of tiny little Energizer Bunnies, killing everyone inside the 17 mile circle.

This is not a slow news day.

Obama 08: He’s right for what’s left of America.

Palin 08: Nobody doesn’t like Sarah P.

By jim d

September 29, 2008 3:38 PM | Link to this

regardless of your stance on the proposed legislative vote, this is not a moment of celebration, it is a moment for increasing pressure. It is time to hold corporate America and our politicaans accountable. Personally, I appreciate the legislators that voted no on both sides of the isle, stating this legislation did not go far enough to protect taxpayers, even though their motives (re-election) were less than honorable.

By dirty harry

September 29, 2008 3:41 PM | Link to this

Dusty @ 3:30 PM

More like a double reference to all the loopy comments you make every day on this blog.

By the way DUSTY where is your weather report today?

By jim d

September 29, 2008 3:44 PM | Link to this

Ninety-five Democrats and 133 Republicans voted no.

By Peter

September 29, 2008 3:45 PM | Link to this

Hey Dusty…….. Watch the Videos………Peter @ 2:32 refers to a US veteran and POW (McCain)as the “Songbird of Hanoi” to show his “respect” for the military and those that suffer for our country.

The Vietcong called him the “Song Bird of Hanoi”….NOT ME !

Returning POW’s told the story………ones that were there with him….watch the video’s Dusty……..returning POW’s are calling him that NOT ME !

He EVEN made Jane Fonda look not so bad……… after you really know his record….. !

Benedick Arnold, might be a better way to describe John McLost !

By Cindy

September 29, 2008 3:47 PM | Link to this

Yes, Palin does have the “Hitler” charm doesn’t she?

Parent of 5; grandparent of 2 … I don’t fall for that crock….

Do you folks realize she was Pentacostal??? She sold out her religion when she decided to further her political career. Regardless of what she calls herself now, I don’t see her as any help to “liberated women”; those of us who like to wear slacks and work hard inside and outside the home.

By Dutchman

September 29, 2008 3:47 PM | Link to this

I can only assume that the wonderful Democrats are showing us their concern and desire to serve by killing the bailout.

I guess Pelosi just doesn’t get it. No Bail Out. Lets go with insuring the bad loans and not buying them - like the house wants to do.

By Commander Guy

September 29, 2008 3:50 PM | Link to this

A man asks a beautiful woman, “Would you sleep with me for ten million dollars?” The woman doesn’t hesitiate. “Yes!”

Guy then says, “How about for fifty bucks?” Woman gets all offended and spits, “Hell no! Do you take me for some kind of a w^0re?” Guy says, “We’ve already established your profession, we’re just dickering over the amount!”

And thus do we find our principled GOP pals, led by GWB. It’s not a question of whether they are okay with socialism at this point. It’s just dickering over the amount.

But Dusty still does it for free.

By Peter

September 29, 2008 3:52 PM | Link to this

Hey……..By Dutchman ……….get your facts together……..

“Actually, if you read anything, Pelosi couldn’t get her folks to vote for the bailout. ….”

Here is the truth without your spin……………

The package, which was backed by both the Democratic and Republican congressional leadership as well as President Bush, failed in the House by a vote of 228-205.

A majority of Democrats voted for the bill. A majority of Republicans voted against it.

Republicans must think at this POINT…….. Bush is as stupid as he is, so they won’t vote for a Bush Bailout…….

Do I see the REPUBLICAN PARTY infighting, splitting, hating each other………..Sure looks that way…….

REPUBLICANS are NOT Backing the President !

By getalife

September 29, 2008 3:56 PM | Link to this

They did it anyway:

Fed Pumps Further $630 Billion Into Financial System

By Commander Guy

September 29, 2008 3:59 PM | Link to this

Now this, my friends, is the kind of Mavericky Leadership We Can Believe In:

After bragging today about his role in shaping the economic bailout package, Sen. John McCain has made no statement to the press since the defeat of the bill, in part at the hands of House Republicans.

Speak softly and carry a big schtick?

By Dutchman

September 29, 2008 4:01 PM | Link to this

Peter,

Pelosi couldn’t get 12 democrats to switch their vote???

By kitty

September 29, 2008 4:01 PM | Link to this

Unless they fix this thing and fast, the election just got handed to Obama.

By Disgusted

September 29, 2008 4:07 PM | Link to this

Can’t wait to see how many of Wooten’s bloggers are forced to pawn their PCs in a couple of months—i.e., those who don’t blog from work, as jbmlaw does most of the day. Their employers will be holding fire sales on office equipment. Bye, bye, 401k. Bye, bye, jobs. Hellooooo, recession.

I hear conservative principles taste really good at the dinner table, especially with a little water. Of course, those Republicans who voted against the bill will be reelected before the roof falls in. Their constituents have two years to realize how thoroughly they were betrayed. But at least even Dubya tried to warn you.

By ron

September 29, 2008 4:12 PM | Link to this

Pofo——You just can’t jump in and comandeer blogs like that.You have to finesse your way to the top.

I’d say,Pofo,the vote means ,at this present time,that there is no leadership in the White House or the House of Representatives.It’s a long way from wanting $700 billion with no oversight attached to being turned down flat.Wonder how George feels at the moment.?

Feel free to beat on Ragnar and Dusty though.I’m sure they deserve it.

By GaNative

September 29, 2008 4:18 PM | Link to this

I’m soooo sick of hearing McCain talk about Dead Presidents and Dead Army Generals. He needs to get it touch with reality and stop living in the past. Having him and Sarah Palin on the ticket is about like having Tubby and Lester, Laurel and Hardy or maybe Cheech and Chong. Obama said what I wanted to hear and he specifically articulated it in three words, The Middle Class.

By OpinionsMatter

September 29, 2008 4:18 PM | Link to this

Tell us, Wooten … now that the bailout has failed to pass, exactly how did McCain “win”? He couldn’t even convince his fellow Republicans to vote for this failed proposal. The winner here? The average taxpayer.

By Goldie

September 29, 2008 4:21 PM | Link to this

Yep, WOOTEN— you’re so correct. McBush and the Repugs have “won” their game and the stock market is dropping by the hundreds as we type today… banks failing, homes foreclosed and jobs gones forever in America. And you want to claim a “win” for McBush.

Good grief. Repugs have got to go in ‘09!!!

By Commander Guy

September 29, 2008 4:24 PM | Link to this

Pofo——You just can’t jump in and comandeer blogs like that.You have to finesse your way to the top.

In this, PoFo is much like Cranky McCain. Mix a sense of entitlement with the intelligence of Abraham…..Simpson, that is. Step up and declare yourself the most qualified. Refuse to look your opponents in the eye, and mutter “horse5hit” under your breath when other people post. Fire blanks in a writing style that is deader than Bob Dole’s dikc. But his heart’s in the right place, even if his head is up his a55.

muff said, to quote the unquoteworthy.

Stick with me.

Strange You Can Believe In.

Yes, I Can. And I do.

And I take it back about Dusty. I’ve seen her. She can’t even give it away.

By Ricardo

September 29, 2008 4:27 PM | Link to this

I was against this bailout. But I would be very much in favor of it if it would include one provision:

That every Republican from Bush, to Gingrich, right down to the youngest of Young Republicans stand in front of the American Taxpayers and tell us that deregulation of financial institutions and Reagonomics does not work, that they will never say another word about deregulation for the rest of their lives, and that they apologize to each and every American and foreign investor for perpetrating this huge financial scam on us over the last 28 years.

By Devastator

September 29, 2008 4:29 PM | Link to this

If John McChicken hadn’t brought politics into the financial crisis by “suspending” his campaign and trying to weasel his way out of the debate, the repugnants would still have a fighting chance.

Question: If McChicken was so concerned about the economy and not politics why didn’t he return to Washington after the debate?

By Peter

September 29, 2008 4:32 PM | Link to this

By Dutchman

September 29, 2008 4:01 PM | Link to this

Peter,

Pelosi couldn’t get 12 democrats to switch their vote???

Gee how did the REPUBLICAN’S vote ??????

REPUBLICANS are NOT Backing the President !

By Senator Saxby Chambliss

September 29, 2008 4:37 PM | Link to this

I know many of you in the Banking community that gave me money to buy my vote are upset but let me set the record straight, my policy is cash only NO REFUNDS. It is not my fault that there are actually some Republicans in the House who think they work for the taxpayer not lobbyist. Just remember thet with Saxby Special Interest Chambliss is always on the LOBBYIST side not the taxpayer.

By GaNative

September 29, 2008 4:38 PM | Link to this

Ask the companies that are not getting bailed out is it God Bless America or is it God Damn America. I’m sure when they are all unemployed they will say the later.

By Soulfinger

September 29, 2008 4:41 PM | Link to this

My point is, if McInsane got the credit for making the proposal “better”, then shouldn’t he get the blame for the bill not passing??

By Mableton Mom

September 29, 2008 4:47 PM | Link to this

Ragnar Danneskjöld

You should realize that I just have a BBA In Economics from UGA, so I just don’t understand your answere. Please try again at a level someone with my poor education can understand.

By @@

September 29, 2008 4:53 PM | Link to this

Alrighty Jim, before leaving for work this morning, I did a quick check online — keeping my eye on Washington’s money farm. You know, the one where government’s reapers were pulling in the harvest. I ran across this:

Comparison of original Paulson bailout to compromise proposal

And I thought, DANG!!!!! I’m glad the Republicans held it up.

Unions OUT!

ACORN OUT!

LAWYERS OUT! (apologies Ragnar)

I’M IN!!!!!!!!!

Now I’m finding out the bailout was a “haymaker?”

Congress gets no recess. They must go back to the drawing board and write 5,000 times

“I will never again serve anyone other than the American Taxpayer.”

“I will never again……………….”

Now excuse me while I go turn the soil for my fall garden.

By Devastator

September 29, 2008 5:05 PM | Link to this

New York - Barack Obama has picked up steam.

Over the past two weeks he’s seen a small but steady rise in the polls. Immediately after the Republican Convention, the Illinois senator trailed his rival John McCain by three points in the various daily tracking polls. Senator Obama is now up by as many as six or seven points.

Pollsters say that’s in part because the vital independent voters are now shifting his way.

“There are still a substantial number of independents that are undecided, principally independent women,” says pollster John Zogby. “But as a group, they’ve begun to swing over to Obama, but not in large enough numbers yet to close the deal.”

Pundits point to a variety of reasons for the shift in the dynamics of the presidential race. First is the steady stream of bad economic news. Polls consistently show that voters think Democrats are better at handling the economy.

Then there’s the way Senator McCain reacted to the crisis. Initially calling the fundamentals of the economy strong, he then decided the crisis was so bad he needed to suspend his campaign, even calling for a postponement of the first presidential debate on Friday.

His campaign had hoped that would reinforce his stance as a leader that put the country first. But to many people it instead reinforced the notion that McCain could be impulsive and erratic.

There’s also the Sarah Palin factor.

She continues to energize the Republican base. But in her recent interview on CBS, the Alaska governor did not appear to have a grasp of a variety of issues.

That’s prompted some women conservative columnists, who once supported her, to call for her to step down for the good of the party.

Governor Palin’s favorability ratings among independents are also going down as her unfavorable ratings are on the rise.

“I’m not sure it’s gotten to the point where she’s hurting [McCain,] but she’s clearly not helping,” says political analyst Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

Friday night’s debate in Oxford, Miss., which did happen despite McCain’s calls to have it postponed, has also helped Obama.

A number of postdebate polls show that most viewers thought the Illinois senator did a “better job.”

A USA Today/Gallup poll released Sunday also found that by a 52 percent to 35 percent margin, viewers thought Obama offered better proposals to solve the country’s problems.

“The economy is the issue that looks like it’s going to dictate this election,” says Darrell West, the director of governance studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington. “And Obama won those parts of the debate that he needed to win.”

By Dusty

September 29, 2008 5:06 PM | Link to this

Well, I’m not even sure that bill has passed or in what condition. I guess I will wait and see. Just like buying gasoline. I am trying to wait for a fillup and I may get stuck on the road.

As one blogger noted, Congress may decide without any help from me. So enjoy all your whooping and hollering like it is going to make a difference. I have something better to do.

PoFo, what happened to the jokes? Did you get thrown off the stage? You should cheer up the duds here instead of joining them.

By Soothsayer

September 29, 2008 5:13 PM | Link to this

I don’t know about the rest of you but I’ve already got a great spot staked out under the bridge. I checked—there are plenty of squirrels in the woods nearby. At least I won’t go hungry and will have a place to get in out of the rain.

By Jim is a caveman

September 29, 2008 5:15 PM | Link to this

McCain just blamed Obama for “phoning it in”, causing the bailout to fail. He and Joe McCarthy would make a good pair. He has absolutely lost it in his desire to be president. he will say and do anything to win.

Jim, are you there? or have you gone home to rest after this masterpiece of brilliant ideating? Or did you phone this one in from home? What spin will you put on this debacle now that your thesis has been trampled upon by your own party? Don’t hide. Man up and explain yourself.

By AmVet

September 29, 2008 5:16 PM | Link to this

Rightfully or not, this mess will be primarily shouldered by the imploding GOP.

They’ve controlled the White house for 20 of the past 28 years.

They’ve controlled the Congress for 12 of the past 14 years.

And Republican Presidents have selected 7 of the 9 Supreme Court judges.

Is this fiasco all their fault?

Of course not.

But whatever sh!tstorm befalls them now is well deserved.

Karma.

Republican Bloodbath, Part Deux. Coming to an election everywhere this November.

By Commander Guy

September 29, 2008 5:19 PM | Link to this

Palin Suspends Campaign, Puts Country First

API/UPS - On the heels of today’s failed economic bailout effort, Governor Sarah Palin has announced that she is suspending her campaign and is unilaterally cancelling Thursday’s vice-presidential debate with Sen. Joe Biden.

“Nothing is more important than serving the American taxpayer in this critical time. For me to ignore my duties at this hour would be unresponsible,” the Saucy Snowbilly said in her perky Rocket J. Squirrel voice.

Reminded that, as Governor of a barely populated ice floe, she has no actual duty or authority pertaining to this issue, Palin responded, “Don’t you tell me that because there is fiduciary and that it is fungible oversight that I am not really, really, okay, involved, because banking is a central thing that governors do, because I have an ATM card that Todd gave me and I know how to use, yessirree Bob. And for you to take that, and you know,, statemetn and karaoke and then, well,,,,, um, ….REPORTERS!, whatever.”

On a more serious note, several reporters covering the Palin campaign were treated for hypoxia after being unable to catch their breath during the rolling on the floor laugh riot that followed the governor’s latest statements.

By Peter

September 29, 2008 5:20 PM | Link to this

Dusty………..

Remember go downtown and “Pray for Gas”……on the lawn of the State Capitol Building…….This is the Republican way !

All the new Rain we are getting is ……..where ?

Hurricanes starting in the North Atlantic Ocean……..?

No Global warming ……… Hmmmmm ……

Push for Alternative energies, ones that won’t kill us as we use them !

By Devastator

September 29, 2008 5:22 PM | Link to this

WESTMINSTER, Colo. - Democrat Barack Obama said Republican John McCain’s long advocacy of deregulation contributed to the current financial crisis and letting his GOP rival continue those policies as president would be a gamble “we can’t afford.”

After the House defeated a bill Monday to bail out the financial industry but also impose new federal controls on it, the Democratic presidential candidate said that McCain has “fought against commonsense regulations for decades, he’s called for less regulation 20 times just this year, and he said in a recent interview that he thought deregulation has actually helped grow our economy.”

“Senator, what economy are you talking about?” Obama asked.

Speaking to a packed gymnasium at Mountain Range High School, Obama associated McCain’s economic views with a news report about the six-term Arizona senator’s closeness to the gambling industry, without ever mentioning the news story itself.

“I read the other day that Sen. McCain likes to gamble. He likes to roll those dice. And that’s OK. I enjoy a little friendly game of poker myself every now and then,” Obama said. “But one thing I know is this — we can’t afford to gamble on four more years of the same disastrous economic policies we’ve had for the last eight.”

The New York Times reported in its Sunday editions that McCain, a lifelong gambler, has had a close and complicated relationship with the industry and its lobbyists during his nearly three decades in Congress. The story raised questions about whether gambling interests seeking an edge benefited by courting McCain or hiring individuals close to him.

By AmVet

September 29, 2008 5:35 PM | Link to this

Remember how the fake conservatives, starting with Ronnie Raygun used to blather on about law and order?

Too bad they didn’t mean any of it when it came to policing the thieves on Wall Street and in the Board Rooms…

By Cherokee

September 29, 2008 5:36 PM | Link to this

Jim I wonder that you never tire of being so spectacularly wrong about things. Last year’s election, Palin’s popularity, who won the debate, and today you were wrong about the bailout package. It’s good you have the kind of job where no one cares whether you’re accurate or not.

By Dusty

September 29, 2008 5:39 PM | Link to this

Hmm getting late…

AmVeT says …GOP implodes…while Amvet explodes with mad dreams of superiority.

Hey..libs gotta have something to dream about. They can’t get the real thing so they dream about winning something. ANYTHING!!

McCain is looking so PRESIDENTIAL. It will be easy for him to step right into the real thing. That’s going to be a very FINE thing for the country.He and Sarah will jump start this liberty land right into the happy hour of homes and an honorable habitat. Can’t wait!!. Already voted for ‘em!!

Peter,

Thanks for the reminder to pray for gasoline. Even rain. I can do all of that at home. No need to go down town.

Don’t forget to come in out of the rain. Just a little reminder.

By Dusty

September 29, 2008 5:44 PM | Link to this

Cammander Guy,

Try Saturday Night Live. Your stuff doesn’t work here. Too bad. Give Pelosi a chance. She’s a big joke.

By Cherokee

September 29, 2008 5:49 PM | Link to this

By the way Jim, Obama has moved into a small lead in North Carolina. One of the reasons? Sarah Palin. I guess those yankees in NC just don’t share your good Georgia values, huh…

http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com/2008/09/declining-popularity-of-sarah-palin.html

By Jim is a caveman

September 29, 2008 5:49 PM | Link to this

Dusty, just be glad that your home address doesn’t show up on the blog. The men in the white coats would be there in a few minutes to take you away. You are absolutely bonkers. The only good thing is you don’t know it.

By AmVet

September 29, 2008 5:57 PM | Link to this

Dusty, do you EVER have anything to contribute other than your personal attacks on everybody and anybody you disagree with?

Every single day you come here with the same childish and stupid schtick.

“Oh I see such and such is saying this….”

“And such and such is saying that…”

I asked you very recently to provide evidence on your claim that the south has more anti-discrimination measures - YOUR CLAIM - than any other area of the US.

You will never do so and we all know you can’t because you just make this sh!t up on the fly.

Otherwise, where is it?

You are little more than an blogging troll that relies on the Hermann Goebbels playbook.

Sadly you are the exemplar of a contemptible little woman, a perversion of everything Christian and an absolutely awful American.

Sorry, don’t shoot the messenger…

By McCrusty

September 30, 2008 8:14 AM | Link to this

McCain looks and acts very CONSTIPATED, PLEASE HE IS OLD, HE NEEDS HIS ROUGHAGE

McCain did not linger hesitantly but spoke INDECISIVELY in debating.

McCain showed PANDERING with respect to his sick friend and fellow senator, Kennedy.

McCain spoke against the Iranians but LIED AND SAID NO ATTACK, as Obama did not.

McCain showed DISRESPECT FOR THE ARMED FORCES and mentioned a young soldier KIA, yet again showing his complete willingness to pander for votes.

McCain MET A POOR PERSON ONCE ,well, he talked on the phone with one once.

McCain’s input gave the start of a change in the financial crisis. While others ran in circles, his party ran even faster showing yet again there respect and love of McCain.

McCain and Obama are both intelligent men. But McCain is like a 40 watt bulb trying to illuminate the ship of state while Obama is one of those new energy efficient ones.

Jim Wooten knows and he got it right. McCAIN IS A WHINNER!

By The Dust mite

By hillbilly ragger

September 30, 2008 8:17 AM | Link to this

Jim, you actually published a new column in the dead-tree AJC today. Why isn’t it online?

Why do you still have this embarrassing “Mission Accomplished” banner as your lead post?

By NFL guy

September 30, 2008 8:21 AM | Link to this

John McCain is nothing more than a two bit “pile jumper”!

And anyone who knows anything about football knows exactly what I mean.

I have slowly come to realize that he has built an entire political career with this as a foundation.

Like a flea on a dog’s @$$.

By Commander Guy

September 30, 2008 8:50 AM | Link to this

Fresh on the heels of yesterday’s wrong-in-every-aspect column, Wooten retreats to a safe area: blood lust and a desire to see a black man killed.

Never mind the failure of McCain’s “leadership” in the economic crisis. Forget the WATB behavior of the Republicans who had their wittle feewings hurt. A 777 point drop in the DJIA? A mere curiosity.

Ah, but the prospect of lynching a black man, even one where the possibility of wrongful conviction is so strong, now there is an issue that Real Americans like Jim and Dusty can sink their fangs into. Old times here are not forgotten.

The economy may crater, but at least we still have the will to kill ni%%ers. Right Jim?

By Southern ATL

September 30, 2008 8:55 AM | Link to this

FRESH NEWS…LET LOOK AT THIS A LITTLE DIFFERENT…FROM MICHAEL MOORE’S POINT OF VIEW….

let Us build up, …and Not tear down!

Sent: Mon, 29 Sep 2008 10:01 am Subject: The Rich Are Staging a Coup This Morning …a message from Michael Moore

Friends,

Let me cut to the chase. The biggest robbery in the history of this country is taking place as you read this. Though no guns are being used, 300 million hostages are being taken. Make no mistake about it: After stealing a half trillion dollars to line the pockets of their war-profiteering backers for the past five years, after lining the pockets of their fellow oilmen to the tune of over a hundred billion dollars in just the last two years, Bush and his cronies — who must soon vacate the White House — are looting the U.S. Treasury of every dollar they can grab. They are swiping as much of the silverware as they can on their way out the door.

No matter what they say, no matter how many scare words they use, they are up to their old tricks of creating fear and confusion in order to make and keep themselves and the upper one percent filthy rich. Just read the first four paragraphs of the lead story in last Monday’s New York Times and you can see what the real deal is:

‘Even as policy makers worked on details of a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry, Wall Street began looking for ways to profit from it.

‘Financial firms were lobbying to have all manner of troubled investments covered, not just those related to mortgages.

‘At the same time, investment firms were jockeying to oversee all the assets that Treasury plans to take off the books of financial institutions, a role that could earn them hundreds of millions of dollars a year in fees.

‘Nobody wants to be left out of Treasury’s proposal to buy up bad assets of financial institutions.’

Unbelievable. Wall Street and its backers created this mess and now they are going to clean up like bandits. Even Rudy Giuliani is lobbying for his firm to be hired (and paid) to ‘consult’ in the bailout.

The problem is, nobody truly knows what this ‘collapse’ is all about. Even Treasury Secretary Paulson admitted he doesn’t know the exact amount that is needed (he just picked the $700 billion number out of his head!). The head of the congressional budget office said he can’t figure it out nor can he explain it to anyone.

And yet, they are screeching about how the end is near! Panic! Recession! The Great Depression! Y2K! Bird flu! Killer bees! We must pass the bailout bill today!! The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

Falling for whom? NOTHING in this ‘bailout’ package will lower the price of the gas you have to put in your car to get to work. NOTHING in this bill will protect you from losing your home. NOTHING in this bill will give you health insurance.

Health insurance? Mike, why are you bringing this up? What’s this got to do with the Wall Street collapse?

It has everything to do with it. This so-called ‘collapse’ was triggered by the massive defaulting and foreclosures going on with people’s home mortgages. Do you know why so many Americans are losing their homes? To hear the Republicans describe it, it’s because too many working class idiots were given mortgages that they really couldn’t afford. Here’s the truth: The number one cause of people declaring bankruptcy is because of medical bills. Let me state this simply: If we had had universal health coverage, this mortgage ‘crisis’ may never have happened.

This bailout’s mission is to protect the obscene amount of wealth that has been accumulated in the last eight years. It’s to protect the top shareholders who own and control corporate America. It’s to make sure their yachts and mansions and ‘way of life’ go uninterrupted while the rest of America suffers and struggles to pay the bills. Let the rich suffer for once. Let them pay for the bailout. We are spending 400 million dollars a day on the war in Iraq. Let them end the war immediately and save us all another half-trillion dollars!

I have to stop writing this and you have to stop reading it. They are staging a financial coup this morning in our country. They are hoping Congress will act fast before they stop to think, before we have a chance to stop them ourselves. So stop reading this and do something — NOW! Here’s what you can do immediately:

When you screw up in life, there is hell to pay. Each and every one of you reading this knows that basic lesson and has paid the consequences of your actions at some point. In this great democracy, we cannot let there be one set of rules for the vast majority of hard-working citizens, and another set of rules for the elite, who, when they screw up, are handed one more gift on a silver platter. No more! Not again!

Yours, Michael Moore MMFlint@aol.com MichaelMoore.com

P.S. Having read further the details of this bailout bill, you need to know you are being lied to. They talk about how they will prevent golden parachutes. It says NOTHING about what these executives and fat cats will make in SALARY. According to Rep. Brad Sherman of California, these top managers will continue to receive million-dollar-a-month paychecks under this new bill. There is no direct ownership given to the American people for the money being handed over. Foreign banks and investors will be allowed to receive billion-dollar handouts. A large chunk of this $700 billion is going to be given directly to Chinese and Middle Eastern banks. There is NO guarantee of ever seeing that money again.

P.P.S. From talking to people I know in DC, they say the reason so many Dems are behind this is because Wall Street this weekend put a gun to their heads and said either turn over the $700 billion or the first thing we’ll start blowing up are the pension funds and 401(k)s of your middle class constituents. The Dems are scared they may make good on their threat. But this is not the time to back down or act like the typical Democrat we have witnessed for the last eight years. The Dems handed a stolen election over to Bush. The Dems gave Bush the votes he needed to invade a sovereign country. Once they took over Congress in 2007, they refused to pull the plug on the war. And now they have been cowered into being accomplices in the crime of the century. You have to call them now and say ‘NO!’ If we let them do this, just imagine how hard it will be to get anything good done when President Obama is in the White House. THESE DEMOCRATS ARE ONLY AS STRONG AS THE BACKBONE WE GIVE THEM. CALL CONGRESS NOW.

By Mike Vitacco

September 30, 2008 9:57 AM | Link to this

Dear Mr. Bookman,

Like many other Republican journalists, you are completely and inexcusably delusional. But you would be sitting in a Titanic lifeboat waving to the women & children still on board the main vessel. The entire GOP is really in trouble!

By CrazyPeeps

September 30, 2008 10:25 AM | Link to this

Well what is well known, but not really acknowledged is that the Dem’s have reached a new level of nonsense.

DEMOCRAT TACTICS 1. Send out storm troopers (fresh out of law school impressionable, and with little real world experience..Kinda like Obama) to dig dirt…

If I was in charge of Indian Affairs, I would certainly indicate to this group that I took their issues seriously, and I would certainly make myself available. Having oversight is not just about regulating and enforcement my naive friends. its often about other more progressive adgenda issues that are not as scandelous to create stories about as throwing some dice in a legal casino. No matter how much is being played for. Get friggin real.

While it does not surprise me that out of all the stories on the wire to carry the AJC chose this one, it really shows how one sided this newspaper is…. Just another example of the AJC’s leadership in the political brainwashing of Atlanta.

By Peter

September 30, 2008 10:26 AM | Link to this

Bush has freaked and caused the market to fluctuate greatly…………apparently we have more scare tactics going on with the Bush Administration………

Similar to what got the US into the Iraq WAR !

OK all you wrongs………what was the DOW at when BUSH became President…………?

How much has the DOW risen while Bush has been President……..?

Bush had received the largest SURPLUS in US History when he took office…….. Now we have the Largest Deficit in US History.

Vote for a Soccer Mom if you want more of the same !

By Stop Pretending!

September 30, 2008 10:43 AM | Link to this

Good morning, Mr. Wooten. Where are you? Are you with Waldo?

By Stop Pretending!

September 30, 2008 10:46 AM | Link to this

Good morning, Mr. Wooten. Where are you? Are you with Waldo?

By willie

September 30, 2008 10:53 AM | Link to this

I am ambivalent about the bailout. I think not loaning money to desperate people, rich wall street members, and people living above their means is simply good business. It is not good for businesses that are using it as payroll. However, I have been screaming to put “do nothing Pelosi” on the blogs. Yes, I know the DNC gives the AJC their marching orders every morning. A letter most likely with all the misinformation and misdirection they could possibly use to shape local and national events. “Do nothing Pelosi” finally came forward and what did she do but spew hate and partisan rants in the middle of a vote. Now that is REAL leadership by wacko liberals! I congratulate you. Why are the independents waiting for Sara Palin to make her mark? They should give their total attention to Pelosi’s inactions. Not paying attention to Pelosi is simply out of reason and out of touch. Pelosi is already there destroying any positive movements by bipartisanship members of the house. Pelosi is more responsible for the shape of the financial world in the months she has been speaker than the eight years of Bush. She, just like the liberals, is responsible for no energy plan and that is the root of all this evil. Just think what a partnership she will have with liberal Obama. The damage to this country could be greater than the Great Depression. Yes it will have detrimental effects on mainstreet. Good rhetoric will not fix it. WAKE UP AMERCIA!! The liberals are destroying our country. Look at the speaker’s abilities and not VP’s.

By old91A10

September 30, 2008 10:58 AM | Link to this

Reality check. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=NU6fuFrdCJY

PUMA for McCain and Palin

Sharp stick in the eye for OPRah — Obama, Pelosi, Reid a55h0le5

By Tell It Like It Is

September 30, 2008 1:31 PM | Link to this

Wooten and the republicans must be in LA LA land. They disrespect their own president and leave him hanging after he has done everything to help them gain riches over the last eight years. Of course Bush and Chaney are not running for office and they can retire to their ranches and count the loot. They blame the deomocrats and Obama for the mess. It looks like the republicans have given up on McCain/Palin so that they can line up behind Newt Gingrich in 2012. Hopefully we will still have a country. Such is politics.