Joe-Joe the Clown #3

Everybody's fan!

Hitting back and Hard

Senator McCain came out swinging today on the economic issues of the week. After seeing the slim lead of the last two weeks evaporate, McCain hit Obama square in the puss today on the market meltdown, Fannie and Freddie and his lack of...well, everything:

Top aides to Republican John McCain are claiming Democrat Barack Obama and his advisers are exploiting Wall Street's financial problems for political gain.

Ouch.

Ouch, again:

I'm happy to be introduced by Governor Palin, but I can't wait until I introduce her to Washington. Let me offer an advance warning to the big spending, greedy, do nothing, me first, country second crowd in Washington and on Wall Street: change is coming.

We need reform in Washington and on Wall Street. The financial markets are in crisis. Times are tough. Enormous strain is being put on working families and individuals in America. I know that the events unfolding can be difficult to understand for many Americans. The dominos that we have seen fall this week began with the corruption and manipulation of our home loan system. The reason this crisis started was the abuses that took place within our home loan agencies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and within our home loan system.

Two years ago I warned this Administration and Congress that regulations for our home loan agencies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, needed to be fixed…

But nothing was done.

Senator Obama talks a tough game on the financial markets but the facts tell a different story. He took more money from Fannie and Freddie than any Senator but the Democratic chairman of the committee that regulates them. He put Fannie Mae's CEO who helped create this disaster in charge of finding his Vice President. Fannie's former General Counsel is a senior advisor to his campaign. Whose side do you think he is on? When I pushed legislation to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Senator Obama was silent. He didn't lift a hand to avert this crisis. While the leaders of Fannie and Freddie were lining the pockets of his campaign, they were sowing the seeds of the financial crisis we see today and enriching themselves with millions of dollars in payments. That's not change, that's what's broken in Washington.

There was no transparency into the books of Wall Street banks. Banks and brokers took on huge amounts of debt and they hid the riskiest investments. Mismanagement and greed became the operating standard while regulators were asleep at the switch.

The primary regulator of Wall Street, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) kept in place trading rules that let speculators and hedge funds turn our markets into a casino. They allowed naked short selling -- which simply means that you can sell stock without ever owning it. They eliminated last year the uptick rule that has protected investors for 70 years. Speculators pounded the shares of even good companies into the ground.

The Chairman of the SEC serves at the appointment of the President and has betrayed the public's trust. If I were President today, I would fire him.

We cannot wait any longer for more failures in our financial system. Structures like the resolution trust corporation that dealt with the failed savings and loan industry were designed to clean up the system and worked. Today we need a plan that doesn't wait until the system fails. I am calling for the creation of the mortgage and financial institutions trust – the MFI. The priorities of this trust will be to work with the private sector and regulators to identify institutions that are weak and take remedies to strengthen them before they become insolvent. For troubled institutions this will provide an orderly process through which to identify bad loans and eventually sell them.

This will get the treasury and other financial regulatory authorities in a proactive position instead of reacting in a crisis mode to one situation after the other. The MFI will enhance investor and market confidence, benefit sound financial institutions, assist troubled institutions and protect our financial system, while minimizing taxpayer exposure. Tomorrow I will be talking in greater detail about the crisis facing our markets and what I will do as President to fix this crisis and get our economy moving again.

Senator Obama has never made the kind tough reform we need today. His idea of reform is what his party leaders in Congress order him to do. We tried for bipartisan ethics reform and he walked away from it because his bosses didn't want real change. I know how to make the change that Senator Obama and this Congress is afraid of. I've fought both parties to shake up up Washington and I'm going to do it as President.

Those same Congressional leaders who give Senator Obama his marching orders are now saying that this mess isn't their fault and they aren't going to take any action on this crisis until after the election. Senator Obama's own advisers are saying that crisis will benefit him politically. My friends, that is the kind of me-first, country-second politics that are broken in Washington. My opponent sees an economic crisis as a political opportunity instead of a time to lead. Senator Obama isn't change, he's part of the problem with Washington.

When AIG was bailed out, I didn't like it, but I understood it needed to be done to protect hard working Americans with insurance policies and annuities. Senator Obama didn't take a position. On the biggest issue of the day, he didn't know what to think. He may not realize it, but you don't get to vote present as President of the United States.

While Senator Obama and Congressional leaders don't know what to think about the current crisis, we know what their plans are for the economy. Today Senator Obama's running mate said that raising taxes is patriotic. Raising taxes in a tough economy isn't patriotic. It's not a badge of honor. It's just dumb policy. The billions in tax increases that Senator Obama is proposing would kill even more jobs during tough economic times. I'm not going to let that happen.

I have seen tough times before. I know how to shake-up Wall Street and Washington. I will get this economy moving. I will lead us through this crisis by fighting for you, and when I am President we will be stronger than ever before.

Of Peaks & Valleys

McCain and Palin have peaked...? I'd have been more concerned by the actual analysis had it come from somebody whose candidate hadn't lost every Presidential bid he's been involved in.

Joe-Joe the Clown #2

This hasn't made it's way to the GOP.com Gaffe Tracker yet...not sure why; it's an instant hit! From ABC's Political Radar Blog:

ABC News' Matthew Jaffe reports: Sen. Barack Obama's, D-Ill., vice presidential nominee, Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., Wednesday said that Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., might have been a better pick for the position than him.

At a rally in Nashua, N.H., a man in the audience told Biden how glad he was that Obama picked him over Hillary, "not because she's a woman, but because, look at the things she did in the past."

"Make no mistake about this," Biden responded. "Hillary Clinton is as qualified or more qualified than I am to be vice president of the United States of America. Let’s get that straight. She’s a truly close personal friend, she is qualified to be president of the United States of America, she’s easily qualified to be vice president of the United States of America, and quite frankly, it might have been a better pick than me. But she’s first rate, I mean that sincerely, she’s first rate, so let’s get that straight."

Joe--not to be outdone by everybody's favorite out-of-place VP hopeful--let's fly with one for the ages.

A Beautiful Trap

Juan Williams' response this morning to Chris Wallace's question about Sarah Palin's experience on this week's Fox News Sunday underscores the absolute brilliance of Senator McCain's VP choice.

Every time they attack her experience it can't help but blow back straight to Obama's. The exchange: WALLACE: Juan, you know, as you saw, I had a go-round with Rick Davis on the question of when is she going to answer questions. Is that something that we care about? Or at some point, if she doesn't begin to answer questions, does that become an issue for voters?

WILLIAMS: I think it's a big issue right now, because the real issue with Sarah Palin is experience. And I think it's something like more than 50 percent of American voters say, you know, she doesn't have the experience to be vice president of the United States.

That's not a small matter when you have a 72-year-old in John McCain as president if you decide to make him your president. And so would you really trust America -- would you trust American foreign policy at a time when we're at war with terrorists -- would you trust American energy policy to Sarah Palin? And I just think most Americans are very doubtful about that, dubious.

You know, when you asked Brit about whether or not she makes a difference, I think she's made a difference in terms of T.V. ratings. Gosh, the Republican convention actually did better than the Barack Obama spectacular in Denver.

I think she's made a difference in terms of exciting the base, which is exactly what Bill Kristol was so pressing about. But you know what? This wasn't the intent of Rick Davis and the McCain campaign.

They were going after white women voters. And I don't think that they have been successful with that demographic. In fact, the fact that she is so opposed to abortion rights in the country, the fact that she's so for gun ownership, I think has turned off those people who might have been Hillary supporters.

KRISTOL: Well, you may think that, but the Rasmussen poll in which Obama was ahead by six points on Tuesday is now even. The Gallup poll in which Obama was ahead by eight points on Tuesday is now a two-point lead. So the pick of Palin seems to be doing just fine.

And some of those voters are coming over. It's not just the base. Those are not just the base. And in fact, the Rasmussen's poll -- women have moved -- Obama's edge among women has been cut in half, from about 14 points to about seven points.

We'll see what happens. It's early. But here's the key point. Here's the key point. When Palin was announced, the Obama campaign put out a snotty statement, a dismissive statement. "John McCain today has taken a former mayor of a town of 9,000 with no foreign policy experience and made her -- put her a heartbeat from the presidency."

What did David Axelrod, who's not a -- who's a very smart man, say to you today when you asked about Governor Palin? "We're not running against Governor Palin." What does that -- that tells you everything. They're scared to run against Governor Palin.

He would not take her on, and they realize they made a horrible mistake going after her and letting Obama get in a fight with Palin, which, of course, makes them -- who has more experience, the Democratic presidential candidate or the Republican vice presidential candidate?

They can't help but respond to the criticism but they have no clear way to do so without it appearing more accurate about Obama than the sitting Governor of Alaska. They just can't help themselves and that is the true beauty of this.

From a smart mid-western legal mind: it doesn't matter who brings it up...he loses either way...every time mccain hits obama on experience, obama can only hit back at palin, not mccain...and that is the bait...

And it only took a week...

Sarah Palin was announced as Senator McCain's VP pick a week ago. In that short time the Left has launched a thousand rumors...or so it seems.

According to this it's more like 51. Even so, that works out to about 7 a day. Kudos to Charles Martin for taking the time and effort to push back against the nonsense.

Joe-Joe the Clown #1

What is certain to be the first of many posts, we have this from yesterday courtesy of the GOP's Biden Gaffe Tracker:

I changed my Mind...so sue Me!

This blog was founded in May 2005 in the wake of the infamous 'Gang of 14'. I was miffed. Really miffed. In fact, a lot of conservatives were.



As time went on I withdrew my membership in Blogs for McCain's Opponent due in part to our relocating back to California. That took away the time I was able to devote to such an effort and, more importantly, took me away from the nexus of McCain coverage in Phoenix.



When the presidential campaigning started in earnest last year I was a Romney supporter. He was smart, conservative and strong on my two biggest issues--security and economics. Far superior on the latter than any of the other Republican candidates in my opinion.

As the year progressed, I noted with some glee as other conservatives did as well, that the McCain campaign was broken--no money, no message and no traction. And I was glad.

When the Senator revived his candidacy and when voters began to make it clear that he was the choice of the Republican party at large, I wasn't happy. As reality overtook my hopes for the Republican nomination I reconciled myself to the McCain nomination.

Watching the ongoing circus in the DNC it was clear that, despite whatever disagreements I might have with the man and his policy positions, a practical conservative Republican can not and I would not vote for the Democratic nominee. Having said all that I was resigned to pulling the lever, reluctantly, for John McCain.

I, like many others, have changed my outlook on this campaign and this ticket as a result of the VP pick.

I will talk up this ticket, I will work in my community--nay, even organize it--for this ticket and I will blog for this ticket.