J's Cafe Nette

Archive for the ‘John McCain’ Category

Short on time, but did not want to let this pass.

Well, “my friends,” it’s all about how you interpret the Constitution…sheesh, is it any wonder the GOP lost in 2008?

Head over to Hot Air and view the first video of this two parter and read commentary by Allahpundit.

Tweet This Post

After letting his staff trash his running mate right after he lost the election, and not defending her publicly or telling his staff to be quiet, here’s what John S. McCain had to say to Larry King about Gov. Palin:

McCain has been so busy looking out Obama’s mouth (think about that) that he has shown himself to be the reason many of us had serious doubts about him.

How can you tell when a politician lies? Take a look at the video and you’ll see the real deal. Emotionless platitudes to the woman who gave him a chance in the election.

Tweet This Post

Politics is a high stakes game.

At the federal level the chess matches are monumentally important as the lives of millions are at stake.

John McCain chose to play the game. He was soundly taken to game, set, match, in short order.

Exactly whose fault his loss was depends on what day of the week it is..at least according to his camp (it escapes me why they would still be discussing it):

Just when you thought Senator John McCain and his crew had finally left the scene after getting pounded last November, at least one prominent McCain operative has crawled out of his bunker long enough to blame McCain’s loss on Rush Limbaugh and conservatism.

That’s right. On January 15, 2009, McCain campaign manager Rick Davis appeared on BBC’s “Hardtalk” and credited McCain’s loss to “the Rush Limbaughs of the world who…literally almost feed the nativist attitude toward immigration reform” and the exclusivity of conservative principles.

So the McCainiacs are still trying to blame the 2008 disaster on everyone except themselves and their candidate. If you’ll remember, in the initial days and weeks after the election they were spinning the idea that it was Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin’s fault that McCain lost. Members of the McCain campaign dumped on her and McCain was nowhere to be seen. “Big Mac” proved to be but a “small fry” as he failed to come to her defense even once.

Senator McCain fails to realize that he never excited the Republican base.

Many moderate conservatives had no interest in him as a candidate. Perhaps this was based on prior actions of bucking his party in his own interest or simply because they did not trust him to introduce legislation which would adhere to conservative principles.

Given the choice of the two candidates many made a conscious choice to go for the known entity feeling left with little other option. I do not believe those who were not totally committed to either candidate did so wholeheartedly.

Senator McCain and his minions need to leave the stage at least as far as this past election is concerned.

It remains to be seen whether he decides to work in the best interest of the country or chooses the path he has so often, the one of self serving political ambition.

HT:hillbilly politics

Tweet This Post

HT: Ace

Tweet This Post

Ordinarily I might not consider posting this video but these are not ordinary times. We are on the cusp of one of the most important presidential elections in decades.

After listening to this presentation, it is clear not much else need be said in relation to the candidates or their positions.

(There is one section which some might find not suitable for children)

Tweet This Post

“We resent it when liberals like Obama question our way of life.” So says Hanks Williams Jr. in this McCain/Palin radio campaign ad:

Tweet This Post

Folks, if you don’t have the heebie jeebies yet about Obama I don’t know what it’s going to take.

I am a partisan Republican but I have never in my life been so afraid of a man becoming president as I am of Barack Obama. This is the truth as straight as I can give it.

We are hearing now of the change he is going to bring. He said it to Joe the Plumber and everyone laughed at that. Now we know and have heard, thanks to the post Sue made below this one, that Obama has harbored these thoughts for at least seven years and most likely most of his life.

It’s not too late if you haven’t already voted to change your mind and vote for the only choice that makes sense to keep the great United States of America the country we grew up in and have loved all our lives.

You earned your money and you should decide if you want to give it to someone and who that someone will be if you do.

I beg you to consider this and your country as we get ready to go to the polls in one week and one day.

Tweet This Post

This This was taken from an email I received. (Click the arrow to listen)

Are you as dumbstruck as I was?

Tweet This Post

Before you vote or just because:

Marine Corps Sgt. Jack Eubanks told Byron York, “I Just Gave John McCain My Purple Heart.” He, like we, want the sacrifice to mean something.

[emphasis mine]

Read the whole thing.

Tweet This Post

Leave John McCain the candidate aside for a moment and listen to John McCain the man:

The Senator is obviously comfortable with himself and his life away from this campaign. You can just sense that he will be at peace no matter what happens on November 4th.

HT: Hot Air

Tweet This Post

At nearly every presidential election the Catholic Diocese in New York invites the presidential candidates to a dinner for charity. At this dinner the candidates joke at themselves and their opponents.

Watch first McCain who appeared first:

McCain Part 1

McCain Part 2

Obama Part 1

Obama Part 2

Objectively speaking, of course, McCain was hilarious while Obama plainly isn’t comfortable enough in his own skin to make it work for him. Comedian is not Obama’s calling. But the whole thing was fun anyway.

Tweet This Post

Now this is the Senator McCain we have been waiting to see…more, more, more just like this sir:

“The response from Senator Obama and his campaign yesterday was to attack Joe. People are digging through his personal life and he has TV crews camped out in front of his house. He didn’t ask for Senator Obama to come to his house. He wasn’t recruited or prompted by our campaign. He just asked a question. And Americans ought to be able to ask Senator Obama tough questions without being smeared and targeted with political attacks.”

Tweet This Post

Tweet This Post

John McCain’s own words on the derogatory remarks directed at Senator Obama by some in the crowd at his campaign stops:

“I want everyone to be respectful. And let’s make sure we are, because that’s the way politics is done in America.”

Tells one supporter who says he’s scared of an Obama presidency: “I have to tell you, he is a decent person, a person that you do not have to be scared [of] as president of the United States.”

After a woman calls Obama “an Arab terrorist” McCain interrupts to say: “No, ma’am. He is a decent family man with whom I happen to have some disagreements.”

I don’t know his reasons if he allowed this behavior over the course of a few days but he has made the correction now. Frankly, I really don’t care anymore.

It has been difficult to throw full support behind someone who in my heart I find it difficult to defend. Will he receive my vote..yes, as I have said before, but that is because in my pea brain there are still just too many unanswered questions in regard to Senator Obama.

Further, if taking a stand in this election is going to come between family members and friends..then bag it. I’m just as happy going back to my art, music, military affairs and those in my life who mean the world to me and reviving the philosophy by which I have tried to live my life..simply, live and let live.

Guess you could say the fire has gone out of my belly where this election is concerned. People will believe (just as I do) what they choose and not much is out there which will change anyone’s mind.

We are unfortunately a country very divided, and it has never been more evident than right now. Let’s hope after November 4th we find our way back together.

Tweet This Post

Well sir, whoever you are, you are right!

Republicans have waited and waited and waited for Senator McCain to fight for the presidency, America, and for those of us who have chosen (many begrudgingly) to support him.

Tweet This Post

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain promised on Wednesday to balance the federal budget at the end of his term, not specifying a first or second term.

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Republican presidential candidate John McCain promised Wednesday to balance the federal budget despite the nation’s deepening economic distress.

McCain said he would “confront” the massive federal debt and would balance the annual federal budget by the end of his term in office, without specifying whether he meant in four years or perhaps eight years should he be elected twice.

McCain has long promised to balance the budget but this was the first time he renewed the pledge since the enactment of a $700 billion bailout this month of troubled financial institutions which could complicate such an effort. Many presidential candidates have promised to balance the budget but the last to do so was Democrat Bill Clinton, who had four budget surpluses beginning in 1998. That was the first surplus since 1969 and the first string of surpluses since one that ended in 1930.

In delivering this pledge, McCain committed a verbal bobble, which quickly made its way onto YouTube.

“Across this country, this is the agenda I have set before my fellow prisoners and the same standards of clarity and candor must now be applied to my opponent,” said McCain, who often speaks about his time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. His prepared remarks said “fellow citizens,” not “fellow prisoners.”

Speaking to a rowdy crowd of supporters in this eastern Pennsylvania town, McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, both challenged Democrat Barack Obama’s campaign claims. Dismissing Obama as just “a guy who’s just tried to talk his way into the White House,” vice presidential candidate Palin said the Democrats’ ideas are stale and dangerous.

“He’s not willing to drill for energy, but he’s sure willing to drill for votes,” Palin said, eliciting cheers of “Drill, baby, drill” from the crowd, which often interrupted the candidates during their joint appearance.

McCain’s remarks about Obama were interrupted with shouts of “socialist,” “terrorist” and “liar.” At another time, a man in the bleaches shouted “No more ACORN,” referring to a group that registers poor voters.

“We’ve all heard what he’s said. But it’s less clear what he’s done, or what he will do,” McCain said.

The crowd replied with chants, “Nobama.”

Similarly, Palin said there were too many questions about Obama’s past: “John McCain didn’t just come out of nowhere. The American people know John McCain.”

That’s a pretty big promise to make; sort of like George H.W. Bush’s “Read my lips; no new taxes.” Let’s hope if Sen. McCain gets elected he can work with Congress in a bipartisan way to balance the budget.

It might take the use of a veto pen a lot, but if we can balance our personal budgets surely Congress and the next president can balance the federal budget as long as no one cares who gets the credit.

With McCain saying in both debates he will freeze spending on everything other than military and veteran’s programs and getting rid of useless agencies it seems he means to at least try to balance the budget.

He has also said he would use $300 billion already in the bailout bill to purchase mortgages that are higher than the value of the house and re-do them into a 30 year fixed-rate mortgage at a lower rate and principal.

So, here we have two huge promises he has made to help the economy. Let’s hope if he is elected he will be able to keep those promises.

Tweet This Post

From the McCain campaign:

Tweet This Post

Some may say this is negative, but when a candidate is talking about another candidate’s record it is not negative unless it has deliberate lies. I’ll let you decide.

Tweet This Post

Below is the format for the Town Hall debate this evening between John McCain and Barack Obama:

–The questions will be culled from a group of 100 to 150 uncommitted likely voters in the audience and another one-third to come via the Internet. Brokaw selects which questions to ask from written queries submitted prior to the debate.

–The Gallup Organization makes sure the questioners reflect the demographic makeup of the nation.

–An audience member isn’t allowed to switch questions and will not be allowed a follow-up either. His or her microphone will be turned off after the question is read and a camera shot will only be shown of the person asking — not reacting.

–The moderator may not ask followups or make comments.

–McCain and Obama will be provided with director’s chairs, but they’re also allowed to stand. They can’t roam past their “designated area” marked on the stage and are not supposed to ask each other direct questions.

Tweet This Post

Tomorrow evening at the Town Hall debate between the presidential candidates if John McCain continues with this theme and tone, well, let’s just say it would be encouraging:

U.S. Senator John McCain today delivered the following remarks as prepared for delivery at the McCain-Palin 2008 rally in Albuquerque, New Mexico:

In less than a month, the American people will make a choice on where they want this country to go, and who they trust to lead us in a time of war and economic crisis. The time for debating and electioneering is drawing to a close. Soon it will be the time for choosing.

Skipping further into the speech he takes his toughest tone yet in regard to his opponent:

We have all heard what he has said, but it is less clear what he has done or what he will do. What Senator Obama says today and what he has done in the past are often two different things. He has often changed his positions in this campaign, and the best way to determine where he would really take this country is to examine where he has tried to take it in the past.

My opponent has invited serious questioning by announcing a few weeks ago that he would quote – “take off the gloves.” Since then, whenever I have questioned his policies or his record, he has called me a liar.

Rather than answer his critics, Senator Obama will try to distract you from noticing that he never answers the serious and legitimate questions he has been asked. But let me reply in the plainest terms I know. I don’t need lessons about telling the truth to American people. And were I ever to need any improvement in that regard, I probably wouldn’t seek advice from a Chicago politician.

My opponent’s touchiness every time he is questioned about his record should make us only more concerned. For a guy who’s already authored two memoirs, he’s not exactly an open book. It’s as if somehow the usual rules don’t apply, and where other candidates have to explain themselves and their records, Senator Obama seems to think he is above all that. Whatever the question, whatever the issue, there’s always a back story with Senator Obama. All people want to know is: What has this man ever actually accomplished in government? What does he plan for America? In short: Who is the real Barack Obama? But ask such questions and all you get in response is another barrage of angry insults.

Thanks to David in the comment section for the heads up on the Senator’s visit to New Mexico today.

Read the balance at the link, especially if you are pulling for the McCain/Palin ticket. This is by far one of the best speeches the Senator has delivered to date.

Tweet This Post

Hopefully the McCain campaign has received or read a copy of this letter written by Ed Lasky:

I am asking you to follow the wisdom of your own words – fight for the Presidency; fight so we do not have a President who has no record of significant accomplishment, who may very well harbor feelings that are antithetical to your own and to the vast majority of Americans. Fight to protect us from a man who has risen on the strength of skill at reading a teleprompter and an adoring media that has failed in its responsibility to scrutinize the candidates in order to elect their own favorite, Barack Obama. Fight to protect us from a President who seemingly has no problem denying the rights of people to exercise their First Amendment rights, our Second Amendment rights; who basically favors the outsourcing of our foreign policy to the United Nations, who wants to give our wealth to overseas nations-with the United Nations administering this vast transfer of wealth; who wants to compel our children to join a national service corps. We need you to fight for our nation and for its future, Senator.

Both of us here at ~J’s~ have written the campaign and asked if they would provide embed codes for the videos available at McCain’s website but our requests have gone unanswered.

Opportunities to expose his opponent in vulnerable areas have remained untouched.

People have stood willing and ready to help but the candidate nor his campaign staff himself has responded. In Pennsylvania, a huge battleground state this cycle, it was last Tuesday before folks could even secure a yard sign or campaign literature in many districts.

Take a minute to read the balance of the linked post. It speaks volumes.

Tweet This Post

Not a lot of time this morning to expand on this piece but it is worth a read especially for those who support the McCain/Palin ticket:

The electoral default mode in the current circumstances is a McCain defeat. McCain must wrench the game from its present course: to a clear articulation of the Dem’s knee-deep complicity in Fannie May /Freddie Mac, perhaps a populist promise to chase the Wall Street bonus money, socked away in the mansions, bank accounts and expensive diversions of those who gave us this debacle, and a reminder that no sane American would want the President to be of the Party that made the mess, will have unchallenged dominance in the Congress, and, last but not least, will have absolute control over more money than any government in history.

This is simply too much power to confer on one man and one Party. Especially this party, with its history of pofligacy and strong strain of utopian lunacy.

Then, on to National security, the safety of America and our allies, Ayers, Wright and perhaps judicially-imposed homosexual marriage.

The last month has to be jacket off, fighting mad, Harry Truman and a communicated passionate desire to save our country.

If this doesn’t do it, McCain will have fought the good fight. If McCain doesn’t attempt this, and continues in his careful, polite mode, we will forever wonder whether the soldier who survived five years of torture could have brought it off, had the lion in winter possessed the eagerness for battle and the feistiness of his younger self.

All I will add is that up until about a week ago felt as thought the McCain/Palin ticket was still in serious contention. Over the course of this past week though that feeling has dissipated. That old saying of “Nice guys finish last” may well be what we see in November.

Tweet This Post

While Senator Obama is claiming it was he alone and John McCain had nothing to do with the bailout deal, the Washington Post, no friend of McCain’s, haswritten a piece that gives the inside look of what happened on Thursday in Washington.

When Sen. John McCain made his way to the Capitol office of House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) just past noon on Thursday, he intended to “just touch gloves” with House Republican leaders, according to one congressional aide, and get ready for the afternoon bailout summit at the White House.

Instead, Rep. Paul D. Ryan (Wis.), the ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee, was waiting to give him an earful. The $700 billion Wall Street rescue, as laid out by Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., was never going to fly with House Republicans, Ryan said. The plan had to be fundamentally reworked, relying instead on a new program of mortgage insurance paid not by the taxpayers but by the banking industry.

McCain listened, then, with Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), he burst into the Senate Republican policy luncheon. Over a Tex-Mex buffet, Sens. Robert F. Bennett (Utah) and Judd Gregg (N.H.) had been explaining the contours of a deal just reached. House Republicans were not buying it. Then McCain spoke.

“I appreciate what you’ve done here, but I’m not going to sign on to a deal just to sign the deal,” McCain told the gathering, according to Graham and confirmed by multiple Senate GOP aides. “Just like Iraq, I’m not afraid to go it alone if I need to.”

For a moment, as Graham described it, “you could hear a pin drop. It was just unbelievable.” Then pandemonium. By the time the meeting broke up, the agreement touted just hours before — one that Sen. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), the No. 3 GOP leader, estimated would be supported by more than 40 Senate Republicans — was in shambles.

An incendiary mix of presidential politics, delicate dealmaking and market instability played out Thursday in a tableau of high drama, with $700 billion and the U.S. economy possibly in the balance. McCain’s presence was only one of the complicating factors. Sen. Barack Obama played his part, with a hectoring performance behind closed doors at the White House. And a brewing House Republican leadership fight helped scramble allegiances in the GOP.

It is unclear whether the day’s events will prove to be historically significant or a mere political sideshow. If the administration and lawmakers forge an agreement largely along the lines of the deal they had reached before McCain’s arrival Thursday, the tumult will have been a momentary speed bump. If the deal collapses, the recriminations spawned that day will be fierce.

But if a final deal incorporates House Republican principles while leaning most heavily on the accord between the administration, House Democrats and Senate Republicans, all sides will be able to claim some credit — even if the legislation is not popular with voters.

“If there is a deal with the House involved, it’s because of John McCain,” Graham, one of the Arizonan’s closest friends in the Senate, said yesterday.

In truth, McCain’s dramatic announcement Wednesday that he would suspend his campaign and come to Washington for the bailout talks had wide repercussions.

Democrats, eager to reach a deal before McCain could claim credit, hunkered down and made real progress ahead of his arrival. Conservative Republicans in the House reacted as well, according to aides who were part of the talks.

[Emphasis mine]

There were specific things the House Republicans did not want in the package and since Pelosi and Reid didn’t want to take full blame for the bill, even though they had enough votes to pass it and excluded the House republicans “by mistake” it appears the House Republicans got things cleaned up a bit and with the backing of Sen. McCain.

It looks like Boehner and Company had more sense than the Republican senators or the Democratic representatives and that’s why they were not invited to the negotiating table.

In walks McCain, he makes a statement that even if he has to stand alone he will, and out comes a better proposal. No one is happy about it, but one candidate shouldn’t be taking all the credit for it. Look at the table in the link Sue provided here and see how much worse it would have been without the House Republicans sticking to their guns.

Tweet This Post

While I appreciate the fact we are in a national turmoil regarding our economy, the fact is we still have a presidential race on our hands with the first presidential debate scheduled for Friday night.

John McCain has decided to suspend his campaign and return to Washington to try to work out a deal with other members of Congress on the economic crisis.

While I admire his putting country first I have to ask myself if it’s a political stunt. (I don’t think so as this type of thing is what has earned him the “maverick” label.) But I can see how others can see it that way.

He invited Sen. Obama to join him and Sen. Obama has declined, saying a president must deal with many things at one time. I agree, and that seems to be what McCain is doing if he attends the debate.

I have called the McCain campaign and begged them to go on with the debate. I see no reason Sen. McCain cannot attend the Senate to try to work out a deal and still be in Mississippi on Friday night for the debate.

Otherwise, he is giving the entire debate to Sen. Obama to say whatever he wishes to say with no opposition to his statements.

I can’t believe John McCain is not prepared for this debate so I have to believe he believes this is the best thing to do. But it’s only the best thing to do if both sides agree.

Right now his website is still showing the debate is scheduled.

Update from the AP

President Bush invited John McCain, Barack Obama and congressional leaders to the White House on Thursday to discuss his administration’s proposed bailout of the financial industry and press them to back the plan.

The invitation was extended Wednesday evening, and Bush called Obama personally to ask him to the Thursday afternoon meeting, which Obama accepted, his campaign said.

The latest development served as a prelude to President Bush’s TV address to the country at 9 p.m. EDT Wednesday, in which he was expected to rally support for his plan.

It also caps a day in which McCain said he was suspending his presidential campaign to focus on working in Washington on the bailout plan, while Obama called that decision unnecessary and rejected calls to postpone the two candidates’ debate Friday night.

The proposed $700 billion bailout plan, in its original form, has faced strong opposition on Capitol Hill this week. By Wednesday, Congress seemed open to a less costly plan as Democrats won a key concession from the White House, which agreed to limit the pay packages of Wall Street executives whose companies would benefit from the proposed bailout.

Update 2: Via the AP:

Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama issued a joint statement Wednesday night in which they said the American people are facing a moment of economic crisis.

Moments before President Bush’s scheduled address to the nation, the Republican and Democratic candidates said now is the time for both political parties to come together in the spirit of cooperation for the sake of the American people.

They said the $700 billion plan the administration has proposed to bail out the financial industry is flawed, but that the effort to protect the U.S. economy must not fail.

Bush has invited both candidates to a meeting at the White House on Thursday with congressional leaders to discuss solutions to the economic crisis

.

Tweet This Post

The following is the response of the John McCain campaign to this NY Times hit piece on campaign manager Rick Davis:

Today the New York Times launched its latest attack on this campaign in its capacity as an Obama advocacy organization. Let us be clear about what this story alleges: The New York Times charges that McCain-Palin 2008 campaign manager Rick Davis was paid by Freddie Mac until last month, contrary to previous reporting, as well as statements by this campaign and by Mr. Davis himself.

In fact, the allegation is demonstrably false. As has been previously reported, Mr. Davis separated from his consulting firm, Davis Manafort, in 2006. As has been previously reported, Mr. Davis has seen no income from Davis Manafort since 2006. Zero. Mr. Davis has received no salary or compensation since 2006. Mr. Davis has received no profit or partner distributions from that firm on any basis — weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual — since 2006. Again, zero. Neither has Mr. Davis received any equity in the firm based on profits derived since his financial separation from Davis Manafort in 2006.

Further, and missing from the Times’ reporting, Mr. Davis has never — never — been a lobbyist for either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Mr. Davis has not served as a registered lobbyist since 2005.

Though these facts are a matter of public record, the New York Times, in what can only be explained as a willful disregard of the truth, failed to research this story or present any semblance of a fairminded treatment of the facts closely at hand. The paper did manage to report one interesting but irrelevant fact: Mr. Davis did participate in a roundtable discussion on the political scene with…Paul Begala.

Again, let us be clear: The New York Times — in the absence of any supporting evidence — has insinuated some kind of impropriety on the part of Senator McCain and Rick Davis. But entirely missing from the story is any significant mention of Senator McCain’s long advocacy for, and co-sponsorship of legislation to enact, stricter oversight and regulation of both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — dating back to 2006. Please see the attached floor statement on this issue by Senator McCain from 2006.

To the central point our campaign has made in the last 48 hours: The New York Times has never published a single investigative piece, factually correct or otherwise, examining the relationship between Obama campaign chief strategist David Axelrod, his consulting and lobbying clients, and Senator Obama. Likewise, the New York Times never published an investigative report, factually correct or otherwise, examining the relationship between Former Fannie Mae CEO Jim Johnson and Senator Obama, who appointed Johnson head of his VP search committee, until the writing was on the wall and Johnson was under fire following reports from actual news organizations that he had received preferential loans from predatory mortgage lender Countrywide.

Therefore this “report” from the New York Times must be evaluated in the context of its intent and purpose. It is a partisan attack falsely labeled as objective news. And its most serious allegations are based entirely on the claims of anonymous sources, a familiar yet regretful tactic for the paper.

We all understand that partisan attacks are part of the political process in this country. The debate that stems from these grand and sometimes unruly conversations is what makes this country so exceptional. Indeed, our nation has a long and proud tradition of news organizations that are ideological and partisan in nature, the Huffington Post and the New York Times being two such publications. We celebrate their contribution to the political fabric of America. But while the Huffington Post is utterly transparent, the New York Times obscures its true intentions — to undermine the candidacy of John McCain and boost the candidacy of Barack Obama — under the cloak of objective journalism.

The New York Times is trying to fill an ideological niche. It is a business decision, and one made under economic duress, as the New York Times is a failing business. But the paper’s reporting on Senator McCain, his campaign, and his staff should be clearly understood by the American people for what it is: a partisan assault aimed at promoting that paper’s preferred candidate, Barack Obama.

Statement by Senator John McCain, May 25, 2006:

Mr. President, this week Fannie Mae’s regulator reported that the company’s quarterly reports of profit growth over the past few years were “illusions deliberately and systematically created” by the company’s senior management, which resulted in a $10.6 billion accounting scandal.

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight’s report goes on to say that Fannie Mae employees deliberately and intentionally manipulated financial reports to hit earnings targets in order to trigger bonuses for senior executives. In the case of Franklin Raines, Fannie Mae’s former chief executive officer, OFHEO’s report shows that over half of Mr. Raines’ compensation for the 6 years through 2003 was directly tied to meeting earnings targets. The report of financial misconduct at Fannie Mae echoes the deeply troubling $5 billion profit restatement at Freddie Mac.

The OFHEO report also states that Fannie Mae used its political power to lobby Congress in an effort to interfere with the regulator’s examination of the company’s accounting problems. This report comes some weeks after Freddie Mac paid a record $3.8 million fine in a settlement with the Federal Election Commission and restated lobbying disclosure reports from 2004 to 2005. These are entities that have demonstrated over and over again that they are deeply in need of reform.

For years I have been concerned about the regulatory structure that governs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac–known as Government-sponsored entities or GSEs–and the sheer magnitude of these companies and the role they play in the housing market. OFHEO’s report this week does nothing to ease these concerns. In fact, the report does quite the contrary. OFHEO’s report solidifies my view that the GSEs need to be reformed without delay.

I join as a cosponsor of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, S. 190, to underscore my support for quick passage of GSE regulatory reform legislation. If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole.

I urge my colleagues to support swift action on this GSE reform legislation.

Tweet This Post

At a rally today in Scranton, Pa. a supporter tells John McCain of her pleasure in his selection of Governor Palin as his running mate.

Better yet, she takes on the press situated in the room:

Boy do I wish they would have had an answer to that one!

HT:Gateway Pundit

Update: Video of Senator McCain and Sarah Palin in Media, Pennsylvania today.
I had to forfeit my tickets to this event due to other obligations but after seeing this I really regret not being able to be there.

I have not seen the figures of those in attendance as of yet but I do know the original 15,000 tickets were gone yesterday by 4pm. It is my understanding that there were many who were issued another form of admittance.

I’m sure this is an event those living in Media will not soon forget.

Tweet This Post

Note: Reines and the Obama campaign claim he is not a part of the Obama campaign.

Don’t forget Obama’s running mate Joe Biden is on the influential banking committee (chairman) and until he was picked as the VP running mate his son was a lobbyist for the banking industry. Cozy.

Consider this when you vote.

Tweet This Post

This week the Obama campaign has taken a new tack in the presidential sweepstakes. He has taken to calling Sen. John McCain “dishonorable” in speeches and advertisements.

We might be able to call John McCain a lot of things, but “dishonorable” is not one of them.

While in the Hanoi Hilton for five and a half years his body was broken in so many places it’s a wonder he is able to even move now. By his own admission they finally broke him mentally when he signed a letter saying he was an air pirate. He gave up no useful information to the Viet Cong. None, zero, nada, but was ashamed because he finally “broke” under so much physical abuse.

When asked the names of his squadron members he gave the names of the offensive line of the Green Bay Packers.

When he came home, at the right time (even though he was given a chance at an early out because his father was an admiral in charge of the fleet in Viet Nam he declined because the Code of Conduct says first in, first out) he went to work to rehabilitate his knee, which had been crushed and was extended. He endured excruciating pain to get to where he could walk. He still endures excruciating pain today and is unable to move his arms above his shoulders due to the pain. He can barely comb his own hair. This will only get worse with time as the arthritis gets worse, but do we hear him complaining?

Every time someone says something about Obama he comes out whining they are lying. There must be a lot of liars in this world, according to him.

The fact of the matter is Obama has never been tested and a time of war and economic uncertainty is not the time for the new kid on the block who has a steep learning curve and has to pray he has the right advisors.

I’ve seen John McCain in action during this campaign and I cannot say he has done anything dishonorable. He may selectively quote Obama in his ads, just as Obama does, or even worse, Obama makes it up out of whole cloth, but McCain has remained civil.

People complain McCain has a notoriously bad temper. Well, it wasn’t McCain who told his supporters to get in the faces of those who oppose him. Getting in my face is a sure way to make me stand my ground. I don’t take to intimidation lightly and I will deliberately side in with the underdog if I am being intimidated to stay away from him or her. This has been my history all my life.

It didn’t make me the most popular person in school or at work, but I knew when I went to bed at night I could sleep well because I didn’t join in with those who were acting like pack animals and picking on someone who was “different”.

You see, I had family members who stood up for the underdog and didn’t care if it hurt their reputations in the community. How many times I remember my Aunt Polly or Aunt Pauline or grandmother standing up for the unpopular because they knew it was right.

This is honor and John McCain has more honor in his fingernail clippings than Barack Obama has in his entire body and campaign staff.

Call McCain anything, just don’t call him dishonorable.

Tweet This Post

Read what the Boston Globe had to say about McCain’s non-ability to do certain things, among them use a keyboard:

McCain gets emotional at the mention of military families needing food stamps or veterans lacking health care. The outrage comes from inside: McCain’s severe war injuries prevent him from combing his hair, typing on a keyboard, or tying his shoes. Friends marvel at McCain’s encyclopedic knowledge of sports. He’s an avid fan – Ted Williams is his hero – but he can’t raise his arm above his shoulder to throw a baseball.

After Vietnam, McCain had Ann Lawrence, a physical therapist, help him regain flexibility in his leg, which had been frozen in an extended position by a shattered knee. It was the only way he could hope to resume his career as a Navy flier, but Lawrence said the treatment, taken twice a week for six months, was excruciatingly painful.

”He endured it, he wouldn’t settle for less,” said Lawrence, who rejoiced with McCain when he passed the Navy physical. ”I have never seen such toughness and resolve.”

He still manages to communicate.

Tweet This Post

Tweet This Post