Good Morning Christy,

in my under caffeinated state it has dawned on me the Obama Campaign is doing the Keating roll out the same way they did the VP rollout – haven’t been to any of the major media sites yet today, wonder how many are taking the bait

Mud wrestling.

Not a prez race.

hey Christy. Morning. Thanks for this. I take it tjis might be our talking point for the day? Great stuff. (o/t .. saw a thing at DKos at the spending round up the other day that Barack/Joe are starting to spend a bit in WVA. Not that it’s gonna go our way, but good news that they’re showing signs of life)

You think McCain is going to be sorry for going so neagative? I don’t think he can be. he has no other choice.

bom dia pups

It will be an interesting day indeed.

how about a soundbite-sized summary of this scandal for the masses? What are some highlights that will stick among the undecideds?

I vaguely remember it, but I was an undergrad and other things were on my mind…

what’s so good is that it’s not just smearing teh guy like they do and say it’s about some nebulous “judgment” issue. The Keating thimng fits right into the current financial mess.

Oh, Christy, you just love that photograph.
McCain is Three Cones To The Wind.

weren’t you pne of the pups who wondered why Keating 5 wasn’t being mentioned? apologies if not so

What’s interesting is their insistence now that more deregulation is what’s needed! Anyone watch Morning Joe? Some fools were on there reiterating that this was caused by the government mandating loans to people who couldn’t pay. I wish they’d defend against this more.

not judging, just asking

This isn’t the only thing going on today — but with McCain sending Palin out on smear point over the weekend, I think it’s fair to say that a response was pretty predictable at this stage. Especially given that attacks are all McCain has had for a coupla weeks now — albeit mainly at the media. (See Mike Murphy on that point.)

Got this in an Obama campaign e-mail this morning — thought folks might find it useful:

Today marks the last day to register to vote in several states including Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Americans across the country can register to vote, check their registration status, request an absentee ballot and locate their polling place at VoteforChange.com.

I wasn’t paying a lot of attention to the details back then either. What I do remember was that it happened the same year my dad was in his mid 50’s, was a middle management lay off from a company that was bought out AND they had all their retirement funds at Lincoln Savings. That was a bad year for dad.
And now, I totally understand why he got so depressed.

demi – every time I see that photo, I think of the Rethugs using that photo of Obama dressed in African costume when he made that visit – where they make the claim that he’s Muslim because of it. I’d love to see the Obama campaign use that photo and this photo of McCain with the headline: “If you think Obama’s dressing in African costume makes him a Muslim..do you think that McCain’s dressing like this makes him a clown?”

Not sure how much I argued for that. Even so, doesn’t make it a prez race. I put the blame on McCain, and think Obama has no choice but to respond. And he’s got a great case. If someone drags you into the mud, you gotta do what you gotta do. Just calling it what it is.

OT – Palin the maverick is flapping her gums on cnn/msnbc bless her heart you betcha.

The NYT has been on McCain’s sh*tlist. Expect his temper to really flare now.

http://www.nytimes.com/interac…..chart.html

He’s bound to see this not as a way to address any issues about Obama but as a clever way to reveal his own stature (or lack thereof *g*).

Thanks Christy, can’t wait: the doom at noon for McCain

doggone it! I missed it

LA TIMES front page
Mishaps Mar McCain’s Navy Pilot Record

gonna be a rough week for McCain

Good one Toby.

see my # 10

The McCain Keating video is 13 minutes long I wonder when and where it will air.
I can’t see MSM giving 13 minutes of precious air time for this video

Awww, Christy, That’s like a personal “Good Morning” when you re-post “our” photo. What a guy. He runs a campaign just about the way he flies an airplane; plus, he sure doesn’t know how to pick a co-pilot. Probably, because he thinks he doesn’t need one.
Have a great day. Run that photo whenever the mood strikes you, please.

Great post, Christy. Yes, Palin opened the floodgates this weekend with her ridiculous Ayers-terrorist charge. Let’s hope we have a solid four weeks of Keating 5 and Troopergate. I just don’t see how McCain wins if it goes all negative all the time. There’s so much more material to use against McCain and Palin, with the bonus that it’s true!

Should we start a betting pool on which day will be the first when the national polls go to a double digit lead for Obama?

I agree, but aside from the desire to have a cleaner campaign, some reluctance may have been due to the fact that the other four senators were all Democrats, including Ohio hero John Glenn. Most pro-Obama references todate just refer to “other senators.” McCain people are likely to make a point of the “bi-partisan” nature of the scandal.

It’s also a pattern of behavior for McCain in terms of his deregulation philosophies and his tendency through the years to hew very close to what his lobbying pals want from him. It isn’t just Keating — although Keating was probably the most prominent error in judgment from McCain through the years. And it’s something to worry about when you consider that public humilation during the hearings on the Keating 5 — and how little McCain either learned or changed beyond his public PR strategy. Everything else, in terms of policy recommendations and his smarmy crony relationships with folks like Charlie Black, Rick Davis and their ilk? Exactly the same.

And that’s how the Obama campaign site on this looks at it. What were his policies then — and why hasn’t he changed his tune or learned anything from those errors. Which is a question I’ve been asking for months on end, too.

Which is a valid point to make in terms of evaluating behavior in a presidential candidate. I linked this above, but it’s an article from Mother Jones from 1999 about McCain’s cozy relationship with some lobbyists who influenced his policy choices while he was chair of the Commerce Committee on telecom policy. Plus ca change, I suppose…

Troopergate will take too long to play out! I would like to see Keating and the Palin’s relationship with a group who advocates “the violent overthrow of the gov’mint!”

subtle (for them) racist line. they mean minorities. and it’s bullshit. yeah, them dems need to get on top of that.

o/t yesterday you listed a terrific website that listed a variety of “alterntive” bailout plans. I went to it and found I didn’t have a good copy of adobe. Would you mind re-listing the website — I think it was berkeley school of economics. Thanks.

It won’t matter as none of them are running for Pres or even in the senate anymore, McCain is the one running and the scandal focuses in on ‘judgement’ not ‘guilt by association’ which is whatthey are trying to do in tying O to Ayers.

i also don’t like negative campaign but I haven’t checked out the whole video so I’m not in a position to judge it as mudslinging or negative or factual or all the above

“the violent overthrow of the gov’mint!”

Isn’t that the definition of a traitor?

what’s gonna go ion in the next copuple weeks will probably be heavy duty sleeze. i don’t think trooppergate will be that big a deal. Itw qas only an issue, in my view, as long as she was stonewalling. we’ll see. but they need to get on that housing/fannie/freddie stuff the McSame people are peddling.

Yes, others were Ds. I’ll be curious to see how Obama’s “documentary” handles that.

Also will be interesting to watch whether McCain can keep his temper under control (well, relatively under control if you excuse glaring and nervous laughter) now that he’s reaping what he sowed.

OK, to tie McCain to Bushes just remember to talk to people about Silverado Savings & Loan. Scoundrels the lot of them and if Neil Bush’s daddy wasn’t who he was then he probably would have had more trouble than a $50,000 fine.

McCain’s just an itty bitty man. Literally and figuratively.

Oy, that was several days ago and I didn’t save it. I’ll hunt around & see what I can do.

Thanks Wobbs. This quote from the article could describe McCain’s current campaign strategy too though..
The 23-year-old junior lieutenant wasn’t paying attention and erred in using “a power setting too low to maintain level flight in a turn,” investigators concluded.
and, also, tell us about Nevada. How’d it go?

Troopergate will take too long to play out!

Don’t bet on that. All seven of the subpoena ignorers besides Todd have flipped and will now testify. The report is still on schedule for release on Friday. Should be an exciting day.

The Alaska Supreme Court is also expected to rule against the McShame campaign’s last ditch attempt to shut down the investigation pretty soon.

One thing is sure, this is going to be an ugly next 4 weeks. we will all need to strengthen our stomachs and our resolve

It seems that Rethug hypocracy is the only methodology that is in their tool bag. In 04 the swift boat attack on a war hero to the advantage of draft dodging cocaine using jerk is well known. Now we have a supporter of a cessionist anti-american group calling Obama a terrorist supporter – how ludicrous and how rethug.
McShame joined a criminal gang prior to ever being elected to the house. His convicted felon FIL, who had fronted for mobsters, introduced him to the seamy side and McShame has never left it

Couldn’t find it on first look. I emailed the person who I think sent it to me, and if she can resurrect it, I’ll repost it & look for you on the threads to make sure you see it.

Nevada was really great. We went to the campaign headquarters and had a short orientation about what we were doing and how to talk to folks (just be yourself). they sent us out with partners or groups of three and an area to cover. I was in a working class area (think casino workers). Lots of folks were really excited to talk about the campaign but were also worried about the economy — I didn’t come across any scary muslim worries

It may be an aside…but if so many of his associates/partners can be located, why can we not hear more from Ms Vickie. She seemed to have an inside track and would likely be full of information….how does one just disappear?

Oh my. That is going to seriously tick him off — he’s supposedly super-sensitive about his height, to the point of having a Napoleonic reaction. Hooo boy…

McSame/Failin yard signs are springing up like weeks here in Indiana after being virtually non-existent through the primaries and early part of the general election.

We finally got our hands on an Obama/Biden yard sign, and we’re getting our barn painted with a gigantic Obama sign this coming weekend.

Things are definitely heating up. But if Indiana’s a dead heat right now, that has to be a good sign. No other state has polls closing earlier than Indiana, and if you hear that Obama won Indiana on election night you can go ahead and turn the TV off and start celebrating.

Then the next day get back to work to force Obama to work toward progressive/liberal policies.

It won’t matter as none of them are running for Pres or even in the senate anymore, McCain is the one running and the scandal focuses in on ‘judgement’ not ‘guilt by association’ which is whatthey are trying to do in tying O to Ayers.

Here’s what I don’t get; ultimately no conviction for Ayres. He is not a felon! He, in fact, is deemed clean enough to work for charities and to teach youth in a university!

Good to hear. Thanks for all of your hard work.

Generically on topic, but a little removed.

Where do the Rs find all these perky, pretty, highly articulate speed speaking women? There’s Dana Peroxide, Sarah Palin, and that woman who was on Rachel’s show on Friday, to name 3. Is there a training camp for them? How many have been thru? Can we see pics of them doing the obstacle course?

Didn’t expect the corporate media to bring anything up on McCain/Keating. Glad that it’s finally getting some coverage. Will it come up in the debates? Time to saddle Palin/McCain with the free market ideologues that brought the American people the savings and loan debacle and the current financial meltdown. Let the average American see how these ideologues are a threat to their well being.

We found some people who weren’t registered and told them how to register with the county clerk (by mail has already passed) and people were really excited. I hope that next time, I get an area that is more of a challenge *g*. I like to talk to people and talk about their concerns are all of our concerns. It is a great way to connect to people

Why don’t one or both of you go to History! I find stuff that way!

Going to bed early would be nice on election night but don’t forget the Republican’s vote flipping efforts. They did it in Ohio in 2004 and will certainly be at it again this year.

Guilt by association but this doesn’t jibe because all that happened when Barack was 8 years old. The Rev Wright or Rezco thing (which is silly) was at least Barack as an adult

The spin doctors will be out in force over the trooper gate thing. Trying to get a brother in law fired is one thing but when spending an extra $300K of public funds with a crony in an attempt to bribe a cohort who ultimately flipped could go virile.

Having spent a lot of my professional time dealing with the criminal justice system, I can say this without hesitation: simply because there is no conviction does not necessarily mean innocence. Sometimes it means you have someone smart enough to cover their tracks well enough that it makes them tough to prosecute. Don’t know enough about this particular case one way or the other to say, but absence of conviction doesn’t mean innocence, it just means not convicted. There can be a world of difference…truly. (See Simpson, O.J. *g*)

I suspect a Republican eugenics program during the Reagan Administration.

Can we see pics of them doing the obstacle course?

I’m not sure, but I think this is the first level of screening.

napoleon…explains McCain to a tee

I don’t know what you mean by history.

I tried a couple of beginning urls, cause that brings up previously accessed sites, but nothing seemed to work.

More hints would be appreciated.

mornin’

have been thinking for a while my first diary would be

7 Degrees of Paul Weyrich

– ’cause that’s where they all come from (incl Alice Fisher and Barbara Comstock) – sometimes indirectly, but they all reek of his musty basement lab in Stepford

i’m glad to see that the keating 5 scandal is going to be addressed. the worry i have is that the lessons of deregulation have yet to be learned by either party – it’s being used more as a campaign tool than something to seriously think about.

chris hedges has a great piece up this morning on last week’s bail out:

Obama’s betrayal is the betrayal of the Democratic Party. The Democrats gave us the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, which ripped down the firewalls that were put in place by the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act. The 1933 act, designed to prevent the kind of meltdown we are now experiencing, established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC). It set in place banking reforms to stop speculators from hijacking the financial system. With Glass-Steagall demolished, and the passage of NAFTA, the Democrats, led by Bill Clinton, tumbled gleefully into bed with corporations and Wall Street speculators. They achieved fundraising parity with the Republicans. They used institutions like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as a welfare gravy train. The Democrats, including Obama, are as compromised as the Republicans.

Obama’s voting record in the Senate is in line with the corrupt Democratic mainstream, including Biden, who works on behalf of corporations and especially the credit card industry. Obama knows where power lies in the United States. It is not with the citizens, who with ratios of 100 to 1 pleaded with their representatives in Washington not to loot the national treasury to bail out Wall Street investment firms. Power lies with the corporations.

Napoldeon

Palin still telling the Ayres lie in Florida.

I agree with the comment upthread that to make the point about Keating, it needs to be in national ad form – putting it (only) on a website is preaching to the choir.

That might have been a start. I was thinking of a Stepford Wives kind of program, only one where they learned to talk really really fast.

This is how they are trained.

http://gopac.org/about/

707! Surely that skill is required.

Thaks for the link to the article, Will read it later on today

LOL. funny as hell. in a gallows/black humor sort of way.

ouch

oooh, am glad to see the ‘Trailer’ for Keatpalooza makes the simple but oh so significant point

that after claiming to have learned so much from the scandal, McCrazy didn’t do a damn thing to mute, soften, or in any way prevent the next Big Financial Crisis – he just continued down the ol “let’s deregulate ‘em all! road

Cadaverick

Up at the top of your page, isn’t there a “file Edit View History Delicious Bookmarks etc.?

New post…

Thanks for that. Will go back later & see what their speaker training includes. Wonder if there’s a list of “graduates.”

I have served on a lot of boards and committees on the local, state and national levels. I have never sought a dossier on the people that I served with. When you are asked, if you can fit it in you do. The only time I have ever been asked to submit to a background check was when I was serving as a board member and leader for the boy scouts to verify that I was not some sort of deviant.

some fat hick hack “writer” on MSNBC talking about the new book he wrote on Palin.

Took him all of two weeks to write it.

BWAAHAHAHA….

If folks would give this post a Digg, I would very much appreciate it. Thanks!

Ooooooh…research-palooza!

Reddit it too!

Thanks, muchly!

OT: Dow flirting with 10,000 (down 300). Great bailout, huh?

1,787 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…

Citizen Christy Hardin Smith and the Firepup Freedom Fighters:

It’s about damned time!! I’m afraid though that by holdin’ to a slightly more elevated ethical standard than the fascists, Obama my have lost the very real opportunity to put this election away and kill the monster of laize faire Reaganomics once and for all. By puttin the chains and muzzels on the 527’s, Obama lost the opportunity to have the background education on the Keating scandal accomplished early in the campaign. Now that the shit storm that everyone knew was comin’ has hit the airwaves, Obama is a step behind and looks reactive and frantic in tryin ta resuscitate the real history of the mad senator from Arizona.

Obama’s considerable skills in communication and mass psychology are gunna be needed to keep the fascists from creatin another Kristolnacht out of his campaign.

KEEP THE FAITH AND PASS THE AMMUNITION ONLY ENOUGH VOTES KEN KILL THESE LIES!!!

Portugese or Brazil?

And its 10 pages…

swell.

I hate to see it devolve to this, but so be it. When open their their mouths to scream “Reverend Wright!”, Obama needs to shove the Witch Hunter down their metaphoric throats.

Brasil

I didn’t realize until I read the Tim Dickinson, Rolling Stone piece that McCain’s first job in Washington was as a lobbyist for the Navy. Really no other name for it….he was a liason advocating for funds for the Navy. It was the same job his father had when he was a small boy growing up there. It’s a lot more understandable why he just loves the entire lobbying system. He understands it, and from his childhood days also, the cocktail party circuit in Washington. Lobbying and cocktail parties are how the work gets done.

It’s just a little hypocritical and disingenuous of McCain to now say that he isn’t influenced by any of it. He is it.

Must have left out the good stuff…

Citizen Victoria:

The “witch doctor” will play big but the real stake that I’m amazed that Obama hasn’t driven through the heart of the McCrazy campaign is the Alaska Independence Party and the Palins and Exxon Mobil. The real “terrorists” and traitors have been legitimized by oilagrachy money in Alaska. If Crazy John thinks that the South Carolina Confederate flag issue was a killer for ‘im wait until folks find out about the real secessionists that are very close ta takin power in Palin’s Alaska…this is the issue that goes to the heart of the corporate fascist political structure now poised ta break up the US of A.

I said in 2004 and I say it again now, this election is the final battle in our 148 year old civil war.

OBAMA, LET LOOSE THE DOGS OF POLITICAL WAR AND THE 527′S!!!

John McCain skated through the Keating 5 scandal the same way he’s skated through life….on his name, luck, or someone else’s money. He lost 3 planes while in the Navy. The first was when he was a pretty young pilot. If any other pilot had lost one at that stage of his career, he would have had a desk job. One was on his way to visit a girlfriend, another is unexplained and the records are sealed. He’s always had someone protecting his name because his father and grandfather were so high up.

He vacationed with and on Charles Keating for years. His wife and her father were in business with Keating, and McCain and other Democratic senators tried to get him out of a being punished for some highly illegal practices. McCain’s a master of influence peddling and got lots of campaign funds from Charles Keating. Charles, at the time, was busy looting Lincoln Savings and Loan. W’s brother, Neill, was also up to his neck in some other S&L failure. That’s why all these people got a lot of this swept under the rug at the time. Too many important people’s friends and relatives were involved in the pilfering.

When you read it all in black and white, you realize that just because John uses that nice reasonable voice when he gives speeches doesn’t mean he’s not a pretty awful person. And dense to boot.

What do you bet Brokaw does NOT bring up Todd’s membership in the AIP Tuesday night? Or Sarah’s welcome address to their delegates?

Selise @ 61

The Financial Service Modernization Act of 1999 was introduced by Phil Gramm REPUBLICAN. One of his closes friends and advocates of the bill was a guy named John McCain. They got rid of a lot of the regulations that kept separate the financial lives of many of the institutions of the country such as insurance companies, banks, brokerages. Phil Gramm is one of John’s big economic advisors. So I’m puzzled how this all got to be a Democratic problem, except that the Republicans have never been wrong.

The problem with the Republican (nearly Libertarian) ideology with regard to markets is that taken to it’s extreme the deregulation policy can only lead to the total destruction of the corporation and markets. We saw that in 1929 and we may be seeing it again now (despite the fact the real economy isn’t in such horrible shape).

The opposite, over-regulation and government domination & control of markets, isn’t especially better.

“Moderation in all things” is one mantra from the past which Americans understand. I usually refer to “balance” of forces (which might be seen as Taoist) or “let government do what government is meant to do and let business do what business is meant to do” (which is more of a Confucian idea). We need to let people be free except to the extent (again the extreme) where they begin to harm one another. That’s more of an American Constitutional view.

There are differences of opinion when the markets seem to be failing. Many Liberals think we have to control outcomes to prevent a major collapse which would harm the entire nation (and these days the world). More often Conservatives (economic Liberals) think we should leave people alone to do what they want and it will all work out for the best in the longer run.

Right now the stock market is down about 400+ points and European markets are tanking (about 5% per). Should government intervene in any way? Well, here government HAS offered to help firms though there is some question whether the Executive branch is doing (or will do) it’s duty to execute that law or whether firms will utilize the “bailout”. This is not good as it moves us further down the road towards the abyss without any obvious change in sight. We cross our fingers and hope Treasury Secretary Paulson convinces them to take the bailout.

Why would financial firms NOT want the bailout?

It’s possible there are some very weak firms and a bailout would act to create transparency they can’t afford. So, they might just hold on and hope they can survive. It isn’t likely that a weak firm would survive in tumultuous waters when they’re barely hanging on in the calm. If this is what’s happening we’re likely to see a pretty severe crash.

It’s also possible the Market is marking-down firm values before the firms utilize the bailout to effect it on their books. This scenario offers us the potential of a real bottom and some stability. How far things might have to drop would depend upon how weak the Market thinks these firms are. What is their TRUE value?

This isn’t a problem overcome by more regulation. The problems we got into were caused by that. Thanks Republicans! Just what America and the world needed while we’re fighting wars and anticipating others.

It’s time for a big change. America MUST elect Obama-Biden.