OK, final. I thought that I could provide some useful links for u to look at (that report, etc.) I have a debate watching party to go to at 7:30 so I will be out then. PM me your ?s if you want to go into more detail. Here is the LONG proof of my email transcript ;)
McCain-Palin Morning Update: 10/15/08
Good morning –
It’s the final debate. For the press, that means an end to emails with the subject line declaring DEBATE FACT #33 (Maybe we’ll get that high tonight). For those in spin alley, this means the last night hanging out with McCain volunteers making great sport of giving you more and more paper. As for today, Governor Palin campaigns all day in New Hampshire and John McCain debates Barack Obama tonight. Now on to the news…
New Hampshire Union Leader Endorses John McCain
New Hampshire Union Leader: “McCain For President: A Real Leader For America”
In this time of great uncertainty, America needs an experienced, decisive leader with clear vision and a steady hand to guide us through. That man is Sen. John McCain. The troubles that will face the next President of the United States are numerous and perilous. They will test the character, the resolve and the mettle of the man we choose to deal with them. Of the two men who stand on the precipice of that great office, only John McCain has proved that he has what it takes to make the tough decisions in a time of crisis. – New Hampshire Union Leader
New York Post: Barack Lets Slip The Truth About His Tax Plan
New York Post: Barack Obama’s tax plan is about “spreading the wealth around”..
An unscripted moment with an Ohio plumber produced a startling confession from Barack Obama Sunday: The Democrat's "middle-class tax cut" is in fact a scheme to "spread the wealth around." Obama dropped the mask long enough to tell the truth to Toledo plumber Joe Wurzelbacher - who had asked the Democratic nominee why he wanted to jack up his taxes just for "fulfilling the American dream." "I'm getting ready to buy a company that makes $250,000 to $280,000 a year," Wurzelbacher had told Obama. "Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn't it?" "It's not that I want to punish your success," Obama replied. "I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they've got a chance for success, too . . . When you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody." At last! The truth outs! – New York Post
You won't find it in his campaign ads, but Barack Obama let slip his plans to become a modern-day Robin Hood in the White House, confiscating money from the rich to give to the poor. Conservatives yesterday ripped Obama after he was caught on video telling an Ohio plumber that he intends to take the profits of small-business owners and "spread the wealth around" to those with lesser incomes. The fracas over Obama's tax plan broke out Sunday outside Toledo when Joe Wurzelbacher approached the candidate. – New York Post
Barack Obama Voted “Present” On Mortgage Reform
Barack Obama failed to take on his own party over subprime lending…
Instead, by his own account, Mr. Obama wrote a letter to the Treasury Secretary, allegedly putting himself on record that subprime loans were dangerous and had to be dealt with. This is revealing; if true, it indicates Sen. Obama knew there was a problem with subprime lending -- but was unwilling to confront his own party by pressing for legislation to control it. As a demonstration of character and leadership capacity, it bears a strong resemblance to something else in Sen. Obama's past: voting present. – The Wall Street Journal
“Biden Routes Campaign Cash To Family, Their Firms”
Democratic vice-presidential candidate Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. has paid more than $2 million in campaign cash to his family members, their businesses and employers over the years, a practice that watchdogs criticize as rife with potential conflicts of interest. The money largely flowed from the coffers of Mr. Biden's failed presidential campaign during the past two years to a company that employs his sister and longtime campaign manager, Valerie Biden Owens, according to campaign disclosure filings. The senator from Delaware also directed campaign legal work to a Washington lobbying and law firm founded by his son R. Hunter Biden, the disclosures show. – The Washington Times
Must Reads:
The Wall Street Journal: McCain Puts New Tax Cuts On The Table
New Hampshire Union Leader: McCain For President: A Real Leader For America
Scranton Times Tribune: Palin Promises Tax-Cut Package
Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader: Palin Resonates With Admirers
Richmond Times-Dispatch: Faithful Rally
New York Post: Obama Tells The Tax Truth
The Wall Street Journal: Obama Voted 'Present' On Mortgage Reform
The Wall Street Journal: Probes Focus On Advocacy Group's Voter Registration
New York Post: Obama Fires A “Robin Hood” Warning Shot
The Washington Times: Biden Routes Campaign Cash To Family, Their Firms
Schedule:
October 15, 2008:
• 11:00 AM ET: Governor Palin Rally (Dover, NH)
• 2:00 PM ET: Governor Palin Rally (Laconia, NH)
• 7:00 PM ET: Governor Palin Rally (Salem, NH)
• 9:00 PM ET: John McCain Participates In The Debate
Must Reads:
McCain Puts New Tax Cuts On The Table
By Laura Meckler
Wall Street Journal
October 15, 2008
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122402857584134527.html?mod=todays_us_page_one#
BLUE BELL, Pa. -- Sen. John McCain expanded his response to the financial crisis by proposing new tax cuts for investors, including a sharp, temporary reduction of the capital-gains tax and breaks aimed at older Americans who may need to cash in assets while the market is down.
The plan, estimated by his campaign to cost the government $52.5 billion of revenue over two years, is the Arizona Republican's most recent effort to confront the economic turmoil that has hurt his presidential campaign. During the past few weeks of market weakness, he has fallen further behind Democratic Sen. Barack Obama in national and battleground-state polls.
The new proposal comes a day after Sen. Obama issued $60 billion of spending and tax-break proposals of his own. Both candidates' plans are in line with their parties' orthodoxy and their own prior initiatives. Sen. McCain is relying largely on traditional Republican tax cuts. Sen. Obama uses a big government stick -- a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures for banks receiving assistance through the federal rescue plan -- and traditional Democratic talk of keeping jobs in the U.S.
Most of Sen. Obama's tax breaks are targeted for a specific purpose, such as an employer tax credit for every domestic hire.
The plans arising in recent days from the campaign trail also show some emerging consensus between the Republican and Democratic contenders. Monday, Sen. Obama proposed eliminating income taxes on unemployment benefits, an idea Sen. McCain embraced Tuesday. And Sen. Obama said Tuesday that he likes an idea Sen. McCain offered last week to suspend tax rules that force seniors to sell off their retirement accounts in the midst of the crisis.
Last week, Sen. McCain called for the federal government to spend $300 billion to refinance distressed mortgages so homeowners wouldn't owe more than their houses are worth amid the recent slide in home values. Tuesday's package was a recognition that he must continue to put new ideas on the table as he tries to make up ground on Sen. Obama over the next three weeks.
"With so much on the line, the moment requires that government act -- and as president I intend to act, quickly and decisively," Sen. McCain told a rally outside Philadelphia.
The most expensive plank of the McCain plan released Tuesday, at $36 billion, would lower the tax rate on money that seniors withdraw from IRAs and 401
retirement plans to the lowest rate -- 10% -- which now only applies to the lowest income tier. Under current law, income from these retirement funds is taxed at standard personal-tax rates.
This would apply to the first $50,000 withdrawn from such accounts in 2009 and 2010. The McCain camp estimated it would help nearly nine million Americans over age 60. "Retirees have suffered enough and need relief, and the surest relief is to let them keep more of their own savings," Sen. McCain said.
But the Obama campaign questioned how making it easier to withdraw money from the market would stabilize the economy. If seniors are allowed to pay reduced taxes on their own withdrawals, "how is that not capital flight, specifically for the wealthiest Americans who can move their money around?" asked Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor.
Sen. McCain also proposed cutting in half the tax on long-term capital gains to 7.5% for 2009 and 2010. That would cost the Treasury $10 billion.
"This vital measure will promote buying, raise asset values, help companies and shore up the pension plans for workers and retirees," Sen. McCain said.
Sen. Obama said he doubted that would offer much help. "I don't know anybody, even the smartest investors, who right now are going to be experiencing a lot of capital gains," he told reporters in Oregon, Ohio. "That probably is not going to be particularly useful in solving the financial crisis."
Sen. McCain also proposed raising the amount of capital losses that can be used to offset ordinary income to $15,000 from $3,000.
One potential problem: a short-term cut in the capital-gains tax could encourage investors to sell stocks if they know the rate will revert to its previous level. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Sen. McCain's senior policy adviser, said this short-term capital-gains cut would expire around the time President George W. Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts expire, giving Congress an opportunity to consider long-term tax policy. Sen. McCain has also proposed making the Bush tax cuts permanent.
###
McCain For President: A Real Leader For America
Editorial
Union Leader (NH)
October 15, 2008
http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=McCain+for+President%3a+A+real+leader+for+America&articleId=fef1a585-b873-4fb1-8896-11cb27546ab0
In this time of great uncertainty, America needs an experienced, decisive leader with clear vision and a steady hand to guide us through. That man is Sen. John McCain.
The troubles that will face the next President of the United States are numerous and perilous. They will test the character, the resolve and the mettle of the man we choose to deal with them. Of the two men who stand on the precipice of that great office, only John McCain has proved that he has what it takes to make the tough decisions in a time of crisis.
Weeks ago, when the credit markets began to freeze and swift action was needed from Washington, Barack Obama took the weekend to think about it. John McCain suspended his campaign and flew back to Washington to work out a solution.
Two years ago, when warning signs were flashing red that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were in serious financial danger, John McCain called for their reform and co-sponsored a bill designed to prevent them from destabilizing the whole economy. Barack Obama did nothing.
Even before President Bush hired Gen. David Petraeus to turn around the war in Iraq, John McCain warned that we needed more troops on the ground. He was an immediate and vocal advocate of Gen. Petraeus' surge strategy, which turned a "lost" war into what increasingly looks like a victory. Barack Obama opposed it and advocated withdrawal.
For the last two decades, whenever Washington went on a spending spree it couldn't afford, John McCain stood in defiant opposition. Even if the spenders were members of his own party, he called them out. In only a few short years, Barack Obama has become a master distributor of pork and an opponent of controlling runaway spending. He even voted against defunding the Bridge to Nowhere and using the money for Hurricane Katrina relief.
Barack Obama's call for "change" has a certain appeal, to be sure. But this is no time to be rolling the dice on an untested leader whose rhetoric doesn't match his record when it comes to delivering actual change. John McCain has a long history of standing up to Washington's permanent political class, regardless of party, and pushing for institutional reforms to end business as usual. He is the right leader to restore trust in our government, confidence to our markets and prosperity to our country. On Nov. 4, do right by your country and vote for John McCain for President.
###
Palin Promises Tax-Cut Package VP Candidate Rallies Crowd On Economic, Social Issues
By Borys Krawczeniuk
Scranton Times-Tribune
Wednesday, October 15, 2008 4:19 AM EDT
http://www.scrantontimes.com/articles/2008/10/15/news/sc_times_trib.20081015.a.pg1.tt15palin_s1.2014636_top2.txt
Visiting Northeast Pennsylvania for the first time, Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin touted the new economic plan running mate John McCain unveiled Tuesday while invoking the name of the late Gov. Robert P. Casey as a champion of children with mental disabilities.
Mrs. Palin also called up the region’s coal-producing past by jabbing at another Scranton native, Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden, for once being critical of clean-coal technology as an alternative energy source.
Mrs. Palin told a raucous crowd at Riverfront Sports that Mr. McCain would turn American anger and frustration over the current economic crisis into reform.
The new economic plan would get the nation “through a time of testing” and put “the economy back on track,” she said.
“Under this plan, we’ll help American families keep their homes and save family neighborhoods and bring stability to our housing market,” Mrs. Palin said.
The plan seeks to reduce to 10 percent the tax on senior-citizen withdrawals from retirement accounts in 2008 and 2009, reduce to 7.5 percent the capital gains tax in 2009 and 2010 and quintuple deductions of capital losses. It is meant to supplement Mr. McCain’s call last week for a $300 billion government purchase of troubled mortgages.
Mrs. Palin’s 29-minute speech was frequently interrupted with applause or chants of “Sarah! Sarah! Sarah!” She was accompanied by her husband, Todd, whom she called Alaska’s “first dude,” and Martin Buser, the four-time champion of the Iditarod, the famed dog sled race.
Singer Lee Greenwood opened the program by singing the national anthem and his well-known “God Bless the U.S.A.”
Behind Mrs. Palin, supporters, many wearing red, held signs stating, “Hunters Cling to Sarah,” “Real People Vote Palin” and “Pro-Life Pro-Family Pro-Palin.”
The visit was the third by the Republican ticket to the region since July and highlighted the campaign’s focus on attracting disenchanted Democrats who had supported New York Sen. Hillary Clinton.
Signs announcing the presence of a Scranton-based group calling itself “Democrats for McCain” dotted the crowd.
For more than a week, statewide polls have showed Mr. McCain trailing Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama by double-digit margins in Pennsylvania. The daily five-day tracking poll by Muhlenberg College had Mr. Obama up 51 percent to 38 percent through Monday, the 12th consecutive day with a double-digit margin.
With slumping poll numbers, Mr. McCain has made a more concerted effort to recapture his footing in the state the past week.
He and Mrs. Palin campaigned together Wednesday in Bethlehem. She hit a Pittsburgh fundraiser Friday and then a Johnstown rally and a Philadelphia Flyers hockey game Saturday. Mr. McCain arrived in Philadelphia on Monday and unveiled his new economic plan Tuesday in Blue Bell, a Philadelphia suburb.
The Scranton crowd Tuesday was larger than the one that greeted Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Biden in the same venue Sunday.
The McCain-Palin campaign estimated Tuesday’s crowd at 5,800 and said it was based on a Secret Service door count, but the crowd appeared to be closer to 4,500 people. The smaller estimate, by The Times-Tribune, was based on the number of rows of risers, a typical row’s occupancy, and a per-person count of the depth and width of the standing audience.
Mrs. Palin never mentioned Mrs. Clinton. But she brought up Gov. Casey while talking about her son, Trig, who has Down syndrome, and promising to bring attention to “children with special needs” as vice president.
“It was the great Pennsylvania governor, Robert Casey, a son of Scranton, who said ...,” Mrs. Palin said, pausing as the mention drew a mix of applause and boos. “He was asked once how society should treat the most vulnerable among us, such as children with special needs. And he said, ‘It’s simple, you put them first in line.’
“See, Gov. Casey understood that these children can inspire a special love and that’s a love that this world needs more of. Our children are not a problem, they’re a priority.”
Mrs. Palin did not specifically mention abortion or Mr. Casey’s crusade against it, but said, “I do believe that the truest measure of any society is how we treat those who are least able to defend and speak for themselves. Who is more vulnerable, who is more innocent than a child?”
Trig taught her “that everyone belongs in the circle of protection,” she said. “And that every child has something to contribute to the world if we give them that chance.”
As she pushed Mr. McCain’s plan to expand all forms of energy, including alternative ones, Mrs. Palin mocked Mr. Biden for trashing clean-coal technology.
“He said, as a matter of fact, that even if there were clean coal, that in an Obama administration, it would be fine if say China used it, but it wouldn’t be used here at home,” she said.
The crowd booed.
“Biden also has called environmentally friendly offshore drilling, he’s called it raping the outer continental shelf,” she said.
The crowd booed again.
Clean-coal technology would produce jobs in Ohio, West Virginia and “right here in Pennsylvania” and a McCain administration would allow for more drilling for oil, she said.
“We will drill here and we’ll drill now,” Mrs. Palin said.
“Drill, baby, drill,” the crowd chanted.
“Drill, baby, drill, and mine, baby, mine, yes,” Mrs. Palin replied.
An Obama campaign spokesman said the Democratic nominee is a long-time proponent of clean-coal technology.
Mrs. Palin also ripped the Democratic ticket for never using the word “victory” in talking about the war in Iraq and noted that her son, Track, is deployed to Iraq.
“Just once, it would be nice to hear Obama say he wants America to win,” Mrs. Palin said. She did not explain what she would consider a “win” in Iraq.
In a telephone conference call before Mrs. Palin’s visit, Gov. Casey’s son, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, called Mr. McCain’s economic proposal “an ideological approach” that continues to ignore the plight of 101 million Americans. He called Mr. McCain’s approach to Americans’ economic struggles “erratic” and predicted they won’t be fooled, he said.
“If you thought of this as a dish being offered to Americans, what John McCain is offering is the same warmed-over dish that George Bush has been serving up for eight years now,” he said.
###
Palin Resonates With Admirers
By Andrew M. Seder
Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader
October 15, 2008
http://www.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=Palin+resonates+with+admirers&expire=&urlID=31696341&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.timesleader.com%2Fnews%2FPolitics%2FPalin_resonates_with_admirers_10-15-2008.html&partnerID=207116
SCRANTON – David Madeira sat on the turf-covered floor of the Riverfront Sports Complex with his 4-year-old son on his lap and tears in his eyes.
The more he listened to Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin speak, the more certain he was that she was ready for Washington.
Madeira, a Lehman Township chiropractor and father of six, has long been a pro-life advocate. When he found out his fifth child, Nicholas, had Down syndrome, he never considered terminating the pregnancy, though he admits he and his wife were “in shock.”
Four years later, Nicholas Reagan, whose middle name is a tribute to former President Ronald Reagan, who died the day Nicholas was born, is seen as a blessing, and Madeira has no regrets about bringing a special-needs child into the world.
Listening and watching Alaska Gov. Palin, whose young son, Trig, also has Down syndrome, resonated on a deeply personal note with Madeira. Palin said she and Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain would “make sure that families” with children of special needs have the support they need.
Speaking while signs waved behind her – including those supporting babies and human life -- Palin said special-needs children “can inspire a special love; a love this world needs more of.”
Madeira agreed and said “as a father of a special-needs child, I’m delighted she’s bringing attention to that.”
Her pro-life beliefs also reverberated with Sam and Pauline Cherra of Scranton. The Catholic couple’s been married for 58 years and both said the Republican presidential ticket of McCain-Palin mirrors their beliefs on abortion and the sacredness of life.
“I feel if (Sen. Barack) Obama and (Sen. Joe) Biden (the Democrat presidential slate) think abortion is so great, why don’t they show a nice political ad showing the public what a partial-birth abortion is?”
Others in the crowd were there to see their first political rally or to snag an autograph.
Karen Skala, of Lake Ariel, brought her husband, parents and three children to Palin’s first visit to Northeast Pennsylvania. She held her 18-month-old daughter, Gianna, who was wearing a pink outfit, proclaiming her to be a “future president.”
The New York native said presidential candidates never made these kinds of stops when she lived there.
Ruth Leiter, of Scranton, walked out of the venue with two posters signed by Palin. She thanked Walter Yanacek, of Damascus Township, on her way out for passing the posters up to Palin.
He too got a pair of autographs, one from Palin and one from her husband, Todd.
Yanacek called off from his construction job Tuesday to be at the rally with friend Cassy Busing, of Jeffersonville, N.Y. The Wayne Memorial Hospital nurse worked the 11 p.m.-to-7 a.m. shift and went to the rally sans sleep.
Busing said she has no regrets.
###
Faithful Rally
Editorial
Richmond Times-Dispatch
October 15, 2008
http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/opinion.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-10-15-0009.html
Sarah Palin's appearance in Richmond Monday drew a huge throng of enthusiastic red-state voters. Jerry Kilgore warmed up an already perspiring crowd by leading the Pledge of Allegiance and offering a prayer for the country -- and for the safety and well-being of the Republican ticket. Not a moment too soon, some wags might respond.
Country-music legend Hank Williams Jr. crooned the national anthem with gusto, if not entirely on key. This was an all-American crowd. The gaping chasm between the audience and those covering the event was illuminated by the British reporter who leaned over to ask, "Who is that?"
"It's Hank Williams Jr." an editorial writer responded. "His son?" the Brit queried. "Well, he can't sing." The gentleman missed the point. Moments later, Williams launched into a revised version of his hit song "Family Tradition." The first line? "The left-wing, liberal media are a real close-knit family." The audience bellowed its approval.
The vice-presidential candidate offered the expected charm and perfectly delivered sound bites. She connected most profoundly with her supporters when she spoke of her baby son Trig, who has Down syndrome, and the need for a "circle of protection" for the most vulnerable children. "There are the world's standards of protection and then there are God's," Palin said. She is a gifted politician with a bright future, despite the bad rap she's getting from much of the media.
Palin delivered her remarks in the pep-rally atmosphere typical of campaign events. And she indeed rallied the faithful. Still, her speech also emphasized what's ailing the McCain-Palin campaign. It lacked focus -- failed to communicate a compelling, consistent philosophy, strengthened by telling specifics, that moves voters to believe deeply that these are the people who must lead our country through its many challenges. McCain and Palin may well be offering the change we need, but they are not delivering that message with sufficient clarity.
Limited government, low taxes, free enterprise, and a strong national defense may be out of fashion for the moment, but they have well-served the nation -- and the GOP -- for generations. Those principles remain at the heart of the McCain-Palin campaign -- and in the hearts of a majority of Americans. The task now is finding a way to tap into that right reason during the next three weeks.
Republicans seem to understand the tough odds they face. A recurring theme during the rally -- from Palin and Kilgore, from Rep. Rob Wittman and Senate candidate Jim Gilmore -- was the full-throated assurance that "this race is not over!" Politicians make the argument only when they are worried it is over.
Virginia, we suspect, remains in play.
###
Obama Tells The Tax Truth
Editorial
New York Post
October 15, 2008
http://www.nypost.com/seven/10152008/postopinion/editorials/obama_tells_the_tax_truth_133633.htm
An unscripted moment with an Ohio plumber produced a startling confession from Barack Obama Sunday: The Democrat's "middle-class tax cut" is in fact a scheme to "spread the wealth around."
Obama dropped the mask long enough to tell the truth to Toledo plumber Joe Wurzelbacher - who had asked the Democratic nominee why he wanted to jack up his taxes just for "fulfilling the American dream."
"I'm getting ready to buy a company that makes $250,000 to $280,000 a year," Wurzelbacher had told Obama. "Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn't it?"
"It's not that I want to punish your success," Obama replied. "I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they've got a chance for success, too . . . When you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."
At last! The truth outs!
Obama's plan isn't about sinking hooks into Wall Street CEOs and other fat cats, as he usually says. Fact is, there's not enough of them to raise the cash necessary to finance his other grand plans.
No, to do that, he'll have to go after ambitious working-class guys like Wurzelbacher - who's been a plumber for 15 years and is looking to better himself and his family while just maybe creating a few jobs.
The American Dream?
Wurzelbacher personifies it - but Barack Obama seems determined to tax it to death and be done with it, period.
That's been the case all along, of course. What's different is that the Democrat finally said so.
Heretofore, Obama has sought to paint himself as a tax-cutter - claiming he'll slash taxes for 95 percent of Americans.
As we noted yesterday, that's a flat-out lie - not least because nearly half of all tax filers pay no income tax at all. So how can he "cut" their taxes if they don't pay any to begin with?
Answer: tax "credits."
To wit, in part:
* A $1,000 "make work pay" credit.
* A $4,000 college-tuition credit.
* A $6,000 child-care credit.
* A $1,100 bump in the earned-income tax credit.
These aren't to be income-tax deductions - which would be worthless to those who pay no income taxes.
These are to be checks from Washington - with the subsidies expected to grow to more than $1 trillion in 10 years.
That's a massive transfer of wealth.
How does Obama justify it?
"Fairness," he says.
But that's an absurdly radical view of what's "fair."
Remember, Obama's tax hikes target folks who already bear the brunt of the burden: The top 20 percent of earners already pay 69 percent of all federal taxes - and 88 percent of income taxes.
(Contrast that with John McCain's call yesterday for real tax cuts - halving the capital-gains levy, scrapping taxes on unemployment benefits altogether - designed to prime the economic pump.)
Monday, Obama promised a tax policy that would restore "a sense of fairness and balance that will give every American a fair shot at the American dream."
But just a day before, he told Joe Wurzelbacher the truth: No American dream for you, buddy!
Nor anybody else, it seems.
###
Obama Voted 'Present' on Mortgage Reform
The only banking 'deregulation' in recent years was that of Fan and Fred.
By Peter J. Wallison
Wall Street Journal
October 15, 2008
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122403045717834693.html?mod=todays_us_opinion#
In each of the first two presidential debates, Barack Obama claimed that "Republican deregulation" is responsible for the financial crisis. Most viewers probably accepted this idea, especially because Republicans generally do favor deregulation.
But one essential fact was missing from the senator's narrative: While there has been significant deregulation in the U.S. economy during the last 30 years, none of it has occurred in the financial sector. Indeed, the only significant legislation with any effect on financial risk-taking was the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act of 1991, adopted during the first Bush administration in the wake of the collapse of the savings and loans (S&Ls). FDICIA, however, substantially tightened commercial bank and S&L regulations, including prompt corrective action when a bank's capital declines below adequate levels and severe personal fines if management violates laws or regulations.
If Sen. Obama had been asked for an example of "Republican deregulation," he would probably have cited the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 (GLBA), which has become a popular target for Democrats searching for something to pin on the GOP. This is puzzling. The bill's key sponsors were indeed Republicans, but the bill was supported by the Clinton administration and signed by President Clinton. The GLBA's "repeal" of a portion of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 is said to have somehow contributed to the current financial meltdown. Nonsense.
Adopted early in the New Deal, the Glass-Steagall Act separated investment and commercial banking. It prohibited commercial banks from underwriting or dealing in securities, and from affiliating with firms that engaged principally in that business. The GLBA repealed only the second of these provisions, allowing banks and securities firms to be affiliated under the same holding company. Thus J.P. Morgan Chase was able to acquire Bear Stearns, and Bank of America could acquire Merrill Lynch. Nevertheless, banks themselves were and still are prohibited from underwriting or dealing in securities.
Allowing banks and securities firms to affiliate under the same holding company has had no effect on the current financial crisis. None of the investment banks that have gotten into trouble -- Bear, Lehman, Merrill, Goldman or Morgan Stanley -- were affiliated with commercial banks. And none of the banks that have major securities affiliates -- Citibank, Bank of America, and J.P. Morgan Chase, to name a few -- are among the banks that have thus far encountered serious financial problems. Indeed, the ability of these banks to diversify into nonbanking activities has been a source of their strength.
Most important, the banks that have succumbed to financial problems -- Wachovia, Washington Mutual and IndyMac, among others -- got into trouble by investing in bad mortgages or mortgage-backed securities, not because of the securities activities of an affiliated securities firm. Federal Reserve regulations significantly restrict transactions between banks and their affiliates.
If Sen. Obama were truly looking for a kind of deregulation that might be responsible for the current financial crisis, he need only look back to 1998, when the Clinton administration ruled that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could satisfy their affordable housing obligations by purchasing subprime mortgages. This ultimately made it possible for Fannie and Freddie to add a trillion dollars in junk loans to their balance sheets. This led to their own collapse, and to the development of a market in these mortgages that is the source of the financial crisis we are wrestling with today.
Finally, on the matter of deregulation and the financial crisis, Sen. Obama should consider his own complicity in the failure of Congress to adopt legislation that might have prevented the subprime meltdown.
In the summer of 2005, a bill emerged from the Senate Banking Committee that considerably tightened regulations on Fannie and Freddie, including controls over their capital and their ability to hold portfolios of mortgages or mortgage-backed securities. All the Republicans voted for the bill in committee; all the Democrats voted against it. To get the bill to a vote in the Senate, a few Democratic votes were necessary to limit debate. This was a time for the leadership Sen. Obama says he can offer, but neither he nor any other Democrat stepped forward.
Instead, by his own account, Mr. Obama wrote a letter to the Treasury Secretary, allegedly putting himself on record that subprime loans were dangerous and had to be dealt with. This is revealing; if true, it indicates Sen. Obama knew there was a problem with subprime lending -- but was unwilling to confront his own party by pressing for legislation to control it. As a demonstration of character and leadership capacity, it bears a strong resemblance to something else in Sen. Obama's past: voting present.
###
Probes Focus On Advocacy Group's Voter Registration
By Evan Perez
Wall Street Journal
October 15, 2008
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122401500978433565.html#
WASHINGTON -- Thousands of suspicious voter registrations collected by the housing-advocacy group known as Acorn have become a rallying point for Republicans, who claim left-leaning activists may be trying to rig votes in the 2008 elections.
Many of the potentially faulty registrations were flagged to election officials as a result of the group's own internal controls.
Democrats say the Republicans are attempting to whip up fear as a way of discouraging some newly registered voters from going to the polls. If past elections are an indication, such claims also may serve as a way to set up potential legal challenges should close election results produce disputed counts and recounts.
Faulty registrations in recent months include those in the names of Mickey Mouse in Florida, Batman in New Mexico and Dallas Cowboys football players in Nevada. State and federal authorities have opened investigations in about a dozen states; as many as 16,000 registrations in Pennsylvania are under suspicion. The Michigan attorney general's office Tuesday said it arrested and filed felony charges against a former Acorn canvasser for allegedly forging six voter applications.
In an email to supporters Monday that solicited contributions, Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin said: "We can't allow leftist groups like Acorn to steal this election. That's why McCain-Palin Victory 2008 has set out to ensure a fair election."
Officials at Acorn, a housing-advocacy group whose formal name is Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, acknowledge some apparently fraudulent registrations among the 1.3 million new voters enrolled by its 13,000 canvassers. But they say they work hard to root out fraud and flag problems to election officials.
"The number of bad registrations, erroneous registrations, workers cheating their employer by registering people twice -- that does happen," Steve Kest, Acorn's executive director, said Tuesday. "But the incidence of voters registering and then voting under false names is minimal."
Last year, Acorn canvassers in Washington state and Missouri admitted to falsifying voter registrations. In response, Acorn switched its canvassers to an hourly wage with goals for number of registrations by each canvasser. Previously it paid workers by the number of registration forms turned in.
The group also started its own antifraud program, requiring all voter applications be reviewed by supervisors and then verified by call-center employees who make as many as three attempts to reach each voter signed up by a canvasser. Acorn's internal program flags potentially fraudulent registrations. Then, as many but not all states require, it turns them over to election officials.
Election officials do their own quality control on registrations, but Acorn officials say they are helping the officials save time.
"Based on past experience, about 3% of the forms we turn in will be incomplete or problematic," said Ali Cochran, a regional quality-control manager for Acorn.
Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the Democrats' presidential candidate, said Tuesday that fears of such fraud affecting election results are misplaced. Typical cases of voter fraud in general have involved canvassers who "just went into a phone book or made up names and submitted false registrations to get paid," he told reporters during a campaign stop in Ohio. Those cases wouldn't result in anyone actually voting illegally.
Sen. Obama also played down his links to Acorn, saying that as an elected official, he has had infrequent interaction with the group's employees, adding that "they are not advising our campaign." Sen. Obama represented the group as a lawyer years ago, alongside the Justice Department, in a lawsuit over a law that requires states to enable voters to register when they apply for driver's licenses.
The group also says its registration effort is nonpartisan, although it focuses its canvassing on areas likely to produce Democratic votes.
Republican officials insist that Acorn's ties to Sen. Obama go beyond his work for the group years ago.
The link between the Obama campaign and Acorn is an indirect one. Federal records show the Obama campaign made an $800,000 payment to an organization called Citizens Services Inc., a voter registration and canvassing group that has worked with Acorn in the past.
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said in a conference call with reporters that the payment to Citizens Services was for canvassing help during the primary season, not voter registration. "Citizens Services Inc. did no registration" for the campaign, Mr. Plouffe said, adding that Republicans "are trying to create a diversion'' by suggesting otherwise.
Meanwhile, Acorn pointed out what it said were its past links to the McCain campaign. The group circulated photos of Sen. McCain appearing as a keynote speaker at a Miami rally in 2006 in favor of immigration reform organized by Acorn and several other organizations.
Acorn endorsed Sen. Obama during the primaries.
###
Obama Fires A “Robin Hood” Warning Shot
By Charles Hurt
New York Post
October 15, 2008
http://www.nypost.com/seven/10152008/news/politics/obama_fires_a_robin_hood_warning_shot_133685.htm
WASHINGTON - You won't find it in his campaign ads, but Barack Obama let slip his plans to become a modern-day Robin Hood in the White House, confiscating money from the rich to give to the poor.
Conservatives yesterday ripped Obama after he was caught on video telling an Ohio plumber that he intends to take the profits of small-business owners and "spread the wealth around" to those with lesser incomes.
The fracas over Obama's tax plan broke out Sunday outside Toledo when Joe Wurzelbacher approached the candidate.
Wurzelbacher said he planned to become the owner of a small plumbing business that will take in more than the $250,000 amount at which Obama plans to begin raising tax rates.
"Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn't it?" the blue-collar worker asked.
After Obama responded that it would, Wurzelbacher continued: "I've worked hard . . . I work 10 to 12 hours a day and I'm buying this company and I'm going to continue working that way. I'm getting taxed more and more while fulfilling the American Dream."
"It's not that I want to punish your success," Obama told him. "I want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they've got a chance for success, too.
Then, Obama explained his trickle-up theory of economics.
"My attitude is that if the economy's good for folks from the bottom up, it's gonna be good for everybody. I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."
Critics said Obama let the cat out of the bag.
"It's clear that his main goal is redistribution of wealth, not growth," said Andy Roth with the anti-tax group Club for Growth. "He's perfectly happy to destroy wealth as long as he can redistribute it."
Obama has been meticulous, Roth said, to conceal the "socialistic" nature of his tax plans. "But every once in a while, he lets it slip," he said.
Republican candidate John McCain yesterday charged that Obama's comment was telling.
"This explains how Senator Obama can promise an income-tax cut for millions who aren't even paying income taxes right now," he said in Pennsylvania.
"My plan isn't intended to force small businesses to cut jobs to pay higher taxes so we can 'spread the wealth around.' My plan is intended to create jobs and increase the wealth of all Americans."
Meanwhile, a New York Times/CBS poll last night showed Obama moving into a commanding 53-39 percent lead.
###
Biden Routes Campaign Cash To Family, Their Firms
By Jim McElhatton
Washington Times
October 15, 2008
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/15/biden-routes-campaign-cash-to-family-their-firms/
Democratic vice-presidential candidate Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. has paid more than $2 million in campaign cash to his family members, their businesses and employers over the years, a practice that watchdogs criticize as rife with potential conflicts of interest.
Getty Images FAMILY: Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s son, Hunter Biden, was at a campaign stop with his father in December. The candidate's sister, Valerie Biden Owens, is his longtime campaign manager.
The money largely flowed from the coffers of Mr. Biden's failed presidential campaign during the past two years to a company that employs his sister and longtime campaign manager, Valerie Biden Owens, according to campaign disclosure filings.
The senator from Delaware also directed campaign legal work to a Washington lobbying and law firm founded by his son R. Hunter Biden, the disclosures show.
Putting family members and their companies on the political payroll is legal if the work is legitimate and charged at market rates, according to the Federal Election Commission. Still, public watchdog groups have long criticized such arrangements.
"Even though legal within restraints, it's not something I view as completely ethical," said Craig Holman, legislative director for Public Citizen, a campaign finance watchdog organization. "Any candidate ought to shy away from that."
Aides to Mr. Biden said all of the payments he has made to family members or their employers were aboveboard.
"While no Biden family members are being paid by the Obama-Biden campaign, one of Joe Biden´s greatest political strengths and secret weapon has always been his sister Valerie, starting with her role managing his David-versus-Goliath upset Senate victory in 1972," said Biden spokesman David Wade.
"Valerie is a well-known and highly regarded political operative in Democratic politics in Delaware and nationally, and her firm has worked on top races from Michigan to Texas. End of story," Mr. Wade said.
Mr. Biden is hardly alone among members of Congress whose campaigns hold close ties to family. FEC records also show that Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain's political action committee, Straight Talk America, paid more than $15,000 in 2006 to his wife, Cindy.
McCain campaign spokesman Brian Rogers said the payment reimbursed Mrs. McCain for catering expenses she had covered in connection with an election night party.
The majority of Biden campaign money tied to family - $1.8 million - was for media consulting bills to Joe Slade White & Co., where Mrs. Owens is a top executive. The firm did not return telephone and e-mail messages.
Such payments usually include a large portion of "pass through" money, where the consulting company gets campaign cash then uses it to produce and buy political ads. Still, the consulting company usually keeps a portion of the money, Mr. Holman said.
"It's a lot of money either way," he said.
Other Biden campaign expenditures over the years included more than $50,000 in salary payments to Mr. Biden's sister. And the Washington lobbying and law firm of Oldaker, Biden & Belair, which Hunter Biden co-founded, has received more than $150,000 combined from Mr. Biden's presidential campaign fund and his political action committee, Unite Our States.
Dubbed "the rainmaker" by the nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity, William Oldaker is a registered lobbyist and a former FEC general counsel who has worked on numerous other political campaigns.
Obama aides say Hunter Biden never profited from any fees that the campaign paid to the firm.
"Bill Oldaker was Senator Biden´s counsel for his Senate races, not Hunter Biden. Hunter Biden didn´t make a dime from the firm's representation of Senator Biden because the firm´s partners share expenses but don´t share revenue unless they work on the representation," Mr. Wade said.
Mary F. Calvert/The Washington Times Democratic vice-presidential nominee Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. was accompanied by his sister Valerie Biden Owens, wife, Jill, and granddaughter Finnegan Biden at a rally for women in Sterling, Va., on Sept. 19. Mrs. Owens' employer received money from Mr. Biden's campaign.
"In the case of Bill Oldaker´s election law practice, none of the revenue is shared with Hunter Biden. Bill represented Senator Biden´s Senate campaigns since before Hunter was old enough to vote."
The District-based Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington earlier this year issued a report that found 16 senators, including Mr. Biden and Mr. McCain, had paid one or more family members fees or salaries. The group's report, made public in February, analyzed campaign filings covering the 2002, 2004 and 2006 election cycles. It named 87 senators from all 50 states: 42 Democrats, 43 Republicans and two independents.
The CREW report listed Mr. Biden among the top five senators by salaries and fees paid to family members, saying he paid his sister and niece more than $50,000. It also listed Mr. Biden among the top five senators by payments to a family business or employer, with more than $40,000 paid to his son's firm.
The watchdog group also found that other Biden campaign cash paid reimbursement expenses for his sister, his wife, two of his sons, his brother and the senator.
The CREW report did not include payments from Mr. Biden's presidential campaign. But a review by The Washington Times of FEC campaign records as well and data compiled CQ MoneyLine and the Center for Responsive Politics - groups that track the flow of money in politics - found more than $1.8 million to Joe Slade White & Co. and more than $100,000 to Oldaker, Biden & Belair.
CREW also noted that at least 33 federal lobbyists, including, at the time, Hunter Biden, were registered with the federal government. Hunter Biden recently dropped his lobbying clients amid scrutiny about whether his work undermined Sen. Barack Obama's anti-lobbyist rhetoric on the campaign trail. Mr. Obama refuses money from federal lobbyists, saying they're a corrosive force in Washington.
Elected officials can hire family members for their campaigns at fair market value rates, but they are not allowed to convert campaign donations to "personal use" or hire family for their official congressional offices. Some observers say having family members on the campaign payroll blurs the lines of what's permissible.
"Technically, it's legal, but frankly, it doesn't pass the smell test," said Bruce Buchanan, a professor of government and presidential politics at the University of Texas at Austin. "That's why all the public interest groups flag it and report it. It feeds the public perception that politicians are ethically challenged."
Existing User Log In
New User Registration
Register for a free account to gain full access to the VGChartz Network and join our thriving community.
