You want lipstick? We got lipstick! Plus intelligence, knowledge, experience, and guts (and no aerial wolf shooting). I give you the honorable representative from Ohio, Marcie Kaptur.
(Chapeau tip to commenter Listener.)
UPDATE: McCain wants to postpone Friday’s debate with Obama in order to “help on a Wall Street rescue plan.” Yeah, I’ll bet he does. (Like the candidates can’t have a larger influence from the bully pulpets of the campaign trail?)
Note to Barack: Don’t fall for it. Go to DC to cast your vote, but stay with the debates. This is another Hail Mary.
UPDATE 2: I just called Obama headquarters and was told they are getting a ton of calls encouraing Obama not to allow the debates to be cancelled.
It’s interesting that the least relevant, least credible guy in this discussion is the much-loathed, increasingly ridiculous figure who is sneaking onto our TeeVees tonite.
His advocacy may well sink this thing…
McCain insults the electorate again. He just suspended the debate to work on this financial crisis.
I know. McCain drops in the polls and he pulls this sh*t. I just called Obama headquarters to say, “Don’t fall for it!” They’re getting LOADS of calls.
Jon King and other correspondents report on CNN that phones in Congressional offices are ringing off the hook from angry constitutents demanding that the bill, as it’s presented to the public thus far, not go through. Meanwhile, attempting damage control, I heard an RNC operative say that we must begin referring to the plan as a “rescue plan” and no longer a “bailout plan.”
Besides McSame not wanting to face the music and Obama on Friday, and being one of the Keating Five in the last great deregulated rip off of the US public, he will look like the stumbling, mumbling, doddering, old rich guy that he is, and is afraid of getting his culo kicked up into what little gray matter is left in his melon, all in front of the American public, he just might be unable to perform due to his obvious recurring senility.
After listening to his reply to the reporter’s question, “would he be willing to meet with President Zapatero of Spain”, I really do wonder if McSame has all his marbles left.
Christ Almighty the old dude went off on a tangent about democracy and human rights and Latin American issues.
The reporter nicely gave McSame a clue, “Senator I’m asking you about President Zapatero not President Chavez of Venezuela, Zapatero is the President of Spain which is in Europe”.
But Mcsame went off again about meeting with Latin American leaders.
The Reporter clues him in again that Spain is in Europe but Mcsame resists and continues on about democratic leaders in the Western Hemisphere, and bla bla bla.
It was downright scary and I think poor old McSame might be suffering from the onset of senility and maybe his aides and the Republicans are afraid of him having to answer questions in anything other than a soudbite.
Thanks for the update on that unfortunate interview that the esteemed Senator had some trouble with. You’re a credit to whiners and cheap shot artists everywhere. But you need to give it a rest and boost the attributes of “your man”, take the high road, trust his winning qualities. The trouble with you zealots and pundits in general is they never seem to paint the ground they stand on ,rather they choose to muddle whatever vision the opposition portrays. Do you hear me? You maybe should sell the voters on your man’s stance, instead of throwing shit across the aisle like the rest of the “more advanced” zealots (politicians)..
We’re all worried, fella. Anybody but those who can’t remember how many homes they own is worried, but its just as worrisome to imagine how we’re going to hike ourselves out of this mess no matter who you elect.
Incidently I’m offering strong kudos to the Wizard of Omaha, Warren Buffet
for his big purchase of Goldman-Sachs stock, and a strong display of faith in our system, even if he’s got no freaking choice, because this guy’s whole existance is structured around that very system. Thanks Wiz.
#6 you sound more like a pathetic number 2 stool.
” Do you hear me? You maybe should sell the voters on your man’s stance, instead of throwing shit across the aisle like the rest of the “more advanced†zealots (politicians)..”
You got to be kiddin! Whattaya sayin homie? Stop picking on me and my man? Sheeeit, you NeoCons throwing in the towel? You Repubs claiming sainthood in electoral politics? You Rovian lying shit throwers can’t take the truth? You crying because of your party’s pick of a senile old dude and a clueless Mooselini maven?
Now you whine for sympathy for the Robber Barons?
Well you get no sympathy from me, you can find your “sympathy” in the Dictionary, right between shit and syphilis.
MCAIN DOESN’T WANT PALIN TO DEBATE SO THIS CANCELING WITH OBAMA IS A HOAX
CNN.com..September 24, 2008
McCain camp to propose postponing VP debate… Biden and Palin are set to debate October 2.
(CNN)  McCain supporter Sen. Lindsey Graham tells CNN the McCain campaign is proposing to the Presidential Debate Commission and the Obama camp that if there’s no bailout deal by Friday, the first presidential debate should take the place of the VP debate, currently20scheduled for next Thursday, October 2 in St. Louis.
In this scenario, the vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin would be rescheduled for a date yet to be determined, and take place in Oxford, Mississippi, currently slated to be the site of the first presidential faceoff this Friday.
Graham says the McCain camp is well aware of the position of the Obama campaign and the debate commission that the debate should go on as planned  but both he and another senior McCain adviser insist the Republican nominee will not go to the debate Friday if there’s no deal on the bailout.
I agree with Don and Janet. This is stump to stunt. McCain aids dont want Palin or McCain to have to face the music. Its a big failure. Old Miss is moving forward and Obama didnt fall for it. McCain cancelled Letterman “country first” yada yada BUT got caught being interviewed by Katie Couric. And thats been busted by Keith Obermann of all people! Politico.com has the Republican talking points proving there politicizing of the financial crisis. Grandpa must of had a stroke when he saw the polls, soiled his Depends, and got the aides to bang out another “Country First” stunt.
Unbe-freaking-lievable. (Thanks, Janet.)
It wont work. No way.
Is this for real? Good God, is there no instrument of measurement for the sleaze in this campaign? I would rather they came right out and said, “Our V.P. candidate is not qualified, but we’re schooling her and need a little more time” rather than this manipulative B.S., and on top of a national crisis at that.
Its for real and its another insult to the voters (OUR!) intelligence.
That don quixote’s quite the shitkicker, hey?
This is incredible:
“…some of the most basic details, including the $700 billion figure Treasury would use to buy up bad debt, are fuzzy.
“‘It’s not based on any particular data point,’ a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. ‘We just wanted to choose a really large number.'”
Harry Reid nailed John McCains lie.
“It appears to me John McCain is trying to divert attention to his failing campaign. He can spare an hour and a half of his time and participate in that debate.”
“With all due respect to my friend John McCain we’re doing just fine. This should not have presidential politics doing here.”
A financial crisis will likely send the U.S. dollar into a free fall of as much as 90 percent and gold soaring to $2,000 an ounce, a trends researcher said.
“We are going to see economic times the likes of which no living person has seen,” Trends Research Institute Director Gerald Celente said, forecasting a “Panic of 2008.”
“The bigger they are, the harder they’ll fall,” he said in an interview with New York’s Hudson Valley Business Journal.
Celente — who forecast the subprime mortgage financial crisis and the dollar’s decline a year ago and gold’s current rise in May — told the newspaper the subprime mortgage meltdown was just the first “small, high-risk segment of the market” to collapse.
Derivative dealers, hedge funds, buyout firms and other market players will also unravel, he said.
Massive corporate losses, such as those recently posted by Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) and General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM), will also be fairly common “for some time to come,” he said.
He said he would not “be surprised if giants tumble to their deaths,” Celente said.
The Panic of 2008 will lead to a lower U.S. standard of living, he said.
A result will be a drop in holiday spending a year from now, followed by a permanent end of the “retail holiday frenzy” that has driven the U.S. economy since the 1940s, he said.
The Goldman Sachs/Warren Buffett deal looks good as a headline, but is godawful underneath. Of course, futures popped on the announcement.
The WSJ subhead read “Move by Famed Investor Amid Crisis Seen as Vote of Confidence in Banking System.”
Puh-leeze.
Vote of confidence? Hardly. Doubtful. It is merely an opportunistic deal, and probably a damn good one, for Berkshire Hathaway (BRK). On the other hand, for Goldman Sachs, it is a very expensive deal. If you delve beneath the headlines, you see that Warren is not so much making a vote of confidence as he is extracting pound of flesh (and then some).
Verily, let’s look at the details to figure out just how much GS is paying for this capital:
• Goldman Sachs pays a fat dividend to Berkshire Hathaway of 10% on $5 Billion dollars — that’s $500 million per year. And, since this is a preferred, it gets paid out of net income in after tax dollars dollars.Ouch.
• Goldman gets the right to call the preferred at any time at a 10 percent premium. Ouch again.
• Buffett gets $5 billion worth of warrants with a strike price of $115, or about 43.47 million shares. The warrants are good for only 5 years.
If Buffett were to go to the Street earlier today to buy 44 million calls with a $115 strike price (circa 2010), they would have cost him about $1.5 billion dollars. With GS now trading at $135, Buffett’s $5 billion investment is more like $3.5B, in terms of net cost to him. Hence, the 10% interest is more like 14%.
Doug Kass thinks its an even better deal for Berkshire — goes further than I do, putting an intrinsic value on the warrants of about $2 billion. That makes Buffet’s net cost $3B — so the effective yield is closer to 17%. (Ouch)
A friend points out that Goldie bought back 1.5 million shares in the quarter ending 8/31, at an average price of $180 a share. (Nice trade). I’m thinking the buyback program may be on hold for a while here.
~~~
Bottom line: This is a terribly expensive deal, but probably a necessary one. The smart boys at 85 Broad Street did not want to wait until they were too desperate to get even a mediocre deal. They sure as hell did not want to “pull a Fuld.”
This also looks like a steady stream of income for Berkshire Hathaway. And what do you want to bet me that Warren asked for — and got — a very serious promise from Bernanke & Paulson that Goldman would under no circumstances be allowed to tank like Lehman? This might even be a riskless deal for Buffett.
Vote of Confidence my ass . . .
Beginning in October, the Army plans to station an active unit inside the United States for the first time to serve as an on-call federal response in times of emergency. The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent thirty-five of the last sixty months in Iraq, but now the unit is training for domestic operations. The unit will soon be under the day-to-day control of US Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command. The Army Times reports this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to Northern Command. The paper says the Army unit may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control. The soldiers are learning to use so-called nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals and crowds.
Live Vote
Should Friday’s presidential debate be postponed? * 181469 responses
Yes
36%
No
62%
Not sure
2.7%
A police state?
Well, YCH, if this gets serious enough, the President could call a “constitutional crisis” (the groundwork was laid for that today when McCain temporarily suspended campaign operations) and call off the elections “for the time being” until the crisis is resolved.
Presto!
Monarchy.
Hate to sound paranoid but I think Roger is on to something.
Bush calls in McCain and Obama for a private meeting?
Is the election going to be called off?
Are the Pinkerton goons oops, I mean Blackwater goons and the recently re assigned (from Iraq to the USA) military regiments going to enforce Marshall Law?
What will Obama say to it?
Do we man the barricades when Celeste’s blog disapears and censorship for the “common good” is enforced?
We may be in deep shit! I am distressed over recent events and will the American people just be sheep or will they rebel?
source money.cnn.com
Bailout foes plan day of protests
Grassroots groups and online activists rally against the proposed taxpayer rescue of Wall Street.
Several organizations have contributed to the planning of the protests, including Democracy for America, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (Acorn) and labor unions.
A protest organized by the New York Central Labor Council took place this afternoon on Wall Street near the New York Stock Exchange.
Another protest, which was spontaneously organized online, is also targeting New York’s financial district, where protestors plan to build a “pile of citizen junk” near the famous Wall Street bull statue later Wednesday.
more
http://money.cnn.com/
http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/25/news/economy/bailout_protests/?postversion=2008092514