The ink isn't even dry!

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-30-2007
The ink isn't even dry!
42
Mon, 09-29-2008 - 12:26pm
Just saw a new McCain ad.  It is blaming Obama for this new bill  and implying that he and Harry Reid are to blame for the new bill that Bush wanted passed.  It's all their fault that taxes will go up.  I just wondered how long it would be till McCain pulled this.  He is so............blaah!
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-26-2008
Tue, 09-30-2008 - 8:25pm

>>> The committee had 2 republicans and two democrats on it, Obama was NOT one of them! LOL, the blame doesn't lie anywhere near Obama's shoulders.

Obama took responsibility when he accepted the Democrat deferment in the meeting and then ridiculously tried to claim credit afterward.

>>> If Obama should get blamed for anything, it's for sitting on the sidelines, and not doing anything.

I completely agree, he has been totally irrelevant...but he was pressed into service by Bush, and his acceptance of the leadership of the Democrats in the meeting and his gloming for credit have made him culpable.

>>> The failure is because the republican party doesn't really support McCain.

The crappy Democrat bill failed because, unlike the Democrats, the Republicans listened to, and worked for, their constituents. It also failed because the Democrats were political cowards and were unwilling to pass the bill themselves.

>>> He thought he had the votes all tied up. He was wrong. He got no votes from his home state...how embarrassing for him.

The Obamessiah's state cowardly split their votes for political purposes...Obama wasn't even a consideration...pretty embarrassing for him.

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-26-2008
Tue, 09-30-2008 - 8:28pm

>>> I do not remember anything about Obama rushing back to the capital to save the country.

Of course not. With Obama, it's Obama first...country second. And he as much as said he was irrelevant..."call me if you need me." LOL! Quite "presidential."

>>> Last time I heard George W. Bush was the leader of the U.S.A.. Has he turned power over to Obama?

Not if we have anything to say about it.; )

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2007
Tue, 09-30-2008 - 9:08pm

Obama was summoned by the president to attend that meeting which McCain asked Bush to call.

Sopal

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iVillage Member
Registered: 09-26-2008
Tue, 09-30-2008 - 11:21pm

>>> Obama was summoned by the president to attend that meeting which McCain asked Bush to call. After leaving the meeting, he said that it was not a good idea to have presidential candidates imposing themselves on the process.

After his amateurish and damaging performance in the WH meeting, it's not surprising that he'd feel that way. McCain, on the other hand, was lauded for his work on the bill. As a sitting Senator, and a man who has designs on the Presidency who will have to deal with the fallout of this "deal," McCain felt it was his duty to be in Washington working to resolve the "crisis" rather than just "phoning it in."

>>> He left and went back to his regularly-scheduled events.

Obama first...country second. McCain was right...he would lose a war (or an economy) to win an election.

>>> Obama did not attempt to step on the toes of the House leadership in this, and I doubt you'll find any evidence that he did any such thing as it would be imposing himself upon their leadership in this matter.

If (God forbid) he gets elected, I hope he'll realize how unqualified he is and employ the same kind of restraint.

>>> He will vote for the bill, but won't like it - just like McCain.

McCain fought for a better bill...Obama just went along.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2007
Wed, 10-01-2008 - 12:00am
There was no "performance" at the meeting.

Sopal

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iVillage Member
Registered: 09-26-2008
Wed, 10-01-2008 - 12:12am

>>> There was no "performance" at the meeting. He asked questions. Hot-tempered representatives apparently raised their voices.

I heard that tempers flared because Obama started spouting off about the wrong plan. It was said that he had an earlier version and when he started discussing stuff that had already been decided, people started getting hot under the collar.

>>> The candidates should have stayed out of it. Bush should not have summoned Obama at McCain's request.

I think Bush summoned Obama to keep things non-partisan, not at McCain's request. I doubt McCain wanted Obama there...it was more beneficial to McCain if Obama remained the aloof elitist.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2007
Wed, 10-01-2008 - 12:18am
I have not heard that.

Sopal

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iVillage Member
Registered: 11-08-2003
Wed, 10-01-2008 - 3:18am
Neither McCain nor Obama were on the committee. McCain's foolish rushing off to Washington, was a political ploy that backfired on him. He was seen as an intrusion, which wasn't appreciated by anyone.

 Rose

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-26-2008
Wed, 10-01-2008 - 1:12pm

Here are some reports...

John McCain Doesn’t Take the Bait “The Democrats came into the meeting with a “game plan” aimed at forcing McCain to choose between the administration and House Republicans.”

After the cameras left the Cabinet room, Bush thanked everybody for their spirit of cooperation and said he knew it was not an easy vote. He knew elements still needed to be worked out and said he wanted to go around the table to hear people’s views.

Pelosi said Obama would speak for the Democrats. Though later he would pepper Paulson with questions, according to a Republican in the room, his initial point was brief: “We’ve got to get something done.”

Bush turned to McCain, who joked, “The longer I am around here, the more I respect seniority.” McCain then turned to Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to speak first..

Boehner was blunt. The plan Paulson laid out would not win the support of the vast majority of House Republicans. It had been improved on the edges, with an oversight board and caps on the compensation of participating executives. But it had to be changed at the core. He did not mention the insurance alternative, but Democrats did. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, pressed Boehner hard, asking him if he really intended to scrap the deal and start again.

No, Boehner replied, he just wanted his members to have a voice. Obama then jumped in to turn the question on his rival: “What do you think of the (insurance) plan, John?” he asked repeatedly. McCain did not answer.

One Republican in the room said it was clear that the Democrats came into the meeting with a “game plan” aimed at forcing McCain to choose between the administration and House Republicans. “They had taken McCain’s request for a meeting and trumped it,” said this source.

Congressional aides from both parties were standing in the lobby of the West Wing, unaware of the discord inside the Cabinet room, when McCain emerged alone, shook the hands of the Marines at the door and left. The aides were baffled. The plan had been for a bipartisan appearance before the news media, featuring McCain, Obama and at least a firm statement in favor of intervention. Now, one of the leading men was gone.

See also:

http://www.floppingaces.net/2008/09/28/how-john-mccain-saved-the-bail-out-bill-and-rescued-taxpayers/

When it was McCain’s turn to speak, he deferred instead to House Minority Leader Boehner who listed House GOP objections to the bill and later suggested alternatives such as federal insurance for mortgage securities instead of buying them outright.

At that point Obama chimed in again appealing to Treasury Secretary Paulson, a friend to Democrats, in an effort to undercut House GOP concerns.

McCain spoke again saying that House GOP concerns are: “legitimate concerns that need to be listened to.”

Shortly after that the fireworks began as Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) (who must have thought he pulled one over on his House GOP colleagues with the earlier drafting of the bill) began shouting and accused Republicans of sandbagging” him.

http://hotair.com/archives/2008/09/29/without-mccain-they-would-have-run-over-me-like-a-freight-train/

Last night, the House Republican leadership held a press conference to discuss the economic bailout package, which they now support. John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Roy Blunt, and Adam Putnam explain that the new package greatly reduces — but does not eliminate — taxpayer risk. It improves the original Paulson plan, and Boehner notes who is responsible for the House GOP even getting a seat at the table:

“But I think I’ve made clear to many of you that if it were not for John McCain supporting me at the White House when I said whoa, whoa, time-out, they would have run over me like a freight train.”

Before McCain arrived in Washington, the Senate and the House Democrats figured they could force the Paulson plan down the throats of House Republicans. Afterwards, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid had no choice but to deal with Boehner and the conservatives, and making changes to the package to get their support. Also, Boehner announced that McCain has begun making calls to get Republican votes for this bill, which shouldn’t surprise too many who had listened to McCain over the weekend.

Are House conservatives happy? Not really, but it looks like they have done the best they can do to keep the long-term costs to taxpayers as low as they can.
http://rosettasister.wordpress.com/2008/09/29/john-mccain-doesn%E2%80%99t-take-the-bait-%E2%80%9Cthe-democrats-came-into-the-meeting-with-a-game-plan-aimed-at-forcing-mccain-to-choose-between-the-administration-and-house-republicans%E2%80%9D/

How McCain Stirred a Simmering Pot

By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 27, 2008; A01

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.

The Republican Study Committee, an enclave of House conservatives, had already begun turning against the Paulson plan. When McCain announced his return, the conservatives feared he would forge an agreement largely along Paulson's lines, with slight alterations and the GOP leadership's blessing.

"No one knew where he was going," one of the aides said.

Boehner, who had initially greeted Paulson's plan with some warmth, faces a brewing battle next year for the party leadership. Conservatives were making it no secret that they were thinking of backing House Deputy Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) in a challenge to Boehner, and Paulson's request for $700 billion was not making matters better.

On Wednesday afternoon, Boehner appointed a new working group, led by Cantor, Ryan and Republican Study Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Tex.), and including some moderates, to see if they could put together an alternative proposal. McCain's impending arrival shifted that effort into high gear. By the time McCain arrived in Boehner's office Thursday, the principles of a new plan were ready.

According to Republican aides, McCain was in Boehner's office when the announcement of a deal crossed their BlackBerrys. Rep. Spencer Bachus (Ala.), the House Republicans' representative in the talks, stumbled into the meeting to be peppered by participants with incredulous questions.

It was Ryan who made it most clear that there really was no deal. The core of Paulson's plan -- using $700 billion in taxpayer money to buy distressed assets from failing financial firms -- had to be changed, he told McCain. Instead, banks should have to pony up money for a new federally administered insurance program, like the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Banks suffering from mortgage defaults would then be able to draw funds from the insurance pool to remain solvent.

It was not a new idea, White House and Treasury officials said. Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke had considered a similar option and rejected it. For one thing, asking banks teetering on the edge of bankruptcy to pay into the insurance fund would be like asking a patient facing heart surgery to buy health insurance before being wheeled into the operating room. The banks would be too weak to pay, and the cost of the insurance would be so high, drawing on the fund after a round of mortgage foreclosures would merely be repaying the banks what they had paid in.

Besides, one Treasury official said, it would do nothing to address the problem at hand. Banks would have no more money than they do now to lend. And they would still be holding the bad assets that are making it impossible for them to borrow.

Paulson made those points Wednesday at a contentious meeting with House Republicans. But Ryan convinced McCain that the idea had to be taken seriously to bring House Republicans on board.

"McCain has been trying to help the House guys, trying to get their ideas into the broader bill," said a senior Republican Senate aide. "If McCain can do that, he can bring 50 to 100 House Republicans to the bill. That would be a big damn deal."

McCain and Graham made just that point at the Tex-Mex lunch, but McCain also spoke in the starkly personal terms of a presidential candidate in trouble: "You all put me on the hook for $700 billion," he told his colleagues, according to an aide familiar with the lunch.

The breakdown was serious enough that word reached Paulson. Just 25 minutes before the scheduled meeting at the White House, Paulson phoned House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to alert her to trouble, according to a Senate Democratic leadership aide. When congressional leaders converged on the White House, the Democrats peeled off into the Roosevelt Room to discuss the revolt over the insurance plan. President Bush was kept waiting, something he has always hated.

After the cameras left the Cabinet room, Bush thanked everybody for their spirit of cooperation and said he knew it was not an easy vote. He knew elements still needed to be worked out and said he wanted to go around the table to hear people's views.

Pelosi said Obama would speak for the Democrats. Though later he would pepper Paulson with questions, according to a Republican in the room, his initial point was brief: "We've got to get something done."

Bush turned to McCain, who joked, "The longer I am around here, the more I respect seniority." McCain then turned to Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to speak first.

Boehner was blunt. The plan Paulson laid out would not win the support of the vast majority of House Republicans. It had been improved on the edges, with an oversight board and caps on the compensation of participating executives. But it had to be changed at the core. He did not mention the insurance alternative, but Democrats did. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, pressed Boehner hard, asking him if he really intended to scrap the deal and start again.

No, Boehner replied, he just wanted his members to have a voice. Obama then jumped in to turn the question on his rival: "What do you think of the plan, John?" he asked repeatedly. McCain did not answer.

One Republican in the room said it was clear that the Democrats came into the meeting with a "game plan" aimed at forcing McCain to choose between the administration and House Republicans. "They had taken McCain's request for a meeting and trumped it," said this source.

Congressional aides from both parties were standing in the lobby of the West Wing, unaware of the discord inside the Cabinet room, when McCain emerged alone, shook the hands of the Marines at the door and left. The aides were baffled. The plan had been for a bipartisan appearance before the media, featuring McCain, Obama and at least a firm statement in favor of intervention. Now, one of the leading men was gone.

The rest of the actors poured out of the room still highly agitated. Democrats clustered in the hall between the lobby and the Oval Office, pressing Bachus to explain what had happened to the deal. The Democrats discussed whether to go before the cameras waiting in front of the White House, but Obama refused. Without McCain next to him, he said, he would be skewered for using the White House as a backdrop. As the talk grew louder, Obama asked if they could duck into a room, and back they went to the ornate, windowless Roosevelt Room.

It was then that Paulson gingerly walked in to beg, "Don't blow this up, please." The secretary feared that Democrats would throw their hands up and declare the deal dead.

The crowd erupted in unison, all barking at Paulson that they were not the problem -- he needed to talk to his own party. Under the barrage, Paulson dropped to one knee, clasped his hands in front of his face as if he were praying and joked: "Please, please, don't blow this up. Give me some time."

"Hank," Pelosi replied, "I didn't know you were Catholic."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/26/AR2008092603957_pf.html

Inside the White House: What Went Wrong?
Sources in the Meeting Tell ABC News Why the Talk Turned Into a Screaming Match
By JONATHAN KARL

Sept. 26, 2008 —

If all had gone according to plan, Thursday's White House meeting would have been a triumphant photo opportunity, where top Democratic and Republican congressional leaders come together with the president and the two presidential candidates to support a plan for stabilizing the financial markets. Instead, the meeting devolved into a shouting match that nearly derailed the economic bailout plan.

Here's an account of what happened, based on conversations with several of those present, both Democrats and Republicans:

The first sign of trouble: Twenty minutes before the White House meeting, Treasury Secretary Henry "Hank" Paulson calls House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to say there are problems with the agreement reached earlier in the afternoon. Pelosi is miffed. Democrats believed the issues Paulson raised had already been resolved.

President Bush opens the meeting at 4 p.m., quickly turning it over to Paulson who gives a status report on the markets and says, "We need to get this done quickly." Paulson turns it over to Pelosi, who defers to Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, who defers to Sen. Barack Obama. Obama starts things off for the Democrats by reiterating his principles on what the plan should include. Obama agrees with Paulson on the need to act quickly but says some on the Hill "don't understand the need for the rush." Some of the Republicans took this as an attack on them.

Obama then defers to Sen. John McCain, but McCain defers to House Republican Leader John Boehner to speak on behalf of the Republicans. Boehner says House Republicans have "a lot of problems" with the plan and "most of my caucus is not there."

At this point, the meeting is still fairly cordial. Pelosi even compliments the president on his speech Wednesday night. But the meeting starts to devolve.

After some more give and ake, Sen. Richard Shelby, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, presents a five-page list of 192 economists and business school professors who oppose the plan. Bush isn't impressed. "I don't care what somebody on some college campus says," Bush says. Instead, he says he trusts Hank Paulson, who, he says, has more than 35 years of experience and access to more information than those academics on Shelby's list.

Boehner says House Republicans have a different idea: providing federal insurance for mortgage securities instead of buying them outright.

Obama chimes in again, asking Paulson what he thinks about the insurance idea. Paulson says he thinks the idea is unworkable, and adds, "We can't start over."

After 43 minutes, McCain finally speaks. He says there are "legitimate concerns that need to be listened to" and that there has been "significant progress" in incorporating his principles into the bill. "We have one shot at getting this done right," he says. McCain does not get specific. "He said a whole lot of nothing," says one Republican in the room.

Shortly after that, things get a whole lot worse. Rep. Spencer Baucus, the top Republican on the House Financial Services Committee, speaks in favor of the Republican alternative, setting Rep. Barney Frank, the Democratic chairman of the committee, into a rage. Frank accuses Republicans of "sandbagging" him by bringing up a plan he's never seen. There's more shouting. The president brings the meeting back to order and urges everybody to get back together because "we need to get this done." The deciding factor for him on any final deal, he says, is whether or not Hank Paulson says it will work.

The meeting ends, but the fireworks are yet to come.

Democrats go back into the Roosevelt Room to discuss whether to go out to the cameras waiting on the White House driveway. Paulson comes in and literally begs them not to go out and criticize the meeting. For dramatic effect, Paulson gets down on one knee and says, "Please, I beg you, don't blow this up."

Barney Frank, shouting, "Don't give me that bulls**t."

More Frank: "Hank, you've got a problem here. Republicans want to torpedo this."

Pelosi is also outraged, but the Democrats decide not to go out as a group to the microphones.
http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=5895827

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-26-2008
Wed, 10-01-2008 - 1:20pm

>>> Neither McCain nor Obama were on the committee.

So what? A bill of this magnitude can't be confined to a committee...as evidenced by the fact that it wasn't confined to a committee.

>>> McCain's foolish rushing off to Washington, was a political ploy that backfired on him. He was seen as an intrusion, which wasn't appreciated by anyone.

It was appreciated by the Republicans and his constituents who see McCain as a selfless servant of the people while Obama is just self-serving.

>>> Obama was correct, this was a time the American people did want to hear what the two of them had to say.

They did...and McCain won.

>>> They were not welcome in Washington.

It's a pretty inane to say that a Presidential candidate and sitting Senator aren't "welcome" in Washington.

>>> The American people, in all polls done, wanted the debate to go on.

The debate did go on...and McCain won. But the "American people" also want this "economic crisis" addressed...and McCain did that too.

>>> It was important to hear what each one had to say.

I agree...it showed Barry to be the inexperienced empty suit that we all know he is...and showed McCain as an experienced statesman.

>>> It was Obama who knew the right thing to do, unlike McCain who had to make another of his miscalculated grandstand plays. The American public saw his actions for exactly what they were. Self serving!

What is self-serving is putting your campaign before country. McCain is right, Obama will lose a war, or screw the country, in order to win a campaign. "They'll call me if they need me."...very Presidential...not.