I heart Obama!

I was reading the Detroit News this morning and saw on the front page how Senator BarackObama is only leading by 1% in the latest polls in Michigan over Sen. John McCain to win the State of Michigan. Strategic Vision is reporting that Obama is leading 45-44% over John McCain while the Detroit's News is reporting 43-42% over McCain. If I was homosexual billionaire John Stryker right now I would buy as much television advertisement on behalf of Obama because it seems like he may lose Michigan.

However, if Obama does lose Michigan it will not be because of out-county voters but actually the City of Detroit. McCain only needs 4-6% from Detroit to win Michigan.

I am getting a barrage of phone calls, texts and e-mails from my counterparts in Detroit about how the Obama camp is ignoring the grassroots community in Detroit. People are really upset with how the Obama campaign is going in Detroit and it is so severe that Rev. Oscar King of Northwest Unity Baptist Church and the President of the Council of Baptist Pastors are threatening to protest Sen. Obama's Detroit Office by supporting John McCain for President in November.

Down in St. Petersburg, Florida a banner held aloft by three young African American men at what was supposed to be the usual campaign pep-rally (normally a town hall meeting) stated "What about the Black community, Obama?"

Obama's April 2007 legislation against "fraudulent and predatory lending practices," the Stop Fraud Act makes no mention of racial patterns in lending abuse. Nine months later, with the housing crisis at hurricane strength, Obama's response was the weakest of the three ‘top tier' Democratic primary candidates.

Those are some of the issues facing Obama.

However, I want to know this. If Obama is supposed to be America's candidate then how come people are being charged $5 a lawn sign here in Detroit? If you go over to the McCain camp lawn signs are free. Is Obama really out of touch with the very ones he claims he is for?

What about the number of grassroots activists who want to help Obama win but cannot even get paid but the same Obama camp they are loyal to have brought in people from Oklahoma and South Carolina to walk the streets of Detroit when these young, ambitious but ignorant college students have no clue where they are at. They do not realize that this is Detroit, home of where poor people are stripping houses down like cars, where people snatch your ass right off the streets and will conduct a home invasion with an AK-47 5PM in broad daylight while your mother is cooking diner and your children are playing the Nintendo Wi or PSP2.

My thing to the Obama camp is why are they disrespecting people who know the streets of Detroit? Are they saying that the Native Detroiter who know the community like the back of their hands are ignorant, drunk and are not intelligent enough to walk the streets of their community but need Molly and Becky to walk the streets of Tireman and Livernois...an area where you might get your head bashed in by a crackhead?

Speaking of crackheads what we have also found out is because the Detroit office of the Obama lawn signs off the lawns of people's homes and re-selling the signs for $2-3 to people who want them. But Obama is supposed to be for the little people. I think our people are being hoodwinked.

So what does the Obama camp do? They send out bogus information on how the Michigan Republicans are trying to block voters from voting if they homes have been foreclosed. Here is what MIGOP Chairman Saul Anuzis said:

“There is no truth to this story. It’s a complete fabrication. There has never been a plan to use foreclosure lists to challenge voters. There is no such plan, and there never will be such a plan. Period.”

What we found out about the information that it came from Michigan Messenger, a liberal blog ran by the Center for Independent Media, a front group started by billionaire George Soros. Further research shows how this same liberal blog camp is charging $5 a pop for a lawn sign crackheads and others are stealing has hired the same Democratic political consulting agency that led a failed effort to amend Michigan’s constitution to give Democrats control of government and remove the only African-American from the state Supreme Court.

Did I stutter? The Democrats are trying to remove the only African-American from the State's Supreme Court. Did I mention how the same Michigan Democratic Party successfully BLOCKED Deborah Thomas's nomination at the State Democratic Party in Lansing 2 weeks ago? Thomas is an African-American woman from Detroit.

There is a connection with the Michigan Messenger and Bynum-Fisk Advocacy Communications , a political consulting firm started by a former Democratic state legislator and her staffer. Bynum-Fisk staff is quoted in recent news stories as the official spokesperson for the MichiganMessenger.com, an online blog that claims it is independent of political affiliation.

The Democratic Party knows Obama is in trouble in Michigan and all eyes are on Detroit. However, while outsiders are being paid to walk the streets of Detroit while we have good people willing to walk the streets of Detroit who are from here originally who SHOULD get paid to work. I mean, just last week 1/2 of the Georgia and South Carolina field offices for Obama got off the buses and started walking the streets. Not one time Obama's people consulted with those who are from here. These same walkers are shacking up in people's homes who they don't know, some are starving and some are actually dropping out of campaigning all together because of the lack of management in the Obama camp that is either turning people away or coming over to the McCain camp. I mean this would not be a problem if this was the Southside of Chicago. In fact, Obama would HAVE PAID those grassroots people on the Southside of Chicago but because this is Detroit he has turned his back on our brothers and sisters who are supporting him.

Some people I have talked to in the past 48 hours have told me that their vote will not be disrespected and plan on sitting this one out. However, I reminded them that a no vote for Obama is a vote for McCain. Shockingly, they told me that they would rather SWITCH their vote for McCain than support Obama because they feel that Obama is too "elitist."

This is just not a Detroit problem but a NATIONAL problem in the Black community of how Obama is not paying attention to the warning signs.

In Philadelphia, Obama refuses to pay street money to those grassroots operatives. This is a ritual in the City of Brotherly Love. It's the same issue in Pittsburgh, Tampa and other urban areas that are coming out to support Obama for the wrong reasons. Of course, if I brought this critical issue up to the young adults who are supporting Obama they would not care because most of them have placed Jesus Christ on the shelf to support a candidate who does not even have a church home to begin with but supports everything that is NOT biblical.

If I was the Michigan Republican Party I would open up a office right in the Compuware building in Downtown Detroit and allow some of the grassroots to work on behalf of McCain. This is a PRIME opportunity to win. I hope Republicans will not BLOW it this time around.

Why would anyone think that McCain would handle a terrorist attack better than Obama ? Do they think an impulsive reaction would be better than a carefully thought-through response ? We'd be lucky if McCain would not nuke the wrong country - let alone the right continent.

For the life of me, I can't understand why any voters would Favor McCain on terrorisim or any other threat. This guy would preempt us into war at the first chance he got. I think they will know that after this Friday.

This race is too close for comfort

Teh REAL TEST will be the debates
This week Obama has to come out swinging

Be ASSERTIVE (not overly aggressive), but really assertive

If McCain lies (does a bear poop in the woods?)

CALL HIM ON IT !!

Question McCain's judgment:
He wanted to attack Iraq after 9/11 for no reason
He wanted to attack Iraq because of anthrax
He wanterd to attack Iraq because of WMDs

NONE OF THESE REASONS WERE VALID
Yet McCains wanted to attack a foregin nation that neither threatened nor attacked us
BAD JUDGMENT !!

McCain loves to sing: 'Bomb, Bomb Iraq'
(to the Beach Boys, Barbara Ann)

STUPID and UnStatesman like

CALL HIM ON IT !!

McCain OPPOSED Timelines
At this point, Maliki, Bush and Obama ALL SUPPORT Time Lines

Poor jjudgment, John

Hey "Independent in Michigan", you've got too much time on your hand. Do you seriously expect somebody to waste time on your essay ?

Well Independent in mIchigan it is obvious you are a rfepublican...and yes it has been proven that the Gop did do that with foreclosure lists...so stop all your rhetoric to convince us otherwise...and tell me why when McCain was in Michigan last week when he left the auto plant they were chanting Obama...now dont try and deny that...I heard it.  And the Marist poll has obama up by 9% in Michigan...so please take your repub lies and go home.

NO HOW- NO WAY- NO MCAIN/PALIN.........OBAMA/BIDEN 2008

Virginia is coming around!  It's all the way to the white house!

Drip, drip, drip.  Slowly the poles are swinging in favor of Obama, and that will continue all the way to November.  They've tried lying.  Didn't work.  About the only thing left for McCain is to cheat.  I'm sure that's coming too.

get a life independent in Michigan. You have too much time on your hands...

Like Obama actually has a shot to win Virginia.....

Yeah right...

"I hope Republicans will not BLOW it this time around."
- Independent in Michigan
==============================================
Yeah, after all that whining diatribe and your final sentence, I'm convinced you're an Independent.  Not.

Very good...if Obama wins VA then it's over for McCainiac.

Independent in Michigan,

Please change your name to "Republican Swift Boat Ad Maker for McCain" because that is exactly what your words were there in your comment.

I am confident that people will not believe the misdirection you spewed, no matter how long your comment is. You just wasted your time with your attack, at least on me.

In fact, I think I will go donate a little more money to Obama now.

You should clearly state that the Obama 49, McCain 46 is among LIKELY voters, which is what the Post chose to highlight. Among REGISTERED voters, it's Obama 50, McCain 44.  And in the future, when giving poll numbers, you should either always use registered, alway use likely, or always give us both, so the comparisons are valid.

Independent in Michigan: '...In Philadelphia, Obama refuses to pay street money to those grassroots operatives. This is a ritual in the City of Brotherly Love. It's the same issue in Pittsburgh, Tampa and other urban areas that are coming out to support Obama for the wrong reasons. Of course,...'

'Independent', you sound like a con job
Are you trying to blackmail Obama into giving you money ?

If you support Obama, why would you consider McCain ?

If you DON'T why would you want 'street money'

No reason to pay con men or hustlers

This is an election that helps decide a nation;'s fate

And you're just interested in 'cashing in'

Go get your 20 pieces of silver from McCain


Are you sure you're NOT A TROLL ?
Are you sure you;'re NOT A Republican plant ?



Obama / Biden '08
Fight for the future

McCain loses Virginia, it's over.

Independent in Michigan - by the very nature of your don't sound so "independent" . . .

Virgina in Play! Who would have "thunk" it? Woo-hoo!

Go Obama/Biden!  O/B up in Iowa by 11%, New Mexico 13%!  People are waking up and shooting down the lies from the McSame/Palin ticket!

McCain has the temperament of a Molotov cocktail! I wouldn't trust his reaction or judgment under any circumstance - he even has to prep keeping his temper in check for the debates!!!

Thanks, but NO THANKS to McSame/Inane

The guys who sited ONE Michigan poll. There's now more polls out showing Obama up 9 and 6. So much for close in MI!:)

To: Independent in Michigan

If you are just going to copy a blog, at least you can do is cite the source and give credit.  Or if it is your blog, stop hiding and accept credit.

http://whoisakindele.info/2008/09/its-offical-obama-is-ignoring-streets.html

McCain is Bush, only more belligerent and a real warmonger, and Palin is Bush in a dress, being advised totally by the same Bush crowd that got W elected. Her views are even more radical than McCain's. Palin as President? a nightmare from the Twilight zone.GOBAMA

McCain is a "deregulation man" one day and a "regulator" the next. FLIP FLOP again and again. McCain was the "greatest free trader" one day and who knows what he will be changing to next. The man they called honorable and he who spoke of "straight talk" bought into telling lies in ads. I once thought he was honorable. In the debates he might do a great job  but it won't change my final opinion of him. He can't be trusted  and, I had enough of that the last 8 years under G.B.

McCain's last two weeks put the cap on any expectations I had that he could even do a basic job of leading in a crisis. He would likely get the names confused, the nations confused, not know quite who he was talking to. I can't vote for this man as president of the nation.

I'm an over 50 white woman voter from the Hampton Roads region of Virginia who is very excited to support Barack Obama. I have donated money and volunteered on his behalf, something I have never done in any other election. The thought that someone as volatile as McCain could  be president in this dangerous time in our history is frightening. I also can't begin to express my horror that Sarah Palin could be elected vice-president. This just can't happen.

"Independent" in Michigan:

Stop trolling. We know you're a paid McCainiac in disguise. The McCain campaign is so desperate, that they send their trolls out disguised as black people to try and convince other black people that Obama doesn't care about "the black community"? God, how stupid do those idiots running that freak show think we are? You'll have more luck attempting to sway the low information voter on whatever contrived grievances the million-dollar-lobbyist campaign chairman can come up with, than you will trying to convince black people that Obama doesn't care about them.

Go Virginia!!!

I'm shocked at the neediness and selfishness Independent in Michigan is representing. He'd rather "cut off the nose to spite the face".....as if that is a productive way of getting real change.  Campaigns are enormously expensive, and we in South Florida only recently got campaign offices, and charging for the rally signs is a way of funding a VERY EXPENSIVE grass roots campaign...so don't start thinking that Detroit is getting treated any differently and don't whine because you aren't getting enough attention.....its not the time for temper tantrums.... its time to be part of the solution.

To the person upset that Obama is charging for lawn signs: Are those free McCain lawn signs really FREE?
He took taxpayer money for his election while Obama has raised it all from people who support him. If you support Obama buy a sign. McCain can afford to give signs away. He and all his friends have 13+ cars NOT bought from places that would help Detroit auto-workers.

I know that McCain will be just like Bush. And I know that the Republicans will continue to help the rich and dump on the poor as they always do. And I know that Palin is a book burning, theopathic moron. But I'm going to vote for them anyway. Because like 49% of America, I'm a flaming bigot.

http://twocanpete.blogspot.com/
You can put all the lipstick you want on John McCain and he's still a Washington insider!

Any of you McCainiacs/Palindrones scared yet?

On the serious side, a couple of things to keep in mind.  First, be aware that the GOP will surely have a couple of tricks (legal and illegal) up their sleeves to make sure things go their way.  This can be any thing from caging, to voter intimidation, to vote rigging, you name it.  The answers:

1. MAKE SURE YOU ARE REGISTERED TO VOTE.  Don't just assume you're registered because you voted in the primaries.  Check your registration status.  Remember, in 2000 thousands were purged off the voter rolls in FL for no reason, and without their knowledge.

2. GET A DRIVERS LICENSE OR A GOVERNMENT ISSUED ID.  Some states (IN in particular) are now requiring government issued ID in addition to the voter registration card in order to vote.  If you don't have a driver's license, you can get yourself a non-drivers licens ID at your local DMV.

3. If you are having issues with your mortgage, CHECK YOUR FORCLOSURE STATUS.  In MI, there is a GOP proposal on the books to use forclosure lists to keep people from voting if they are registered under an address which is in forclosure (Democrats are suing to prevent this).  If you are in forclosure, make sure you are registered at your new address.  If you are close to forclosure, get with your mortgage company to avoid it (at least until after 11/4).

4. IF YOU'VE DONE JAIL TIME AND COMPLETED YOUR STATUS, YOU MAY BE ELIGIBLE TO VOTE.  It varies from state to state so check.  If you're eligible, REGISTER NOW.

5. IF YOU'RE NOT REGISTERED, GET REGISTERED NOW.  Deadlines are coming up soon.  You must be registered in order to vote.  All of this support will mean ABSOLUTELY NOTHING if you are not registered.

One last point.  If Obama isn't ahead by at least 10% on election day, he cannot win.  That's because most of the people answering these polls ARE LYING!  Plus, in any close state, the Republicans are likely to challenge the vote count.  PLEASE, DON'T LET THE REPUBLICANS STEAL THIS ELECTION FROM US!  GET REGISTERED, AND VOTE ON NOVEMBER 4TH.

Obama/Biden '08!

You guys would have no problem with the length of Independent in Michigan's post if he agreed with you.  You don't seem to have a problem listening to psycho Eric in Salinas ranting away for paragraphs at a time.  You should read what he is saying-he's saying 'Michigan, get out and help your guy.'  

"McCain holds a 10-point lead on handling terrorism or an unexpected major crisis." first, it won't be mccain but mccain's handlers handling terrorism; the same people who brought us the iraqi war boondoggle that has cost us precious blood and treasure. it will be the same people who, 7 years later, still have not captured and brought to justice bin laden (who really really did attack us on 9/11 from the frontier between afghanistan and pakistan, not iraq. it will be the same people who disgraced everything americans believe in and threatened our very constitution by torture, warrantless wiretapping, renditions and gitmo. it will be the same people, who by bringing to the breaking  point, our military leaving us more vulnerable and our national security threatened. oh yeah, i sure trust john mccain to keep me, my children and granchildren safe!

Fix the Broken... I like that idea. I think we should all pledge to donate an additional $5 for every lie the McCain camp and the far right bloggers post. I'm going to donate right now. Thanks "Independent in Michigan" for helping motivate Obama supporters!

Hey, Independent in Michigan...blah...blah...Blah Blah...Blah..Blah...Blah...Blah..Blah..and on and on and on.....Republicans have aleady blown it!  

3rd time trying to post this today, has'nt shown up yet,Hm !

He has it so bad over McCain it has gone from comical to very sad.
C A, Tuscaloosa, AL (Sent Friday, September 19, 2008 3:26 PM)


He has it so bad over McCain it has gone from comical to very sad.
C A, Tuscaloosa, AL (Sent Friday, September 19, 2008 3:26 PM)

C. A. you are one of the poster's on here that try & inform the LIV's & you're to be commended for that. However on this above comment, I choose to differ with you. It's not Comical that Trickle down economic's has already trickled down to My (OUR)Grandchildren.George Herbert Walker Bush had it right when he called Trickle down economic's"Voodoo economic's". John Mccain has subscribed to Reagon's philosophy wholeheartily with his 26 year's in DC.

Now, Mccain has thrown his Honor in the Sewer with the way he's run his campaign.

Evidently, the GOP think's that the "Thumping" they took back in 2006 was a fluke.The American voter awoke from the kool-aid induced Coma just in time to start clearing out these Right wing terrorist without a Gun.Now, 2 year's later, the GOP think's the voter has forgotten about how the Conservative philosophy has brought America to near 3rd World status. The GOP want's a repreive from their failed policy's with Mccain steering the ship. As Larry the cable guy would say'Now that's funny, i don't care who you are".

If thing's were'nt so bad in Everywhere USA, it would be kinda comical, but America still does'nt know the Effect's of this kinda Conservative thinking.We're now only beginning to see what deregulation is bringing to MainStreet. Trickle down economic's is Not Comical, it's downright frightning !

With that said, i'm thoroughly enjoying the Mccain meltdown, with caribou barbie by his side.

Him being broken after 4 days in captivity show's us the resilence of a Dishonorable man! I can't wait for some 527 group to come out against Mccain & watch him squirm somemore. It's coming soon & it'll be Comical watching McCain try & defend his Military service.

Now that Barack is bringing the heat to Mccain, what will these hidden Democrat's complain that he's Not doing right? He was'nt tuff enough, however he beat the clinton campaign in less than 2 month's of campaigning. He comes from the Daly way of campaigning & his Chicago style Politic's have been running on all cylinder's. Some may not like it, but it's effective & that's all that matter's.The bottom line is, It work's for him ! Fortunatly for America, Barack is the Catalyst to rid us of these rightwing terrorist without a gun.

I have No sympathy for Mccain or the GOP for running our beloved America into near 3rd World status.

I'm thoroughly enjoying watching the Destruction of trckle down economic's & all of it's rider's ! The GOP better enjoy the last day's of GWB's Presidency, because after this election cycle, it's gonna take several cycles to get back in the good grace's of Real American's.

As i try to post this, McCain is starting a campaign event in PA. with an Irish Joke. He think's it's all a Joke,& in the end, the Joke will be on Him & America will be able to laugh & enjoy life again.

We can't stand 4 more year's of the last 8 year's!

Delusional Thinking By Commonsense American's Is Over !

"independent Michigan" is really "Tucker Bounds" lol

Go Obama

Bring and end to the Republican't era of "Shock and Disgrace".

All I can think to say is "Praise G-d"!

There's 2 things us in Michigan will never forget. during the primaries. While discussing companies that ship jobs over seas, Mcain said "the jobs that were once here,are never coming back".He had the nerve to say it in front of auto union members in the middle of massive downsizing by Ford and GM. And every time he's in Ohio, he has photo ops purchasing Buckeye gear (major sin in Michigan).Obama Doesn't have to try to win Michigan,Mcain will do it for him :)

Funny another positive story for Obama another post by Mark Murray. I am not gonna stop beating this horse you ARE IN THE TANK FOR OBAMA. Mr. Todd get control of this first read back honestly this was my blog besides politico until GOP convention since then I have tracked the postings and the people posting them and Murray is BY FAR AND AWAY PROBAMA ITS A JOKE. I will debate this with you no problem I have the work cited to back it up. STOP WITH THE BIAS Murray.

ATT: Independent In Michigan

You should probably know that 99.9% of those volunteers from Georgia/SC were NOT getting paid...hence the word "VOLUNTEER". Campaigns are expensive to run, there's no way any politician would be able to pay every volunteer that knocked on a door for him/her. Besides, if you were really voting on ISSUES, you wouldn't be willing to jump from Obama to McCain because there policies are so different!

Yeah, these voters saw through the Palin ruse and they know that with all the bold face lies of McLiar and Sarah Paliar, they rejected that they are the real agents of change. Instead, voters saw them as lying fickles.

To Independent in Michigan:  Are you kidding me?  You went on and on and on... ad nauseum about how dare Obama's people charge for lawn signs when McCain's are free.  Are you serious?  This is your biggest concern?  Obama isn't paying his VOLUNTEERS? And this is a PROBLEM for you? Have you lost your mind completely or are you just off your meds? Seriously.

Obama passed on public funding.  He is running his campaign solely on the will of the people. That means he's relying entirely on donations.  He is conservative with his money because he HAS to be, fool! He has built the most awes-inspiring political grassroots movement the world has ever seen.  He has put the future of this race back in the hands of the people.  It is as much OUR race for OUR future as it is his quest for the Presidency. Or did you miss that part?  This race is not about HIM, it is about US!  

Can you not grasp that?  If you want Obama signs... Make them.  Most Obama campaign HQ's have pens and markers and stencils and they encourage you to make your own.  I live in Phoenix, AZ. It is the quintessential GOP town, in fact this is McCain's hometown (and I am a neighbor of his), but nonetheless, Obama's popularity here is undeniable.  I had some Obama signs in my front yard and someone kept stealing them.  It was beginning to really bother me.  So I put out the last of my replacments with this note:  "Dear McCain NUT: This is my LAST Obama sign.  If you steal it, I am painting my entire garage door and my roof.  So go ahead, be an idiot."  "PS: If I catch you, you're going to jail."  

And guess what?  My last sign has lasted 5 times longer than any of its precessors.  Too bad though, I was kind of looking forward to painting my garage!  So my point is this, wake up. Quit whining, and do what my kids did... go to Walmart by dark blue, red and light blue paint and some really cheap art board, invite your neighbors over and have a sign painting party.  It's fun, and it's positive and it is a step in the right direction.  This race is not about them (the candidates)... it is about us. So catch a clue and get with the program!

PS: Anyone who would betray the future of our nation and the legacy of our children over having to pay $5 for signs and wanting to be PAID to volunteer really needs to do some deep soul searching, because they have much MUCH bigger problems than they realize!!

Independant in Michigan,
Sounds like you are clearly using the word independant as a guise. NO way are you an independant. What a joke! Must be another McCain plant in the news media. SDirty Secret Of The Bailout: Thirty-Two Words That None Dare Utter
stumble digg reddit del.ico.us news trust mixx.com September 22, 2008 02:06 PM


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Read More: Bailout, Financial Crisis, Henry Paulson Wall Street, Paulson Bailout Package, Section 8, Politics News
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Share Print CommentsA critical - and radical - component of the bailout package proposed by the Bush administration has thus far failed to garner the serious attention of anyone in the press. Section 8 (which ironically reminds one of the popular name of the portion of the 1937 Housing Act that paved the way for subsidized affordable housing ) of this legislation is just a single sentence of thirty-two words, but it represents a significant consolidation of power and an abdication of oversight authority that's so flat-out astounding that it ought to set one's hair on fire. It reads, in its entirety:

Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.
In short, the so-called "mother of all bailouts," which will transfer $700 billion taxpayer dollars to purchase the distressed assets of several failed financial institutions, will be conducted in a manner unchallengeable by courts and ungovernable by the People's duly sworn representatives. All decision-making power will be consolidated into the Executive Branch - who, we remind you, will have the incentive to act upon this privilege as quickly as possible, before they leave office. The measure will run up the budget deficit by a significant amount, with no guarantee of recouping the outlay, and no fundamental means of holding those who fail to do so accountable.

Is this starting to sound familiar? Robert Kuttner cuts through much of the gloss in an article in today's American Prospect:

The deal proposed by Paulson is nothing short of outrageous. It includes no oversight of his own closed-door operations. It merely gives congressional blessing and funding to what he has already been doing, ad hoc. He plans to retain Wall Street firms as advisors to decide just how to cut deals to value and mop up Wall Street's dubious paper. There are to be no limits on executive compensation for the firms that get relief, and no equity share for the government in exchange for this massive infusion of capital. Both Obama and McCain have opposed the provision denying any judicial review of decisions made by Paulson -- a provision that evokes the Bush administration's suspension of normal constitutional safeguards in its conduct of foreign policy and national security. [...]

The differences between this proposed bailout and the three closest historical equivalents are immense. When the Reconstruction Finance Corporation of the 1930s pumped a total of $35 billion into U.S. corporations and financial institutions, there was close government supervision and quid pro quos at every step of the way. Much of the time, the RFC became a preferred shareholder, and often appointed board members. The Home Owners Loan Corporation, which eventually refinanced one in five mortgage loans, did not operate to bail out banks but to save homeowners. And the Resolution Trust Corporation of the 1980s, created to mop up the damage of the first speculative mortgage meltdown, the S&L collapse, did not pump in money to rescue bad investments; it sorted out good assets from bad after the fact, and made sure to purge bad executives as well as bad loans. And all three of these historic cases of public recapitalization were done without suspending judicial review.


Kuttner's opposition here is perhaps the strongest language I've seen used, pushing back on this piece of legislation, in any publication of repute, and even here, Section 8 is not cited by name or by content. McClatchy Newspapers also alludes to Section 8 with concern, citing the "unfettered authority" that Paulson would be granted, and noting that the "law also would preclude court review of steps Paulson might take, something Joshua Rosner, managing director of economic researcher Graham Fisher & Co. in New York, said could be used to mask previous illegal activity." Jack Balkin also gives the matter the sort of attention it deserves on his blog, Balkinization.

But elsewhere, the conversation is muted. The debate over whether Congress is going to pass the Paulson bailout package, or pass the Paulson bailout package really hard seems to have boiled down to a discussion of time and concessions. The White House has made it clear that they want this package passed yesterday. Congressional Democrats seem to be of different minds on the matter, with some pushing back hard, and others content to demand a small dollop of turd polish to make the package seem more aesthetically pleasing, at which point, they'll likely roll over and pass the bill. Neither candidate, John McCain or Barack Obama, seem all that amenable toward the bailout, but neither have either demonstrated that they are willing to risk their candidacies to do much more than exploit the issue for electoral purposes.

Sunday morning came and went, with Paulson traipsing dutifully from studio to studio, facing nary a question on Section 8. Front page articles in the New York Times, Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal detail the wranglings, but make no mention of this section of the legislation. On TV, cable news networks are stuck in the fog of the ongoing presidential campaign.

Throughout the coverage, one catches a whiff of what seems like substantive pushback on this power grab, but it largely amounts to a facsimile of journalistic diligence. Most note, in general terms, that the bailout represents a set of "broad powers" that will be granted to the Department of the Treasury. Yet the coverage offsets these concerns through the constant hyping of the White House's overall message of "urgency."

But one cannot overstate this: Section 8 is a singularly transformative sentence of economic policy. It transfers a significant amount of power to the Executive Branch, while walling off any avenue for oversight, and offering no guarantees in return. And if the Democrats end up content with winning a few slight concessions, they risk not putting a stop-payment on the real "blank check" - the one in which they allow the erosion of their own powers.

Over in the Senate, Christopher Dodd has proposed a bailout legislation of his own, which critically calls for "an oversight board that not only includes the chairman of the Federal Reserve and the SEC, but congressionally appointed, non-governmental officials" and would require the President to appoint an "independent inspector general to investigate the Treasury asset program." In Dodd's legislation, Section 8 is effectively stripped from the bill.

Nevertheless, the fact that Section 8 of the Paulson plan seems to strike few as a de facto dealbreaker can and should astound. The failure of Congress to hold the line on this point would be truly embarrassing. But if we make it through this week with nobody in the press specifically informing the public about the implications of this single sentence - in the middle of a complicated bill, in the middle of a complicated time - then right there, you have the single largest media failure of this year. Speaking of newss media. THE most shocking thing in the World is to watch FOX for a few days. I am outraged 0-U-T-R-A-G-E-D at the scum and intense continual campaigning they do for McCain. As an
American it is absoultely appaling to see. And, they say MSNBC is baised. It is like propaganda on Fox.

Independent in Michigan

TMI

I'm really surprised that McCain is even as close as he is. I just saw a news report that with Obama we'll get a tax break of about $1000. The big guys with all the money, you know, small business and large business owners will have to pay a lot more in taxes. Meantime, McCain wants to give everyone a taxbreak. Even those with the big money. What do they need all that money for? They just want to reinvest it in their company, create more jobs, employ the unemployed. This must not be allowed to happen! Go Obama! Put more people out of work!

Afternoon poll (Rasmussen Fox) has Obama up 7% in Michigan.

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