Let's face it, he's the new liberal darling embedded with the enemy over at FoxNews. God love him. Even TPM's "Day in 100 Seconds" gave him the last word today.
"Nothing means anything and everything means nothing." - Shep Smith
1. Ohioans, vote "YES" on Issue 5 -- Learn more at http://www.end391.org
2. Arizonans, vote "NO" on Prop. 200 -- Learn more at http://www.200isnoreform.com/
Joseph Stiglitz:
1. We need first to correct incentives for executives, reducing the scope for conflicts of interest and improving shareholder information about dilution in share value as a result of stock options. We should mitigate the incentives for excessive risk-taking and the short-term focus that has so long prevailed, for instance, by requiring bonuses to be paid on the basis of, say, five-year returns, rather than annual returns.
2. Secondly, we need to create a <b>financial product safety commission</b>, to make sure that products bought and sold by banks, pension funds, etc. are safe for "human consumption." Consenting adults should be given great freedom to do whatever they want, but that does not mean they should gamble with other people's money. Some may worry that this may stifle innovation. But that may be a good thing considering the kind of innovation we had -- attempting to subvert accounting and regulations. What we need is more innovation addressing the needs of ordinary Americans, so they can stay in their homes when economic conditions change.
3. We need to create a financial systems stability commission to take an overview of the entire financial system, recognizing the interrelations among the various parts, and to prevent the excessive systemic leveraging that we have just experienced.
4. We need to impose other regulations to improve the safety and soundness of our financial system, such as "speed bumps" to <b>limit borrowing</b>. Historically, rapid expansion of lending has been responsible for a large fraction of crises and this crisis is no exception.
5. We need <b>better consumer protection laws</b>, including laws that <b>prevent predatory lending</b>.
6. We need better competition laws. The financial institutions have been able to prey on consumers through credit cards partly because of the absence of competition. But even more importantly, we should not be in situations where a firm is "too big to fail." If it is that big, it should be broken up.
WHY FIGHT?:
Because Obama will be Harold Ford Junior'ed 5 days before Election Day. Get dirty, and play for keeps NOW. Run up the score to absorb the nastiest hits later. If Obama doesn't have a 15% point lead coming out of the 3rd debate, he will not withstand the most despicable smears that will surely come.
WHY WE'RE "TIED" (I'm as pissed as Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Charlie Wilson's War over this news...)
We're too slow.
A good plan enacted immediately is better than the perfect plan enacted a split second too late.
The O campaign seems to have no plan when attacked everyday. Choosing instead to absorb the hits until Obama can deliver the perfect speech or trip or gathering to "prove the GOP wrong." He's gifted, so he nails a perfect speech with style, substance and likability. But this sluggish response-time has to stop. The damage of negative campaigning is "one doodle that can't be undid" (to quote Juno, and jab Palin).
The message and the strength of the Democrats this year -- after 8 long years of Bush -- is getting gnawed away every day by ravenous GOP gremlins, while the O campaign sits back, studies, and prepares to throw a perfectly smooth & graceful Dan Marino** pass for a too-little-too-late touchdown. O's lack of FIGHTING EVERYDAY is a recipe to lose on Nov. 4th. (**Marino never won a Superbowl.)
HOW TO FIGHT!! (Brainstorming...):
GOP Must Own Their Failures: Remembering 8 Years of Republican Rule -- Attack the GOP in some way every day. Everyday should be turned into some sort of "Highlight a Failure of the Last 8 Years Day." Gas, Oil, Enron, Mortgages, 9/11 (Condi should have read the f-cking memo), torture, Kyoto Treaty Shredded, Lead in Toys...
Say "John McCain's GOP has to pay the price for the W's negligence."
Say: "Vote for Democrats to throw the bums out!"
GOP Abuses the Military -- Call them on it. Own the issue. Takes away McCain's supposed advantage. Say that only Democrats will protect the military from being abused. Lies about Pat Tillman. Lies about Jessica Lynch. Military families pulled apart. PTSD ignored. Benefit & pay cuts. 3-5 tours of duty is unconscionable and tears families apart. Also, discuss Duke Cunningham's heroics and abuse of power and jailtime every time we discuss John McCain's heroism and supposed honor.
Say "Duke Cunningham was a war hero. But he is unfit to serve as President. So is John McCain."
Insults -- Volley one severe and devastating insult at the GOP and McCain everyday. Even if they don't all hit, at least 3-5 will stick in people's imaginations. Example: "McCain Vetted Palin Like He Vetted The Iraq War" -- Frank Rich. WHY CAN'T OBAMA DO THIS HIMSELF? Can he hire Frank Rich and John Stewart to write these zingers?
Temperament -- Fine, O said "temperament" in his acceptance speech. I haven't heard it since (I don't have cable, but I want to see it on CNN, Yahoo, Drudge, HuffPo, others...). Some word hinting at McCain's instability and explosive anger has to make it into every press release. Here's a list to help write the "More of the Same" snore-fest Press Releases:
--Erratic
--Risky
--Dangerous
--Inconsistent
--Uncertain
--Unpredictable
--Unstable
--Volatile
--Angry
--Wild-eyed (Yes, I know Saracudda has a lazy eye. I don't care if it's mean. We're playing for keeps, remember?)
--Annoyed
--Enraged
--Exasperated
--Furious
--Grim
--Heated
--Huffy
--Incensed
--Inflamed
--Infuriated
--Not rational
--In high dudgeon
--Irate
--Ireful
--Livid
--Mad
--Outraged
--Provoked (i.e. - McCain exploded disproportionately when provoked today...)
--Wrathful
--Vindictive (Sarahcudda vs. Librarians, Troopers, Reality, etc...)
PS - In their interview next week, I really hope Charlie "Outta-touch" Gibson makes sure Sarah Palin will protect his precious, low capital gains taxes. Gibson should automatically earn the "Worst Journalist of the Year" Golden Duke Award for being granted the first interview from the Republicans. They know he's in their pocket and a creampuff.
"The Republican Party is a dead rotting carcass with a few decrepit old leaders stumbling around like zombies in a horror version of 'Weekend With Bernie' [sic], handcuffed to a corpse." --Larry Hunter, long-time GOP loyalist (now supporting Obama), quoted in a Robert Novak Op/Ed (Thursday, June 26, 2008)
Just wanted to see what you all thought of this little gem [politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com]:
Former President Bill Clinton said that Democrats were more likely to lose in November if his wife Hillary Clinton is not the party’s presidential nominee, and suggested some people were trying to “cover this up” and “push and pressure and bully” superdelegates to make up their minds prematurely.
"I can’t believe it. It is just frantic the way they are trying to push and pressure and bully all these superdelegates to come out,” he said at a South Dakota campaign stop Sunday, in remarks first reported by ABC News. “'Oh, this is so terrible: The people they want her. Oh, this is so terrible: She is winning the general election, and he is not. Oh my goodness, we have to cover this up.'"
My favorite word was the use of "prematurely", after 5-6 months of headlong campaigning, and 12-18 months of the extended campaign.
Anyway, there's no way to "cover up" this fact:
OBAMA = Solvent with 34+ Million Cash on hand...
HILLARY = Bankrupt. In debt. Still paying off the criedt cards that bought the good people of Iowa shovels.
Here's what Jim Webb's Born Fighting PAC just sent out... He'll probably endorse (hopefully...). From there, let the VP speculation soar! Either way, I'm sure he'll have some choice words for Bush/McCain and their ill-considered (borderline criminal) foreign policy diminishing U.S. security.
Proud to be a Democrat right now! Democrats Unite!
Over the next several days, Senator Jim Webb will appear on a number of TV and radio programs discussing the critical issues facing our nation.
Sun, May 18: Meet the Press (NBC) Mon, May 19: CBS Early Morning Mon, May 19: Fresh Air (NPR) Mon, May 19: Late Show with David Letterman (CBS) Tues, May 20: Countdown with Keith Olbermann (MSNBC) Tues, May 20: Lou Dobbs (CNN)Check your local listings for the airtime and station broadcasting each show. We hope you can tune in.
Thank you for your continued support of Born Fighting PAC.
Sincerely,
Ashley Flanagan
Born Fighting PAC
In today’s "Here Come the Millennials", Bob Herbert seems convinced that the Millennials will reject conservative power in the next few years, even if not in the Presidential Election of 2008:
<blockquote>Whether young Americans can shift the balance of the presidential election is an open question. But there is very little doubt that over the next several years they are capable of loosening the tremendous grip that conservatives have had on the levers of American power.</blockquote>
Millennials, he says, are…
<blockquote>… a generation that is in danger of being left out of the American dream — the first American generation to do less well economically than their parents. And that economic uncertainty appears to have played a big role in shaping their views of government and politics.</blockquote>
I think he’s right when it comes to getting out the vote, overall, and I’m actually more optimistic than him on the presidency this year. I firmly believe the Millennials will show up to elect Barack Obama in 2008. (There’s more than economics at stake here. W’s sins are too egregious…)
But, I still worry about the long term outlook for the Millennials and our national character. I mean no disrespect to the babyboom readers here at TPM, but I've been starting to feel that the previous generation has really done some irreparable harm to our country.
--Bill Clinton = “If it feels good, do it!”
--George W. Bush = “I’m gonna do this. Not legal, you say? F#ck you, we’ll change the rules!”
Boomers have been too powerful for too long, and have systematically changed the rules in their favor at every turn. Specifically, I'm thinking of the way that government since 1980 has been turned into a transfer-station to funnel public money into private hands (i.e. - David Cay Johnston's "Free Lunch"). And the way that we've been saturation-marketed to the point that a lot of our personal identities are completely wrapped up in our consumption-circle patterns (i.e. – MTV, Abercrombie, SUV’s, and Credit Card traps on college campuses). And enormous CEO pay and golden parachutes for failed CEO’s whose workers lost pensions and jobs.
And perhaps the most emasculating insult: The real minimum wage hasn’t gone up over the last 30+ years. As Herbert says in his piece: “In 1974, the median income for men in their 30s (using today’s inflation-adjusted dollars) was about $40,000. The figure for men in their 30s now is $35,000.”
We've been sliced and diced, while the power mechanisms Herbert describes have been perfected and the middle class has been eviscerated. After all the marketing, and after all the debt, and after all the sugar-highs, and Schwarzenegger explosions, we may be convinced of our powerlessness and complete subservience… Not directly to our political leaders, but to our endless, subconscious drive to consume at all costs.
I guess it doesn’t matter if you’re in the fortunate elite upper-class they created with junk bonds, conglomerates, and hedge funds (like Paris Hilton. “That’s Hot. I’ll buy it.”)
But if you’re in what’s left of the middle class, the future seems Sisyphusian, like for the FreeCreditReportDOTcom Commercial Guy: “Too bad I didn’t know my credit was whack // cause now I’m driving off the lot in a used subcompact // Saw their ads on my TV // Thought about going but was too lazy // Now instead of looking fly and rolling phat // my legs are sticking to the vinyl // and my posse’s getting’ laughed at”
Change can’t come soon enough.
