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- ukit0
Bailout Agreement Unraveling?
During the White House meeting, it appears that Sen. John McCain had an agenda. He brought up alternative proposals, surprising and angering Democrats. He did not, according to someone briefed on the meeting, provide specifics.
One the proposals -- favored by House Republicans -- would relax regulation and temporarily get rid of certain taxes in order to lure private industry into the market for these distressed assets.
That approach has been rejected by Senate Democrats, Senate Republicans and, to this point, the White House. During the meeting, according to someone briefed on it, Sec. Henry Paulson told those assembled that the approach was not workable.
Before the White House meeting, Democrats and Senate Republicans were on track to get legislation to the floor by tomorrow. Democrats say that, at best, they hope for half of Republicans in the House to go along. At worst, the vote in the House becomes partisan and then Senate Republicans get shaky and then...
As of 6:30, as the Corner notes, Fox's Carl Cameron notes that the mood on Capitol Hill is "remarkably sour."
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement that "it's clear that more progress is needed and we must continue to work together quickly to protect our economy."
- SoulFly0
I'm scared...
first it was 2012, now this financial crisis. Why couldn't things be like when Reagan was in charge.- You mean nuclear standoff with Russia?ukit
- I was thinking of the financial market crisis or 86... But the soviet crisis.. yeah, that as well.SoulFly
- fuck a reaganhallelujah
- LOL - my dad and I just talked about how Reagan is essentially to blame for the beginnings of what is going on.mg33
- MrOneHundred0
I remember when the worst a president could do was get a BJ from a horny intern...
- ukit0
So who here is in favor of the bail out, and who is against?
- Against. It is just, as I have stated previously, the last big money-grab before the locks get changed.MrOneHundred
- Don't think it has to happen as fast as they say. They can jointly tell America it will take time to find a solution and not to panic.joeth
- against it , unless the bail out includes my Cousin Adrian doing 8 years for robberyBattleAxe
- hallelujah0
Senator Dodd:
"What happened here, if you want an honest appraisal from me, is, we’ve been spending a lot of time--I’m tired, I,ve been almost seven straight days at this--trying to come up with a workout plan for our economy. A rescue plan. What this looked like to me was a rescue plan for John McCain for two hours, and it took us away from the work we’re trying to do today. Serious people trying to do serious work to come up with an answer."
- ukit0
House Republicans walked out of the meeting tonight...looks like this thing is falling apart.
I hope the skeptics are right and no plan is needed. I guess we will find out!
- ukit0
A high-profile White House meeting on Treasury’s $700 billion Wall Street rescue plan ended on a sour, contentious note Thursday after animated exchanges among lawmakers laced with presidential politics just weeks before the November elections.
“I can’t invent votes,” House Republican Leader John Boehner warned the administration about the lack of support in his conference for the massive government intervention. And House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) angrily accused House Republicans — with the tacit support of Republican presidential candidate John McCain — of crafting an alternative to undercut Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
Both McCain and his Democrat rival, Sen. Barack Obama, left without any joint endorsement. A beleaguered President Bush had to struggle to maintain order and reassert himself. And when Democrats left after the meeting to caucus in the Roosevelt Room, Paulson pursued them, begging that they not “blow up” the legislation.
The former Goldman Sachs CEO even went down on one knee as if genuflecting, to which Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Cal.) is said to have joked, “I didn’t know you were Catholic.”
The White House meeting had been called at the urging of McCain, but Democrats made sure Obama had a prominent part. And much as they complained later of being blindsided, the whole meeting turned out to be something of an ambush on their part—aimed at McCain and House Republicans.
“Speaking professionally,” said one Republican aide, “They did a very good job.”
When Bush yielded early to Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D- Nev.) to speak, they yielded to Obama to speak for the assembled Democrats. And it was Obama who raised the subject of the conservative alternative and pressed Paulson on what he thought of the idea.
House Republicans felt trapped—squeezed by Treasury, House Democrats and a bipartisan coalition in the Senate. And while McCain spoke surprisingly little after asking for the meeting, he conceded that it appeared there were not the votes for the core Paulson plan without major changes.
A top adviser to McCain, Mark Salter, said later that the senator had not endorsed the House conservative plan but felt it reflected a desire by lawmakers for more taxpayer protections that would help get the required votes. For example, Salter said, one option would be to make clear that the secretary needn’t be confined to buying up bad debts and could use other routes such as loans or federally-backed insurance to relieve the congestion in mortgage-related assets.
Within hours at the Capitol Thursday night, meetings were called to try — in Reid’s words – to "put the train back on track.”
Paulson arrived near 8:40 p.m. but without Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who supports the secretary but appears to want to stand clear of the negotiating session.
Democrats may feel stronger and more united after the White House session. But the wild session left doubt about the ability of Congress to move quickly on the matter, even after leaders of the House and Senate banking committees reached a bipartisan agreement Thursday on the framework for legislation authorizing the massive government intervention.
The whole sequence of events confirmed Treasury’s fears about the decision by Bush, at the urging of McCain, to allow presidential politics into what were already difficult negotiations. And while the markets were closed by the time the meeting ended, Friday could bring turmoil, and there will be immense pressure now by Treasury to get back on track before Monday.
- I liked this story. like an adventure, full of intrigue and suspenseflashbender
- Obviously a right wing hit piece - using "democrat party" instead of "democratic" is a dead giveawayTheBlueOne
- John Boner says what?tasty
- ukit0
Oh snap! Another one bites the dust.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/2…
Washington Mutual, the giant lender that came to symbolize the excesses of the mortgage boom, was seized by federal regulators on Thursday night in the largest bank failure in American history.
- Wow I didn't even know that the FED had the power to do that. That's insane. Just walked in and took over?tommyo
- hello? it is the federal government. it can take a country but not a bank? Jesus********
- ukit0
Chris Rock on Larry King just noe:
"America's broke right now, and no one understands broke better than black people."
- ********0
"Drill Baby Drill" - Palin
- ********0
- ********0
Breaking news: Palin's running for Miss South Carolina contest !
- GeorgesII0
Terrrust!!!
- TheBlueOne0
i want my country back..you know the one where conspiracy theories didn't seem plausible...I'm remembering the conversation I had with my good friend back in July - he's an actor and he went for a commercial shoot for some financial investment company to air overseas this autumn and his copy was "Now in a post-American business environment...." and he called me up right afterwards saying "wow, what weird copy?" And we got into a big discussion about it...and now I think back and go.."Was this a company in on it?"
And I'm a rational educated guy who poo-poos conspiracies, but they almost seem the most plausible fucking things...I swear ever since 9-11 I feel like we tripped through a wormhole and have been living in bizarro world...
- lowimpakt0
i was just thinking about the complex irony of China kicking America's financial balls, massive US state intervention in the market and McCain fighting communism in Vietnam....
- GeorgesII0
^
and crashing 5 planes before getting caught
http://www.vietnamveteransagains…
- hallelujah0
"Paul Krugman: Where are the grown-ups?
Eugene Robinson:
Drama King to the Rescue
John McCain is rapidly making his temperament an inescapable issue in the presidential campaign. Does the nation really want so much drama in the White House?
NY Times:
Instead he [McCain] found himself in the midst of a remarkable partisan showdown, lacking a clear public message for how to bring it to an end.
At the bipartisan White House meeting that Mr. McCain had called for a day earlier, he sat silently for more than 40 minutes, more observer than leader, and then offered only a vague sense of where he stood, said people in the meeting.
...
Still, by nightfall, the day provided the younger and less experienced Mr. Obama an opportunity to, in effect, shift roles with Mr. McCain. For a moment, at least, it was Mr. Obama presenting himself as the old hand at consensus building, and as the real face of bipartisan politics
h/t EmperorHadrian
EJ Dionne:
John McCain's sudden intervention in Washington's deliberations over the Wall Street bailout could not have been more out of sync with what was actually happening.
Charles Krauthammer: Just shoot a few investment bankers, give the rabble their bread and circus, and let's move on and save the rich.
John Dickerson:
OK, you run to the fire hydrant, cut left, and then when he gets to the Buick, John, you heave it.
Roger Cohen:
Sarah Palin loves the word "exceptional." At a rally in Nevada the other day, the Republican vice-presidential candidate said: "We are an exceptional nation." Then she declared: "America is an exceptional country." In case anyone missed that, she added: "You are all exceptional Americans."
I have to hand it to Palin, she may be onto something in her batty way: the election is very much about American exceptionalism.
David Brooks: McCain was a POW. I'm where Richard Cohen was two months ago, except Cohen realized McCain was full of shit and a toxic serial liar, and I'm not intellectually honest enough to admit it to myself.
Kathleen Parker: I don't know what's with Brooks, but even I know Sarah the Unready is a disaster. And David, McCain chose her. What does that tell you about McCain?
- ********0
"If money isn’t loosened up, this sucker could go down," says the Decider.
Bush approval rating at 16%.
- hallelujah0
"But talk show host Ed Shultz has published on his website, that Capitol Hill sources are reporting that McCain insiders are scared shitless of Palin's upcoming debate (or shriek) holding a press conference, and would love to skip the VP debate if they could.
I believe this report. Not just because of the disastrous Katie Couric and Charles Gibson interviews. But this is one of those "inside Washington facts, that everyone knows, but they're afraid to talk about. Well Ed Just published the truth (as J. Scarborough, M.Murphy and P.Buchanan echoed on Morning Joe this morning).
Too make matters worse, even The Morning Joe Crew said this morning, that Palin's interview with Katie Couric was terrible, and CBS has even more damaging video on file, that makes her look more a complete idiot, and once again, clearly showcases McCain's poor judgment.
It gets worse guys. Just keep reading. McCain's meeting was a total farce, and there's more video in the CBS vaults.
Breaking News from Big Eddie:
McCain Camp insiders say Palin "clueless"
Capitol Hill sources are telling me that senior McCain people
are more than concerned about Palin. The campaign has held
a mock debate and a mock press conference; both are being described as "disastrous." One senior McCain aide was quoted as saying, "What are we going to do?" The McCain people want to move this first debate to some later, undetermined date, possibly never. People on the inside are saying the Alaska Governor is "clueless."Can you believe that? The McCain campaign held a mock debate and press conference, and she was horrible, and they asked themselves "what are we gonna do?.
The speculation I'm hearing now from various radio reporters (including Errol Lewis here in NY on 1600AM), is that McCain is really trying to back Palin out of her debate. The memo must be spreading.
Joe Scarborough, Pat Buchanan and Mike Murphy all simultaneously, argued that Palin was not the best choice today on Morning Joe. Scarborough said:
If she can't answer basic questions, that's tough. Katie did not ask her tough questions, her questions were very fair. Apparently Katie asked her, "what's the worst thing Dick Cheney did", and she answered "Shooting his friend with the gun". Us Elections aren't a meritocracy, about picking the most qualified people, it's obvious she has very little knowledge of US facts. She may be a good person and a good governor, she has also has a high approval rating, but is this is the best person you can find for Vice President? but what does this say about Palin and McCain's judgment?
Mmmmh. That was Joe.
Former McCain campaign Manager, "Hot" Mike Murphy, said that:
Is my Mike on, Lol. Well you know Pat, I never agreed with the Palin pick in the first place. I said she's a good base pick, but this is not a base vote type of year. The McCain camp has problems, because it seems CBS has more footage, and it's not any better, then what we've already seen.
Pat Buchanan said:
Either way, McCain doesn't look good. If he doesn't support the bailout, they'll say he killed it, but if he does, the house Republicans will be angry. But at this point he has to go[to the debate].
Wow! How do things change.
Katie Couric has given the Repubs the signal to openly criticize Palin and (bingo) McCain's judgment. Hopefully now, it will be open season on McCain's judgment.
Yesterday, McCain swooped into the White House meeting, and by all accounts he said very little, was disruptive and Obama actually led the meeting (by questioning Paulson and House Republican's). Now, how's that for true leadership?
At the end, Obama had to speak directly to McCain to enunciate a response, after McCain sat silent for 45 minutes of an hour long meeting.
Why did he go?Politico had an excellent/the best article I read, detailing the meeting This long quote is priceless guys:
Both McCain and his Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama, would leave the White House without comment, and the meeting was described as among the wildest in memory. A beleaguered President Bush had to struggle to maintain order and reassert himself. And when Democrats left to caucus in the Roosevelt Room, Paulson pursued them, begging that they not "blow up" the legislation.
The former Goldman Sachs CEO even went down on one knee as if genuflecting, to which Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Cal.) is said to have joked, "I didn’t know you were Catholic."
It was McCain who had urged Bush to call the White House meeting but Democrats made sure Obama had a prominent part. And much as they complained later of being blindsided, the whole event turned out to be something of an ambush on their part—aimed at McCain and House Republicans.
"Speaking professionally," said one Republican aide, "They did a very good job."
When Bush yielded early to Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D- Nev.) to speak, they yielded to Obama to speak for the assembled Democrats. And it was Obama who raised the subject of the conservative alternative and pressed Paulson on what he thought of the idea.
House Republicans felt trapped—squeezed by Treasury, House Democrats and a bipartisan coalition in the Senate. And while McCain spoke surprisingly little after asking for the meeting, he conceded that it appeared there were not the votes for the core Paulson plan without major changes.
You see. Democrats were prepared for that meeting (unlike McCain). For all the diaries we've seen/read on Kos, lamenting Obama being set up by McCain. It's obvious, that Democrats had talked about this. Instead its Obama, Pelosi, Reid and Frank, have made McCain look like the fool.
When have you ever heard The President, GOP Senators, Some Republican's and Democrat's disagreeing, with John McCain and hardline house Republicans? McCain is once again, boxing himself in, for the "Glory Of The Story".
Now leading House and Senate Democrats and Republican's, according to MSNBC, are criticizing John McCain for blowing up today's meeting. Why. Cause (as discussed) he was quiet in the meeting, showing no leadership (that got attendees mad). But ironically, before the meeting, he met with house Republican's. These are the legislators currently holding up the plan that McCain seems to agree with. What a slimy, spineless hypocrite, "Wuss" of a total disaster you are Senator McCain! World markets, banks, businesses and American's are waiting for this deal, that none of us really want to pay, for but the markets (and institutions need) for business to continue.
It's, McCain botched up the deal, because instead of being a leader, he didn't want to tip his hand (cause he knows nothing about the issues/meeting). Though it was obvious he was supporting the more conservative house Republicans(according to Politico, CNN, etc.).
Now who's the one being more political? Hey McCain. You're not going to win the election, or close this deal supporting house Republican's with more deregulation and corporate/wealthy tax cuts.
Yes Kossacks it's true. The house Republican's and McCain, even wanted to include "More Deregulation and Tax Cuts" in their alternate proposal. Can you believe that, after everything that's happened the past two weeks? Yes, and there were dumb enough to put in writing, via a proposal?
This is a man, who a few days ago, didn't even read the 3 page bailout plan (Obama did), or was involved with Capitol Hill leaders, for updates (as Obama clearly has been).
John McCain is not a leader. Whether it's Palin-Gate, Suspension-Gate, or his bail-out on the debates, it's obvious John McCain is a royal, incompetent, temperamental, un-trustworthy pain!
If I were the democrats, I would definitely, not agree to this deal today (for the taxpayer sake, so we don't repeat the Patriot act mistakes, of rushing through crippling legislation), and to let McCain sweat, or show up like a fool tonight, in the debate of Mississippi."