McCain and the Wall Street Meltdown

"I don’t think anyone who wants to increase the burden of government regulation and higher taxes has any real understanding of economics and the economy and what is needed in order to ensure the future of this country.” -John McCain, 4.23.08

John McCain has supported deregulation since the beginning of his time in the Senate. On the campaign trail before the financial markets crashed, McCain has said numerous times, "the fundamentals of our economy our strong", echoing President Bush. McCain and the Republican Party our proud to be de-regulators. Ask the experts, the reason for this financial market crisis is due to lack of oversight and regulation. Senator Obama has been out front on this issue for years now, calling for stricter regulations when the housing market started plummeting due to predatory loans and balloon interest rates. Senator Obama, unlike Senator McCain, actually read Sectretary Paulson's bailout plan. Senator McCain didn't read Paulson's bailout plan until September 23.Video of that admission here: http://beltwayblips.com/video/john_mccain_i_haven_t_read_the_paulson_plan/

If that's not shocking enough, then how would you feel if you knew John McCain's Campaign Advisor, Rick Davis, was a lobbyist for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac hired to lobby against strict regulations. Davis earned $30,000 a month for 5 years up until August. McCain claims that was the 'past' and he hasn't been associated with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for a while now. Now, because of the deregulation we the taxpayers are bailing out Fannie/Freddie and Wall Street because of flawed economic policies dominated by special interests, people like Rick Davis. Sounds crooked to me. Then again, thanks to public records, McCain has 177 lobbyists working on his campaign. 83 of them have worked in the finanacial industry.

Make no mistake, John McCain has a past with the finanacial industry. During George H.W's term, 5 U.S Senators were sent to interrupt investigation into the Savings and Loan Crisis. The Savings and Loans market was deregulated in the mid 1980s allowing for risky investments and an eventual 3 billion dollar government bailout. John McCain was one of those 5 Senators that caused the halt of the investigation, thus leading to further damage of the market. Those 5 Senators were paid a total of 1.3 billion dollars to do so. The Senate Ethics Committee called McCain's actions "poor judgment" and McCain said in 2002 it was "the worst mistake in my life".
3 out of the 5 Senators were convicted. McCain walked away, but clearly thought it was okay to put his illegal practices in front of the American people.

"Let’s Reduce Regulation.” -John McCain, 3.12.08

Country First?

The Palin Agenda

The American public elected George W Bush for two terms knowing that he was a "born-again Christian". As religion is a sometimes personal issue, Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin isn't shy about it.

Sarah Palin was said this in her Church to ministry students:

"Our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God," she said. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that plan is God's plan."

A few things both wrong and scary with her words. Since when did she start speaking for God? I don't think the authorization of the Iraq war was in the Bible. I'm not sure, but I don't know that a loving God would approve of nearly 100,000 Iraqi's dead and +4,000 U.S troops dead based on a war waged with false intelligence. Many former aides to Bush confess that Bush planned to invade Iraq at the beginning of 2001, without no intel at all. The White House tried to paint Saddam as a terrorist-loving dictator. When in fact, Saddam hated terrorists and held no connection to 9/11.
Secondly, she uses 'God's Plan' to justify the war. Didn't the First Crusade start like that? Pope Urban II decided one day to launch a preemptive religious war. Dont the islamic extremists justify killing through Allah?

In American culture, if it's radical to kill American citizens through 'Allah's' will. How is that different than launching a 3 trillion dollar, 5+ year, preemptive invasion into a sovereign nation and justifying that through 'God's Will', like Palin does?

You can't have it both ways. They're both wrong. I don't feel comfortable knowing that we have another extremist running with a candidate for President. When asked if she'd support war with Russia, she said:
"Perhaps so. I mean, that is the agreement when you are a NATO ally, is if another country is attacked, you're going to be expected to be called upon and help."

It not only scares me that Palin justifys war through religion and God, but she seems almost to be flexing her muscle and carelessness, the same failing cowboy diplomacy we've witnessed the past 8 years.

Sarah Palin is a heartbeat away from the Presidency. McCain is 72 years old, and with his past health problems and stress he'll be dealing with, I sure as hell don't want her in charge.