[MrChem]

I am getting sick and tired of attack ads by the McCain camp. Yes, Obama has them too but they are a waste of my time. I am still looking for the McCain of 2000 to show up. He should play to his strengths, not sling mud. He is better than that. For example, McCain has not taken or asked for a single earmark in his 23 years as a senator. That is what folks need to hear. Proving once again the integrity of this man cannot be overstated. Unfortunately, his campaign folks have used poor strategy for the most part. People are sick of the negative stuff. With the somber mood and even anger brought on by the financial crisis, folks are looking for leadership and integrity, not mud slinging. He needs to show more contrast between himself and Obama. This is not achieved by insults, innuendos or a condesending approach to his opponent.

So my questions is what do you think McCain needs to do in order to get back on track?

 

[gunner69]

McChem, I disagree. Barack Obama started his political carear in Chicago. The voters have asked Mr. Obama about his past and views on several points........ I haven't received ONE honest answer yet. 1. He was a Lawyer for ACORN, and while with them trained their personnel (in what?). Note ACORN is a radical group that gets their way through intimidation. 2. His baptism sendoff party, into politics, was paid for and hosted by a Weather Underground ex-terrorist (is there such a thing as an ex-terrorist?). 3. He also served on the board of a organization that his Weather Underground mentor also served on. 4. The church he belonged to for 20 year + was preachered by an anti-white, antisemitic radical. 5. He sponsored federal government grants for ACORN, which is now being investigated for voter registration fraud in multiple states. 6. He refuses to release his school records. 7. He refuses to release his tax returns.

I as a voter want some ANSWERS..... not lane brain evasive bullshit. If he has nothing to hide then what gives. I want to know just who the hell I am voting into our highest office. (If he were Colen Powell he would get my vote.) :2cents:

 

[TEXAS SOLFTAIL]

I FEEL THAT McCAIN ISN'T HAMMERING OBAMA ENOUGH. WE NEED ANSWERS LIKE GUNNER69 SAID. THE MAIN STREAM MEDIA WILL NOT BRING IT UP. (VOTE-MICHAEL SAVAGE)

 

[dont_tread_on_me]

McCain needs to get pissed,not wildly maniacal,but he needs to show the American people that he is as mad as we are. Washington is a fucking joke,I'm so sick of partisan politics i could vomit!.He needs to tell everyone that he's going to kick their ass if they don't stop bickering and finger pointing and get off their ass and start working together to solve problems,because if they don't,our once great nation is headed for the crapper pretty damn fast.They can't pass one bill without some ridiculous pork nailed to it.Both parties have led us down this road,and we all know it.He needs to tell everyone that he knows it too,and will fight to make them work together to fix it.

 

[MrChem]

I totally respect your opinions. I am just so tired of the satus quo in Washington. Congress has to be the most useless arm of government for the last decade. When Republicans controlled it, nothing was really accomplished. In 2006, the dems got their shot and guess what? Nothing happened. No wonder congress has the lowest approval rating in history. Just like Nero, they are watching Rome burn.

 

[gunner69]

McCain needs to point at the Dems being the majority in both the Senate and House.......... and not doing a damn thing during this period of power. :2cents:

 

[MickeyC]

He also needs to point out where Obamas' ads are lying. Obama will increase taxes on people and families beoow $250K income. McCain's tax credit for health insurance and his dependant allowance increase to $7000 will negate the entire tax bill for almost %50 of Americans, i.e those earning less than $32k.

Unfortunately most people tend to blame the governing party for financial woes, same happened to Bush senior. Also, no offence intended, but the majority of Americans are led my the media and seem unable to form their own educated opinion. Obams is making a polished appearance but no one seams to realize that when you polish a turd, yes it's shiny but underneath it's still a turd.

 

[i303]

We all know what we are getting if we get McCain. So whatever smear campaign on mcCain isn't new news.

What the fence sitters, and most of the dems, don't know is what we will be getting if Obamassiah is in office. There sure seems to be alot about him that is left unknown.

The fence sitters are the dumbest of Americans, the typical type that end up sitting on juries. The ones that are told who to vote for. Smear campaign? Yeah they always end that way about this time. Obamassiah has always gotten one position the way he knows how, then bucks for the next. Heck, Obamassiah probably will end up in the white house simply because of 'da crisis" which the dumb fence sitters will solely blame Bush, which in turn means all republicans (of course no one see's who controls congress), so they'll vote for whatever isn't a republican. Obamassiah is far away from a republican as one can get.

We'll just have to see where this will go won't we? Enjoy the ride.

 

[MrChem]

Why isn't McCain attacking Obama's association with Rev. Wright? From what I've seen, this guy is a hate monger and racist. When Obama's relationship with him first came out, Obama was really put on the defensive. Now, not a single mention of him. What the hell?

 

[Phalanx]

Because obama is going to win this ,no matter what. Even if McCain wins in a landslide we will never know about it.
I am a citizen of the world !!! This is what he said in Germany.
Does this tell you anything about what is going on here ?

 

[dont_tread_on_me]

Even if the election is counted fairly,which probably will never happen,McCain will lose because of the perception of the majority of voters that the Democratic parties economic policies benefit the middle class.HAHHH! What a fucking joke that is,this current economic crisis goes all the way back to the stock market crash of 1929,and the depression that followed.
FDR's "New Deal' was the start of all of this.Our government has gotton more hands on the countries finances ever since.The failed Democratic policy of "every man deserves to be able to buy a house" has been at the root of all of this all the way down through Fannie May and Freddie Mac and the lack of proper oversight of them both.Throw in A.C.O.R.N. along with them trying to strongarm banks into lending to people with no down payment and next to no credit.
Oh by the way that is the same A.C.O.R.N. that's been in the news accused of unlawful voter registration,that the good Senator Obama has questionable ties with.
I believe everyone deserves to buy a home too,If they can afford it!!!! When the housing market began to slide ,gas prices go WAY up putting the nail in the housing market coffin,and what do you get? A shitload of people,who could barely pay their mortgage as it was,default.They figure what the hell,they ain't got much into it,they didn't need a down payment,so you ain't lost much if you just walk away right?
What happens next?Banks go broke because they ain't gettin' paid,during this time Fannie and Freddie keep soaking up all this bad debt,more and more,obviously than they could handle.Ummmm,can you see where this is going? Republicans including the Busch administration,repeatedly tried to tell Senator's Barney Frank,Chris Dodd,Chuck(the dumbfuck)Schumer and their Democrat cronies that Fannie and Freddy were headed down a bad road.They tried to pass a bill for more oversight.
Well these dumbasses would have nothing of it.He said Fannie and Freddy were "fundamentally sound" was I believe the quote Barney Frank used.By this way this imbecile is the Democratic chairman of the finance reform committee,yet he claims no responsibility?Am I the only one here who gets irate everytime I think about this?
I know ole' G'W. ain't the razors edge,but I swear to Christ if someone else ever says this meltdown is Busch's failed economic policies of the last eight years,I'm going to slap em'.They tried to warn the finance reform committee several times.I know everyone has blame in this debacle,but this one folks,lies mostly on Democratic shoulders.I just wish the general population knew all this.
Obama is so damn liberal,he's a socialist in democratic clothing.God help us if he takes the oval office.

 

[tk]

A couple of reality checks...

The financial meltdown occurring around the world starts with bad mortgages (a LOT of bad mortgages), but the bad mortgages are hardly the primary issue, nor, frankly, are the bad mortgages what everyone is concerned about.

The financial meltdown is the natural result of an unregulated financial system that's based on profit, not value. It started with mortgages that essentially could not be paid back both because of the terms of the mortgages and the financial condition of those taking them. The bad mortgages were then bundled and sold as securities. And finally, the banks engaged in an unregulated practice called default credit swapping, which amounts to giving and taking bets on which groups of securities would be good and which would fail. Then they bought credit swaps on their credit swaps. And this went on for years WITH NO GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT, because the "regulators" were all senior executives for the industry being regulated. And they kept crying "the free market will regulate itself."

The net effect of this, is that a mortgage for $200,000 was valued, for example, at $500,000 (because of how it had to be paid off), and was leveraged through the default swaps for, perhaps, twice that amount. Or maybe more, since the transactions became so complex and layered that no one can unravel them.

These credit swaps are obligations that the banks must pay out to each other if the mortgages fail. And the mortgages are failing in droves.
When the mortgage fails, it leaves various parties on the hook for many times the amount of the loan that was taken out (the mortgagee owes $200,000, the issuing bank owes ANOTHER $200,000, the insuring bank may owe $500,000).

Here's the part that's making people crazy: There are estimates that the volume of credit swaps is in the tens of trillions of dollars -- possibly higher than the entire world money supply. The key word there is "estimate:" No one really knows, because these are unregulated (unsupervised and unrecorded) trades, which became a standard practice. They weren't just applied to mortgage-based securities, but to all kinds of other transactions.

Imagine a system where the bookie on the corner makes bets with the bookie on the next corner, to cover his losses in case he's forced to pay off on his 100 to 1 bets. Now involve all the bookies on all the corners in all the cities of the world. Now call the bookies "banks" and imagine what happens if they all make the same bad bets and all have to pay off at the same time. That's what we're dealing with.

BTW: The mortgage rules were loosened up to help lower-income families afford to buy homes, but a huge number of these bad loans went to the very affluent for second homes, or investment homes, or homes that were flipped.

 

[admin]

It's funny how history has gone full circle and now the country that spearheaded the cold war now has a fascist and a communist as the only two options for president.

 

[dont_tread_on_me]

Tk thank you for your more thourough explanation.I probably should've gone into more detail,but the basic point I was trying to make is the greater responsibility the Democratic party shares in the lack of action,in fact their flat out refusal to regulate the banking industry to stop this type of risky lending to start with,and in point of fact encouraging it.Like I said there is plenty blame to be shared here,but some carry a hell of a lot more than others.

 

[Bravo]

TK, that's not all of the story, and to say that the problems are due to a lack of government oversight is being misleading.

The "root cause" *IS* government interference, not the lack thereof.

Look into the Community Reinvestment Act signed by jimmah cattah. This in itself wasn't so evil (just a "mild evil" - like the so-called patriot act or voting for mccain), as jimmah cattah operated it under request only - not obligation (it was voluntary participation, not something a company could be fined for if they chose not to participate).

That changed under little billy clintooooon. Under clintooooon in 1995, the act was amended so that participation by "any banking institution that accepted deposits" became mandatory. In other words, if banks DIDN'T take high-risk mortage loans, they would be fined. Nobody cared though, 'cause the high risk mortgages were covered by the government.

So there's a TREMENDOUS "up-side" to taking high-risk mortgages, but no real "down-side". Which creates a bubble. Except all bubbles burst.

Here's a good video that has complete - albeit quickly presented - information:

So in the end-game, when everything is boiled down, GOVERNMENT made the housing crisis - which is responsible for the beginning of the end (concerning our fiat currency - which GOVERNMENT is ALSO responsble for) of our economy.

Quiz time: in Article I section 8 of the Constitution of these united States, the authorities (government can't have "rights" - only people have "rights") of congress are clearly spelled out. When combined with Amendments 9 and 10 of the Bill of Rights, these define the entire scope of authorities delegated to congress. Where in Article I section 8 does congress get the authority to support mortage loans and set up a fiat currency?

Trick question - it doesn't. These acts were unconstitutional.

But the original question was:

So my questions is what do you think McCain needs to do in order to get back on track?

And the only person to hit on the correct answer so far is Lex. As such, after watching this for a while, I've decided to participate.

The answer to the original question, as I would reply "allow the American public to come together as a nation, to mourn the loss of a leader. Specifically, at a funeral. Preferably mccains."

That's the best thing I can see for the nation right now.

The only argument enticing one to vote for mcstain is that he's slightly less intolerable than ospama. That fact isn't in contention. Iosef Stalin was a bit less intolerable than Hitler, but that fact wouldn't sway me to vote for Stalin if the two were running for POTUS.

As Christians we're to turn away from evil. Shun it. The Bible doesn't say "commit adultry in moderation" or "provide false testimony if it's the lesser of the evils". Turn away from it completely. As such, I turn away from "the lesser of the evils", because doing otherwise would be compromising ideals that shouldn't be compromised.

Statistically, 17% of the registered voters (illegal aliens, dead people, etc, or not) elect the POTUS. Anyone that says they can't garner 17% of the registered voters in these united States is a defeatist. Of course, defeatists LOVE the big lie of "don't waste your vote, they CAN'T win!". So do both halves of the evil party.

FWIW.

 

[tk]

Bravo,

We have a somewhat different view of the situation, but I don't dispute what you say; my point is simply that to see this as a crisis that begins and ends with mortgages is to miss the bigger picture. If this were simply about mortgages, it would be impossible to justify a bailout (and I'm not sure a bailout is "justified" or appropriate, anyway).

And there have been a few good men on both sides of the aisle that have been vocal about that, at least in the past few weeks.

I'm certainly not making apologies for the Democrats. I'm an Independent and have voted for Republicans more often than Democrats. There's lots of blame to go around here.

Your point about the Constitutionality of the bailout may be perfectly valid; the problem is that neither party seems to give a damn about the Constitution.

But to get back on topic, I absolutely agree with you and Lex. Lex put it rather bluntly, but accurately -- at least in my opinion. Is McCain the lesser of two evils? Yeah, I think so. Do I feel good about voting for him? No.

There are a lot of things I like about old Sarah Barracuda. Unfortunately, I don't really have the sense that she cares about the Constitution, either. But perhaps we'll see....

 

[Bravo]

We have a somewhat different view of the situation, but I don't dispute what you say; my point is simply that to see this as a crisis that begins and ends with mortgages is to miss the bigger picture.

Right!

If this were simply about mortgages, it would be impossible to justify a bailout (and I'm not sure a bailout is "justified" or appropriate, anyway).

You got it! This goes to the foundation of our problems entirely - the formation of the federal reserve bank. Unconstitutional as all get-out.

And there have been a few good men on both sides of the aisle that have been vocal about that, at least in the past few weeks.

Yup! Ron Paul sponsored (again) a bill to eliminate the federal reserve system. Nobody listens. It's not PROFITABLE to the politicians to honor the Constitution.

I'm certainly not making apologies for the Democrats. I'm an Independent and have voted for Republicans more often than Democrats. There's lots of blame to go around here.

Not really - the republicrats and the demopublicans are two halves of the same dog crap sandwich. The blame goes to the dog crap sandwich. Ordering fried chicken instead of dog crap sandwiches is the way to go. It's a sick and sad day when the Party of the Constitution of these united States "can't win".

Your point about the Constitutionality of the bailout may be perfectly valid; the problem is that neither party seems to give a damn about the Constitution.

And the end party responsible for that would be whom? If our dog mauls the neighbors livestock, it's OUR fault. As voters, the residents of this country are to blame. People who only get their information from the mass media aren't qualified to vote in my opinion. How do we get politicians in office that DO care about the Constitution? By voting OUT the ones that don't. So by voting OUT all the demopublicans and republicrats.......

But to get back on topic, I absolutely agree with you and Lex. Lex put it rather bluntly, but accurately -- at least in my opinion. Is McCain the lesser of two evils? Yeah, I think so. Do I feel good about voting for him? No.

And that's why I won't.

There are a lot of things I like about old Sarah Barracuda. Unfortunately, I don't really have the sense that she cares about the Constitution, either. But perhaps we'll see....

Maybe! I'd vote for mcstain if he could somehow guarantee he'd die within the first 12 months of the term. As it is, for the first time in many, many years, I'm not voting Libertarian. This cycle, the Constitutional Party has EARNED my vote.

Question to those of you who will vote for mcstain: "what has john mccain done to EARN your vote?"

 

[MickeyC]

All well and good, but being realistic it's between Obama and McCain.

Every vote you don't send to McCain helps Obama, so if you're going to vote for one of the otehr groups who are less likely to win then then just vote for Obama anyway and get it over with.

McCain may be an ass but given the choice i'd rather have him than Obama ANYDAY.

What did he to to earn my vote, well he is the only real option for keeping Obama out. The primaries showed that. Isn't that enough.

 

[Bravo]

All well and good, but being realistic it's between Obama and McCain.

It is now - the vast majority of amirikan residents couldn't vote their way out of a paper bag (or an economic crisis). These are the same people that can't punch a ticket....... These ARE the people that are solely informed by the TV - the same ones I said don't deserve the right to vote.

Every vote you don't send to McCain helps Obama, so if you're going to vote for one of the otehr groups who are less likely to win then then just vote for Obama anyway and get it over with.

And it appears the concept of party steering hasn't occurred to you. In either case, the republicratic and demopublican parties either need to evolve or perish. My vote is that they both go the way of the dodo.

McCain may be an ass but given the choice i'd rather have him than Obama ANYDAY.

Given the choice of Stalin or Hitler, I'd rather have Stalin too. So let's just vote for Stalin, and be merry as we purge our nation of Constitutionalists. After all, any vote not for Stalin is for Hitler, so you HAVE to vote for Stalin, right? Please.

What did he to to earn my vote, well he is the only real option for keeping Obama out. The primaries showed that. Isn't that enough.

Quite honestly, no. By your line of reasoning, we'd all be speaking French in this country today. When we wouldn't tolerate British bullying, the masses (keeping in accordance with your concept here) should have yelled "Let's side with the French! At least they're not the British!". Besides, the primaries are nothing more than the TV telling YOU how to think. So if I were one of the 7 individuals that owned 99% of the mass media in this country, I could greatly influence the outcome of elections too.

Most notably by THE BIG LIE - telling YOU that your vote doesn't count unless you vote the way I want you to.

I don't let anyone tell me how to think.

 

[sinjin]

MickeyC,

Votes for the Libertarian party aren't necessarily waisted. The larger the fraction of the vote that the Libertarians they get this election, the more votes they will get the next election, especially if the Democrats and Republicans continue to disappoint. It's a choice to take the long view instead of the short one, and to accept the unpleasant fact that the two existing political parties are, by all appearances, beyond redemption. Our republic has degenerated into a democratic corruptocracy. A long term effort to get the Libertarians into power may be our last, best hope.