they're going to try to make obama into a scheming political product of chicago.

too bad they're going to keep lying

Meanwhile, the fact that Obama was advised by a former Fannie exec allows McCain to attack Obama as a hypocrite, perhaps, but doesn't give McCain ammo to draw any meaningful contrast between the two candidates in the realm of ideas.

My bigger concern is it muddies the water and leads to a "they're all corrupt" mentality. Obama is the one who needs to draw the contrast when it comes to economic reform.

McCain can't be too pleased about the Rick Davis piece in today's Times. SEems like that should be an advantage for Obama, as well.

I think the Obama line from yesterday: John McCain wants to do for the health care system what WAshington has done for the banking system is excellent, and he should repeat it.

I'm troubled that something seems to be inhibiting Obama from speaking plainly about what is happening to (and what the Bush Administration is threatening to do to) the economy.

There may be some good reason for his relative reticence that I can't know about, and perhaps his strategists tell him that being a Cassandra would hurt his election chances. But the apparent intention of Bush to clean out the Treasury in favor of the very people who caused the mess, charging every single inhabitant of the U.S. (including infants) $2000 to socialize the American housing market seems something worth his both announcing and opposing.

McCain is actually making more effective (though fraudulent) noises about this so far.

This focus on executive compensation completely misses the issue. It's a canard, a distraction. Gramm. Glass Stegall. Gramm-Leach-Bliley. Those are the things that are driving this mess. The further away McCain can put this issue, the better.

McCain's got nothing to say about de-regulation as he well knows, so he rails against a noun:

GREED! And he kind of growls and rolls that "r" angrily.

If he's so mad about this, though, how come he's so surrounded by all these people whose whole lives are about greed?

Since when is it okay for a presidential candidate to not know about the most famous debacle his prominent financial advisor was involved in? Fiorina's downfall at HP was headline stuff. And she sure wasn't forced out because she'd done a good job.

Why is his ignorance acceptible as an answer? McCain should have known all about this before he signed her on as one of his main advisors. It's his job to know what his people have done, if they've been involved in anything questionable, especially if it made headlines.

Man, his record on vetting his people isn't too hot, is it?

Regardless of what is written about Obama doesn’t mean it is true. What is true is “what comes out of the mouth the heart is full of” and we hear what Obama says and we can judge his heart accordingly.
Our biggest problem now aside from energy is terrorism (if we fix our energy we fix the economy) and there’s two ways to address terror, offensively or defensively. Both face the same tossup war or peace. Education is the key, why radical Islam hates us. Talking and listening with our enemies and allies spending money on the schools that will prevent the teaching of radical Islam and at the same time be sensitive to the ancient customs of the Arab nations and leave diversity the role it needs to play. I am an American that lived in Israel ten years near a Arab neighborhood (Bethlehem) and I know how Arab-Israeli (Arabs that were born in Israel) and Palestinians (Arabs who were born outside usually Jordan) and have an understanding how both think. The more violence we will use against this Holy War, the more they are given the right to use terror.
We need a president who understands this. Obama is a man who does.

ooooh, awkward!

Actually, if you watch the whole interview with Viera, there's more! He also flashes a weird, creepy, possibly nervous smile when talking about how Carly Fiorina worked her way up from part-time secretary to CEO of HP, which is a slap in the face to the many bootstrappers out there who actually learned how to run things while moving through the ranks. The second-scariest part after the Fiorina weaseling, though, is the way he describes Sarah Palin. He responds to a question about her drawing crowds by saying how exciting it is to have her around, several times. It's the most animated he is in the whole piece, and a bit cringe-inducing, given all the photos and video of him looking at her butt and her chest, and his incessant fiddling with his wedding ring. Viera's facial expression after the jump is telling, too.