What a beautiful gift, Senator. Thank you. You're really too kind.

McCain-Palin'08: "Out of touch" much?

The fundamentals of the economy aren't strong when you have shaken consumer confidence in the economy.

bwahahahhahaaha
This McPALIN is a troll and stoopid too.

Just like Dumbya they are in denial....that is a meme to push.

Now let's see how Lalo spins this as bad for Obama.

Great quote from John Judis on the Plank at TNR (yes, I know, but he's the token progressive over there):

John McCain issued a statement today on the financial crisis in which he blamed government “regulation” for what happened: McCain declares, "We cannot tolerate a system that handicaps our markets and our banks and places at risk the savings of hard-working Americans and investors.” That’s 1920s Republicanism—and exactly what one would expect from a candidate whose chief economic advisor was former Sen. Phil Gramm.

The MSM needs to press him on this. Given what we are seeing playing out here today, Senator, in what sense, specifically, can you still say that "the fundamentals of our economy are strong?"

Somebody also better ask him how the hell more deregulation can fix the problems caused by deregulation. That's obscenely stupid. Herbert Hoover called, John; he wants his talking points back.

The cognitive dissonance is stunning.

the fundamentals of russian bombers flying practice manuevers with venezuala and bolivia in the caribean, the fundamentals of the implosion of american banking system, hurricane Ike and the fundamental supplies from the fema nowhere to be found,the fundamentals of pakistan's military, complete with nukes, firing on american soldiers as they make incursions into pakistan, the fundamentals of todays media will be to talk about how wonderful palin mccain really are. WOW definetley monday.

Stepping aside from the day to day BS, it is historically almost impossible for the party in power of the White House to stay in power with this kind of an economy.

People are going to get increasingly nervous and will be looking for new solutions. Obama's attempts to paint McCain into a continuation of the Bush policies and in the pocket of special interests seems smarter and smarter.

As an early Obama supporter, I am cautiously optimistic that what we saw early on in him is true: this guy is the smartest kid on the block plus he's got the best long-term thinker on the block too. Kind of like a Bill Clinton with a stronger moral center.

OK, hammer him for being out of touch, hammer republicans for contributing to this financial meltdown.

But in times of crisis folks will either respond to messages of fear or an optimistic vision. We are all in deep trouble if a majority responds to republican politics of fear and xenophobia as the economy gets worse.

Never be afraid to unfurl the flag of hope, that is the job of the President.

Can someone explain what is fundamentally strong?

I would say if major investment banks are going belly up, we have record home foreclosures, consumer debt is maxed out, we lost 700,000 jobs this year, we are spending $10 billion per month in Iraq, and Greenspan says the USA can't afford John McCains tax cut, our fundamentals aren't that strong.

What fundamentals is he talking about?

Get a f***ing clue John McCain.

Neddless to say, if you do have spare money right now go out and invest in the market. I might bump up my 401k contribution for the near future. Now is the time to be buying if you don't plan on retiring in the next 4 to 5 years.

Ok thanks Hyper I need to wake up lol

I want to see an Obama ad out by this afternoon: McShame still doesn't get it.

Couple this with the "divorced from reality" gaffe and voila! Kaboom!

"I promise you we will never put America in this position again"
Oh, so you are the one who did it . . .

"The fundamentals of our economy are strong"

SteveLaBonne said:

Kind of bad taste to mention Bill Clinton right now, since the repeal of Glass-Steagall happened on his watch.

correct, on Clinton's watch.

Now, do you concede 9/11 happened on Bush's watch?

Here's my take on why the race has become so close...

Because of the McCain camp's effective use of distractions, Obama's economic message has been lost in all the noise. As a result, people think Obama is going to raise taxes on everybody, screw seniors, and give a bunch of handouts and jobs to black folks. Of course, not one of those things is part of Obama's economic proposals or policies but there you have it. At the same time, I fear people are buying the "Palin is a reformer" BS, which has an added benefit of reminding people of the John McCain they remember from 2000. Doesn't matter that the John McCain of 2000 no longer exists (if he ever did), doesn't matter that Palin's "reform" record is based on a bunch of lies - it's how people perceive the race at this point.

What to do? I have no idea. I'm too much of a political junkie and have been for years to even know how low-info voters consider, follow, or perceive presidential races. Obama says the middle class will do better under his economic policy, as will seniors. Most of the non-partisan analysis of the competing tax/economic plans I've read shows that Obama is correct when he makes that claim. Why aren't people buying it?

Anyone think he may be trying to appeal to all the voters who don't like to hear bad news? Those in denial of what has happened to our country over the last 7 years? In short, Republicans?

A BRILLIANT idea from John Judis at
The New Rebpublic:

"What do I know, but here's what I would do if I were you. I would call a press conference tomorrow to discuss the financial crisis. Do it in New York City. Even better, on Wall Street. Begin with a fifteen minute statement outlining why the crisis has occured and what, generally, the government should do about it. Contrast your approach sharply with that of McCain and the Republicans. Take questions for an hour from reporters. Finally, issue a challenge to McCain to debate the issue by week's end. And offer to allow McCain to bring Sarah Palin and Phil Gramm at his side if he needs them to advise him on the issues."

Dude doesn't have a fucking clue.

What do they mean "MAYBE in television ads"?

This is a gift horse! DEFINITELY use that damn quote in television ads!

Tomorrow's ads should be about the economy and how "out of touch" McCain is on the economy. They also should do ads on the Obama solutions for the economy.

"As mass production has to be accompanied by mass consumption, mass consumption, in turn, implies a distribution of wealth -- not of existing wealth, but of wealth as it is currently produced -- to provide men with buying power equal to the amount of goods and services offered by the nation s economic machinery. [Emphasis in original.] Instead of achieving that kind of distribution, a giant suction pump had by 1929-30 drawn into a few hands an increasing portion of currently produced wealth. This served them as capital accumulations. But by taking purchasing power out of the hands of mass consumers, the savers denied to themselves the kind of effective demand for their products that would justify a reinvestment of their capital accumulations in new plants. In consequence, as in a poker game where the chips were concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, the other fellows could stay in the game only by borrowing. When their credit ran out, the game stopped."

That is what happened to us in the twenties. We sustained high levels of employment in that period with the aid of an exceptional expansion of debt outside of the banking system. This debt was provided by the large growth of business savings as well as savings by individuals, particularly in the upper-income groups where taxes were relatively low. Private debt outside of the banking system increased about fifty per cent. This debt, which was at high interest rates, largely took the form of mortgage debt on housing, office, and hotel structures, consumer installment debt, brokers' loans, and foreign debt. The stimulation to spending by debt-creation of this sort was short-lived and could not be counted on to sustain high levels of employment for long periods of time. Had there been a better distribution of the current income from the national product --in other words, had there been less savings by business and the higher-income groups and more income in the lower groups -- we should have had far greater stability in our economy. Had the six billion dollars, for instance, that were loaned by corporations and wealthy individuals for stock-market speculation been distributed to the public as lower prices or higher wages and with less profits to the corporations and the well-to-do, it would have prevented or greatly moderated the economic collapse that began at the end of 1929.

The time came when there were no more poker chips to be loaned on credit. Debtors thereupon were forced to curtail their consumption in an effort to create a margin that could be applied to the reduction of outstanding debts. This naturally reduced the demand for goods of all kinds and brought on what seemed to be overproduction, but was in reality underconsumption when judged in terms of the real world instead of the money world. This, in turn, brought about a fall in prices and employment.

Unemployment further decreased the consumption of goods, which further increased unemployment, thus closing the circle in a continuing decline of prices. Earnings began to disappear, requiring economies of all kinds in the wages, salaries, and time of those employed. And thus again the vicious circle of deflation was closed until one third of the entire working population was unemployed, with our national income reduced by fifty per cent, and with the aggregate debt burden greater than ever before, not in dollars, but measured by current values and income that represented the ability to pay. Fixed charges, such as taxes, railroad and other utility rates, insurance and interest charges, clung close to the 1929 level and required such a portion of the national income to meet them that the amount left for consumption of goods was not sufficient to support the population.

This then, was my reading of what brought on the depression."

Marriner S. Eccles who served as Franklin D. Roosevelt's
Chairman of the Federal Reserve from November, 1934 to February, 1948

Sound Familiar?

I can't believe the debates are two weeks away. McSlug may be a minataur by that time who the fuck knows.

This election is mythological.

Folks, if you want to get the bejeezus scared out of you,,,,,,,, research back in the year before and after the crash of '29, to the media coverage,,,,,, the media and Republicans today are saying almost verbatum what the Republicans and the Hoover administration were saying then. Believe it or not, Time mag in library archives is a good place to start.
Hoover was bitter and in denial still as he had to sit sullen with FDR on the way to the inaugration,,,,,,, called him an opportunist, inexperienced and other things best collected under the term sleezebag.
The Republic is in for a very rough ride indeed, and what's coming will be a lot easier, and safer, with Barack and the Dems at the wheel than Geezer, Gidget and Phil Graham,,,, treasury sec'y in waiting.

Quick, let's craft Repub responses.

Obama would rather win the election than win the economy?

My friends, I'm trying to end the economy with honor?

Hi everyone. I've been lurking this site for a few days now, and it's been very insightful. Anyway I was wondering, if Obama hold on to New Mexico(He's ahead but it's very close)and take Colorado(he's slightly behind)without losing the States he's already doing well in, can he win in Novemeber?

My God, the balls on this guy.

Yeah, he's gonna clean up Wall Street when pigs wear lipstick.

It’s been over 8 months since McCain said he knew nothing about the economy and with all the bad economic news it might be a good time for Obama to finally get off his ass and attack McCain on this issue and this quote. Gee an ad would be nice he has $66 mil not to mention Obama is losing. Obama should have been hammering McCain on this for the last 8 months. Now it seems too late. Nice job Obama. If you won't fight in this campaign how will you fight for our country.

The fundamentals of Obama’s senior campaign staff are weak

Obama is not sleeping on this. Biden has already hit McCain on this and expect Obama to do the same today.

That VA poll if true is huge news

Obama hit McCain today on McCain's stupid comment that "the fundamentals of the economy is strong".

The Obama campaign stepped into a trap. McCain after the Obama and Biden attacks:

"But let me say something: this economic crisis is not the fault of the American people. Our workers are the most innovative, the hardest working, the best skilled, most productive, most competitive in the world. My opponents may disagree, but those fundamentals of America are strong."

McCain has surrogates all over the MSM repeating this line.

Can someone please tell me why we're not hammering away at McCain's 'financial guru', Phil Gramm? The two pieces of legislation most responsible for the mortgage crisis both have HIS name on them.

I'm talking about:

The Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodity_Futures_Modernization_Act_of_2000

and

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramm-Leach-Bliley_Act

These are the two pieces of legislation that undercut all oversight and regulation. The CFM created the now infamous 'enron loophole'.

Gramm was McCain's chief economic advisor just a few months ago and is largely seen as his pick for Treasury secretary. Why is he not getting killed on this?

Calling the spin-doctor, calling the spin-doctor--do you copy, over...

McCain you are so foolish. US economic fundamentals are not 'strong'. Where have you been for the past year? Oh-- In one of your seven-ten houses; depending on what the definition of house is. You sir are a moronic, incompetent republican puppet, a dwindling shadow of your former self.

You say the fundamentals are the American worker's-- we'll jobs are being lost and sent overseas thanks to you. Good lookin out for the fundamentals.

It would be funny if it weren't so serious. How about this idiot commentary from McCain advisor Donald Luskin in yesterday's Washington Post:

"... we're on the brink not of recession, but of accelerating prosperity.
Maybe this will turn out to be the best of times -- at least since the Great Depression."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/12/AR2008091202415.html

A NATION OF EXAGGERATORS
Quit Doling Out That Bad-Economy Line
By Donald Luskin
Sunday, September 14, 2008; Page B01
"It was the worst of times, and it was the worst of times."