Obama Ad Hammers McCain Adviser's Golden Parachute
The Obama campaign keeps up its economic assault on John McCain with this new ad on national cable. It ties McCain to the culture of Wall Street golden parachutes by going after McCain adviser Carly Fiorina's lavish severance package when she was fired from Hewlett Packard:
"Last week, another bank went under -- but its CEO could walk away with $19 million," the announcer says. "John McCain's advisor, Carly Fiorina: The fired CEO who left with $42 million."
"You've got corporate executives who are giving themselves million dollar golden parachutes and leaving workers high and dry," Obama says. "That's wrong, it's an outrage."
It's good that Obama has been hitting the "outrage" button, which could perhaps quiet the concerns reported in this silly piece in The New York Times suggesting that Obama's style may be "too cool" for the crisis. For some strange reason, the article didn't mention any of the numerous polls finding that more people think Obama identifies with their problems and more trust Obama to handle this crisis.
Well, it turns out the biggest adversary of the Obama campaign and the Dem. party are the lefty blogs who are busy attacking over the bank rescue plan. What a bunch of adolescents! Starting with Markos Moulitsas.
September 29, 2008 12:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Guys like Markos are just a bunch of self aggrandizing twits, with far less voter influence than they keep claiming to have. Chris Dodd became their candidate, and yet Dodd did not win a single delegate in Iowa. Gee, how many less delegates would he have won, without the support of Markos and his ilk.
September 29, 2008 12:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Amen.
I do get fed up with my fellow liberals for never being satisfied with any damn thing.
I don't know - there are more people in this country with stakes in this than the left.
In fact, I would bet there are more people in the middle with a stake in this.
September 29, 2008 1:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
I really liked this ad. The old white folks, etc.
It's got an urgent message with a presidential tone. Very Fireside Chat.
September 29, 2008 12:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
One message, unwaveringly hammered repeatedly for the past few months, in spite of the celebrity attacks and other distractions, is now clearly sinking in. Obama built and owned the Main street/Wall street argument long before Wall Street's failures took over the headlines. He now masters it and claims it as his during this crisis. Foresight and perseverence, the most important traits of a leader.
September 29, 2008 12:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Expect Sarah Palin to win the debate.
Let me explain why you should tell people to do so, and settle for nothing less from her.
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/09/expect-sarah-palin-to-win-the.php
September 29, 2008 12:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Liam: This is one area where I disagree with you. I watched that clip (Charlie Rose) and I see fluff, not substance. I almost think this type of interview is worse for her from a woman's point of view, as we see right through her. I suspect that is why her numbers have dropped so low, especially among women.
Personally, I feel she has gotten as far as she has with looks and condescending behavior. Oh, and being able to "call a friend". :)
September 29, 2008 12:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
She did. Amelie, I know this woman - she got where she got mainly on her looks and "congeniality." She flirts with every man she's confronted with and it's worked for her.
She's taken her assets - which were the same ones that got her the runner up in Miss Alaska as far as anyone could plausibly take them.
She can't go anywhere else.
September 29, 2008 12:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
This was nailed by the ladies on SNL the other night - something like "Governor, why is it you get more adorable whenever you get cornered?"
September 29, 2008 1:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
I loved that - it was dead on perfect.
It's true. Just watch her.
September 29, 2008 1:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
The saltPeter Principle?
September 29, 2008 1:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
No No No. Amelia. She was fantastic on Charlie Rose. She was fantastic on her TV news job. Expect her to be fantastic on TV during the debate. Settle for nothing less.
We need to raise the expectations, not lower them, for a career TV newswoman.
If we don't raise the expectations level, then she will not have to do very much to get a pass.
Put on your thinking cap, and spread the word about how this debate is tailor made to fit Sarah Palin's strengths. Senator Biden has never been a live nightly TV news reporter, or winner of the most liked in a State wide beauty pageant. Sarah has a big edge, as a seasoned performer.
There is no excuse for Sarah Palin not winning this debate. Expect no less from her.
September 29, 2008 1:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ack!
liam - I get it. Can we at least be honest here on the board? I'm not here to play a game like that, though we can - it can be fun to parody the whole thing -
September 29, 2008 1:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
So you don't want to talk up the Palin expectations game. Then you are making it too easy for her to get a pass.
September 29, 2008 1:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
How?
Liam - how does anything said here on this board have any effect on how this turns out?
dude.
September 29, 2008 2:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Mr. Magoo and Palin too---don't seem to be seeing things very clearly.
September 29, 2008 12:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Krugman hated the bailout plan, and he is backing it now. He also had a wonderful article out about how this is not the end of the financial crisis, and when the 3 a.m. phone call comes about the markets crashing in a few hours, we'd better damn well pray it is Obama taking the call.
September 29, 2008 12:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
He hated the Bush/Paulsen plan. He said the Dodd plan was a huge step in the right direction.
September 29, 2008 12:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm hugely disappointed (though not surprised) that bankruptcy reform for homeowners was stripped out of the compromise. That's real relief that the foreclosure-threatened could have used.
September 29, 2008 1:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
And on this note, if you have ever had the chance or desire to research what they did on the bankruptcy bill, it is SO wrong. The caps and problematic procedures put in that bill make it impossible for people who really need help to get it. Even with Chapter 13. That particular issue was a huge disappointment for me with most members of Congress.
September 29, 2008 1:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
It should be pointed out -- especially to the republicans who have so recently been outraged by executive pay and golden parachutes -- that these are the very people who benefited most from the Bush tax cuts that McCain wants to preserve.
I'm not a lawyer but I work in HR. Most of the outrageous pay packages that executives take are spelled out in employment contracts when they are first hired or take their position. They would be hard to get out of even if companies wanted to. The best solution is a 90% tax rate... say on earnings over a million dollars.
September 29, 2008 12:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
I like this ad. It taps into voter outrage over this bill.
September 29, 2008 12:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
I love how now Obama is "too cool" in a crisis.
Yeah. Real downside, that. [rolls eyes] Those buffoons - the reason my formerly Repug husband first fell for Obama was his amazing cool under pressure.
I think it's a great characteristic in a president.
September 29, 2008 12:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Co-sign all day!! Obama didn't get this far by listening to these stupid pundits, who know so little about so much.
It's just been so crazy to listen to these people talk about how he "lost" the debate or "held his own" when clearly, people think he won. It's insane.
And where is all this "show some emotion" tripe coming from? If you're in the midst of a crisis, you do NOT want some jerk-off flying into a rage. That would be our angry little troll McSame, looking crazed and sounding ridiculous.
Obama is calm, cool, collected and in control. He is a leader. He is the type of person people to trun when facing a crisis.
September 29, 2008 1:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Who know so little about so much" is my new favorite quote of the day.
September 29, 2008 1:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
These are the same pinheads that try to argue that Obama is "too popular". As if we wouldn't want a President that can repair our reputation among our world allies and who won't panic and declare war on someone in a crisis.
September 29, 2008 1:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Carly Fiorina was my hero... for about 72 hours.
The Fiorina-led takeover of Compaq by HP was a disastrous move, but it did have one good side-effect...
The San Jose Arena (where I watch the Sharks play hockey) had sold its naming rights and was then called the Compaq arena. What an embarrassment for Silicon Valley to have its arena named after a Texas computer firm! The buyout led to it being renamed the HP Pavilion.
I know, small comfort for some of my engineering friends getting ground-up in the HP reorg.
P.S. I got to chat with Dave Wellstone for a few minutes yesterday at the Al FrankenGore fundraiser. Seems he lives in Santa Cruz, CA, and sometimes makes it over the hill to watch the Sharks. Damn that airhead bimbo for giving hockey moms a bad name!
September 29, 2008 12:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Funny, you don't look like a hockey mom.
September 29, 2008 1:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
More like a pit bull, I'd say.
September 29, 2008 1:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
The lack of lipstick was a dead giveaway.
September 29, 2008 1:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
I remember all the wow factor, a woman, she is going to save the day. What a joke she turned out to be. She should have been fined $42 million.
September 29, 2008 1:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
ROFLMAO - Californians. Tcha!
Yeah, Texas has no IT to speak of.
September 29, 2008 12:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
In this debate on thursday Biden needs to take Nate's advice over at 538.com. Let Gov Plain do all the talking.
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/09/memo-to-joe-biden-let-palin-talk.html
September 29, 2008 1:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you for that, excellent!! Liam, you need to read this link.
September 29, 2008 1:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
not sure about that because they are setting the bar so low for her now if she even gets her name out right it will be a good night for them
September 29, 2008 8:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Right now on MSNBC, Chuck Tood is on with Andrea Mitchell. Chuck is at the board and look whats on the table, a BO bobble head doll. Is Chuck pro Obama?
September 29, 2008 1:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree. Let her talk. The game is very different from a beauty pageant or a sports cast only she hasn't realized it yet.
September 29, 2008 1:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is good, but I actually think going after the Davis bullshit -- and the repeated lies about his actually being on the Freddie Mac dole while he was McShame's campaign manager -- would be a more productive line of attack.
September 29, 2008 1:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
I, myself, prefer a "cool head" in a crisis, as a leader. You can keep your erratic adolescents, regardless of their years.
September 29, 2008 7:28 PM | Reply | Permalink