McCain suspends campaign, Obama won’t
BREAKING NEWS:
The presidential candidates took different paths to deal with the economic crisis.
Sen. John McCain Wednesday said he suspended his campaign and asked his Democratic rival Sen. Barack Obama to delay their much anticipated first debate to instead focus on the “historic” economic turmoil.
In response, Mr. Obama said he would not suspend his campaign and said the debate should continue.
The clash represents a major gamble by both candidates as Congress struggles with how to proceed with the $700 billion rescue plan.
In brief remarks in New York, Mr. McCain said he had spoken with Mr. Obama to urge him to return to Washington instead of heading to Mississippi for the Friday evening debate.
Add comment September 25, 2008
Auto industry to get $25 billion in federal loans
WASHINGTON (AP) – In the next few years, consumers could see the fruits of $25 billion in government loans for the auto industry through a broader lineup of gas-electric hybrid vehicles, new plug-in electric cars and an expansion of fuel-efficient engines.
The loans, approved by the House as part of a larger spending bill Wednesday, are intended to help the industry refurbish decades-old plants and develop advanced batteries and gas-electric hybrids. The loans are a major win for General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, who lobbied for the funding as they dealt with a sluggish economy and weak sales.
“We all know that there is real growth for our economy in this sector of jobs green jobs, alternative fuel jobs and I think we all feel the stresses on our domestic auto producers,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.
The Senate was considering the loans later this week.
Add comment September 25, 2008
Transcript of McCain’s comments
Remarks by John McCain on the Economic Crisis
New York, NY
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
America this week faces an historic crisis in our financial system. We must pass legislation to address this crisis. If we do not, credit will dry up, with devastating consequences for our economy. People will no longer be able to buy homes and their life savings will be at stake. Businesses will not have enough money to pay their employees. If we do not act, ever corner of our country will be impacted. We cannot allow this to happen.
Last Friday, I laid out my proposal and I have since discussed my priorities and concerns with the bill the Administration has put forward. Senator Obama has expressed his priorities and concerns. This morning, I met with a group of economic advisers to talk about the proposal on the table and the steps that we should take going forward. I have also spoken with members of Congress to hear their perspective.
It has become clear that no consensus has developed to support the Administrations proposal. I do not believe that the plan on the table will pass as it currently stands, and we are running out of time.
Add comment September 25, 2008
Inside Politics
McCAIN’S GAFFE
“What is John McCain thinking?” John Fund asks at www.opinionjournal.com.
“First, Mr. McCain takes a wild swing by saying as president he would have fired Chris Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, for ‘betraying the public trust.’ It turns out a president doesn’t have the statutory authority to do that, and Mr. Cox has been a political asset in dealing with the financial meltdown of last week. Indeed, the day after his call for Mr. Cox’s firing, Mr. McCain retreated and called him ‘a good man,’ ” Mr. Fund said.
“Now Mr. McCain has compounded his error by floating the name of Andrew Cuomo, the pugilistic Democratic New York attorney general, as his possible nominee to head the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mr. McCain told CBS’s ‘60 Minutes’ that Mr. Cuomo had ‘respect’ and ‘prestige,’ praising his tenure as secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Clinton administration.
“Mr. McCain must be looking at a different record than I am. Mr. Cuomo was a political grandstander at HUD, ranging far afield to file frivolous lawsuits against gun manufacturers. He also spent taxpayer money to hire such firms as Booz Allen Hamilton, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and Ernst & Young to paper over [foul-ups] at his agency.
BLOOMBERG NEWS New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo was cited by Sen. John McCain as a possible chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, leaving conservatives and even some liberals puzzled.
"Among the problems created by Mr. Cuomo while at HUD were what the liberal Village Voice called last month 'a series of decisions between 1997 and 2001 that gave birth to the country's current crisis.'
"A Voice investigation found that Mr. Cuomo 'took actions that - in combination with many other factors - helped plunge Fannie and Freddie into the subprime markets without putting in place the means to monitor their increasingly risky investments. He turned the Federal Housing Administration mortgage program into a sweetheart lender with sky-high loan ceilings and no money down, and he legalized what a federal judge has branded "kickbacks" to brokers that have fueled the sale of overpriced and unsupportable loans. Three to four million families are now facing foreclosure, and Cuomo is one of the reasons why.' "
DANGEROUS MANTRA
"If Barack Obama loses the 2008 election, liberal hell will break loose," Dennis Prager writes in Human Events.
"Seven weeks before the 2008 presidential election, liberals are warning America that if Barack Obama loses, it is because Americans are racist. Of course, that this means that Democrats (and independents) are racist, since Republicans will vote Republican regardless of the race of the Democrat, is an irony apparently lost on the Democrats making these charges," Mr. Prager said.
"That an Obama loss will be due to racism is becoming as normative a liberal belief as 'Bush Lied, People Died,' a belief that has generated intense rage among many liberals. But 'Obama lost because of white racism' will be even more enraging. Rage over the Iraq War has largely focused on President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. But if Obama loses, liberal rage will focus on millions of fellow Americans and on American society.
"And it could become a rage the likes of which America has not seen in a long time, if ever. It will first and foremost come from within black America. The deep emotional connection that nearly every black American has to an Obama victory is difficult for even empathetic non-blacks to measure. A major evangelical pastor told me that even evangelical black pastors who share every conservative value with white evangelical pastors, including pro-life views on abortion, will vote for Obama. They feel their very dignity is on the line.
"That is why the growing chorus - already nearing unanimity - of liberal commentators and politicians ascribing an Obama loss to American racism is so dangerous."
SENATE KEYS
"Nine Republican-held Senate seats continue to be at great risk, giving Democrats at least a theoretical possibility of getting to 60 seats after the November elections," Stuart Rothenberg writes in Roll Call.
"Increasingly, it appears that three seats could well determine whether the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee can reach that magic number: North Carolina, Minnesota and Mississippi.
"Republican nominees in five GOP Senate seats are now running behind their Democratic opponents in at least some public polling: former Gov. Jim Gilmore in Virginia, Rep. Steve Pearce in New Mexico, former Rep. Bob Schaffer in Colorado, Sen. Ted Stevens in Alaska and Sen. John Sununu in New Hampshire.
"One other GOP incumbent, Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith, appears to be in a difficult race with challenger Jeff Merkley, Democrat, based both on some limited polling and Smith's campaign decisions.
"Two Republicans under attack, Maine Sen. Susan Collins and Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, the minority leader, appear to be comfortably ahead and likely to win.
"That leaves races involving Sens. Elizabeth Dole in North Carolina, Norm Coleman in Minnesota and Roger Wicker of Mississippi as the three most critical that will decide how close Senate Democrats get to 60 seats in the next Congress."
KEEPING IT CLOSE
"Time, like the New York Times, is pretty much an extension of the Obama campaign, so it must have caused great gnashing of teeth around the magazine to read Jay Newton-Small's piece recognizing that Obama is rolling up the carpet in state after state he has spent millions on," Hugh Hewitt writes in a blog at www.townhall.com.
"It is already clear that 10 states hold the keys to the White House, and that McCain and Palin are doing very well in two of them, Florida and Ohio, while Obama struggles to hold on to blue states Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin and McCain tries to keep Colorado, Iowa, Nevada and New Mexico red. Dems are shaking their heads that after all this hype and fundraising and with a fresh round of economic woes, Obama hasn't pulled away. Chris Cillizza has the latest round of state polls, and in only one of them - Wisconsin - is Obama currently outside the margin of error," Mr. Hewitt said.
"Dems see a situation where the rookie Obama can stumble and hemorrhage support in a single news cycle while the veteran McCain just keeps it close or stays a point or two ahead in key states and wins at the close. It isn't what they expected. It wasn't what they were promised. It is why they are so much more nervous than the GOP."
• Greg Pierce can be reached at 202/636-3285 or e-mail.
Add comment September 25, 2008
Senate OKs $100 billion in tax relief
The Senate passed a giant tax package Tuesday that saves more than 20 million taxpayers from the bite of the alternative minimum tax.
At a cost of more than $100 billion, the bill also nudges the nation toward greater use of alternative energy resources, renews popular tax breaks for businesses and individuals, and extends relief to disaster victims.
It includes a provision to ensure that mental health problems get the same level of insurance benefits as other medical treatment. The bill passed 93-2.
Add comment September 25, 2008
McCain ad links Obama to corruption
John McCain lashed out Monday at Barack Obama’s political pedigree, tying his rival to notorious Chicago machine politics as the Republican struggled to reclaim the advantage that slipped to Mr. Obama as the Wall Street mess has unfolded.
In a new ad, Mr. McCain accuses his Democratic opponent of running the same “corrupt Chicago political machine” as convicted felon and Obama patron Tony Rezko and the Daley family, which controls Chicago politics.
Mr. McCain’s campaign said they are raising the corruption issue because the press has failed to do so.
“Senator Obama very directly has introduced the issue of associations in this campaign, I think, raising fundamentally that you can tell something about people by the company they keep,” top McCain aide Steve Schmidt told reporters.
Add comment September 24, 2008
Obama says Wall St. bailout must protect Main St.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Democrat Barack Obama said Tuesday any plan to rescue Wall Street from its financial woes must ensure that taxpayers are reimbursed and corporate executives are not further enriched for bad behavior.
The Democratic presidential candidate also accused President Bush of taking a “my way or the highway” attitude on the proposed bailout.
Mr. Obama added that his proposed middle-class tax cuts remain “absolutely necessary” despite the economic turbulence. He said it would put money in the pockets of working families at a time when the economy may be sliding into recession.
Mr. Obama outlined several principles that he said should be included in the $700 billion bailout to ensure that troubled financial firms and their executives don’t take advantage of taxpayers.
Add comment September 24, 2008
Palin meets with Karzai, limits press
NEW YORK (AP) — Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who has not held a press conference in nearly four weeks of campaigning, initially barred reporters from her first meetings with world leaders Tuesday, but reversed course after they protested.
At first, campaign aides told the TV producer, print and news agency reporters in the press pool that followed the Alaska governor that they would not be admitted along with still photographers and a video camera crew taken in to photograph her meetings with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who are here for the United Nations General Assembly this week. She also was to meet later with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
These sessions and meetings scheduled for Wednesday are part of the Republican campaign’s effort to give Palin experience in foreign affairs. She has never met a foreign head of state and first traveled outside North America just last year.
Add comment September 24, 2008
Crisis to dominate Bush’s speech at U.N.
NEW YORK | President Bush has softened plans to push world leaders Tuesday on legacy-building projects such as curtailing nuclear proliferation and confronting Russia. Instead, he will use his U.N. address to reassure them on the U.S. financial meltdown.
Foreign leaders and their delegations, bolstered with a larger than usual number of finance ministers, will closely watch the president’s speech to the opening of the body´s 63rd General Assembly and will press the U.S. for information during private diplomatic meetings.
One European diplomat said that “a lot of leaders have looked at the biggest event in New York, and it’s the global financial crisis.” The cover of New York Magazine on the rack inside the Waldorf Astoria, where the president and many other world leaders are staying, screamed: “The Panic of 2008.”
Add comment September 24, 2008
