Brains at Waterloo.

[elfs]

Hah! The MP3 player is psychic this morning. John McCain's favorite band playing Rick Davis's (McCain's campaign manager) and Mark Buse's (McCain's chief of staff) (but for very different reasons) favorite song!

Quote of the Day:

"We do not support government bailouts of private institutions. Government interference in the markets exacerbates problems in the marketplace and causes the free market to take longer to correct itself."

-- The 2008 Republican Party Platform

This is modern conservatism:

The White House just asked the national debt ceiling be raised another $700 billion, for the proposed financial-sector bailout. If that happens, in 2008 alone, $1.5 trillion will have been added to the national debt: every penny borrowed from your children and their children. Stated in today's dollars, in 1979 the entire national debt was $1.5 trillion. George W. Bush and Congress have in a single year added an amount equal to the entire national debt one generation ago. And the year's not over.

McCain's Campaign Manager taking $15,000 a month from Freddie Mac for "doing nothing but being close to John McCain."

The New York Times had an article three days about about how McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, was a lobbyist for one of the biggest bailout targets, taking nearly $30,000 a month to lobby congress (including his current boss) for less and less regulation.

Now Newsweek comes along and learns that even after Davis "severed" his relationship with Freddie Mac to run the McCain campaign, he continued to draw checks for half that much because, as the Freddie Mac rep says, "he was John McCain's campaign manager and it was felt you couldn't say no."

Don't you wish you had someone who couldn't say 'no' to giving you $15,000 a month?

McCain's campaign manager pushed for de-regulation and encouraged "no doc" loan policies.

I want to be evil about this, but Rick Davis, among other things while drawing all that lobbying cash, lobbied for "more minority home ownership." A part of me worries that "minority" here is being used as a code word for "unqualified borrowers," which is a viciously unfair correlation. On the other hand, we're looking at an institution that apparently expected these no doc loan regulatory systems to be beneficial when they went into place; the record shows that Rick Davis is clearly concerned with the benefits of minority home ownership only as a side-effect of making a boatload of money for the powers he represents.

When some right-wing people rant that "the Democrats" pushed through regulations "requiring" loans to people who couldn't pay them back, I point to people like Rick Davis, who thought there was a buck to be made through these loans, and who are part of the right-wing machine.

Those who ranted about "regulatory pressures to loan to unqualified borrowers," now find that they themselves have been useful idiots in the current attempt to loot the American treasury, privatizing the rewards and socializing the risks. And Rick Davis treated you like one. Enjoy!

"Planting her three-inch heel directly on that limbic circuit that ceaselessly intones 'God and Country.'"

Atheist provocateur Sam Harris has a long but interesting essay in Newsweek, in which he confesses

Let me confess that I was genuinely unnerved by Sarah Palin's performance at the Republican convention. Given her audience and the needs of the moment, I believe Governor Palin's speech was the most effective political communication I have ever witnessed. Here, finally, was a performer who--being maternal, wounded, righteous and sexy--could stride past the frontal cortex of every American and plant a three-inch heel directly on that limbic circuit that ceaselessly intones "God and country."

And he completely nails later the anti-intellectualism that I ranted about a few days ago. I want someone who's smart and trained and ready to run the country running the goddamn country. I'm not qualified. And I'm going to judge those running for office on the notion that they should be qualified.

John McCain must stop his sexist treatment of Sarah Palin!

Sweet! Campbell Brown, who's managed to fluster the McCain campaign by actually asking questions and demanding that the speaker answer and not go to talking points, comes out swinging, demanding that we Free Sister Sarah:

Tonight I call on the McCain campaign to stop treating Sarah Palin like she is a delicate flower that will wilt at any moment. This woman is from Alaska for crying out loud. She is strong. She is tough. She is confident. And you claim she is ready to be one heart beat away form the presidency. If that is the case, then end this chauvinistic treatment of her now. Allow her to show her stuff. Allow her to face down those pesky reporters... Let her have a real news conference with real questions. By treating Sarah Palin different from the other candidates in this race, you are not showing her the respect she deserves. Free Sarah Palin. Free her from the chauvinistic chain you are binding her with. Sexism in this campaign must come to an end. Sarah Palin has just as much a right to be a real candidate in this race as the men do. So let her act like one.

John McCain's chief of staff outed.

While I'm not happy about outing in general, it's a little late in civilization to be closeted about anything. So learning that John McCain's chief of staff is a gay man has earned him the "Roy Cohn Award for acting against Gay and Lesbian interests while living a Gay life."

And this guy is working to get a woman whose church promotes the idea that homosexuality can be "cured" through prayer and reparative therapy elected to the highest office in the land.

"Hispanics think they're better than blacks. They won't vote for one."

Last night a Republican party hack in New Mexico told a roomful of bloggers,

The truth is that Hispanics came here as conquerors. African-Americans came here as slaves. Hispanics consider themselves above blacks. They won't vote for a black president.

Needless to say, the storm created has been more than a little amusing.

Obama has "disowned his white half," is a "magic negro," and the "affirmative action candidate."

And yet, somehow, Rush Limbaugh insists that he's not a racist while blatantly stoking racial antagonisms. How does this man merit the biggest salary on talk radio in the world?

Comments

[doodlesthegreat.livejournal.com]

These are the salad days... o_o

And now the lies about Rick Davis

[ideaphile.livejournal.com]

You've clearly read the articles. You know damn well Davis himself isn't receiving the $15,000 payments. But you lie about it here. Why?

Where did you get YOUR culture of ethical failure?

. png

Re: And now the lies about Rick Davis

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Okay, Davis' firm received the money from a failed mortgage institution. No one at Davis' firm other than Rick Davis did any work on behalf of Freddie Mac. Neither Davis nor his firm could identify any "substantial work" done for the payments they were receiving. Davis's firm began receiving the money after a group Frannie Mae and Freddie Mac had set up to lobby congress (and hired Rick Davis to head) was disbanded.

The McCain campaign blasted the report for it's "partisanship," but somehow failed during all of its sturm und drang to refute or even deny the charges. Funny that.

Re-reading the articles, it looks even more corrupt in correction.

And yes, Davis is still drawing checks from his partnership account at Davis & Manafort. How much those checks are worth has not been disclosed.

Re: And now the lies about Rick Davis

[elfs.livejournal.com]

What makes this all the more damning is because it's no longer just one guy. It's now an entire law firm being paid by a (now failed) financial company just so said firm could maintain a relationship with one of the firm's two lead partners, a relationship in which the partner did very little work.

And the McCain campaign has now denied that Davis is drawing on his partnership and equity stakes in Davis & Manafort. I'll accept their word on that until shown otherwise.

Honestly, that's a lot less damning, isn't it?

[ideaphile.livejournal.com]

I mean, the decision-making process isn't damning at all to Davis, who-- having left the firm-- can't be blamed for the firm maintaining a relationship with a client.

On the other hand, I don't think it matters whether Davis is "drawing on" his equity in the firm. The problem is that he still has equity in the firm.

. png

Re: And now the lies about Rick Davis

[ideaphile.livejournal.com]

Sure. I agree with everything you just said. And I'll go further-- Davis was grossly irresponsible in not terminating his relationship with Davis Manafort entirely before getting involved in the McCain campaign. His behavior is presumptive evidence of greed and carelessness.

But god DAMMIT, Elf, what you just did was worse. Seriously-- worse. You deliberately lied for political gain.

Furthermore, many of the people you're spending your time reading and quoting here are also liars, every bit as bad as Rush Limbaugh and the other liars on the Republican side.

This is why lying is a constant element in political campaigns-- because everyone can say "but the other guys are doing it."

Some time ago, Western culture managed to move beyond the routine use of violence in political campaigns. I'm sure that really pissed off a lot of people who were sure the other guys were doing it more, or did it last, or whatever. But they stopped, everyone stopped, and now violence is the exceptional condition.

Why don't you just be the big man, the good man, who resolves to stop lying? Because otherwise it's never going to stop.

. png