A Tale of Two Fine Roosevelts

C-SPAN THIRD PARTY DEBATE

http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/includes/templates/library/flash_popup.php?pID=281952-1&clipStart=&clipStop=

C-SPAN THIRD PARTY VP DEBATED NOVEMBER 2

RE: Comment: Mr. Wilentz is a fine historian but his math needs work. Morgan's $70 million 1907 dollars do not equate to $28 billion today. That would mean that one dollar then was worth 400 times what it is worth now. I realize that a dollar (or a billion of them) is not what it used to be but its value a century ago wasn't quite that good.
Dbkzoop see: http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/

Mr. Wilentz is a fine historian but his math needs work. Morgan's $70 million 1907 dollars do not equate to $28 billion today. That would mean that one dollar then was worth 400 times what it is worth now. I realize that a dollar (or a billion of them) is not what it used to be but its value a century ago wasn't quite that good.

Obama will have to take a page out of Roosevelt's playbook and then also talk a page from some other president for foreign policy. I think it will be one of contraction of the military forces to all come home and regroup securing our borders as in the time before the first world war. America can not afford anymore wars and will have to pick their fights more judiciously. You will see foreign diplomacy on steriods and an economic team that will turn around this country in a heart beat. If he can run the country like he has run his campaign, I have no doubt we will be in a much better place than 8 years ago, my only concern is too litte time and safety issues for Obama.

It turns out that RNC has spent $150,000 on clothes for Sarah Palin. They also spent $100 for a romper and hat for little Trig, which he wore on stage at the GOP convention.

A hundred dollar onesie? (And these people are saying that Obama would be a profligate spender.)

Did you know that the outfit Cindy McCain wore when she appeared at the convention cost $330,000?

The RNC says that later Sarah's clothes will be donated to charity. OK, so some homeless person will get to wear this stuff on the streets of New Orleans. (Maybe this is the RNC's version of "trickle down spending.") But wouldn't the homeless be better served by $150,000 donation to a shelter or a food bank than by designer clothing?

Fifteen years ago, McCain wrote an amendment to tighten the law on using campaign funds for personal items like clothing and stylists. In May of 1993, McCain said this on the Senate floor "The use of campaign funds for items which most Americans would consider to be strictly personal reasons, in my view, erodes public confidence and erodes it significantly."

I guess he forgot what his prior position was. Again.

Just like he forgot that he used to be pro-Choice and pro-gay marriage and pro-immigration reform. He also forgot that he used to be afiliated with ACORN, and with G. Gordon Liddy. If he is lying to cover up what his prior positions have been, shame on him. If he really can't remember, maybe the detractors who claim his mind is aging are correct.

One last thought: is the GOP paying for Bristol Palin's maternity wear?

See: http://www.newsweek.com/id/164972
Stating that Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act wasn't what caused the meltdown, and noting that "economists on both sides of the political spectrum have suggested that the act has probably made the crisis less severe than it might otherwise have been." And also:
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/who_caused_the_economic_crisis.html
Look and listen for yourself. Hear Obama in his own words discusses his links to both ACORN and the mortgage meltdown, and praises bundling and securitizing mortgages by banks as a means to float loans to the poor and spread the risk world wide. Never mind the link commentators point of view, just listen to what Obama says in his own words. A picture is worth a thousand words. Maybe more in the case of Obama comments in the last half of the first youtube link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lr1M1T2Y314&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vJcVgJhNaU

See also:
http://boards.msn.com/MSNBCboards/thread.aspx?threadid=808692&boardsparam=Page%3d2

Below is a link to C-SPAN video clips of the Congressional hearings at roughly the time McCains attempt at S.190. to fix Fannie and Freddie. See for yourself who said what.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MGT_cSi7Rs
See also
http://www.newsweek.com/id/164732 from this web site. (oops!) stating that Freddie Mac was spending tax payer money to target Republicans in 2005 who were trying to regulate Fannie and Freddies fraud. Democrats were not targeted, as the were all in the tank with Fannie and Freddie to kill the regulations. Hear that, the article admits that Republicans were trying to regulate, and Democrats were trying to stop it from happening as a means to facilitate the Community Reinvestment Act.

The link below contains a purported list of the top 25 in Congress who got contributions from the folks at Fannie and Freddie. Obama is listed third, after Dodd and Kerry, even though Obama is just a junior Senator. Obama is followed next by Clinton. Barney Frank and Nancy Pelosi are on the list as well.

http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=16&artnum=1&issue=20080918

And the link below describes how some Democrats in Congress tried to use the original version of the bailout bill to divert money eventually recovered to groups like ACORN, a group Obama has a long association with. See: Wall Street Journal

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122247015469280723.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Who "Joe the plumber" may be is not the issue, though it's easy to see why the Dems want it to be. That's because the real issue is what Obama's comments to him revealed about Obama. In the exchange with "Joe the plumber" we find out that Obama really is as radical as his early political acquaintances, Davis, Ayers, Wright, etc., and that he is into the failed economic policy of wealth redistribution. Obama's tax and spending plans alone would be bad enough, but add Reid and Pelosi to the mix, with the three of them controlling both houses of Congress and the executive branch without any effective restraint, and you have something that should causes concern even among moderate Democrats.
See Wall Street Journal: A Liberal Supermajority:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122420205889842989.html

And whether McCain won or lost the third debate is also not relevant. He succeeded in the first half hour to plant the seeds of a Reagan style wipeout. Reputable historians and economists overwhelmingly agree that the taxation imposed by Hoover and FDR, and the "stimulus" spending and public works programs of FDR, actually deepened and prolonged the Great Depression. It was the production demands of WWII that got the economy going again. And when the war was over, the economy promptly went into recession.

See e.g. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/03/opinion/main4499465.shtml
And
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/FDR-s-Policies-Prolonged-Depression-5409.aspx

Point is, Obama's programs require him to tax, and his health care plan is a hidden tax on all business, large an small. In reality, it does not really matter who he taxes, those taxes are going to be passed through the economy. He has to tax, because it is they only way he can pay for his massive social engineering experiments. Any first year economics student knows that taxation is a tool used to contract an economy experiencing inflation, because it reduces demand by reducing the amount of money individuals and businesses have to spend. It is contractionary, which is exactly what you do not want to do when the problem is that the economy is contracting already into recession. Like Hoover and FDR, Obama's plans will only make it worse for longer.

FactCheck.Org is owned by the Annenberg group of Chicago! Talk about a conflict of interest! And Obama has been telling people on the trail to check out the site to verify his opponents claims. Funny, every time that he endorsed something, it turns out to be a part of his spin machine! Like he raised objections in the primaries when Indiana required photo I.D. to vote. He Protested that It took away people's right to vote! I
knew then and there that he was up to no good! America, wake up from the MASS HYPNOSIS!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWTs1YyhFRg&feature=related

REPUBLICAN PARTY AND BIG BUSINESS DECOUPLING

The alliance between the Republican Party and corporations was made many years ago during an age when what was good for big business, was good for the American people. This meant if big business did well, there would be more jobs for Americans. During the last 20 years this is no longer true. Multinationals have prospered greatly, but they have not created new jobs in the US. Small business has created the new jobs.

It is time for Republicans to break the alliance with big business. Multinational taxes can be raised and small business taxes reduced. Another benefit, we do not need to spend hundreds of billions around the world on defense, trying to protect the supply chains of the multinational corporations.

The Republican Party has been done-in by globalization: job loss, wage stagnation and financial irresponsibility by big business. A Republican Party that is culturally conservative and focused on small business and job creation will prosper at the polls.

See: http://www.newsweek.com/id/164972

Stating that Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act wasn't what caused the meltdown, and noting that "economists on both sides of the political spectrum have suggested that the act has probably made the crisis less severe than it might otherwise have been."

America! there is more than a million reasons to vote next Nov 4th... click here to share yours and inspire others:www.amillionreasonstovote.com

People on these bogs are fond of saying that the current economic meltdown was caused by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac underwriting bad mortgages. While Fannie and Freddie obviously are guilty of writing bad mortgages, and worse, guilty of lobbying Congress to allow them to do so with impunity, their actions are just a small piece of the puzzle when it comes to determining who (or what) caused the financial crisis we face today.

In 1929 the stock market crash caused the banks to fail, because the banks were in bed with the stock market. Back then, banks owned investment houses, so when the stock market fell, the banks fell too. This triggered the Great Depression. So in 1933 the Congress wrote laws that regulated banking, making it illegal for banks to own investment companies, mortgage guaranty companies or insurance companies. The idea was to keep key industries separated by a fire wall, so that if one industry failed the whole economy would not go down in flames.

But the Republicans under Bush deregulated the banking industry. Senator Phil Gramm wrote legislation (the Gramm Rudman Act, the Gramm Leach Biley Act, etc.) that stripped away the regulations in the financial and insurance industies. He pushed them through the Republican Congress and they were signed into law by Geo. W. Bush. John McCain voted in favor. Everybody said how great it is to deregulate and create free markets.

Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch each gave over a million dollars to Senator Gramm's re-election campaign.

The economic collapse that happened later was a direct result of the deregulation, and here's how: the banks wrote bad mortgages, then bundled the mortgages into investment vehicles that they sold all over the world, and they even got firms like AIG to insure the investments. It was all a house of cards.

If there had been no deregulation, sure we would have had a bunch of bad mortgages, and the mortgage guaranty and real estate industries would have suffered, but there would not have been a global financial meltdown, since the problem would have been contained in one sector of the economy. You can thank Geo W. Bush, Sen. Phil Gramm and Sen John McCain for the meltdown, since they were strong proponents of deregulation.

Furthermore, although Fannie and Freddie are now holding the bulk of these bad mortgages, Fannie and Freddie did not originally write most of these mortgages. They bought them after the fact, bundled by banks/investment companies. Fannie and Freddie got screwed by the Wall Street fat cats. And so did you, if you pay taxes.

What is Phil Gramm doing today? He works as a lobbyist in Washington, trying to make it legal for the Swiss bank he represents to sell Death Bonds in the United States. Nice guy, Phil Gramm. Incidentally, John McCain has said that he wants to appoint Phil Gramm as Treasury Secretary. Some people just can't learn from their mistakes.

'Joe the Plumber' nonsense resonating as more important than Collin Powell's endorsement - that has to say a lot about voter sentiment. Maybe people are frustrated and fed up and just looking for a little entertainment. Hopefully it isn't because there is so much racial prejudice, which people don't want to admit to, and they then grab onto the garbage to hide behind. That would be like 'cutting off your nose to spite your face' and would indicate many are simply illiterate.

When Russ Limbaugh says Collin Powell is racially biased because he endorses Barack Obama it is obvious, especially to anyone who saw Powell???s endorsement, that the one with the prejudice is actually Russ Limbaugh. To see George W. Bush in any situation today it is very hard to see him as anything but unconcerned and really as if he couldn???t give a damn. Then there is Gov. Palin who impresses that she will actually say anything, without any conscience, or simply do anything, including using her baby as a prop, to bring attention to her and to further her personal objectives. Senator John McCain tries to present himself as a ???Maverick??? and as someone interested in the needs of all of the people yet he avoids taking any position that may benefit the majority wherever it could possibly offend his strongly conservative base and he offers nothing but a continually changing presentation to literally try to play each circumstance in his favor, as he has really done all of his career. The ???trickle down??? philosophy the Republicans continually advocate actually does little for the economy, greatly benefits the wealthy and costs all tax payers. In years past the Democratic Party demonstrated a cocky, arrogant attitude showing it was all about them as they pursued whatever it was they wanted without hesitation or conscience. The pendulum simply swings in both directions, as far one way and then back as far in the other direction. Eight years of Bush-Cheney should have clearly demonstrated to any objective and rational observer that there is a significant part of the Republican Party that shouldn???t be allowed to control the Party let alone the government. It actually would be nice today to have a third political party, or even more, to break things up, create the need to form coalitions and literally prevent the domination and cocksure attitude of any one party and then, hopefully, they would better represent all of the people. Without ever taking the money out of politics that is simply near impossible to accomplish. The real point is to recognize where the pendulum is and that it has now swung drastically to the Republican side with them being cocky, arrogant and irresponsible, being focused on their own and the interests of a select few, simply ignoring the best interests of the majority. As Collin Powell said, ???Barack Obama is the right choice for now???!

After 9/11, the US government started rounding up Muslims without cause and without due process of law, and put them in prison camps like we did to the Japanese Americans in WWII. The Bush administration called it's main internment camp Guantanamo Bay. While there are certainly many guilty terrorists held in Guantanamo, there are also many innocent American citizens who have been held illegally for years without even being charged with any crime. They have been tortured by our government. Some of them have died.

Recently the Supreme Court ruled against the Bush administration in the matter of Guantanamo Bay. The Supreme Court Justices were NOT on the side of the terrorists. They were on the side of the Geneva Convention, that says you can not torture POWs, and on the side of US laws that state you can not imprison a person without charging them with a crime and bringing them to trial. I'm sure that like most Americans, the Justices who voted against the illegal, immoral doings at Guantanamo didn't feel sympathy for the terrorists. They felt sympathy for the laws of AMERICA, the land of the FREE, where even rat finks get a fair trial.

Meanwhile, back in Iraq, the Bush administration is busy trying to build a smokescreen to hide the CRIMES they have committed. Those pesky weapons of mass destruction. Just think, the National Debt went up over 6 trillion dollars under Bush. More than 2 trillion of it went directly into the pockets of Halliburton, a corporation owned by the Cheney family. Halliburton is now a DUBAI corporation and therefore is not subject to US taxes. All that money they took out of the US Treasury is going into the coffers of a MUSLIM country.

Did you hear about how the US government is being charged millions for Halliburton deliveries of sand into Iraq from Kuwait? Sand. Like there is a shortage of sand in Iraq? Another contractor shipped sand from Idaho to Iraq at our expense. Nobel prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz discusses these and other excesses of our current government's out of control spending in Iraq.

Your grandchildren will be working like slaves to pay off this debt, so that the Bushes and Cheneys can live the high life in Dubai.

Yeah, they're patriots, Bush&Co. They wear flag pins. And hide the money they stole from America in Dubai.

And they want me to believe that Obama is a socialist. Right.

In case you think McCain is any different than Bush, watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdJUCU1UH2w

This is so true about how the election is already bought and paid for:
http://www.againstobama.com/2008/10/what-is-it-that-barack-obama-knows-that-the-rest-of-us-don%E2%80%99t/#comment-1929

Obama, the excuses are wearing thin. what excuse do you have for this one?:
http://www.againstobama.com/2008/10/obama-praised-searing-and-timely-book-by-ayers/