Take It Back, Or Ron Popeil Will Cut You

Marc Ambinder reports that Tucker Bounds's brush-off of Obama's 30 minute broadcast last night, ("As anyone who has bought anything from an infomercial knows, the sales-job is always better than the product") has raised some hackles at the Electronic Retailers Association.

The ERA's Acting President and CEO Rick Petry has issued a press release rejoinder to Bounds defending the industry. He pointedly ads that, in fact, direct marketers' standards for truth in advertising are much higher than those in the political world:

To use a political agenda to indict an entire genre of advertising by portraying it in such a negative light is patently unfair. It would be like charging an entire industry and everyone associated with it, say politics for example, as being scurrilous. We at ERA will be the first to tell you that there are some who use this method of advertising inappropriately, which is why we have an independent self-regulation program, ERSP (http://www.narcpartners.org/ersp/index.aspx), administered by the National Advertising Review Council in partnership with the Council of Better Business Bureau. With this watchdog mechanism in place, claims have to be proven; a standard that politicians are not required to live up to. The fact is infomercials have been used by not only start-ups with unique products, but successful brands such as Kodak and Mercedes Benz, even the U.S. Navy.

Not to mention the NordicTrack.

(Also, we can't help but link this. Wow, that's terrific bass!)

-- Evie Stone

2:11 PM ET | 10-30-2008 | permalink

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McCain Jumps On Archival Obama Interview

The McCain campaign has seized on a 2001 interview The Drudge Report picked up of then-State Sen. Barack Obama talking with Chicago Public Radio about the judicial legacy of the Civil Rights movement. From McCain's prepared remarks in Dayton, OH:

In a radio interview revealed today, he said that one of the quote -- "tragedies" of the civil rights movement is that it didn't bring about a redistribution of wealth in our society. He said, and I quote, "One of the tragedies of the Civil Rights movement was because the Civil Rights movement became so court-focused I think that there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalitions of power through which you bring about redistributive change."

That is what change means for Barack the Redistributor: It means taking your money and giving it to someone else. He believes in redistributing wealth, not in policies that grow our economy and create jobs. He is more interested in controlling wealth than in creating it, in redistributing money instead of spreading opportunity. I am going to create wealth for all Americans, by creating opportunity for all Americans.

Here's a (rather hastily-compiled, it seems) transcript of that interview, and here's the full audio, so you can judge for yourself.

My understanding of Obama's comments is that he thinks the "tragedy" is that the Movement grew to rely on court decisions for progress rather than grassroots efforts to bring about legislative change. Obama goes on to say that the court's ability to enact change is limited by the Constitution -- a position that conservatives who rail against "activist judges" would tend to agree with.

But forget about what is or isn't a tragedy, or this academic conversation about separation of powers. All that matters is that Obama used the word "redistributive". The context of the conversation appears to be social safety net programs -- Medicare, Medicaid, etc. -- and the ability of lower-income kids to get equal public education. In other words: redistribution through using tax dollars to fund safety-net programs and improve public schools in low-income areas. Obama does not seem to be talking in this interview about some kind of Robin Hood scheme (although, would that make John McCain Prince John? Is Doug Holtz-Eakin Sir Hiss in this scenario? Should I really admit that when I think of Robin Hood it's not Errol Flynn I picture, but a cartoon fox?)

Anyway, here's Obama spokesman Bill Burton's response:

In this seven year old interview, Senator Obama did not say that the courts should get into the business of redistributing wealth at all. Americans know that the real choice in this election is between four more years of Bush-McCain policies that redistribute billions to billionaires and big corporations and Barack Obama's plan to help the middle class by giving tax relief to 95% of workers and companies that create new jobs here in America.

-- Evie Stone

2:08 PM ET | 10-27-2008 | permalink

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Small Donor Transparency

Obama raised $150 million last month but has not disclosed the names of small donors -- those who donated less than $200. Legally speaking, he doesn't have to offer the names. But it doesn't exactly make him look like the paragon of transparency.

McCain and the GOP are aiming to highlight his reluctance to release this information with a new online search tool of all who've made small donations to McCain's campaign since he became the presumptive Republican nominee.

-- Thomas Pierce

9:35 AM ET | 10-21-2008 | permalink

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McCain Blames Obama For Joe-Splosion

From John McCain's prepared remarks in Miami today:

We had a good debate this week. You may have noticed -- there was a lot of talk about Senator Obama's tax increases and Joe the Plumber. Last weekend, Senator Obama showed up in Joe's driveway to ask for his vote, and Joe asked Senator Obama a tough question. I'm glad he did; I think Senator Obama could use a few more tough questions.

The response from Senator Obama and his campaign yesterday was to attack Joe. People are digging through his personal life and he has TV crews camped out in front of his house. He didn't ask for Senator Obama to come to his house. He wasn't recruited or prompted by our campaign. He just asked a question. And Americans ought to be able to ask Senator Obama tough questions without being smeared and targeted with political attacks.

Ok, what? Joe "the plumber" Wurzelbacher had already gotten some national attention (from Drudge, Fox News, the New York Post and conservative groups) after his tax confrontation with Obama last weekend. But McCain was the one who raised Joe at Wednesday's debate and went on to mention him more than 20 times over the course of the evening (without getting the go-ahead from Joe to do that, by the way). Yesterday McCain told a Pennsylvania audience, "The real winner last night was Joe the plumber. Joe's the man." And then his campaign released a web ad touting Joe. The McCain camp's Joe push was so strong that Sarah Palin told fundraiser attendees in North Carolina that she had "begged" not to have to talk about him, but eventually gave in.

Clearly, though, the McCain campaign failed to vet Joe Wurzelbacher before they made him this week's centerpiece. So they didn't know about his tax lien, his lack of a plumbing license, or the spelling error in his voter registration that's hauntingly similar to what the Ohio GOP is describing as voter fraud. Or, most saliently, the fact that he would actually be eligible for a tax cut under Obama's plan. But those revelations aren't "attacks" on Joe as much as they are "facts about him." (Facts I'm sure Joe wishes the entire internet-reading universe did not now know...but facts nonetheless.)

I guess McCain could blame the media and our incessant curiosity about people he injects into the campaign. Although, McCain isn't new to the public eye. He should know how this stuff works by now. You mention someone two dozen times in a single, hugely-watched public appearance? We'll look into that person's background. Love it or hate it, it's what we do. (And at this point in the campaign, we're so hungry for a fresh face we might just eat someone's nose.)

No doubt, this situation pretty much stinks for Joe, who was in no position to handle the media onslaught he's received. But McCain's blaming the Obama camp for the microscope Joe's been under these past 48 hours seems more than a little far-fetched.

-- Evie Stone

4:28 PM ET | 10-17-2008 | permalink

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McCain's Mortgage Plan Assailed From All Sides

This morning Barack Obama kicked off a two-day visit to Ohio with a speech in Dayton that assailed John McCain's new mortgage bailout proposal. The remarks pair with an ad the campaign released today that says McCain's plan will put "bad actors ahead of taxpayers."

Obama and McCain sparring over policy is no great surprise. But in this case, McCain is not getting backup from some elements of his own party. The plan simply puts too many taxpayer dollars at risk to sit well with fiscal conservatives. Here's a sampling of complaints from the right:

The Wall Street Journal editorial board:

We're all for thinking creatively to solve the country's housing correction, and Mr. McCain's obvious political intention is to show struggling homeowners that he cares. Perhaps the best argument for the McCain idea is that it is likely to be far less expensive than the Second New Deal that Barack Obama is likely to propose on January 20 if he wins. But Mr. McCain's plan to transform Treasury into a major mortgage lender, and running the operation at a potential $300 billion loss, raises more questions than it answers.

National Review's editorial board:

There is a big difference between Treasury's plan to buy mortgage-backed assets through a reverse auction and McCain's plan to buy the mortgages themselves at face value. It gets complicated, but here's the bottom line: There must be a limit to the level of reckless behavior we are prepared to reward in a given bailout, especially if we are only improving on previous bailouts in a marginal way.

And the eternally subtle Michelle Malkin:

I can't underscore enough what a rotten idea John McCain's ACORN-like government mortgage buy-up is. I said it during my liveblog. And I'll say it again: "HE WANTS TO EXPAND THE BAILOUT. He wants to do what ACORN wants to do. We're Screwed '08."

McCain's plan, as we explained this morning, would enable the government to buy troubled mortgages from lenders. They would then re-finance the homeowners' loans at a fixed, 30-year rate, based on the current value of the property -- even if that's less than the borrower now owes. Millions of homeowners could potentially take advantage of the plan, and taxpayers would eat the difference between the original mortgages and the new ones. The plan is dramatic and expensive, and could potentially prevent lots of mortgage defaults -- but the borrowers and lenders who got themselves into the mess in the first place would not be penalized. (In the housing bill Congress passed this summer, lenders take the haircut if the federal government re-finances an at-risk mortgage.)

In summary: three weeks before the election, McCain has proposed a populist, big-government economic plan that both his opponent and fiscal conservatives vociferously reject. That, friends? Is mavericky.

-- Evie Stone

1:36 PM ET | 10- 9-2008 | permalink

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Health Care Voter Tug-O-War

Sen. Barack Obama spent much of this past weekend touting his health plan -- and blasting that of Sen. John McCain. A poll out last week from the public opinion research team at the Harvard School of Public Health and Harris Interactive may suggest why.

Despite the ups and downs of this campaign, health care has been a perennial strong suit for Democrats; it's an issue on which voters have almost always favored them over the GOP. And indeed, the Harvard poll, conducted Sept. 17-21, found an overall preference for Obama's plan over McCain's. By 45-14 percent respondents without health insurance thought Obama's plan would be more likely to help them get coverage, and by 31 to 19 percent those currently covered thought Obama's plan more likely to help them keep insurance. And by 27-19 percent respondents said Obama's plan would be better at keeping down the amount they pay for health care and insurance.

But when asked which candidate's health plan would be better for them personally, the results were much closer -- 33 percent said Obama's compared to 27 percent for McCain's. And among the coveted subset of political independents, McCain actually came out slightly ahead -- by 26 to 24 percent. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.

So Obama came out swinging.

Continue reading "Health Care Voter Tug-O-War" »

5:01 PM ET | 10- 6-2008 | permalink

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Candidates Stump for Bailout

Both major party presidential candidates increased the urgency of their language on the bailout package today, as Congress regroups during Rosh Hashanah break and the House leadership drums up a plan B. Assigning blame for the failure seems to be yesterday's pastime, with both McCain and Obama focusing today on explaining to voters why the plan is so crucial.

Here's Barack Obama at a rally in Reno, Nevada:

Because of the housing crisis, we are now in a very dangerous situation where financial institutions across this country are afraid to lend money. If all that meant was the failure of a few big banks on Wall Street, it would be one thing.

But that's not what it means. What it means is that if we do not act, it will be harder for you to get a mortgage for your home or the loans you need to buy a car or send your children to college. What it means is that businesses won't be able to get the loans they need to open new factories, or hire more workers, or make payroll for the workers they have. What it means is that thousands of businesses could close. Millions of jobs could be lost. A long and painful recession could follow.

McCain had strong words on the bailout as well, at a roundtable in Des Moines:

We are in the greatest financial crisis of our lifetimes. Congressional inaction has put every American and the entire economy at the gravest risk. Yesterday the country and the world looked to Washington for leadership, and Congress once again came up empty-handed.

I am disappointed at the lack of resolve and bipartisan good will among members of both parties to fix this problem. Bipartisanship is a tough thing; never more so when you're trying to take necessary but publicly unpopular action. But inaction is not an option.

Businesses all over the country cannot borrow to finance their own operations and pay their bills. If we do nothing, many may fail.

An ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted after the bill failed yesterday shows a high level of public concern about yesterday's vote. Nine out of 10 people surveyed fear that the bill's failure "could lead to a more severe economic decline." But clearly there is more PR work to do, as nearly half of those polled said they opposed the package anyway. This morning on CNN, McCain suggested that we start referring to the plan as a "rescue effort" instead of a "bailout" to help convince regular Americans that the plan will help them along with the Wall Street firms currently struggling under the weight of too much leverage.

-- Evie Stone

1:58 PM ET | 09-30-2008 | permalink

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Well, Which Is It?

Speaking to reporters this afternoon, Sen. McCain made the following statement about the failed bailout bill:

Senator Obama and his allies in Congress infused unnecessary partisanship into the process. Now is not the time to affix the blame. It's time to fix the problem.

Ok, so, we're just going to blame Obama one more time, and then no more blaming, for real.

The heck?

-- Evie Stone

6:02 PM ET | 09-29-2008 | permalink

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Simplify, Simplify

WP's The Fix points out that despite rampant enthusiasm for elaborate blame-laying among House Democrats and Republicans (not to mention presidential candidates), there's compelling evidence that the bailout bill failed for another, more parochial reason:

It's no coincidence then that of the 205 Members who voted in support of the bill today, there are only two -- Reps. Chris Shays (R-Conn.) and Jon Porter (R-Nev.) -- who find themselves in difficult reelection races this fall. The list of the 228 "nays" reads like a virtual target list for the two parties.

-- Evie Stone

5:40 PM ET | 09-29-2008 | permalink

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Buck-Passing Galore

House Minority Leader John Boehner told reporters this afternoon that Speaker Nancy Pelosi's pre-vote floor speech sapped GOP willingness to step up and vote for the failed financial bailout bill. Boehner said Pelosi's remarks were too partisan and "poisoned our conference." You can follow the link above to judge the speech for yourself, but here's a representatively fiery snippet, re: the size of the package.

It is a number that is staggering, but tells us only the costs of the Bush Administration's failed economic policies-policies built on budgetary recklessness, on an anything goes mentality, with no regulation, no supervision, and no discipline in the system.

Democrats immediately hit back at the Minority Leader's argument, saying they brought in the votes they had promised, and the Republicans basically wimped out and failed to hold up their end of the bargain. Here's Rep. Barney Frank, the chair of the House Financial Services Committee, responding to Boehner:

"Well if that stopped people from voting, then shame on them," he said. "If people's feelings were hurt because of a speech and that led them to vote differently than what they thought the national interest (requires), then they really don't belong here. They're not tough enough."

Wisconsin Democrat David Obey's take: "I guess the Republican leadership is so weak John Boehner couldn't deliver 50 percent of the votes."

Partisan sniping aside, it is clear that no GOP luminary was able to gin up the votes to make this deal happen -- not the President, not the House leadership, and not even nominee John McCain, who suspended his campaign last week in a highly visible effort to bring House Republicans on board with the compromise.

This morning in Columbus, OH, McCain seemed awfully optimistic about the plan's prospects -- almost appearing to take credit for the proposed bill:

I put my campaign on hold for a couple days last week to fight for a rescue plan that put you and your economic security first. I fought for a plan that protected taxpayers, homeowners, consumers and small business owners.

I went to Washington last week to make sure that the taxpayers of Ohio and across this great country were not left footing the bill for mistakes made on Wall Street and in Washington.

(snip)

Senator Obama took a very different approach to the crisis our country faced. At first he didn't want to get involved. Then he was "monitoring the situation." That's not leadership, that's watching from the sidelines.

After the bill's failure, the McCain campaign released a statement blaming Obama for "fail[ing] to lead," and echoing Boehner's Pelosi criticisms, culminating with this:

This bill failed because Barack Obama and the Democrats put politics ahead of country.

The Obama campaign's response:

This is a moment of national crisis, and today's inaction in Congress as well as the angry and hyper-partisan statement released by the McCain campaign are exactly why the American people are disgusted with Washington.

-- Evie Stone

5:08 PM ET | 09-29-2008 | permalink

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Off-the-Cuff but On The Record

Sunday, on ABC's "This Week," John McCain was asked about an unscripted (but videotaped) comment Sarah Palin made while shaking hands with supporters. He said the comment, in which Palin seemed to support Barack Obama's position towards bombing terrorist targets in Pakistan, shouldn't be taken too seriously:

All this business of, in all due respect, people going around, sticking a microphone while conversations are being held, and all of a sudden, that's a person's position, it's a free country, but I don't think most Americans think that's a definitive policy statement.

Of course, that hasn't stopped the McCain campaign of making political hay over a similar, unscripted rope line comment from Joe Biden. The Democratic vice presidential hopeful told an environmentalist in Maumee, Ohio earlier this month that he wasn't supporting "clean coal," even though the Obama campaign is on record in favor of clean coal.

Here's the latest attack ad from McCain -- this one is tailored to run in Colorado, but there are also versions of the ad running in other coal-rich battleground states including Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

As we noted last week, the Obama campaign does support investment in clean coal technology, as part of its ten-year, $150 billion dollar initiative to develop clean energy of all kinds. (McCain proposes $2 billion per year in federal subsidies for clean coal, plus more limited funding for "basic research" on wind, tide, and solar energy.) "The Obama-Biden Department of Energy is committed to developing five 'first-of-a-kind' commercial scale coal-fired plants with carbon capture and sequestration here in the United States," says Biden spokesman David Wade.

Coal generates a lot of political heat because it supplies more than half the nation's electricity and is a significant contributor of greenhouse gases -- and because five of the leading coal-producing states (Pennsylvania, Virginia, Colorado, New Mexico, and Ohio) are battlegrounds in the November election.

-- Scott Horsley

2:18 PM ET | 09-29-2008 | permalink

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I'll Vote if You Do

Politico's Mike Allen is reporting that both Barack Obama and John McCain now say they'll return to the Senate this week to vote on the bailout bill. Both campaigns gave squishy responses when asked about the vote over the weekend, but there's been so much grandstanding on this issue in the past week that it would have been awfully awkward if one or both of them bailed. The Senate could take up the package as early as Wednesday.

-- Evie Stone

1:05 PM ET | 09-29-2008 | permalink

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Obama: Debate 'More Important Than Ever'

Barack Obama held a news conference to respond to McCain's call to suspend campaigning and help Congress broker an economic rescue deal. Obama rejected McCain's suggestion that Friday night's debate be postponed:

It's my belief that this is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who in approximately 40 days will be responsible for dealing with this mess. And I think that it is -- it is going to be part of the president's job to deal with more than one thing at once. I think there's no reason why we can't be constructive in helping to solve this problem and also tell the American people what we believe and where we stand and where we want to take the country.

So in my mind, actually, it's more important than ever that we present ourselves to the American people and try to describe where we want to take the country and where we want to take the economy, as well as dealing with some of the issues of foreign policy that were initially the subject of the debate.

Obama emphasized that he's taking the crisis seriously -- repeating several times that he's in frequent contact with the congressional leadership and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and saying he was willing to do whatever those luminaries thought would be most effective.

He played piously coy when pressed by reporters on whether he thought McCain was playing politics with the issue, responding that he had suggested the campaigns craft a joint statement before making any other decisions, and was surprised to hear that McCain had "gone on television to announce what he intended to do."

In short, as often happens in these situations, some of the greatest politicking on both sides is heralded by the cry "this is no time for politics!"

McCain aims for the perceived high road by calling for a suspension of campaigning and debates -- in a political effort to make Obama seem shallow and petty.

And Obama counters by saying he tried to work with McCain but his opponent went off and acted in his own self-interest anyway, and implies that McCain isn't up for the complicated task of the presidency -- in a political effort to make McCain seem shallow and self-serving.

Here's the whole presser, for your listening pleasure:

-- Evie Stone

4:40 PM ET | 09-24-2008 | permalink

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Campaigns Developing 'Joint Statement' on Bailout Plan

Shortly after McCain's remarks, Obama press secretary Bill Burton sent this email to reporters, with the title "fyi":

At 8:30 this morning, Senator Obama called Senator McCain to ask him if he would join in issuing a joint statement outlining their shared principles and conditions for the Treasury proposal and urging Congress and the White House to act in a bipartisan manner to pass such a proposal. At 2:30 this afternoon, Senator McCain returned Senator Obama's call and agreed to join him in issuing such a statement. The two campaigns are currently working together on the details.

-- Evie Stone

UPDATE: The McCain campaign responds with an "fyi" of its own:

Senator Obama phoned Senator McCain at 8:30 am this morning but did not reach him. The topic of Senator Obama's call to Senator McCain was never discussed. Senator McCain was meeting with economic advisers and talking to leaders in Congress throughout the day prior to calling Senator Obama. At 2:30 pm, Senator McCain phoned Senator Obama and expressed deep concern that the plan on the table would not pass as it currently stands. He asked Senator Obama to join him in returning to Washington to lead a bipartisan effort to solve this problem.

3:14 PM ET | 09-24-2008 | permalink

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The Politics of Coal

John McCain's campaign is seizing on an unscripted comment by Joe Biden to question Barack Obama's commitment to developing clean coal technology. Biden, working a rope line in Maumee, Ohio last week was asked why the campaign supports clean coal when wind and solar power are "flourishing." Biden says, "We're not supporting clean coal," later adding, "No coal plants here in America." (At the same time, Biden seems to suggest that the US should develop clean coal technology for export, warning, "Guess what, China is going to burn 300 years of bad coal unless we figure out how to clean their coal up.")

The McCain campaign quickly announced the formation of a "Coalition to Protect Coal Jobs," during a conference call with Congresswoman Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV), former Congressman Scott McInnis (R-CO), RNC Chairman Mike Duncan, and former Virginia Governor and Senator George Allen (who knows how damaging an unscripted YouTube moment can be).

For its part, the Obama campaign insists it does support investment in clean coal technology, as part of its ten-year, $150 billion dollar initiative to develop clean energy of all kinds. (McCain proposes $2 billion per year in federal subsidies for clean coal, plus more limited funding for "basic research" on wind, tide, and solar energy.) "The Obama-Biden Department of Energy is committed to developing five 'first-of-a-kind' commercial scale coal-fired plants with carbon capture and sequestration here in the United States," says Biden spokesman David Wade.

Coal generates a lot of political heat because it supplies more than half the nation's electricity, is a significant contributor of greenhouse gases, and because five of the leading coal-producing states (Pennsylvania, Virginia, Colorado, New Mexico, and Ohio) are battlegrounds in the November election.

-- Scott Horsley

UPDATE: The Obama-Biden campaign has now announced the creation of a "Clean Coal Jobs Task Force, aimed at furthering Senator Obama and Senator Biden's commitment to creating jobs and energy independence through clean coal."

2:36 PM ET | 09-23-2008 | permalink

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Schmidt Goes After the New York Times

Steve Schmidt, a McCain campaign manager, targeted the New York Times this morning in a conference call, saying they're "not a journalistic organization" and that they're "150-percent in the tank for the Democratic candidate."

When you attack the media in a conference call full of journalists, it's bound to attract some attention -- which may have been the point, of course. The Fix says attacking the New York Times "is a smart strategic move when it comes to uniting the Republican base behind McCain."

Schmidt later used Joe Biden's son as an example of the lack of press scrutiny on the Democratic side, claiming Hunter Biden had ties to the credit card industry. As proof of this connection, the RNC then emailed out an article, which -- as Jonathan Martin points out -- was written by none other than the Times.

Anyway, with all this circulating so quickly, I thought I'd put up some of the audio.

-- Thomas Pierce

2:12 PM ET | 09-22-2008 | permalink

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McCain on the Message Offensive

It's been a tough week for John McCain. He declared the fundamentals of the economy strong, only to declare them at risk. One aide, trying to stress McCain's record on economic progress, suggested the senator helped invent the blackberry.

Broadly, the deepening crisis on Wall Street has the potential to favor Democrat Barack Obama. All recent polling suggests when it comes to handling the economy, voters give higher marks to Democrats. Meanwhile, Obama has an easier time pushing for tighter regulations on Wall Street -- since McCain has been a longtime fan of deregulation.

Give this state of play, it was no surprise when some of McCain's top advisers -- Steve Schmidt, Mark Salter and Nicolle Wallace -- paid a visit to the press cabin today for a message offensive.

"You look at the poll numbers," Schmidt said, with Salter and Wallace by his side. "We remain in a very close contest."

Schmidt previewed the aggressive message we should expect from McCain in coming days, as he tries to pummel Obama over Wall Street's woes. Schmidt summarized that message this way:

"Obama's notion of reform on these issues and change is a rhetorical device used to advance his political agenda. But he's got no record of reform. He's got no record of leadership really on any issue."

Schmidt also accused Obama of playing on the anxiety of Americans for political gain.

"I think as the American people prepare to make their choice in this election," Schmidt said, "they're likely to give consideration to the fact that the Obama campaign is cheer-leading this crisis."

The advisers spoke as McCain and running mate Sarah Palin did a "Rapid" tour, flying from Grand Rapids, Michigan to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. This caused some confusion.

"Thank you so much Iowa," Palin said as she began her remarks in Cedar Rapids. "It is so good to be here in Grand Rapids."

-- David Greene

4:11 PM ET | 09-18-2008 | permalink

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Candidates' Statements on the AIG Bailout

Highlights...

MCCAIN:

We should never again allow the United States to be in this position. We need strong and effective regulation, a return to job-creating growth and a restoration of ethics and the social contract between businesses and America.

OBAMA:

This crisis serves as a stark reminder of the failures of crony capitalism and an economic philosophy that sees any regulation at all as unwise and unnecessary. It's a philosophy that lets Washington lobbyists shred consumer protections and distort our economy so it works for the special interests instead of working people; a philosophy that says we should give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to the rest.

Full statements after the jump.

-- Evie Stone

Continue reading "Candidates' Statements on the AIG Bailout" »

10:54 AM ET | 09-17-2008 | permalink

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McCain Talks Tough On Economy, Dems Keep Up Attacks

John McCain, on offense to prove he's taking the economic meltdown seriously after yesterday's misfire, released a new ad this afternoon that uses the word "crisis" three times in 30 seconds. In it, McCain promises to tackle the situation "head on" and to protect Americans' jobs and savings. A female voiceover adds that McCain will bring "experience and leadership in a time of crisis". (And here we thought "experience" was SO August 28th...)

But the Democrats are not going to let McCain retake control of his economic narrative that easily. Four minutes after that ad hit my inbox, I received a video from the DNC montaging 10 instances from this year of McCain saying some version of "the fundamentals of our economy are strong" (the most recent example, of course, was from yesterday), along with quotes from McCain advisers downplaying the country's economic problems.

-- Evie Stone

5:24 PM ET | 09-16-2008 | permalink

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Fiorina: Candidates Not Qualified to Run Corporations

In a radio interview this morning on St. Louis station KTRS, host McGraw Milhaven asked McCain economic adviser (and former Hewlett-Packard CEO) Carly Fiorina whether she thinks GOP VP Nominee Sarah Palin "has the experience to run a major company like Hewlett-Packard". Her answer: "No, I don't. But you know what? That's not what she's running for." After emitting that damning sound-bite (even the biggest corporations are smaller and less complex than the US government...), she turned to impugning Barack Obama's lack of executive experience.

As the Democrats and blogs had a heyday, Fiorina made a stab at damage control in a subsequent appearance on MSNBC. When Andrea Mitchell asked her about the KTRS interview, Fiorina responded that she didn't think McCain could run a major corporation either. And, she added, neither could Barack Obama or Joe Biden:

But on the other hand, a major corporation is not the same as being the President or Vice-President of the United States. It is a fallacy to suggest that the country is like a company. So, of course, to run a business you have to have a lifetime of experience in business. But that's not what Sarah Palin, John McCain, Joe Biden, or Barack Obama are doing.

The Obama camp is circulating the Palin and McCain quotes, wondering "If John McCain's top economic advisor doesn't think he can run a corporation, how on Earth can he run the largest economy in the world in the midst of a financial crisis?" The statement omits Fiorina's comments about the Dems.

-- Evie Stone

2:23 PM ET | 09-16-2008 | permalink

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Obama Camp Slams McCain for Economy Remarks

Shortly after releasing an ad about how the economy is in "Crisis," John McCain told rally-goers in Jacksonville, FL this morning that "the fundamentals of our economy are strong." He went on to add, "these are very, very difficult times and I promise you we will never put America in this position again." Later, in Orlando, McCain backtracked a bit, saying the economy's fundamentals are "threatened and at risk" because Wall Street has treated the markets "like a casino."

The Obama camp is, unsurprisingly, making the most of the Jacksonville remark. Spokesman Bill Burton released a statement that calls McCain "disturbingly out of touch with what's going on in the lives of ordinary Americans" and blames "the policies he supports" for the current crisis. And in a speech this morning in St. Clair Shores, MI, Joe Biden knocked McCain as well: "Ladies and gentlemen, I could walk from here to Lansing, and I wouldn't run into a single person who thought our economy was doing well, unless I ran into John McCain." (That's 93.5 miles, BTW.)

The economy has been a potent political issue for the Democrats for decades. But the Obama campaign may want to be cautious about how they craft the applause lines. Their mission to paint McCain as out-of-touch could be undermined if they're viewed as appearing too triumphant about the nation's problems. We can't be the only ones who thought it was weird when the crowd cheered this line in Obama's convention speech:

We meet at one of those defining moments -- a moment when our nation is at war, our economy is in turmoil, and the American promise has been threatened once more.

-- Evie Stone

1:06 PM ET | 09-15-2008 | permalink

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Obama Fires Back in Virginia

In a speech about education this morning in Norfolk, Virginia, Obama also took a moment to address the cross-fire over the now widely-circulating "lipstick on a pig" comment. Obama reiterated that the pig in question was not a reference to Republican VP nominee, Sarah Palin, but a common expression. Obama said he doesn't want to spend two of the last 55 days talking about these kinds of issues:

Enough. I don't care what they say about me, but I love this country too much to let them take over another election with lies and phony outrage and Swiftboat politics. Enough is enough. These are serious times, and they call for a serious debate about where we need to take the nation.

-- Thomas Pierce

10:46 AM ET | 09-10-2008 | permalink

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Democrat in the Lion's Den

Fox News' Bill O'Reilly interviewed Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama about Iraq on Thursday night on The O'Reilly Factor -- an interview request Obama agreed to after holding out for many months.

The Democrat acknowledged that the elevation of U.S. troop levels in Iraq commonly called the surge had "succeeded beyond our wildest dreams."

The conservative talk show host started by pressing the Senator on whether he'd be willing to strike Iran militarily to prevent it from getting nuclear arms, to which Obama replied he would not rule out military options but wanted to pursue other means of pressuring Iran.

O'Reilly did not look impressed. "We'll assume that you're going to ratchet everything you can rachet," O'Reilly said. "But I'm going to assume that Iran's going to say, 'Blank you,' and I want a President, whether you or McCain that says, 'You ain't doin' that.'"

O'Reilly then turned to Iraq.

Continue reading "Democrat in the Lion's Den" »

9:30 PM ET | 09- 4-2008 | permalink

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Obama Responds to GOP Jabs, Supporters Open Wallets

At a press availability in York, PA, today, Barack Obama responded to the harsh rhetoric cast his way at the Republican Convention this week. The Democratic presidential nominee told reporters that "the American people deserve better than to get the same old vitriol and slash and burn politics that we have been seeing over the last couple of days."

When pressed on the tough words from the RNC podium, Obama offered this dismissal of GOP tactics:

This is what they do. They do not have an agenda to run on. They have not offered a single concrete idea so far in two nights about how they would make the lives of middle-class Americans better. They spent the entire two nights attacking me or extolling John McCain's biography, which is fine. They can use their convention time anyway they want, but you cannot expect that I would be surprised about attacks from Republicans. And by the way, I have been called worse on the basketball court. It's not that big of a deal.

Obama added that he thinks the race will ultimately be about him and McCain "and who is in a better position to lead the country."

But despite those dismissals, the Obama campaign is making the most of their week in the RNC cross-hairs. Obama campaign manager David Plouffe sent out a fundraising appeal this morning to raise money for response advertising to "show the McCain campaign that there is a cost to this kind of negative politics." And supporters have responded enthusiastically; the campaign has reportedly raised more than $8 million since last night, and is on track to generate $10 million before McCain speaks tonight.

Because John McCain took public financing, his campaign fundraising season ended on August 31st...but as of a few hours ago the Republican National Committee told Politico they had raised $1 million on the strength of Palin's performance.

-- Evie Stone

6:07 PM ET | 09- 4-2008 | permalink

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Obama and Bill Ayers -- The Document Dump

Another chapter has been opened in the saga of Barack Obama and former Weather Underground member William Ayers.

How important a chapter isn't clear yet.

The University of Illinois at Chicago on Tuesday brought out the files of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a 1990s project to make Chicago's schools better. There's an on-line but cryptic 66-page listing of what's in the 132 boxes.

Continue reading "Obama and Bill Ayers -- The Document Dump" »

8:05 PM ET | 08-26-2008 | permalink

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The Letter of Unity, But Maybe Not the Spirit

This afternoon the Hillary Clinton press office emailed reporters this statement, delivered by Senator Clinton to the New York delegation this morning.

Every one of us could stand up and recite all the reasons why we must elect Barack. The Supreme Court is at stake; our educational system needs the right kind of change. We've got to become energy independent; we have to create millions of new green collar jobs. We've got so much work to do around the world.

None of that will happen if John McCain is in the White House. I just want to make it absolutely clear we cannot afford four more years of George W. Bush's failed policies in America and that's what we would get with John McCain.

Now I understand that the McCain campaign is running ads trying to divide us and let me state what I think about their tactics and these ads: I am Hillary Clinton and I do not approve that message.

So let there be the no mistake about it, we are united. We are united for change.

The statement comes in response to two McCain ads that pitch woo to Clinton's supporters.

But NPR's Robert Smith was at that breakfast with the New York delegates, and he says that statement sounds a little more hunky dory than what he actually observed. Robert says Clinton's speech did stress the importance of electing Obama, but she never praised the Democratic nominee. And she didn't urge her delegates to vote for him during Wednesday's convention roll-call. After the event Clinton told reporters that she would be voting for Barack Obama, but the rest of her delegates will have to decide for themselves.

Not quite a full-throated call for party unity...yet. Maybe she's saving that for her primetime speech Tuesday night?

-- Evie Stone

4:47 PM ET | 08-25-2008 | permalink

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McCain Campaign Says POW To Its Critics

John McCain, vintage 2000, was wary of trading on his history as a prisoner of war who had endured years of torture at the hands of his Vietnamese captors. You didn't see it in his campaign ads and he didn't tend to talk about it on the stump in his brief but intense bid for the GOP nomination.

McCain 2008? Hello, trump card!

When articles focused on McCain's inability to recall how many homes he owns, campaign spokesman Brian Rogers dismissed any criticism of senator's wealth, pointing to Democrat Barack Obama's home.

And then the McCain spokesman added: "This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years -- in prison."

When reporters questioned whether McCain really was in the promised "cone of silence" as the Rev. Rick Warren posed the same questions to Senator Obama that shortly he posed to McCain, campaign spokeswoman Nicole Wallace had a ready response:

"The insinuation from the Obama campaign that John McCain, a former prisoner of war, cheated is outrageous," she told the New York Times.

And earlier this summer, when McCain was criticized for jokingly suggesting his wife, Cindy, should participate in a topless beauty pageant at the biker rally he was addressing, Rogers said that Americans voters know "John McCain's faith and character were tested and forged in ways few can fathom."

Presumably that was an allusion to his POW experience too. There were four other senators in the Keating Five, a searing political experience that McCain has cited for his interest in campaign finance issues, so one guesses the others could have fathomed that.

McCain's experience in Vietnam -- and his resolute refusal to accept an early return ahead of some of his fellow captives -- clearly has informed his life in the decades since. Apparently his campaign hopes it will shield the candidate from all prickly questions about that life as well.

--David Folkenflik

5:22 PM ET | 08-22-2008 | permalink

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Obama Camp Announces 17 'Events' Criticizing McCain's House Misstep

The Obama campaign keeps up the pummelling on McCain's real estate gaffe with a press release announcing "Events Throughout the Country on John McCain Losing Track of How Many Homes He Owns."

There are 17 "events" on the list (how much of an "event" can you really make out of this?), mostly in battleground states. Highlights include statewide searches in Florida and Pennsylvania for people who can't remember how many houses they own, and this from Michigan:

MI: Campaign for Change offices across Michigan are launching a "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: McCain Edition" contest where volunteers will be able to win a free "Exxon-McCain" bumper-sticker if they correctly guess the number of houses John McCain owns. Prizes will be only be awarded after McCain clarifies exactly how many houses he owns. To win, the answer must be specific -- "at least four" doesn't count.

As NPR's Ina Jaffe put it, "the Obama campaign is not looking a gift horse in the mouth." Political campaigns are not famous for their subtlety, but is this overkill? How long before that gift horse puts on a leather jacket and waterskis over a shark?

-- Evie Stone

1:35 PM ET | 08-21-2008 | permalink

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Obama Camp Quickly Capitalizes on McCain House Gaffe

The short national nightmare is over. We now know definitively how many houses (including condos -- apparently they're confusing) the McCains own. The DNC has helpfully circulated Politifact's finding that the magic number is seven.

But despite the quick resolution, we surely haven't seen the last of this gaffe. Stay tuned for more crowing Dem press releases, snide surrogate comments, and negative ads like this one the Obama campaign's freakishly speedy team has already put together:

Recent polls, including the ones we wrote about this morning, show McCain trailing Obama on economic issues. This misstep provides the Obama camp with an opportunity to widen the pocketbook gap -- and they're more than happy to take it.

-- Evie Stone

UPDATE: Brian Rogers of the McCain campaign counterpunches in a statement. It's an elitism-off!

Does a guy who made more than $4 million last year, just got back from vacation on a private beach in Hawaii and bought his own million-dollar mansion with the help of a convicted felon really want to get into a debate about houses? Does a guy who worries about the price of arugula and thinks regular people "cling" to guns and religion in the face of economic hardship really want to have a debate about who's in touch with regular Americans?

11:34 AM ET | 08-21-2008 | permalink

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A Dem Primer On Attacking McCain

There's considerable hand-wringing on the left over McCain's attacks on Obama's character and lack of a Democratic counterattack. Now a Democratic consultant has produced a how-to memo: "McCain's actions in recent weeks have provided compelling evidence for three genuinely disturbing propositions about his character, core values and integrity."

The phrase "swift boating" comes to mind. Peter Overby has more, on our companion blog at the Secret Money Project.

-- Vox Politics

5:23 PM ET | 08-19-2008 | permalink

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Tit for Tat

This morning the McCain campaign released a video montage called "Praising McCain" that features prominent Democrats (Daschle, Biden, Kerry, Dean, Feingold, even Obama himself), talking admiringly about the Senator. The video is capped off with Hillary Clinton's famous sound bite from this year's primary in which she says McCain is ready for the White House and all Obama has going for him is his 2002 speech opposing the Iraq war. But most of the other clips have a certain vintage quality to them (look no further than Tom Daschle's hair color for evidence).

We hasten to point out that the U.S. Senate is a collegial body whose members frequently have aisle-crossing friendships despite their policy disagreements. And these clips are pretty much all about respecting John McCain, not agreeing with him.

Nonetheless, it only took a few hours for the DNC to respond with a counter-montage -- using the same music -- called "Maverick No More." The DNC's video quotes of most of the same Democrats spouting this year's party message (John McCain = George W. Bush) capped off with a clip of Bush and McCain together.

Flip-floppers.

-- Evie Stone

3:44 PM ET | 08- 7-2008 | permalink

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Upping the Pressure

John McCain's staff passed out tire pressure gauges on the campaign plane today, mocking rival Barack Obama's suggestion that properly-inflated tires and tune-ups could save as much oil as offshore drilling would produce.

The RNC is also sending tire pressure gauges to Washington-area newsrooms.

McCain believes he's found a potent issue with his offshore drilling proposal. Even in states like Florida, where vacation beaches are an economic asset of their own, a solid majority of voters now support expanded drilling offshore.

McCain will also highlight his support for nuclear power this week with a visit to the Fermi power plant in Michigan. But first he'll stop by the giant Sturgis motorcyle rally in South Dakota, where he can help some Harley enthusiasts check their tire pressure.

According to the Alliance to Save Energy, a pro-efficiency nonprofit, pumping up actually does help improve gas mileage. The organization estimates that properly inflated tires increase efficiency by about 3 percent, saving the average driver about 75 dollars a year.

-- Scott Horsley

UPDATE: The Obama campaign weighs in with a 2006 press release from NASCAR, including the following relevant nugget:

With escalating fuel prices, the time is now for drivers to focus on simple things like proper tire pressure to maximize tire performance and increase fuel economy.

Too bad NASCAR dads are so 2004.

10:22 AM ET | 08- 4-2008 | permalink

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Obama Tells NPR McCain Camp Has 'Amplified' Race Controversy

NPR's Michele Norris interviewed Barack Obama for this afternoon's All Things Considered. The bulk of the conversation was about Obama's energy plan, but Michele also raised the recent back-and-forth between the two campaigns over charges of race-baiting. Obama's response, in part:

[I]n no ways do I think that the McCain campaign has targeted race issues, although I will say that the way that they've amplified this, you know, has been troublesome. And the eagerness with which they've done it indicates they think they can exploit this politically, but, in fact, what I have said, and there's no doubt about this, they've said it themselves, is that they want to make me appear risky to the American people.

And the fact that I am not a typical presidential candidate in that sense, you know, reinforces that sense of risk.

The full Q&A on the race debate is after the jump.

-- Evie Stone

Continue reading "Obama Tells NPR McCain Camp Has 'Amplified' Race Controversy" »

4:00 PM ET | 08- 1-2008 | permalink

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Obama Campaign Responds to Race-Card Accusations

From Obama spokesman Bill Burton:

This is a race about big challenges--a slumping economy, a broken foreign policy, and an energy crisis for everyone but the oil companies. Barack Obama in no way believes that the McCain campaign is using race as an issue, but he does believe they're using the same old low-road politics to distract voters from the real issues in this campaign, and those are the issues he'll continue to talk about.

-- Evie Stone

1:58 PM ET | 07-31-2008 | permalink

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McCain Camp Accuses Obama of Race-Baiting

The McCain campaign just came out with a statement condemning Barack Obama's comments yesterday in Missouri that he's being painted as "risky" because he's "got a funny name" and "doesn't look like the other Presidents on the currency."

Writes the McCain press office:

Barack Obama has played the race card, and he played it from the bottom of the deck. It's divisive, negative, shameful and wrong.

ABC's Jake Tapper picked it up immediately, posting this last night:

While I have no doubt there will be a bunch more racist, xenophobic, and other ignorant drek coming our way courtesy of the Internet and perhaps the occasional cable news network, it's important to determine where it's coming from. Is it from a specific campaign or party? A third-party group? A third-party group with direct ties to establishment figures? This all matters.

(snip)

What I have not seen is it come from McCain or his campaign in such a way to merit the language Obama used today. Pretty inflammatory.

Tapper asked the Obama camp for an explanation, and says they claimed "he was talking about his 'opponents' in general, writ large, the talk radio hosts and smear artists and such," and not about McCain himself.

The remarks themselves are pretty ambiguous, and do seem to imply race-based fearmongering from the McCain campaign. Read/watch them for yourself after the jump and let us know what you think.

-- Evie Stone

Continue reading "McCain Camp Accuses Obama of Race-Baiting" »

12:30 PM ET | 07-31-2008 | permalink

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McCain Response to Obama's Berlin Speech

From McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds:

While Barack Obama took a premature victory lap today in the heart of Berlin, proclaiming himself a 'citizen of the world,' John McCain continued to make his case to the American citizens who will decide this election. Barack Obama offered eloquent praise for this country, but the contrast is clear. John McCain has dedicated his life to serving, improving and protecting America. Barack Obama spent an afternoon talking about it.

-- Evie Stone

3:40 PM ET | 07-24-2008 | permalink

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