A really nasty negative tone in the race, a sour and frustrated public, and an economic crisis is all leading to massive rises in the polls for Democrats. There's a debate today between McCain and Obama, and Chris will be live-blogging it. I'm pretty much interested in what these guys are going to say about the bailout. What I can't figure out is why they keep bragging that they were more effective than their opponent at getting this really unpopular piece of legislation passed.
Anyway, the recriminations are starting, because the bailout didn't seem to solve market confidence problems.
In an article by insider publication The Hill titled 'Doubts grow over rescue', every excuse for the failure of the bailout is given by various financial and think tank pundits, from 'Congress didn't pass it fast enough' to 'Congress didn't 'inspire confidence' in the way it passed the bill to an urging that Congress move beyond partisanship and encourage the Fed to act. My favorite is this one, from former IMF official and current Peterson Foundation fellow Morris Goldstein.
Goldstein said that Congress might have to return to Washington in the next several weeks to pass an emergency economic stimulus package, increase the federal insurance limit on bank deposits or enlarge the financial authority of Paulson to buy distressed assets.
Ah, so the bailout isn't big enough. Peter Peterson, the guy who funds this fellow, is a private equity billionaire Republican who tried to privatize Social Security, so of course, you know, there's always that.
You know what reason ISN'T given as a possible explanation? That the bailout was a stupid fucking idea put out there by the lying criminal incompetents who got us into this mess.
Seven polls from the DCCC are showing Democratic rematches looking good, all of them in the northeast, mid-atlantic, or industrial midwest. That tracks with the recessionary areas of the country.
There will be Senate vacancies, no matter who is elected President. Frankly, this is the only circumstance I would support a bipartisan cabinet, if you could get a Republican Senator to leave his seat to take a department.
The Sierra Club is greenwashing more nice front groups, not just that of T. Boone Pickens. And it's helping Clorox sell more crap! Way to go Carl Pope!
Women's Voices Women's Vote registered 1 million people this cycle, almost all of which were unmarried women. Check out the states.
That million includes 166,411 from Florida; 104,230 from Ohio; 76,799 from Pennsylvania; 63,133 in Illinois; 57,282 in Michigan; and 46,523 in Missouri, the six states where WVWV generated the most registrations. In addition, WVWV generated 34,170 in Colorado; 43,518 in North Carolina; 40,154 in Virginia; and 13,509 in Nevada. Over 7,000 people were registered online, including more than 4,000 through Facebook.
Chris Hayes has a piece out on Free Trade called Free Traitors.
The WTO and free trade is going to be a major fight next cycle. Obama's health care and climate change proposals are going to be subject to WTO rules, which means that corporations can sue the US government and dismantle his carbon reduction laws or health care reforms as 'trade barriers'. Lieberman-Warner had a carbon tariff in it, but the bill never went anyway, so nothing came of it. But there's no question the Chamber of Commerce is going to use this legal avenue through American subsidiaries of foreign companies to gut any attempt by Obama to engage in social safety or environmental protection.
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