Congress tries to gamble, market drops 777

I too lost money today, but there is some humor in the fact that the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 777 (lucky 7’s) after Congress voted against taking a gamble on the Wall Street Bailout.

Maybe it’s a sign that the American taxpayers finally won one, or maybe I just think about gambling too much.

The Day the American People Bitch Slapped Washington

“Bitch Slap”: The act of unexpectedly slapping someone across the face. Usually done in front of several people in order to humiliate the slappee. – UrbanDictionary.com

Monday was definitely an interesting day in Washington.

The day started with an address from President George W. Bush, urging Members of Congress to pass what he thought was a strong piece of legislation that was designed with the best interest of the American people in mind. This address to the nation was so important that it was held at 7:35am EST (4:35am PST), ensuring that maybe 1% of the population would actually see it. That 1% however, was targeted very carefully to a demographic that is very important to Bush Administration: Wall Street and Politicians.

Following the President’s remarks, the media went into full spin mode, rallying behind the President and Congressional leadership, leading the American people to believe  that this bill was expected to pass, and that both sides of the House thought that they had the votes needed to move this on to the Senate.

Of course this is exactly what the spin machines from within the Bush administration and the Congressional leadership wanted the American people to think.

Unfortunately for them, there was no amount of PR tricks, and no number of feuxservative think-tanks that the White House could sell on this Socialist plan that would lead the American people to trust something that obviously didn’t have the best interest of taxpayers in mind.

Did an Administration with an approval rating of 27% and a Congress with one of 17% really expect the American people to trust them with $700,000,000,000 bailout package? Unfortunately, when you drink too much of the Potomac Kool-Aid, it appears that hallucinations and bad judgment follow.

Luckily, through the efforts of some true free-market, limited government organizations like FreedomWorks, National Taxpayers Union, Campaign for Liberty, and even some groups on the left, coupled with good ole’ American common sense, taxpayers rose up and told Congress how they feel.

I’m happy to be able to say that with one strong backhand, the American people were able to forcefully reach back and bitch slap both the Bush Administration for pushing this bill, and Congressional leadership on both sides for trying to sugarcoat what was obviously a flawed piece of legislation.

Just on one petition alone, NoWallStreetBailout.com (created by FreedomWorks), nearly 30,000 people signed up within days of this bailout being announced.

Even as John McCain and Barack Obama jumped on board with something they obviously didn’t understand, the American people said they weren’t going to stand for it.

Throughout the day on Monday, Congressional switchboards were jammed by phone calls coming in from all corners of the United States, with the overwhelming majority having a similar message to their Members: Hell No.

I’m going to have a lot more on this as it all unfolds, because it obviously isn’t over it yet. But the very fact that a traditionally apathetic American public rallied against this legislation in overwhelming numbers, on both sides of the aisle, sends a strong message to Congress.

Their games are over.

Blogs also discussing the bailout:

• Odd But Not Unusual 
• Right Minds
• Mrs. Silence Dogood
• Heavy-Handed Politics
• Bankrupt Banks
• Emanuel Collado’s Weblog
• Whose Ox is Gored?
• Promethean Equality
• Politics of Poppycock
• Gray3’s Thirdsphere
• Riders Paradise
• Feminisn’t
• GoldSilver
• Joshua James Brown
• The Maverick Conservative
• CT Blue
• Media Concepts
• Disillusioned Words
• US PIRG Consumer Blog
• NOVAHomeGuy
• Portfolio.com
• The Tennessee ConserVOLiance
• Just a girl in short shorts talking about whatever

Poll Position: WTF is Up With the Numbers Lately?

A quick look at today’s polls at Real Clear Politics reveal numbers going in every direction for both candidates. While some polls have Senator Obama leading in the 4-6 point range, others have the race tied or McCain ahead by a couple points. With that in mind, one can safely cast aside the stupid and plain idiotic theory posited by some Democrats that McCain put his campaign on hold as a stunt due to sagging poll numbers.

Generally speaking I find polls useful tools in gauging the overall picture of the race. However, in the past few days it seems the numbers have gone crazy. I have looked at about a ten national polls from the past few days to determine whether there appears to be some discrepancy with the methodology or samples sizes to explain the larger than usual point spreads.

          MSNBC Brain Trust Discusses Bad Polling

The only pattern that I discerned was that McCain tends to do a little better with polls that have over/under age brackets closer to 50/50. In other words, in polls that sample voters 50 years or older in about equal numbers as those who are younger McCain generally does better. In polls that sample 49 year-olds and under in around the 55% sample range Obama does better. So, if one can make a predication it would be that if voter turnout plays out as it has in past Presidential elections, that is age 50 and over constitute close to 60% of the actual electorate, McCain will most likely win. However, if Obama’s efforts at increasing the youth vote pan-out he will win.

So how does that help us right now regarding the current polls with uneven samples and different methodologies? It doesn’t. Just rest assured that the race is close and barring a melt-down during the debates it will remain close to the very end.

Ten Reasons to Oppose the Wall Street Bailout

Reason 1: It costs $700 billion dollars, which is as much money as the combined annual budgets of the Departments of Defense, Education and Health and Human Services. It amounts to $2,300 for every man, woman, and child in America.

Check out the other 9…


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5 reasons why some might believe the rumor that Joe Biden is stepping down

If you’re a news junkie like me, odds are you’ve seen a couple dozen stories discussing a rumor that Joe Biden is planning on stepping out of the race in a few days, citing “health reasons”.

The rumor as mentioned on AssociatedContent.com:

“On or about October 5, 2008, Joe Biden will announce his resignation from the race as Barack Obama’s vice presidential running mate. He will cite health reasons and quietly withdraw. Hillary Clinton is poised to take his place as the Democratic vice presidential candidate. Or so this latest rumor goes.”

Obviously this isn’t the first time that rumors have been started about candidates that have turned out to be nothing, and I guarantee that this won’t be the last.

However, it’s not hard for someone to make an argument that would make this rumor seem like it could be a possibility.

While I am not completely confident in the rumor, here are five things that could lead people to believe that Joe Biden will be leaving the race:

1. – Joe Biden hasn’t been a staunch supporter of the activities of the campaign his name on. Here is Joe Biden commenting on an anti-McCain commercial recently run by his campaign (not a 527): ”

Asked about the negative tone of the campaign, and this ad in particular, during an interview broadcast Monday by the “CBS Evening News,” Obama’s running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, said he disapproved of it. “I thought that was terrible, by the way,” Biden said.

2. – There is no doubt whatsoever that Joe Biden is a “family first” kind of guy. Even after his kids grew up, he still came back to Delaware every night to spend time with his  family and always did what he could to keep his family close. Now that he is running for Vice President, his family has been a prime target for the RNC, particularly his lobbyist son Hunter who according to the RNC:

was until recently a registered Washington lobbyist whose clients received earmarks from Obama, and Federico Pena, Obama’s campaign co-chairman who has close ties to big electricity.

Random commentary: Honestly, I’ve always thought that this was a pointless argument by the RNC, because I’m quite confident that I can connect Hunter Biden to some of the lobbyists working for McCain. This whole lobbyist argument is getting old anyway, so focus on the issues! 

3. – Even Joe Biden himself has said that he thinks Hillary Clinton might have been a better choice than him for the VP:

“Make no mistake about this,” said Biden. “Hillary Clinton is as qualified or more qualified as I am … She’s qualified to be president of the United States of America and easily qualified to be vice president of the United States of America. And quite frankly, it might have been a better pick than me.”

While some might argue that this was just Joe Biden being humble, the tone of his voice really had me thinking that he believed what he was saying.

4. -  Joe Biden doesn’t agree with Barack Obama on a variety of core issues, and it’s starting to show:

Asked by NBC’s Meredith Vieira whether the Fed should bail out insurance giant AIG, the senator said no: “I don’t think they should be bailed out by the federal government.” Unfortunately, the remark had more in common with McCain’s initial position on the bailout (instinctive opposition) than Obama’s carefully cultivated claim that he would not “second-guess” the government. When the bailout went through, both Biden and McCain bowed to reality. But the shift left Obama in a tricky position–as Matt Lauer pointed out this morning on “Today.” Noting that Obama had been hitting McCain for flip-flopping on the AIG bailout, Lauer asked the Illinois senator how he could criticize his Republican rival when his own running mate had made the same mistake. His answer? “I think Joe should have waited, as well.” Awkward. 

Random commentary: Why does the media consider any deviation from talking-points as a gaffe? Is honesty or an individual point of view no longer allowed in the political arena? 

5. – One could argue that even the Obama campaign seems to be reluctant to put Biden’s name on key campaign materials:

In a controversial move sure to upset millions of people, Barack Obama’s campaign has decided to forgo the traditional time-wasting distribution of chum (yard signs, bumper stickers, etc.) to try and win the election.

Random commentary: As a former campaign staffer, I understand the argument for forgoing the campaign signs. They take up a lot of time, and if both sides are good at what they’re doing, those signs wont be in people’s yards anyway come election day  

In conclusion, yes, I can see how over the past few weeks some might see Joe Biden’s departure as an inevitable event. However, Barack Obama is still beating John McCain in many polls, and it appears that Obama still may be gaining some momentum. While I don’t think that Biden is essential for Obama’s victory, I don’t necessarily see him doing much damage to the campaign either.

While there are a variety of things that make this rumor seem more legitimate, at present I have a hard time believing it. But as this post reflects, I can’t rule anything out.

Blogs covering the “Biden Rumor:”

• Progressive Californian 
• The Right Perspective
• Exposing Liberal Lies
• Frankly, My Dear
• Flopping Aces
• Texas to Oregon
• Sherryness
• Stix Blog

Is your blog covering this story? If so, mention it in the comments and include a direct link to your post!