My $.02

This presidential election is going to be doozy. The whole process will drain me emotionally and intellectually until the moment the results are flung to the world this November, which is only 30 days away. I watched both debates and I have reflected on both what was said and what wasn’t said.

Obama is a great speaker; he reminds me of Bill Clinton in a lot of ways and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the same people have prepped both men. But I hold the same mistrust for both men also. I believe that the election is not going to be won by policies and attacks on the opposition’s stances but by whom the American people trust the most. Let’s face it, neither the Obama-Biden nor the McCain-Palin tickets are that impressive when it comes to combining all the elements of what a U.S. President should have. But then again, I can’t remember an election when they did.

Obama has had a tough time with the Ad Hominem fallacy of “guilt by association.” The first blow out was with, ironically, Obama’s preacher, Jeremiah Wright. Wright and Farrakhan could roll together on the “Kill Whitey” campaign train. In fact, while Obama may disagree with what these two hate mongers preach he has no problem with their continued support.

Another violent connection can be found between Obama and William Ayers, a former(?) member of a terrorist group called The Weather Underground Organization. This group claimed responsibility for several bombings in Chicago during the early 1970’s. Ayers commented that he regrets not setting off more bombs in an interview with the NY Times. Obama and Ayers worked together on a board for an anti-poverty group. Ayers is now a professor and the University of Illinois Chicago. There was a lot of commotion when it was discovered that Ayers sent a campaign contribution to Obama thereby creating one more financial tie to another scum bag. Granted it was only $200 but again, Obama had no problems accepting the contribution. Bill Dyer offers some insight into the life of this despicable man- Ayers, that is.

NYT minimizes and conceals both extent and seriousness of Obama's multi-year ties to terrorist Ayes over multi-million-dollar conspiracy to radicalize American education

Brokaw claims Ayers is now a mere "school reformer"

Tony Rezko was plunged into the spotlight at the beginning of the year, but only for a short time, before Obama damaged control rushed to the scene with their patch kits. Here is an interesting article on Rezko by the Chicago Sun-Times. I thought it was kind of funny that Hillary was the one to start the momentum for this scumbag. Then again, she is the queen of underhanded activities and what better person to flush it out than someone with first hand
experience in the area of corruption and coverup.

There are probably others but they are little fish compared to these 3. Perhaps more will surface in the upcoming months but at this point it would have to be a picture of Obama french kissing bin Laden while doing the Dance of the Flaming Asshole with the American flag to really raise my eyebrows.

It is hard for me to figure out which candidate has the better programs or plans for our future. Each has its own website that elegantly lays out just how much better off we will be by choosing the webmaster’s financier. There are even sites that juxtapose each candidate’s views in a two-column format to frustrate us even more. The sites are good for viewing the partisan views of the candidates and what they think about abortion, gay marriage, etc. but not for getting into the nitty gritty. For example, each candidate says the other voted against or for something but doesn’t get into why they cast that vote. Obama shakes his finger at McCain for “not supporting the troops” when voting against a bill geared towards education benefits for service members but it takes some research to find out why McCain did that. Additionally, both McCain and Obama share the same views on a lot of issues.

I was really hoping that the debates would be the deal clincher- that we could finally gain some insight into the views of the candidates that would break up the “Tastes Great, Less Filling” atmosphere. I was wrong. Obama gave an impressive performance and was well groomed for the debate. McCain pissed me off by not directly addressing either the moderator or Obama. There were several times McCain could have gone for the jugular but instead fell back on his autobiography. Obama spoke but didn’t really say anything. They both shit on each other’s voting history on key issues but the rebuttals left me wanting to get a refill on my glass of Chianti. But I didn’t dare leave.

The VEEP debates focused on what I had expected- “Hey, my Presidential nominee is the greatest.” Good thing for Palin, I guess, since she doesn’t sem to do very well when it comes to talking about the roles of government, world events, or addressing an issue she doesn’t know anything about. But I forgave her because she is more down to earth than Biden and her rising MILF status is nothing to sneeze at either. She didn’t do that bad, but I wanted her to stick it to Biden and Obama by actually answering the damn questions. Coming back to old topics and saying, “And I may not answer the questions that either the moderator or you want to hear, but I'm going to talk straight to the American people and let them know my track record also” really sounded like a cop out to me. I’m actually glad Biden called her out on the whole “We’re mavericks!” thing because, frankly, I was getting tired of hearing it. When hear maverick, I think of Tom Cruise banging Kelly McGillis in Top Gun, not candidates for an election.

Not one of the four candidates impressed me with their plan to get us out of this financial mess we are in. Pelosi has been chiming in with what she thinks is the problem- THE REPUBLICANS AND GEORGE BUSH!!! Hey, Pelosi, you have had control of everything for two years now- you can’t use the lame duck as a guinea pig anymore. Both Obama and McCain warned of the times to come, more or less, but it really was the Democrats, many years ago, who got us in this mess, with the help of a few Republicans taking kickbacks. Don’t know who Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac are? No, they aren’t Hee Haw stars or comedians. Here is the lowdown via Gather.com:

The [Community Reivestment Act of 1974] bill encouraged the Federal National Mortgage Association, commonly known as Fannie Mae, to enable mortgage companies, savings and loans, commercial banks, credit unions, and state and local housing finance agencies to lend to home buyers. It also encouraged the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, commonly known as Freddie Mac, to buy mortgages on the secondary market and sell them as mortgage-backed securities on the open market.

Sounds good so far. But only now are we feeling the after effects of Bill Clinton, more specifically his deregulation of the industry. Fannie and Mac picked up $12 Trillion of the mortgage market. “NO credit, bad credit, illegal alien, NO PROBLEM!” Now people can’t pay their bills and the housing market is crumbling. It is definitely a buyer’s market if you can find a bank to finance you. But even the banks are scared now. I can easily count a dozen houses for sale just on the 2 block walk to my son’s school. Billy Bob may not have caused the crisis but he sure didn’t help prevent it. It is a very complicated issue, as is anything concerning that amount of money, and there are many other sites who sum it up better than I can.

The shot heard ‘round the world happened last week when the bailout plan was defeated in the House. Stocks plunged, tempers flared, and the rest of us are still wondering just what the hell is going to happen in the months ahead. The Great Depression is looking for a comeback and it very well might happen. At first, I was pissed that it was defeated. After all, the government was going to buy back the mortgages and then…. Oh wait, the government was going to get involved. That bit of info finally set in and I snapped out of my financial fever. Here is the poop on the old bail out plan via Yahoo News:

The legislation the administration promoted would have allowed the government to buy bad mortgages and other sour assets held by troubled banks and other financial institutions. Getting those debts off their books should bolster those companies' balance sheets, making them more inclined to lend and ease one of the biggest choke points in a national credit crisis. If the plan worked, the thinking went, it would help lift a major weight off the national economy, which is already sputtering.

But what the plan also did was lift the responsibility of bad decisions from the asshole institutions that got us into this mess in the first place. It essentially gave them a “Get out of jail FREE” card. The government would pick up the tab and then slip it into our pocket when we weren’t looking. American’s saw the writing on the wall and email, telephoned, telegraphed, pigeon mailed their concerns to their Congressmen and Representatives who wisely let the people win this battle. A new bail out plan was approved today but did this bill pass? Money at CNN has some info:

House Minority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., told reporters before the vote on Friday morning that three things have happened to change some Republican members' opposition to the bill since the House defeated the measure on Monday: more calls to their district offices in support of the bill; a clarification of SEC accounting rules; and the Senate additions, passed on Wednesday, including a number of tax break extenders and an increase in FDIC deposit insurance coverage.

The NY Times has an FAQ concerning the Historic Bailout Plan and its implications. It does a decent job of explaining how and why the average person who isn’t involved with swapping stocks or defaulting on a home loan are going to be affected by the bail out. It is definitely one for the history books. Here is another article written by William Grieder at The Nation.com that skillfully breaks down why Americans should be pissed off at the bail out plan and the people who got us into this mess.

I can safely say that 30 days will be longest I have ever held my breath. The tension in the weeks to come will be similar to the final scene in The Birdcage.