And they eat babies too.

'These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of financial crisis,' said Rep. Barney Frank, then ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. 'The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.'

Now BF is spinning like ca-raaazy trying to say McCain didn't contribute to the cabinet room meeting while Reid lied the day before saying that a deal had already been reached [using DNC house-organ MSNBC to spread the falsehood.]

[Obama as usual voted "present" at the meeting.]

BF comes across sputtering like an Elmer Fudd/Buddy Hackett SNL skit—-he thinks if he lies enuf, he can cover up his [and Chris Dodd's] original complicity in allowing the Meltdown to happen. [Unless the NYT above is factually wrong—not outside the realm of possibility given the Valerie Iseman affair[.

Oh, I forgot, the Dems are against accountability and want this to be a RICO scam as FanFred was.

That strikes me as something of a contradiction. If McCain was intending to be a positive force you would have thought he'd have known what the House GOP position was prior to the meeting. Wouldn't you? The meeting itself should have been the time to start leading (which was supposed to be his stated intent) not start listening. That should have happened prior.

He went there to help negotiate through the stalemate- GOP in the House weren't signing on in sufficient numbers for Pelosi to feel that her party's a$$ was covered. They weren't budging, so McCain was called in to help move them toward a compromise. The meeting was to see where everyone stood, so McCain appropriately spent more time listening than talking.

Did McCain then turn it into a campaign stunt? Of course- just as Obama then countered with a different stunt (aided by the Congressional Dems who calculated to attempt to convince people that a deal had already been struck until McCain came in and mucked it up.)

Even having said that, McCain looks like an ineffectual buffoon who tried to bamboozle the Voting public into thinking that he has the skills to lead and failed.

I cannot imagine the kind of intellect that would actually look at McCain's actions over the past few days and subsequently think, “Now, that's a man I want running this country.”

Its obvious whats happened McCain even admitted as much by saying he didn't read the proposals yesterday.
McCain thought he'd take a chance when he heard there was a crisis and thought he could get some credit for it. Gambled that the public would think it “sacrificing” his campaign was going to come off as noble. When he finally did read the proposals and found out the true magnitude of this collosal economic disaster.
He realized that nothing he could propose or take credit for proposing would even remotely be popular or effective. Decided to not touch it with a 10 foot pole, and run back to Mississippi acting like nothing had happened.

He gambled and lost and its completely obvious.

I was speaking in political terms.

Perception – not reality.

The ownership was not his to take. As it normally should work in our system, there are numerous solid minds working hard at arriving at a solution to this problem. McCain was being dramatic and vacillating wildly between doing nothing and doing the wrong thing, as he is wont to do, attempting to draw focus to himself and his so-called “leadership abilities”.

This morning on the radio, I heard McCain's economic adviser say that McCain would not support the bill as it stood now, but “the bill that passed.” You would be hard pressed to find a clearer, more transparent explanation of the McCain campaign strategy. He'll let others climb the mountain, then crow he got there first. He is not a maverick. He is compromised as a leader and he must not become president.

Its too late anyway- they are behind in too many races and dozens of Republicans have decided to retire (definition– move on to greener pastures with DC lobbying firms– now that's putting the country first!!)

There has been a leadership vacuum for quite a while — or steps would have been taken a long time ago to avoid this extreme action. This showdown is a result of longterm inaction as the problems with the subprime market deepened and spread through the financial system.

Look, this is what's really at stake here isn't it? Regardless of what happens, the people in Congress aren't going to be hurt one iota–Bill Clinton said this much. Everyone wants to rail on McCain for his stunt and the politics involved in it. That's fine, he deserves everything he's getting. But ALL of these folks are trying to figure out how to come out on top politically here and would have done so regardless if McCain or Obama showed up. These people in congress are acting just like all their partisan supporters are. They are looking for someone to blame and how to take credit for any good if any comes. See all the finger pointing? All this bickering is really helping the country out isn't it?

Then the Republicans would be smart to not gives them a single vote. Let Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid go to the public and example how avoiding blame is more important than having complete control over the solution.

However, the Democrats are not certain that it will look and are looking for others to share the blame. The Republicans (the minority and shrinking party) should let the Democrats have all of the credit for this.

As the U.S. becomes a one party state in the future, the Democrats are going to have to demonstrate leadership and seems to be lacking in their party. Much like inner city mayors avoid trying to solve problems but instead play to the core Democratic groups, it looks like the Democrats at the national lelve are doing the same thing.

I guess that Chicago based political hacks on Obama's staff have not figured out how they will get rich off the bailout so they are avoiding it. I wonder if the fixers and clout men from Chicago will enjoy being audited by the GAO, FBI, SEC, etc when they start working in the White House

• Barack Obama, in a fit of unbelievable arrogance, didn’t take Hillary as his VP.

Although it was clear Hillary would have picked Obama, he passed on what would have been an unbeatable ticket. She and Bill had the support and the political savvy to counter McCain’s moves.

• McCain picks Palin.

Although it’s beyond the capacity for leftists to understand, Palin connects with the exact demographic that McCain needs to win. Palin is Macomb County in Michigan. Palin is the suburbs and rural areas of Wisconsin and Ohio. Palin is a wide swath of Pennsylvania. The McCain campaign doesn’t care what Manhattan and Malibu thinks of her, she plays well in the critical areas that swing the swing states.

• The financial crisis.

Because Obama can’t take control of the situation due to the lack of political courage of the congressional democrats, he will be cast in the role of an ineffective leader or someone who was backing the giveaway plan. Either way, he’s toast.

I realize it’s hard for some people to grasp the magnitude of what happened in politics over the past 24 hours, but the reality will be apparent very quickly. Argue the minutia of whatever plan you like, but know that the audience that matters cannot balance their own checkbooks. The only thing that will come out of this is:

• There was a big problem – McCain solved it.

I've thought for a long time that this election may not be nearly as close as folks seem to expect (or the polls are currently indicating.) But I wasn't at all sure which way it would swing, and at the moment I'm even less convinced that it'll go toward John McCain.

And I think Elrod has a very valid interpretation of events in his comment. Thus far, McCain has presented nothing. Yes, you and I both see the possibility that this grandstand stunt is part of a larger attempt at an end run. But there's an equal (or greater) possibility that the public's current sentiment about McCain's motives will triumph, however carefully it's orchestrated.

But back to the “most of the Democrats”. Yes. Reid and Pelosi, and others in the House, are trying to avoid a possible setup, and it's making them look pretty danged spineless. But Reid and Pelosi ain't Congress, or even “most Democrats”.