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From the daily archives: Friday, October 10, 2008
Not so easy to turn ‘em off, is it, Johnnieboy?
John McCain was booed by his own supporters during a rally on Friday after he described Barack Obama as a “decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared of as president of the United States.”
McCain was responding to a town hall attendee who claimed he was concerned about raising a child under a president who “cohorts with domestic terrorists such as [Bill] Ayers.” Despite the fact that McCain and his campaign have repeatedly used Ayers to hammer Obama in recent days, the Arizona Senator tried to calm his supporter.
“[Senator Obama] is a decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared about as President of the United States,” he said, before adding: “If I didn’t think I would be one heck of a better president I wouldn’t be running.”
The crowd groaned with disapproval. Later in the town hall, McCain was pressed again about Obama’s “other-ness” and again he refused to play ball.
“I don’t trust Obama,” a woman said. “I have read about him. He’s an Arab.”
“No, ma’am,” McCain responded, nodding his head in disagreement. “He’s a decent, family man, [a] citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that’s what this campaign is all about.”
“If you want a fight, we will fight,” McCain said. “But we will be respectful. I admire Sen. Obama and his accomplishments.” Supporters booed again. “I don’t mean that has to reduce your ferocity,” he said. “I just mean to say you have to be respectful.”
The McCain campaign is now broadening their attack on Obama’s past association with William Ayers to include Michelle Obama — even though McCain has repeatedly said spouses should be off limits during the campaign.
The attack? Bernardine Dohrn, Ayers’ wife and fellow former Weatherman, went to work in 1984 for the major Chicago-based national law firm of Sidley & Austin, and three years later, Michelle joined the mega-firm as well.
That’s the entire attack. We wish we were joking. But we aren’t.
Talking Points Memo | McCain Campaign Now Attacks Michelle Obama Over Ayers.
So, I guess this means McGoo’s Robot Junkie wife is fair game now? Cindy, who stole painkillers from Third World children via her own bogus charity? Who narrowly avoided being prosecuted by the DEA? Who is still clearly high as a kite (check out her pupils) when she steps on stage with her reptilian husband?
because they seem to have understood cause and effect a bit better than the “deregulate!” clowns:
TORONTO – High banking standards have kept Canada’s financial institutions afloat and out of the kind of trouble that has sunk many of their international peers, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Wednesday.
Flaherty, who will meet Friday in Washington with finance ministers from industrial countries to co-ordinate efforts to deal with the global economic crisis, said Canadian banks have been bolstered by strict government monitoring of their capital.
“We’ve had a couple of financial institutions in Canada that ran the risk of falling outside the capitalization requirements,” he said during a news conference on Wednesday.
“We required them… to maintain the appropriate capital requirements and raise capital as necessary, which was done months ago.”
He declined to say which banks were involved in shoring up capital to meet the government’s standards. However, CIBC (TSX:CM) announced plans last January to raise $2.75 billion by selling its stock at a sharp discount.
Flaherty added that the government is prepared to do “whatever we have to do” to protect Canada’s financial system, though he declined to outline any plans.
“I’m not going to talk about what they might be,” he responded when pressed for more detail.
CANOE Money – News: Canada’s banking system kept high and dry by strict regulation: Flaherty.
Not every Republican thinks power is the ultimate good:
GRAND RAPIDS — He endorsed John McCain in the presidential primary, but now former Republican Gov. William Milliken is expressing doubts about his party’s nominee.
“He is not the McCain I endorsed,” said Milliken, reached at his Traverse City home Thursday. “He keeps saying, ‘Who is Barack Obama?’ I would ask the question, ‘Who is John McCain?’ because his campaign has become rather disappointing to me.
“I’m disappointed in the tenor and the personal attacks on the part of the McCain campaign, when he ought to be talking about the issues.”
Milliken, a lifelong Republican, is among some past leaders from the party’s moderate wing voicing reservations and, in some cases, opposition to McCain’s candidacy.
Lincoln Chafee, a former Republican senator from Rhode Island, announces his support for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama on Thursday morning at Obama’s Grand Rapids campaign headquarters.
During a stop in Grand Rapids on Thursday, Lincoln Chafee, a former Republican U.S. senator from Rhode Island, said he’s voting for Obama and urging others to do likewise.
McCain campaigned for Chafee’s unsuccessful re-election bid in 2006, but Chafee said he is concerned McCain has swung to the right, a divisive strategy that could make it difficult for him to govern.
“That’s not my kind of Republicanism,” said Chafee, who now calls himself an independent. “I saw what Bush and Cheney did. They came in with a (budget) surplus and a stable world, and look what’s happened now. In eight short years they’ve taken one peaceful and prosperous world, and they’ve torn it into tatters.”
As for McCain’s choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for his running mate, “there’s no question she’s totally unqualified,” Chafee said.
Former governor Milliken backs away from McCain – Grand Rapids News
today’s moodcat
