John Hinderaker documents some examples of how the media reported on a recent McCain speech on the economy, to illustrate their deliberate attempt to shape the news:
The Los Angeles Times quoted McCain’s speech right up to the point where he started talking about the economy. Then without, acknowledging that the economy was in fact the main subject of the speech, the Times jumped to a quote from Barack Obama to the effect that McCain is afraid to talk about the economy.
Shameless.
When the lights come on, the cockroaches scatter. That’s why Congress will adjourn this year without addressing the financial crisis that has hit Wall Street.
As more details emerge about who was in bed with who, it’s becoming increasingly obvious who bears significant, if not primary, responsibility for this mess.
President Bush in 2003 tried desperately to stop Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from metastasizing into the problem they have since become.
Here’s the lead of a New York Times story on Sept. 11, 2003: “The Bush administration today recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.”
Bush tried to act. Who stopped him? Congress, especially Democrats with their deep financial and patronage ties to the two government-sponsored enterprises, Fannie and Freddie.
And Bush was not the only one who tried to warn the country of what was coming.
Just two years after Bush’s plan, McCain also called for badly needed reforms to prevent a crisis like the one we’re now in.
“If Congress does not act,” McCain said in 2005, “American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system and the economy as a whole.”
Sounds like McCain was spot on.
But his warnings, too, were ignored by Congress.
Of course, with the media now a bona fide adjunct to the Democratic Party, the public likely will not hear much of these details until after the election — or maybe never.
UPDATE: Okay, Congress is not entirely passive. Barney Frank’s House Financial Services Committee just voted to overturn a ban on seller-financed down payments for some government-backed loans. According to Nicole Gelinas, this move perpetuates the very high-risk atmosphere that got us in the mess we’re in now.
It seems that Frank and his colleagues remain keen on coddling the tenacious bad-lending lobby (including the National Association of Homebuilders and what’s left of the banking industry), which desperately needs suckers to buy newly built homes at inflated prices so that builders can pay back at least some of their construction debt to the banks and investors. Frank is certainly not looking out for average-Joe home buyers and sellers with this action.
Joe Lieberman has new company. A key Hillary supporter and fund-raiser has publicly renounced the Obama ticket and supports McCain-Palin. And she argues her case eloquently.
Ever wonder why most of the photographs of Obama in the mainstream media always seem to capture him as pleasant, dignified, or even saintly, while photographs of McCain seem to show him as sinister, frail, or even evil?
There could be a reason for that.
David Jamieson chronicles the meteoric rise of Sarah Palin to the veep spot. Contrary to media reports, McCain’s pick was not a desperation gambit. There was a groundswell of support for Palin in the months leading up to the selection — just under the radar, but significant and growing. McCain merely cashed in on it. By the time McCain picked Palin,
she had already charmed not just her fellow Alaskans and a devoted University of Colorado at Colorado Springs undergraduate student–the one who launched “Draft Sarah Palin” early in 2007–but also some of the most influential members of D.C.’s conservative establishment.
It was only a matter of time before Palin burst on the national scene, one way or the other.
I would like to tell you what I thought about McCain’s acceptance speech last night, but I can’t. I fell asleep half-way through it. Really.
For all the electricity that Palin has brought to this ticket, the burden of winning this election will still fall on McCain’s shoulders. And I’m not sure he can do it.
Here is the first McCain-Palin video ad, although not produced by the McCain campaign. Pay special attention to what the governor is doing about 30 seconds into the video. My dad (R.I.P.) would have loved this gal.
The pundits are busy coming up to speed on Sarah Palin.
John Hinderaker — who initially had some reservations about McCain’s veep pick — provides a good deal of background info on Palin the woman/wife/mom, including photos. This is definitely not your average vice-presidential nominee.
While it’s hard to argue that Sarah Palin was the most qualified of the candidates McCain had to choose from, she is obviously a bold choice and one that may turn out to pay dividends.
Newsweek has a great photo gallery of the governor’s career.
Scott Conroy paints a portrait of Sarah “Barracuda” Palin as anything but average. In fact, given the early basketball careers of both Obama and Palin, Conroy has a great campaign face-off idea:
Forget the debates—how about a one-one-one contest between The Baracuda and O’Bomber?
Ann Althouse includes a couple of nice photos of her husband and kids. One of Ann’s readers comments:
Perhaps Palin is the “post-feminist” woman. She competes in a man’s world being governor of the largest state, but she can still be feminine (a mother and wife).
Finally, Ed Morrissey analyzes the risks and payoffs of this choice, and concludes that McCain has scored a brilliant coup in picking this unusual governor:
This is change you can believe in, and not change that amounts to all talk. McCain changed the trajectory of the race today by stealing Obama’s strength and turning it against him. Obama provided that opening by picking Biden as his running mate, and McCain was smart enough to take advantage of the opening.
UPDATE: And here is a photo of the guv that is sure to lock down the Minnesota Vikings vote.
AJStrata provides the best wrap-up of Saturday evening’s “debate” between Obama and McCain at Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church: “McCain wants to lead America, Obama wants to be the Tooth Fairy.”
Bruce Walker sees three key issues that McCain can turn to his advantage, if he will only start hammering away on them.
Coupled with his own track record as a military hero and long-term senator, these issues could quickly turn the tide of public opinion away from Obama.
It remains to be seen, however, if McCain has the stomach for that kind of in-your-face campaign.
McCain’s campaign is finally beginning to score some hits on Obama’s record, including his recent global tour. Here is the latest video ad.
Obama is an easy target, but according to John Dickerson, writing in Slate, John McCain is not doing a very good job of scoring hits. McCain’s attacks seem disjointed and indiscriminate, not guided by a strategic vision.
More seriously, McCain is not doing a good job of defining who he is and why Americans should vote for him. According to Dickerson,
It’s harder to know what McCain stands for. He’s for the surge and remedying global warming, yes, and for allowing states to drill for oil off the country’s coastlines. But those are data points, not an arc. The criticism I hear from inside and outside the campaign is that McCain lacks a line that tells people where he’s going to take them if he’s president.
McCain is already at an extreme disadvantage, with the media openly cheering for his opponent. He needs to get his act together and build a cohesive message that will resonate with voters, if he hopes to have a chance in the fall.
Poppypundit 