Everyone is talking about how "economic issues" are doing in McCain's
campaign, but I think there is more to it than that. I think McCain's
personal attributes are killing his candidacy. He comes across as
someone who makes instant decisions, who takes lots of risks, who lashes
out, who thinks he is far more important than he is. and who is about as
arrogant as a pol can be.

What do you think?



Analysis: With bailout, McCain reaches dead end

By STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press WriterTue Sep 30, 8:35 AM ET

Republican John McCain has maneuvered himself into a political dead end
and has five weeks to find his way out.

Last Wednesday, McCain suspended his presidential campaign to insert
himself into a $700 billion effort to rescue America's crumbling
financial structure. In so doing, he tied himself far more tightly to
the bill than did his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama.

Then, as the bailout plan appeared ready for passage Monday in the
House, McCain bragged that he was an action-oriented Teddy Roosevelt
Republican who did not sit on the sidelines at a moment of crisis.

The implication: that he played a critical role in building bipartisan
support for the unprecedented bailout.

"I went to Washington last week to make sure that the taxpayers of Ohio
and across this great country were not left footing the bill for
mistakes made on Wall Street and in Washington," McCain said at a
campaign rally in the swing state of Ohio.

Both he and Obama had insisted the plan originally proposed by the Bush
administration be strengthened with greater oversight and regulation.

Within hours, however, the measure died in the House mainly at the hands
of McCain's own Republicans.

Initially, McCain went silent, choosing instead to send his chief
economic adviser out with a statement that blamed Obama, claiming that
the first-term Illinois senator had put his political ambitions ahead of
the good of the country.

"This bill failed because Barack Obama and the Democrats put politics
ahead of country," McCain senior policy adviser Doug Holtz-Eakin said.

It wasn't long, however, before McCain told reporters in Iowa: "Now is
not the time to fix the blame, it's time to fix the problem."

All in all, McCain might have been better served by staying out of the
mess and above the fray.

If the congressional impasse leads to a credit crisis, "it's not going
to be good for McCain," veteran Republican consultant John Feehery said.

Obama had predicted trouble last week when he said the four-term Arizona
senator was wrongly inserting red-hot presidential politics into a
critical bailout plan even as the package was finding little support
among voters.

As the plan failed Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 778
points, the largest one-day point drop ever. Credit markets, whose
turmoil helped feed the stock market's deep anxiety, froze up further
with the growing belief that the country is headed into a spreading
credit and economic crisis.

Stunned traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange watched on
TV screens as the House voted down the plan, and they saw stock prices
tumbling on their monitors.

After the House vote, Obama — campaigning in swing-state Colorado —
declared that McCain had "fought against commonsense regulations for
decades, he's called for less regulation 20 times just this year, and he
said in a recent interview that he thought deregulation has actually
helped grow our economy."

"Senator, what economy are you talking about?" Obama said.

Sensing Obama's advantage, spokesman Bill Burton piled on:

"This is a moment of national crisis, and today's inaction in Congress
as well as the angry and hyper-partisan statement released by the McCain
campaign are exactly why the American people are disgusted with Washington."

McCain has been routinely wrong-footed on the slumping U.S. economy
throughout the campaign, starting last year when he said he was not as
up on that subject as he would like to be.

Polls consistently have shown voters place greater trust in Obama to
pull the country out of a financial crisis that has not been matched
since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

McCain — apparently obsessed with those facts — gambled last Wednesday
by declaring he had suspended campaigning to bring his considerable
bipartisan credentials to bear in congressional negotiations with the
Bush administration. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson sent the enormous
bailout package to Congress 11 days ago and said passage was urgent.

The measure went down 228-205, with more than two-thirds of McCain's own
Republicans and 40 percent of Democrats opposed.

In article ,
A Boater wrote:

Everyone is talking about how "economic issues" are doing in McCain's
campaign, but I think there is more to it than that. I think McCain's
personal attributes are killing his candidacy. He comes across as
someone who makes instant decisions, who takes lots of risks, who lashes
out, who thinks he is far more important than he is. and who is about as
arrogant as a pol can be.

What do you think?

I think he's a doddering old fool who is controlled by his handlers, and
would do exactly what they tell him to. And I also think he's at
definite risk for not living out his term, and we could be in the
clutches of Sarah-I-Can-See-Russia-From-My-House Palin before the 4
years is up. Neither of which is an option I will vote for.
--
http://50somethinglifestyle.blogspot.com/
"Yesterday, we were at the edge of the abyss.
Today, we take one step forward"--Silva

A Boater wrote:
:
:What do you think?
:

I think you're just another stupid political shill.

plonk

--
"Ordinarily he is insane. But he has lucid moments when he is
only stupid."
-- Heinrich Heine

On Sep 30, 11:49*pm, Fred J. McCall wrote:
A Boater wrote:

:
:What do you think?
:

I think you're just another stupid political shill.

plonk

--
"Ordinarily he is insane. But he has lucid moments when he is
*only stupid."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * -- Heinrich Heine

http://wonkette.com/403176/buy-one-o...for-12-million