So much to get to, I'm sorry that this entry won't be able to do all these stories justice. Please read the links I attach - they'll give you the information you need.
--> The big story today is the negotiation on the bailout bill. Well, things fall apart. Republicans are definitively against the idea of the federal government bailing out large corporations (it's even written into their platform), so many of them won't be willing to vote for the bill as it stands now. Democrats are largely lined up behind the legislation, even though many of them have serious doubts and want more middle-class protections in it. However, Dems won't be willing to vote for a fairly unpopular bill this close to Election Day without Republican support to protect them. If it's just the Democrats that pass this bill, then the GOP can all vote against it, and then blast the Democrats for passing it in the first place. The Republican Party needs to get on-board in order for this bill to pass - it's no longer about getting 51 votes, it's about political cover.
This comes the day after President Bush held a historic meeting in the Roosevelt Room between himself, Secretary Paulson, Senator McCain, Senator Obama, Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Reid, Minority Leader McConnell, and House Republican leader Boehner. The meeting was supposed to get all hands on deck, but it ended up just emphasizing how far apart everyone is. As the New York Times reports, Secretary Paulson actually got down on one knee and pleaded with Nancy Pelosi to not pull her party's support off the bill. Pelosi remarked, "I didn't know you were Catholic," then continued, "It's not me blowing this up, it's the Republicans." Paulson replied, "I know. I know."
By the way, was anyone else curious why the specific figure requested for the bailout was $700 billion? How does the Treasury Department calculate such a number? Well, a spokeswoman was asked just that, and she explained, "It's not based on any particular data point, we just wanted to choose a really large number." Incompetence, thy name is government.
--> So it sure doesn't seem like John McCain's dramatic announcement that he was suspending his campaign really accomplished anything. In fact, one wonders how he could help the process at all, given that he's NEVER READ THE BILL! Or that he hasn't proposed a single banking bill during this entire Congress, while Senator Obama has proposed five.
And, as it turns out, his campaign is far from suspended. Palin still held a rally yesterday, his surrogates were out in full force, and his campaign ads (which he pledged to take down) are still up in most of the country. Plus, McCain has already instructed TV stations that actually took down the ads to start re-airing them as soon as Saturday!
Thankfully, Senator Obama's campaign has called this desperate move what it is: a cheap political stunt.
The only thing McCain has accomplished is throwing the results of tonight's debate into question. He still won't commit to attending, and will continue to examine the situation based on the results of today's Congressional negotiations (which, and I must stress this, he is not a part of). Obama, although he spent the night in DC to be close to the negotiations himself, is already flying down to Mississippi. It looks like he will go on tonight, the question is if he'll be joined by anyone. I personally think that a two-hour exclusive interview/town hall event featuring Barack Obama, an empty chair, and the entire press corps would be a sight to see, don't you?
I'm still confident that McCain will show. Not because he appreciates the value of having our two potential leaders talk about the issues to the American public, but because he is a shrewd, calculating politician, who no doubt has seen the polling data today suggesting that 3/4 of Americans want the debate to go on tonight.
Also, Mike Huckabee thinks McCain is stupid. Then again, Mike Huckabee wants to be the GOP nominee in 4 years. So, there might be some sort of conflict of interest.
--> By the way, I found the McCain Campaign's suggestion of indefinitely postponing the Vice-Presidential debate to be absolutely insulting. How can they expect the American people to accept Sarah Palin as their VP if they've never ever seen her speak or answer questions?
--> Well, maybe they're justified. After all, two nights of an interview with Katie Couric have certainly demonstrated that Sarah Palin would be better off not speaking at all. Here's her talking about how she can see Russia from her house. Here's her "getting back" to Katie Couric about McCain's lifelong battle for more oversight.
And now, as the Washington Post reports, it turns out that she's far from the reformer that she claims to be (I saw "it turns out" as if we didn't know this already - still it's nice to have even more proof). She has accepted $25,000 in gifts as Governor of Alaska, despite having made "a crackdown on gift-giving to state officials a centerpiece of her ethics reform agenda."
--> This of course, all comes after Washington Mutual because the largest bank to fail in this nation's history, as it was seized by the federal government and then bought up in large chunks by JP Morgan.
Sorry, there's no happy/funny anecdote at the end of this story. Serious times call for serious entries, and unfathomable levels of sarcasm and anger.
The debate tonight can, as many events do, change everything. Do watch. It's gonna be a blast.
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