Mark Casey Online

Yesterday, John McCain and George W. Bush visited the flood-damaged state of Iowa together… only, not together.

For whatever reason, they showed up on the same day.  And for obvious, 29%-approval-rating reasons, they were very careful to never be anywhere near each other the whole time.  They wouldn’t even visiting the same towns at the same time.

The whole thing seems very awkward to me, and it’s not the first time Bush/McCain has attempted such an organized, separate-but-equal, fundraising/photo-op effort.  They often go to the same places, or say the same things, on the same day — but make sure never to be seen in the same place with one another.  What possible value being in the same state as Bush at the same time has for McCain is beyond me.  It’s obvious that they tried to orchestrate some kind of “Look, the Republican party cares about you” press blitz, but it seems unnecessary.

Oh yeah, and there is that little matter of putting an enormous amount of strain on Iowa’s law enforcement officials, who are already overburdened and undermanned in the face of a disaster.  They didn’t really need to be escorting odious politicians around to their various simultaneous photo-ops, which is why Iowa’s governor asked McCain not to appear in the state on the same day as the president — a request McCain ignored.

McCain’s people deny that they were asked to stay away from the state, but they would probably also deny that they were there with president Bush at this point.

• An enterprising old racist at the Texas State GOP convention this past weekend sold some buttons which quaintly read: “If Obama is president… will we still call it The White House?” How transparently base. Luckily, the Texas Republican Party banned him from further participation in the party.
• I wrote briefly yesterday that the last two decades of deregulation have resulted in a self-destructive free market and a less effective economy. But if you don’t believe me because I’m not a millionaire, meaning I must be an idiot, Fortune has a good piece on the recent arrest of two Bear Stearns hedge fund executives, including analysis of what their company’s greed-induced collapse (and the massive shock waves it’s sent through our economy) means about the state of Wall Street.
• The House has OK’d yet another massive war spending bill. This one includes some positive points, though, including unemployment and troop benefits, and relief funds for flood damaged areas.

Barack Obama opted out of public financing for his presidential election campaign today.

It’s a controversial move, because in a questionnaire he filled out months and months ago, he said he’d like to see both party nominees seriously consider going the public money route. Public money means that they use tax dollars to finance their campaign, and they can’t accept certain kinds of money. In general, it means less money for the candidate, but also a “cleaner” sort of money.

McCain has been calling for Obama to accept public money, because it will mean Obama can’t out-raise him by tens of millions of dollars this summer. Now, they’ll be attacking Obama’s claim that he’s a straight-talking, “different” kind of politician on this basis, and they won’t be totally wrong. Obama’s camp claims that they spoke to McCain’s people about the pros and cons of their decision before making it, but the McCain campaign denies it.

But honestly, if you were shattering fund raising records, and doing it in a “different,” shockingly grassroots kind of way — gaining millions from literally millions of small donors, donating ten or twenty dollars at a time, as Obama has… would you forsake all of that historic momentum just so you could *appear* noble?

I’d say that would be the actual political ploy.

• A new Quinnipiac Poll says Obama now leads McCain by significant margins in the key swing states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida. 12 Year Old Newsweek reporter Andrew Romano says it’s all the women’s fault. And oh yeah, now that one side is honestly behind in the race for the first time, let the mud-slinging begin! Prepare yourself for a whole lot more of those “Obama is clearly, simultaneously, a terrorist and a person who does not understand terrorism” comments from the entire width and breadth of the right wing.
• How can Americans not be insulted by the clear orchestration so often crammed down their throats by political parties? This time it’s the GOP, with McCain, Bush, and every oil executive imaginable coming out in favor of offshore drilling. Under the false banner of reducing oil prices, they’re acting like they all suddenly got the idea to drill in the Gulf of Mexico (not where they’re already allowed to explore and choosing not to, but in the other places), and the Democrats want you to pay four hundred dollars a gallon because they hate America. Meanwhile, Democrats are actually taking on the cause of high gas prices: the artificial shortage created by unchecked oil speculation — also known as “The Same Thing Enron Did.”
• Speaking of offshore drilling, CNN and MSNBC both decided to interview the CEOs of oil companies to get their opinion on drilling for oil off the coast of Florida. Anyone want to guess what they said?
• Speaking of CEO’s, a third of them reported to a poll that they expect to cut jobs from their companies in the next year, even as they also reported that they expect sales to start rising again. Man, I sure am happy that weak-kneed politicians believe that an open market means an unregulated one, or else we wouldn’t currently be enjoying all the wonderful benefits of an unmonitored, self-destructive market economy.
• And finally, this last bit is a direct port from Melted Reel Online — and something I find hilarious. Tom Cruise and his Scientology goons are once again trying to bring down the entire psychiatric industry. This time, however, they didn’t start the fight. Celebrity shrink “Dr. Drew” did. For quotes and the full story, follow the links.

This was reported over the weekend, but I didn’t want any of my readers to have missed it, so I’m posting it here tonight. John McCain, his zillionaire wife, and a “dependent child” of theirs (what?) owe *at least* $250,000 dollars in credit card debt, according to the Senate personal finance report he just filed.

Talk about fiscal responsibility. Way to stimulate that economy!

It’s not as though they’re going bankrupt — they have millions in Budweiser cash — but I still think it’s funny. And according to this graph I just found on Google, credit card debt tends to increase with age, so maybe that’s the issue (thanks, I’ll be here all week.)

Barack Obama, by contrast, has no debt and he and his wife have put away over $200,000 dollars for the college education of their two young daughters.

 I’ve written before about the American auto industry’s serious mistakes in the production and marketing of their cars, but only in a grumpy “You should already know what I’m talking about” kind of way.

But there are still a lot of people out there who think that Escalades and Mustangs are, like, totally cool, man.  And worse yet, they think it’s a good idea for Detroit to keep focusing on the wasteful “cars as status symbols” strategy that has had their profits (and that sector of our economy) going straight down the drain.

In my home state of Indiana alone, hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost thanks to massive factory closings — not because jobs are being shipped to Mexico, but because there are no more jobs when it comes to making bigger and bigger vehicles (read: the only kind of vehicles Detroit makes).  Now, with gas prices and environmental concern rising, their sales have flatlined.  Maybe that will finally light a fire under their ass.

For a quick primer on how it all happened, check out this Business Week article.  It’s light on substance and data, but correct about the chronology of failure among American auto companies over the past 15 years.

Here’s a snippet:

The biggest of these, obvious to anyone who has tried to fill up his sport-utility vehicle or pickup truck lately, is that General Motors (GM), Ford (F), Chrysler and, to lesser extents, companies such as Mercedes-Benz (DAI), Porsche (PSHG), and BMW (BMWG) continued to make fuel-inefficient cars for the U.S. market long after concerns about America’s dependence on oil, foreign or otherwise, became known. Like cigarette smokers, they continued puffing away, ignoring the mountain of evidence detailing the dangers.

[…]

As Detroit concentrated on trucks and SUVs, it effectively ceded the market for more fuel-efficient, though less profitable, sedans and coupes to companies such as Toyota (TM) and Honda (HMC). Now that light-truck sales have fallen off the cliff, Detroit is struggling to catch up, if it ever can. So, in an industry that has given the world such paradigms of disaster as the Edsel and the Pinto, the near-sightedness of the decision to ignore fuel-efficiency ranks at the top.

Okay, so it’s more than tens.

It’s 25,000 people who have “signed” an online petition, sponsored by a pro-Clinton group, “VoteBooth.” And considering the fact that online petitions regularly gather hundreds of thousands of votes, coupled with the fact that 18 million people voted for Hillary Clinton during the primaries, it seems to me that 25,000 people is a remarkably low number of participants.

And, to quote a colleague of mine over at Melted Reel, “we all know how effective online petitions are, and how seriously everyone takes them…” </snark>.

CNN, of course, is taking it very seriously. How odd! An international news outlet taking time out of its busy schedule to report on the tallies of various online petitions… I wonder why CNN is so interested in Hillary for VP.

A hat tip to Left in Aboite for suddenly reminding me about this video of Tracy Morgan on SNL.

A while ago — in a clear follow-up to Tina Fey’s famous (infamous?) speech supporting Hillary Clinton for president, during which she said “Bitch is the new black” — Tracy Morgan appeared to deliver the line “Bitch may be the new black, but black is the new president, bitch.”

The video appears even more hilarious and worthy of support tonight, as Obama seals his nomination for the Democratic party:

The AP is reporting that Clinton plans to concede the race to Obama tonight.

Makes sense, and the clues were clear.

But, in one last political power grab, undermining the media and surely making their campaign look foolish when Clinton does “suspend” her campaign tonight (or whatever word she chooses), Terry McAuliffe has released fake angry statements today about the AP report.

“Clinton will not give up! Victory or death! The media hates us!” seems to be the general theme of the faux-outrage.

I concede my earlier statement — Obama would, sadly, not be helped by having these people become a part of his campaign. The fact that they can’t keep their story straight, and apparently will keep politically posturing in the face of reality no matter what the cost — it’s just too much of the self-defeating “permanent campaign” everyone hates about Washington.

Um… yes?

How about: painfully obvious code.

Clinton’s speech tomorrow, the media has *somehow* found out (I wonder how) will feature her saying things like she’s prepared to do “whatever it takes” to get a Democratic victory in November. Brilliant analysts at CNN have deduced that the phrase is a secret code for Hillary’s desire, or at least willingness, to be Barack Obama’s Vice President.

First, it’s no secret: that’s what the last two months of “no one can win but me!” have been all about. And second, CNN knows exactly what she’ll say, and exactly what she means, because CNN’s employees also double as Clinton employees.

This has been covered ad nauseum on this site.

But will Obama take the bait? He can do whatever he wants and not make a wrong decision — her message conflicts with his, and she represents ‘the old way.’ But also, her supporters would be soothed by her VP role — something which remains appealing, even though most of them have come home to Obama.