Friday, September 19, 2008

McCain comes up to bat in the clutch: Homer!

My work schedule has changed to four 10-hour days, so I'm off today and slept until 9. Our house hound woke me up then baying at the moon or a squirrel or something or I'da slept later.

So I muddle around in the kitchen, amble into the living room and turn on the TV and lo and behold, there's the man who was foolish enough to admit a while back that he didn't know much about the economy giving a speech about, guess what, the economy. And a damn good one.

John McCain just gave the speech of his life, or at least his political career, and it sure connected with this working stiff who's somewhere way to the right of the Maverick. And I suspect his common sense plan for economic recovery will also connect with taxpayers and working stiffs all across the political spectrum from the right to somewhere left of center. There's absolutely nothing the man could say that would change the way the leftwing nutroots think, but that's OK. Obama can have those votes and we'll take the rest.

Charles Krauthammer, who IMHO is the smartest guy in punditry today, said last night on Fox News that nobody seems to know what to do about the latest mess we find ourselves in, including The Loan Arranger and Tonto (Fed chief Ben Bernacke and Treasury Sec. Henry Paulson) who seem to be flipping a coin to decide who to bail out and who not to bail out.

And as the old saying goes, if you laid all the economists in the world end to end, they still wouldn't reach a conclusion. But what McCain said today sure makes more sense than anybody else I've heard. Congress made this mess by creating Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the home-mortgage version of welfare so people who couldn't afford homes could buy one. And then when those same people can't pay their mortgages, Uncle Sugar's supposed to pick up the bill.

And Wall Street jumped on the bandwagon, house flippers made a mint by manipulating the system and poor folks were enticed into signing mortgages they can't pay back. Sooner or later, the house of cards had to collapse because despite what Washington plans, the earth still rotates and you can't repeal the bacic law of economics, there ain't no free lunch, somebody's got to pay.

And every since Hoover, who really did nothing to cause the Great Depression, or FDR, who really not only didn't cure the Great Depression but made it worse with expensive government programs, somehow the American people have believed that Democrats are good for the economy and Republicans are bad for it. Reagan cuts taxes and the economy goes on a binge for which Clinton takes the credit despite raising taxes. Bush the 1st says "read my lips" but then gets suckered into a "compromise" tax increase by the Democrats in Congress and gets rode out of town on a rail. Bush the 2nd passes a massive tax cut which boosts the economy, but gets no credit, then gets all the blame when the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac house of cards tumbles down.

And along comes Obama, whose tax hikes will somehow will be good for the economy? Madness.

When the video of McCain's speech shows up later today, I'll post it, but The Corner at NRO has the full transcript. Meanwhile, here's a McCain ad about the former CEO of Fannie Mae who took the money and run before the brown stuff hit the fan -- and went to work for the Obama campaign. McCain slapped him upside the head in the speech and made the connection to Obama's campaign.

McCain also tied Johnson, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the entire sub-prime mortgage meltdown right to Obama's campaign contributions from the above as the number 2 money recipient in the Senate, second only to the Democrat chairman of the banking committee.

Matt Lewis at Townhall.com posts a couple of links from the morning news on that.
Obama's Link to the Mortgage Crisis

The Washington Post hits this today and so does Fox ...

After the great big can of whup-ass McCain opened up on Obama this morning, I'm sure the man with no plan will be on the air shortly, screeching and hollering and slobbering at the mouth.

I've heard enough of his speeches lately so maybe I can tune in on the Obama channel...
"Mah fella 'Mericans..."
Nope, wrong channel. I thought LBJ was dead. He's still rattling around in my head. Let me try again... Ah, here it is.
"Third Bush term! Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah... Bush lied, people died! Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah... Lipstick on a pig! Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah... When I was a community organizer... blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah...and I will take this message to all 57 states...blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah...until the oceans begin to recede...blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah...
Sorry, lost the channel. But you get the idea. Just find any of his speeches and play it again.

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