Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Is John McCain Robert E Lee with the right nation behind him?

UPDATE AT BOTTOM: McCAIN TAKING ADS DOWN

Said of Genl Lee on his appointment as commanding general of the Army of Northern Virginia:
"He'll take more chances and take'em quicker than anyone can imagine"

So we had Palin , and now today....
MCCAIN SUSPENDS CAMPAIGN TO FOCUS ON ECONOMY; WANTS DEBATE DELAY
Wed Sept 24 2008 14:58:02 ET

MCCAIN: America this week faces an historic crisis in our financial system. We must pass legislation to address this crisis. If we do not, credit will dry up, with devastating consequences for our economy. People will no longer be able to buy homes and their life savings will be at stake. Businesses will not have enough money to pay their employees. If we do not act, ever corner of our country will be impacted. We cannot allow this to happen.

Last Friday, I laid out my proposal and I have since discussed my priorities and concerns with the bill the Administration has put forward. Senator Obama has expressed his priorities and concerns.This morning, I met with a group of economic advisers to talk about the proposal on the table and the steps that we should take going forward.I have also spoken with members of Congress to hear their perspective.

It has become clear that no consensus has developed to support the Administration' proposal. I do not believe that the plan on the table will pass as it currently stands, and we are running out of time.

Tomorrow morning, I will suspend my campaign and return to Washington after speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative. I have spoken to Senator Obama and informed him of my decision and have asked him to join me.

I am calling on the President to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including Senator Obama and myself. It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem.
The election is just a battle, but some men focus on the war.
Maybe this is a guy who will simply keep upping the ante until the answer is found.
I hope so.


McCain taking ads down

Aiming to prove how serious he is about addressing the financial crisis, John McCain has instructed his staff to take all his campaign commercials off the air, a spokesman tells Politico.

"As John McCain said, now is the time to put partisanship aside and come together to do the work that the American people expect," said Tucker Bounds.

McCain aides are now in the process of contacting TV station across the country to get their ads taken down, according to Bounds.

Asked how long they would go dark, Bounds only said: "We're taking our guidance from Sen. McCain on that."


2nd Update: Obama insists on campaign going on, debate going on

Harry Reid says no thanks, don't come here.

3rd update:

Seriousness?

One of the nation's largest car dealerships has closed sales operations, possibly forever.

Bill Heard Enterprises Inc., which operates the Bill Heard Chevrolet dealership in Plant City, closed its sales operation there this week, said Paul Baker, executive manager of the dealership.

"It's a shame," Baker said, adding that he thought the era of gigantic dealerships is over. The dealership traces its roots to 1919, just 11 years after Henry Ford first produced the Model T automobile.

Baker declined to elaborate on reasons for the closing, other than to cite financial pressures. He said he doubted the operation would operate under new ownership. "Nobody has the guts to have a big dealership anymore," he said.

The dealership will "take care of any customer's car and live up to any obligations we have as far as sales," he said, "but we closed the sales operation."

Based in Columbus, Ga., Bill Heard Enterprises Inc. operates 13 dealerships nationwide. They all will close, Baker said.

No business credit, no jobs

4th update:

Poll - Most important issue

Economy 46%

Terrorism 10%

Any questions?

9 comments:

Pastorius said...

Hot Air says McCain is strong on foreign policy but not so much on the economy. So, AllahPundit at Hot Air is spinning this as McCain trying to show he can be a leader on the economy.

Epaminondas said...

I think he is as scared as a lot of other folks that we are about to screw ourselves right over a cliff.

Today I had 2 REALLY GOOD CLIENTS turned down for equipment leases. These are outstanding businesses. When I called to complain, I was told this group was considering only perfect credit for 7 years because credit supply was so tight.

I don't think this is any calculated move, I think this kind of out of the box solution creation is what's called for.

I am extremely concerned.
EXTREMELY.

If we don't get this solved we'll be pulling the troops home to save $$, and those who before supported what we had to do will be saying WE HAVE TO GET THE BUDGET UNDER CONTROL FIRST ...and we do or we end up like Spain in 1700.

Pastorius said...

That is frightening, Epa.

WC said...

"Obama insists on campaign going on, debate going on. Harry Reid says no thanks, don't come here."

Democrats - politics as usual. The scum.

SamenoKami said...

This is a brilliant political move. I don't think this is 100% political from McCain but it's probably at least 50%. McCain has thrown down the gauntlet and Obama must respond. If he does as McCain says The Big Mac Deddy is essentially running Obama's campaign ie O has to follow Mac's lead or else look uncaring/stupid. If O doesn't do anything, McCain can say O doesn't care about the economy. Win/Win.

Epa We went over the cliff when the Federal Reserve was established, accelerated when we went off the gold standard in the '30s and hit terminal velocity when Nixon removed silver from coins. Inflation has eaten the $ to about 3cents compared to the 1920s $. Inflation is up 600%+ since 1970. What we are seeing now is panic as they see the ground coming up fast. Every fiat currency will fail at some point. $500+ (I've seen 300-700) trillion of derivatives is the real reason for the panic. That toxic paper cannot see the light of day. It has to be buried in money or the whole world economy melts down and we get to live in the stone age, again.

Epaminondas said...

Yah I agree with your analysis of the results.

We have a FEW DAYS.
That's all.

Sooner or later someone at a sovereign wealth fund is going to say ..."I am now too nervous to allow this money to sit in US T Bills", and then it will be 1931 and worries about Shariah will suddenly be far away as american families will start wondering how they are going pay $4/gallon with a 275 gallon heatin goil tank to fill up, 8-10 times between November and April.

Does ANYONE wonder what we will think about keeping Army troops on the ground outside the nation and PAYING FOR IT?

How about missile defense research?

Everything else will be a distant 2nd to individual economic survival and bitter bitter squabbling over a dwindling pie as deflation sets in

Congress will have to act and put aside not just partisanship, but who gets the credit.

This is as BIG A TEST as it gets, for Congress, Bush, the nominees and our system, AND US

Citizen Warrior said...

I have a tendency to be suspicious of any predictions of gloom just because people in the media will predict gloom until we are numb from hearing it.

I think McCain's move is gutsy and admirable, however.

Always On Watch said...

One of the reasons I haven't been here at IBA much lately is that I've been trying on analyze what state our economy is in and why. Another steep learning curve!

I realize that there are political reasons for saying that the economy is in terrible shape. But from my personal perspective and the research I've done, I believe our nation is indeed in serious trouble. Some of the formerly strong businesses here in the D.C. area, including a very large auto parts warehouse, are in deep trouble.

My husband worked for one of those auto-parts suppliers and lost his job at the end of January. We've picked up the very expensive COBRA plan for health insurance. Were it not for the fact that we don't have a mortgage payment and have always been cautious investors (speculators) and determined savers, we'd have gone under. And we do know several families who HAVE gone under.

Suppose you or another bread winner in your household suddenly became unemployed. Could you survive financially? For how long?

I have to concur with most of Epa's assessment above.

One final thought: The rise of the Third Reich was related to the worldwide depression. Think about what a worldwide depression could mean in the 21st Century. Furthermore, think of what the present financial situation will mean for shari'a finance/investment.

PS: Quite a discussion of the topic has been going on at this post at my blog.

SamenoKami said...

Epa - Does ANYONE wonder what we will think about keeping Army troops on the ground outside the nation and PAYING FOR IT?

They announced today that the
"3rd ID" battalion out of Savannah, GA. will stay in the states to help with internal problems.

Epa - We have a FEW DAYS.

A local accountant here in GA. said that some major companies will not be able to put out paychecks in 2/3 weeks if the credit crunch does not get resolved. Many/most companies run on borrowed money and it is frozen solid.

CW - I have a tendency to be suspicious of any predictions of gloom just because people in the media will predict gloom until we are numb from hearing it.

I get most of my financial info from obscure internet sites not MSM. They aren't happy and are usually dead on with their analysis (root word anal=butt, ysis=to pull from.) This plus you could almost see the fear in Paulson and Bernanke as they spoke. I say we don't know the half of it and the politicians are afraid we will start to think about them, rope and lampposts.