The question is...are those tens of billions of dollars a year the best way to spend the government's energy related investment dollars?

Anyone who acts like they are 100% sure of the answer there is lying.

edit: anything is better than "drill baby drill" though.

The solution for the war in Iraq — by John McCain
Posted May 24th, 2006 at 2:49 pm

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Jason Horowitz reports in the New York Observer that John McCain met with an exclusive audience of very wealthy Republicans in New York late last week, shortly after getting booed relentlessly at the New School’s commencement ceremony. The students weren’t terribly impressed, but apparently McCain “saved some of his best material” for the elite crowd that gathered behind closed doors in the back of the Regency Hotel.

In a small, mirror-paneled room guarded by a Secret Service agent and packed with some of the city’s wealthiest and most influential political donors, Mr. McCain got right to the point.

“One of the things I would do if I were President would be to sit the Shiites and the Sunnis down and say, ‘Stop the bulls***,’” said Mr. McCain, according to Shirley Cloyes DioGuardi, an invitee, and two other guests.

Oh, so that’s what we need from the Oval Office. I’m sure the Iraqis will find this immediately persuasive and lay down arms thanks to the power of McCain’s personality and his desire to see the two sides get along. Somewhere, Bush is slapping his hand against his forehead, saying, “Why didn’t I think of that?”

Or, as Brendan Nyhan put it, “So honest! So bold! What an innovative diplomatic concept! If only John McCain were president, we’d have peace in Iraq!”

It’s worth noting, however, all sarcasm aside, McCain’s audience ate this up. DioGuardi, the wife of former Republican congressman Joseph DioGuardi, said McCain was “fantastic” and has “a vision for what should happen to this country.”

Sarah Palin has picked out an All-American set of names for her children. There's Track, Trig, Bristol, Willow, and Piper.

Ever wonder, What would your name would be if Sarah Palin was your mother? Well now you can find out!

I'm sure this is somehow sexist and offensive to many people, but I found it darn funny. The Sarah Palin family name generator.

What would your name would be if Sarah Palin was your mother? Well now you can find out!

Flag Cobra Palin (I rule!)

Mine sounds dirty...

Drill Swollen Palin

Flag Cobra, are you any relation to Cobra Commander?

McCain supporter and former CEO of Hewlett Packard on the radio in St. Louis this morning.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/090..._to_run_HP.html

So, second most powerful job in the world? No problem! HP? Maybe not so much....

So, later yesterday, she clarified and said she didn't think that either McCain or Palin had the experience to run a large company (She won't be going on the tele too much anymore).

Here's the question though. Now that the U.S. government has bought itself the nation's largest insurance company...don't we need a president with the skill to be CEO of a large company?

She actually said all of the people on the major Presidential tickets couldn't run HP in the full story.

Still a stupid thing to say as a surrogate. It's not like she ran HP very well.

George Bush Becomes a Socialist

We live in a wonderfully ironic world. George W. Bush might have now nationalized more companies than Hugo Chavez. He certainly has nationalized companies with far greater worth. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and now AIG. Let alone the bailouts of Bear Stearns and all the rest.

Who knew George Bush would turn out to be such a socialist? You might even argue, communist. What happened, I thought the government was unnecessary? I thought "unfettered" markets would do their magic if you just deregulated them. Why are you fettering?

It turns out, all that talk about not needing big government flies right out the window when the s*** hits the fan. Did we need government during Hurricane Katrina? Did we need the government during Sept. 11th? That was a day when we certainly could have used some more government help, like a president reading a briefing that said they were determined to attack us. And now, do we need the government when there is a financial meltdown?

You betcha. All of a sudden, the Republicans are huge advocates of big government coming to the rescue.

Why don't we toss a pair of bootstraps at AIG and see if that does the trick? Oh I see, that's just for poor and middle class people who need a little bit of help. They get the bootstraps and AIG gets the $85 billion government bailout.

So, now that we have basically bought these companies, what the hell are we going to do with them? Is the United States government going to run these companies indefinitely? Is the Bush administration saying that it's a terrible idea for the federal government to provide health insurance to everyone, but it's a great idea to provide other kinds of insurance? Remember, AIG is in the insurance business. Is health insurance the only kind of insurance the government shouldn't be involved in?

I'm for sensible government regulation of these industries, but I believe in capitalism. So, George Bush's socialism is wigging me out. He privatizes the army but socializes the mortgage industry. I understand how this came about, but does Bush have a plan? Do they have any idea how they are going to get out of this business or are they planning on running a quasi-socialist government from now on?

If other industries head south, will Bush nationalize those too? Who has more nationalized companies now -- the US or Russia?

Could George Bush's administration have been any more disastrous? He comes in promising to shrink the size of the government and let free markets reign supreme. He leaves while nationalizing more private companies than possibly any president in United States history. Could there be a clearer indication of the failure of conservative ideology?

McCain Attacks Wall Street Greed—While 83 Wall Street Lobbyists Work for His Campaign

In the past few days, as the economic crisis has deepened, Senator John McCain has been decrying the excesses of Wall Street. At a campaign rally in Tampa on Tuesday, he vowed that he and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, if elected, "are going to put an end to the reckless conduct, corruption, and unbridled greed that have caused a crisis on Wall Street." He noted that the "foundation of our economy...has been put at risk by the greed and mismanagement of Wall Street and Washington."

[snip]

Several of McCain's most senior campaign aides have lobbied for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. And the Democratic National Committee, using publicly available records, has identified 177 lobbyists working for the McCain campaign as either aides, policy advisers, or fundraisers.

Of those 177 lobbyists, according to a Mother Jones review of Senate and House records, at least 83 have in recent years lobbied for the financial industry McCain now attacks. These are high-paid influence-peddlers who have been working the corridors of the nation's capital to win favors and special treatment for investment banks, securities firms, hedge funds, accounting outfits, and insurance companies. Their clients have included AIG, the newest symbol of corporate excess; Lehman Brothers, which filed for bankruptcy on Monday sending the stock market into a tailspin; Merrill Lynch, which was bought out by Bank of America this week; and Washington Mutual, the banking giant that could be the next to fall. Among these 83 lobbyists are McCain's chief political adviser, Charlie Black (JP Morgan, Washington Mutual Bank, Freddie Mac, Mortgage Bankers Association of America); McCain's national finance co-chairman, Wayne Berman (AIG, Blackstone, Credit Suisse, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac); the campaign's congressional liaison, John Green (Carlyle Group, Citigroup, Icahn Associates, Fannie Mae); McCain's veep vetter, Arthur Culvahouse (Fannie Mae); and McCain's transition planning chief, William Timmons Sr. (Citigroup, Freddie Mac, Vanguard Group).

I'll put this here rather than the economy thread. Anywho...

If, in January 2000, you'd said to yourself "Finally, a Republican President. We've got an MBa and a CEO in the White House (their slogan). We're finally going to have someone who doesn't screw around with the markets. I'm going to invest a bit"

Let's say you'd invested $1000 in a fund that followed the DJIA. Yes, not the biggest number I know, bear with me.

If you'd invested $1000 in the DJIA on January 20th, 2000, today that investment would be worth:

$1002.08.

The DJIA is barely 20 points above where it closed on January 20th, 2001.

Of course, this is not something I blame on BushCo. I'd say they have only a very small amount of the blame for the current conditions.

But you know what? That gets back to that weird trend that no one has ever been able to really figure out...75% of the years, the stock market does better under Democrats than under Republicans. Prior to this cycle, the only years that broke those trends were election years with Republicans in power...where the stock market does better in those election years and goes back to being stagnant after the Republican wins.

No one's ever come up with a solid guess about how that happens, but the reality is it does.

Late Wednesday night, news made its way from the other side of the Atlantic that John McCain, in an interview with a Spanish outlet, had made a series of bizarre responses to a question regarding that country's prime minister.

"Would you be willing to meet with the head of our government, Mr. Zapatero?" the questioner asked, in an exchange now being reported by several Spanish outlets.

McCain proceeded to launch into what appeared to be a boilerplate declaration about Mexico and Latin America -- but not Spain -- pressing the need to stand up to world leaders who want to harm America.

Finally, the questioner said, "Okay, but I'm talking about Europe - the president of Spain, would you meet with him?" The Senator offered only a slight variance to his initial comment. "I will reunite with any leader that has the same principles and philosophy that we do: human rights, democracy, and liberty. And I will confront those that don't [have them]."

The implication seemed fairly clear: McCain was refusing to commit to meet with Zapatero, the "socialist" party leader, whose country is a member of NATO and intricately involved in many of America's global financial and national security objectives.

I dont think this has been posted yet:

The old man's getting confused.

I dont think this has been posted yet:
McCain gets interviewed on Spanish (aka SPAIN) radio, and then rambles on about Latin America.. ummm.. not the same thing John.

He seemed like he didn't want to admit that he would meet with Zapatero. Maybe Spain is now part of the spanish axis of evil.

He seemed like he didn't want to admit that he would meet with Zapatero. Maybe Spain is now part of the spanish axis of evil.

God Bless HCP or he'd be a dead campaign walking.

Look. I understand that the HCP thing is a response to RSO. But I really think the "hot chick" reference is more than a little sexist. I'd appreciate it if you stopped with that.

I was just going to adopt it.

How about... PCBSNRTBVPP?

Stewart: As you know, our country, America, is having a robust discussion right now about energy – we’re addicted oil, black gold, Texas tea, dinosaur love juice. Basically there’s two schools of thought. Some people think offshore drilling is the answer…

McCain (Aug. 6): We have to drill here, and we have to drill now, and we have to drill immediately.

Stewart: Other people are against drilling. Think it’s just a band-aid….

McCain (May 28): It will only postpone or temporarily relieve our dependency on fossil fuels.

Stewart: Boy, I’d like to be fly n the wall when those two run into each other.

I'm going ot take a stab at this:

Politically Correct But Still Not Ready To Be Vice President Palin?

I was just going to adopt it.

How about... PCBSNRTBVPP?

I'm thinking: ABLWWHNETLATWBGBDHBSDATW

A Nice Looking Woman Who Has No Expereince To Lead a Troubled World But Gets By Defending Herself By Saying Dont Attack The Woman

Might be too long though.

We'll settle for HMP.

Hot MILF Palin?