McCain pulls a Palin with SEC chair promise

"The regulators were asleep, my friends," McCain said. "The chairman of the SEC serves at the appointment of the president, and in my view, has betrayed the public trust. If I were president today, I would fire him."

Senator John McCain promised that if he were president, he would fire the SEC chair. While the president nominates the SEC chair, he cannot actually dismiss the commissioner of an independent regulatory commission.

It has been an interesting week for the McCain-Palin campaign.

XKCD: The Staple Madness

Staple Guns: Because duct tape just doesn't have that satisfying kachunk.

Palin's plan previously proposed and passed by Obama

“We’re going to do a few new things also,” [Sarah Palin] said at a rally in Cedar Rapids. “For instance, as Alaska’s governor, I put the government’s checkbook online so that people can see where their money’s going. We’ll bring that kind of transparency, that responsibility, and accountability back. We’re going to bring that back to D.C.”

That's great, but there is just this one little thing - Barack Obama already did that back in 2006 when Palin was busy running for governor. Oh, and John McCain was a co-sponsor.

Guilty as charged

"Wallstreet got drunk" Or how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb(ed economy)

As of this morning, the federal government has put up about a trillion dollars of taxpayer money to float failing corporations who made risky investments through smoke-in-mirrors accounting. That would be more than 10% of the national debt for those who bother to keep track.

Robert Reich says it best:

We tell poor nations they have to make their financial markets transparent before capital will flow to them. Let's practice what we preach. Far better to regulate financial markets to keep them honest than to keep bailing them out.

More here

Ford unveils 65 mpg car, but it's not for you!

Ford unveiled its 2009 Fiesta ECOnetic model that's due out in November. The car is a subcompact that seats five, has a built-in navigation system, gets 65 mpg, and isn't available in the US.

The car runs on diesel; while more efficient, the fuel has a tax meant for commercial trucks between 40 cents and a dollar.

"Diesel vehicles now hitting the market with pollution-fighting technology are as clean or cleaner than gasoline and at least 30% more fuel-efficient."

In spite of that information, Americans still think of diesel as "the smelly stuff that powers tractor trailers."

I guess this answers why American auto manufacturers export all of the cool cars.

Yes we can; but you can't.

Obama tells supporters he still believes in an America where anything is possible, once we ditch that good-for-nothing Nate.

"'What a Loser' added Obama"

Its the Economy, Stupid; No seriously, it actually is.

"Quit Doling Out That Bad-Economy Line" writes Donald Luskin in an op-ed in the Washington Post this weekend. Like the nation of whiners gaffe, Luskin is just another advisor to the McCain who would like us to wake up and realize that we're "a nation of exaggerators", in our apparent screaming panic over today's economy. Well Donald, will the rise in oil prices place thousands of families at risk of freezing to death this winter if LiHEAP can't come through for them? Or what about the strain when many more children will rely on school lunch programs amidst rising food prices? I think Mother Jones nailed the issue on its head when it called Luskin's editorial one of the worst-timed ever. Only a few hours later the largest instance of Bankruptcy in American history was declared by one of her largest financial institutions. Doesn't capital flow swimmingly?
Instead, perhaps a more sober assessment is in order.

Greenspan: Worst economy I've ever seen

Former Fed chief Alan Greenspan said that the economy is the worst he's ever seen it and that the current economic crisis might be a "once in a century" event. With the recent take overs of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the floundering auto industry, and the 158-years-old Lehman Brothers investment firm teetering on the brink of collapse, the economic situation has taken a turn for the worse.

Greenspan offers his insight into the state of the economy and what the government should or should not do.

Rove: some McCain ads don't pass 100% truth test

Karl Rove said some of the McCain advertisements concerning Obama don't necessarily pass the "100% truth test." When even Karl Rove is saying you might be stretching the truth a bit much, you probably have a problem.

"In case anyone was still wondering whether John McCain is running the sleaziest, most dishonest campaign in history, today Karl Rove — the man who held the previous record — said McCain's ads have gone too far," said campaign spokesman Tommy Vietor

SNL - Sarah Palin as portrayed by Tina Fey

Tina Fey could not have been more dead-on.

Sarah Palin - a little on her time in Alaska

The New York Times presents a fairly comprehensive investigation into Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin's tenure as mayor of Wasilla and governor of Alaska.

A few highlights:

"In 1997, Ms. Palin fired the longtime city attorney, Richard Deuser, after he issued the stop-work order on a home being built by Don Showers, another of her campaign supporters."

"The Wasilla High School yearbook archive now doubles as a veritable directory of state government."

"Democrats and Republicans alike describe her as often missing in action. Since taking office in 2007, Ms. Palin has spent 312 nights at her Wasilla home, some 600 miles to the north of the governor’s mansion in Juneau, records show."