Sept. 16, 2008
Obama, McCain Duel Over The Economy
McCain Blames Wall Street Woes On Corporate Greed; Obama Tells Katie Couric Economy Could Be Back On Track By Next Year
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Play CBS Video Video McCain Shuns Corporate Greed Clarifying earlier remarks, Sen. John McCain called American workers strong, but betrayed by corporate greed and lack of oversight. He talked to Harry Smith.
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Video Joe Biden Reacts To Economy Democratic VP candidate Joe Biden criticizes the policies of President Bush and Sen. John McCain and offers his ideas to improve the U.S. economy. He talked to Maggie Rodriguez.
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Video The Candidates And The Economy With Lehman Brother's recent filing for bankruptcy, attention turns to the 2008 presidential candidates and their solutions for the nation's slumping economy. Vaughn Ververs, Sr. Political Editor of CBSNews.com, weighs in.
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Barack Obama and John McCain argued on Tuesday over who would be best able to deal with the kinds of financial meltdowns that roiled the markets Monday and to prevent a similar crisis in the future. (AP)
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Timeline Languishing Lehman Key events at Lehman Brothers since the beginning of the credit crisis.
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Timeline Credit Crunch Feeling the squeeze? Here's a look at actions and statements from key players in Washington.
The presidential campaigns argued over who would be best able to deal with the kinds of financial meltdowns that roiled the markets Monday and to prevent a similar crisis in the future.
In an interview with CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric, Obama said "we have to overhaul our regulatory systems."
Obama told Couric that "if we can just stabilize things and ride out some tough few months and then overhaul the regulatory system, our tax code and start investing in things like clean energy, then I'm confident that we can get the economy back on track by next year."
McCain proposed a review on the order of the one led by the Sept. 11 commission, the bipartisan panel that studied the events leading to the 2001 terrorist attacks. Appearing on the three network morning shows, McCain also defended a remark he made on Monday that the "the fundamentals of our economy are strong."
"The economy is in crisis," McCain said on CBS News' The Early Show. "The fundamentals of our economy are the American worker. The American worker still the most productive and the hardest working, most industrious worker in the world and I am proud of them."
"They have been betrayed by Wall Street -- by greed, by excess and by corruption and they have been done a great disservice, but someone disagrees that American workers aren't the best in the world, we just have a disagreement," he added in the interview with Harry Smith. "We need to set up a 9/11 Commission in order to get to the bottom of this and get it fixed, and act to clean up this corruption… They've violated the social contract that capitalism and the citizen have, and we can't ever let this happen again. I'll make sure it never happens again." (Watch the whole interview)
Obama, campaigning in Golden, Colo., accused McCain of failing to offer concrete plans for dealing with economic issues.
"Sen. McCain offered up the oldest Washington stunt in the book. You pass the buck to a commission to study the problem," Obama said. "This isn't 9/11. We know how we got into this mess. What we need now is leadership that gets us out. I'll provide it. John McCain won't. And that's the choice for Americans in this election."
Obama also continued to criticize McCain's remark Monday that "the fundamentals of our economy are strong." In a television ad released Tuesday, Obama's campaign asks: "How can John McCain fix our economy if he doesn't understand it's broken?"
On Monday, a few hours after the remark about strong economic fundamentals, McCain backtracked and declared the economy to be in crisis. He also said that American workers and products - the "fundamentals" he claimed he was referring to earlier - were indeed sound but faced danger from greed and corruption.
"Those fundamentals are threatened, they are threatened and at risk, because some on Wall Street have treated Wall Street like a casino," McCain said Monday at a town-hall meeting in Orlando, Fla.
On the morning shows, McCain said he agreed with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson that the government should not bail out American International Group Inc., the world's largest insurer.
Saying that the American taxpayer should not be "on the hook" for AIG, McCain said on "Good Morning America" on ABC: "We cannot have the taxpayers bail out AIG or anybody else. This is something that we're going to have to work through."
"I warned two years ago that this situation was deteriorating and unacceptable," McCain said. "And the old-boy network and the corruption in Washington is directly involved and one of the causes of this financial crisis that we're in today. And I know how to fix it and I know how to get things done."
Later, a McCain economics and policy adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, said any plan should include regulation of all sorts of financial institutions, consumer protections, improved corporate governance and "systems stability" programs.
"There's no magic solution, and I don't think it's at this moment imperitive to write down exactly what the plan has to be," said Holtz-Eakin. "But there should be an understanding that when you walk out of the Congress with a piece of legislation in the next administration, those boxes are checked and those things are effectively accomplished."
Both candidates are likely to continue to focus on the economy as the crisis continues on Wall Street. But how they handle it presents risks for both of them, reports CBSNews.com's Brian Montopoli.
"The issue is fraught with peril for both of them," CBS News consultant and political strategist Joe Trippi told Montopoli. "Particularly with financial markets, you don't score points by creating panic. That's not what a presidential candidate does."
"You can make an alarmist statement and trigger an even bigger fall than is occurring," he continued. "Or you can go the way McCain did, which is try to help calm the markets, and be accused of not understanding how perilous the times are."
Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden also got into the fray on several morning shows. He countered by saying that the economic policies of McCain and the Bush administration had led to any betrayal of American workers. He argued that the Republican campaign's message was at odds with itself with McCain saying the economy's fundamentals were sound but that urgent repairs were needed.
"It seems like John's had an epiphany. Nine o'clock yesterday morning, John thought the economy was going great guns and the Bush administration was doing well, and today he thinks it's in crisis," Biden said on The Early Show.
Responding to McCain's comments on workers, Biden said the American worker has been betrayed.
"They've been betrayed by a tax policy that absolutely screws them and, in fact, gives the money to the wealthiest among us. They've been betrayed by a policy of laissez-faire. They've been betrayed by the policies john has supported," Biden told Maggie Rodriguez.
Biden said the Democratic presidential campaign's solutions for the economic crisis include giving middle-class taxpayers a substantial tax break, putting an end to Bush administration tax cuts that favor the wealthy, investing in infrastructure, and changing bankruptcy laws to help people facing foreclosure.
"My lord, take a look at what - who got us in this hole, whose policies," Biden added. "This has been a Republican philosophy of letting Wall Street do what they want and the middle class be damned. It's about time we change it. If I sound like I'm angry, I am fighting mad for middle-class people who have been the scapegoat of this economy because of the policies of the McCains and the Bushes." (Watch the whole interview)
©MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 1221 CommentsWhile I truely appreciate the irony of your points, it doesn''t help take the conversation forward. All too often the sarcasm of the moment unravels the tried and true statements of days or months of dialogue. I may laugh for a moment at how those point contain a type of wisdom, but they are lost on those who don''t have the wit to remove themselves emotionally from the debates. Then the arguments become a type of frustration trivilized by even more sardonic remarks. We cannot lose those of less learned rationalizations, to the angst of wrongheaded approaches.
Try to find the better reasons to make strong and positive points. I would appreciate those from you even more.
Posted by keystonebull at 11:24 AM : Sep 17, 2008
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Here''s a great article for you too:
if McCain is going to continue shielding his political shortcomings with physical injuries, then he has an obligation to provide answers to the following questions:
1. What is the exact nature of his injuries?
2. What are his physical limitations?
3. Has he ever attempted to have those injuries surgically repaired? When? What was the result? If not, why not?
If the extent of these injuries prevents McCain from learning "how to get online," that''s fine -- though people with the severest of injuries are now capable of working on the internet. However, if they''re going to be used as a political shield -- to accuse political opponents of "attacking a war hero" -- then McCain should have the decency to at least divulge to America what his actual limitations are. It would only be fair.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brandon-friedman/mccains-use-of-pow-card-m_b_126912.html
"Biden said the Democratic presidential campaign''s solutions for the economic crisis include ... changing bankruptcy laws ..."
Joe Biden was the GO-TO GUY in Washington for credit card companies who spearheaded the changes to the bankruptcy law which made much harder for Americans to declare personal bankruptcy!
WHO''s had an epiphany? Mr. Pepsodent, that''s who!
They include industry deregulation, less oversight of government for Big Business. This is what created the problem. Do you really want to repeat the past ?
McCain is an outright Liar and will say anything to continue the party s policies. Just examine the views of his campaign advisors. Lobyist, Lobyist, Lobyist, Lobyist, and another Lobyist.
If you want a nuclear war vote McCain..............
Moscow -- Armed forces will be used if necessary, including preventively and with the use of nuclear weapons, for protection of Russia and its allies, the Russian Armed Forces Chief of the General Staff Yuri Baluyevsky said on Saturday.
"We do not intend to attack anybody. But all our partners must realize that for protection of Russia and its allies if necessary armed forces will be used, including preventively, including with the use of nuclear weapons," Baluyevsky was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying.
Baluyevsky reportedly made the statement at a scientific conference of the Academy of Military Sciences January 19, 2008.
From the article
"I warned two years ago that this situation was deteriorating and unacceptable," McCain said. "And the old-boy network and the corruption in Washington is directly involved and one of the causes of this financial crisis that we''re in today. And I know how to fix it and I know how to get things done."
Later, a McCain economics and policy adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, said any plan should include regulation of all sorts of financial institutions, consumer protections, improved corporate governance and "systems stability" programs.
"There''s no magic solution, and I don''t think it''s at this moment imperitive to write down exactly what the plan has to be," said Holtz-Eakin. "But there should be an understanding that when you walk out of the Congress with a piece of legislation in the next administration, those boxes are checked and those things are effectively accomplished."
[Posted by keystonebull at 11:24 AM : Sep 17, 2008]
i''m surprised rush hasn''t called him a fake ... or does he just reserve those type of comments for the ''left thinkers'' w/ parkinsons disease?
looks like the hard hearted perspective cuts across many world views.
By Sarah Lai Stirland July 13, 2008 | 9:47:33 PMCategories: Election ''08
There''s no telling if he''s going to buy a tape from the Video Professor, or just have his son-in-law sit down with him for a few days, but John McCain has decided to learn how to use the internet.
"I am learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself," McCain told the New York Times in an interview that appeared Sunday. "I don''t expect to be a great communicator, I don%u2019t expect to set up my own blog, but I am becoming computer literate to the point where I can get the information that I need."
Even so, McCain bluntly admits, "I don''t e-mail. I''ve never felt the particular need to e-mail."
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Posted by keystonebull at 11:24 AM : Sep 17, 2008
Read it, but that''s not why Obama has the add. McCain admitted he knows little about the web. That''s what the ad was talking about. And your "source" is not all that credible itself.
Christopher W. Ruddy started Newsmax.com on September 16, 1998, supported by a group of conservative investors, including the family of the late CIA Director William J. Casey. Later Richard Mellon Scaife, his former employer at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and a supporter of conservative causes, invested in the fledging company.[1] One of the initial board members was author James Dale Davidson who edited a financial newsletter that had shared Ruddy''s interest in the Vincent Foster case. Davidson''s co-editor, Lord Rees-Mogg, former editor of the The Times and Vice Chair of the BBC, later became chairman of Newsmax Media.[2]
there''''s more people out looking for these mysterious and elusive compassionate conservatives than have searched for the holy grail ... for all of history!
Posted by bobnjersey
The CEOs of Bear Stearns and AIG seemed to be able to find them.
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Posted by bobnjersey at 11:09 AM : Sep 17, 2008
So true. I laughed when McCain was saying he''s the agent for change thinking no intelligent person can think that''s true since he''s part of the party who has been running things. Then I see the post on here and remember that most Republicans are not intelligent.
[Posted by homespunlady at 10:48 AM : Sep 17, 2008]
nothing new ... gwb did the same thing in 2000 ... co-opting the issues that gore was using ... and they branded themselves ''compassionate conservatives''.
there''s more people out looking for these mysterious and elusive compassionate conservatives than have searched for the holy grail ... for all of history!
[Posted by jaxsterling5 at 10:46 AM : Sep 17, 2008]
the only thing that''s ''absolute'' here is that you''re a blathering fool!
You must have been born with a "silver foot" in your mouth. Or probably you gained independent wealth from your family or maybe all those jobs you have? Seems that you have listed several..........lol
It seems that finally the public have awakened to you and your ilks..hatred..deception and downright hate mongering. Wonder if that is what "The Decider" had in mind when he said he was "The Uniter"?
Not too much been made public about your screeching Palin.
Oh I forgot.......she has joined the ranks of the elite. Karl Rove ring a bell? Above the law. Refuse subpoenas and get off scott free? Most people would be put in jail for that.............
what bill ... who were the sponsors ... who controlled congress when it was passed?
Posted by bobnjersey at
You''ll never get a factual link out of Rowdy, just a bunch of obsfucation and hyperbole.
Has anyone else noticed that McCain/Palin are trying to appear to be Democrats?
They rant against "corruption" and the "failures" of REPUBLICAN leadership and I couldn''t believe an earlier speech where McCain actually mentioned Republicans as a cause of the problems we''re now facing.
They DON''T put their party on their signs and use "Democrat Blue" for their background on their signs.
I started to NOTICE this LACK of IDENTITY in a LOT of the Republicans running for office.
Sheesh you''d think they''''re EMBARRASSED by THEIR OWN PARTY.
But the candidates for the HIGHEST OFFICE refusing to acknowledge on their signs they are REPUBLICANS and trying to HIDE that fact TOO???
Where are the BRIGHT RED backgrounds I USED TO SEE on their signs and the word REPUBLICAN PROUDLY DISPLAYED on those signs?
Where is the TRUTH as to WHAT PARTY they belong to?
I see a LOT of Democratic SIGNS PROUDLY DISPLAYING their PARTY affiliation.
GOP - the "STEALTH PARTY" HIDING their IDENTITY and acting like IDENTITY THIEVES stealing the OTHER Candidate''s PLATFORM, signs, ideas, etc in hope of MISLEADING voters??
How PATHETIC can Republicans get by trying to be Democrats? OWN UP and CHANGE PARTIES if you''re going to use the SAME platform and talking points!
That way maybe the Constitution Party or Libertarian Party might have a chance.
He doesn''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''t want people to realize that he intends to turn their country into some fomenting European entity where they cater to their immigrant labor force, which will put Obama''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''s corrupt Muslim brethern in power in the US!
Obama ABSOLUTELY wants people to over look his ACTIONS!
Again Jax Publishj your Credible Source. Thats the second time I have asked that you have not responded. Strike Three you lost
Posted by StormeyOne
If the alternative is the senile one and his moose hunting sidekick, lots of us will.
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