Obama, McCain Clash Over Job Losses

Democrat Cites Sept. Jobs Report As Sign Of Failed GOP Policies; McCain Says Obama Will Raise Taxes, Spending

(CBS/ AP)  Democrat Barack Obama used word of the nation's worst monthly job loss in over five years Friday to argue the polices of his Republican opponents "are killing jobs in America every single day." Republican John McCain retorted that Obama's tax and spending plans won't solve the problem.

The government reported employers cut 159,000 jobs last month, the ninth straight month of job losses. The crowd gathered to hear Obama at a Pennsylvania high school football field booed when he told them the numbers and again when he told them McCain recently said the economy is fundamentally strong and has made great progress under President Bush.

The Illinois senator encouraged voters to change the Republican leadership in the White House that he said hasn't worked. He disputed McCain running mate Sarah Palin's claim in a debate Thursday night that own spending plan would be a job killer.

"When Sen. McCain and his running mate talk about job killing, that's something they know a thing or two about," Obama said. "Because the policies they've supported and are supporting are killing jobs in America every single day."

Hours later at a town hall meeting in Pueblo, Colo., McCain himself said Obama's plans would hurt the economy.

"He wants higher taxes, more government, higher spending, and frankly that record is not something which has been good for America and we won't let it happen," McCain said.

Obama is proposing tax increases only for those earning more than $250,000 but would cut taxes for those making less - details that McCain and Palin don't mention.

Their dispute came as Congress approved a $700 billion measure to bail out the financial industry. Both campaigns said their candidates called lawmakers on behalf of the bill. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus credited Obama with changing their minds, including Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., and Reps. Elijah Cummings and Donna Edwards, both Maryland Democrats.

McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said, "He's made a number of calls today. We are not releasing specifics at this time." But Republican Rep. Sue Myrick of North Carolina, who switched her vote to favor the measure, said she hadn't heard from McCain. "They told me he was going to call me. He didn't," she said.

Speaking to reporters upon landing in Flagstaff, Ariz., McCain took credit for helping push the bailout through Congress. Last week he briefly rearranged his campaign schedule to go to Washington as lawmakers began considering the package. He left to debate Obama but returned last weekend before the first House vote.

"I'm glad I suspended my campaign and went back to Washington to bring, to help bring House Republicans to the table," McCain said.

Despite Congress' passage of the bailout, there was no indication the Wall Street crisis would give way to other campaign issues and more economic woes could be ahead.

Speaking in battleground Colorado, McCain defended the bailout, which he voted for in the Senate on Wednesday.

The Arizona senator said he is a "proud opponent of waste and pork barrel spending," possibly a reference to pet projects and sweeteners tucked into the rescue measure to win more votes after the House defeated it Monday with 133 Republicans and 95 Democrats voting no.

"But I also have to tell you that the government has to step in at this time and save Main Street from the challenges and the disaster that's looming," he said.

Later, a member of the town hall audience asked why the government is bailing out Wall Street first instead of helping individual homeowners.

"I know that a lot of people view this as a 'bailout for Wall Street.' I'm not interested in helping Wall Street in any way," McCain said. He said rescuing the financial industry will give Americans confidence in the economy and help stabilize the housing market, which would eventually benefit homeowners.

With that grim economic backdrop, Obama is seeking to solidify his lead in national and battleground polls, while McCain looks for a game-changing development to close a gap that grew in part because McCain struggled to respond to the financial crisis and because economic woes tend to push voters toward Democratic candidates.

Polls show Obama has made progress in persuading voters that he's ready to be president and that McCain would continue Bush's economic policies. But the Illinois senator still has work to do to lock down his lead in case outside events or campaign blunders change the campaign conversation.

Obama planned to continue to use the economy and McCain's 90 percent support for Bush in the Senate to hammer his opponent and to argue that the GOP ticket has failed to articulate how it would be different from the current administration. Aides still view the race as very close.

McCain's campaign is trying to regroup from a disastrous two weeks. As Wall Street crumbled, McCain struggled to strike the right note. Palin's qualifications came under fire from GOP critics after she appeared ill-informed in TV interviews. The GOP nominee's poll numbers slipped everywhere, dropping so far in Michigan that the campaign pulled the plug. It diverted resources elsewhere, even moving to shore up Republican bastions like Indiana and North Carolina.

The Arizona senator's advisers argued that Palin's debate performance quieted GOP critics and reassured other skeptics enough to stop McCain's slide, but it was too early to verify that. McCain advisers also hope Congress' approval of the bailout will help turn the page to other issues. They say McCain will go hard after Obama by emphasizing liberal positions Obama has taken in Senate votes.

In other campaign news, Sen. Joe Biden bid safe farewell to a Delaware National Guard unit that includes his son Beau, reports CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric. The Guard troops will soon be deployed to Iraq.

Meanwhile, Gov. Palin and her husband Todd released their income tax returns for the last two years. In 2006, they earned about $128,000. That figure jumped to $166,000 in 2007 as Palin was elected governor. Alaska's first family paid nearly $37,000 in federal taxes over those two years and gave about $8,000 to charity.

[dicktracy200]

The fact that Fox News Network is taking the position of launching a series of all out assaults against senator Obama%u2019s character is a sad day in journalism. They should be ashamed of the immoral and unethical standards that their network displays on a continual basis. What they must be made to understand is that as citizens we rely upon networks for their fair and accurate reporting of events and we will not tolerate anything less, especially when its over the top or maybe I should say as far right as Fox News Network is. If your views are the same share this message with others. It is time to take a stand against Fox and look to other networks for fair and accurate news coverage.

[freedomobama]

This hasnt even been close through out the whole start of it

[harbinger09]

There is a new Poll on PBS about Palin being qualified for VP. The RNC got word of it and has had supporters inundate the site with yes votes for Palin. This poll is to be broadcast on the major networks later. it is not a scientific poll but an electronic poll--if you have an opinion about whether Palin is fit to be President or not--go to this link, also email this link to anyone who you think has an opinion on Palin.

1) Click on link and vote yourself. Here''''''''s the link:
http://www.pbs.org/now/polls/poll

-435.html

and cast your vote

[mccainisevil]

MY HOLIDAY WITH JOHN McCAIN

http://myblogthebword.blogspot.com/2008/09/my-holiday-with-john-mccain-it-was-just.html

A MUST READ - THIS GUY IS AS SICK AND CREEPY AS IT GETS!!!!

"McCain''s appreciation of the beauty of Asian women was so great that David the American economist had to move his Thai wife to the other side of the table from McCain as McCain kept aggressively flirting with and touching her. Needless to say I was irritated at his large ego and his rude behavior towards his wife and other women, but decided he must have some redeeming qualities as he had adopted a handicapped child from Bangladesh. I asked him about this one day, and his response was shocking: "Oh, that was Cindy''s idea - I didn''t have anything to do with it. She just went and adopted this thing without even asking me. You can''t imagine how people stare when I wheel this ugly, black thing around in a shopping cart in Arizona .

[bunchofchemi]

Historical economic growth rate GDP per capita, 1929-2006, 3.8% under Democratic Presidents and 0.7% under Republicans. Historical stock market returns vs. T-bill returns, 1927-2008 under Democrats 16%, under Republicans 0%. "Happy Days are here again under Obama." Expect this headline next year.

[tigerjcs]

Obama has been promissing so much. With the economic crises, it would be a disaster to increase taxes. No more taxes. We have gas, food and medical expenses to pay for. To increase our taxes are a suicide. I don''t buy his promisses that 95% of the American will benefit. He is a liar, actually a habitual liar. His maths doesn''t add up. He is a spender... he will spend, spend and spend for social welfare, and we all have to pay for it.... our tax dollars.
NO OBAMA

[rex76usa]

Shame, shame, shame on Palin.
She says she wants to talk about issues but then lies about Obama being "pals" with the guy from the Weatherman.
That''s all she can do: lie.
She''s got to lie, change the subject because she & McCain are so wrong about the economy.
They want to cut taxes for companies and rich people like those on Wall Street.
The want to loosen regualtions on Wall Street so that we continue to have problems like this and even more bailouts!!
She & McCain are shameful!

[samthetvcat]

---"Obama officials call it political jujitsu %u2013 turning the attacks back on the attacker . . . "---

I got this quote from The Politico . . . it sounds like something I would have said when I was like 12, and it''s alarming that it took them hours to respond. I''m terrified of the thought of Obama and his feeble advisors having the power savvy no better than that of a 12 year old girl when guys like Putin are calling the North Pole Russia and use energy dependency to bully Europe, and guys like Ahmadinejad are taking hostages and are fixing to nuke people of a different religion.

That being said, the merits of the Obama message about McCain were spot on - I''m just as terrified of McCain being ''in charge'' of an economy in crisis that he thinks he can turn a page on.

What a choice . . . WOW . . . I mean really . . .

[incog-nito]

McCain wants to give people tax credits to buy health insurance outside of the workplace. Sounds pretty good in theory, but it WON''T work. Anyone who ever has to buy individual policies know how expensive it is, and how capricious the insurers are with coverage. Not only are the premiums exorbitant, they can raise your premium/deductible/copay, or discontinue coverage, at ANY TIME. They will not cover pre-existing conditions. You will have none of the protection of a group-based health plan.

What will happen is that only younger people might be able to buy individual plans. This leaves an older and less healthy pool of people having to depend on employers for coverage, driving up the cost of employer-based health care.

This is not even taking into account the fact that any savings from tax credits will eventually be negated by insurers taking advantage of this and raising their premiums accordingly.

In other words, if implemented this plan will be a complete disaster, even worse than the current system.

[ofbyfor2]

The median duration of unemployment is now 10.9 weeks; most workers are covered by existing benefits, which last for 26 weeks. Extending today%u2019s coverage to 39 weeks would cost billions of dollars and have little impact.

Posted by StormyTexan at 11:59 PM : Oct 04, 2008

According to the latest government info, the average (mean) duration of uneployment is 18.4 weeks and there are 2,008,000 people whose unemployment period has lasted over 27 weeks.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t09.htm

[ofbyfor2]

The household employment survey of Americans indicates that there are 1.9 million more Americans employed since the recession ended in November 2001. There are 138.3 million workers in the U.S. economy today%u2014more than ever before.[2]

Posted by StormyTexan at 11:54 PM : Oct 04, 2008

She is quoting from an article that was written over 4 years ago. The figures and ideas are out of date--things have changed drastically since then.

[hbevis]

Good night!

God BLESSED America! NOT God DAMNED America!

I really pity people who do not believe in the blessing that has been besowed upon us as citizens of the United States of America by our Creator!

I pity people that have no hope, no belief system, no credo except one that allows them to rationlize away their own failures and blame it on the government!

Happy Sunday!

John McCain/Sarah Barracuda Palin in ''''08!

Posted by StormyTexan at 12:22 AM : Oct 05, 2008

YOU ARE 100 PERCENT RIGHT...

[stormytexan]

Good night!

God BLESSED America! NOT God DAMNED America!

I really pity people who do not believe in the blessing that has been besowed upon us as citizens of the United States of America by our Creator!

I pity people that have no hope, no belief system, no credo except one that allows them to rationlize away their own failures and blame it on the government!

Happy Sunday!

John McCain/Sarah Barracuda Palin in ''08!

[stormytexan]

Nahhhhhhh, I think it''''''''s going to be hilarious! Watching you Obama whack jobs having to watch him skew up this country!

And I''''''''ll be right here to point it out!

Posted by StormyTexan

At least you''''re over the denial that Obama will likely be your President.


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Posted by melchg at 12:15 AM : Oct 05, 2008

Oh, I never underestimate anything, fella. But I seriously doubt the people of the US are going to put some whack job Arabic/Muslim pinko commie in our White House!

[stormytexan]

This war on terror is going to be with us a long time for sure. For some of the older people it will be with them for the rest of their lives. People we are in it for a long, long time. And it does not matter who is in Washington. It has already been at least 20 years....


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Posted by hbevis at 12:14 AM : Oct 05, 2008

Exactly!

[stormytexan]

How stupid. When I was making $1.25 an hour, I made sure I saved something, even if it was just $2/week. And I still have that money in the same damned savings account!

You can make excuses and rationalize everything, but if you are going to depend on the government for your own economic stability, then you have a long damned wait!

Posted by StormyTexan

Sorry to say that people putting around $10/week (likely something close to what you mentioned when inflation is included) will put most people into a decent retirement.


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Posted by melchg at 12:13 AM : Oct 05, 2008

It did me! It''s sitting right there making money every day and supplementing my income.

[hbevis]

This war on terror is going to be with us a long time for sure. For some of the older people it will be with them for the rest of their lives. People we are in it for a long, long time. And it does not matter who is in Washington. It has already been at least 20 years....

[stormytexan]

Rowdy it must really eat you up inside knowing that Obama is likely going to be your President. LOL!!!


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Posted by melchg at 12:10 AM : Oct 05, 2008

Nahhhhhhh, I think it''s going to be hilarious! Watching you Obama whack jobs having to watch him skew up this country!

And I''ll be right here to point it out!

[stormytexan]

Posted by StormyTexan

However you try and twist it either the market would be flooded with worthy employees (bringing down total wages on current high earners now) and also many have their entire checks spent soley on living in this country and they can''''t put money away even if they tried.

Try again.


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Posted by melchg at 12:06 AM : Oct 05, 2008

How stupid. When I was making $1.25 an hour, I made sure I saved something, even if it was just $2/week. And I still have that money in the same damned savings account!

You can make excuses and rationalize everything, but if you are going to depend on the government for your own economic stability, then you have a long damned wait!

[hbevis]

WE NEED TO BRING ABOUT CHANGE FOR OUR GOOD PEOPLE IN WASHINGTON THAT HAVE VOTED THEMSELVES UNLIMITED RETIREMENT. LET THEM BE ON SOCIAL SECURITY LIKE THE REST OF US.. AND PUT THEM ALL ON MEDI-CARE AS WELL.