Could We Have Foreseen 2008?

Weekly commentary by CBS Evening News chief Washington correspondent and Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer.

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On our first broadcast of the year, I always look back to check what I said a year ago to see if I had any idea what was ahead.

This time last year, we were in New Hampshire and the Iowa caucuses were already behind us.

Can you remember who won Iowa before I say it? Time's up! Mitt Romney poured millions into Iowa, but Mike Huckabee won the Republican contest with just a smile and a shoeshine.

I said then it was good to know that money does not always guarantee victory. But neither does winning Iowa, and Huckabee was soon gone.

Not so for the Democratic winner - Barack Obama's surprise win over Hillary Clinton was just the beginning.

As the year whizzed by, John McCain rose from the political dead and won the Republican prize. Mitt Romney lost more money, John Edwards lost his good name, Bill Clinton lost his cool, Rudy lost Florida, Fred Thompson lost everything (but won Bill O'Reilly's radio show), Joe Biden lived up to his reputation for talking and that got him to the Vice Presidency (which Dick Cheney had won by keeping quiet).

The election that was supposed to be about Iraq turned instead on a financial crisis. A very conservative administration poured government money into big industries and banks. Didn't we used to call that socialism?

And Hillary Clinton is about to be Secretary of State.

Maybe somebody saw all this coming a year ago, but I sure didn't!

[ms1-1-1]

Grand Jury Indicts Cheney, Gonzales for Organized Criminal Activity; U.S. Politics Today Provides Extended News Coverage

WASHINGTON, November 19 /EIN News/ -- Citing a ''money trail'' of U.S. Vice President *** Cheney''s ownership in enterprises including the Vanguard Group

[ms1-1-1]

- in all honesty I have ZERO problems voting for MCCAIN BUT FOR Palin no thank you !

- in all honesty yes the election fraud that occurred with BUSH / AL GORE was rigged the one man who could put BUSH in prison for life MIKE CONNELL was killed CIA was given orders by BUSH take care of business. They did he died after receiving subpoena.

- in all honesty 8 years of a weak ,cowardly ,failed REPUBLICAN administration cost United States of America the highest deficit in the history of United States of America.

- in all honesty BUSH alleges he graduated from YALE UNIVERSITY and has no clue how to handle a budget keep it real.

- in all honesty the CHEYNE indictments for criminal misconduct oh yeah we could see it comming easy considering how he managed to profit of IRAQ war

OH yeah we could see it comming and then some...

- in all honesty

[goosfraba2]

Hope Obama-n-crew are successful in correcting all the wrongs of the Bush administration, the Republicans, and the neocons. America will be digging its way out for the next decade or more due to the Republican Party''s slime and stupidity. Will people, who voted Republican, wake up to what has happened and change their course from one as lemmings?

[kenhamlett]

The major events were not only foreseen but planned. The lesser events of human political positioning were simply side effects of the larger events. If one person had been diverted from their ambitions another person would have filled the void.
These surprise events were only a surprise to those not involved in or observant of the scenario leading up to the grand unveiling of the final objectives. Surprise!

[walt1944-2009]

It was a "given" about 2008!

With the election, I knew that no matter who the neocon Fascist Nazi Republicans nominated, because of the mess that the Great Emperor Bush II and his neocon allies had caused over the past 7 years, people were fed up (and some still are!).

When McCain became the nominee, and the dummy brought in Sarah Palin, it convinced a lot of people that McBush was as big an airhead as Bush was and 8 years of an airhead with the possibility of 4 more was just too much for anyone to stomach!

And as far as the "official" recession but REALLY DEPRESSION, it was inevitable that it would happen, not just because Bush Jr was an idiot, but because his father was responsible for the Great Recession of 1992, so his son had to follow in "daddy''s" footsteps.

You want a recession, just elect a neocon Fascist Nazi Republican! If you want 2 of them, elect the Nazi Republican TWICE!!!

SIG HEIL, US NEOCONS LOVE RECESSIONS!!!, BUSH!!!

[noloyalisti]

When you let fascists take over the government, you get big multi-national corporations run the military and buy the politicians. This problem goes back to Ray Gun and the other "free market" freaks. You get unbridled and unregulated capitalistic and imperialistic greed.

This problem goes way beyond just the GOP fascist enablers and Bush Crime Family.

[centerfall94]

"Could We Have Foreseen 2008?"

Of course some of us saw this coming - what else would you expect for eight years of failed policies and war by Bush and the neocons? Talk about a no-brainer (no that wasn''t a reference to Shrub)

[buttonjockey]

Some of the politics was a surprise, some was not that surprising. As for the economy, lots of us saw this coming in some form or another. I was only marginally surprised. But the person who should get lots of credit for his insight into the financial melt-down that was to happen is Peter Schiff, who called it on the nose. Go see the various videos of him on YouTube predicting (on national news) exactly what was going to happen and in some cases, who was going to go bust.

[hober_mallow]

Of course, Bush did nothing to tighten up on the housing/credit binge.

The housing market was the only thing keeping the Bush economy chugging along.

Every chance he got, Bush extolled home ownership...

Until it was too late, then he shut up.

[xlib]

renov-that "creative financing for home buyers" was brought to us by the dems and the community reinvestment act in the 70''s and 90''s. Lending insitutions were forced to lend money to those who really weren''t financially fit to have a mortgage. Just look at the 2004 congressional hearings when your maxine waters and other dems used the old race card. As for oversight, that''s on the dems who ran fannie and freddie. Do your homework before you speak.

Oh, dopey me, I keep forgetting, dems can do no wrong.