Badly understood consequences.

People are celebrating that the bailout didn't get voted through.  Which is a bit odd since no bailout is actually costing considerably more than a bailout would.  

$700bn to stabilize a failing economy is, to be quite frank, a bargain.  This is a case of people kissing large chunks of their savings, investments and pensions goodbye to save a few bucks on taxes.  In fact, about one trillion just evaporated from the market yesterday.  Within that trillion are financial instruments owned by regular people.  The middle class.  This affects everyone. 

And look around you.  The Chinese, who have up until now been so keen to lend the US money to keep the wheels of the economy well-oiled (so they can sell you the consumer crap you love so much), are retreating in fear.   This will only get worse. 

The real tragedy here is that many of those who wanted to vote for the "bailout" didn't dare to do so for fear of losing their seat.  Staying in office is actually more important to them than stabilizing the economy.

No doubt McCain will take credit for the failed attempt to stabilize the economy. The idiot voters will see him as a hero, and by the time the american people have figured out that it would have been considerably cheaper to stabilize the markets, they are stuck another 4 years with a bumbling idiot for president. Not to mention an unqualified religious nutcase for VP that even most republicans find an embarassment.

These are dangerous times.  The recession just got a lot worse.  More banks will fail and the US took another step towards idiocracy.

Not fit for consumption.

What does it tell you when a VP candidate is so out of touch that the campaign cannot risk having the VP candidate talk to the press?  What does it tell you when the campaign has to rig debates in order to turn up at all?

Why do they even bother having Palin turn up for a mockery of a debate?  Why not just issue a press release and not insult the voter further.  It was bad enough that McCain showed a complete lack of judgement in picking her.

The kind of judgement the GOP thinks is "good enough" for you.  The voter.

Sarah Palin makes George Bush look like a fucking bookworm.

I think it is time we showed Palin the respect she deserves.  Which is to say, we should not be afraid to state outright that this woman is an idiot.  The really fun part here is that McCain's choice of Palin shows us what he thinks of the voters:  he thinks you are idiots too.

Here's why McCain doesn't want Palin to talk to the press anymore:

COURIC: Why isn't it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families who are struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries; allow them to spend more and put more money into the economy instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?

PALIN: That's why I say I, like every American I'm speaking with, were ill about this position that we have been put in where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health-care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy, helping the—it's got to be all about job creation, too, shoring up our economy and putting it back on the right track. So health-care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans. And trade, we've got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, scary thing. But one in five jobs being created in the trade sector today, we've got to look at that as more opportunity. All those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that.

Absolute gibberish.  How on earth can a grown person make such nonsensical statements on national TV?   I mean, she is not even good at pretending she knows what she is talking about.

Sarah Palin makes George Bush look like a fucking bookworm.  

Offshore drilling is completely irrelevant.

The thing about offshore drilling is that it will be too little too late.  At the pump it would not even mean fractional cents to the dollar.  To the consumer, it makes absolutely no difference.

So why is this even a big issue during the election?  Why is McCain making such a big fuss about this?  The numbers are pretty clear:  it isn't important at all.  In fact, it is so unimportant it is remarkable that it would even come up in discussion during an election where time and bandwith is at a premium.

McCain is spending 90% of his time talking about less than 1% of the budget.

You keep hearing a lot about pork barrel spending or earmarks.  And you'd be inclined to think that this is something quite significant given that McCain and Palin keep harping on about it.

In fact "earmarks" make up less than half a percent of the budget.  Which means that McCain is spending 90% of his time talking about less than 1% of the budget. 

Deja vu

You have seen this before, right. Of course you have. For reference I'll provide the video here:

Of course, with some prepping, even the dumbest of the dumb can form coherent sentences:

The economy ate my homework.

It is indeed never too late to react impulsively and childishly to something that happened over a week ago.  Like a kid trying to wriggle his way out of taking an important test, John McCain all of a sudden found that he was urgently needed in Washington.  As if the republicans had somehow shone a huge skylight with the silouette of an elephant on it at the sky to summon him.

After spending the last six months out of circulation on the Doubletalk Express, serving up lame jokes and political one-liners, there was no time to lose:  he had to get back to Washington ASAP. 

No time for trivial stuff such as, oh, I don't know, participating in The Debate and such.

The TV pundits seem to be very obsessed with blinking.  Apparently McCain blinked and Obama didn't.  Seems the dumb kid in class will have to turn up for his test after all.  Prepared or not.

McCain is too frail for the job.

It is frightening that McCain wants to skip the debate because of the financial crisis.  The election is about the next four years.  That's a long time.  We need to understand which candidate is best equipped to handle the challenges.  These are not times where you vote for a person -- these are times where you vote for reason.

The financial crisis is best handled by those who have not been galavanting around the country, spewing forth one-liners meant to elicit applause from audiences that don't know they are being short-changed in the election process.

Political debate is a prerequisite for democracy.  If candidates do not confront each other in debate, we cannot possibly have any basis for comparison.  Democracy just becomes a show-piece.  Something we talk a lot about, but which we don't actually implement.

Besides, this is the ultimate test.  This is our chance to see the candidates under pressure. And already McCain wants to throw in the towel.  This emphasizes our greatest fear:  John McCain is too frail to become president.  He can't handle the pressure.  And we really, really do not want that religious nutjob hockey-mom running the place.  Think radical moslems are bad?  How about radical christians with nukes and a firm belief that we live in the endtimes.

Executive Summary (no pun intended)

I watched the long, tedious marketing speech made by George Bush to sell the bailout.  Let me condense his message down to one sentence:

"Give me $700.000.000.0000 and don't ask any questions"

There, now you can go back to your apathy -- assured that you have not missed anything.

An uneven fight.

In Russia, the ruthless yet cunning man ended up on top by elbowing everyone else in the face -- in the US an assortment of lawyers made sure the idiot son of a plutocrat one-term president was handed the top job. 

Not that it was all that challenging given that half the american population will happily saw off the branch they are sitting on whilst clutching their bibles and their guns; seriously believing it is the will of God.

It is said that we get the leaders we deserve.   One wonders what collective sin would warrant punishment as severe as this: ending up with this fool, not one term, but two.  Perhaps for the sin of being embarrasingly ignorant and backward?

There are people who believe that dinosaur and man co-existed only a few thousand years ago. Who believe in witches and that God wants them to go bomb the shit out of brown people half way around the world.  People who hold important positions in government.  State and federal.  I shit you not.  The US has one foot in the dark, deep, middle ages.

Perhaps what  this situation needs is a complete financial collapse.  Perhaps people will see more clearly when the US becomes a former superpower.  Perhaps, when it is too late for any form of recovery, will the people see that we are way beyond the point where we can have the luxury of choosing a president based on issues like stance on abortion.

Abortions become a completely academic issue when you have no place to live, nothing to eat and no means for sending your kids off to college.  It becomes an academic issue when countries like India start outsourcing their menial jobs to the US.

Yes, the debate on abortion is a serious one, but it is not as serious as the collapse of the entire economic system.  But by all means, if you want the US to become the third world country it is so eagerly trying to become, do carry on.

Imagine the glee with which Osama bin Laden, if he is even alive, observes.  Having scared the ignorant masses of the US into a huddle and made them select Bush -- who then has run the US aground and is about to turn the US into the Soviet Union.  Food for thought: after the bailout, the US will have more government ownership of businesses than is the case in Russia.  

The most destructive power in any war is a terrible leader.  Bush is a terrible leader.  McCain is just more of the same.

Meanwhile the world is looking to the EU, and to Russia, and to China, and to Brazil.

Last chance, America.  Last chance.  In a bit over 40 days you decide if America survives or becomes irrelevant.