Is It Possible for Obama to "Win" The Debate?
September 22, 2008 9:57 am

By M.J. Rosenberg, TPM Cafe

I've been wondering if it is possible for Obama to outsmart expectations and win.

I am not sure he can. .

The reason is simple. The McCain camp uses Obama's verbal dexterity and intelligence against him. The whole point of portraying him as "uppity" or "The One" or "the messiah" is to turn his strongest attributes into negatives. This is not unique to Obama. Jews, women, Asians, gays, African-Americans and other "minorities" are often ridiculed for being "articulate" or "smooth" or "good talkers." In a country that now celebrities mediocrity, the worst sin is to be seen as part of an elite. Hence, the Palin phenomenon. Her mediocrity is her biggest (only) strength.

We have four days to help inoculate Obama against this phenomenon. I'm not sure how we do it. I am sure however that the Obama team has a plan. I just hope it understands that Obama really has two things going against him on Friday. One, he is very bright. Two, John McCain clearly isn't.

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Sarah Palin and the Rapture
September 22, 2008 10:13 am

Raymond J. Lawrence

Is this country ready for a president who is excited about and eagerly looking forward to the Rapture?

The Rapture, as it is called, is the imaginary day when Jesus will come down from the sky and lift up into heaven all those who are saved, leaving behind all unbelievers to destruction and death?

Anyone who believes in the Rapture scenario will likely interpret a catastrophic nuclear exchange as the opening scene of the Rapture. Thus an American president who believes in the Rapture would arguably have at least some ambivalence toward a nuclear holocaust. A believer in the Rapture with his or her fingers on the nuclear trigger might even be tempted to bring on the Rapture. The Rapture, for those who believe in it, is hardly a negative event. Rather it is culmination of everything they hope for, deliverance into the heavenly arms of Jesus.

Presumably Sarah Palin believes in the Rapture. It is one of the doctrines of her religion, and she has nowhere disavowed it. Are Americans ready to sleep at night with a President who longs for the Rapture?

The doctrine of the Rapture is a very recent invention within some of the radical fringe churches of Christianity. The Rapture doctrine is first cousin to millennialism, the belief promoted by various groups who have predicted that "the end is near." Millennialist groups have popped up and burnt out from time to time throughout Christian history.

The Rapture doctrine has no support in the historic Christianity of any of the main traditions - Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, or Protestant. The doctrine of the Rapture is cobbled together from several obscure, unrelated comments drawn from the epistles of Paul the Apostle. No credible biblical scholar in two thousand years of Christian history has taken seriously the Rapture doctrine, millennialism, or anything similar to it.

The American people ought to be concerned about the religious beliefs of its political leaders as those beliefs may determine the life of the nation as a whole. It would be foolish of the American people not to be deeply concerned about the religious beliefs of Sara Palin, who may be elected Vice President for the oldest President ever inaugurated into the office.

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Obama Ad: McCain's New "Article"
September 22, 2008 10:33 am

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Al Franken
September 22, 2008 1:45 pm

Six years after President Bush asked Congress to give him a blank check for war in Iraq, he's asking for a blank check to bail out Wall Street. But with at least $700 billion of taxpayer money on the line, this time we know better. It is simply unacceptable to hand this much money to the Treasury Secretary and then just sit and hope we see it again. If we're putting our tax dollars -- $2,000 for every Minnesota taxpayer -- on the line, we should demand independent oversight to make sure our money is being used well. A good start would be telling CEOs of companies involved with this bailout that in the public sector, there's no such thing as a golden parachute -- so all excessive compensation, bonuses, and severance agreements are hereby cancelled. But we also need to restore the regulatory framework dismantled with George W. Bush in the White House and Norm Coleman in the Senate so that this doesn't happen again. And after eight years of an economic policy that's put Wall Street first and ignored Main Street, we need real relief for struggling homeowners and better regulation of financial products -- that's why I'm calling for a moratorium on foreclosures of primary residences and a Financial Products Safety Commission with similar duties and powers to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. We need to take action to avoid economic disaster - but the era of putting powerful special interests first and ignoring Minnesota's middle class has got to end.

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Make the Banks Pay the Government Back or Foreclose on Them
September 22, 2008 7:35 pm

Stephen Kaus

Among the many details, actually more like major foundational points than details, that have not been disclosed in the huge socialism for the banks program is the price that the government is going to pay for the "troubled' assets that these Einsteins bought.

If the problem, as "Hank" Paulson repeated all over the Sunday morning shows, is that there was no way to value the assets, the price is obviously going to be arbitrary. So, why don't we consider it a loan?

Whatever the banks get now is a provisional advance against the collateral of the assets. If the government can sell them for the price it paid, then all is square, except the banks should pay some interest on the money they are using. How about 2% for the first year and then, oh, LIBOR plus 5% after that.

If the assets are not worth what the government paid, then the banks should pay the difference, over time, with more interest. If the banks cannot pay it, then the government forecloses on the banks. No bonuses either.

Sauce for the goose.

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Vice President Dick Cheney's Incredible and Deadly Lie: By Deceiving a Congressional Leader, Cheney Sent Us to War on False Pretenses And Violated the Separation of Powers - as Well as the Criminal Law
September 22, 2008 7:44 pm

John W. Dean

Cheney's Bold Face Lie To Congress

......According to Gellman (and to paraphrase from the Post story on his finding), in the run-up to the war in Iraq, the White House was worried about the stance of Republican Majority Leader Richard Armey of Texas, who had deep concerns about going to war with Saddam Hussein. According to the Post, Armey met with Cheney for a highly classified, one-on-on briefing, in Room H-208, Cheney's luxurious hideaway office on the House side of the Capitol.

During this meeting, the Post reports, Cheney turned Armey around on the war issue. Cheney did so by telling the House Majority Leader that he was giving him information that the Administration could not tell the public -- namely (according to Armey), that Iraq had the "'ability to miniaturize weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear,' which had been 'substantially refined since the first Gulf War,' and would soon result in 'packages that could be moved even by ground personnel.' In addition, Cheney linked that threat to Saddam's alleged personal ties to al Qaeda, explaining that 'we now know they have the ability to develop these weapons in a very portable fashion, and they have a delivery system in their relationship with organizations such as al Qaeda.'"

The Post story continues, "Armey has asked: "Did Dick Cheney ... purposely tell me things he knew to be untrue?" His answer: "I seriously feel that may be the case...Had I known or believed then what I believe now, I would have publicly opposed [the war] resolution right to the bitter end, and I believe I might have stopped it from happening."

In short, it was this lie that sealed the nation's fate, and sent us to war in Iraq. By lying to such an influential figure in Congress, Cheney not only may have changed the course of history, but also corrupted the separation of powers with their inherent checks and balances......

.....If Armey is right, Dick Cheney has not only behaved improperly, but also criminally: In addition, when lying to Armey, Cheney clearly committed a "high crime or misdemeanor" in his blocking the Constitution's checks and balances from stopping our march into Iraq. During the debates that took place during the Constitution's ratification conventions, it was specifically stated that lying to Congress about matters of war would be an impeachable offense. Congress has also made it a crime.

Nonetheless, nothing is likely to happen to Cheney, for Congress is too busy dealing with the disastrous economy that he and Bush are leaving behind as they head for the door. No one seems inclined to hold Cheney responsible, and he appears totally unconcerned about the wrath of history. Yet in lying even to those in his own party, about reasons to go to war, he has sunk to a low level few have reached, and it is no hyperbole to call his actions treasonous to the structure and spirit of the Republic.

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Busy Mom
September 25, 2008 4:30 pm

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Bringing Down Wall Street as Ratings Let Loose Subprime Scourge
September 25, 2008 5:30 pm

Frank Raiter says his former employer, Standard & Poor's, placed a ``For Sale'' sign on its reputation on March 20, 2001. That day, a member of an S&P executive committee ordered him, the company's top mortgage official, to grade a real estate investment he'd never reviewed.

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No, Erin Burnett, We Are Not "All Responsible" for this Mess
September 25, 2008 10:03 pm

Paul Abrams

....The reason we are not all responsible is the same reason teenagers are not responsible for becoming addicted to cigarettes. They were attacked by the tobacco industry with scenes of success and/or serenity, and it did not take many months of smoking before the addictive power of nicotine set in. Marlboro Country. You've Come a Long Way Baby. Take a Puff and It's Springtime.

Similarly, the American people have been literally bombarded for decades on the benefits of home ownership. Anyone reading this who has not had a friend or relative suggest that they are"wasting money" renting, not building equity? Brokers have been advising prospective buyers that stretching themselves now to meet monthly payments is good financial planning -- the interest is tax-deductible, the house will rise in value, and with a little increase in salary over time, the payments will seem less and less burdensome. And, this does not even include the unscrupulous who acted shamefully......

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Sarah Palin's Religion: What Do Sarah Palin's Churches & Pastors Preach?
September 25, 2008 10:44 pm

Austin Cline

.......Nico Pitney and Sam Stein detail some of the things preached by Ed Kalnins, senior pastor of Wasilla Assembly of God where Sarah Palin and her family worshipped for several years:

• critics of President Bush will be banished to hell
• questioned whether people who voted for Sen. John Kerry in 2004 would be accepted to heaven
• charged that the 9/11 terrorist attacks and war in Iraq were part of a war "contending for your faith"
• Jesus "operated from that position of war mode."
• "I believe Alaska is one of the refuge states in the last days, and hundreds of thousands of people are going to come to the state to seek refuge and the church has to be ready to minister to them."
• He also claims to have received direct "words of knowledge" from God, providing him information about past events in other people's lives......

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Credit Default Swaps: The Insane Problem and the Radical but Sane Solution
September 25, 2008 10:57 pm

Chuck Simpson

A credit default swap is similar: If default occurs, an insurance company pays the income stream of the mortgage.

With one extremely important difference: Payments are made to the owner of the policy, not to the financial institution that stands to suffer a loss.

Financial institutions are allowed, through total lack of regulation, to buy and sell credit default swaps, or insurance they will be paid in event of default, on financial instruments in which they have no financial interest.

Start with a simple example. Assume I know the young son of the couple next door likes to crawl into closets and play with matches. I therefore see a reasonably good shot at "winning the disaster lottery" so to speak, by buying fire insurance on their $200,000 house.

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Obama to McCain: "You We're Wrong"
September 26, 2008 10:27 pm

Obama: So John, you like to pretend like the war started in 2007. You talk about the "surge," the war started in 2003. At the time, when the war started, you said it was going to be quick and easy. You said you knew where the weapons of mass destruction were -- and you were wrong. You said we were going to be greeted as liberators -- you were wrong. You said that there was no history of violence between Shi'a and Sunni, and you were wrong. ...if the question is, who is best equipped as the next president to make good decisions about how we use our military, how we make sure we are prepared and ready for the next conflict, then I think we can take a look at our judgment.

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Palin's Churches and the Third Wave
September 27, 2008 7:55 pm

Lance Wallnau summarizes the Seven Mountain Strategy to take control of religion, government, family, education, arts and entertainment, media, and business. Wallnau is a member of the International Coalition of Apostles and the Eagles Vision Apostolic Team. He is introduced by Patricia King of Extreme Prophetic TV.

Patricia King and Lance Wallnau from Bruce Wilson on Vimeo.

Among recent articles claiming that Palin's churches are typical of Assemblies of God was a quote from an expert claiming that a researcher working on this project on Palin's churches is "mixing up a bunch of stuff." The Third Wave is indeed a mixture of a number of strands that remained from the Latter Rain movement of the 1940s and 50s as well as more recent incarnations of related ideas found in a number of different revival movements over the last few decades. Some of the strands making up the Third Wave came from groups referred to as Word-Faith, Prosperity Doctrine, Maranatha, the Vineyard Movement, the Lauderdale Five and the Shepherding Movement, the Kansas City Prophets, the Toronto Airport Blessing, and more.

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Palin Is Ready? Please.
September 27, 2008 8:38 pm

Fareed Zakaria, Newsweek

....When asked how living in the state closest to Russia gave her foreign-policy experience, Palin responded thus:

"It's very important when you consider even national-security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America. Where—where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to—to our state."

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Cafferty: Palin Should Scare the Hell Out of You
September 27, 2008 10:48 pm

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Tina Fey As Sarah Palin: Katie Couric SNL Skit
September 28, 2008 8:46 am

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McCain's Suspension Bridge to Nowhere
September 28, 2008 4:51 pm

Frank Rich, The New York Times

What we learned last week is that the man who always puts his 'country first' will take the country down with him if that's what it takes to get to the White House.

For all the focus on Friday night's deadlocked debate, it still can't obscure what preceded it: When John McCain gratuitously parachuted into Washington on Thursday, he didn't care if his grandstanding might precipitate an even deeper economic collapse. All he cared about was whether he might save his campaign.....

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Minister of Treasury Paulson Nigerian Email Scam
September 28, 2008 5:10 pm

Dear American:

I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.

I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.

I am working with Mr. Phil Gram, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a Senator, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. This transactin is 100% safe.

This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.

Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.

Yours Faithfully Minister of Treasury Paulson

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Must Watch: Bill Moyers Journal On Hate Radio and How It Inspired a Shooting At a Knoxville, Tennessee "Liberal" Church In July
September 28, 2008 5:55 pm

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Passionately Credulous Bigots for McCain Launch Attack Ad
September 28, 2008 9:02 pm

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