Palin Options

[Robert]

Just wanted to point out I called Palin as VP over 4 months ago, for all the same reasons the decision was made now.
If McCain wins, I honestly believe this will be what puts him over the top.

Also you couldn't ask for better timing to make this announcement.
The DNC convention ended last night with a huge bang an there's not a single leading news story about it.
The news is 100% about Palin as VP.
Talk about stealing someones thunder.

I hope they win an McCain dies the next day.

[Robert]

Actually I got the list off CPR site
http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/com...pr.asp?cycle=08
Which is about as non partisan as you can get. So I don't know where you get the idea it was from talking points. Speaking of talking points, after CPR published campaign donation numbers, Obama's camp had to pull back from their earlier suggestions MOST of his campaign donations came little average Americans giving $20-50. The truth is the majority comes from people donating over the $200 break limit for anonymous donations. Yes Obama is King of the presidential fundraisers, his total right now is about .3 billion. Which to me is just one more example of how screwed up out political system is.
Does it matter the Fannie money wasn't directly from the PAC fund, No. Bundling donations has been a part of politics for a while now an is done by both sides. All it requires is the upper management to pull their "private" donations, then present it to whoever. Corps do this all the time to hide buying political favors. You can go to Obama's site an view a partial list of his private bundler's.
Partial list of campaign donation bundler's
As I said, this is done by both sides. McCain has been the worse of the two as far as updating his list of bundlers. My point is just because money comes from private individuals doesn't necessarily make it any less tainted than money coming directly from Corporate PAC's.
Similar to how Obama denounced PAC funding as evil once he got the nomination but had no problem taking PAC money for his two senate races an to start his presidential bid.
BTW your NYT story is rather lacking.
They apparently didn't bother to go down the long list of VP's who all gave $1000 to Obama's or any other high ranking individuals at Fannie & Freddie.
They are all listed at CPR if you want to take the time to do some searching.
url=http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/committees/citizens-for-progressive-representation-cpr.asp?cycle=08



Speaking of talking points, give me your onion of this.
Why is Gramm the only name constantly brought up in regards to McCain;s economic advisor's?
There are actually 35 people on the list
Actually only 34 since Gramm was dropped near the end of July , after his America whinnier remark.
Kind of strange that Gramm was dropped almost 2 months ago but Obama's newest ad released yesterday refers to Gramm as "McCain lead economic adviser"


PS.
I missed your earlier post about Raine's. You're right he's not on the list of Obama's advisors.
He was originally contacted about acting as a mortgage and housing advisor but failed to get the 2nd casting call when Freddie & Fannie went down the drain. The ex Freddie & Fannie CEO who did advise Obama on his VP pick would be Johnson not Raines as I previously said.

[HammaTime]

Insightful questions, as usual.

I'm off on a two-day trip and will be back at it on Friday.

I too have wondered about Gramm. Of course, the main reason he is mentioned so predominantly is that McCain has put forward his name as his next Treasury Secretary, but now that you've mentioned this, I can't honestly say if that actually came from McCain's lips. That will be an interesting issue to look into.

Perhaps you could look at some other New York based companies and see how their ratio of donations compares with the Fannie/Freddie mix. My guess is that the donation ratio will be very much the same. I agree that bundling is a problem, but there are a hell of a lot of problems in our elections. That said, I'd much rather see a campaign raise cash by encouraging small donations from many people. It is a Federal crime to donate money that isn't yours, I wonder if anyone has ever been successfully prosecuted for doing so.

[HammaTime]

Damn you!! Now I'm going to be late! LOL.

Your question intrigued me so much, I had to do a quick search. Looks like the search may have to employ Lexis/Nexis as there is so much noise in the system thanks to Gramm's infamous "nation of whiners" remark. I did find an interesting article published by Texas Observer last May that does a great job of shedding light on the McCain-Gramm connection. It really is no wonder why Gramm is the one who continues to be mentioned.

[HammaTime]

Couric: You've cited Alaska's proximity to Russia as part of your foreign policy experience. What did you mean by that?

Sarah Palin: That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and, on our other side, the land-boundary that we have with Canada. It's funny that a comment like that was kinda made to … I don't know, you know … reporters.

Couric: Mocked?

Palin: Yeah, mocked, I guess that's the word, yeah.

Couric: Well, explain to me why that enhances your foreign-policy credentials.

Palin: Well, it certainly does, because our, our next-door neighbors are foreign countries, there in the state that I am the executive of. And there…

Couric: Have you ever been involved in any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?

Palin: We have trade missions back and forth, we do. It's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia. As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, 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 our state.

... good thing our financial system is melting down this very moment! Maybe no one will notice the presumptive nominee has a little too much air space!! LOL!

No wonder John McCain is desperate to cause a distraction. I've come to the conclusion that her "trainers" have decided she isn't trainable. And is that a surprise? A 4-year communications degree can teach you how to read from a teleprompter, but it certainly is no preparation for the myriad nuances of playing World Leader.