7 posts tagged “presidential campaign 2008”
Yes, they are ready for their close ups! 500 + in the audience, a great show -- enjoy! And comment, please!
***CONTEST ALERT! TWO CHANCES TO WIN A LEFT, RIGHT & CENTER SUN VISOR! SEND EMAIL TO TALKGIVEAWAY@KCRW.ORG WITH YOUR BEST ESTIMATE OF HOW MANY ELECTORAL VOTES THE CANDIDATES WILL RECEIVE; AND THE PERCENTAGE OF VOTES FOR EACH CANDIDATE. EMAILS MUST BE POSTMARKED NO LATER THAN MONDAY, NOV. 3 AT MIDNIGHT PACIFIC TIME.***
Breathe. It’s almost over. Tony (sort of) defends his charge that Obama is a committed Marxist, Arianna calls McCain’s campaign McCarthyite; Bob calls the recovery plan so far "socialism for the rich" and Matt says he hopes that whoever gets elected will step in decisively and put America back on the economic track. Will the banks or the consumers do it? Will there be a new New Deal—a massive rebuilding of jobs and infrastructure? Under Obama, will there be massive government regulation that could stifle a recovery? Will China save us? Guess we’ll know on Tuesday. **DON'T FORGET: LIVE LRC POST-ELECTION POST-MORTEM ONSTAGE ON SUNDAY NOV 9TH -- JOIN US FOR LIVE VIDEO AND AUDIO WEBCAST BEGINNING AT 5:45 pm PACIFIC TIME AT KCRW.COM.**
JOIN US @KCRW.COM--LIVE LRC BROADCAST, AUDIO/VIDEO WEBCAST AND PODCAST ON SUNDAY, NOV. 9 at 6pm PACIFIC TIME (*we may start some of the behind-the-scenes stuff on our videocast at 5:45 pm PT*) FROM THE BROAD STAGE IN SANTA MONICA!
Obama's Lead; Which Way GOP; Greenspan’s Goof?
A heckuva show today, Tony’s a trifle testy over unfair allegations he says are being made against Republicans, the McCain campaign and Sarah Palin. And what about that wardrobe budget? Tony predicts the next conservative revolution will be populist, not intellectual. Plus: is “socialism” code for racism? Is “family values”? Who’s really using the race card and how? And a big discussion about capitalism, the (so-called?) free market, concentration of capital, corporate fascism and Euro-Socialism. And did Greenspan undermine the theory of capitalism by admitting his surprise about how little oversight was being exercised at top financial institutions? (Sorry to say, Arianna was unavailable today.)
LINKS
http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2008/10/23/updated-report/
UPDATED REPORT: McCain’s Tax Plan Would Have Saved The McCains $730,000
An updated analysis of the Obama and McCain tax plans by the Center for American Progress Action Fund finds that John and Cindy McCain would have saved $730,000 over 2006 and 2007 under McCain’s tax plan. Under Obama’s proposed plan, the McCains would have saved $62,000 over the same two years. Read the full analysis here.
***************************************************************************************************EJ Dionne
Civil War on the Right 10.24.08
WASHINGTON — Conservatives are at each other’s throats, and here’s what’s revealing about how divided they are: The critics of John McCain and the critics of Sarah Palin represent entirely different camps.
Skeptical social conservatives are precisely the people McCain was trying to mollify by picking Palin as his running mate. These include the faithful of the religious right who remember McCain as their enemy in 2000, and parts of the gun crowd who always saw McCain as soft on their issues.
That McCain felt a need to
make such an outlandishly risky choice speaks to how insecure his hold was on
the core Republican vote. A candidate is supposed to rally the base during the
primaries and reach out to the middle at election time. McCain got it backward,
and it’s hurting him.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/opinions/?nid=top_opinions
*******************************************************************************************************************
NYTimes Magazine Preview,
The Making (and Remaking) of McCain
By ROBERT DRAPER
Published: October 22, 2008
On the morning of Wednesday, Sept. 24, John McCain convened a meeting in his suite at the Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan. Among the handful of campaign officials in attendance were McCain’s chief campaign strategist, Steve Schmidt, and his other two top advisers: Rick Davis, the campaign manager; and Mark Salter, McCain’s longtime speechwriter. The senator’s ears were already throbbing with bad news from economic advisers and from House Republican leaders who had told him that only a small handful in their ranks were willing to support the $700 billion bailout of the banking industry proposed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. The meeting was to focus on how McCain should respond to the crisis — but also, as one participant later told me, “to try to see this as a big-picture, leadership thing.”
************************************************************************
October 24, 2008
WASHINGTON -- Contrarian that I am, I'm voting
for John McCain. I'm not talking about bucking the polls or the media consensus
that it's over before it's over. I'm talking about bucking the rush of
wet-fingered conservatives leaping to Barack Obama before they're left out in
the cold without a single state dinner for the next four years. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/10/security_first_why_im_voting_f.html
*******************************************************************
October 22, 2008
The Birth of the Me-Too Conservative By Tony Blankley
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/10/the_birth_of_the_metoo_conserv.html
With the rise to enduring power of President
Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal in 1933, a new type of Republican emerged in
reaction to FDR's attractive and overawing power: the me-too Republican. Until
the election of President Reagan five decades later, these me-too Republicans
supported, rather than opposed, Democratic Party policies but claimed they
would administer them better. Of course, this led to a half-century of
Democratic dominance of American government and politics.
A Joe-the-Plumber
Free Zone! Not a word about him in today’s show!
Whole lotta linkin' (not Abe!) goin' on, see below to connect to sites Matt mentions. Arianna’s
on the road today; it’s an all-male revue. The final debate’s over.
Can McCain make a comeback? Tony sees
a glimmer of hope in the polls. Bob defends the underdog, but calls
some of his followers scary. Tony takes extreme exception to this
characterization and says McCain’s “been running far too clean a
campaign” compared to Obama, whom he says “has ruthlessly been playing
the race card.” Matt says he’s heard that Colin Powell will announce
for Obama this weekend. Enough politics: how ‘bout that economy? Tony
says it's easy to buy equities if you've got 80 billion dollars (like
Buffett, see below). Bob tells us why he bought Google, and “did the
right thing” while making a 50% profit. Bob also stresses the need to
help the homeowner not the bandit bankers; Matt says we need both
mortgage relief and an economic stimulus, and is writing a piece about
his conversion away from fiscal conservatism, “Why I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Trillion Dollar Debt…” I’ll share it once it’s
published.
PS: I am planning a tiny little contest -- the person who most closely picks both the final vote percentage and the number of electoral votes for each candidate -- deadline Nov. 3 -- could win -- hang on now -- one of TWO Left, Right & Center sun visors! Yep, it's a collector's item, only about 100 were made, and I just found the last two that I was hoarding in my closet! I'll work out the details and tell you how to enter, stay tuned to this space.
One final note: LRC is live ONSTAGE in Santa Monica, ON AIR in SoCal and ONLINE worldwide @ KCRW.com (video and audio webcasts) on Sunday, Nov. 9th starting at 5:45 pm Pacific Time (for the behind-the-scenes stuff), 6 pm live broadcast/webcast. We'll make the show available as a special podcast or you can watch it on demand later.
Working for the Working- Class Vote by Matt Bai
NY Times Sunday Magazine preview
For a guy who just four years ago was running his first statewide campaign, Barack Obama has made startlingly few missteps as a presidential candidate. But the moment Obama would most like to take back now, if he could, was the one last April when, speaking to a small gathering of Bay Area contributors, he said that small-town voters in Pennsylvania and other states had grown “bitter” over lost jobs, which caused them to “cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them.” That comment, subsequently posted by a blogger for the Huffington Post, undercut one of the central premises of Obama’s campaign, an argument he first floated in his famous 2004 convention address — that he could somehow erode the tired distinctions between red states and blue ones and appeal to disaffected white men who had written off national Democrats as hopelessly elitist. Instead, in the weeks that followed, white working-class primary voters, not only in industrial states like Pennsylvania but also in rural states like Kentucky and West Virginia, rejected his candidacy by wide margins, and he staggered, wounded, toward the nomination.
“That was my biggest boneheaded move,” Obama told me recently. (more at the link above)
Buy American. I Am. Warren Buffett, NYTimes Op-Ed 10.18.08
THE financial world is a mess, both in the United States and abroad. Its problems, moreover, have been leaking into the general economy, and the leaks are now turning into a gusher. In the near term, unemployment will rise, business activity will falter and headlines will continue to be scary.
So ... I’ve been buying American stocks. (more at the link above)
The Bing Blog
http://stanleybing.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/
Thursday, October 16, 2008 at 12:18 pm
I walked home last night from the office. All along the route, I passed the places I used to stop in for a drink. It’s been a month now since I had a nice, frosty martini, so cold that the ice chips float to the top and the sides of the glass bead up with condensation… or a brawny glass of Johnny Walker Black, sinuous and golden in a big bottomed glass… or even a festive balloon or two of rich, big-shouldered, blood-red Zin, oaky and spicy and redolent of cinnamon and chocolate…
I walked by these places but did not go in. I figure the time to start drinking again is when I don’t feel the inexorable pull to the cozy dimness that lies beyond their inviting portals. In other words, when I don’t need a drink is precisely the moment when I’ll feel okay having one.
THE BIG PICTURE economic blog
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/
Remarks by Governor Ben S. Bernanke
Before the National Economists Club, Washington, D.C.
November 21, 2002
Deflation: Making Sure "It" Doesn't Happen Here
Since World War II, inflation--the apparently inexorable rise in the prices of goods and services--has been the bane of central bankers. Economists of various stripes have argued that inflation is the inevitable result of (pick your favorite) the abandonment of metallic monetary standards, a lack of fiscal discipline, shocks to the price of oil and other commodities, struggles over the distribution of income, excessive money creation, self-confirming inflation expectations, an "inflation bias" in the policies of central banks, and still others. Despite widespread "inflation pessimism," however, during the 1980s and 1990s most industrial-country central banks were able to cage, if not entirely tame, the inflation dragon. Although a number of factors converged to make this happy outcome possible, an essential element was the heightened understanding by central bankers and, equally as important, by political leaders and the public at large of the very high costs of allowing the economy to stray too far from price stability.
With inflation rates now quite low in the United States,
however, some have expressed concern that we may soon face a new
problem--the danger of deflation, or falling prices. That this concern
is not purely hypothetical is brought home to us whenever we read
newspaper reports about Japan, where what seems to be a relatively
moderate deflation--a
decline in consumer prices of about 1 percent per year--has been
associated with years of painfully slow growth, rising joblessness, and
apparently intractable financial problems in the banking and corporate
sectors. While it is difficult to sort out cause from effect, the
consensus view is that deflation has been an important negative factor
in the Japanese slump.
So, is deflation a threat to the economic health of the United States?
Not to leave you in suspense, I believe that the chance of significant
deflation in the United
States in the foreseeable future is
extremely small, for two principal reasons. (read complete speech at link above)
UPDATE ADDED ON 10.21:
Moderator's note: I find it quite striking that the Palin-ization of the campaign sparked a blog riot here for two weeks in a row. And now that this week's episode concerned an actual ISSUE in all our lives -- i.e., the economy -- there are far fewer posts. Our blog commenters are an engaged group of citizens (we're really glad you've joined us), and they're here, alongside a very few new post-ers...but this week, far fewer new people have come on board. I wonder if this is a reflection of the bigger notion that issues don't determine elections, it's all about personalities and people's feelings about the candidates. I wonder what that portends for November 4th? By the way, I have just heard about this independently operated (math-obsessed) poll aggregating site that does mathematical analysis and weighting of all polls: I am going to visit it for the first time, and wanted to share it with you: www.fivethirtyeight.com.
Sorry no Arianna today, however that didn't stop the heavy debating as our panel took on the current economic climate!
Wall St Crisis, Capitalism, Obama v McCain/Economy
It’s the topic on everyone’s lips – Market Meltdown. This week Bob, Matt and Tony discuss the biggest bail outs of the week, from AIG to buying out mortgages. They take on the question- deregulation versus regulation? And what is the future for American Capitalism? Our panel debate accountability, the causes and the future of other reforms based on the current situation. And are our presidential candidates equipped to resolve this economic crisis or are they merely commentators on the sidelines? Plus much more when you listen to today’s show.
UPDATE TO MY ORIGINAL POST:
First: Keep it civil. This is intended for political discussion not personal attacks. We welcome intelligent dialogue from all sides of the spectrum but not ad hominem abuse or any other kinds of vitriolic nastiness between people who post here.
Second: For those commenting on Matt Miller--he is the show's moderator because of his skills in moving the conversation along, but unlike other analytical/opinion programs, he occupies a known position in the dialogue. He is the centrist and as such, expresses his opinions. He is participant, not just the moderator. If your comments involve his opinions, they're there because they are part of the show -- he is the "Center" in "Left, Right & Center." And to the gentleman who mis-identified the think tank he is connected to, it is the liberal-oriented Center for American Progress not the neocon-oriented Project for a New American Century.
9.13.08 PPS: I want to call everyone's attention to an article that I think you might want to read and comment on:
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2008/08/11/080811crat_atlarge_lemann
A Critic at Large
Conflict of Interests
Does the wrangling of interest groups corrupt politics—or constitute it?
by Nicholas Lemann
Economy; Palin on ABC; Obama Gets Tough? McCain v. Taxes
This week Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were essentially nationalized. And Lehman Brothers has gone belly up with talk of the taxpayers bearing the cost. Today Bob, Matt and Tony take on the question of whether deregulation created this scenario wherein which the federal government is bailing out America’s housing market…and of course, there’s plenty of disagreement to go around. Then: Sarah Palin gets her primetime spotlight – did she shine? Did Charlie Gibson cave and give her a pass or was he sneering down his nose at her? How’d she really do? Lastly, Tony repeats a phrase that will surely infuriate many: Obama’s campaign has been likened to a dead frog whose legs keep kicking… ouch. More when you listen to today’s show. I'll be on vacation, Blogger Andi will post for the next two weeks but I will be following the conversation so PLEASE share your comments!!!!
Hey all: Producer Sarah is going to be on vacation 9.19 and 9.26. Andi Albers will be posting in my stead. PLEASE keep talking to each other -- I'll check in from time to time and see how the conversation is going.
And Joe Klein blogs about Matt Miller, here's the link and here's a short excerpt of the text:
==============================================================================
September 12, 2008 8:27
The McCain Tax Increases--Continued
Posted by Joe Klein | Comments (25) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0) | Email This
Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former Director of the Congressional Budget Office and current chief McCain economic advisor, is an honest man--which means he's something of a liability on the Straight Talk Express. A few months ago, he admitted to my colleague, Michael Scherer, that Barack Obama's economic plan would reduce taxes for most people. And now, in a forthcoming book by Fortune columnist Matt Miller, he makes it clear that the next President is going to have to raise taxes.
"If you do nothing on the spending side, you're going to have to raise taxes whether you're a Republican, a Democrat or a Martian," he tells Miller...and then he immediately makes it clear that the "spending side" part of the argument is nothing more than a political fig-leaf.
"It's arithmetic." Federal revenue today is 18.8 percent of GDP and federal spending is 20 percent. Holtz-Eakin observes that "the pressure are there" to lift spending [on entitlement programs, mostly] and taxes to 23 or 24 percent of GDP by around 2020, and to as much as 27 percent if health costs remain out of control.
==============================================================================
My Groups
-
Music News from KCRW.com Updated: 5 days ago
-
Design and Architecture Updated: Nov 16, 2009
-
the KCRW Music Library Updated: Nov 13, 2009
Neighborhood
Explore friends, family, friends & family, or entire neighborhood.
