Is Your Money Safe?

An excellent, easy to understand article from the New York Times answers the key questions about the financial crisis.

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"Stop blogging! Stop blogging right now!"

Can you imagine the hell that would rain down if a top aide to Gov. Perdue picked up the phone and called, say, Erick Erickson, and said, "You should be ashamed. Stop blogging. Stop blogging right now!" Yet, that's exactly the call an Alaskan blogger got from an aide to Sarah Palin, and it's far from the scariest thing the New York Times reports in "Once Elected, Palin Hired Friends, Lashed Foes." If you can stand to read one more thing about Palin, believe me, this is that article. (H/T to Jodi)

Whether she was handing out political appointments like candy to high school friends-including the top agriculture spot to a women who actually listed her childhood love of cows as a qualification-or creating a culture of secrecy in the Governor's office, Palin's reign in Alaska looks a whole lot like the Bush White House. If you've like that, you're going to love Palin. Of all the questionable things the Times uncovers, the worst by far is this simple statement at the beginning of the article:

Ms. Palin declined to grant an interview for this article. The McCain-Palin campaign responded to some questions on her behalf and that of her husband, while referring others to the governor’s spokespeople, who did not respond.

It is NOT FINE for John McCain to continue to hide his vice presidential nominee from the American people by picking and choosing just who gets to lift one or two of her many, many veils. McCain is getting a virtually unfathomable pass on his strategy of hiding and scripting Sarah Palin. If any of the other three candidates-Obama, McCain or Biden-were ducking press interviews, they would be absolutely skewered, and rightly so. Why? Because us everyday Americans won't have the chance to sit down and chat with Gov. Palin. We rely on journalists, imperfect though they are, to ask the tough questions of those who would be leaders in this toughest of times. It is both outrageous and inexcusable that John McCain is unwilling to find out-and unwilling for us to know-exactly who this women is once the curtain drops and there is no script. Veils off, Sen. McCain. It's time for Sarah Palin to put on her big girl pants and face the American people.

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Oh, Thank God

No fried food? Organic? 50% of the plate must be fruits and veggies? And include three of the following five colors: purple, red, white, yellow and green? Had the DNCC finally gone over the left edge? Were they really writing off the South? I was worried. Honestly, when I read these "rules" for convention food vendors-made famous by none other than The New York Times, my first thought was that the DNC might as well go ahead and set up a booth offering $400 haircuts. (Sorry, John. You know I love ya'.) The idea that these were the requirements for any food served at the convention reeked of, oh, I don't know, elitism, Big Brother, Nanny State, all things out of touch-all things laughable. If we had done this, I'm pretty sure the RNCC would've had a fish fry at a shooting range to celebrate. Fortunately, this week , the DNCC host committee finally put the kibosh on the rumor, dubbing it a "frivolous food fight."

What's the truth? The DNCC is allowing vendors to voluntarily serve designated "Lean N' Green meal options. To be so designated, the food item must meet the above listed requirements. So, rest easy. We will have no trouble keeping our cholesterol levels up while in Denver.

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McCain "Not Running Away from Bush"

So says USA Today.

So many jokes, so little time....but, good to know.

And, McCain finds nothing illegal about the Bush administration's wiretapping, so says the New York Times. So, in a McCain administration, law abiding citizens can expect to have their international phone calls and email monitored by the federal government without notice and without a warrant.

And, you're thinking of voting for John McCain? Better think again.

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Elizabeth Edwards and Truth Telling

Whoever becomes President should appoint Elizabeth Edwards Secretary of Truth Telling. She has a knack for honesty. Sometimes that gets her in a bit of hot water, but, thankfully, she is undeterred. It's one of the things I most admire about her. Today, in the New York Times, she has an op-ed, Bowling 1, Health Care 0, that even she could not have published while John was still in the race. In it, she takes the media to task for the focus on nonsensical but sensational aspects of the campaign for President and challenges all of us to continually speak into the ear of the mainstream press, demanding information about what they choose to ignore. The editorial is on point and timely. Unless we're picking a bowling team, a deacon or a hairdresser, the issues the press has chosen to focus on don't really help us much. But, if we want that to change, we have to demand it. Here's a portion:

The problem today unfortunately is that voters who take their responsibility to be informed seriously enough to search out information about the candidates are finding it harder and harder to do so, particularly if they do not have access to the Internet. Did you, for example, ever know a single fact about Joe Biden’s health care plan? Anything at all? But let me guess, you know Barack Obama’s bowling score. We are choosing a president, the next leader of the free world. We are not buying soap, and we are not choosing a court clerk with primarily administrative duties.

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Uh Oh

Note to presidential candidates: have your staff check your previous sworn statements before responding to related allegations. Sen. John McCain-a man I respect and admire, by the way-may have really stepped in it, and I'm not talking about the alleged improper relationship with a lobbyist. I'm talking about his defense of those claims that appears to contradict his own sworn statements. According to Newsweek, it appears that in responding to the NYT's thinly sourced allegations about an improper relationship with a female lobbyist, McCain contradicted his own sworn statements, given in a deposition more than five years ago.

When this story initially broke on Wednesday, I was intrigued by the headline and but less impressed with the content. It seemed like a re-circulated old allegation, and the sourcing, though thin, seemed to point to a Republican leak. I couldn't figure out why loyal Republicans would be going after their nominee-unless they knew a bomb was ticking that could explode post-convention and doom his candidacy. Then, perhaps, it would be better to explode it now, in the "liberal" Times and hope for enough distance to avoid real damage to his candidacy. Toss in the likelihood that Republicans, even the cautious conservatives, would rally behind him if attacked by the "liberal media," and all in all, it would be a win for McCain.

But, I don't think that the architects of this leak counted on McCain contradicting his own sworn statements in his lengthy and specific denial yesterday. Americans are a forgiving people and have a short memory. The exception? We really don't like hypocrisy and lies. Just like Bill Clinton's infamous "it depends on what 'is', 'is' ", this part of the McCain story has teeth. His campaign has responded by saying that it really is not a contradiction. I'm pretty sure that most third graders who can pass a reading comprehension test would disagree. Check the story and see what you think.

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Women Blogging Politics

Catherine Morgan at Informed Voter has a great list of over 100 political blogs that are written by women. (I especially think it's a great list since she included GWV.) Catherine was responding to this New York Times article that asked, in a year when a Hillary is running for President, why are the political blogs dominated by men? But, seriously, as she points out, these blogs are tremendously diverse. Check out her list here.

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Is the NYT Shrill, Too?

Writing today for the New York Times, Paul Krugman, says

Senator Clinton delayed a long time before coming out with her own plan — a delay that created a lot of anxiety among health care reformers, and may, as I’ll explain in a minute, be a bad omen for the future. Still, this week she did deliver a plan, and it’s as strong as the Edwards plan — because unless you get deep into the fine print, the Clinton plan basically is the Edwards plan.

Over the last week, the Edwards campaign has been effectively holding Hillary Clinton's feet to the fire on health care. The issue is not the substance of her plan, but, rather, the timing of her plan. The truth is that John Edwards led on this issue in February-just as he has led on virtually every issue. While Hillary Clinton was talking about incremental steps, John Edwards published a comprehensive, workable plan to cover every American. Now, Clinton, seven months later, published a plan-one that is remarkably similar to the Edwards' plan. Any why not? It's an excellent plan. The Clinton campaign appears to be pushing back by focusing, not on any plan, but instead, on Elizabeth Edwards suggesting that she is "attacking" Hillary and is becoming "shrill." (For those of you who don't know, "shrill" and "attacking" are words people toss about in an effort to shut up strong, smart women-especially when they are both right and effective.) So, is Krugman "shrill," too?

It's not a problem that Clinton's plan so closely mirrors what Edwards proposed seven months ago. The Edwards plan is the best plan, and it makes perfect sense for her to emulate it. The question is, why did it take her so long? Krugman has a thought about that as well:

...even if the Democrats take the White House and expand their Congressional majorities, the insurance and drug lobbies will try to bully them into backing down on their campaign promises.
That’s why the long delay before Senator Clinton announced her health care plan made supporters of universal care, myself included, so nervous — a nervousness that is not completely assuaged by the fact that she finally did deliver. It’s good to know that whoever gets the Democratic nomination will run on a very good health care plan. What remains is the question of whether he or she will have the determination to turn that plan into reality.

For the first time in my memory, in John Edwards, we have an opportunity to nominate a Democrat who is both the most electable and the most progressive. John Edwards is not in bed with the lobbyists for the industries that hope to derail universal health care. Hillary Clinton is still taking their money. She says that the money won't impact her resolve to reform health care, but you have to wonder. With Edwards, there is no question about his resolve.

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