More Trouble

One journalist criticizes the Obama campaign for quoting what the journalist says is a "months-old" quote of John McCain's: "the fundamentals of our economy are strong." Obama's campaign has been using this quote to illustrate how clueless McCain is about the economy. Foul! yells this journalist; the quote is too old to be used fairly as criticism. However, Matthew Yglesias shows that McCain made that claim as late as August 20th, in a radio interview with Laura Ingraham.

And today--more bad news: the investment bank Lehman Brothers is struggling.

Waves of selling wiped out nearly half of Lehman’s value in the stock market on Tuesday, leaving the firm, one of the nation’s oldest and largest investment banks, in an all-out fight for survival. (Jenny Anderson and Ben White, "Wall Street's Fears on Lehman Bros. Batter Markets," The New York Times, September 10, 2008)

There is a credit crisis in America, and the Republicans don't want to take any responsibility for it. Introducing an unknown but feisty woman at the top of the Republican ticket is one way of distracting the public. Spending the Republican Convention bashing Democrats and liberals instead of addressing the issues is another way. The Republican party has turned the presidential campaign into a personality contest in order to avoid the issues altogether. As Rick Davis, McCain's campaign manager said, "This election is not about the issues. . . This election is about a composite view of what people take away of these candidates."

In December 2006, as a recession loomed over the horizon, President Bush told us to go shopping. Literally: Go shopping! And so we have. We've bought houses we couldn't afford; we've racked up credit card bills we can't pay. And now Senator John McCain tells us that the economy is fundamentally strong, as Bear Stearns, Freddie Mac, and Fannie Mae are bailed out by the government and another banking institution is in trouble. I just don't understand how 50% of the people in this country can think that the Republican Party has demonstrated leadership over the past eight years.