More from
First, an editorial by Frank Rich, in which he eviscerates McCain for his ridiculous stunt of suspending his campaign until a deal would be struck in Washington -- which is all the more absurd given that McCain has admitted that he doesn't know that much about the economy. This op-ed doesn't just give us Frank Rich's opinion, but the facts on which he bases his opinion.
McCain's Suspension Bridge to Nowhere
By Frank Rich September 27, 2008
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. George Bush put more deliberation into invading Iraq than McCain did into his own reckless invasion of the delicate Congressional negotiations on the bailout plan.
By the time he arrived, there already was a bipartisan agreement in principle. It collapsed hours later at the meeting convened by the president in the Cabinet Room. Rather than help try to resuscitate Wall Street’s bloodied bulls, McCain was determined to be the bull in Washington’s legislative china shop, running around town and playing both sides of his divided party against Congress’s middle. Once others eventually forged a path out of the wreckage, he’d inflate, if not outright fictionalize, his own role in cleaning up the mess his mischief helped make. Or so he hoped, until his ignominious retreat.
Read the rest of the op-ed column here.
Next, McCain's rather disturbing ties to Indian gambling. I'm neither for or against it, I don't know enough about it, but what I find disturbing is the level to which McCain is beholden to this special interest.
For McCain and Team, A Host of Ties to Gambling
By Jo Becker and Don Van Natta Jr. September 27, 2008
Senator John McCain was on a roll. In a room reserved for high-stakes gamblers at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, he tossed $100 chips around a hot craps table. When the marathon session ended around 2:30 a.m., the Arizona senator and his entourage emerged with thousands of dollars in winnings.
A lifelong gambler, Mr. McCain takes risks, both on and off the craps table. He was throwing dice that night not long after his failed 2000 presidential bid, in which he was skewered by the Republican Party’s evangelical base, opponents of gambling. Mr. McCain was betting at a casino he oversaw as a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, and he was doing so with the lobbyist who represents that casino, according to three associates of Mr. McCain.
The rest of the article is here.
I'm thinking of subscribing to the New York Times. I don't have time to read it, but I feel like I want to give them money, or something. Maybe some of the editors or journalists would like to be kissed?
