McCain Should Have Listened To Me

Here is something I wrote four months ago, long before the top media pundits realized McCain was going to be an ass in this campaign:

One who knows the enemy and knows himself will not be in danger in a hundred battles.

One who does not know the enemy but knows himself will sometimes win, sometimes lose.

One who does not know the enemy and does not know himself will be in danger in every battle.

-Sun Tzu, The Art of War

"He [Barack Obama] really has no experience or knowledge or judgment about the issue of Iraq and he has wanted to surrender for a long time. If there was any other issue before the American people, and you hadn't had anything to do with it in a couple of years, I think the American people would judge that very harshly.

-John McCain, 5/26/08

For weeks I've been wondering what the general election dynamic will be between Barack Obama and John McCain. In the eyes of some, such as Andrew Sullivan, they are alike in many ways - open-minded, rational, respectful, principled. From this perspective, the election will be about ideas. John McCain's reformist strain of Republicanism vs. Barack Obama's progressive/pragmatist strain of liberalism. They will disagree vociferously, the logic goes, but will respect the other side and keep the discourse at a high level. We've even heard talk of moderator-free debates between Obama and McCain as early as this summer.

But I think this reading is 100% wrong. For one thing, John McCain is not open-minded, rational, respectful or principled. The guy is a human weather-vane, doing whatever he must to win the election at all costs. When the political winds (or his own spite) call for him to be a maverick on a few issues, he'll do that. In 2000 he ran as a moderate Republican in opposition to Bush, then took a few maverick stands in 2001 (such as voting against the tax cuts and flirting with leaving the Republican party) because of his anger towards Bush. Heck, he might have even voted against Bush in the 2000 election.

But that was then, a brief hiccup in an otherwise strongly hard right record. McCain quickly came back into the conservative fold after 9/11, and since then he has voted with Bush over 89% of the time. For the past four years he has been running for president, and as a result he has shredded the last vestiges of dignity that he once had. He has flip-flopped on torture, immigration, tax cuts, Roe vs. Wade, ethanol, campaign finance reform, "agents of intolerance", lobbyists -- you name it, he's flipped on it. So no, John McCain is not principled, and he isn't open-minded about anything that might upset the right wing base. His policies aren't rational (they are mostly just xerox copies of the Bush mistakes), and his statements have become increasingly out of touch with reality.

But most important: McCain does not like Senator Obama, and he does not respect him. This animosity goes back a long way, to at least 2006. McCain is known for his hot temper and his grudges, so it is unlikely that things will cool between he and Obama any time soon. Sure, McCain and Bush made up and became friends, but does anyone think that wasn't a political decision? Do you think McCain really likes the guy who smeared his wife and kids?


But McCain is making a huge tactical blunder in this election, one for which he will pay a dear price. He is underestimating Obama.

Perhaps McCain is blinded by hatred. Maybe he thinks his opponent will be a pushover, like Kerry and Gore before him. McCain has never faced a serious Democratic challenger in Arizona, so perhaps he is simply inexperienced when it comes to having a real foe on the left. But Hillary Clinton made the same mistake, and you see where she is today. Clinton's advantages over Obama were much greater than McCain's, and she is a strong candidate. Yet Obama took her out without breaking a sweat, leaving the Clinton campaign confused and shocked.

Nobody is calling McCain "inevitable", but he's acting like he is. As you can see from the quote above, McCain dismisses Obama as inexperienced, naive, ignorant, and misguided. Perhaps this is why McCain doesn't even try to get his facts straight, why he blows up in anger when criticized, and why he is foolishly running his campaign on the same lame themes used by Clinton.

This may also explain why McCain's campaign is still in disarray, why he has been slow to make a VP pick, and why he has so far failed to either define himself, define Obama, or build a campaign infrastructure. The guy has had almost four months to himself, and his poll numbers have stayed flat as a pancake.

Obama is going to be in full general election mode by the middle of next week. He is going to consolidate the Democratic base, register voters, train volunteers, and continue to raise money hand over fist. McCain has had a huge head start, the kind usually afforded only to incumbents, and what does he have to show for it? Some of the worst TV ads ever made. No consistent message. Vague policy ideas. Weak fundraising. An unsatisfied base. Multiple campaign scandals. And lots of hand-wringing by Republican insiders.

McCain really needs to get his act together. And he needs to knock off the smug attitude he has towards Obama. Not that it will bother me much, but McCain is setting himself up for an ass-whupping if he takes his opponent lightly.

Last night's debate, and McCain's total contempt for Obama, was entirely predictable to those who have been paying attention. John McCain does not like Barack Obama, he doesn't respect him, and as a result he felt no reason to even look him in the eye. It also explains why John McCain could argue that Sarah Palin has MORE experience than Obama -- only a complete idiot with zero respect for Obama's talents and accomplishments could push this line. And it is why McCain has no reservations about running a sleazy and dishonest campaign. If you think your opponent is a worthless nobody, you don't feel a need to respect them. You just want to beat them, beat them badly, and beat them dirty if need be.

Last night, this contempt became apparent to many voters for the first time. I don't think it will destroy McCain's chances, plenty of people will view it as "toughness" or "resolve". I still think Palin will be the downfall of McCain, not last night's debate. But as the media picks up on the fact that McCain is a grouchy, condescending, disrespectful old coot, you can definitely imagine John McCain's favorability numbers dropping like a stone.

Palin Is Done

John McCain is really in a tough spot. The now-infamous Couric-Palin interview has exposed Sarah Palin as completely incompetent and out of her league. This is the most devastating clip, but of course there are many more:



There is word that the McCain campaign is in disarray, scared shitless about what could happen if Sarah Palin actually goes through with the VP debate on Thursday. One of Sarah Palin's staunchest conservative supporters is calling for her to drop out of the race for "family reasons". Since Joe Biden will show up for the debate no matter what, they really only have three options:

--Drop Sarah Palin from the ticket and replace her with Mitt Romney. Despite the complete embarrassment of such a move, and the expensive logistics involved (do they even have time to change the ballots?), this would probably be McCain's best chance of salvaging the election. McCain's judgment would take a MAJOR hit, Romney has liabilities of his own, and right wing evangelicals would be pissed, but at least the Palin cancer would be removed from the campaign.

--Cancel the VP debate and keep Sarah Palin shielded from further TV interviews. This is yet another really bad option, because it would basically admit that Palin isn't ready for prime time. They could try to postpone the debate, but no amount of preparation will get Gov. Palin ready for a debate with Joe Biden. I'm sorry. This is probably the least likely option, because it would give the news organizations an excuse to run the Katie Couric interviews over and over again as the reason why Palin was a no-show. Oh yeah, and a no-show gives Joe Biden 90 minutes of free air time on Thursday night.

--Cross your fingers and go ahead with the VP debate. In this case they just hope for the best and change the subject immediately afterwards. If Palin could improve her confidence and knowledge tenfold in the next week, it wouldn't be a total disaster. But I have yet to see Palin answer a single question coherently or confidently. And because the debate would be watched by 100 million people, it would leave no doubt that Palin is an unprepared idiot.

In short, I really don't see how the McCain campaign will recover from the selection of Sarah Palin. And let's remember, the Troopergate findings will be released on Oct. 10th and there are still many hot-button issues that could rear their heads in upcoming ads. Rape kits, Jews for Jesus, etc.

As many others have said, he should have vetted her. This is what happens when you make rash decisions in the midst of panic.

McCain's Medical Records

BraveNewPac hits McCain on his refusal to fully allow the press to examine his medical records:

Barbara Boxer Rocks

Now hopefully she'll take some of that anger and vote NO on the bailout. We shall see.

Palin Talks Alaska

Oh. My. God. I thought the clips from yesterday were bad...but this is just horrible. Katie Couric asks Sarah Palin about her foreign policy experience, especially the claim that because Alaska is next to Russia that she is somehow an expert in that field.

It's like watching a train wreck:




I'm convinced that this horrible interview is the reason McCain threw his fit yesterday. He wants to push the Couric interview out of the news, and hopefully postpone/cancel the VP debate.

Israelis For Obama

I know today is starting to seem Jew-themed, but the hits keep coming.

Here is an "Israelis For Obama" video, promoting Obama to Jewish Americans:

Palin's Pastor Problem

For the most part, I think pastors should be off-limits. Rev. Wright holds some far-left views that I sometimes sympathize with (America's foreign policy is too militarized, etc.) but he can also be a loud-mouthed asshole.

So, I don't really want to go after someone's pastor. But since Republicans had no reservation going after Rev. Wright, and are still running ads about it, we might as well point out that Sarah Palin's pastor, Rev. Thomas Muthee, isn't so clean himself. Go to 1:10 in this video:

The second area whereby God wants us, wants to penetrate in our society is in the economic area. The Bible says that the wealth of the wicked is stored up for the righteous. It's high time that we have top Christian businessmen, businesswomen, bankers, you know, who are men and women of integrity running the economics of our nations. That's what we are waiting for. That's part and parcel of transformation. If you look at the -- you know -- if you look at the Israelites, that's how they work. And that's how they are, even today.

He goes on to say that when the top bankers and CEOs are people of faith (aka Christians) we won't have the corruption that we have now. I'm sure this will go over great in the Jewish community.

I get the impression that Sarah Palin's church never caught on to the Republican talking points about evangelicals and Jews working together and (at least for the evangelicals) bringing about the apocalypse and Second Coming. Jews are such a small segment of the population in Alaska that it was okay to reinforce stereotypes about them, to invite the "Jews for Jesus" guy to church, to wear Pat Buchanan buttons, etc. But that Jews vs. Christians stuff doesn't play so well in the lower 48, and especially not in Florida.

This video also has the weird image of Sarah Palin being "annointed" by the pastor, who condemns witchcraft in the process. But don't worry, Sarah Palin is Republican so the media won't bother.

Sarah Silverman For Obama

Sarah Silverman promotes a website, TheGreatSchlep.com, which encourages young Jews to fly to Florida and convince their grandparents to vote for Obama. Hilarious:



Florida is very close right now. If Obama can lock down the older Jewish vote, he can win the state and the election. From my experience he is a hard sell amongst the older generation down there, mainly because of his name and the Muslim smears, but if anyone can change people's minds it is their children and grandchildren.

A Crazy Day In Politics

You've probably heard all the news by now. This morning, Barack Obama wanted to issue a bipartisan joint statement with McCain regarding the Wall Street crisis.

McCain said he would go along, but as soon as he hung up the phone with Obama, he instead announced that he was suspending his presidential campaign, delaying Friday's debate, and heading to Washington tomorrow to "work" on the crisis.

McCain has since stated that unless a bailout plan is finalized by Friday, he won't be showing up to the debate in Mississippi. Obama, meanwhile, said that he will be attending a meeting

Here's my take on things. When McCain acts reckless and crazy like this, it is because his campaign is panicked. Why are they panicked, you might ask? Well, for one thing his poll numbers have been tanking lately. I don't think his numbers are that bad, but I guess when you are looking at deficits in every national poll it can get you worried.



But even more important, McCain's staff told him that Sarah Palin's CBS interview didn't go so well. Tell me if Sarah Palin looks smart and presidential:



She's a disaster. Totally out of her league. A joke. And I'm sure there were worse clips that Katie Couric was nice enough not to play on national TV.

So that got me thinking, could this debate delay actually be a ploy to sabotage or postpone the VP debate? There's no way Sarah Palin will be ready for Joe Biden in one week.

Well guess what, per CNN, I was dead to rights:

McCain supporter Sen. Lindsey Graham tells CNN the McCain campaign is proposing to the Presidential Debate Commission and the Obama camp that if there's no bailout deal by Friday, the first presidential debate should take the place of the VP debate, currently scheduled for next Thursday, October 2 in St. Louis.

In this scenario, the vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin would be rescheduled for a date yet to be determined, and take place in Oxford, Mississippi, currently slated to be the site of the first presidential faceoff this Friday.

These are not the actions of a serious presidential campaign. These are not the actions of people who want to be trusted as the leaders of the free world. And to the detriment of McCain, everyone is seeing through this desperate political stunt.

I was driving today, listening to some local right wing shock jocks. Unlike Hannity or Limbaugh, these guys don't carry water for the RNC. They hate illegal immigration, they hate higher taxes, but they also hate Bush and don't like being lied to by slimy politicians. And while they "want" McCain to win the election, they were absolutely slamming him today. It is unpresidential to suspend your campaign because of a financial crisis, McCain will have nothing to add to the situation in Washington, and it's clear this is just a desperate Hail Mary by an unreliable candidate. I think these guys are finding it harder than ever to support McCain in the election.

Meanwhile, David Letterman ripped McCain along the same lines. McCain was supposed to show up tonight, but instead he cancelled, said he had to go to Washington, but stayed in New York and did a CBS interview instead.

Here is what Letterman said today, on his show:

"You don't suspend your campaign. This doesn't smell right. This isn't the way a tested hero behaves." And he joked: "I think someone's putting something in his metamucil."

"He can't run the campaign because the economy is cratering? Fine, put in your second string quarterback, Sara Palin. Where is she?"

"What are you going to do if you're elected and things get tough? Suspend being president? We've got a guy like that now!"

This isn't playing well for McCain. He can recover by showing up for Friday's debate and doing a bang-up job. But delaying debates and pulling these stunts does not improve his electoral chances.

McCain Is A Better Debater Than Obama

Let me just get this out there: John McCain is a better debater than Barack Obama. He's been doing this much longer, he answers questions in a strong and decisive manner, and he has a broad depth of knowledge to rely on. He also has the ability to lie with a straight face, which is valuable if you have a terrible voting record and have been wrong on so many critical issues of the day.

Barack Obama is a very intelligent man. He knows policy back and forth. But he is not a strong debater. He doesn't show enough passion, his answers are sometimes too nuanced for the attention-deficit-disorder types, and he sometimes sounds a bit hesitant as he thinks through his answers.

So I fully expect that, on body language and style, John McCain will win Friday's debate.

Of course, that does not mean he will win more votes because of the debate. Because there are other factors at play.

One, who is right on the issues? Obama.

Who is more likely to make a big gaffe? McCain.

Who is more likely to lie? McCain.

Who is already viewed as more presidential, by large margins? McCain.

This last point is rather critical. Even if McCain wins the debate or appears strong and in control, it won't boost his numbers all that much. I think most Americans view him as strong because of his war background, so he has nothing to prove on that front. Barack Obama, meanwhile, would have to turn in a really miserable performance to avoid raising his numbers on this issue, which aren't that great right now. He doesn't have to look tougher than McCain, but he can look informed and statesmanlike. He can win, even if McCain "wins".

It's also worth noting that the media is in the bag for McCain. Unless McCain has a total breakdown ala George W. Bush in 2004, they will declare him the winner of the debate. Just as with the Saddleback forum a month ago, they will praise McCain's decisive answers and criticize Obama's nuanced approach. They'll probably spend all their time analyzing body language, and nothing on actual issues or lies. Republicans have a strong track record of winning the post-debate spin war, and so it will be again.

But you have to understand the dynamics at play here. Americans really hate what the Republicans have done to this country. They do not want to elect somebody who voted with Bush 90% of the time. They don't want to elect an angry, out-of-touch 72-year-old man. But, many are still not sure if Barack Obama is up to the job. These folks obviously haven't been paying attention, but that's what they think.

So if Barack Obama can come across as a plausible president with good answers to the critical questions of our time, Americans will be more than ready to turn to him.

Troopergate Could Get Ugly

Some people think that by stonewalling the Troopergate investigation, that somehow Sarah Palin will succeed in avoiding any real damage until after the election.

I think these people are wrong. The McCain campaign is clearly worried about this, perhaps even terrified, but they are stuck with Palin and are now in a state of denial about this timebomb that could destroy their whole campaign.

Hell, I'd be in denial too if Joe Biden were sitting on a scandal that could take him, and maybe the whole ticket, down.

Here's the deal: despite Palin's stonewalling, independent investigator Steve Branchflower still plans to issue his report on October 10th. Now there is a small chance that he will declare that he has insufficient evidence to prove any wrongdoing.

But I really, really don't think that's what he is going to say. A new column by a conservative Alaskan named Dan Fagan exposes the depths to which Sarah Palin and her family have tried to destroy the life of Palin's ex-brother-in-law, state trooper Mike Wooten.

The real damage to Palin from Troopergate comes with an injury claim involving trooper Wooten when he hurt his back while in the line of duty.

Independent investigator Steve Branchflower testified recently he believes someone in the governor's office tried to block Wooten's workers' compensation injury benefits.

Harbor Adjustment Services, the company hired by the state to process, evaluate and decide on workers' benefit claims, had great financial incentive in bowing to pressure from the governor to deny Wooten's injury claim.

Obviously, the state is Harbor Adjustment Services' largest client. The owner of the company denies the governor's office pressured her to deny Wooten's benefits. Why wouldn't she? Ratting out the governor could cost her the lucrative state contract.

But Branchflower says an employee with Harbor Adjustment Services contradicts the owner and has testified the governor's office did apply pressure to deny Wooten his benefits.

Branchflower says the unnamed employee testified, "I don't, you know, care if it's the president who wants the claim denied. I'm not going to deny it unless I have the medical evidence to do that,"

We know the governor's office was very interested in Wooten. Dianne Kiesel, a state employee with the Department of Administration, tells me former Palin chief of staff Mike Tibbles instructed her to walk Wooten's personnel file over to the governor's office.

And there is the governor's aide, Frank Bailey, caught on tape admitting he has information that came from Wooten's workers' comp file.

The very file that includes pictures, taken by none other than Todd Palin, of Wooten riding a snowmachine trying to prove the trooper was not injured.

Here's why this is all so damaging to the governor. It's one thing to try to get a trooper fired because you believe he is a danger to the public. But using your considerable power as governor to block the benefits of a former family member you have a long-running dispute with moves this scandal into a new realm.

It becomes about one thing and one thing only, revenge. Not public good, but settling a score.

Clearly, Branchflower has the goods on these people. We've already seen pretty strong evidence from ABC News that Palin has been lying about why she fired Walt Monegan. While it would be nice to have incriminating testimony from one of Palin's aides to add to the mix, it's unlikely they would have stabbed Sarah Palin in the back one month before the election. If anything, Palin's aides could have either taken responsibility for the mixup, or they could have provided some exculpatory evidence for why Palin fired Monegan.

But instead, Palin's people are refusing to talk to Branchflower, leaving him to run with the evidence he has already assembled. And it sounds to me like the evidence is strong that Palin took a personal interest in the fate of Mike Wooten, that she put pressure on Monegan, that she fired Monegan despite positive performance results, and that she subsequently lied about why she fired him.

If Branchflower has integrity, and I think he does, the McCain/Palin ticket will be in big trouble on Oct. 10th.

CNN's Campbell Brown Calls For Palin Press Conference

It's about time somebody in the media called them out:



Of course, we all know the real reason Sarah Palin hasn't had a press conference. It's not because the McCain campaign hates women or because Palin is a delicate flower. It's because she doesn't know anything and it would become obvious after four or five questions.

You Like The Wall Street Crisis?

Then you'd love what McCain would do to health care.

CNN Covers The Rape Kit Story

Bad news for Palin, especially if the pundits start talking about this.

Maybe Gwen Ifill should bring this up at the debate, since that's probably the only time Sarah Palin will have to answer questions between now and the election?

Anyone who learns about this is immediately repulsed and horrified. I'm still surprised that NOW, NARAL, Planned Parenthood and Emily's List haven't gone national with TV ads and web ads on this subject. Isn't this EXACTLY the kind of issue they should push?

Who Is The Elitist?

Click on the image for a closer view:

No To The Bailout

Although Republicans think the bailout could actually help them politically, I don't see how further evidence of their fiscal mismanagement the past eight years really helps them. Since this crisis broke out, Obama has had something like a 7 point jump in the polls. I imagine that George W. Bush's approval rating could reach new lows in the month ahead.

That said, I'm against this bailout and think it's a huge scam -- at least as currently written. I advise Congressional leaders to take their time and not do anything rash. If possible, don't pass anything until after the election.

Because think about it. Imagine if they passed the $700 billion this week. Stocks go up , maybe reach 12,000. Everyone is happy, right? (Except for the taxpayers, of course). But then October rolls around, there's more bad news on the economic front, gas prices go up again, and stocks tank. How bad would that look? We spent $700 billion and all we got was a 2000 point drop in the Dow Jones.

Unless the situation really does become dire, and I mean the Dow Jones plummets below 9000 and more major companies collapse, Congress should take their time and work on developing a good bill that doesn't screw over taxpayers.

If you'd like to contact your Congressperson, you can find their numbers here:
House of Representatives
U.S. Senate

McCain, Hypocrite

The guy talks the talk all the time, but never walks the walk. Ridiculous:

McCain Has 13 Cars, Obama Has One

Another day, another lie from John McCain:

According to a Newsweek item published online today, McCain and his wife, Cindy, own more than a dozen cars, including three electric bubble-shaped cars, called GEM's that the magazine says are popular in retirement communities.

But the ones getting him into trouble are the foreign-made cars. According to the magazine, the McCains own a Honda sedan and a Volkswagen convertible -- despite having once claimed to always buy American-made cars.

McCain explains that his wife and daughter bought the foreign cars, not him, so it's all good.

Here are his cars:

2004 Cadillac
2005 Volkswagen convertible
2001 Honda sedan
2007 half-ton Ford pickup truck
vintage 1960 Willys Jeep
2008 Jeep Wrangler
2000 Lincoln
2001 GMC SUV
three 2000 NEV Gem electric vehicles
Lexis

The Gem electric vehicles are basically electric golf carts used in retirement communities and golf courses. So don't think John McCain has gone all green on us.

And while McCain tries to claim that only the Cadillac is his, nobody buys that shit. He's married, they own property together, all of the cars belong to the McCains. And he has three foreign vehicles in the bunch.

Barack and Michelle Obama, meanwhile, own a single car. A 2008 Ford Escape hybrid. I don't know how many cars Joe Biden has, but I do know that Sarah and Todd Palin have owned 26 cars since 1994 (not including the state-owned SUVs that she also drives.

Democrats Begin Pushback Against Bailout Scam

It's pretty clear that the current Bush/Paulson bailout plan is a $700 billion scam that rips off taxpayers and rewards greedy Wall Street crooks. If you want deeper analysis than that, you can read Sebastian Mallaby, Paul Krugman, or others.

I have yet to find a single reputable economist who thinks this plan is a good idea.

So it is great news that -- so far -- the leading Congressional Democrats appear to be mounting a counter-offensive to Paulson's plan. According to ABC News, Barack Obama has been on the phone with other leading Democrats to coordinate ideas:

ABC's Sunlen Miller reports: Since yesterday, Sen. Barack Obama has spoken on the phone with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Banking Committee chairman Chris Dodd, Rep. Barney Frank, Sen. Chuck Schumer, Rep. Ralph Emmanuel, former President Bill Clinton and Sen. Hillary Clinton about the economic situation and the plan for dealing with it.

Hillary Clinton was first out of the gate with a response to the bailout boondoggle:

After eight years of failed policies - and two years of an absentee administration - our only option left may be an unprecedented government intervention into the private markets. The markets must be stabilized to stave off wider turmoil. Nevertheless, the urgency of this crisis does not mean that we should offer a blank check to financial institutions or the privileged few. Nor can we simply allow the administration to use the taxpayers like a "reset button." We cannot allow Wall Street to act without oversight by a vigilant SEC and administration - and without regard for the American people, who will now have paid twice: in falling prey to a widening credit crisis, and in paying the bill to hopefully bring it to an end.

I will be examining the administration's proposal very closely to ensure that we do not approve a policy that may stabilize the markets in the short term without addressing the root problems facing middle-class families or the kinds of reckless gambling that was permitted for far too long by the administration. The Bush administration may have changed its tune once the crisis facing Main Street hit Wall Street. But we need to be sure that the American taxpayers - asked to shoulder yet more risk and responsibility - have a voice.

Today Barack Obama released his set of principles:

No blank check. If we grant the Treasury broad authority to address the immediate crisis, we must insist on independent accountability and oversight. Given the breach of trust we have seen and the magnitude of the taxpayer money involved, there can be no blank check.

Rescue requires mutual responsibility. As taxpayers are asked to take extraordinary steps to protect our financial system, it is only appropriate to expect those institutions that benefit to help protect American homeowners and the American economy. We cannot underwrite continued irresponsibility, where CEOs cash in and our regulators look the other way. We cannot abet and reward the unconscionable practices that triggered this crisis. We have to end them.

Taxpayers should be protected. This should not be a handout to Wall Street. It should be structured in a way that maximizes the ability of taxpayers to recoup their investment. Going forward, we need to make sure that the institutions that benefit from financial insurance also bear the cost of that insurance.

Help homeowners stay in their homes. This crisis started with homeowners and they bear the brunt of the nearly unprecedented collapse in housing prices. We cannot have a plan for Wall Street banks that does not help homeowners stay in their homes and help distressed communities.

A global response. As I said on Friday, this is a global financial crisis and it requires a global solution. The United States must lead, but we must also insist that other nations, who have a huge stake in the outcome, join us in helping to secure the financial markets.

Main Street, not just Wall Street. The American people need to know that we feel as great a sense of urgency about the emergency on Main Street as we do the emergency on Wall Street. That is why I call on Senator McCain, President Bush, Republicans and Democrats to join me in supporting an emergency economic plan for working families – a plan that would help folks cope with rising gas and food prices, save one million jobs through rebuilding our schools and roads, help states and cities avoid painful budget cuts and tax increases, help homeowners stay in their homes, and provide retooling assistance to help ensure that the fuel-efficient cars of the future are built in America.

Build a regulatory structure for the 21st Century. While there is not time in a week to remake our regulatory structure to prevent abuses in the future, we should commit ourselves to the kind of reforms I have been advocating for several years. We need new rules of the road for the 21st Century economy, together with the means and willingness to enforce them.

And Nancy Pelosi has released this statement:

“Congress will respond to the financial markets crisis by taking action this week in a bipartisan manner that will protect the taxpayers’ interests. The Administration’s $700 billion proposal does not include the necessary safeguards. Democrats believe a responsible solution should include independent oversight, protections for homeowners and constraints on excessive executive compensation.

“We will not simply hand over a $700 billion blank check to Wall Street and hope for a better outcome. Democrats will act responsibly to insulate Main Street from Wall Street."

Anything can happen this week, and we've seen Democrats collapse in the face of Republican pressure before. But this is a whole lot of money, most Americans are against a blank check to big business while people are losing their jobs, and Bush is horribly unpopular. So I am guardedly optimistic that Democrats will take their time and pass a bailout with real teeth and oversight.

All three statements above share core principles: no blank check (which means oversight on distribution of taxpayer funds), a good deal for taxpayers (which hopefully means they won't overpay for garbage mortgage securities), the insulation of Main Street from Wall Street (which probably means more regulation to prevent this from happening again) and finally assistance for distressed homeowners. I'm not jazzed about the last one, I think anyone who can't afford their home should lose it, but I also understand the domino effect of major foreclosures on the economy as a whole. I doubt any government action will be able to stop all foreclosures or the necessary decline in housing prices.

Hopefully the Democrats will consult with top economists to see how government can avert major havoc without sending a trillion-dollar golden parachute to investment bankers on Wall Street. The final plan should be as punitive as possible, demolishing more failed banks and saving taxpayer funds for last resort.

But so far, it is nice to see that Democrats haven't caved -- yet. It will be up to regular American to call their Congresspeople to demand that they oppose the Paulson "blank check". Our financial futures really depend on it.