Can John McCain Read? Does He Read?
Earlier today, Presidential candidate John McCain confessed to a reporter that he had not read the Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson's bailout proposal.
The bailout proposal is a mere 3 pages long.
On Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Congressman Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) made a rather keen observation:
"Straight Talk Express Must Not Have A Reading Room In It"
So, McCain wants to be the saviour in this economic crisis yet he hasn't even paused for a hot minute to read the 3-page proposal?
posted by Big Daddy Weave at 5:48 PM
4 Comments:
Why am I not surprised? I expect that he wouldn't have understood it if he had read it. After all he has admitted that he knows little about economics. I won't comment further on his mental abiities, but I have my opinions and they aren't related to his age. His actions yesterday and today are nothing more than grandstanding. He has absolutely nothing to add to the process. On tonight's NBC news he referred as always to Obama's rejection of the townhall meetings concept, when asked about tomorrow night's debate and whether he would be there.
6:19 PM
Obama seemed to say in the debate tonight that he hasn't seen the plan either.
9:22 PM
Obama said they hadn't seen the final language of the bill that would provide the bailout. He wasn't referring to Paulson's original plan.
4:35 AM
True, no one has seen it because they are still negotiating.
At the start, both McCain and Obama spoke with Paulson by phone about the administration's proposal for the fed to buyout mortgage and other "toxic" assets. Then Dems, led by Chris Dodd and Barney Frank, started their version containing more oversight, additional power to bankruptcy courts to alter mortgage contracts, and limits on CEO compensation. Then Republicans replaced their lead negotiator and pushed a version in which the fed would insure assets rather then outright buy all of them, with additional taxpayer protections; also, they said that the bankruptcy provision was a deal killer, and it seems to be gone now. The kind and amount of assets is also unsettled: mortgage-related only, or any kind of troubled asset? So there were about three versions on the day McCain said he hadn't read it -- although he apparently was referring to the original 3 page plan.
We don't know what Obama read or when, although he too talked to Paulson and a number of advisors.
2:02 PM
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