What Stood Out This Week - 9/14-9/20

How many major corporations need to fail, be bought, or be bailed out before we finally get back to real issues during this campaign season? At least five, apparently. Let's see What Stood Out This Week...

The Democrat

If you take any stock in polling, Barack Obama made a modest comeback this week. It's all meaningless, of course, until November 4th.

You see, this week really should validate everything that the left-leaning, sensible economists have been saying about the dangers of deregulation. And one would think that by validating the economists who believe in some form of regulation, this major financial crisis would also be a political boon for the Democratic Party.

Alas, the Democratic Party is just as culpable in this deregulation fraud being perpetrated on the public as the Republican Party. Sure, Obama's advisers didn't actually write the legislation the way that, say, John McCain's advisers did (I'm talking to you, Phil "Nation of Whiners" Gramm). But Robert Rubin, Treasury Secretary under President Clinton (a.k.a. the Overseer of Deregulation Democratic-Style) and Chairman of Citigroup, does happen to be an Obama adviser.

So the Democratic candidate for president doesn't actually have any moral high ground in this argument. Obama finds himself beholden to a party that's pro-free-trade, pro-free-market, and anti-regulation.

Make noise about protecting Main Street all you want, Senator Obama, the political tragedy is that you can't do more to separate yourself from your Republican counterpart because Wall Street money has soiled both parties. And therefore, regular people can't see how the Democrats might help them more than the Republicans because although the Republicans have been fucking the poor, working, and middle classes since pretty much their founding as a party, the Democratic Party has wanted (maybe even needed) to get their grubby paws on that Wall Street money and has compromised itself as a "protector of regular people" in the process.

In other words, from a political standpoint, Barack Obama should've built up an insurmountable lead this week because of the financial crisis, and instead, he inched forward the way that feckless Democrats always do.

The Republican

Meanwhile, John McCain is just fucking lying about everything. And he can't get any of his many false stories straight. And when he lets his true thoughts on the matter come out, he somehow keeps from getting crucified by the press, which is even more feckless than the Democrats.

For example, McCain suggested that we design the health care system after the unregulated financial system, and he made this suggestion after everyone already knew that the government is bailing out Fannie Mae, Freddy Mac, and AIG, that Lehman Brothers is going bust, and that Merrill Lynch is getting swallowed up by Bank of America.

How in the fuck is that a good idea at all, and how in the fuck is he getting away with saying such utter nonsense?

Also in the midst of this crazy financial week, McCain restated that he's in favor of private accounts for Social Security. How that's defensible during one of the worst weeks Wall Street has seen since 2001 is mind-boggling.

McCain also said that he'd fire the Securities and Exchange Commissioner if he were President, a power the President doesn't actually have.

Oh, and he said that the fundamentals of our economy are strong.

And also, because McCain is such a fan of our strong economy and deregulation he's making a populist and totally unbelievable pitch of himself as reformer.

If Obama made one minor gaffe to every dozen or so major gaffes of McCain's, he'd be buggered senseless by the media, but McCain dodders on, like the doddering fool he is.

Meanwhile, Keith Olbermann, the host of Countdown on MSNBC, is donating $100 to charity every time Sarah Palin lies. His total for last week: $3,700. Her two most regular lies: 1) "Thanks but no thanks to that Bridge to Nowhere" and 2) She took a pay cut as mayor of Wasilla. (It was lower to start with, perhaps, but was increased significantly while she was in office.)

And that's What Stood Out (a.k.a. What Pissed Me Off) This Week.