(2008-10-15) — Both major party rivals for the U.S. presidency today announced they would use the remainder of their campaign cash to bail out homeowners near default on their subprime mortgages.
Democrat Sen. Barack Obama has raised $460 million and has spent all but $77 million on advertising, consultants, office rentals, telecommunications, catered meals, charter planes, and other campaign expenses. Likewise, Republican Sen. John McCain, hampered by the promise he kept to accept public financing for his campaign, has raised $230 million and has spent all but about $36 million.
The opponents are expected to announce during tonight’s debate at New York’s Hofstra University that they’ll pledge the remaining $100 million of cash on hand, plus any funds they raise between now and Nov. 4, to pay off distressed mortgages, allowing homeowners to refinance at fixed rates based on the new, depressed value of their homes.
Both campaigns agree that the effort will only help 500 to 1,000 homeowners escape foreclosure, “but it seemed like the right thing to do, the unselfish thing to do, for the good of the country,” according to one source familiar with the negotiations.
An unnamed spokesman for the election industry welcomed the move, noting that the presidential candidates have already exceeded spending levels from previous elections, so “we won’t have any campaign strategists sitting on steam grates holding signs that say ‘Will Spin for Food’.”
39 responses so far ↓
1 camojack // Oct 15, 2008 at 11:11 am
They can bail me out first…
2 BlackLion31U // Oct 15, 2008 at 11:42 am
“The Republican War on Voting”
…the Republican Party’s ongoing nationwide campaign to suppress the low-income minority vote by propagating the myth of voter fraud.
Using various tactics — including media smears, bogus lawsuits, restrictive new voting laws and policies, and flimsy prosecutions — Republican operatives, election officials, and the GOP-controlled Justice Department have limited voting access and gone after voter-registration groups such as ACORN.
http://www.prospect.org//cs/articles?article=the_republican_war_on_voting
What a sham!
“keep pushing”
My God bless our troops
3 Ms RightWing, Ink // Oct 15, 2008 at 11:51 am
I need a house, a car, some new socks, my printer can be tossed and ah heck, a new dew would be nice. Obama can ya help me too.
’nuff said
4 NeaL // Oct 15, 2008 at 12:58 pm
HA!
The only thing I want from politicians is to stay the heck out of our business.
5 boberinyetagain // Oct 15, 2008 at 1:01 pm
The heck with homeowners, give the money to the banks/government as we now know that they best know how to promote a “free” market
6 boberinyetagain // Oct 15, 2008 at 2:00 pm
I’m sorely tempted to skip a few mortgage payments so I can apply for some “assistance” and get a new deal…
7 Hawkeye // Oct 15, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Bob,
I’m sorely tempted to skip a few mortgage payments so I can apply for some “assistance†and get a new deal…
The New Deal lasted well beyond FDR, but I think it’s over now. Today you’d have to get a “Newer Deal”.
8 Hawkeye // Oct 15, 2008 at 3:10 pm
BlackLion31U,
…the Republican Party’s ongoing nationwide campaign to suppress the low-income minority vote by propagating the myth of voter fraud.
I believe in the time-tested tradition of one person = one vote. To clarify, that would be one “living” person, who is not a cartoon animation, or a dog, or a cat, or a 7-year old, or a national sports hero from a different state. One vote requires only one registration, not 13 or 15 or 48 (even if they pay you in cigarettes).
When a town or county has registration rolls equaling 105% of its known living population, you cannot deny that there is “potential” for fraud. And all it takes to initiate an investigation is “potential”. That’s why we have investigations… to determine if there is indeed wrong-doing.
If you don’t consider “potential” for wrong-doing as the basis for an investigation, then you should say something to the Democrats in Congress who initiate an investigation or hold a hearing at the drop of a hat. They do it when they don’t even have a hint of wrong-doing.
And complaints from election boards in 13 states (Democrat as well as Republican) suggests more than a hint of wrong-doing… it suggests a pattern of wrong-doing.
If the ACORN people are so dedicated to insuring everyone votes, then why do they need to get paid for it? Why don’t they just volunteer if they are so concerned?
9 boberinyetagain // Oct 15, 2008 at 3:44 pm
And this on the Reuters news service…
Was Karl Marx right? 3:30pm ET
Capitalism as we know it is on its deathbed. And those who predicted the old system was a danger to the world are being vindicated — including Marx, says Bernd Debusmann.
10 mindknumbed kid // Oct 15, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Let’s remind ourselves again of the average Obama voter’s knowledge concerning the upcoming election.
http://www.bpmdeejays.com/upload/hs_sal_in_Harlem_100108.mp3
11 mindknumbed kid // Oct 15, 2008 at 4:29 pm
re#2- How do you “feel” about voter fraud?
12 boberinyetagain // Oct 15, 2008 at 4:40 pm
DOVER, New Hampshire (Reuters) - Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin on Wednesday likened efforts to revive the flagging U.S. economy to a “war” and said her running mate Sen. John McCain would prevail.
Is everything a war to these people? John didn’t really do that well at the “war” thing…he got captured…most didn’t
13 BlackLion31U // Oct 15, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Hawkeye #8,
We may have found a topic we an agree on.
No I absolutely do not condone voter fraud.
Nor do I condone voter intimidation, vote suppression, mishandling of voting ballets, or the Supreme Court interfering in a Presidential Election.
I don’t believe in electronic voting machines that can be manipulated to favor either candidate.
I do believe it is the absolute right of every lawfully eligible American citizen to vote and have their vote counted.
Do we agree?
My God bless our troops
14 Beerme // Oct 15, 2008 at 6:12 pm
BL31U,
Obviously you don’t believe in one voter, one vote or you wouldn’t be smearing the latest complaints about clear voter fraud as some kind of voter intimidation. You are, I suppose, not so against a State Supreme Court handing an election to someone, tho’, right?
I haven’t heard anyone making the case for not counting any legal votes. So crowing about being in favor of every vote counting is kind of like coming on here and saying “God bless the troops”. Duh!
May God bless this country this poor deluded country!
15 mindknumbed kid // Oct 15, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Have to break from politics here.
My dad was supposed to be released from the hospital today, but he started having pain in the area of the surgery and his white count went up. They started him on the strong anti-biotic and hopefully it will knock it out. This could end up being more serious than the surgery itself.
Our family covets your prayers.
16 Fred Sinclair // Oct 15, 2008 at 6:59 pm
This is the Mark Levin Show, if you have some time scroll down to audio rewind and listen to Oct. 14. It is a good exposé of Obama. I think he nails it exactly as to where “that guy” is coming from. Mark Steyn is interviewed in the second half. There are no commercials.
http://marklevinshow.com/index.p hp
17 Beerme // Oct 15, 2008 at 7:53 pm
MkK,
Prayers will be forthcoming, as well as well-wishes for a full recovery!
18 gafisher // Oct 15, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Prayer said, mkk.
19 BlackLion31U // Oct 15, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Beerme,
I really try refraining from suppositions here, although most are predictable, I would prefer to give the benefit of the doubt.
I believe I stated that I do believe in one voter, one vote. Please provide factual evidence if you have found that ACORN actions have resulted in otherwise.
Because YOU haven’t heard about anyone making a case about for not counting legal votes, may mean you’ve had one to many beers. Seems to me that there were plenty of people making that argument in 2000. Ignoring their concerns and findings has resulted in the worst United States Presidency in History!
But hey, the past is the past right. What’s good for one side is troll droppings for another.
Have another beer buddy, as a matter of fact, buy a brewery because if everything turns out the way projected, Senator Barack Hussein Obama will be the next President of the United States. Your superstar “W†will go down as the worst in the history of the country and may even end up in jail.
Owe, I do believe every true vote should be counted, unfortunately, it is the republican party who doesn’t appear to believe the same.
OBAMA/BIDEN 2008
My God Bless our troops
20 gafisher // Oct 15, 2008 at 8:37 pm
If the Campaigns call me, I think I’ll go with Obama’s money. He’s got more of it, for one thing; even better, it didn’t all come from taxpayers. Well, not U.S. taxpayers anyway.
21 Fred Sinclair // Oct 15, 2008 at 8:39 pm
mkk - Have been praying for your Dad since I first learned of his need.
22 gafisher // Oct 15, 2008 at 8:42 pm
“… allowing homeowners to refinance at fixed rates based on the new, depressed value of their homes.”
Hey, what a great idea! I wonder if I can refinance my wife’s car under those rules. Come to think of it, I’m going back to the restaurant we were at last Friday and demand a refund based on the current value of what they served us.
23 Fred Sinclair // Oct 15, 2008 at 8:45 pm
From a blog named “Snowflakes in He-”
“Barack Obama’s campaign is trying to silence the National Rifle Association’s latest ad campaign using strong arm tactics by threatening them with possible legal action if they run the ads:
Failure to prevent the airing of “false and misleading advertising†may be “probative of an underlying abdication of licensee responsibility†Cosmopolitan Broad. Corp v. FCC, 581 F.2d 917, 927 (D.C. Cir. 1978).
So basically, stop running NRA’s ads, or your broadcast license could be in jeopardy. They detail the WaPo’s FactCheck.org repetition as proof. This is Chicago politics at its finest folks. If you can’t win fair, win dirty. This is not how a free society is supposed to function. This is not the kind of man I want leading my country.
Besides, every bit of what NRA claimed is true. It’s the Obama campaign and the news media that’s lying.”
24 beekabok2 // Oct 15, 2008 at 10:58 pm
I want to meet this “Joe the plumber” guy.
25 Fred Sinclair // Oct 15, 2008 at 11:11 pm
I heard on the radio that this winter may be the coldest on record, Rush said Alaska’s glaciers have grown, not shrunk. Some areas still have 20 feet of unmelted snow. Others had snow that didn’t melt until late August. Last winter was the coldest in 20 years.
I looked in the latest Farmer’s Almanac (long noted for their amazingly accurately weather predictions)
Could this winter’s weather add to economic woes?
As homeowners across the country pray for a mild winter to offset rising energy costs, the world-famous Farmers’ Almanac is warning us to prepare for the worst. “Numb’s the word!†is how the 192-year-old publication is predicting the upcoming winter season.
For 2008–2009, the Farmers’ Almanac is forecasting a “numbing†winter, with below-average temperatures for at least two-thirds of the country. Only the Far West and Southeast will see near-normal temperatures. Few, if any, locations will enjoy many above-normal temperature days this upcoming season.
Snow?
Precipitation-wise, most of the South, as well as the Midwest, should experience above-normal conditions, while the rest of the nation will average close to normal. With below-normal winter temperatures and an above-normal precipitation forecast, the Great Lakes and Midwest will see above-normal snowfalls, especially during January and February.
Above-normal precipitation is forecast for the Southwest during December 2008 and for the Southeast in January and February 2009. It should also turn out to be an unusually wet and/or snowy February across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.
In contrast, for the Pacific Northwest, where wet weather is usually the rule during the winter, February could actually turn out to be a bit drier than normal.
calling algore-calling algore-calling algore-calling algore-you oscar winning-nobel prize winning-hoaxer.
26 mindknumbed kid // Oct 15, 2008 at 11:24 pm
Dad is doing good tonight, they are scheduling him to be discharged tomorrow. The original “report” came from my youngest sister, who tends to be an alarmist, but the prayers of God’s people are not in vain and I thank you all for remembering him.
I do believe in one vote, one person. I just saw a headline about 200K questionable registrations in Ohio. I don’t really understand why it is so difficult for anyone to get themselves legally registered to vote, or to go vote without incident.
As far as “hanging chads”, I believe that the machines in question were functioning properly and that the only way to achieve that result was to place multiple ballots into a machine at one time.
I prefer that they stick with an old fashioned paper ballot and a #2 pencil. It has worked everywhere I have voted. This will be the first time voting in Wyoming and I don’t know what is used here, I believe I can trust the system though.
27 Fred Sinclair // Oct 16, 2008 at 12:49 am
No color photo Voter’s I.D. no vote - period. Federal law - won’t get passed with Dems in power though.
28 Fred Sinclair // Oct 16, 2008 at 12:54 am
My favorite joke -
Learning English is hard. A new immigrant (nice family - perfectly legal) However he spoke broken English but he was a quick learner. Point to a tree and say “tree” - he would remember it.
He got a factory job on the night shift. Monday was his starting day, at break time he had his brown paper bag as he joined the other workers to eat. as he laid out his food, a co-worker observed “Wow fried squirrel! I’ll trade you this ham sandwich for a piece” Another co-worker traded a roast beef sandwich for a piece, yet another traded a slab of pie for a piece, etc. Tuesday was a repeat, all week long they traded food - everybody was happy.
Finally on Friday, they were frustrated, “We’ve lived her all of our lives and go hunting. Occasionally we’ll maybe get a squirrel. You’re new her, don’t know nothing and yet squirrel every stinking day. Where do you go?”
“Oh, no, not me, I no shoot, my wife, she shoot.”
“No, no, that’s even worse! where does she go?”
“No, she no go nowhere, At night they come to back door, go ‘meow’ n my wife she shoot m.”
Waxless Fred
29 J. Cougar Melancholy // Oct 16, 2008 at 12:59 am
Uhh…someone get Obama an ashtray, because he just SMOKED MCCAIN!
97 days ‘till Blinky Bin Bush returns to the killing fields of Texas where he can get “Fishin’ Accomplishedâ€!
Anyone excited about Ollie Stone’s “W” opening this weekend? Or are you like me, I’m waiting for the Broadway Musical to come out about this great American hero. What lyric rhymes with “failure”?
Lil Pink Houses just overhauled by Joe the Plumber
30 Darthmeister // Oct 16, 2008 at 7:53 am
How about campaign cash being used to grease the palms of family members and the companies they work for? Joe Biden is one of the biggest crooks when it comes to this kind of corruption.
If a Republican had engaged in the kind of campaign corruption of a Joe Biden, the pay off cash of William Jefferson, the dirty, conflict of interest real estate deals of Harry Reid and his sons, and the influence peddling of Nancy Pelosi, the lamestream media would have mercilessly hounded them out of office. Not so the Democrats, it’s all wink-wink-nudge-nudge and the moonbats on the left couldn’t care less. It’s their cheats and thugs after all.
And the scandal of Obambi receiving the second most amount of Fannie/Freddie political money by a Congressman behind Democrat Chris Dodd (Dodd received it over an eight year period, it only took Obambi two years!) is virtually ignored by the liberal media, even in light of the Fannie/Freddie meltdown which put the final touches on a Democratic recession which had it origins in the Democratic take over of Congress in 2006.
Here are some benchmarks to remind Donks if during the Obambi administration they think their socialist utopia is the greatest thing since sliced bread:
Before the Donks took over Congress and started this nation’s economy toward where we are today:
The year preceeding the 2006 Democratic Congress:
Gasoline: averaged $2.15/gal (though extremely volatile throughout that year)
Unemployment: 4.7% in 2006
Stock Market: Nearly 11,500 pts.
Home mortgage rates: 5.5% (15 year) to 5.8% (30 year).
Inflation as calculated by the Consumer Price Index: Less than 2.2 % average inflation rate under first six years of the Bush Administration and a Republican Congress.
Latest pre-Obama and after two years of a Democratic Congress benchmarks:
Gasoline: about $3/gal
Unemployment: 6.1% as of September
Stock Market: Presently under 9000 pts.
Home Mortgage rates: 6.125% (15 year) and 6.5% (30 year) as of today.
I advise everyone here to copy and paste this to a file. You can email it to Donks in a couple of years who think Obama is still messiah. But by then the clueless Donks might find themselves in the position to have to lie that the Obama Depression is all George Bush’s fault desite the fact this nation lies in their iron grip of incompetence and naivete. You wait and see, if Oblahblah gets coronated in November, there will be an ever deepening Obama-depression that the Donks will try to pin on President Bush even though their Obamessiah (who can overcometh all things) and Democratic Congress will have been in total control of an Amerika which began emerging in 2006. Maybe John Edwards wasn’t wrong when he said there are two Americas, he was merely being prescient.
So how long did it take Reagan to bring America out of the financial malais of Jimmy Carter starting with double-digit inflation and mortgage rates and nearly 8% unemployment? Less than three years as I remember it. But even if this Obama Depression continues to reverberate throughout their reign, in the Donk’s mind it will always be “Bush’s fault”. That’s how intellectually dishonest these people are. And hey, if the Donks can really turn this economy around in say, three or four years, I’ll be the first to compliment them on their accomplishment. However, I can’t help but think that the meddlesome nature of Donks will haunt this country like those meddlesome governmental policies of FDR which deepened and lengthened the Great Depression.
But it’s pretty clear if there is a Democratic power monopoly in Washington, what we once knew as America will become an increasingly socialist and impoverished Amerika. After all, what wonderful financial market geniuses they have in the likes of Barney “Fannie” Frank and Maxine “Freddie” Waters! All hail the Demoncratic State … or is that Demoncratic fakes?
31 Darthmeister // Oct 16, 2008 at 7:54 am
… push.
32 Fred Sinclair // Oct 16, 2008 at 8:11 am
DRUDGE’s liberal blog posted the skinny on last night’s debate between John McCain and B.Hussein Obama. Pretty conclusive With No Room For Argument or Discussion that McCain beat the snot out of B.O.
“{{{{DRUDGE POLL}}}} WHO WON THE FINAL PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE?…
MCCAIN
71% 164,129
OBAMA
27% 62,449
NEITHER
1% 2,981
Total Votes: 229,559″
33 Darthmeister // Oct 16, 2008 at 8:12 am
J. Cougar … “Obama smoked McCain”?
Never mind, take that pretty blue bill again and go back to sleep and dream how the Democrats’ messiah is on His way to make your life better and richer.
34 Darthmeister // Oct 16, 2008 at 8:19 am
Hey Fred, don’t bother. Even though quite a few liberals drop in time to time at Drudge (who runs mostly lamestream news pieces), to the left Drudge is totally right-wing. So any “right-wing” poll should be ignored while all the OBJECTIVE polls of lamestream news sources should be embraced as God’s own truth, right?
What the left doesn’t realize is even though Drudge himself is a quasi-conservative libertarian, his news site is actually a little left of center because of the number of links he has to lamestream “news” sources. And don’t take my word for it, this is what the 2005 UCLA Report, “A Measure of Bias”, discovered!
Well, back to the hospital.
35 Hawkeye // Oct 16, 2008 at 8:41 am
BL31U #13,
I agree with most everything you said, except about the Supreme Court. When law suits start flying, somebody has to cut through the BS.
But it seems you conveniently ignored saying anything about voter “registration fraud” and the potential it creates for actual “voter fraud”.
Not to mention the fact that it places a burden on local and state election boards to verify these thousands of fraudulent registrations.
So, when the Obama campaign “donates” $832,000 to an ACORN front organization, what they are actually doing is paying those dopes to screw up the system, increase the potential for voter fraud, and forcing the taxpayers to clean up the mess.
Your tax dollars at work…
36 BlackLion31U // Oct 16, 2008 at 8:43 am
“…According to Drudge’s Mid-Debate Post-Debate Winner’s Poll, John McCain is the overwhelming winner of tonight’s still-running presidential debate. As of 10:22 EST, the Republican wins handily, 75 percent to 23 percent.”
“McCain wins the debate before the debate is over? Wow, that is mavericky.”
37 Hawkeye // Oct 16, 2008 at 8:48 am
I don’t know about you guys, but I did not agree with the assessment of the pundits on FoxNews last night saying that Obama won the debate. I thought McCain looked tough. I thought he “stuck” it Obama not just a few times. I thought Obama looked taken aback a few times, sometimes almost helpless. He looked like he was obviously spinning and I think it came through to the viewers.
What did you guys think?
38 RepublicanAttackMachine // Oct 16, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Hawkeye: I believe even FOX is kissing up to O’Bama! Not because they like him, rather because they think he will win and do not want to totally be on his bad side for when the (so called), “Fairness Doctrine” comes to his desk to be signed, after it breezes through Congress!
I believe that is why the ‘normally tough’, Bill O’Reilly keeps giving O’Bama, “-the benefit of doubt”. It seems that he just keeps saying that! Funny how he is quick to judge others motives when they say things wrong, or are caught in a lie, yet O’Bama keeps getting his, “Benefit of doubt”!
O’Reilly also said the other night that he does NOT think O’Bama is “evil”. I think ANYONE who keeps voting AGAINST children getting BORN is EVIL!!!
So much for O’Reilly being a good judge, or even a good Catholic! He also has a LOT to lose under the “Fairness Doctrine”. TV show, Radio show, book deals, etc.
With him, it has to be that, or he is still shell shocked from last year when he was called a “racist”, and does not want a repeat?
One last thing. He keeps decrying the fact Sarah Palin has NOT agreed to an interview with “His Highness”, and then says that, “O’Bama came in here!”
Guess he has forgotten that it took “Hussein” a year, and then he ONLY did it because of his poll numbers slipping, and to “change the subject” from some things that had come to light then. Also, O’Bama had agreed on camera to an interview, Sarah has NOT!
39 Money, Stock and Finance » Blog Archive » Rivals To Use Campaign Cash To Bail Out Homeowners // Oct 20, 2008 at 3:25 pm
[...] (2008-10-15) — Both major party rivals for the U.S. presidency today announced they would use the remainder of their campaign cash to bail out homeowners near default on their subprime mortgages. Democrat Sen. …[Continue Reading] [...]
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