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Links for 2008-09-21 [del.icio.us]
FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog — Exclusive: Foreign banks may get help - Mike Allen - Politico.com In a change from the original proposal sent to Capitol Hill, foreign-based banks with big U.S. operations could qualify for the Treasury Department’s mortgage bailout, according to the fine print of an administration statement Saturday night. The theory, according to a participant in the negotiations, is that if the goal is to solve a liquidity crisis, it makes no sense to exclude banks that do a lot of lending in the United States. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson confirmed the change on ABC's "This Week," telling George Stephanopoulos that coverage of foreign-based ...

On Bailout Stand By Your Criticism
The American Mind — Hard questions need to be asked about Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s plan to buy hundreds of billions of dollars of illiquid mortgage-backed securities. Congressmen need to look closely to see if the plan does what’s intended with the minimum cost to taxpayers. Should any Treasury Secretary take “non-reviewable” actions? If there’s a serious alternative let’s look into it. What I worry about are politicians slapping goodies onto a bailout bill to lard it up because they know it’s so important to pass. I also worry about critics of the bailout which come into two forms: those who have ...

links for 2008-09-22
FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog — Republicans Should Vote Against the Bailout | The Next Right Republican incumbents in close races have the easiest vote of their lives coming up this week: No on the Bush-Pelosi Wall Street bailout. God Himself couldn't have given rank-and-file Republicans a better opportunity to create political space between themselves and the ...

Opening the Day: No Blank Check Consensus Emerges
Open Left - Front Page — Good morning.  First of all, the anonymous lawmaker wants you to know that they are the author of Primary Colors and let Joe Klein take the credit.  Second of all, why did they pick $700 billion as the number for the bailout?  It's literally just plucked out of thin air as between a trillion and a half a trillion.  Is that supposed to be reassuring or something? ...

Perfection
Right Wing Nation — Couldn’t have said it better myself. Patrick Ruffini: Republican incumbents in close races have the easiest vote of their lives coming up this week: No on the Bush-Pelosi Wall Street bailout. God Himself couldn’t have given rank-and-file Republicans a better opportunity to create political space between themselves and the Administration. That’s why I want to see 40 Republican No votes in the Senate, and 150+ in the House. If a bailout is to pass, let it be with Democratic votes. Let this be the political ...

Subprime GOP
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan — Patrick Ruffini, and what the GOP now stands for: God Himself couldn't have given rank-and-file Republicans a better opportunity to create political space between themselves and the Administration. That's why I want to see 40 Republican No votes in the Senate, and 150+ in the House. If a bailout is to pass, let it be with Democratic votes. Let this be the political establishment (Bush Republicans in the White House + Democrats in Congress) saddling the taxpayers with hundreds of billions in debt (more than the Iraq War, conjured up in a single weekend, and enabled by Pelosi, btw), while principled Republicans say "No" and go to the ...

A "Principled" Response
The Anonymous Liberal — Has a more shameless and cynical political strategy ever been proposed? (h/t Sullivan) Republican incumbents in close races have the easiest vote of their lives coming up this week: No on the Bush-Pelosi Wall Street bailout. God Himself couldn't have given rank-and-file Republicans a better opportunity to create political space between themselves and the Administration. That's why I want to see 40 Republican No votes in the Senate, and 150+ in the House. If a bailout is to pass, let it be with Democratic votes. Let this be the political establishment (Bush Republicans in the White House + Democrats in Congress) saddling the taxpayers with ...

Remainders: Path of the Irish
Jonathan Martin's Blog — Crowley points out that The New York Times did write up Keating -- they just used it as a frame for the Iseman claim. Ruffini tells Republicans to vote against the bailout and distance themselves from Bush. McCain promises a path to citizenship for the undocumented Irish. John McCain's Brazilian ex-girlfriend remembers the young fighter-jock-in-waiting. Shorter Dan Balz: Stuff happens. The Washington Post looks at the shadow governance of Todd Palin. McCain will visit Cleveland ...

A Time for Grown-ups
Weekly Standard Blog — Patrick Ruffini and I were colleagues at Townhall.com; he’s one of the smartest young conservatives on the web. Thus, I found the following blog post he authored utterly dismaying. Here it is in full: Republican incumbents in close races have the easiest vote of their lives coming up this week: No on the Bush-Pelosi Wall Street bailout. God Himself couldn't have given rank-and-file Republicans a better opportunity to create political space between themselves and the Administration. That's why I want to see 40 Republican No votes in the Senate, and 150+ in the House. If a bailout is to pass, let it be with Democratic votes. Let this be ...

MORNING READ
News — MORNING READ The Bush administration's $700 billion bailout plan for banks is getting little love from bloggers on both sides. Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) made a a couple of gaffes Monday that will undercut his and Barack Obama's message, write conservative bloggers. But John McCain is hearing it from both sides for his campaign’s inaccuracies made while attacking the media. The "Mother of All Bailouts" proposed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson benefits Wall Street but not many Americans, and Congress should thus look at other plans that do more to stimulate the economy, writes Daily Kos's Hunter . Even though the free market ideology of President Bush, ...

Rising Conservative Star Patrick Ruffini Riles The Right
The Huffington Post | Full News Feed — One of the rising stars of the conservative movement, Patrick Ruffini, has sent a shiver down the spines of his colleagues who fear that Republicans in the House and Senate might follow his call to vote against the "Bush-Pelosi Wall Street bailout." In an analysis on his NextRight.com web site, Ruffini wrote: "God Himself couldn't have given rank-and-file Republicans a better opportunity to create political space between themselves and the Administration. That's why I want to see 40 Republican 'No' votes in the Senate, and 150+ in the House. If a bailout is to pass, let it be with Democratic votes. Let this be the political ...

Rising Conservative Star Patrick Ruffini Riles The Right
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — One of the rising stars of the conservative movement, Patrick Ruffini, has sent a shiver down the spines of his colleagues who fear that Republicans in the House and Senate might follow his call to vote against the "Bush-Pelosi Wall Street bailout." In an analysis on his NextRight.com web site, Ruffini wrote: "God Himself couldn't have given rank-and-file Republicans a better opportunity to create political space between themselves and the Administration. That's why I want to see 40 Republican 'No' votes in the Senate, and 150+ in the House. If a bailout is to pass, let it be with Democratic votes. Let this be the political ...

The Coming Opportunity for the Right?
The Next Right — I want to expand on a point I made at an AFF discussion earlier tonight. Democrats win by selling the benefits of government: Look what we can do for you! Republicans win by selling the costs of government: Look what they're doing to you!  It's worth explaining the implications of this.  9/11 and the war in Iraq have made the last 8 years very volatile, psychologically draining.  Now, we're in the midst of an economic crisis; one which might go on for quite some time and get far worse.  The public consciousness is focused on economic problems....and Democrats ...

The Stimulus Race Against Time
The Next Right — Karen Hanretty pinpoints the reason President Obama and Congressional Democrats are rushing to get the stimulus bill passed. President Obama is in a race against time.  Because you don’t build support over time.  You lose support. In other words, the longer it takes the conference committee to work out a final version of the bill (and we’re talking days, not weeks), the more time there is for the ugly details of this legislative beheamoth to be revealed.  It’s happening already, and the more the people know about how the sausage is being made, the less likely they are to want to want a serving.  [...] ...

Benko's Attack: Setting the Record Straight
Patrick Ruffini — This morning I awoke to a "public flogging of Patrick Ruffini" from Ralph Benko, an enthusiastic proponent of new media in the conservative movement in D.C. He was responding to my recent piece on the "Obama Disconnect" -- the lively debate surrounding Organizing for America and Obama's loss of grassroots mojo from the campaign. Ralph attempts to connect my skeptical view of Organizing for America (and indeed the Obama campaign) to disdain for the tea party movement. It's a pretty big leap, and one superseded by my numerous posts on the actual tea party movement (here, here, and here).  Erick Erickson has come ...