Bad Deeds for 10-8-2008

McCain Lies About Warning About the Economic Disaster – During last night’s Presidential Debate Senator John McCain made the claim that he “warned” about the impending economic crisis. But in in November 2007, McCain admitted that he was clueless about the economic mess, saying, “I don’t know of hardly anybody, with the exception of a handful, that said “wait a minute, this thing is getting completely out of hand and is overheating.” So, I’d like to tell you that I did anticipate it, but I have to give you straight talk, I did not.”

 

McCain Misleads on Obama voting 94 times for higher taxes – Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain said at the Oct. 7 presidential debate in Nashville, Tennessee, that Democratic opponent Sen. Barack Obama “has voted 94 times to either increase your taxes or against tax cuts. That’s his record.” VERDICT: Misleading. McCain’s summary ignores the fact that some of the votes were for measures to lower taxes for many Americans, while increasing them for a much smaller number of taxpayers. A nonpartisan examination also finds that the 94 total includes multiple votes on the same measures and budget votes that would not directly lead to higher taxes.

 

McCain Lies About Obama Never Taking on His Party – Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain said at the Oct. 7 presidential debate in Nashville, Tennessee, that Democratic opponent Sen. Barack Obama has “never taken on his leaders of his party on a single issue.” VERDICT: False. While McCain is correct that Obama has supported the Democratic leadership almost all of the time, to say he’s never differed with them is not true.

 

McCain Misleads (Big Time) on Obama Getting Money From Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – At the presidential debate Tuesday, October 7 in Nashville, Tennessee, Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain said Democratic opponent Sen. Barack Obama and other Democrats resisted regulating mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which ultimately collapsed and had to be taken over by the government. “Meanwhile, they were getting all kinds of money in campaign contributions. Sen. Obama was the second-highest recipient of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac money in history — in history,” he said. VERDICT: Misleading. No donations actually came from the companies. One method of measuring employee contributions does put Obama second overall, but another, for the current election cycle, shows McCain receiving $169,000 from “directors, officers, and lobbyists for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac”, while Obama received only $16,000 from employees.

 

Just Before Her Husband Tells a String of Lies About Barack Obama, Cindy McCain Says Obama Has Waged the Dirtiest Campaign in U.S. History – On the day of the Presidential Debate, Cindy McCain said Sen. Barack Obama has “waged the dirtiest campaign in American history,” and her husband Sen. John McCain will use the debate to correct the distortions.

 

Veteran Report Card 2008: Who in Washington Does and Does Not Support Our Troops and Vets? – You can see both the “A Lists” and the “D Lists” at the link above, but since this is the Bad Deeds, here are the “D Lists”:

House “D List”
John Campbell CA
Chris Cannon UT
John Duncan TN
Thomas Tancredo CO
Ron Paul TX

Senate “D List”
Tom Coburn OK
Michael Enzi WY
John McCain AZ
Jim DeMint SC

 

McCain Calls Americans His “Fellow Prisoners” – (Okay, this next one isn’t a bad deed, but it’s almost funny, until you ask what kind of flashback dreams McCain has.) After referring to the various proposals that comprise his domestic policy agenda, John McCain offered an absolute head-scratcher of a line during a campaign speech on Wednesday. “Across this country this is the agenda I have set before my fellow prisoners,” he declared. In the prepared remarks he was supposed to say “fellow citizens.”

 

The White House Sold the Bailout Bill to Members of Congress by Threatening to Impose Martial Law – Check out the video of Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) speaking on the House floor last Thursday about how the White House sold the bailout bill to members by threatening to impose martial law.

 

Why Coal is Not Clean – About 470 mountain tops in Appalachia have been destroyed. Mountaintop removal mining is faster and cheaper than underground mining but its impact on the environment is much worse. Mountaintop mining is legal and became more prevalent six years ago when federal laws were relaxed. During the mining process, miners blast the mountain and shear off the top ridges to extract layers of coal. From the air the affected mountains appear flat, gray and dusty with rubble sliding down into the valleys and streams.

Regards,

Jim
Will you listen to your hopes or your fears?