McCain Shouts “Fire!” In A Crowded Theater, Fire Marshal Bush Joins In

[McCamy Taylor]

I. Today, Republican Presidential Nominee, John McCain Shouted “Fire!” In A Crowded Movie Theater.

Sure, it saves him from a debate, but this is about much more than that.

I am going to elaborate on the analogy. This week, faux maverick John McCain found himself in the position of Paul Rubens aka Pee-wee Herman back in 1991, when he was arrested for masturbating in public during a screening of Nurse Nancy . Pee-wee Herman’s career as a beloved kid’s show host took a dive and never recovered.



John McCain found himself in a political free fall this week. After greeting a Monday market meltdown with the now infamous words the fundamentals of our economy are strong , his campaign was shaken by the revelation that McCain campaign manager Rick Davis was paid a whopping $15,000/month by Freddie Mac through August even though straight talking John McCain himself swore a few days ago that all financial ties between his campaign and Freddie Mac had been severed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/24/us/politics/24davis.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Worse yet, the McCain campaign has spent all week running ads trying to paint Sen. Barack Obama as somehow to blame for the current economic and mortgage crisis, pointing fingers at his (supposed) ties to Freddie and Fannie, while attempting to hide the McCain campaign’s very real ties.

Talk about getting caught with your pants down.

What is a reformed Keating Five coconspirator to do? Stage a diversion. Start a run on the banks. Declare that the Second Great Depression will begin on…. Monday. Not Friday. Not Tuesday. John McCain has it penciled into his calendar. The stock market is definitely going to crash on Monday. His handlers told him so.

Wow. From “the fundamentals of our economy are sound” to “the economy as we know it will end on Monday” in one short week.

McCain got his running mate, Sarah Palin to start shouting “Fire!” from the balcony, while he was pulling up his pants. Here is video of her telling Katie Couric that the end of times are nigh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL0Y0hMkSaM

And then, something really crazy happened. Crazy, even by the standards of the wild and wacky John McCain campaign. The fire marshal showed up, and he started yelling “Fire!” too. But first they barricaded all the exits except one. And if the sight and sound of McCain and Palin and Fire Marshal Bush with his megaphone yelling “Fire!” got you scared out of your wits, there was only one way you could exit that crowded theater, out a door where a fireman was collecting patrons’ wallets and purses---to pay for the cost of the fire trucks that had been summoned to handle the nonexistent fire and the rescue of the people from non-imminent death----or maybe to rescue them from the sight of John McCain’s wrinkly ass. That last does sound pretty scary, but I am not sure it is worth my whole bank account.

II. “Fool Me Once, Shame On---Shame On You. Fool Me. You Can’t Get Fooled Again.”

Here is a condensed version of Fire Marshall Bush’s scary spiel:

Major financial institutions have teetered on the edge of collapse, and some have failed….We’re in the midst of a serious financial crisis…instability in our markets…our entire economy is in danger….avoid collapse…imminent collapse…severe financial trouble…the gears of the American financial system began grinding to a halt….the situation becoming more precarious by the day…undermine the financial security… There’s been a widespread loss of confidence… And major sectors of America’s financial system are at risk of shutting down….America could slip into a financial panic… a distressing scenario…More banks could fail…The stock market would drop even more, which would reduce the value of your retirement account….The value of your home could plummet….millions of Americans could lose their jobs….a long and painful recession…crisis…

http://www.clipsandcomment.com/2008/09/24/transcript-president-bush-address-to-nation-on-us-financial-crisis-september-24-2008/

Sound familiar? It should. This is the same “Be afraid. Be very afraid!” message we heard from the administration repeatedly in the run up to invasion of Iraq. If you check out the whole transcript, you will see that it even includes the same “It will pay for itself,” promise that the administration gave before launching into the $500 billion and rising Iraq War which has only managed to pay the salaries of execs at companies like Halliburton, Bechtel and Blackwater.

Now, who would buy a recycled lie from this man?




Link to video WMD Lies. Have your hanky ready:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYI7JXGqd0o

III. I Am Not Afraid to Point Fingers

There is nothing more disgusting than seeing some Republican like Orin Hatch declare that Bill Clinton caused the current mortgage crisis and then, with his next breath, exclaim that the subject of John McCain’s ties to industry lobbyist’s or his reason for staging his latest publicity stunt is off limits, because we can not introduce partisan politics into this “national crisis”.

Who do the Republicans think that they are kidding? Big Dog is scheduled to go on the road to campaign for Obama/Biden starting next week. The GOP is so scared they are pissing their pants. The nation never had Wall Street Panic like this under Clinton. They have to do something to tarnish his image before he has a chance to anoint Obama as his economic successor.

Notice that in his fear speech tonight Bush pointed his finger a lot. He blamed 1) Someone in power more than 10 years ago (hint, hint), 2) Congress for authorizing Freddie and Fannie to do whatever it is that they do 3) New home buyers (meaning people who used to be redlined but who are now allowed to buy houses just like hard working Americans , hint, hint).

Notice that Bush did not mention that for the past five years his administration has not only failed to regulate predatory lenders---those who stopped redlining only because it was more profitable to trick people into taking adjustable rate mortgages. His folks actually perverted an old Civil War era law so that they could prohibit states from enforcing their own banking laws to keep predatory lenders from preying on our most vulnerable citizens.

The next time someone tells you Clinton caused the mortgage crisis, you tell them that Bill Clinton tried to end redlining and give everyone in the country the opportunity and the financial resources to own a home. The Bush administration came in and decided that they would steal those financial resources but not supply the homes. . That is what the current mortgage crisis is all about in a nutshell. Bush and Co. saw the economic prosperity of the middle class under Clinton and said to themselves How can we steal that prosperity for rich folks and put working folks back in our rental properties?

This is a story straight out of It’s a Wonderful Life. Welcome back to Potter's Field.



And now the Bush administration is ready to make sure that the rich folks here and around the world get to keep the money they stole from America’s middle class---along with the real estate. Happy ending for them.

All the details that George W. Bush desperately wants to keep hidden about his complicity in the scamming of America’s middle class are in the Washington Post editorial written by Eliot Spitzer this Valentine’s Day.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/13/AR2008021302783.html

While the right wing seeks to blame the victims (the poor, immigrant, female and minority home buyers who moved from being victims of redlining to being victims of adjustable rate predatory loans), in fact it was the mortgage industry which violated the law and rules of common human decency in their greed. They were the ones that proved that FDR was correct when he imposed regulations on capitalism----because without it, capitalism really will sell the rope that will end up being used to strangle it.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2007-04-25-subprime-minorities-usat_N.htm

There are many reasons minorities turn to subprime lenders. Firms have aggressively marketed their products to populations that have long been underserved by, and often don't trust, traditional banks.
Recent immigrants lack credit histories, and 35% of Latino families don't have checking accounts. Hispanic families are more apt to have undocumented income, leading them to lenders who make loans without income verification, according to the National Council of La Raza. Lower rates of minority homeownership mean less wealth to draw on.
Regulation has been spotty. Federal data on race or ethnicity and lending were recently expanded by regulators. But they don't include credit scores, making it difficult to easily ferret out reasons for pricing disparities.
Independent analyses and government investigations indicate that minority borrowers are steered to higher-cost loans even when they qualify for cheaper products. Countrywide (CFC) Home Loans settled a New York lawsuit over racial disparities in lending last year, compensating some Latino borrowers and setting up a $3 million education program.
Many subprime lenders, who operate through loosely regulated mortgage brokers, aren't covered by federal banking laws that provide consumer protections and are designed to prevent discriminatory lending. The non-profit National Community Reinvestment Coalition, in a recent study of the 25 top U.S. metro areas, found fewer commercial bank branches in minority and working-class neighborhoods.

The states tried to take up the slack when the feds looked the other way. The feds went to court to protect the right of mortgage lenders to discriminate. And deceive. And steal. And ultimately, destroy the economy.

I guess there is a panic. In the White House. If they do not help John McCain cover up his lobbying indiscretions and steal this election by blaming the mortgage crisis on the victims, then there is going to be a very ugly round of finger pointing, and all those digits are going to be aimed at Bush.

What did they expect from a man who never met a company he couldn’t run into the ground?

[barbtries]

1. great last line there

screw them. i ain't got the money.

[Pete2069]

23. They take it from whatever you have before you get...

They have control of everyones pocket book...   There is no
way of stopping them from steal it from your finances..... 
They have control of your finances but , not that of the
banking institutions.

[annabanana]

2. You have characterized it perfectly...

"Only one exit... You must leave your wallets in the basket on your way out"

[paparush]

3. Bush also blamed "Foriegn Investors" for creating too much easy credit.

[Virginia Dare]

4. Then he pleaded for the 700 billion so we could get back to easy credit..n/t

[radfringe]

5. what was up with that noise in the background?

we watched smirk-boy on MSNBC, kept hearing a crunching, rustleing sound -- I said it was smirk-boy crumpling the speech, my partner said she thought he didn't take beano before dinner

meanwhile - back at the fire in the theater... why isn't sarah standing in for him? isn't this the job of a VP? Isn't she ready to play VP in a campaign? if mccain doesn't have confidence in her abilities to continue the campaign without him - then what does that say about his judgement regarding chosing a cabinet or advisors etc.

[Gin]

6. MCCain is on MSNBC right now...saying the same bullshit

[George II]

11. What's he doing on MSNBC? He's supposed to be in Washington FIXING THE PROBLEM!!!!

Phony, chicken-shit bastard! He's scared out of his skin that his campaign is unravelling faster than a ball of twine in a room full of kittens.

Forget the campaign, forget the debates - move up the election to September 26 and get it all over with - here's to President Obama!!!

[malaise]

7. Great post

Fuck McPOW, fuck Bush, fuck Cheney!!!!

[crickets]

8. Excellent post. -nt

:thumbsup:

[SammyWinstonJack]

9. ...

:kick:

[George II]

10. Probably the best post I've seen on DU in a long time...good job

[mlevans]

12. Superb analysis.

Well reasoned and insightful, per usual. Thanks.

[tomp]

13. Sure,the "big dog" is going out to help the obama campaign.

right after he gets done praising sarah palin on larry king. just like your gal hil was so awfully fond of mccain when she was trying to defeat obama.

clinton had nothing to do with the "crisis"? see repeal of glass-steagall act.

[McCamy Taylor]

19. Clinton will help a lot as long as Dems stand united and do not allow ourselves to be divided.

Alan Greenspan, widely treated as an economic god during the 90s was pushing Clinton to support Gramm-Leach-Bliley. Presidents listen to their economic advisers, and up until then all that Greenspan had suggested had turned to gold.

In addition, Clinton had every reason to believe that Al Gore would be the next president, which meant that there would be ample regulation of mortgage companies--i.e no predatory lending, no insane investments. He could not have foreseen Bush v. Gore at the Supreme Court or the illegal shenanigans in Florida.

No one could have foreseen that Bush would steal an election openly---who has ever done that? Or that he would begin running a Mafioso style administration. That is where is the financial crisis began. In the efforts Bush made to ensure that no one anywhere regulated the mortgage industry. Bush is more to blame even that Phil Gramm.

[bertman]

26. I have to disagree about not seeing the Mafiosi-style administration coming. Bush may have called

himself a compassionate conservative, but he certainly never showed any inclination to live up to that lie. During the run-up to the '00 election it was pounded into our heads that Bush was an ultra-conservative, God-is-my-personal-advisor kind of guy.

Following in the footsteps of Reagan, who made torture, murder, destabilization of national regimes, funding of covert armies (remember El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua) part of his international agenda, was Dubya's role model and Daddy (oops, I mean Poppy), Old #41. He's the guy who invaded Panama, Grenada, Iraq (anybody remember April Glaspee) and basically ramped our Imperial Military back up after the halcyon days after the break up of the Soviet Union. #41, the former CIA Director and confidante of Oil Magnates the world over (especially in Saudi Arabia) would have continued with his re-Militarization agenda full speed ahead had he not run into a minor roadblock named Bill Clinton.

Shrub, the hand-picked successor, along with his former George Herbert Walker Bush cabinet ministers Don Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney and their coterie of right-wing Imperialists was simply continuing the Lord's Work like the War on Drugs and the New World Order.

So, why in the world would anyone think that George Dubya Bush would not have been as ruthless and fascistic as his daddy and his cabal? The evidence was there for all to see.

Edited to say: I think this is an excellent thread, McAmy. Thanks for posting it.

[No Passaran]

14. McBush

[Supersedeas]

15. Bushler attempting to control yet another election -- when will the OBL video be released?

[MasonJar]

16. That was literally the first time I have watched him in years (I was waiting

for Rachel to coe back on.) He literally looked like an automaton.

[RedLetterRev]

17. Well, from where I sit (in the cheap seats)

if the Congressional Republicans since 1972 hadn't kept their loyal followers so worried about steroids in baseball, flag-burning amendments, and (yeeeks!!) whether Teh Gayz could ruin hetero marriages by getting married themselves instead of focusing on Congressional Republican mis- and malfeasance like insider trading from the floor of Congress, maniuplation of stock, eliminating regulation and actively engaging in predation of all sorts on the poor and disadvantaged, well, dammit, the nation wouldn't be in this fix.

There is a cast of thousands, worthy of a Cecil B DeMille nightmare, to whom we owe a great deal for this. A few noteables would be Newt Gingrich, Phil Gramm, John McCain and the cast of the Keating Five, the entire Bush Family, the entire Pierce family, the entire Harriman family, Grover Norquist, Mellon Scaife, every Republican in the House and Senate since 1972, Karl Rove who demonstrated that you can fool 19% of the people all the time and thereby steal elections, James Dobson and his army of faux lawyers and Bible-spouting treasoners, the Federalist Society and their semi-legalese-spouting treasoners, and a host of other too numerous to thank in this small space. :sarcasm:

Angry? That seems a small word.

Surprised? No. Not at all. Ray Charles could have seen this coming. Everyone on this side of the aisle certainly did. And we'd like to slap the shit out of everyone who has ever voted repuke in the last 30 years when we tried to tell you this day was coming. Now it's here and my patience has run out. The next one who whines at me "I can't make up my mind who I'm going to vote for" or "I didn't know this was going to happen" is liable to be slapped into the middle of next week and have their arse whipped on Thursday just for good measure.

[redqueen]

18. I don't know why our elected Dems are falling for the lies... again!

Are they falling for lies? Or are they playing ball?

[McCamy Taylor]

20. Because they care.

[redqueen]

21. Care about what?

Playing along with the WH and press spin on this?

I don't know why they didn't call Paulson out for his lie about being fine with regulation... I don't know why they don't call him and the WH out for their lying about this being an "emergency".

I'm so ticked off right now I can hardly sit still. :nuke:

[McCamy Taylor]

22. Because they are Dems they have to "do something". That is what Dems do.

Republicans are the "let the market take care of itself and the poor can pull themselves up by their bootstraps" party. Dems are the "we must save America" party. Bush is not a true Republican, never has been. He is a poodle for the corporations.

If this bill is true to the Democratic Party it will be loaded with provisions that Bush did not want---and Bush will have to sign it, because if he doesn't Congress calls Spitzer to talk about how Bush caused the crisis on national TV. And people will watch, because, unlike the lies about war, people actually care about the economy.

[katty]

24. soooo agree!

[mojowork_n]

25. K & R --- Love the visual aids n/t

[OakCliffDem]

27. Kick

[PurpleChez]

28. Fire Marshall Bush!!!!

That shit's too funny!!! And that picture from It's a Wonderful Life...dude at the desk really looks like Darth Cheney. I almost suspected Photoshop!