With only a month to go before what at that time was a toss-up election, President Bush handed McCain the chance to add to the relief measure any flourish he might find politically useful. McCain could have demanded that executive compensation be capped and financial reporting be amplified.
He could have packaged up his entire tax plan, added a vote-flavored stimulus proposal, and presented the whole confection as a statesmanlike, imaginative, just plan of action. He could have held the public's attention all the way to the election.
It was the greatest opening for an incumbent to assist his preferred successor since Lyndon B. Johnson conjured out of thin air a phony peace breakthrough in Vietnam six days before the 1968 election, for the benefit of Hubert Humphrey against Richard Nixon.
It didn't happen. McCain said almost nothing at the White House meeting, and stripped the gears of the Straight Talk Express. The rescue bill that emerged included pay-offs for the wool, rum, horse racing, television, film, and coal industries, as well as the Black Lung Disability Fund, the people of American Samoa, and aid to the manufacture of wooden arrows for children’s games of cowboys and Indians. These may all be good causes, but they don't have much to do with strengthening the banking system and stabilizing the mortgage market.
It is little wonder that the American people are clamoring for change, or that Obama now looks more like being undeservedly entrusted with delivering it than McCain.
Conrad Black is the author of biographies of Maurice Duplessis, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Richard M. Nixon, was the publisher of the London (UK) Telegraph newspapers and Spectator from 1987 to 2004, and founded the National Post of Canada in1998. His columns and reviews frequently appear in a large number of publications in Canada, the US, and the UK. He has been a life peer in the British House of Lords as Lord Black of Crossharbour, since 2001. Conrad Black has been engaged in a dispute with the US Justice Department and the SEC over the Governance of his former companies for several years and cival and appellate litigation continue. Currently, he is incarcerated in a federal facility in Florida.
John P. Avlon is the author of Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics. He writes a weekly column for The Daily Beast and is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Previously, he served as Chief Speechwriter for New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and was a columnist and associate editor for The New York Sun.
Max Blumenthal is a senior writer for The Daily Beast and writing fellow at The Nation Institute, whose book, Republican Gomorrah (Basic/Nation Books), is forthcoming in Spring 2009. Contact him at maxblumenthal3000@yahoo.com.
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Kevin Buckley was a reporter and Saigon bureau chief for Newsweek between 1968 and 1972. He is the author of Panama—The Whole Story (Simon & Schuster, 1991). He is a contributing editor of Playboy and an adjunct professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
Michael O'Hanlon specializes in national security policy at the Brookings Institution. He is senior author of the Iraq Index. As a defense budget analyst, he advised members of Congress on military spending.
Abby Ellin regularly writes the "Vows" column for the New York Times, and previously wrote the "Preludes" column for that newspaper about young people and money. Her work has appeared in a range of publications, including Time, Marie Claire, More, Self and Glamour. She is the author of Teenage Waistland, but her greatest claim to fame is naming “Karamel Sutra” ice cream for Ben and Jerry's.
Conrad Black is the author of biographies of Maurice Duplessis, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Richard M. Nixon, was the publisher of the London Telegraph newspapers and Spectator, and founded the National Post of Canada. He has been a life peer in the British House of Lords as Lord Black of Crossharbour since 2001.
Conrad Black is the author of biographies of Maurice Duplessis, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Richard M. Nixon, was the publisher of the London Telegraph newspapers and Spectator, and founded the National Post of Canada. He has been a life peer in the British House of Lords as Lord Black of Crossharbour since 2001.
Conrad Black is the author of biographies of Maurice Duplessis, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Richard M. Nixon, was the publisher of the London Telegraph newspapers and Spectator, and founded the National Post of Canada. He has been a life peer in the British House of Lords as Lord Black of Crossharbour since 2001.
by Conrad Black
Conrad Black is the author of biographies of Maurice Duplessis, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Richard M. Nixon, was the publisher of the London Telegraph newspapers and Spectator, and founded the National Post of Canada. He has been a life peer in the British House of Lords as Lord Black of Crossharbour since 2001.
McCain already admitted before the events of the day happened he didn't know much about the economy. He looked foolish when he was sitting down at the white house and not opening his mouth. Ever since he looked terrible. He has know one to blame but himself. Even if he could do well on the economy his pick for VP shows what kind of judgement he has. His choice keeps on giving and giving what is wrong with the republican party.
McCain regarded the economy to be fundamentally sound, therefore proving he has absolutely no idea what a sound economy is, never mind how to correct an economy going into free fall.
It is also a litte rich to be lectured on the subject by a cheap crook who swindled his own shareholders, and is lolling around enjoying three hots and a cot at the beleaguered tax payers' expense.
McCain has clearly demonstrated that he has no actual platform. He is a RINO, who is so expedient that he "suspended" his campaign in order to make political capital out of an unmitigated disaster for millions of Americans.
How ironic, that an opportunist such as Black, should have suggested that McCain failed to be opportunistic enough! I suppose that is what passes for ideology on the Right these days.
Is it possible, that ordinary Americans can see through this kind of grandstanding and are turning to Obama precisely because he refrained from making such a spectacle of himself at a crucial moment?
McCain's rush to Washington proved only what we already know, that he needs to be the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral. Imagining for a moment, that McCain is capable of anything more complex, is merely proof that Black has way too much time on his hands.
Black's analysis is bang on. Who and what are all the "advisers" he has who let him screw up so badly? Incredibly bad performance. Both he and Barrack showed less comprehension that the much maligned Hoover.
Faulting McCain for not coming up with a good, workable solution to the economic crisis is like faulting my cat for not learning calculus. McCain was fundamentally incapable of doing what Black demands -- he is old, addled, out of his depth, and utterly beholden to the worst elements of his own party.
And since when did we take advice from corporate kleptocrats? Do they have a good internet connection there at the Coleman Federal Correctional Complex, "Lord" Black?
If you have to date anecdotes, cite the correct year: the Carter/ killer rabbit incident was 1979 not 1976.
Lord Tubby wasn't faulting McCain for not having a viable plan. He knows McCain can't come up with solution.
McCain that week was both, Charlie Brown goin' for the field goal and Lucy snatchin' the ball away at the last second.
Whilst I despise Tubby and think he is a pompous windbag at the best of times, he is, as Johnnorth wrote, "...bang on." in his analysis.
If McCain had done what LT wrote, this race would be a lot closer, maybe god forbid even in McCain's favour.
As an aside, it's kind of amusing that Tubby's in jail for wire fraud and these Wall Street crooks getting the bailouts will never see the inside of a cell let alone be charged.
Privatize the profits and socialize the debts.
If, as I surmised in a col on Forbes.com (and which has been confirmed by former Lehman high-ups), it was Lehman's commercial real estate book that set it apart and eliminated the firm from bailout eligibility, then there was no way it could have been retrieved from Chap. 11. As for the rest, it sounds to me that my friend Conrad is letting his ideology overwhelm his common sense in the way that others regard the Form 1040 as a document more central to the American Project than the Constitution. This race is between an old man of considerable experience and no promise and a young man of lesser experience but great promise. As an old man, the same age as McCain, my faith and hope ride on the latter.
It was never a toss-up election. Minor adjustments to the plan would not have benefited McCain, especially if they were what most Democrats were urging, More radical measures such as purchasing equity would have caused uproar with his base. One could go on. In short, the stage was not McCain's to strut, the moment never likely to be pivotal, as most previous posts note. Obama's strategy surely recognised that the recovery plan would only be the beginning of the governmental response. He did well to distance himself from the fray.
I enjoyed Mr. Black's article and I hope other inmates, especially the millions of black youths, can get a chance at journalism, although they will not have Mr. Black's money when and if they get out.
Christopher Cox is the worst SEC chairman in history. His profligate obeisance to corporate greed was essential to the Wall
Street meltdown. Cox should resign, in disgrace.
McCain is responsible for a myriad of blunders, not the least of them is the Vice Presidential Nominee.
Now that the excitement has worn off from McCains audacious and foolish selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate, Voters have had seven weeks to look at her closely, easily determining that she is indescribably unqualified for the position.
Furthermore, her selection inevitably made us compare her to Hillary Clinton immediately. As an Obama supporter from the start, I freely, openly, and vigorously proclaim that on this basis alone, Palin's candidacy is an insult to all intelligent women as there is NO area in which she can come close to competing with Hillary Clinton. Any who set emotion aside and compares factually MUST agree.
While it is true that the McCain of 2000 is apparently LONG gone, and the McCain of 2008 is unrecognizable, he had no choice but attempt something dramatic. Likewise, it is true that Palin has been able to reach Voters in the Republican base that McCain simply could not. Still, Palin can only be kindly described as an uninformed lightweight whose reach FAR exceeds her grasp.
McCain or Obama could WIN big if they went after the Wolves of Wall Street. I wonder why they don't.
http://thetruthburns.wordpress.com/2008/10/14/whoever-goes-after-the-wo lves-of-wall-street-wins/
>It is little wonder that the American people are clamoring for change, or that Obama now looks more like being undeservedly entrusted with delivering it than McCain.
Obama has surrounded himself with some of the most qualified people to deal with this crisis, and he is the only candidate who can unify the American people and the world in the face of it.
I don't think there are many people who really wish to hear your foolish mumblings Mr Black, you have effectively destroyed any standing that you once had.
Always good to hear perspective from intelligent people.
You were unquestionably railroaded.
Go Conrad Go!!
Mr. Black, Stay in the USA when you get out of the slammer because you ripped off lots of folks or go to the United Kingdom where you bought your peerage. There is a reason that Canada refused to reinstate your Canadian Citizenship after you renounced it; they were not interested in paying for your incarceration so you could do "easy time". Writing from prison is cool; keep it up. Stay there and write often.
As always Lord Black you intrigue me with your insight and analysis... how clever of you and advantageous of the daily beast to give you a platform to begin your rehabilation process. While remaining in such a sad state of reduced circumstances, on the heels of personal disaster.
McCain has a habit of getting a bit ahead of himself...thus he finds himself constantly graspping to establish a sustainable momentum....making him behave more as a contrarian than a maverick.
And why isn't anyone holding board members of these failed institutions to task? Are they not an equal partner in the responsiblity?
I thought he was doing his version of pounding the cabinet when he said that he knew how to fix this and every other problem confronting us. He assured us, "I know how to fix this economy." He never said how he would do it, but he assured us he could. To me, he sounded like the kid next door who says he can mow your lawn, prune your trees, and paint your house, even though he has never done it before and prefers playing computer games to working. Well, I hate to tell you, my friend, he has never done it before. He does not appear to have an economist on his team to tell him how to deal with an economic downturn and he appears to have no idea how to deal with one himself.
McCain's fate was accomplished when he moved away from the core values he illicited in the 2000 campaign. I'm afraid that was the nominee the GOP needed this year. McCain is 8 years too late and nothing would've helped him. By the way, Tiberius died in A.D. 37 and the Colesseum was finished in A.D. 80; he never saw the Colesseum. Begun by Vespasian it was completed by his son Titus.
What happened to your prediction (in another publication) that McCain would win handily, Mr. Black? Did something knock your political blinders askew--like being completely wrong?
When it all becomes just too depressing, take a moment for a chuckle!!
FREE pages of funny 2008 election stickers (print 'em out on sticky-back paper, and cut 'em to size) Put 'em everywhere! Letters, bills, books, lockers, etc. Tell your friends!
Go to http://www.bubbygram.com/election2008stickers.htm to view/download. FREE. (A labor of love!)
Thank you.
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