Archived
Posted at 7:04pm on Jul. 11, 2008 BREAKING: Bank Collapses. Feds cite Sen. Chuck Schumer as "immediate cause" of collapse
By Erick
Federal regulators just seized and shut down IndyMac, a major mortgage specialist.
The Pasadena, Calif., thrift was one of the largest savings and loans in the country with about $32 billion in assets. It now joins an infamous list of collapsed banks, topped by Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Co., which failed in 1984 with $40 billion of assets.
IndyMac specialized in Alt-A loans, a type of mortgage that can often be offered to borrowers who don't fully document their incomes or assets. The company sold most of the loans it originated but continued to hold some on its books. As defaults piled up, IndyMac's finances deteriorated.
The bank will be run by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., a federal regulator, and will reopen Monday.
Now the question is, did Senator Chuck Schumer cause IndyMac's collapse? The Office of Thrift Supervision, that regulates entities like IndyMac, says "the immediate cause" of IndyMac's collapse was Senator Chuck Schumer.
In a written statement, the Office of Thrift Supervision, which regulated IndyMac, said "the immediate cause" of the failure was statements made by Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat. Mr. Schumer in late June publicly raised concerns about the bank's solvency.
"Although this institution was already in distress, I am troubled by any interference in the regulatory process," said OTS Director John Reich.
This is huge -- that a federal regulatory agency would precisely finger a United States Senator as being responsible for a present financial disaster. And why? Because Schumer demands camera time and soapboxes to keep his power. And this time, he stepped up too high.
Now taxpayers will foot Schumer's bill.
Posted in Archived | Banking crisis | Chuck Schumer | FDIC | IndyMac | New York — Comments (14)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 3:05pm on Jul. 9, 2008 They're winding up FISA now in the Senate.
Took 'em long enough.
By Moe Lane
[UPDATE and bump]: Final vote is 69 Ayes, 28 Nays. A look at the final apostate list in a moment, but I'd just like to note something. There were two Senators who were serious Democratic Presidential candidates, and they both voted on FISA. One of them voted against telecom immunity - a matter of extreme importance to the netroots - all the way down the line (and despite the fact that Democrats in Congress have assessed the public mood, and have clearly decided that the bill must be passed). The other voted against it... except for the final vote, which is the only one that the population will actually care about. In other words, we have a case of actual integrity versus equivocation.
The funny part is that the netroots went with the equivocator. Barack Obama brazenly lied to them about his intent to filibuster FISA, and they support him anyway. And now they have to go give him some more money, so that he can lie to them some more. Funny, I don't recall Hillary Clinton being nearly as bad in that regard this election cycle.
Have a nice day.
-------
Senator Bond is finishing up his commentary, and we'll be seeing the start of the process of watching the amendments go down in flames any minute now. (Ooh, he just kicked the netroots!)
While we're all waiting for the inevitable, check out Jake Tapper's piece on the subject. Especially the bits about Obama's flip-flops on FISA.
[UPDATE]: Below is the approved list of Netroots-Acceptable Democratic Ideological Purity. To stay on it, all the Democratic Senators have to do is vote Aye on all three amendments, and Nay on the vote itself. Shouldn't be too hard, right?
Akaka Baucus Bayh Biden Bingaman Boxer Brown Byrd Cantwell Cardin Carper Casey Clinton Conrad Dodd Dorgan Durbin Feingold Feinstein Harkin Inouye Johnson Kennedy* Kerry Klobuchar Kohl Landrieu Lautenberg Leahy Levin Lieberman Lincoln McCaskill Menendez Mikulski Murray Nelson Nelson Obama Pryor Reed Reid Rockefeller Salazar Sanders Schumer Stabenow Tester Webb Whitehouse Wyden
*I think that he may not be present. Which would explain why McCain's not there, either.
On Dodd/Feingold: 32 Ayes, 66 Nays. Embarrassingly bad, that.
On Specter: 37 Ayes, 61 Nays. Not quite as bad. Not quite.
On Bingaman: 42 Ayes, 56 Nays. I guess that I got this wrong: the pro-FISA people clearly didn't need much in the way of cover at all.
...And Reid is recessing, in order to let the GOP go have its (delayed by the Helms funeral) lunch. Isn't he just the best, most biddable Democratic Senate Majority Leader that the GOP could wish for?
[UPDATE] Well, we're back, and I believe that this is the cloture vote (yup, it is). Bit garbled, but I heard 26 Nays; it clearly passed. Final vote - finally, the freaking final vote - coming up next.
Posted in Congress | FISA | Kneel Before Zod | The Great Netroots Betrayal — Comments (136)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 10:58pm on Jul. 6, 2008 Ordinary, Decent Criminal Watch: 07/03/2008
This is one of those good news / bad news kinds of stories.
By Moe Lane
Via Instapundit: first, the bad news:
At about 5 p.m. yesterday [July 3, 2008], an unidentified thief with a police record broke into a red van that had been parked at 53rd Street and Second Avenue in Brooklyn's Sunset Park for about a month, a source told The Post.
He was stunned when he looked inside - it was filled with gas cans and Styrofoam cups containing a mysterious white substance with protruding wires and switches.
The good news? The would-be thief drove said van safely out of the way, then called a cop that he knew to report the situation. No word yet on whether it was an actual bomb or not (reportedly, the license plates don't match, which itself sounds suspicious), but the cops have indicated that the thief isn't likely to get charged with anything.
And, do you know something? I'm fine with that. If that thing was a bomb, it was set up right next to a school.
Moe Lane
Posted in Archived | Bombs | NYC | Terrorist attacks — Comments (8)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 12:47pm on Jul. 3, 2008 New boss Steve Schmidt set to tighten McCain's campaign
He'll keep but transform McCain's "regional managers"
By Mark Kilmer
Yesterday, John McCain put Steve Schmidt in charge of his campaign, while former campaign jefe Rick Davis was moved into heading the veep search, fundraising, etc. We had some questions, and we've now some answers, thanks in part to a McCain memo reported in a blog entry from Chris Cillizza, who seems to be having as much fun as Jake Tapper, albeit perhaps in a more Obama-centric manner.
Schmidt is strengthening the McCain national HQ in Virginia, which should mean a more focused, message-driven national campaign, although he evidently will not scrap the regional manager concept crafted by Davis, wherein eleven managers ran the campaign in specific geographic areas. But though the basic structure of the strange scheme will be intact, the more dangerous parts of the notion will be transformed:
Under the Schmidt regime, it seems as though these regional campaign managers will be far more like field operatives than managers of a specific geographic region.
Schmidt will also hire national political director and a field director. Of this, Schmidt writes in the memo obtained by Cillizza:
"These individuals will work with all of you and with [deputy campaign manager] Christian Ferry to increase our capacity to reach out to voters, build coalitions, identify supporters, and ultimately turn them out to the polls on November 4. We will be enhancing our headquarters political capacity to provide additional resources to you and your regions."
This sounds as if it could be similar to what Karl Rove and Ken Mehlman did for President Bush in 2004, which is a good sign. Some appeal, some GOTV, is more important now than it was in 2004, when Bush faced a political dud in JF Kerry.
Hopefully, Schmidt will have his operation ready to work full capacity by the time of the conventions, for though neither candidate has emerged as a clear front-runner as yet, one suspects that an energetic, precise, and talented organization such as Obama is believed to have will be on the top of its game when the campaign begins in earnest. McCain has to be ready to emphasize his strengths and to exploit Obama's weaknesses as the fly from out the woodwork.
Posted in Archived | campaign | McCain | Steve Schmidt — Comments (8)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 3:51pm on Jul. 2, 2008 Another Day, Another Smear
...this man is reliably reported to practice nepotism with his sister-in-law...
By streiff
There is a full-fledged assault underway on John McCain's reputation and it is more than a little uncertain that the McCain campaign has the ability to either recognize the assault or, if they do recognize it, respond to it in a timely and aggressive manner.
We're all familiar with the recent attack on John McCain's military record. We learn from Wesley Clark than all he did was ride airplanes and retired admiral egregious asshat Professor Mark Kleiman informs us that the Navy had found McCain's leadership wanting and declined to promote him to admiral, contra the statements of the Secretary of the Navy at the time.
Why the attack on McCain's years as a fighter pilot is anyone's guess. From the outside this certainly looks like a high-risk, low payoff strategy from Obama. There is another attack brewing that really matters. It is the attack on McCain's deserved reputation as a good government advocate.
Read on.
Posted in 2008 | John McCain | smears — Comments (33)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 9:11am on Jul. 2, 2008 Louisiana Dems: Jindal has lost all credibility!
He didn't keep his word. >>pout<<
By Mark Kilmer
Lawmakers in Louisiana wanted to lift their base salaries from $16,800 to $37,500, pegged to the salaries of the U.S. Congress. Governor Bobby Jindal had indicated that for the sake of comity and getting things done, he would not interfere with the legislature's money grab, least of all with a gubernatorial veto.
On Sunday, when CNN's Candy Crowley guest-hosted Late Edition, she asked Governor Jindal about this, indicating that his refusal to veto was not very conservative. The governor answered that he hoped that there were ways to talk to Louisiana legislature out of their pay hike, but if it came to it, the veto was not off the table. It was only 24-hours later that Governor Jindal vetoed the grab. And the affronted Louisiana legislators feel they've been affronted. It is, to them, a question of trust.
Senate President Joel Chaisson II, D-Destrehan, and House Speaker Pro Tem Karen Carter Peterson, D-New Orleans, said Jindal's sudden about-face on the pay raise will make it hard for some lawmakers to believe him in the future.
"He needs to rebuild trust and do a better job of articulating his position," said Chaisson, who promised he will continue to work with the governor on key issues for the state. "Just be honest with us."
So much whining.
Read On…
Posted in Archived | Democrats | jindal | Louisina | pay grab | Veto — Comments (8)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 4:19pm on Jun. 30, 2008 Just words.
Just words.
By Moe Lane
Just words.
"For those who have fought under the flag of this nation -- for the young veterans I meet when I visit Walter Reed; for those like John McCain who have endured physical torment in service to our country -- no further proof of such sacrifice is necessary," said Obama. "And let me also add that no one should ever devalue that service, especially for the sake of a political campaign, and that goes for supporters on both sides."
Just words.
Dem Guru: McCain Limited by POW Years
ABC News' Teddy Davis and Molly Hunter Report: While Barack Obama was urging supporters not to devalue the military service of rival John McCain, a top Democratic voice on foreign policy argued Monday that the former POW's isolation during the Vietnam war has hobbled the Arizona senator's capacity as a war-time leader.
Rand Beers, an Obama supporter who served as Sen. John Kerry's, D-Mass., top national security adviser during his 2004 presidential run, said that because McCain was in an unfortunate state of "isolation" during much of the Vietnam War, he missed the domestic turmoil which took place in the United States and his national security experience is "sadly limited" as a result.
Posted in 2008 | Just Words | Obamafiles — Comments (37)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 1:34pm on Jun. 30, 2008 Netrooters Oblivious to Direct Mail basics
OMG! They spent all the $
By krempasky
Every year, we see it again: shrieking, hand-wringing, gloating (?) lefties pointing fingers at Republican direct mail fundraisers. Trouble is, they don't seem to have much idea what they're talking about.
Read On...
Posted in Archived — Comments (3)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 7:21am on Jun. 30, 2008 Call Your Congressman
By Erick
Posted in Archived | Bill Delahunt | Massachusetts — Comments (3)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 12:31pm on Jun. 28, 2008 NY-24: Arcuri Borrows Bill Clinton's Defense in Fundraiser Flap
'We hired a girl, a woman, who did some work for us,' says Democrat
By Bluey
A 31-year-old fundraiser who worked for the re-election campaign of freshman Rep. Michael Arcuri (D-N.Y.) is likely to be called as a witness in the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal, the woman's lawyer told an Upstate New York television station.
Meanwhile, Arcuri for the first time publicly addressed his campaign's connection to the Spitzer confidante, telling WKTV, "It's one of those things where there's absolutely nothing whatsoever. In fact, we welcome the scrutiny. We hired a girl, a woman, who did some work for us, who also did some work for Eliot Spitzer, and that's where the story begins and ends."
That "girl" is Kristian Stiles, who began working for Spitzer in her mid-20s. Her connection to Arcuri lasted from July 2007 until March 18, two days after the New York Times reported she was under federal investigation for her unusual ties with Spitzer.
Arcuri paid Stiles more than $44,000 to serve as a fundraising consultant in New York City. The large sum of money for just nine months of work has raised questions, especially because she did similar work for Spitzer. A source with knowledge of New York City fundraisers told me this week it seemed rather odd that Stiles would be paid such a large sum for such work.
Aside from WKTV's Joleen Farris and a Utica, N.Y., blog JusticeDenied13501, Arcuri appears to be getting a pass from local media. The daily paper, Utica Observer-Dispatch, has a history of going easy on him, dating back to the 2006 campaign.
Posted in Archived | Corrupt Democrat Watch | Michael Arcuri — Comments (4)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 8:25am on Jun. 28, 2008 The Sunday Morning Talk Shows: a preview
By Mark Kilmer
For Sunday, June 29, 2008
FOX News Sunday (FNS): Host Chris Wallace talks to Ed Rendell for Obama and Rob Portman for McCain. Then it's a trip to the fringe with Libertarian Presidential nominee Bob Barr.
This Week (ABC): Host George Stephanopoulos talks to Rahm Emanuel for Obama and Tim Pawlenty for McCain.
Meet the Press (NBC): Host Tom Brokaw sits down with California Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Wyoming Dem Gov. Dave Freudenthal (D-WY), and Governor Bill Ritter (D-Colorado) to discuss the politics of the wild, wild west.
Face the Nation (CBS): Host Bob Schieffer speaks with Joe Lieberman for McCain and Wes Clark for Obama.
Late Edition (CNN): Host Wolf Blitzer talks to Bobby Jindal for McCain and Jon Corzine for Obama, then to Mitch McConnell and the usual cast of thousands.
=====
There are potential veeps, I have heard, it Rendell (D), Portman (R), and Pawlenty (R). Jindal's name has been thrown around, and I'm surprised I've not yet heard Emanuel's name.
This week is also of note for the fact that the two "mob governors," Rendell and Corzine, will be on in the morning, though on different shows.
I'll do the review tomorrow.
Posted in Archived | Face the Nation | Late Edition | Meet the Press | Talk Shows, | This Week — Comments (3)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 10:32am on Jun. 26, 2008 Keep and Bear Those Arms
By Erick
5 to 4 decision. Scalia writes it for the majority.
Undoubtedly some think that the Second Amendment is outmoded in a society where our standing army is the pride of our Nation, where well-trained police forces provide personal security, and where gun violence is a serious problem. That is perhaps debatable, but what is not debatable is that it is not the role of this Court to pronounce the Second Amendment extinct.
We affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals.
Note: Though Senator Obama is today running ferociously away from his statement of last year that he supported the District of Columbia's gun ban, *all* of the Supreme Court Justices that Obama has said he respected voted against the individual right to keep and bear arms.
Posted in 2nd Amendment | Breaking News | Law | Right To Bear Arms | Supreme Court — Comments (139)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 12:59pm on Jun. 22, 2008 The Sunday Morning Talk Shows: The Review
Sunday, June 22, 2007.
By Mark Kilmer
PREFACE:
On TW, host George Stephanopoulos held an energy roundtable at which Ed Markey spewed slogans, Columbia U' Jeff Sachs sailed in la-la land, Senator Hutchison made the Republican case, and American Petroleum Institute CEO Red Cavaney made perfect sense.
On FNS, Tom Daschle explained that Barack Obama never really promised to accept public financing thus did not flip-flop on the issue. Tom Ridge contested Daschle's use of "Bush-McCain."
On MTP, Joe Biden maintained that Obama did not flip-flop on campaign finance reform but has made public financing a less achievable goal.
On FTN, Bob Schieffer observed that Obama had flip-flopped on public financing of his presidential campaign. Carly Fiorina, speaking for John McCain, said that it was disingenuous for Obama to claim that he was doing this in the name of reform. Bill Richardson, speaking for Obama, said, nuh-huh, Barry didn't flip-flop, McCain flip-flopped.
Speaking for Obama on LE, Richardson said that the Surge had "absolutely not" been successful, as there has been little political reconciliation in Iraq and they are not sharing oil profits. Speaking for McCain in the next segment, Dr. Douglas Holtz-Eakin dismissed the falderal that the Iraqis should sell us oil at a discount, asserting that it should be sold at market prices so we will not be kept artificially dependent on it.
The show-by-show review is beneath the fold.
Posted in Face the Nation | Late Edition | Meet the Press | Special Features | Talk Shows, | This Week — Comments (6)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 8:32pm on Jun. 21, 2008 *Not* the return of the Security Majority in Congress.
"Return" implies that it ever went away.
By Moe Lane
FiveThirtyEight.com has some numbers up of how the Blue Dogs jumped on FISA. As they note, the final vote was 105 Yea to 128 Nay on the Democratic side, which in itself is instructive of the failure of the progressive netroots to impose their desires on their Party; but among competitive-seat Democrats (31, as per the Cook Political Report*) the ratio was 23 Yea to 8 Nay. A fairly significant difference: and one that suggests that the Democrats have a fairly significant disconnect between rhetoric and reality. But we'll discuss that below.
By the way, those 23 Yea votes were from: Harry Mitchell AZ-5, Gabrielle Giffords AZ-8, Jerry McNerney CA-11, Tim Mahoney FL-16, John Barrow GA-12, Jim Marshall GA-8, Melissa Bean, IL-8, Brad Ellsworth IN-8, Nancy Hoyda KS-2, Dennis Moore KS-3, John Yarmuth KY-3, Don Cazayoux LA-6, Travis Childers MS-1, Kirsten Gillibrand NY-20, Michael Arcuri NY-24, Zack Space OH-18, Chris Carney PA-10, Paul Kanjorski PA-11, Jason Altmire PA-4, Joe Sestak PA-7, Patrick Murphy PA-8, Nick Lampson TX-22, and Ciro Rodriguez TX-23. I mention this because I am given to understand that ActBlue is making it a point to target these individuals (as well as House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer), and far be it from me to stand in their way. Go ahead and spend that money, netrooters.
The rest of you, read on.
Posted in Congress | FISA | I was for the war before I was against the war before I was for the war | Kneel Before Zod — Comments (6)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 11:12am on Jun. 20, 2008 Hope and Change More Like Same Old, Same Old
Cuban Americans in Florida see through Obama's Rhetoric
By Kevin Holtsberry
It will not come as news to RS readers, but Barack Obama, the supposed candidate of Hope and Change, has an awful lot of connections to the same old failed personalities and policies of the past. Jim Johnson went under the bus because his history clashed with Obama's self-righteous denunciations on the mortgage crisis. But there are a number of suspect characters still left advising the presumptive Democratic nominee. Eric Holder and Greg Craig for example.
And it seems the Cuban American community in Florida doesn't appreciate it:
Summoning a time of political upheaval in Miami, a great-uncle of Elián González plans Friday to publicly denounce two Barack Obama campaign advisors who helped send the boy back to his father in Cuba eight years ago.
One day before the expected Democratic nominee addresses a conference of mayors in Miami, Delfín González will hold a 1 p.m. news conference outside the Little Havana home where Elián lived with relatives for several months in 2000.
[. . .]
At issue are foreign-policy advisor Greg Craig, who represented Elián's father in the custody battle with the Miami relatives, and legal advisor Eric Holder, a member of Obama's vice-presidential search committee who was deputy attorney general when the 6-year-old boy was seized by federal agents and returned to Cuba.
''We're going to express opposition to Barack Obama's visit to Miami, and explain how we're opposed to him having individuals on his campaign who were associated with Elián's seizure in 2000,'' González said. ``Some wounds are so deep that they do not heal over time, such as taking a child and sealing his fate to a communist dictatorship.''
Craig isn't afraid of taking on controversial cases:
He defended John Hinkley, Jr. after the latter’s attempt to assassinate President Ronald Reagan. He defended former Bolivian Defense Minister Carlos Sanchez-Berzain, a human rights violator accused of 67 deaths. He was a “personal attorney” for Kofi Annan in the UN Oil for Food scandal and he provided “special counsel” to Bill Clinton during his impeachment trial. Currently, high powered attorney Greg Craig of the DC-based Williams and Connolly law firm, is defending Pedro Miguel Gonzales, President of the Panamanian legislature, accused of murdering U.S. Army Sgt. Zak Hernandez.
And of course, Holder played a key role in the pardon of Marc Rich, among others, in addition to his work in sending Elian back to Cuba
For more read on.