ELECTION '08
Looking Ahead At The VP Debate

This Thursday's debate, moderated by PBS anchor Gwen Ifill at Washington University in St. Louis, will be the only vice-presidential match-up before the election. Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) will present a conservative record and ideology to the American public in support of her running mate, Sen. John McCain (check out the Wonk Room's VP Debate Study Guide). Introducing this relatively unknown figure to the American public, McCain said, "She's exactly who I need." President Bush praised McCain's selection, calling Palin "a proven reformer who is a wise steward of taxpayer dollars and champion for accountability in government." In September, Palin announced the responsibilities that McCain will entrust to her: "Government reform, energy independence. And helping families and children, those with special needs." McCain is falsely presenting Palin as a break from the disastrous policies and extreme ideology of the Bush administration. Palin's true record, and McCain's actual agenda, represent more of the same failed conservativism that has given America two ongoing wars, obscene profits to Big Oil, and a stark decline in the fortunes of the middle class. 

FISCAL EXCESS AND CORRUPTION: Palin claims that she is a "hard-core fiscal conservative" who said, "Thanks, but no thanks to the Bridge to Nowhere." Appearing on The View, McCain claimed Palin didn't request earmarks as governor of Alaska. In fact, when Palin was mayor of Wasilla she "racked up nearly $20 million in long-term debt," which amounts to $3,000 in debt per resident. Calling Palin a reformer is laughable; she has demonstrated long and committed support for the Bridge to Nowhere. And Palin has requested earmarks of the very type that McCain routinely mocks. "In her two years in office, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation," according to the AP. McCain and Palin also misrepresent their economic plans. Senior economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin claims tax cuts for the wealthy "are not anywhere" in McCain's agenda. However, the Tax Policy Center writes that "McCain's tax cuts would primarily benefit those with very high incomes, almost all of whom would receive large tax cuts." They also claim they will balance the budget by the end of their first term and that no "real cuts would even be required." McCain and Palin spend so much on tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations that they could eliminate ten cabinet agencies and still not balance the budget.

ENERGY 'LA-LA LAND': According to McCain, Palin "knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the United States of America." Palin dismisses renewable energy as "far from imminent," supporting instead a "drill, drill, drill" platform based on oil and "clean, green natural gas." Palin says that we can "drill our way" out of our energy problem and claims that drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would produce oil in "five years," and "should help reduce price volatility." Those who don't agree, she says, "are living in La-La Land." In reality, the U.S. Energy Information Administration has found that opening drilling in protected areas "would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices." Palin told Charles Gibson of ABC that her state "produces nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy," and told Katie Couric of CBS that "we're supplying 16, 17 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy." In fact, Alaska produces 3.5 percent of domestic energy and only 13 percent of U.S. oil. Palin's definition of energy simply doesn't include anything that isn't oil or natural gas -- and ignores the role of energy efficiency. Just like Bush did with Dick Cheney, McCain is putting someone in charge of energy policy who disagrees that global warming is caused by man-made emissions, even as "worldwide emissions of carbon dioxide from fuel burning and cement production increased by 3.5 percent per year from 2000 to 2007, nearly four times the growth rate in the 1990s."

ENDANGERING HEALTH CARE: McCain and Palin's program of "quality and affordable health care for every American" calls for the elimination of "the current tax exclusion of the value of health insurance from employees' taxable compensation." A recent survey of benefits officers at large U.S. companies found that 74 percent of firms believe that a repeal of the exclusion "would have a strong negative impact on their workforce." Among those who would lose their health care are 56 million Americans with pre-existing chronic health conditions. In particular, McCain's policy will make it next to impossible for special needs children to get sufficient health care.  The entire employer health insurance system could unravel, ending this as an option for Americans who prefer it. In place of employer-based health care, McCain-Palin would provide a "refundable credit amounting to $5,000 for all families and $2,500 for individuals purchasing health insurance." This credit comes up grossly short for all but the most insufficient plans -- and ignores the steady rise in health coverage costs. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, “the total cost for family coverage now averages $12,680 a year, up 5 percent from 2007,” and $4,704 for single coverage.

For more on the McCain-Palin agenda, read our Sarah Palin Digest.

Under the Radar

CONGRESS -- HOUSE GOP BACKS OFF CLAIM THAT PELOSI'S 'PARTISAN' SPEECH MADE THEM VOTE AGAINST THE BAILOUT: On Monday, after the proposed bipartisan bailout package failed to pass, the House Republican leadership declared in a press conference that a "partisan" speech by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was to blame for GOP opposition to the bill. Holding up a copy of Pelosi's speech during a Monday press conference, Deputy Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) declared, "Right here is the reason, I believe, why this vote failed, and this is Speaker Pelosi's speech that, frankly, struck the tone of partisanship that, frankly, was inappropriate in this discussion." But the claim was quickly mocked by politicians, media observers, and even some conservatives. "We are not babies who suck our thumbs," said Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) on Monday. "We have very principled reasons for voting no." Following the ridicule, the conservatives are now backing off the claim. Rob Collins, Cantor's chief of staff, told The Hill yesterday that "the speech itself didn't switch votes." "I am not going to say her speech on the floor mattered," said Collins. "It was a mistake for the House leadership to say that Pelosi's speech mattered to anybody on our side," House Republican Policy Committee Chairman Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) told radio host Dennis Miller yesterday.

ECONOMY -- DID GINGRICH ORDER CONSERVATIVES TO VOTE AGAINST BAILOUT?: Yesterday, House conservatives walked back Monday's claim that they had voted against the bailout due to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) "partisan" speech on the floor. So what made at least 10 House Republicans who were thought to support the bill change their minds? According to NBC's Andrea Mitchell said that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich "was whipping against this up until the last minute...telling people in the strongest possible language that this was a terrible deal." Gingrich's position on the bill was nearly impossible to pin down on Monday. After apparently advocating its defeat, at the very last minute -- after voting had started -- Gingrich released a statement supporting the bill, albeit "reluctantly and sadly." Hours before, he had railed against the bill on Glenn Beck's radio show, while simultaneously admitting, "I'm not sure if I were in the Congress I could vote against it." Gingrich disputed Mitchell's claim in a speech to the National Press club yesterday, saying MSNBC was probably "wrong deliberately" because it is a "stunningly dishonest network." "I was actually reluctantly trying to help it get through," he said.

HEALTH CARE -- 'MEDICAL CRISES CONTRIBUTE TO HALF OF ALL HOME FORECLOSURE FILINGS': Some health care analysts have argued that the current financial crisis undermines the possibility of major health care reform. Indeed, since the crisis erupted, policy makers have largely divorced the health care crisis from the economic crisis and ignored the contribution of rising health care costs to the growing number of home foreclosures. In truth, while "lax lending standards, rising interest rates, and irresponsible borrowers" helped cause the current downturn, rising medical costs and loss of work due to injury or illness led to many foreclosures. According to one recent study, "medical crises contribute to half of all home foreclosure filings." "If these patterns hold nationwide, medical causes may put as many as 1.5 million Americans in jeopardy of losing their homes each year," the study concluded. As middle-class incomes remain stagnant, health care costs continue to increase. The employee contribution to health care insurance has more than doubled since 1999 and the total cost for family coverage now averages $12,680 a year, up 5 percent from 2007. Annual deductibles, the amount employees pay out of their own pockets for medical care before their insurance coverage starts, jumped an average of 29%, to $1,344, for those with family coverage," a recent Kaiser survey found.

Think Fast

"The number of job cuts announced in September rose as the economy slowed," according to a report released today by outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. Cuts "rose 7.2% to 95,094 from 88,736 the previous month, and were 33% higher than the same month last year, when 71,739 cuts were announced."

The Senate will vote on its version of the bailout bill today, which added tax breaks for businesses and alternative energy and higher government insurance for bank deposits to the version rejected by the House earlier this week.

According to a new USA Today/Gallup poll, "just 27 percent of Americans approve of the job George W. Bush is doing as president, the lowest rating of his presidency." Bush’s approval rating declined from 31 percent in the last Gallup poll.

Yesterday, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) "created legislation meant to help the capsizing financial markets right themselves." "DeFazio, a vociferous opponent of the Bush Administration's $700 billion Wall Street bailout, calls his legislation the 'No BAILOUTS Act.'" Read about the details of the legislation here.

Former VECO head Bill Allen testified against Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) yesterday, detailing the free gifts he exchanged with Stevens. Allen said he gave Stevens a 1999 "loaded" Land Rover, valued at $44,000, in exchange for a 1964 Mustang and $5,000, explaining he went through with the sweetheart deal "because I liked Ted."

And finally: Sin City has launched a new marketing campaign geared at Election Day. According to Vegas.com President Howard Lefkowitz, "[B]y the time voters go to the polls, their frustration is bound to manifest itself in drinking, gambling and other questionable behavior. 'This is our attempt to make the campaign a little more tolerable,' he said. New bumper stickers being sold by Vegas.com read: "Vegas: Because you need to be drunk to make it through this election."

Good News

"Massachusetts will be able to expand its first-in-the-nation healthcare law because of a federal promise of $10.6 billion over the next three years."

State Watch

NEW YORK: State officials "are preparing to ask for more than $60 million in federal aid to preserve threatened jobs and retrain displaced workers."

LOUSIANA: Gov. Bobby Jindal's office (R) says state Rep. John LaBruzzo's (R) eugenics proposal is a "nonstarter."

ECONOMY: "Cascading economic problems flowing from the crisis on Wall Street are forcing states to urgently redraw their financial blueprints for the rest of this year."

Blog Watch

THINK PROGRESS: Glenn Beck and Jonah Goldberg fantasize about violently cutting open Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-NV) stomach.

WONK ROOM: Conservatives explain how to salvage the bailout: add tax cuts.

YGLESIAS: The Paulson crisis.

MEDIA MATTERS: Discussing the economic crisis and bailout plan, right-wing shock jock Michael Savage says Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) "should be in the gallows for this."

Daily Grill

"[O]ur unemployment is fairly low."
-- Rep. Steve King (R-IA), 9/30/08

VERSUS

"The U.S. probably lost 105,000 jobs in September, the most since 2003. ... The unemployment rate held at five- year high of 6.1 percent."
-- Bloomberg, 10/1/08