McCain, Obama trade barbs in 2nd debate

Wednesday 08th October, 12:00 PM JST

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goodDonkey at 04:25 PM JST - 9th October

sarge

You call 11 percentage points a few? You used a Zogby poll that differs from every other poll by a wide margin. I have consistently used a variety of polls to show the progression of Obama. Show me one other poll that shows Obama only leading by 4 points. The 11% I quote is Gallup and they are at the very top of respected pollsters. I used them to admit they were even after Obama had the lead. I guess I deal with reality better even when it is not favorable to my interests.
yabits at 08:31 PM JST - 9th October

Giving loans and mortgages to people who should never have received them is the causes, and the Democrats are more responsible for this than the Republicans.

LOL!! Looks like someone was asleep in Washington while all this was going on. You betcha.

And I suppose it was the Democrats who took all that risky mortgage paper, blended it up into other securities, rated it as AAA, sold it and also sold unregulated credit swaps and derivatives against it. All while George W. Bush was touting home ownership for everyone as part of his "ownership society."
yabits at 08:34 PM JST - 9th October

Blaming the financial fiasco on the Democrats implies that there was absolutly no responsible leadership in Washington. You simply can't have it both ways.

But people do understand that the drive to deregulate and defang the watchdog agencies of government has been the Republican mantra for decades. It's pretty ludicrous to blame individual lenders when the problems were institutional in nature.
coulrophobic at 08:35 PM JST - 9th October

"Blaming the financial fiasco on the Democrats implies that there was absolutly no responsible leadership in Washington. You simply can't have it both ways."

Tell it to Bill Clinton - he blames the Democrats.
yabits at 08:46 PM JST - 9th October

Tell it to Bill Clinton - he blames the Democrats.

Suuuure he does.
coulrophobic at 09:07 PM JST - 9th October

While Senator Barack Obama, the candidate with the largest amount of cash from the financial and securities lobbyists (and the runaway largest recipient of lobby money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, if adjusted for time in the Senate, 2nd if not... ) was running around the country and putting all blame for the subprime crisis on the Republicans, former President Clinton - the only two term prez the Democrats have gotten elected since WW2 - goes on ABC and basically blames his party for the financial crisis.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/09/bill-clinton-do.html
Sarge at 09:49 PM JST - 9th October

yabits - Bill Clinton told ABC's Chris Cuomo that Democrats for years have been "resisting any efforts by Republicans in the Congress or by me when I was president to put some standards and tighten up a little in Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac."

Jordan fades back...
Simon_Foston at 10:41 PM JST - 9th October

Hrm. We've had eight years of a Republican Presidency and substantial periods with the Republicans in charge of both the House and the Senate (2003 - 2007). The Democrats might indeed have caused the financial crisis but the Republicans have had lots of time to do something about it and done absolutely nothing instead.
yabits at 11:43 PM JST - 9th October

Sarge - I saw the interview and, understanding plain and simple English, heard Mr. Clinton say, in effect, that the part of the blame that can be placed upon Democrats (in his view) was their resistance (while he was president) to tighten up the two lending orgs.

The actual quote: "Well, maybe everybody does that [plays politics] a little bit. I think the responsibility the Democrats have may rest more in resisting any efforts by Republicans in the Congress or by me when I was President to put some standards and tighten up a little on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Bill Clinton left office in January of 2001. George W. Bush had over SEVEN years working with a Republican Congress to manage what Bill Clinton failed to do. The American people are simply not as stump-stupid as would suit your tastes.
yabits at 11:44 PM JST - 9th October

Where does Bill Clinton completely absolve the Republicans of any responsibility for the current mess?
Sarge at 07:42 AM JST - 10th October

yabits - You're just sore that Bill Clinton refuses to put all the blame on the Republicans and puts at least part of the blame on the Democrats.

The more important question is, who is better able to deal with this, Obama or McCain? If you think the answer is Obama, who has his fingerprints all over this mess, you are mistaken.
yabits at 11:50 AM JST - 10th October

Sarge writes: "The more important question is, who is better able to deal with this, Obama or McCain?"

Simple: Tackling complex problems requires intelligence that is far above average. In the intelligence department, John McCain does not hold a candle to Barack Obama. That much is obvious.
SezWho2 at 08:54 PM JST - 10th October

Sarge,

How can I say that these issues don't say anything about Obama's character? I think the main reason is that you have made no case that they do. This is not ignoring issues. This is simply demanding that you make a simple showing of how Obama's character is in any way problematic. Absent that showing there are no character issues.
SezWho2 at 09:09 PM JST - 10th October

Sarge,

Clinton did not say that the Democrats resisted him for years. Listen again.

...and it's an air ball! Folks, Michael Jordan launched an air ball....
SezWho2 at 09:17 PM JST - 10th October

coulrophobic,

Clinton did not blame the Democrats. Cuomo asked a specific question regarding the fairness of Pelosi's claim that it was all the Republican's fault and Clinton named an aspect in which he believed the Democrats could be faulted.

He went on to say that the biggest single factor was, in his opinion, the repeal of the uptick rule. That was not in the province of Congress. It was the province of the Securities and Exchange Commission--3 Republicans and 2 Democrats with a Republican chair. All members were appointed by...George W. Bush.