Posted on 09/24/2008 12:49:25 PM PDT by jessduntno
White House noncommittal on McCain’s proposal By Sam Youngman Posted: 09/24/08 03:43 PM [ET] The White House said Wednesday it welcomes GOP presidential candidate John McCain’s call for a bipartisan solution to the ongoing financial crisis, but a spokeswoman stopped short of endorsing McCain's call for the president to convene a bipartisan summit to find a solution.
White House press secretary Dana Perino stated shortly after Sen. McCain (Ariz.) said he was suspending his campaign and wants to postpone Friday's debate that the White House is making "progress" in the negotiations with Capitol Hill on the administration's proposed $700 billion bailout package.
McCain said in his statement that he does not see a consensus emerging on the Hill and members from both parties and both Houses, including himself and Obama, should join the president in finding a solution.
“We welcome Sen. McCain's announcement. We are making progress in negotiations on the financial markets rescue legislation, but we have not finished it yet,” Perino said. “Bipartisan support from Sens. McCain and Obama would be helpful in driving to a conclusion. The financial market crisis is a big problem that requires a big solution, and solving this in a bipartisan way will help prevent economic damage spreading from Wall Street to all Americans.”
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
I cannot believe what I am reading but somehow I am not surprised since Bush dealt with the Dems and not the House Republicans. What is he afraid of — McCain will show him up?
Perhaps we have not considered the possibility that just as the Clinton’s don’t want to help Obama, Bush doesn’t really want to help McCain.
Excellent - McCain is now going to support this handout plan just as he supported the amnesty plan. I can’t believe he’s pulling this kind of stunt in the middle of a presidential election campaign. Why does he persist in doing un-conservative things? Is he daring conservatives not to vote for him?
It would appear from what we know thus far that he may tackle this issue only superficially and is not aware of or doesn’t care that the majority of his supporters DO NOT want this bailout. What is going on? Paulson should be fired and Romney put in his place to do the fact finding and then they can decide what is best. Romney is the only one who has the business capability to really understand what is/has happened and how and although it may be in his best interest, albeit politically, I feel confident that he will get to the bottom. Listened to the short bleep from Governor Sarah on Couric’s peek into the interview re bailout. I really don’t think Sarah is up to speed on this whole mess or else she totally disagrees with McCain but doesn’t want it to appear blantly so.
Pretty much off the mark. Romney has no clue about the current problem. He is at best an outsider peering through a window.
I hope the handout package fails anyway. It’s a real boat anchor for him, when you consider that the handout plan as envisioned requires the purchase of toxic waste assets from financial institutions (a category now broadened to include companies like IBM, GE and H&R Block) at a significant premium to what they would fetch today based on the fanciful idea that government officials have a better (in my view inflated) idea of what they’re worth than prevailing market prices. This is the biggest non-entitlement-related boondoggle in American history. Even if he wins the election, the fallout from this massive handout - due to massive portfolio losses resulting from paying too much for toxic waste assets - will make him a one-term president.
I'm sure that the president understands the severity of this issue, but everyone in the free world is watching his every move to see what he does in response to this issue.
The White House has set the correct tone and is acting correctly.
Tnx for responding. Don’t totally agree tho - primarily because of my background and because of what I know about Romney. He’s not running for president any more but there is always 2012 and so has nothing to lose by telling it all like it is. My concern about McCain is that he really has no in-depth concept/knowledge of who all it is that should be held responsible. But all we can do right now is speculate about McCain’s position and “hide and watch”. He really scares me though. Tough to reach out to those across the aisle successfully while those across the aisle are the primary contributors to the problem.
Paulson knows everything about this problem because he presided over Goldman Sach's massive expansion of its balance sheet (i.e. loaded up with debt) before becoming Treasury Secretary. He understands that his friends at Goldman need a taxpayer-funded handout if their stock options are to retain much of their value.
Romney's role at Bain involved liquidating companies that made wrong-way bets. I suspect he wouldn't be proposing a Paulson-type handout program. His "plan" would probably involve letting these companies be liquidated and sold piecemeal.
Cowards die many times before their deaths, The valiant never taste of death but once.
Julius Caesar (II, ii, 32-37)
Pat Buchanan thinks its a smart move by McCain and you can always get an honest assessment about this from him.
He also called it risky, but that he had to take risks.
I heard Pickens say that he didn’t know the answer. He was saying that he just knows what he reads in the news.
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