Obama's Foreign Tour: McCain gets what he asks for and doesn't want it?

There’s nothing all that subtle about the McCain campaign. The twisting and turning talking points are clearly comprehensible if not always very consistent. Much more pretzel shape straining positions from Team McCain and the currently slim lead enjoyed by the Obama Campaign in Nevada could widen.

McCain decided early on to make a campaign talking point of his greater experience, i.e. more passport stamps, with the situation in Iraq – after all, he’d been there with his side kick Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) in the highly publicized trip to the market complete with a full security contingent. McCain announced that there were neighborhoods we could all walk through safely – with a 100 soldier escort, 3 Blackhawks, and 2 Apache Gunships. [TP]

Then the McCain campaign took the argument one step further – McCain and Obama should travel together to visit Iraq. The Republican National Committee even posted an “Obama Clock” on its website counting how long it had been since the Illinois Senator had visited the country.

** “A McCain-Obama Trip to Iraq?” May 26, 2008
“On Sunday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of McCain’s closest friends, suggested on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that the two travel to Iraq together. Asked about the idea today, McCain said sure.“Sure it would be fine. I go back every few months because things are changing in Iraq,” he told the Associated Press in an interview.” [WSJ]

** “McCain proposes trip to Iraq with Obama” May 27, 2008
"I go back every few months because things are changing in Iraq," he said. McCain questioned whether Obama has ever been briefed by Petraeus. "I would also seize that opportunity to educate Senator Obama along the way." [CBS2]

** “John McCain wants Barack Obama to visit Iraq with him” May 27, 2008
“Republican John McCain on Monday sharply criticized Democratic rival Barack Obama for not having been to Iraq since 2006, and said they should visit the war zone together.” [WCBS]

** “Obama’s last Iraq visit clocked by GOP” May 28, 2008
“The Republicans are steadily trying to increase the pressure on Sen. Barack Obama to visit Iraq. They (GOP) now have a clock up on the RNC site to keep count on how many days it's been since the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination's one and only visit to Iraq.”

** “Obama, McCain and Vets for Freedom” June 3, 2008
“This kicked off a week of back and forth between the McCain and the Obama campaigns on Obama and Iraq. It was a slam dunk for McCain. The RNC began and “Obama clock” counting the days since the senator had been to Iraq. In addition, McCain hit a home run with this comment, “Why is it that Senator Obama wants to sit down with the President of Iran, but hasn’t yet sat down with General Petraeus -- the leader of our troops in Iraq?” [Human Events]

** “Barack Obama answers John McCain’s call to visit Baghdad” June 16, 2008
Earlier in Arlington, Va., McCain noted that Obama "now is closing in on his 900th day since he visited Iraq" in 2005. The Republican National Committee, which has been running an Obama clock on its Web site, said at 6 p.m. yesterday that it had been 890 days, 17 hours, 59 minutes and 32 seconds since Obama went to Baghdad. McCain urged Obama to meet with Gen. David Petraeus on his Iraq trip to learn that "we are on the path to victory." [NYDN]

** “McCain Camp dismisses Obama’s plan to visit Iraq” June 16, 2008
“The McCain campaign -- which has said they want Barack Obama to visit Iraq -- is already reacting dismissively to today's news that he will indeed be going to Iraq and Afghanistan some time this summer. "I think first it's a very good thing that Barack Obama has decided that he will visit the reality on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan," top McCain adviser Carly Fiorina said on a conference call with reporters. "And hopefully he will be moved by the facts on the ground. He will have to acknowledge that the surge is working, and perhaps this will cause him to change his position." [TPMEC]

** “Obama gets help from Iraq’s Prime Minister” July 10, 2008
“Meanwhile, Maliki's insistence on this score (timetable for withdrawal) makes life a lot easier for Obama. McCain pressured him into planning a trip to Iraq this summer—he hadn't been there for two years—so he can see the place up close before making judgments about its future.” [Slate]

The Republican National Committee’s Obama Clock is still running on the RNC site. However, the chimes have a new tone. Now, the RNC is asserting that Obama’s trip is meaningless because he will be merely confirming previously held positions, [RNC] which, of course, is nothing like announcing that it’s perfectly safe to walk through Baghdad neighborhoods in search of sunglasses and souvenir prayer rugs with the escort, the helicopters, and the gunships.

The second RNC line of attack comes in the form of a video “The Obama Iraq Documentary: Whatever the Politics Demand,” which tries mightily to find inconsistencies in Senator Obama’s statements, but is frankly thin on substance and thick on illogical interpolations and parsing.

There are two possibilities for a McCain/RNC attack: (1) Should Senator Obama maintain his position then the initial RNC attack alleging the trip will serve only to confirm Senator Obama’s previously held positions is the one more likely to be continued. (2) Should Senator Obama adjust his position the immediate cry will be a resurrection of the 2004 “flip flop” garden variety GOP attack. The GOP tried this after Senator Obama’s statements in Montana, only to have two press conferences confirm that his position hadn’t changed. It gave the political press something to cover for a full day, but did little to advance the McCain line du jour.

What remains is the whine. The McCain campaign fell over itself saying the major network coverage of Senator Obama’s foreign visits is “no big deal,” while complaining about increased coverage of Senator Obama’s trip by all three major networks. [IHT]

Since the Obama Trip to Iraq Clock is expiring – the RNC will have to fall back on its “Time since the Town Hall meetings were requested.” That particular timepiece seems to be ticking silently and without much discernible impact.

Evening Clips: Larry Craig Special

** You just can’t make this stuff up: Is that mysterious sound the result of all Idahoans cringing at once?

** Chris Cillizza’s “The Fix” takes a sideways glance at the ‘running feud’ between Nevada Congresswoman Shelley Berkley (D-NV1) and Sheldon “Freedom’s Watch” Adelson. (h/t Early Line)

** Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded Nevada paper from “stable” to “negative,” based on our $1.9 billion “of net tax supported debt outstanding.” Via Ralston Flash.

** Joe Aguirre, Elko County Assessor who was the target of pressure from ‘friends of the Governor’ to allow Governor Gibbons a tax break on his retirement property in Elko County, announced his retirement. August 29 will be Aguirre’s last day; he retires after five terms as county assessor. [EDFP]

** The Washington State GOP is re-introducing the negative ad first used by the Tennessee GOP concerning Michelle Obama’s comments about being proud of America. “A spokesperson for the state party said they didn’t run the video by the McCain campaign.” “The move by the state party is an early mark that GOP groups are starting to feel freer to attack the Obamas on the cultural issues that McCain has signaled he won't personally touch.” [Politico] Nor, will he actually DO anything to stop them.

** Support the troops? Former Attorney General John Ashcroft sidestepped a direct question before the House Judiciary Committee on whether the use of torture (waterboarding) on U.S. troops would be “unacceptable” or “criminal.” Think Progress has video of the exchange between Ashcroft and Rep. Maxine Waters.

** Steve Benen is making my life much easier – by creating a special page on his website: “The Official John McCain Flip Flop List.” So many Sunday Deck Bass, so little time.

McCain to Sneak into Tahoe for Bundlers Bash

On Tuesday, DB remarked on the Las Vegas Journal article about Presidential candidate Sen. John Sidney McCain III’s surreptitious visit to a private location for some another dip into the coffers of Nevada Republicans. Not another town hall, not even an invitation only reception at the airport – only a pre-lunch session with the McCain “Pioneers,” and lunch with those bearing campaign cash.

Perhaps we should get used to this. McCain visited Las Vegas last March to cuddle up to the bundlers from the MGM/Mirage, Sig Rogich, and the ever generous right wing financier Sheldon Adelson. [DB] McCain merely joins others who have made quick hops to the Silver State to collect cash – Bush, [DB] Giuliani [NDN] and Cheney [DB] come to mind.

The LVRJ article this week confirms that Senator McCain has no intention of controlling donations to friendly 527s and 501(c) organizations. Not when the cash can be spread to the Republican Governors Association, and other entities willing to do some of the Arizona Senator’s dirty work. That’s what the pre-luncheon $33,100 bundlers are all about.

One might wonder if Nevadans are prepared to give Senator McCain the kind of “greeting” on July 29^th they provided for Vice President Cheney and President George Bush?

Quick Clips: Shoot Out Tuesday

** The Nevada Water War heats up today in the “Snake Valley Shoot-out” during which State Engineer Tracy Taylor will be called upon to decide if the Southern Nevada Water Authority can drain Snake Valley. [LV Sun]

** The results of an OSHA investigation into the deaths of two workers at the Orleans last year hasn’t yet been released, but this excerpt indicates some highly questionable coziness between Nevada OSHA and the Boyd Gaming Group: “…a former federal OSHA official said a draft of the findings calls into question the use of state resources to provide training and consultation services to Boyd Gaming Corp., owner of the Orleans and one of the state’s largest employers.” [LV Sun]

** The Nevada Republican candidates are apparently as eager to try slapping the “Flip Flop” label on any and all Democrats as they were in 2004. Incumbent Congressman Jon Porter (R-NV3) is trying to assert that his opponent State Senator Dina Titus (D-LV) is a flopper because she is supporting the concept of offshore oil drilling subject to state approval. [LVRJ]

Porter may not know that he has already been the recipient of one Sunday Deck Bass in September 2006 for his outstanding performance on the House Floor, where he voted in favor of a $1500 bonus for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan – then got button-holed by Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) and immediately changed his vote. [DB] Porter earned a nomination for his performance during a junket with power industry promoters [DB], and he was a second runner up for his support of the President’s veto of the Military Appropriations bill. [DB] Titus, on the other hand has not accumulated any such critters in her creel, and her stance on the drilling issue is insufficiently spun to even get her a nomination.

** GOP Presidential candidate Senator John Sidney McCain III (R-Absent) will quietly drop into another exclusive Nevada location for donations on July 29 for a luncheon at the Incline Village home of software developer Bob Davidson. The noon VIP reception is open to those who raise or contribute $33,100; attending the luncheon 30 minutes later will cost $1,000, or $2300 for a photo op with McCain. The Las Vegas Review Journal article also provides a glimpse at the funding strategy the McCain camp is using. “The maximum amount an individual can contribute to a presidential candidate under federal law is $2,300. However, the invitation states that money raised at the Tahoe event will be split between McCain's campaign and several other Republican Party committees.” Translation: The other GOP committees will be free to run anti-Obama ads, and McCain will whine softly, as he has done before, [Atl] [Reuters] that he objects to them, but can’t do anything about them because they are independent of his campaign.

** Erin Neff looks at Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons’ all-too-cute-tax-deal in Elko County, compares the Governor’s actions to NRS 281A.400(2) and finds the Governor coming up short. “A public officer or employee shall not use his position in government to secure or grant unwarranted privileges, preferences, exemptions or advantages for himself, any business entity in which he has a significant pecuniary interest, or any person to whom he has a commitment in a private capacity to the interests of that person.” NRS 281A.480 lists the penalties for violations, including impeachment and fines.

** The Huffington Post provides a transcript of Senator Barack Obama’s speech today on Iraq and Afghanistan. Senator McCain offers the usual “I know how to win wars,” (an example to support this contention would be helpful?) and “Obama has it backwards,” i.e. the Bush line – “Iraq is the central front on the war on terror.”

Overnight Express: Whining Edition

Term limit amendments were all the rage in the 1990’s and Nevada adopted limits in its 1994 and 1996 elections. Now the Nevada Supreme Court is hearing a case that pits counsel for the State Legislature against the Secretary of State about the implementation of the limitations. A decision should be made quickly; Nevada has a primary election on August 12^th. [KLAS] Inside Nevada Politics provides more detail.

The story of Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons’ rural tax bill has leaked over the border. The San Diego Union Tribune has picked up the story.

The McCain Campaign has come out with another new (old) theme: “Obama would swap Iraq War loss for election win.” [AFP] “Sadr’s Militia may live to fight again” [IndpUK] Senator Obama’s campaign is emphasizing the need to deploy more forces to Afghanistan. “Deadly Taliban attack on U.S. bases raises concerns” [LAT]

The Bush Administration still can’t seem to get alleged terrorist prosecutions right: “Detainee’s lawyers make claim on sleep deprivation.” [NYT]
“Lawyers want detainees to testify in terror trial” [WaPo]
“Judge allows testimony by Guantanamo detainees” [LAT]
“Bin Laden driver want 9/11 braintrust as defense witness” [MiamiHrld]
Some problems in Great Britain too: “In ’06 bomb plot, a question of imminence: testimony shows little evidence of immediate attack or links to Al Qaeda” [NYT]

Take it to the Bank? “IndyMac reopens, halts foreclosures on its loans” [WSJ]
“Plenty of blame to go around for Fannie, Freddie” [WSJ]
“Scramble led to rescue plan on mortgages” [NYT]
“Washington Mutual’s decline wipes out most of TPG’s investment” [Blmbrg]
“Washington Mutual plans more layoffs” [EBBT]
“Regional banks take it on the chin as fallout spreads” [WSJ]
“Citigroup: Appointments with red ink” [NYT]
“Economic crisis called worst since 70s” [Reuters]

More whining: “GM’s Wagoner may cut salaried jobs, update cash strategy today” [Blmbrg] “GM: Up to 305 layoffs possible when Powertrain Flint North stops building V-6 engine in August” [TFJ]
“Panasonic, Lifeline Armor announce layoffs” [KnxvlSntnl]
“Sun Microsystems announces 29 Dallas layoffs” [DBJ]
“Hard times a boon to repo men” [MiamiHrld]
“Jobless rate for youths is increasing: competition fierce for low skill summer positions” [WaPo]

South of the Border, (where McCain didn’t go):
“Haiti’s Toto Constant goes on trial in NYC” [CWN]
“Unusual mortgage fraud case: founder of Haitian death squad is defendant in a mortgage fraud case that opened yesterday” [NYS]
“Guatemala prosecutor shot dead” [BBC] “Gunmen kill prosecutor probing Salvador murder case” [Reuters] “Guatemala joins Petrocaribe” [PrLtn]
“Pacific Rim (gold) suspends further drilling in El Salvador until mining permit granted; local staffing reduced” [CNN] “Communities hit by floods in El Salvador” [Reuters]

Energy Alternatives: “3 solar plants for FPL weighed: Public Service Commission to take up solar energy proposal” [MiamiHrld] “Canada: Ontario to protect forest” [NYT]

McCain continues Pinnochio Campaign, offers another bogus number concerning Obama's tax proposals

Unsolicited advice for the McCain Campaign: Make a mistake once and it’s a blunder, repeat it and it’s an error – keep saying it over and over again and people will call you out as a liar. First came the $32,000 Phony Number, and now the McCain campaign has added yet another. Fact Check catches it.

** When Senator John McCain introduced his “Jobs for America” plan on July 7^th he told his audience that if they were one of the 23 million small business owners then Senator Obama was going to raise their taxes.

** On July 8^th he repeated the claim to the League of United Latin American Citizens.

** He repeated the claim once more at a campaign event on July 9^th. That’s three and counting. He repeated it yet again in the initial version of a series of radio addresses on July 12^th. And, yet again, it’s a bogus number.

Where did it come from? According to the McCain Campaign it’s from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, “actually an outdated count of all the businesses in the United States, produced by the U.S. Census for 2002, when the Economic Census counted a total of 23,343,821 business firms of all sizes. Of those, 16,845 firms employed 500 persons or more, which still leaves just over 23.3 million classified as "small" by the widely accepted definition that we will use here.” [FactCheck] So, how did this outdated number get so inflated?

The Small Business Administration counts almost everything – including 20,000,000 “non-employer firms” an unknown number of them “sideline or hobby businesses run by persons who actually make their living some other way. You can be a “small business owner” in this country reporting as little as $1000 in business receipts." [FactCheck]

Fact Check: From this, we must conclude that to arrive at his 23 million figure, McCain is counting mostly "business owners" with no workers, including those who simply report small amounts of income from sideline or freelance work. McCain is arguing that Obama's tax increase would "destroy jobs," but he's counting mostly firms that don't produce any.” (emphasis added)

Returning to the Land of Reality – the proposals made by Senator Obama would affect about 663,608 tax payers whose business income would fall into the top two brackets in 2009. However, not all of these might be subject to the increased taxes; some might be professionals (lawyers, accountants, etc) who get some of their income from partnership distributions, others might be farmers, and still others may be passive investors in other forms of partnerships and similar investment arrangements – in short, they aren’t business owners. This number could get smaller yet. [FactCheck]

A 2004 Tax Policy Center study found that “hundreds of thousands of individual taxpayers who had business income from partnerships or subchapter S corporations did not claim any tax deductions for employee expenses.” Therefore, that 663,608 number shrinks down even further. [FactCheck]

When challenged by FactCheck the McCain Campaign responded: “Rogers starts by saying that Obama's health care proposal to provide coverage for uninsured workers would amount to a "tax," either in the form of higher costs for covering employees or "cash to the government." But McCain was talking about income tax rates, not higher business costs. That's not justifying McCain's claim; that's trying to change the subject.” [FactCheck]

The McCain Campaign has taken a page directly from the Bush-Cheney Playbook in which the incumbent in the Oval Office takes the Orwellian stance that “"62,400 repetitions make one truth."

• Iraq is the central front of the war on terror.
• Saddam Hussein was connected to the attacks on September 11^th.
• The occupation of Iraq will pay for itself.
• The vice president is part of the Legislative Branch of government
• Executive privilege covers conversations among officials who are not in contact with the President.
• The Bush Administration domestic surveillance program was legal.
• The U.S. Attorneys were fired for “cause.”
• The Democratically controlled Congress is responsible for increased gas prices.
• Senator Obama will raise taxes on people earning as little as $32,000.
• Senator Obama will raise taxes on 23 million small business owners.

At some point, lying takes on its own pathology – maybe Republicans just can’t help themselves?

McCain's Entitlement Program for the Entitled

Elites don’t sacrifice. Elites can comfortably believe that filling an SUV tank with $4.05 per gallon gas in Reno, NV [NVgas] is inconvenient, but not indicative of deep and abiding economic problems – a little drilling here, and little signal to the market there, and all will be right with the universe. The truly elite can go out and purchase a Tesla. Elites with multiple homes may watch their gross worth decline on paper, but the real estate is still there and still theirs. The elites, like Senator John McCain and his bevy of economic advisers, have another perspective appearing to have very little in common with the middle and working class citizens in this country.

Remember McCain’s “energy policy?” The one that calls for offshore drilling (which he once opposed). This is underpinned by just such a perspective. McCain’s theory of the financial universe holds that prices will come down if “the market gets a signal.” Note the focus: McCain is not talking about increased refinery capacity. McCain is barely talking about significant augmentations to alternative energy development. McCain is not talking at all about decreasing American demand by implementing conservation policies. These would require sacrifice – and, the elites don’t do sacrifice.

Back in 2000 and 2003 Senator McCain was all for closing the Enron Loophole and severely punishing those whom investigation showed were manipulating the commodities markets. [Time] In 2008 we are supposed to trust that Senator McCain’s would lead an administration vigorously investigating and prosecuting speculators and manipulators since he’s offered no specific examples of the “reforms” that ought to be made. [OilWtch]

However, how does one trust that he would, in actuality, conduct his administration with a close eye on market manipulation when former Senator Phil “Enron Loophole” Gramm is a valued economic adviser and has been mentioned as a possible Secretary of the Treasury in a McCain administration?

Remember McCain’s policy statements on the mortgage meltdown? “I have always been committed to the principle that it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers,” McCain said. “Government assistance to the banking system should be based solely on preventing systemic risk that would endanger the entire financial system and the economy.” [Politico] It would be extremely difficult to find a statement more in line with the Deregulation School of Financial Operators than this. However, consider one of the sources.

It was none other than Texas Senator Phil Gramm who led the charge in 1999 to ‘reform’ U.S. banking laws, with deregulation and a focus on facilitating mergers rather than “creating an efficient regulatory framework.” [Politico] A year after the Gramm bill became law, UBS took over the Paine Webber brokerage house, and two years later Gramm became vice-chairman of UBS’s new investment operations. While Gramm was a lobbyist for UBS the mortgage industry sought Congressional roll backs of state rules restricting or proscribing predatory lending practices used to entice homeowners to take on high cost mortgages. Former Senator Gramm hasn’t been called “Foreclosure Phil” without cause.

A person seeking specific proposals for adequately regulating the mortgage and banking industries should be looking to FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair whose agency approved a proposal to provide bank examiners with better tools to determine the amount of deposits in the event of a bank failure, rather than to Senator McCain and his economic adviser Gramm. [SDUT]

“Foreclosure Phil” advocated diminishing the rules on predatory lending, so it has been left to the Federal Reserve System in the wake of the mortgage meltdown to announce changes that require the verification of assets, and curb penalties for prepayments. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, “It seems clear that unfair or deceptive acts and practices by lenders resulted in the extension of many loans, particularly high-cost loans, that were inappropriate for or misled the borrower.” [Blmbrg] Senator McCain’s emphasis on de-regulation is definitely at odds with the actions taken this week by the FDIC and the Federal Reserve.

Elites don’t worry about predatory lending practices; they have their real estate attorneys, their tax accountants and attorneys, and their financial advisers to assist them. Predatory loans happen to those “other” people, greedy little people who might want to live beyond their stations?

Elites sacrifice things like playing golf during war-time (unless it’s a fundraising session for the GOP and its candidates). Elites sell golf wear on their campaign web sites. Elites wonder why those little people want to regulate their industries and impinge on their quarterly profits. After all, aren’t they the Drivers and Captains of Industry entitled to their wealth and the influence it provides? Nothing causes the elites to squeal so vociferously than the mention that some of that influence to which they know themselves to be entitled might not be justified; or, Heaven Forbid, might be curtailed.

So, the elites can opine that conservation (of both money and gasoline) is a fine individual exemplar, but hardly the stuff of which growing consumer based economies are made. Therefore, it is for the rest of us little people sitting out here in the dark to reduce the amount of driving we do, slow down and use less gasoline, economize in our spending habits so we can (1) save for our privatized retirement accounts; (2) put the kids through college; (3) pay for the house; (4) buy our own health insurance; (5) pay our own medical bills; (6) fill our refrigerators and pantries; and (7) put enough gas in the vehicle to get to work – or to find work.

Meanwhile, we are to get out of their way – as the elites fill the tanks, consider their coupons, and check on their portfolios. We are not to consider any proposals that might, in any way, shape, or form, impinge on the influence to which our elites are entitled. After all, they’re elite and they have their candidate, a man ready and willing to perpetuate their sense of entitlement as he moves from one country club to the next receiving their donations.

Update: For an excellent example of the condescending, patronizing, view elite conservatives view the educational capacity of 'public school' children see Smintheus's post.

The Sunday Deck Bass

The Desert Beacon Sunday Deck Bass has been referred to as northern Nevada’s “unwanted,” “uncoveted,” and “unsought,” award for politicians and public figures who best illustrate the flipping and flopping of a caught bass on a boat deck. However, perhaps the adjectives were “unwarranted?” Perhaps there is a politician who has Embraced the Bass? Kissed the Fish? Fingered the Fins? Gushed over the Gills? Such might be the case of GOP presidential candidate Senator John Sidney McCain III (R-AZ)!

After all, the Sunday Deck Bass is the one race in which the Arizona solon is definitely winning, with his Ten SDB’s in hand, one ahead of his nearest rivals President George W. Bush and Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons. Perhaps he meant to have a week during which he rushed headlong to the front of the Fish List on a wide range of topics, from Social Security to the Pittsburgh Steelers?

Social Insecurity: Speaking to a campaign session in Portsmouth, OH this past week, Senator McCain said: “Americans have got to understand that we are paying present-day retirees with the taxes paid by young workers in America today," he said. "And that's a disgrace. It's an absolute disgrace, and it's got to be fixed.” [WaPo] Senator McCain may believe that one generation’s contributions to the next might be “an absolute disgrace,” but that’s how the system’s been working since 1935. The McCain Camp gyrated about trying to ‘explain’ that the quote was taken out of context and that the Senator ‘meant’ to say that the fact that the system hadn’t been reformed (privatized?) was the real disgrace. [MJ] Nice try, but the quotation was set in context, and the Senator really does favor privatization of Social Security.

Mental Recessions: On Wednesday, July 9^th, Sen. John McCain’s top economic adviser former Texas Senator Phil Gramm (who is also the McCain Campaign co-chair) gave a now well publicized interview with the Washington Times. During the session Gramm declared that we’re only having a “mental recession.” The McCain campaign initially tried to support Gramm’s comments only to reverse position saying, “Gramm’s comments are not representative of John McCain’s views.” [MJ] Gramm remains co-chair of the McCain Campaign.

Little Blue Pills vs. Little Yellow Pills: Early last March, the McCain Campaign was pleased to announce the addition of former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina as a “leading surrogate for the McCain campaign and as chairman of fund-raising for the get-out-the-vote efforts.” [SJMN] We didn’t hear much from or about Fiorina until that fateful breakfast meeting this past week with reporters during which she offered “"a real, live example which I've been hearing a lot about from women: There are many health insurance plans that will cover Viagra but won't cover birth-control medication. Those women would like a choice." For effect, the woman frequently mentioned as a possible McCain running mate repeated: "Those women would like a choice." [WaPo]

Oops! The ‘leading surrogate’ either forgot, or didn’t know, that McCain had voted against requiring insurance companies to offer coverage for birth control prescriptions in 2003 and 2005. [TP] Afterwards, Fiorina spun around several times without effectively explaining away her previous explanation, [ABC] and McCain wriggled like a landed bass “unable to recall his votes” during questioning from a Los Angeles Times reporter which the Huffington Post kindly posted complete with video.

Supporting the Veterans? McCain caught some critical questioning from a veteran during his Denver town hall meeting about his support for legislation improving health care services. [TWI] The candidate responded by asserting that he’d won every award from every veterans’ group, which, of course, doesn’t answer the question. The bills to which the questioner might well have been referring are:

*August 2001: voted against increasing the amount available for medical care for veterans by $650 million. (S.Amdt. 1218 to S.Amdt. 1214 to H.R. 2620; vote 263)

*March 2004: voted against a bill that would have funded a reserve fund to increase veterans’ medical care by eliminating $1.8 billion in abusive tax loopholes. (S.Amdt 2745 to S. Con Res. 95, vote 40)

*March 2006: voted against increasing veterans’ medical services by $1.5 billion to be paid for by closing corporate tax loopholes. (S.Amdt 3007 to S. Con. Res. 83, vote 41)

*April 2006: voted against $430 million for the Department of Veterans Affairs for medical services for outpatient care and treatment for veterans. (S.Amdt. 3642 to H.R. 4939, vote 98)

*May 2006: voted against an amendment to provide $20 million to the VA for health care facilities. (S.Amdt 3704 to H.R. 4939, vote 111) [VCS]

As posted earlier, McCain appears willing to vote for bills of interest to veterans if the legislation doesn’t cost anything, or doesn’t require closing corporate tax loopholes. [DB] Senator McCain is tentatively scheduled to address the DAV convention in Las Vegas, NV on August 9, 2008. [DAV]

Packers or Steelers? One of the core narratives of the McCain campaign is the heroic nature of the Senator’s service to his country during the Vietnam War. Additionally, he’s labeled his campaign “the straight talk express.” With these two considerations in mind it’s inconceivable that he could have muffed his recent remarks in Pittsburgh so badly.

During an interview with KDKA (Pittsburgh) McCain stated that he “named the defensive line of the Pittsburgh Steelers as my squadron mates under interrogation.” [EFN] Every other version of this element of McCain’s story states that the line in question was that of the Green Bay Packers, including this excerpt from McCain’s own book, Faith of My Fathers: “Eventually, I gave them my ship’s name and squadron number, and confirmed that my target had been the power plant. Pressed for more useful information, I gave the names of the Green Bay Packers offensive line, and said they were members of my squadron.” [ABC]

The McCain campaign responded that this was “an honest mistake,” and a “non-story.” Frankly, the initial Green Bay Packer version makes infinitely more sense; the Packers won national titles in 1961, 1962, 1965, 1966, and 1967. [PFR] The Steelers, by contrast had a rough decade. In 1965 they went 2-12-0; in 1966 they were 5-8-1; and in 1967 the team had a 4-9-1 record. [PFR] In short, they weren’t even all that memorable at the time.

Immigration Issue Migration: Senator McCain spoke to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials including in his remarks: “McCain, speaking first, promised the approximately 700 attendees that resurrecting the bipartisan immigration bill he helped shape last year would be at the forefront of his agenda as president.
“It would be my top priority yesterday, today and tomorrow,” McCain said in response to a question about whether he would pursue a comprehensive approach beyond his campaign promise to secure the border in his first 100 days in office.” [Politico]

This doesn’t quite square with his statement to MSNBC last November: “I understand why you would call it a, quote, shift," McCain told reporters Saturday after voters questioned him on his position during back-to-back appearances in this early voting state. "I say it is a lesson learned about what the American people's priorities are. And their priority is to secure the borders." [MSNBC]

Nor does it match up with his statement during the January 30th GOP debate he said that he would not now vote for his own bill: “Q: At this point, if your original proposal came to a vote on the Senate floor, would you vote for it? […] McCAIN: No, I would not, because we know what the situation is today. The people want the borders secured first.” [TP]

For more flippity-flopping documentation visit “JukeBox John Keeps Changing His Tune,” at the Huffington Post, then click over to see the full list. Securing this week’s Deck Bass gives Senator McCain a clear lead in the dubious Deck Bass pantheon of shame, with his Eleventh Sunday Deck Bass.

Other Great American Finned Follies can be found at Random Musing, and Extemporaneous Discourse with their respective Crappie and Eel Pouts ready for bestowal.

Overnight Express: Gaffes and Goofs

Lest we denizens of Nevada’s desert lands be thought ill-informed, or prone to obsess on AUMs and how to emulate the governor’s avoidance of taxes on retirement property in lovely Lamoille (and that canyon IS very pretty), we can spot a Friday document dump and Saturday newsprint fodder when we see it. To wit:

** The FEC may have additional information on Rep. Dean Heller’s campaign fund sources on July 14, 2008 – if the 2^nd District Congressman maintains the same schedule he did for the past two report filings. He filed on 7/14 in both 2006 and 2007. In the recent past Mr. and Mrs. Sheldon Adelson have been very interested in Rep. Heller’s election, each donating $4,600 on March 31, 2007 and April 18, 2007 respectively.

** The General Accounting Office has a report dated June 13, 2008 titled “FCC needs to improve performance management and strengthen oversight of the High Cost telecommunications program,” posted to its web page on July 11^th. One conclusion isn’t at all surprising: “The high-cost program's structure has resulted in the inconsistent distribution of support and availability of services across rural America. The program provides support to carriers in all states. However, small carriers receive more support than large carriers. As a result, carriers serving similar rural areas can receive different levels of support.”

** Peter Orszag, Director of the Congressional Budget Office, and Jeanne Lambrew, senior fellow, CAP associate professor, University of Texas, will testify on “Getting Better Value in Health Care,” to the House Committee on the Budget. The hearing will be held next Wednesday, July 16^th, at 10:00 a.m.

** The New York Times reports on some possible ramifications Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae’s problems for consumers and small businesses. Everyone seems to have taken a deep breath and calmed down about those two. [Forbes] However, the IndyMac Bank failure could cost the FDIC between $4 and $8 billion. [CNN] The Office of Thrift Supervision shut down the Pasadena, CA based bank and the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco will work with the FDIC to administer the assets and liabilities. [MrkWtch]

** The McCain campaign may wish to put a muzzle on well meaning supporters of “Dr. Phil” Gramm. Amity Shlaes, economic historian and a recent speaker at a Mercatus Center event in conjunction with the Texas Public Policy Foundation which is chaired by Dr. Phil’s wife Wendy “Enron Loophole” Gramm, is on the Washington Post op-ed page declaring “Phil Gramm is Right.” (We ARE a nation of whiners!) One of her lines: “Social Security and Medicare also need rewriting -- and Gramm put forth one of the better proposals on Social Security in the 1990s.”

You can’t describe privatization any more clearly than Gramm’s bill. That “better proposal” would have been the “Social Security Preservation Act of 1998” sponsored by Senator Gramm and Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM). Gramm’s plan was to convert Social Security into an investment based program that would supposedly ‘fully fund people’s retirement by the year 2042. Taxpayers would have had the option to invest 3% of the 12.4% Social Security tax into “a broadbased portfolio of stocks and bonds.”

“To regulate the program, a governing board called the Social Security Investment Board would set guidelines and ethics codes for investment companies and individuals to abide by, Gramm said.” [LubbockTX] And this from the husband of the woman who was on Enron’s Auditing Committee?

There is nothing like being flung onto the Third Rail of American Politics by an enthusiastic supporter of your campaign co-chair? And here I was thinking that only Representative Dean Heller was infected with Ungula-Intra-Orem-itis?

** Pro Publica is currently headlining “Five Scandals of the Week.” Steve Benen has now documented 61 McCain Flip Flops, thus making for a very easy week to compose the Desert Beacon Sunday Deck Bass.

Breaking News from McCain Campaign: Nevada's Fiscal and Economic Problems are Imaginary!

Nevadans who are facing cut-backs in state and local services, declining home values, and other difficulties will be delighted to learn that Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain’s “Economic Brain,” (aka former Senator Phil Gramm) thinks “we have become a nation of whiners…” We’ve never been more dominant…we have benefited greatly from the globalization of the economy in the last 30 years.” [TP]

According to McCain’s economic adviser, it’s all in our heads! We’re having a “mental recession.” [TP]

Therefore, by the lights of McCain Economics, that statewide unemployment increase from 5.7% in April 2008 to 6.2% in May 2008 is “all in our heads.” [NWI] So, the increase from an unemployment rate of 4.2% in May 2007 in Las Vegas, to the present 5.9% is imaginary? We’re just hallucinating when we think there was an increase in the unemployment rate from 4.2% to 6.1% in the Reno metropolitan area? [NWI]

Gee whiz, it’s nice to find out that those “one in every 118” Nevada households receiving a foreclosure filing in May were just figments of our imagination. This will come as a profound relief to the 9,009 Nevada property owners who just “imagined” they were in the foreclosure process. We must have created from whole cloth the 72% increase in mortgage foreclosures since May 2007. [CAff]

This must mean that the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight was just kidding us when it reported on May 22, 2008 that “eight states exhibited quarterly price declines of more than 3% and two states – California and Nevada – saw prices decline more than 8%. Surely they were joshing when they reported that Nevada had one of the sharpest depreciations between the 1^st quarter of 2007 and the 1^st quarter of 2008, with “all transaction HPI’s declining 10.3%. [OFHEO pdf]

Obviously we have nothing to worry about because even with prices increasing the Nevada Department of Taxation must be fabricating those figures showing that motor vehicle and parts dealers’ reported taxable sales down 20.3% from April 2007 to April 2008. Home furniture and furnishing taxable sales were down 13.1% during the same period. General merchandise stores reported taxable sales down 1.5%? [NDT]

Those nine of the seventeen Nevada counties that recorded decreases in taxable sales from April 2007 to April 2008 must be dreaming. Right? They wouldn’t report something like: “Gross revenue collections from sales and use taxes amounted to $288,273,710 for April 2008 which represents a 2.29% decrease compared to April 2007.” Or, “The Department reports excise tax collections of $17,768,097 for the month of April 2008 decreased 3.92% compared to the same month prior year.” It’s all merely part of our Mental Recession! [NDT]

There really must be more people in those Las Vegas hotel rooms; perhaps that 2% occupancy decline from last January was comprised of people who were standing in the parking lot? Maybe the 5% decline in traffic on Interstate 15 from the 1^st quarter of 2007 to the 1^st quarter of 2008 can be accounted for by alien abductions in the desert? [LV Sun]

Who would be so cruel as to tell us that Washoe County gaming revenues dropped 12% between April 2007 and April 2008, the “10^th consecutive month that those revenues have fallen,” if this recession is purely mental? Las Vegas Strip down 1.3%, for a fourth consecutive month of declines? Slot machine play down 9% statewide? [RGJ] Could it be that Senator McCain and former Senator Gramm want us to close our eyes and fill our heads with visions of a person on every slot machine and a full complement of players at every table?

Budget crisis? What budget crisis? We might have saved a significant amount of money by not having a Special Session of our Legislature if we had only known that all these revenue problems were pure fiction. Why didn’t Senator McCain tell us all our problems were in our heads before June 27^th?

Remember when the Bush Administration told us it could “create its own reality” back in October 2004? Perhaps this is what former Senator Gramm and Senator McCain have in mind – that we think happy thoughts about our disappearing jobs, foreclosing mortgages, and declining revenues, and if enough pixie dust can be scattered over all those icky numbers, we’ll come to understand that we’re only having a Mental Recession! Life must be nice in Bush-McCain-Gramm World in which such depressing numbers have no substance. Now, if we could just pay our highway patrolmen, teachers, firefighters, health inspectors, and construction workers with some of that Bush-McCain-Gramm imaginary money then we wouldn’t have to worry about a single little thing.

John McCain’s campaign connects to the DoJ U.S. Attorneys’ firing scandal

Dot One: Bud Cummins is fired as a U.S. Attorney in Arkansas to make a vacancy available for Tim Griffin. Griffin was the subject of a BBC news report as the leader of the vote-caging scheme in Florida to suppress votes of African-American members of the U.S.military.

Dot Two: Tim Griffin becomes U.S. Attorney in Arkansas.

Dot Three: Tim Griffin resigns to join Mercury Public Affairs. Steve Schmidt joined Mercury, which represented the Cayman Islands, under scrutiny for banking laws that encouraged tax dodging by U.S. citizens. Schmidt is a partner but doesn’t lobby for the Caymans. [More from ChiTrib’s The Swamp] Senator McCain hires Schmidt to handle day to day campaign operations.

Dot Four: Steve Schmidt, member of Karl Rove’s exclusive ‘Breakfast Club,” takes over the operations of the McCain Campaign, [Politico] and hires Tim Griffin to work for the campaign.

Dot Five: Griffin joins Team McCain, which is beginning to look very much like Team Bush-Cheney? [TPM]

McCain not an arithmetic expert either: Campaign and Budget Proposals don't add up

I have great respect for Senator John McCain’s military service to this country, however if I were to go to an unscrupulous livestock auction with the same ‘numeric acumen’ as the GOP presidential candidate, I would now be the proud owner of a blind mule, a dry cow, and a couple of under-weight heifers.

The Blind Mule: The McCain campaign and the RNC have claimed that Senator Obama voted “94 times for higher taxes.” Bless their hearts – they can’t count.
23 of the votes were for legislation that produced no tax increase at all; they were against proposed tax cuts.
7 of the votes would have resulted in lower taxes for most people, while raising them on a relative few (corporations, rich people)
11 of the votes would have increased taxes on those earning $1 million or more to fund Head Start, School Nutrition, and Veterans’ Health Care.
53 of the votes were on budget measures, not tax bills, and would have resulted in no change. 4 votes were on non-binding motions sent to conference committees.
The Republicans counted two, three and even four votes on the same measure, padding the overall total by 10. For all the numbers see: [FactCheck]

The Dry Cow:
The McCain campaign sought to convince Hispanic voters in Florida that the Colombian Free Trade Agreement would benefit the state. “But every number in the ad is wrong, except one, a prediction of job gains taken from a group favoring the trade deal.” [FactCheck] (emphasis added)

The Underweight Heifers:
McCain is claiming that Obama voted to raise taxes on individuals earning as little as $32,000 per year. S.Con. Res. 70 to which the campaign is referring took place on March 14, 2008 [rc 85] “The resolution would not have increased taxes on any single taxpayer making less than $41,500 per year, or any couple making less than $83,000.” [FactCheck] So, where did that $32,000 number come from? It might be an approximation of the taxable income of a single person making $41,500 after all deductions and exclusions. Read the FactCheck article linked and you’ll see immediately why I wouldn’t want Senator McCain doing my 1040 – no wonder the McCain’s had tax problems with the beach front condo in La Jolla. [HuffPo]

After FactCheck analyzed his tax cut numbers and couldn’t get them to add up, we can assume that the McCain campaign has given up on offering numbers that behave according to the standard rules of 3^rd grade arithmetic. This appears to be the case with his recent budget proposal. Reuters can’t make them add up. The New York Times can’t make them add up. Robert Reich can’t make them add up, and Bloomberg can’t make them add up.

Compounding this morass is McCain’s complaint that he never said he wasn’t an expert on economics. [TP] Perhaps he should flip flop back to the January 18, 2008 statement when he declared he wasn’t. [TP]

There's no such thing as a "free" trade agreement: Ensign, McCain, Obama and the enforcement issue

Nevada, like the rest of the country, is an importer of goods and services; and, like the other states in the Union it is not immune from the effects of free trade agreements on its economy. However, unlike many other states it has a Senator (John Ensign) currently occupying a chair on the Senate Finance Committee which has before it a bill (S.1919) that seeks to improve the enforcement of free trade provisions. The committee has heard testimony on the bill, but thus far nothing substantive has happened. Manufacturing job losses, trade deficits, free trade agreement enforcement, and disposable income levels are all intertwined, and all have ramifications for Nevada, and her sister states, that should be addressed before the economic situation becomes even more problematic.

A Stake in the Issue

The Bureau of Economic Analysis reports that Nevada’s contribution to U.S. exports of manufactured goods amounted to about 0.5% of the cumulative total, and 0.4% of the cumulative total for non-manufactured goods to date. Bluntly speaking, the Silver State is dependent on the importation of stuff from around the rest of the country and from overseas, which puts the state into the general classification of “importer” along with the other 49. Nothing in these numbers should surprise anyone who resides here even overnight; the state is dependent on tourism, the military, agriculture, and mining; with the emphasis on tourism.

If this is the case, then why should Nevadans be concerned with the manufacturing import and export figures released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis? We should attend to the numbers because those tourists have to come from somewhere, with money to leave on our tables and in our slot machines.

Common sense dictates, and the numbers verify, that increasing the trade deficits for manufactured goods tends to depress wages and the creation of jobs paying a living wage. [EPI] The U.S. has already experienced the loss of about 2.8 million manufacturing jobs since 2000. [AFL-CIO] Drilling down into the general ‘manufacturing’ category, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports 10,146,560 people engaged in “production occupations,” with median hourly wages of $13.53, and a mean hourly wage of $15.05. These figures yield a mean annual wage of approximately $31,310. This annual total obviously isn’t going to provide the average American “production worker” with much spare change to leave in Las Vegas. Creating a yet more dismal picture, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that in spite of increases in real output, employment in the production sector is anticipated to decline by another 1.5 million jobs between 2006 and 2016. [BLSpdf]

Academic economists seeking to minimize the impact of the loss in manufacturing jobs often site increases in health care services and other occupations as a counter-balancing force. However, a person laid off from a production occupation job providing a $31,310 mean annual wage isn’t improving his or her financial outlook by taking a health care support job with a mean annual wage of $25,600. [BLS]

Worse yet, some of the specific manufacturing occupations are predicted to continue a declining pattern. The BLS projects that the employment for sewing machine operators will drop by 27% by the year 2016, electrical and electronic equipment assembling jobs will decline by 26%, and lathe and machine tool jobs will see a 23% loss. [BLS] The losses of construction jobs paying a $40,620 mean annual wage aren’t going to be balanced by the expected increase in service related employment, [BLS] such as protective services in which the mean annual wage is reported as $38,750. [BLS]

Beneath all the numbers is the haunting reality that trade deficits do matter.

“The rising trade deficit in manufactured goods accounts for about 58% of the decline in manufacturing employment between 1998 and 2003 and 34% of the decline from 2000 to 2003. This translates into about 1.78 million jobs since 1998 and 935,000 jobs since 2000 that have been lost due to rising net manufactured imports.” [EPI]

A quick look at the last Bureau of Economic Analysis report on U.S. import-export figures offers no solace that the trade deficit is narrowing. Most manufactured items fall into one of two classifications in Bureau of Economic Analysis reports: capital goods (industrial equipment) and consumer goods (household items). *

Exports of capital goods (excluding automobiles) [BEA] (millions of dollars)
YTD 2007 142,430
YTD 2008 156,592
Imports of capital goods (excluding automobiles) [BEA]
YTD 2007 144,342
YTD 2008 152,732

Our exportation of equipment looks a bit better than most categories, but the import-export ratio is still almost a wash.

Exports of automobiles, parts, and engines: [BEA]
YTD 2007 40,681
YTD 2008 38,236
Imports of automobiles, parts, and engines: [BEA]
YTD 2007 85,535
YTD 2008 85,624

There is no way to tout these numbers as any form of good news, our exports are down and the imports have increased.

Exports of iron and steel mill products: [BEA]
YTD 2007 2,704
YTD 2008 3,452
Imports of iron and steel mill products: [BEA]
YTD 2007 6,574
YTD 2008 6,848

These look like happy numbers, with the exports increasing from 2007 to 2008, until one looks at the importation figures which are nearly twice the export numbers.

Exports of consumer goods [<