The CommonTater

Please, don't vote.

As America crumbles, McCain keeps everyone focused on the message

Fareed Zakaria Slams Sarah Palin

In his book, The Future of Freedom (2007), Fareed Zakaria contends that something has gone wrong with democracy in America, which has descended into "a simple-minded populism that values popularity." He exposes the down side of democracy, i.e., the assumption that what's popular is right.

Carly Fiorina: No Candidates Could Run a Major Company

Carly Fiorina would know, of course, what it takes to run a successful business.

McCain Pleads Ignorance Of, Rails Against Golden Parachutes

By May, 2008, Fiorina emerged as a prominent figure on economics and business issues for McCain.

In July 1999, when Fiorina was named chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard, she became the first woman to run one of the companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Her rocky, five-and-a-half-year tenure was full of drama: a big, ill-timed merger with Compaq in September 2001; the dot-com/tech meltdown; difficulty managing the board and other executives. When she was fired in February 2005, there was much speculation that the charismatic executive would pursue a career in public life. In March, the Republican National Committee named her victory chairman, and she pledged to stump for McCain.

Fiorina received $21 million in severance pay when she was fired as CEO of Hewlett Packard in 2005. She received an additional $21 million when Hewlett Packard's board bought out her company stock options and pension benefits. Her compensation package sparked a lawsuit from shareholders. Meanwhile, over 20,000 HP employees lost their jobs.

Thanks, Carly!

CNN Jack Cafferty - Palin is a JOKE

No debate?

Message to my Republican women friends

Much as I want to see a woman VP, nominating Sara Palin was not about giving a qualified woman a chance. If it were, how does McCain explain ignoring women like Murkowski? Or Hutchison?

Take Republican Senator, Lisa Murkowski. She is the first woman ever elected to Congress from her state (Alaska), in addition to being the first senator born in Alaska. Lisa earned a B.A. in economics from Georgetown University in 1980, and a Juris Doctor from Willamette University College of Law in 1985. She was an attorney in Anchorage, Alaska from 1985 to 1998. She also served, from 1990 to 1991, on the mayor's task force on the homeless.

In 1998, she was elected to the Alaska House of Representatives and served as House Majority Leader for the 2003–2004 session. Murkowski sat on the Alaska Commission on Post Secondary Education and chaired both the Labor and Commerce and the Military and Veterans Affairs Committees. In 1999 she introduced legislation establishing a Joint Armed Services Committee.

She is married has two children, Nic and Matt.

So what exactly made Sara Palin a better choice up against Murkowski?

Experience and qualifications aside, let's look at who appears better in a skirt (after all, it's not just the women McCain is pandering to here). Palin has been called a "hottie." Murkowski hasn't been. So there you have it.

But rather than discussing the merits and demerits of Sara Palin, below is a list of Republican women, many of whom are superbly qualified and would have been truly impressive choices. Read up on any of them and ask yourself if McCain really did have women's interests in mind when he selected Ms. Palin.

Senators: Lisa Murkowski, Alaska; Olympia Snowe, Maine; Susan Collins, Maine; Elizabeth Dole North Carolina; Kay Bailey Hutchison, Texas

Governors: Oline Walker, Utah; Linda Lingle, Hawaii, M. Jodi Rell, Connecticut

Members of the House: Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Florida; Deborah Pryce, Ohio; Barbara Cubin, Wyoming; Sue Myrick North Carolina; Jo Ann Emerson, Missouri; Kay Granger, Texas; Mary Bono, California; Heather Wilson , New Mexico; Judith Borg Biggert , Illinois; Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia; Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee; Ginny Brown-Waite, Florida; Candice Miller, Michigan; Marilyn Musgrave, Colorado; Thelma Drake, Virginia; Virginia Foxx, North Carolina; Cathy McMorris Rodgers, West Virginia; Jean Schmidt, Ohio

Cabinet: Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State; Elaine Chao, Secretary of Labor; Margaret Spellings, Secretary of Education; Mary Peters, Secretary of Transportation; Susan Schwab, US Special Trade Representative

Looks familiar, doesn't it?

"Nation of Whiners" and McCain

"Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing." Abraham Lincoln

"You can tell a lot about a man by the friends he keeps."
Peter Jennings

Let's just start with the reason this post is important: Texas Senator Phil Gramm is McCain's chief economic advisor and one of McCain's closest political friends. For decades, Gramm has been a big proponent of anti-regulation. The story of Enron's rise is closely linked to Gramm, but despite his close association with Enron, he has not been stained by the scandal. In fact, quite the opposite is true. He is now a well-paid executive at Swiss bank, UBS.

And here's something of greater importance: Phil Gramm co-chairs John McCain's presidential campaign and advises the Republican candidate on economic matters. He's been mentioned as a possible Treasury secretary should McCain win. That's right: A guy who helped screw up the global financial system could end up in charge of US economic policy.

This is the man who recently called Americans "a nation of whiners." But don't let that conjure up an image of Gramm as elitist. Elitism, after all, is a Democrat trait, according to Republican spin.

In regards to McCain, a little research into his past should make hard-working Americans nervous given the crisis we now find ourselves in; McCain has been a fierce supporter of anti-regulation throughout his past 20 years in the Washington. Most Americans wouldn't know that given our sound-bite media world.

But back to Gramm. Here's a short list of Gramm's illustrious past (water under the bridge):
- Phil Gramm was the second largest recipient in Congress of Enron campaign contributions, receiving $97,350 since 1989.

- Days before her attorneys informed Enron in December 1998 that Wendy Gramm's control of Enron stock might pose a conflict of interest with her husband's work, she sold $276,912 worth of Enron stock.

- Enron spent $3.45 million in lobbying expenses in 1999 and 2000 to deregulate the trading of energy futures, among other issues.

- In December 2000, Phil Gramm helped muscle a bill through Congress without a committee hearing that deregulated energy commodity trading. This act allowed Enron to operate an unregulated power auction -- EnronOnline -- that quickly gained control over a significant share of California's electricity and natural gas market.

- Because of Enron's new, unregulated power auction, the company's "Wholesale Services" revenues quadrupled -- from $12 billion in the first quarter of 2000 to $48.4 billion in the first quarter of 2001. This remarkable revenue increase came on top of the record revenue gain that Enron posted from 1999 to 2000, when full-year "Wholesale Services" revenues increased from $35.5 billion to $93.3 billion -- a 163 percent increase.

- Enron took advantage of lax oversight following deregulation and formed a complicated web of more than 2,800 subsidiaries -- more than 30 percent (874) of which were located in officially designated offshore tax and bank havens.

- President Bush's presidential campaign received significant financial support from Enron ($1.14 million).

- Upon assuming office in 2001, Bush promptly scrapped plans put into place by former President Bill Clinton to significantly limit the effectiveness of these countries as tax and bank regulation havens. This action came at the height of high West Coast energy prices, probably allowing Enron to siphon billions to its offshore accounts.

Source for Enron/Gramm facts:
http://www.tradewatch.org/cmep/energy_enviro_nuclear/electricity/Enron/articles.cfm?ID=7104