Monday: Call to Stop Paulson's Plunder

Monday: Call to Stop Paulson's Plunder

(1) Call your Representatives and Senators at 800-473-6711 or 202-224-3121 and say No Bailout!

(2) Email them too and tell your friends:
http://democrats.com/stop-paulsons-plunder

After a week of high-drama negotiations, Congress and Hank Paulson issued Bailout version 1.1, which is just the original Paulson pig with a lot of lipstick.

Republicans say the deal will be profitable for taxpayers, but they are lying - just as they did about the invasion of Iraq producing lower gas prices. It's a lie because Paulson has full power to pay too much for the securities and he will because his real goal is a bailout of bank executives and shareholders with our money - a massive ($2,333 per person!) transfer of wealth from the poor and middle class to the rich.

Democrats say they got oversight, accountability, and limits on executive compensation but each of these provisions is so full of Republican-written loopholes that they are meaningless - just like all other restrictions imposed on the Bush Administration, from Iraq to wiretapping. And that's before Bush simply negates any restrictions he doesn't like with one of his unconstitutional (and hence impeachable) signing statements.

So our answer remains ABSOLUTELY NOT.

The House will vote on Monday and the Senate will vote on Wednesday.

So call your Senators and Representative right now to say "No $700 Billion Bailout for Wall Street" - dial the Capitol switchboard at 800-473-6711 or 202-224-3121 or dial direct using the instant phone lookup on the right side of http://usalone.com

And if you have not e mailed your Senators and Representative , please do it now:
http://www.democrats.com/stop-paulsons-plunder

Find more information and comment here:
http://www.democrats.com/still-no-bailout

Thanks for all you do!

Palin: Bailout is about healthcare!

McCain, Obama debate question still uncertain

McCain, Obama debate question still uncertain
Obama says he'll be there; McCain says he's hopeful, but bailout comes first
Associated press - September 25th, 2008

WASHINGTON - Prospects were questionable at best that John McCain and Barack Obama would meet Friday for their first presidential debate as progress appeared to dissolve between Congress and the Bush administration on a $700 billion financial industry bailout.

McCain didn't plan to participate in the debate unless there was a consensus. Obama still wants the face-off to go on, arguing that Americans need to hear from the candidates. The Democrat was scheduled to travel to the debate site in Oxford, Miss., on Friday.

"I believe that it's very possible that we can get an agreement in time for me to fly to Mississippi," McCain said late Thursday. "I understand how important this debate is and I'm very hopeful. But I also have to put the country first."

Read the rest of the story:
McCain, Obama debate question still uncertain

Bailout Talks Go On Amid Presidential Scuffle

Bailout Talks Go On Amid Presidential Scuffle
Dems Rip McCain, McCain Rips Obama as Leaders Try to Revive $700B Bailout
By JAKE TAPPER, CHARLES HERMAN and Z. BYRON WOLF - Sept. 25, 2008
ABC News

Members of Congress and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson returned at the Capitol tonight to try to revive a $700 billion bailout plan that became the focus of partisan finger pointing and attacks on the presidential nominees after a meeting today at the White House.
Result of bipartisan meeting on bailout seems intensified partisan infighting.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said bipartisan negotiators at an 8 p.m. ET session at the Capitol were trying to "put this train back on the tracks." The meeting broke up after 10 p.m. with no agreement

Reid continued to cast blame on Republicans, and specifically Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

Reid said McCain was "not helpful" by suspending his campaign and heading to Washington, claiming it was difficult to "understand what John McCain said at the [White House] meeting." He said McCain spoke last and only for several moments, and did not contribute anything.

"McCain only hurt this process," Reid said.

Asked if McCain expressed interest in taking part in negotiations on Capitol Hill, Reid said, "No."

Soon after Reid's attack, which followed another blast at McCain by House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., the McCain campaign suggested Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., was at fault.

Read the rest of the story:
Bailout Talks Go On Amid Presidential Scuffle

Deal May Be Dead: Democrats Blaming McCain

Deal May Be Dead: Democrats Blaming McCain
Obama, McCain Leave White House Without Deal on $700 Billion Bailout
By JAKE TAPPER, CHARLES HERMAN and Z. BYRON WOLF
Sept. 25, 2008

After days of bipartisan negotiations and meetings today at the White House, the deal to bail out staggered investment banks may be dying amid partisan finger-pointing.

Republicans blamed Democrats. Democrats blamed Republicans. And a key Democrat even pointed an accusatory finger at Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

Result of bipartisan meeting on bailout seems intensified partisan infighting.

House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., told Democratic colleagues that McCain's sudden heightened involvement in the negotiations has destroyed the chance of an agreement, sources told ABC's George Stephanopoulos.

Frank compared McCain's involvement to "Richard Nixon blowing up the Vietnam peace talks in 1968."

A senior McCain adviser told ABC News' David Chalian, "It is clear that there is not yet an agreement, but we're working with all parties with the common goal of getting an agreement. When we have an agreement, we'll have a debate."

Other Democrats pointed fingers at House Republicans, who they said were reneging on matters they thought had been settled, such as on the issue of helping homeowners with foreclosures.

House Republicans are saying Democrats never included them in negotiations and were trying to jam the agreement's "principles" down their throats. And many are concerned about the U.S. government purchasing apparently toxic assets.

Sources tell ABC News' George Stephanopoulos that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson fears the deal is falling apart.

As Democrats met in the White House's Roosevelt Room after the meeting with Bush, Paulson told them, "Please don't blow this up," according to sources.

Sources say Frank was livid, saying, "Don't say that to us after all we've been through!"

Read the rest of the story:
Deal May Be Dead: Democrats Blaming McCain

McCain quiet on debate despite bailout plan

McCain quiet on debate despite bailout plan
Candidate doesn't announce change of mind despite agreement in principle
Associated Press - September 25, 2008

WASHINGTON - John McCain’s campaign welcomed news of an agreement in principle on Thursday between congressional Republicans and Democrats on a bailout of the financial industry.

But the Republican wasn’t yet ready to say he would attend the presidential candidates’ first scheduled debate on Friday.

McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said: "There’s no deal until there’s a deal."

He said McCain was optimistic an agreement between Congress and the Bush administration would be completed but that the afternoon developments had not changed his plans not to debate.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, whose state is hosting the debate between McCain and Barack Obama, set for Friday, said planners were moving forward with the first televised match. "This is going to be a great debate," Barbour said.

Read the rest of the story:
McCain quiet on debate despite bailout plan

McCain aide’s firm was paid by Freddie Mac

McCain aide’s firm was paid by Freddie Mac
The disclosure contradicts a statement Sunday night by McCain
New York Times, September 23, 2008

WASHINGTON - One of the giant mortgage companies at the heart of the credit crisis paid $15,000 a month to a firm owned by Senator John McCain’s campaign manager from the end of 2005 through last month, according to two people with direct knowledge of the arrangement. The disclosure contradicts a statement Sunday night by Mr. McCain that the campaign manager, Rick Davis, had no involvement with the company for the last several years. Mr. Davis’s firm received the payments from the company, Freddie Mac, until it was taken over by the government this month along with Fannie Mae, the other big mortgage lender whose deteriorating finances helped precipitate the cascading problems on Wall Street, the people said.

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McCain aide’s firm was paid by Freddie Mac

5 days to first debate, Obama climbs in polls

5 days to first debate, Obama climbs in polls
His rise comes amid a $700 billion bailout plan to save the U.S. economy
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Five days from their first presidential debate, Democrat Barack Obama has climbed in the polls as Republican John McCain fumbled his response to a looming U.S. economic cataclysm — one that threatened to match the financial catastrophe of the 1930s Great Depression.

The U.S. Congress and the administration of President George W. Bush were grappling with a proposed $700 billion bailout plan to save the U.S. economy from full collapse, feeding anxiety among voters who already were far more concerned about their financial futures than any other issue in the 2008 presidential campaign — including the intractable U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

After withholding his response while the Bush administration put together its program, Obama on Sunday placed seven conditions on the rescue proposal which he said came with a "staggering price tag" but no plan to guarantee the "basic principles of transparency, fairness, and reform" to taxpayers who will pay for the huge bailout.

Read the rest of the story:
5 days to first debate, Obama climbs in polls