Despite President Bush’s requests and John McCain’s last-minute-cancel-the-debate-get-on-a-plane-save-the-world-speech, the bailout package was rejected yesterday (sending the stock market down 777 points). 

Was it close? Not really. The vote was 228-205 after marathon talks from the Bush administration. Matter of fact, only 65 Republicans followed Bush and McCain and voted for it (so much for influence). 

As they pour back to the drawing board today I expect the stock market to go up for awhile. Optimism always seems to follow these types of things. I think today is the Jewish New Year so don’t expect anything to happen for a couple days as the Congress and Senate pass this one back and forth like a hot potato. 

In the end I think the hold on approval is a good move. No matter what happens we are in uncharted territory and need to make some careful decisions here (ie: not decisions made latenight over the weekend whilst full of Mountain Dew and Pizza Rolls). 

Taking inspiration from Renaissance Guy I decided to make my own list of things the government can buy from me. Obviously they are in a big spending mood lately

You may have missed it and that was probably intentional – it was buried in most newspapers on Sunday. Late Saturday the Senate passed (78-12) a $634 billion dollar measure to keep the government going through the next budget year (which begins on Wednesday). 

Everyone is so distracted by the $700 billion bailout proposal (expected to pass today) no one really noticed the government was out of money (so much in fact that we had to borrow $500 billion from China). So where does some of this newly printed (and approved) money go? 

$25 billion will go to automakers in taxpayer-subsidized loans. 

$488 billion will go to the department of defense (on top of the $70 billion already approved for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan). 

$23 billion in emergency aid for victims of recent hurricanes and floods. 

$6.6 billion for “pet projects” in numerous states. 

The White House spokesperson said this “puts the United States on step closer to ending our dependence on foreign sources of energy.” 

Excuse me? 

Yes the Senate is lifting a ban on offshore drilling and opening up a huge reserve of shale oil in the west, but that is not where any of the $634B goes. 

As if that was not enough…the big weekend did not end there…

The House also approved a pact that would allow the U.S. to provide nuclear materials to India.

I should never check the news on the weekend…

You will be missed…

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With the first round of debates under their belts both John McCain and Barack Obama faired well. Initial post debate polls showed Obama with a slight edge (in winning the debate) but certainly not enough to say he had an outright victory. A couple key points/statements needed some fact checking… 

Question: Does McCain almost always agree with Bush? (As stated by Obama) 

Answer: According to Congressional Quarterly, Mccain has voted for Bush favored bills 90% of the time. He is among only six others with similar track records. (Obama voted with Bush 40% of the time and Joe Biden 54%) 

Question: Is Obama the most liberal U.S. Senator? (as stated by McCain) 

Answer: Although a fairly subjective statement it is fair to say he is more liberal than some other Democrats. The ADA gave Obama a 75 percent score in 2007, 95 in 2006, and 100 in 2005. The ACU gave him a lifetime score of 7.67 (far from being the “most liberal”). Consensus; Obama certainly is one of the most liberal. 

Question: Did McCain vote against deploying troops to Lebanon? (As stated by McCain). 

Answer: Not exactly. The Marines went into Lebanon in 1982. McCain went into Congress in 1983 – he was not part of the vote. What McCain did note for (in relation to Lebanon) was the War Powers Act. 

Question: McCain stated that Dwight Eisenhower wrote two letters on the eve of D-Day (one in the event of victory and the second being his resignation in the event of failure). Did he? 

Answer: There was no second letter and Eisenhower did not offer his resignation. The letter actually says, “The troops, the air and the navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt, it is mine alone.” 

Question: McCain said Obama would cut off money for troops in Iraq. (As stated by McCain).

Answer: Historically Obama’s record shows that he would not cut off money for troops. Obama has voted for troop financing with only one exception. In 2007 he voted against it since it did not contain any language for eventual troop withdrawal. Another bill had such language and Obama voted for it. 

All in all, neither candidate went “off the reservation” when it came to factual information - just some slight bending or not giving all the details. 

Ok, I am beginning to see why the McCain camp is trying to keep her out of interviews. 

Update: Now that the transcripts have been published I am providing the link to those (instead of the video). You will also find the transcripts for her responses on international experience. 

Video…

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4476649n

Transcripts…

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/25/eveningnews/main4479062.shtml

McCain’s Washington Post advertisement ran a bit too soon (before the debate). Don’t you need to show up and have the debate first?! Then again, how many Americans will never even figure that part out?