http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1008/Engaging_on_Keating.html

Just a hunch on my part.

We need facts right now. And yes, the Democrats also contributed to our current problems. But the fact is, McCain “couldn’t even get Keating right.”

I agree with Lessig when he says that the surprising thing is not that this came out but that it came out so late. That Obama had to be apparently pushed by the Palin accusation into mentioning the Keating 5. I was mentioning it last spring and summer. It was like being in outer space, where no one can hear you scream. Oh, that was a long time ago. He’s reformed from all that. He was a minor player in it, and he got out before it became really illegal. All lame excuses for a guy who doesn’t see what’s before him. He sees only ideologies and rhetoric and symbols and loyalty and some weird idea of “honor.”

How anyone could want eight more years of that laundry list of horrors is beyond me. It plugs into a damaged part of ourselves.

By the way, I’m still waiting for Lessig to respond to the Saturday Night Live bailout skit that was “re-edited” “for legal reasons.” While the lawyers were scrambling yesterday, the thing went viral all over the ‘net. So much for damage control. When I saw the edited version, I was surprised that it merely omitted the place accompanied by the caption “People who should be shot.” If the Sandlers, the couple depicted there, had any grounds for libel, it would be in the factual dialogue about how they allegedly swindled Wachovia Bank into buying subprime mortgage assets, because they have not yet been formally charged. That’s still in there. The only thing missing is the perfectly legal opinion, presented as a joke, as to what we “should” do to people who do this.

Legal reasons, my eye.

I remembered “Free Culture” and the lack of archiving requirements for broadcasting companies, who rent the public airwaves and then piously cite copyright law when people want access to their archives. They could actually, legally, destroy everything. Or re-edit anything — in effect, rewriting history.

Postscript about NBC: when it re-posted its “edited” version of the SNL skit, it stuck an ad in there. Just to remind us little folks who writes the rules around here. Don’t forget to buy stuff.

We need facts right now. And yes, the Democrats also contributed to our current problems. But the fact is, McCain “couldn’t even get Keating right.”

I agree with Lessig when he says that the surprising thing is not that this came out but that it came out so late. That Obama had to be apparently pushed by the Palin accusation into mentioning the Keating 5. I was mentioning it last spring and summer. It was like being in outer space, where no one can hear you scream. Oh, that was a long time ago. He’s reformed from all that. He was a minor player in it, and he got out before it became really illegal. All lame excuses for a guy who doesn’t see what’s before him. He sees only ideologies and rhetoric and symbols and loyalty and some weird idea of “honor.”

How anyone could want eight more years of that laundry list of horrors is beyond me. It plugs into a damaged part of ourselves.

By the way, I’m still waiting for Lessig to respond to the Saturday Night Live bailout skit that was “re-edited” “for legal reasons.” While the lawyers were scrambling yesterday, the thing went viral all over the ‘net. So much for damage control. When I saw the edited version, I was surprised that it merely omitted the place accompanied by the caption “People who should be shot.” If the Sandlers, the couple depicted there, had any grounds for libel, it would be in the factual dialogue about how they allegedly swindled Wachovia Bank into buying subprime mortgage assets, because they have not yet been formally charged. That’s still in there. The only thing missing is the perfectly legal opinion, presented as a joke, as to what we “should” do to people who do this.

Legal reasons, my eye.

I remembered “Free Culture” and the lack of archiving requirements for broadcasting companies, who rent the public airwaves and then piously cite copyright law when people want access to their archives. They could actually, legally, destroy everything. Or re-edit anything — in effect, rewriting history.

Postscript about NBC: when it re-posted its “edited” version of the SNL skit, it stuck an ad in there. Just to remind us little folks who writes the rules around here. Don’t forget to buy stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MGT_cSi7Rs

Although not directly linking Obama, it shows that Democrats have failed to properly oversee and regulate during the S&L times (4 of the Keating 5 were Democrats) and now with Fannie and Freddie.

Obama has no choice but to counter. It’s stupid, it sucks, I hate it and I don’t want it but I know.. I just KNOW that he has no choice.

He might as well talk about the Palin/secessionist party connection – an Alaska based party her husband belonged to for 7 years that espoused armed resistance of the US government and creating a new country called Alaska. And that she’s a tax evader. And that McCain likes to call his wife a c*nt in public (well documented) and how McCain crashed 5 planes, and the incident where he did a purposeful ‘wet’ takeoff (a boneheaded hotshot trick consisting of pooling fuel to blow a huge flame into the face of the plane behind him) which set off a missile on that plane and resulted in the the death of 167 men…. (and on and on).

God I hate the last 30 days.

The problem is: the electorate are being scared into not voting for Obama. Using coded references, they (McCain/Palin) are trying to scare the voters on issues such as race (“he doesn’t see America like you and I do”) or religion (“he could be a muslim”).

So Obama has no choice but to hit back, and hit back hard.

For all the people who are hand-wringing about this latest turn of events: look what good taking the high road did to Kerry. He got slaughtered. Keep taking the high road, and keep losing. Or hit back and hit back hard, and stand a chance. Your call.

The Keating Economics was the first thing I’ve seen out of his campaign that has made me really enthusiastic and made me feel on the same wavelength with his supporter. Go Obama!

I should say also that my fiscally conservative republican husband was also favorably impressed by it, especially in its intimacy and management of tone.