What Deal?! (Open Thread)
By Matthew Weaver on September 25, 2008 at 6:30 PM in Barack Obama, Current Affairs, George Bush, John McCain, Open Thread
Christopher Dodd rushed out in front of the cameras before lunch to announce that a deal was reached on the $700B giveaway. Democrats and media chortled that this proved McCain wasn’t needed — too late to help. Back to the debate tomorrow night, they suggested.
But wait, not so fast! What is this deal? And who made it?
Start with the latter: Who?
Dodd apparently thinks he has a deal among Democrats, giving him cover to make his announcement, but he ignored the Republicans whose leadership is unanimous that there is no deal:
There was constructive progress among some members of the Banking Committee and we will review these and other ideas with the Congressional Leadership, the Secretary of the Treasury, the President and the two Presidential candidates.” — Mitch McConnell
“”I am encouraged by the bipartisan progress being made toward an economic package that protects the interests of families, seniors, small businesses and all taxpayers. However, House Republicans have not agreed to any plan at this point,” Boehner said in a written statement. — John Boehner.
“There was progress on many issues, but no agreement other than to continue discussions.” — Spencer Bachus.
In fact, on the 7 p.m. Eastern FOX News reprot, Bret Baier reports:
- Dodd bluffed. There was no deal.
- Obama lied about the joint statement with McCain.
- The meeting with the president was “extremely contentious”, “Democrats were yelling”, and it “ended very badly”.
- Bush acknowledged there was no agreement.
The deal?
Dodd offered no details. Not surprising as there was No Deal.
“The legislative details still need to be hashed out”—Mitch McConnell
And Obama, who did’t want to be in DC?
“I think we need to get something done, and we need to get something done for Main Street as well as Wall Street”—Barack Obama.
Just don’t ask Obama “How?” as he doesn’t know and is waiting for others to do the work. He’s made abundantly clear in the past few days that his campaign and Friday’s foreign policy debate are more important.
McCain is far clearer and more direct.
“It is difficult to act both quickly and wisely, but that is what is required of us right now. Time is short, and doing nothing is not an option.”
“Let me put it this way: I would rather build a bridge to nowhere — and put it square in the middle of Sedona, Arizona — than take money from teachers and farmers and small business owners to line the pockets of the Wall Street crowd that got us here in the first place. And I can assure you: if I have anything to say about the matter, it’s not going to happen.
So, as to the details, there are none at the moment.
And George Bush?
Welcoming Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama, Bush said, “My hope is that we can reach an agreement very shortly.”
The tentative accord would give the Bush administration just a fraction of the $700 billion it had requested up front, with half the money subject to a congressional veto, congressional aides said. Under the plan, the Treasury secretary would get $250 billion immediately and could have an additional $100 billion if he certified it was needed. The last $350 billion could be blocked by a vote of Congress under the arrangement, designed to give lawmakers a stronger hand in controlling the unprecedented rescue.
Bush is quoted by Bret Baier as saying that there is No Deal, the economy could crash. Yet, again tonight, Obama says Friday’s debate should go on between him and McCain. Incredible.
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, the novel by John Le Carre, a new motion picture starring Gary Oldman and Colin Firth.
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