Arnold Embarrasses Himself Trying To Shield His Party And His Presidential Nominees

by: David Dayen

Thu Oct 23, 2008 at 07:40:25 AM PDT

The Presidential campaign on the Republican side has really become ridiculous, with nonsense talk of "socialism" (I guess that's what the kids are calling the progressive tax system nowadays). Here, Arnold Schwarzenegger tries to defend it by playing the "I was born in socialist Europe" card (expect this to be part of his campaign address for John McCain in Ohio next week):

• Schwarzenegger seemed to embrace language that Republican John McCain has been using in his latest attacks against Democrat Barack Obama related to "redistribution of wealth."
"I left Europe because of the socialistic kind of environment and the way countries were run and the way government was on your back and therefore stifled the opportunities in Europe and that's why I came to America," he said. "So I hope -- and that's why I've been always involved in campaigning for political leaders that I believe in, because I wanted to do everything that I can to make sure that America doesn't go back to those days of 40 years ago when I left Europe, that we go back to that system of redistribution of wealth that some people are talking about. There is no redistribution of wealth."

"Redistribution of wealth," apparently, is raising the top tax rate from 36% to 39%. Ooh! Why don't you just give everybody borscht as well? (By the way, hasn't Arnold called for new taxes to fill the budget gap? Um, Arnold, isn't that, er, redistributing wealth?)

But that's not half as embarrassing as this exchange with CNN's Campbell Brown:

BROWN: Do you think she's qualified to be president?
SCHWARZENEGGER: I think that she will get to be qualified.
BROWN: She will get there? What do you mean? She's not ready yet?
SCHWARZENEGGER: By the time that she is sworn in I think she will be ready.

OK, today is October 23. Inauguration Day is January 20. Exactly what is going to happen over three months that would suddenly make Sarah Palin qualified for the office of the Presidency?

The answer, of course, is nothing. But Arnold is a loyal Republican soldier and a "Free To Choose" economic royalist, so he can't see that. What a fraud.

David Dayen :: Arnold Embarrasses Himself Trying To Shield His Party And His Presidential Nominees

Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, John McCain, Sarah Palin, Ruckus08, socialism, (All Tags)

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Arnold Embarrasses Himself Trying To Shield His Party And His Presidential Nominees | 1 comments

DemsCausedWallStreetCrisis (0.00 / 0)

You can thank your Democratic Party for the current financial crisis.
The Democratic Party(through Democratic dominated organizations such as ACORN, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac and Democratic inspired laws such as the Community Reinvestment Act) intimidated banks into lending money to poor minorities and whites who could not possibly pay the money back.
The resulting bad loans were packaged into mortgage securities which(since they were based on fraudulent loans) had no significant value. Nonetheless, many of these securities were rated AAA(which is what enticed many banks and entities to buy these securities). Had not the underlying loans been risky, however, the current crisis would not have happened. And the Democratic Party heavily promoted these "affordable housing" risky loans to people who weren't credit worthy. It is no accident Obama and Dodd are the top two recipients of Fannie Mae campaign contributions and that Obama chose Jim Johnson(former Fannie Mae executive) to select his vice presidential nominee. It is no accident Obama represented ACORN and that he and Ayers donated to ACORN while they were on boards together. It is no accident Democrats included a grant to ACORN in the initial draft of the bailout bill. It is no accident Obama's campaign gave $800,000 to ACORN. It is no accident Democrats such as Frank, Dodd, Reid, Pelosi and Obama did not join John McCain when John McCain called for reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2005. It is no accident Democrats like Obama, Dodd, Reid, Pelosi, and Frank resisted President Bush's numerous calls for reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Obama's claim Bush "deregulation" caused the current crisis is utterly demagogic. There was little financial "deregulation" under Bush and Gramm Leach Bliley(1999) was not only under Clinton but, by its breaking down of barriers between commercial and investment banks, has helped to alleviate the current crisis by facilitating recent mergers between commercial and investment banks. Moreover, saddled with the Democratic Party's refusal to reform Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Community Reinvestment Act, what could regulators realistically have done to prevent the current crisis(even if there had been more "oversight"), check the credit ratings of homebuyers? Some media and Obama can cover up the above truths but the above truths can not legitimately be denied. The current crisis is directly traceable to your Democratic Party.

by: Liberty11 @ Sat Oct 25, 2008 at 13:53:31 PM UTC