Palin Calls for Drilling in FDIC
Outer Wingnuttia (AP) -- Alaska Governor and Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin drew rapturous cheers -- and raised a few eyebrows -- at a rally in Lancaster, Pennsylvania yesterday when she called for drilling in the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Coming on the heels of her claim that the crisis facing lending giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae shows that the mortgage finance agencies had "gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers," Palin's advocacy of drilling in the FDIC raises the question of how much she understands about the American financial system.
"I don't want some bureaucrat standing between you and your money," Palin said to the cheering crowd of 5,000. "The liberal elites will tell you they know how to handle your bank accounts better than you do. But where I come from, we think we don't need another big federal agency handling our hard-earned paychecks.
"That's why I've fought earmarks and said 'thanks, but no thanks' to the Bridge to Nowhere. And that's why, as your Vice President, I'll reduce the size of government by drilling in the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation."
Palin's remarks were followed by the enthusiastic chant of "drill, baby, drill" that has lately punctuated GOP rallies in the wake of the party's convention in St. Paul.
In response, Obama spokesperson Bill Burton released a brief statement to the press, saying, "OK, now this is really getting surreal. You all know that the FDIC insures people's bank accounts up to $100,000, right? You know that it was created by FDR as part of the New Deal, to stop the runs on the banks, right? And you're going to explain this clearly to people, instead of offering the kind of 'balance' where the McCain campaign gets away with making up the vilest and most outrageous stuff and we're described as 'disputing' it?"
But McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds defended Palin's account of the FDIC, calling it a "do-nothing" agency that is out of touch with ordinary Americans. "Besides," he added, "if there really are deposits of insurance in the FDIC, why shouldn't we drill for them? The Democrat party is always complaining that Americans don't have health insurance, but when it comes to taking positive steps to get Americans the coverage they need, the Democrat party is suddenly more concerned about snail darters and spotted owls than about providing real solutions for real people."
Fox News political analyst Karl Rove agreed, calling the FDIC drilling plan a "win-win." "It gets people angry at the federal government, and it pisses off liberals. That's the core of the Republican Party's governing philosophy, and that's why I proposed it to Governor Palin in the first place," Rove said. "And that's why I'm going to go on television now and point out the freshness and brilliance of this idea. If the Democrat party wants to dispute it, that's their right, but they take a definite risk in going negative."
Michael, You missed the rest of the Lancaster speech, I'm afraid. The whole slogan is: "Drill [in the FDIC] and bomb [the socialist Federal Reserve Bank]."
September 10, 2008 10:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
Dang! You're right, Todd, I should have waited to file this story until I'd had a chance to read the full transcript. All I can say is that it was hard to hear the end of the sentence over all that chanting of "drill baby drill."
September 10, 2008 10:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
Surreal is right, hehe!
September 10, 2008 10:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm quite serious here: I think Tucker Bounds is actually mentally ill & needs to be put under supervised observation.
September 10, 2008 10:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
please don't insult the mentally ill. Do you want to give them a bad reputation?
September 10, 2008 2:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Tucker Bounds is trying to put lipstick on a pig.
September 10, 2008 10:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
McCain was for putting lipstick on pigs before he was against it.
September 10, 2008 10:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
With all the makeup on pigs and pitbulls, I'm afraid some of the Republic base is going to get confused. Remember it's a crime in all 50 states.
September 10, 2008 11:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
zeno,
hahahahahahaha, good one :-)
September 10, 2008 12:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
JohnW,
When your neighbor's ass is coveted and airgun177 is out to get your goat, ewe heifer to have a sense of humor. I kid you not.
Thanks,
z2v
September 10, 2008 12:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Michael,
that their audiences lustily cheer for every 7 word sound bite Palin and McCain spew shows how completely shallow they are. Its thier base.
September 10, 2008 11:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
No point in drilling, there's nothing there but IOUs.
September 10, 2008 11:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, these nattering nabobs of negativism. Where's the Miracle Max we used to love so? God makes miracles every day, Max, even in the FDIC. And even if he doesn't, drilling is fun.
September 10, 2008 11:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
MM is in cold storage, and I'm in Information Retrieval.
September 10, 2008 11:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm posting this across the Cafe, so excuse me if you've seen this. Or dis me.
Please check out the Women Against Sarah Palin blog. I got the link from Bad Attitudes (they're doing some heavy lifting there, folks). You may have to click through a warning screen. The friends and cousins of shooter242 are mucking up access, but here is the link:
http://womenagainstsarahpalin.blogspot.com/
September 10, 2008 11:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well, I actually have a different perspective on this. It seems to me that someone *is* effectively "drilling in the FDIC," following hard on having gotten rich-rich off mass mortgage and securities fraud.
How about our "Democratic" candidates assertively taking these "government reform" issues away from the McCain/Palin fakers?
You know, spend a little political capital to win the presidency.
September 10, 2008 12:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, I actually have a different perspective on this. It seems to me that someone *is* effectively "drilling in the FDIC," following hard on having gotten rich-rich off mass mortgage and securities fraud.
How about our "Democratic" candidates assertively taking these "government reform" issues away from the McCain/Palin fakers?
You know, spend a little political capital to win the presidency.
I think it's sort of telling that with all that's gone down in this country for the past 8 years, including the slop our financial sector is tossing out at us, that Democratic partisans are much more interested in ripping apart the Sarah Palin chew toy these people have tossed out there for just that purpose.
Which means said Democratic partisans are predictably stupid, and don't have quite as much on Sarah Palin in the brains department as they'd like to think.
You're all being used. Wake the hell up.
September 10, 2008 12:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Please check out the Women Against Sarah Palin blog. I got the link from Bad Attitudes (they're doing some heavy lifting there, folks)."
Yeah, I bet that's some real intelligence at work.
No offense, but, is there really any point in shooting the moose from the plane?
September 10, 2008 12:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for calling attention to the site.
http://womenagainstsarahpalin.blogspot.com/
Whom exactly are you trying to insult with "Yeah, I bet that's some real intelligence at work"? My favorite from the site is:
September 10, 2008 1:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well Obama finally took the gloves off and it was about time. However as a tactical matter "lipstick on a pig" might not have been the best approach given that Sahara (as in a desert of ideas) Palin seems to be electrifying McCain’s otherwise soporific campaign with her Annie Oakley routine.
Remember we have our own wing nuts, like the PUMAS who can relate to Sahara on a visceral level.
No sense trying to deny (to our bas) that Sahara (aka a piggy with lipstick) was the subliminal target.
So my opinion is that he could have thrown a jab that would have been just as effective as the "lipstick on a pig" jab, without incurring some of the negative reaction it is getting with the help of the Karl Rove faux outrage machine that seems to work so well for those bozos.
But all in all I like it. That's the Obama I want to see.
Forget this bullshit about "uppity negro". Those people who would be offended by Obama throwing punches back because he's black are a lost cause anyway.
As I said in another one of my reincarnations, the American people will not vote for a person who can't or won't punch back.
Jimmy Carter was an exception and that is because he was the Post Nixon candidate (Ford being just a stand-in president) and it was one of those times that being an sob had lost (temporarily) its allure with the American people.
For better or for worse you have to punch back and tying one hand behind your back just because you are black is bullshit. The hell with this uppity negro crap. Enough is enough.
I don't think it is too late and I think that Obama might be setting a trap by remaining cool under fire. Maybe he just wants to have them hit him with their best shot--and this seems to be it--before he responds. In any case I'm glad to hear that Axelrod et al are not going to take the "if-Obama-is-too-aggressive-he-will-be-seen-as-an-uppity-negro”crap any longer.
September 10, 2008 2:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
I read somewhere today that Obama has been giving McCain all the rope he can handle. And for some strange reason, McCain started attacking Obama politically way too early. Word is, McCain is running low on cash for more ads, whereas Obama, patiently waiting for the right time, is poised to strike hard and fast. Seems he has a larger warchest and is using it to go after all McCain's missteps, mistakes,and misquotes.
September 10, 2008 8:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sarah Palin
Had a palin,
Washington DC
She is a looker
So he did book her
To run as his VP
September 10, 2008 4:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
I've got to be honest here....
When Senator Obama dashed my hopes of an Obama/Bérubé ticket by picking Joe Biden... well I was depressed. I stopped paying attention to politics for a while. I returned to old habits -- gnawing on old tires, crocheting chain mail vests, and building ships in bottles from the bones of extinct birds.... you know. Manly stuff.
Then I heard about this Sarah Palin, and boy howdy did I get excited! Here, finally, was what I'd been looking for! She was talking about drilling a lot, and shooting moose, and stuff -- and I figured to myself, "Heck, she's more rugged and manly than the whole dang Democrat Party!"
Now she's going to drill in FICA? Holy crap! That's change I can believe in. About dang time, I say! Hopefully next she'll tap the FDA's vast food and drug reserves! And build a fleet of whaling vessels! And get rid of bag limits on unicorns, so I can shoot one!
Oh, America!
September 10, 2008 4:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
thepuppet,
and she probably enjoys a good cigar now and then.
September 10, 2008 6:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
When Senator Obama dashed my hopes of an Obama/Bérubé ticket by picking Joe Biden... well I was depressed. I stopped paying attention to politics for a while. I returned to old habits -- gnawing on old tires
Whoa, tph. That's exactly what I did when Obama went to Biden instead of me!!11!1! I didn't crochet any chain mail vests, now . . . 'cause that's just weird. But I distinctly remember saying to David Axelrod three weeks ago, "d00d, my time is now. If Barack picks me, he totally takes the parent-of-a-child-with-Down-syndrome thing away from the Republicans, not that I'm clairvoyant or anything." Also, Jamie's a huge Obama fan, and would be happy to make campaign appearances on his behalf. No kidding.
September 10, 2008 10:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
September 10, 2008 7:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Whasamatta U? It's close enough to Halloween, so why act so surprised at pigs and pitbulls with make-up on?
September 10, 2008 8:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Whasamatta U? It's close enough to Halloween, so why act so surprised at pigs and pitbulls with make-up on?
September 10, 2008 8:34 PM | Reply | Permalink