Senator McCain answered, in part:

I think [Congressman] John Lewis.  John Lewis was at the Edmund Pettus Bridge.  Had his skull fractured.  He continues to serve.  He continues to have the most optimistic outlook about America.  He can teach us all a lot about the meanings of courage and commitment to causes greater than ourselves.

The Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma Alabama was the site of a violent, 1965 incident, since named Bloody Sunday, an attack by Selma police on a peaceful, civil rights march.  John Lewis, who was then President of a civil rights group, The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, was one of the leaders of the protest.

This weekend Congressman Lewis decided to repay John McCain’s reverential expression of respect and admiration by joining the latest Obama-Media coordinated assault, the utterly baseless claim that John McCain’s campaign has become racist and hateful.

Here are excerpts from Congressman Lewis’s remarks, posted on his website:

“As one who was a victim of violence and hate during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, I am deeply disturbed by the negative tone of the McCain-Palin campaign.  What I am seeing today reminds me too much of another destructive period in American history…During another period, in the not too distant past, there was a governor of the state of Alabama named George Wallace who also became a presidential candidate.

George Wallace never threw a bomb.  He never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who only desired to exercise their constitutional rights.  Because of this atmosphere of hate, four little girls were killed one Sunday morning when a church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama.

“As public figures with the power to influence and persuade, Sen. McCain and Governor Palin are playing with fire, and if they are not careful, that fire will consume us all…

A later item on the same website, titled “clarification” says…

A careful review of my earlier statement would reveal that I did not compare Sen. John McCain or Gov. Sarah Palin to George Wallace.  It was not my intention or desire to do so.

Congressman Lewis claims he didn’t compare McCain and Palin to George Wallace, a virulent segregationist who was Governor of Alabama and a third party candidate for President in 1968.  But he sure tried to plant in the mind of the reader/listener the impression that John McCain was acting like George Wallace, going so far as to associate the McCain’s “tone” with the murder of four children in a church bombing.

Lewis’s incendiary remarks are outrageous.  We’ve certainly criticized some of John McCain’s statements and ideas.  But no honest person would characterize McCain as anything other than an honorable and decent human being.  These odious intimations, that Barack Obama has not denounced, are truly disgusting.

Apparently, we’re witnessing an effort by the political-media establishment to convince undecided voters that anyone with the temerity to vote against The One, Barack Obama, is a pernicious racist, who would even condone bombing churches and murdering children.

John Lewis deserves the respect of a grateful nation for his courageous leadership in the Sixties campaign to dismantle the legally sanctioned segregation that was a cancer on America.  But his participation in this coordinated smear of Senator McCain and Governor Palin is shameful.

Now we are told the Government will “solve the problem” by purchasing all the bad mortgage-backed securities held by Wall Street institutions.  Today, the price tag is set at $700 Billion.  But Government’s record in estimating such costs leads to the expectation of an…um… upward adjustment in the coming months.

This scheme is somewhat similar to the structure of the Resolution Trust Corporation, a government agency created in the late eighties to acquire and then sell the assets of failed savings and loan institutions, another crisis caused largely by government.  Much of the cost of the Savings and Loan debacle was recovered in the early nineties when those assets were sold to the public.  In the same way some, or perhaps even most of today’s bail out cost may eventually be recovered.

What led to this crisis?

It was not what Obama and Co. want you to believe, too little regulation of a too-free market.  While politicians love to insulate themselves from accountability with the tired old slogan “there’s plenty of blame to go around” government, whose immense power has been hijacked to serve the agendas of well organized political factions and pressure groups, is at the center of the blame orbit.

The real problem is a combination of too much regulation, and gross malfeasance within two entities partially owned by government, managed by government appointees, supervised by a special government regulatory agency, and overseen by the Senate and House of Representatives.  Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are not the “free market.” They are creatures of government.

Yesterday, John McCain did a pretty good job of identifying and summarizing government’s starring role in the spectacle that ended in the crisis that government will now attempt to resolve, at enormous expense to taxpayers:

The financial crisis we’re living through today started with the corruption and manipulation of our home mortgage system. At the center of the problem were the lobbyists, politicians, and bureaucrats who succeeded in persuading Congress and the administration to ignore the festering problems at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  These quasi-public corporations led our housing system down a path where quick profit was placed before sound finance.

Using money and influence they prevented reforms that would have curbed their power and limited their ability to damage our economy.  and now, as ever, the American taxpayers are left to pay the price for Washington’s failure.

Through a vast network of brokers and intermediaries Fannie and Freddie made deals with millions of borrowers that an objective review of their individual finances would have indicated they could not afford.  Fannie and Freddie then packaged these shakey loans toghether with sound loans into bonds and sold them to the financial institutions that are now ailing and making headlines.

As too many of the individual mortgages within these bond packages defaulted, and real estate values declined, the market value of the bonds dropped dramatically.  Currently, there are virtually no buyers for these mortgage bonds because it isn’t possible for a potential buyer to assess the quality of all the underlying mortgages.  Thus, it could be said they have little or no market value.

Compounding the problem was an accounting rule imposed by government regulators in the wake of the last “crisis” the crash of 2000 – 2002 that politicians blamed on “wall street crooks like Enron.” Nicknamed “mark to market,” this rule required financial institutions that own the mortgage bonds to – on paper – “mark down” the value of the bonds to a theoretical market value, much lower than would have been justified by the actual deterioration of the underlying individual mortgages.

To understand mark-to-market, consider a hypothetical package of mortgages.  In the worst case scenario anyone anticipates, a third of the mortgages have or will end up in foreclosure, and selling the foreclosed homes will yield a third of what was owed against them, leaving a smaller package of “good” loans which, over the long term, will yield 70% – 80% of original, purported of all the loans in the package.  But due to fear and uncertainty in the market, nobody is willing to purchase those bonds for 70% of their face value.  Recent offers have been in the 25% to 35% range.

Following the “mark to market” rule, holders of these bonds have had to mark them down several times over the past year, to a level way below what they will turn out to be worth, long term. Other government regulations require them to replace the lost value with other assets.  If they cannot, they are insolvent. this process led directly to firms like Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns becoming insolvent.

So now we taxpayers have no choice but to hope the appointed wizards of Washington, Treasury Secretary Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke have properly assessed this crisis, and really do know what they’re doing.  We can only hope they’re right when they warn that the cost of not implementing their massive bail-out would be catastrophic losses and insolvencies throughout the financial sector, resulting in massive economic misery, afflicting almost all Americans.

As usual, here comes government, under red light and siren, skidding up to the curb to rescue us poor saps from an impending calamity caused by government.  And as usual, the accountable politicians are talking furiously, hoping we’ll believe they aren’t to blame.

In our next post we’ll compare the records of John McCain and Barack Obama to determine who is more likely to make the future better than the present.

She didn’t know what he meant and asked for clarification, which he refused to give.  So she ventured a general answer.

Finally, he sneered at her over his half-glasses, and ponderously explained what he meant, playing the long-suffering professor, contemptuously instructing the naive Freshman.

Here are the facts:

• There is no Administration policy or government publication or law or executive order with the official name “Bush Doctrine.”
• In his column in the Washington Post Charles Krauthammer, who was first to use the label and is as authoritative as anyone, lists four Bush Administration policies or initiatives that have been called “The Bush Doctrine” by major media outlets.
• The Bush-haters in Congress and the media have carelessly applied the label in scores of ways.  Law enforcement policies they disliked, tax cuts they disliked, poverty, illness, high priced gasoline, and crowded airports, have all been called “The Bush Doctrine.”

Only by being a mind reader could Sarah Palin have known what Charlie Gibson meant by “The Bush Doctrine.”

In our previous post we discussed The Left’s irrational fear of religious expression, and Charles Gibson’s outrageous attempts to deceive ABC’s TV audience by misquoting remarks made by Sarah Palin to a gathering at her church.

Someone should remind The Left of their roots.

On the evening of June 6, 1944, as American troops began the D-Day landing on the coast of France, The Left’s most revered President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, led America in prayer over nation- wide radio  Here are some excerpts:

My Fellow Americans:

…in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer:

Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.  Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.

They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.

And for us at home — fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas, whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them — help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice…As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.

With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogances. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace — a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.

Thy will be done, Almighty God.

Amen

This Presidential prayer was considered entirely appropriate by almost every American, including the Democrats in Congress!

How far we have come since then.  Imagine the outrage from The Left if, on the eve of the military operation against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, President Bush had appeared on TV to lead the nation in the same prayer, and hoped to do God’s will!

One wonders what FDR would say to those who now lead the movement he started, and who are so hysterically intolerant of any expression of this nation’s Judeo-Christian foundation and traditions.

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I fell in love with my country when I was a prisoner in someone else’s. I loved it not just for the many comforts of life here. I loved it for its decency, for its faith in the wisdom, justice, and goodness of its people.

I loved it because it was not just a place, but an idea, a cause worth fighting for. I was never the same again; I wasn’t my own man anymore; I was my country’s.

I’m not running for president because I think I’m blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save our country in its hour of need.

Fight with me! Fight with me!

My country saved me. My country saved me, and I cannot forget it. And I will fight for her for as long as I draw breath, so help me God.

My friends, if you find faults with our country, make it a better one. If you’re disappointed with the mistakes of government, join its ranks and work to correct them. Enlist!

Enlist in our Armed Forces. Become a teacher. Enter the ministry. Run for public office. Feed a hungry child. Teach an — an illiterate adult to read. Comfort the afflicted. Defend the rights of the oppressed.

“Our country will be the better, and you will be the happier, because nothing brings greater happiness in life than to serve a cause greater than yourself.

I’m going to fight for my cause every day as your president. I’m going to fight to make sure every American has every reason to thank God, as I thank him, that I’m an American, a proud citizen of the greatest country on Earth.

And with hard work — with hard work, strong faith, and a little courage, great things are always within our reach.

Stand up!

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Stand up!

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Stand up and fight!

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We’re Americans, and we never give up!

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We never quit!

The Obama campaign and its media cheer leaders are stunned.  Somehow, the McCain-Palin campaign has roared to life, forcing their candidate to deal with challenges he didn’t expect and isn’t prepared to take on.

In our Inbox this morning was a second petulant email from the Obama Campaign, defending so-called Community Organizing, a major component of Obama’s meager resume.

Why would the Republicans spend a whole night of their convention attacking ordinary people?  With the nation watching, the Republicans mocked, dismissed, and actually laughed out loud at Americans who engage in community service and organizing.

Our convention was different…You may have missed it, but we…showed the country a video with the faces and voices of those organizers, volunteers, and donors from every corner of the country.  Watch the video and make a donation of $5 or more now to show that in this election, ordinary people will make their voices heard.

Really?  Will this video explain why Obama claims his experience as a community organizer prepared him to be President?  Great!

So we clicked on the video.  What a waste of three minutes!

• Video of cars driving up and down streets,
• people walking around with clipboards,
• half-second clips of people holding up little “hope” and “change” signs,
• vapid three-second soundbites from those proud “ordinary people,”
• Joe Biden bellowing that “this may be the last time to reclaim the America we love,” and finally,
• sputtering to an end with the same old banal, “oratory” from obama, with the usual cheering mob in the background…

We are one people! We are one nation! And together we will begin the next great chapter in the American story…YES WE CAN!”

Where’s the defense of community organizing as preparation for the most challenging executive position in human history?  Not in this video!

Here’s a Fox News segment comparing US Weekly’s treatment of Sarah Palin with its treatment of Barack Obama.

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Later in the day the editor of US Weekly was interviewed on Fox News and said the article, inside the yet to be published magazine, does not allege that Governor Palin lied about anything, but rather that some bloggers lied about her baby.