No, McCain, You ALREADY Fired the FEC Chair

/in , /by

I can understand why John McCain would be demanding (former) FEC Chair David Mason’s head. After all, before Bush did fire Mason, the FEC Chair was poised to call McCain on his attempts to game the campaign finance system.

The White House today withdrew the nomination of “holdover” FEC Commissioner David Mason to serve as a Commissioner on the FEC. 

The White House dumped Mason after President Bush had twice proposed Mason for the FEC in the last two and a half years, in December 2005 as a recess appointment and in January 2007 as a nominee to the FEC for Senate Confirmation.

The only apparent reason for President Bush to drop Commissioner David Mason at this stage, an FEC candidate he had twice proposed for the Commission, is to prevent him from casting an adverse vote against Senator McCain on important enforcement questions pending at the Commission. The questions deal with Senator McCain’s request to withdraw from the presidential primary public financing system and the consequences of a loan the McCain campaign took out and the collateral provided for the loan.

Under these circumstances, President Bush’s dumping of Mason can only be viewed as a bald-faced and brazen attempt to wrongly manipulate an important enforcement decision by the nation’s campaign finance enforcement agency.

So I’m not surprised McCain called for FEC Chair David Mason’s head rather than SEC Chair Christopher Cox’s head. It was a predictable unconscious slip, one that probably happened because McCain was thinking about scapegoats he could attack to cover up his own complicity and screw-ups.

But I did think I’d be nice and remind McCain that he already got David Mason fired.

    • jayt says:

      McCain and Palin are certainly birds of a feather.

      ok, I’ve done some preliminary research, and cannot find any birds which are known to have an inveterate penchant for lying.

      Can’t find anything called a “ratfuck bird”, either.

  4. FormerFed says:

    Boy, you are so quick!! I thought there was something funny sounding when I first heard McCain, but I wasn’t sharp enough to catch it.

  8. Styve says:

    These guys are sadly comedic, in the way they tend to inadvertently revisit crime scenes and spur renewed interest in past felonies!!

    Great catch, EW!

    • hackworth says:

      McCain should soon be rolling out the old Republican line that Dubya used – I’m gonna restore honor and integrity to the White House. Its hard trick for him though. He’s got to keep peeling the Dubya albatross off his back as he says it.

    • bigbrother says:

      Sadly they all have clinical mental health problems.
      1. They can’t percieve reality
      2. Reality does not match their goals so they are in cognitive disonance.
      3. The anger and the obstinanace in ignoring the rule of law leads to tyranny

  11. hackworth says:

    Pat Robertson’s Regent University, the institution that brought so many young bright minds to Bushco DOJ is advertising here. That is funny.

  14. Ann in AZ says:

    Maybe McShame is just trying to do what Obama advised: fire all of the last Administration! If McLame had his way, he’d fire the Prez so he didn’t have to carry all that heavy water anymore.

  15. plunger says:

    “You thought I said what?”

    Big Dan said:

    Facts suck!!! In 1999, McCain and the Republicans all voted for Phil Gramm’s bill for deregulation 44-1, causing the mess we’re in right now; Democrats voted AGAINT it 30-0!

    Led by Phil Gramm, the senators who voted to allow the massive deregulation of the banking industry and welcomed the cowboy economy that brought the Enron, sub-prime mortgage crisis, $85 billion AIG rescue and taxpayer bailout upon taxpayer bailout for the corporate criminal bankster welfare queens.

    The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act effectively repealed the Glass-Steagall Act, opening up competition and blatant conflict of interests among banks, securities companies and insurance companies. The Glass-Steagall Act prohibited a bank from offering investment, commercial banking, and insurance services basically, the deregulation that caused all this:

    McCain voted FOR it (1999 vote on GovTrack.us website):

    Senate Vote On Passage: S. 900 [106th]: Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act

    Mr. McCain:

    That ball and chain around your ankle is your party’s deregulation of the entire financial industry – effectively neutering the SEC – resulting in the most extreme example of greed we have witnessed in our lifetimes. Republicans OWN this economy…and the results that are now unfolding before our eyes as evidenced by plummeting stock values, bankrupt corporations and failed banks. The one thing you can’t even pretend to “change” is your own party affiliation.

    SEC, FEC – it all gets confusing – when you’re too old to govern and too corrupt and old to remember how you caused the problem in the first place.

    • perris says:

      repeated and highlighted for emphasis;

      Big Dan said:

      Facts suck!!! In 1999, McCain and the Republicans all voted for Phil Gramm’s bill for deregulation 44-1, causing the mess we’re in right now; Democrats voted AGAINT it 30-0!

      Led by Phil Gramm, the senators who voted to allow the massive deregulation of the banking industry and welcomed the cowboy economy that brought the Enron, sub-prime mortgage crisis, $85 billion AIG rescue and taxpayer bailout upon taxpayer bailout for the corporate criminal bankster welfare queens.

      The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act effectively repealed the Glass-Steagall Act, opening up competition and blatant conflict of interests among banks, securities companies and insurance companies. The Glass-Steagall Act prohibited a bank from offering investment, commercial banking, and insurance services basically, the deregulation that caused all this:

      McCain voted FOR it (1999 vote on GovTrack.us website):

    • DWBartoo says:

      “problem”

      What ‘problem’, we ain’t got no steeenking problem.

      If the little people have a problem, then …tough …

      Little birdie in the sky,

      Dropped some ‘whitewash’ in muh eye.

      Gosh I’m glad the DOW don’t fly.

      Oh wait, what’s that? Up in the sky …it’s a bird! …it’s a plane!

      It’s overflying FUNDAMENTALS, and looky, looky, looky, they are all bright and shining, reflecting the unassailable integrity of John “Windsock” Mc$ame and his predessor, the Great and Wonderful Deciderator, who is Great and Wonderful, even when he is being Great and Wonderful …

  16. perris says:

    as reagan was not the president due to his alzeimers at the end of his term, and bush was not president due to his moronicy, mccain will not be president almost immediatly it will be a palin administration

    even she realizes this and had a fruadian slip to call it the “palin mccain presidency”

    • perris says:

      this women has far less inteligence then her language skills indicate

      everyone knows she is lying about teh bridge, yet she can’t stop herself, she loves the line, “I told them thanx but no thanx, if we want this bridge we’ll build it ourself”…she is enamored with the line and can’t get off if it

      she has that “palin mccain” thing in her speach and she cannot get off ot it

  22. RonD says:

    She had to say it again, at least once, just to make the point that it was not a mistake the first time. If she doesn’t, she has to admit to a mistake…and Republicans DO NOT admit to mistakes. Ever. McCain would probably prefer her keep doing it rather than say the word “wrong”….although it has to be making him grind his teeth.

  24. Raven says:

    from huff

    “It has come to the attention of Fox News this morning that an ad for the McCain campaign uses the voice of our Correspondent, Major Garrett. We demand that you immediately remove Mr. Garrett’s voice from this ad. As Mr. Garrett is a non-partisan news correspondent covering the Obama campaign for Fox News, it is highly inappropriate, among other things, of your campaign to use him in your ad. Please confirm to me in writing that you have removed Mr. Garrett’s voice from your ad.”

    • demi says:

      I wonder if they would have sent that letter if Mr. Garret was covering McCain’s campaign.
      Are they trying to stay away from a conflict of interest issue do you think?

    • demi says:

      Not to mention, what was Garret thinking? I’ll look up the story, but I would think he would be getting some chewing out too.

  25. hackworth says:

    Spike Lee’s HBO Katrina series on DVD – shows Dubya arm in arm, laughing, backslapping Mayor C Ray Nagin (while totally ignoring and freezing out Governor Blanco). As Spike Lee narrates, he points out that Candidate Nagin was promoted and propped up by an elite group of wealthy descendents of Plantation Owners. “Nagin is Bush’s boy.” – Spike Lee. Nagin is a Democrat in name only. He is a loyal Bushie. It was a crime the way that Katrina was handled. It flushed out Democrats and enabled Republicans to take over New Orleans and elect a Republican governor in LA.

    Bush has likewise snubbed Spain’s President Zapatero. Bush was friendly with the Right Wing Aznar. When Zapatero was elected, he withdrew his troups from Bush’s war.

    Is McCain intentionally snubbing Zapatero or is McCain simply senile? It seems like McCain is confused. Maybe he is confused on purpose. No one can yet say for sure.

    Palin is another useful tool like Nagin.

  26. bigbrother says:

    Let us remember president Bush is obliged to protect investor who are his base. McCain’s comments on the Federal Elections Office board are very much like his visits to the Federal Home Loan Bank in behest of Keating’s bankrupt S%L Lincoln that was allowed two more years of fraud.
    MCSame is a bonafide certifide crook with serious mental health problems very like the Banana Republic dictstors that were installed by the CIA in Central and South America.

  27. plunger says:

    IT’S THE DERIVATIVES, STUPID!
    WHY FANNIE, FREDDIE AND AIG ALL HAD TO BE BAILED OUT

    In an article on FinancialSense.com on September 9, Daniel Amerman maintains that the government’s takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was not actually a bailout of the mortgage giants. It was a bailout of the financial derivatives industry, which was faced with a $1.4 trillion “event of default” that could have bankrupted Wall Street and much of the rest of the financial world. To explain the enormous risk involved, Amerman posits a scenario in which the mortgage giants are not bailed out by the government. When they default on the $5 trillion in bonds and mortgage-backed securities they own or guarantee, settlements are immediately triggered on $1.4 trillion in credit default swaps entered into by major financial firms, which have promised to make good on Fannie/Freddie defaulted bonds in return for very lucrative fee income and multi-million dollar bonuses. The value of the vulnerable bonds plummets by 70%, causing $1 trillion (70% of $1.4 trillion) to be due to the “protection buyers.” This is more money, however, than the already-strapped financial institutions have to spare. The CDS sellers are highly leveraged themselves, which means they depend on huge day-to-day lines of credit just to stay afloat. When their creditors see the trillion dollar hit coming, they pull their financing, leaving the strapped institutions with massive portfolios of illiquid assets. The dreaded cascade of cross-defaults begins, until nearly every major investment bank and commercial bank is unable to meet its obligations. This triggers another massive round of CDS events, going to $10 trillion, then $20 trillion. The financial centers become insolvent, the markets have to be shut down, and when they open months later, the stock market has been crushed. The federal government and the financiers pulling its strings naturally feel compelled to step in to prevent such a disaster, even though this rewards the profligate speculators at the expense of the Fannie/Freddie shareholders who will get wiped out. Amerman concludes:

    “[I]t’s the best game in town. Take a huge amount of risk, be paid exceedingly well for it and if you screw up — you have absolute proof that the government will come in and bail you out at the expense of the rest of the population (who did not share in your profits in the first place).”

    Roubini warned:

    “What we are facing now is the beginning of the unravelling and collapse of the entire shadow financial system, a system of institutions (broker dealers, hedge funds, private equity funds, SIVs, conduits, etc.) that look like banks (as they borrow short, are highly leveraged and lend and invest long and in illiquid ways) and thus are highly vulnerable to bank-like runs; but unlike banks they are not properly regulated and supervised, they don’t have access to deposit insurance and don’t have access to the lender of last resort support of the central bank.”

  29. earlofhuntingdon says:

    Related to McShame’s forgetfulness is how much he’s forgotten about what he’s really done for his fellow POW’s in Vietnam.

    Did you know John was a POW? The Navy flier son of the then commander of the Pacific Fleet, the prize prisoner at the Hanoi Hilton, who, like everyone else who’s reached their personal breaking point, broke and told the Vietnamese what they wanted to hear. His taped confession was broadcast on loudspeakers in his camp and distributed widely by the Vietnamese, reaching, of course, the ears of the top naval commander in theater, his dad.

    Sydney Schanberg, author of The Killing Fields, takes up a more important aspect of the story, however, one the TradMed has ignored since McShame entered Congress: McShame’s shilling for political insiders hiding our knowledge that we’d left hundreds of prisoners behind in Vietnam and how hard he worked to follow instructions to bury evidence that we’d done so.

    http://www.nationinstitute.org…..9182008pt1

    Schanberg raises pointed questions that ought to be asked about John McCain, what he really did in his war and after it, how much he really supports the troops and their families. Did you know he was a POW?

    • earlofhuntingdon says:

      The point of Schanberg’s story is not that McCain broke after prolonged torture by his captors. As Cheney knows full well, that’s the nature of torture: it breaks the human mind and body, everyone’s. The data may not be accurate or ungarbled, useful or timely, but it comes out.

      No, the point of Schanberg’s story is, in part, McCain’s personal reaction to his breaking, at a time when PTSD was for wussies, especially when one’s father and grandfather were admirals, especially when one of them was then commanding all wartime Navy operations against Vietnam.

      Schanberg can’t read McCain’s mind any more than I can, perhaps any more than McCain can. But he documents McShame’s rage and resentment against those who question him, who point out how in Congress he has uniformly protected the military and political bureaucracy against the interests of the men, women and the families who serve.

      Has McShame much to make up for? Perhaps. Perhaps in his own mind, like Bush, he knows he can’t or won’t. He has gone to enormous lengths to hide shameful behavior, bullying, intimidation, hidden legislative language. Once exceptional, that’s standard operating Neocon behavior today. A man of change? Not on your life, which is exactly how McShame sees it.

  30. earlofhuntingdon says:

    One of the gems unearthed by Syd Schanberg is a 1991 resignation letter by the then chief of the Pentagon’s Special Office for Prisoners of War-Missing in Action, Vietnam War veteran Col. Millard A. Peck, who had a background in intelligence and was one-time Chief of Asian Intelligence Division at the DIA. The sit-rep Peck gives as background for his resignation from his post and from the Army was not welcome by Sen. McShame.

    http://www.nationinstitute.org/pdf/syd4peck.pdf

    We know John McCain was a POW, that he makes a political living at it, and that uses he that experience as an all-purpose shield against any question he doesn’t like. But did we know what he did for POW’s after he came home and others didn’t? I didn’t. Sadly, Sen. John Kerry has a few things to answer for here, too.

  31. der1 says:

    And on Senator McCain’s grand military strategy to win the war: The Surge.

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Satellite images taken at night show heavily Sunni Arab neighborhoods of Baghdad began emptying before a U.S. troop surge in 2007, graphic evidence of ethnic cleansing that preceded a drop in violence, according to a report published on Friday.
    http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/200….._lights_dc

    Friday, these things always show up on Friday.

  32. rkilowatt says:

    re McCain as POW: Is there a source, other than heresay, that claims anything besides the generality of “torture” of McCain? What torture? I have read only that McCain’s 2 arms and 1 leg were broken upon ejection from his A4D and that he claimed he recovered consiousness after landing in a lake in Hanoi. Also, that he was fished-out by locals who got him to shore and roughed him up until an NV military officer arrived to take charge.

    The photo of “him” being rescued in the lake appeared as backdrop during McCain’s GOP Convention speech. It has been available on the internet for at least months with the caveat that it was “probably McCain”, and that the photo was released by the NV in Hanoi 1 day after his capture without claiming who the pilot was [that they got his identity days later].

    Has McCain alleged “torture”? If not his word, who/what is credible source? If so, any detail to verify that generality?

    Has he denied receiving perks as POW-son of CIC Pac Admiral, his father?

  33. freepatriot says:

    mcsame decided that Obama was the problem

    seems that Obama has been in washington FOR YEARS, doing nothing to help, and doing everything to hurt America

    no shit

    mcsame is out peddling this turd

    he’s got NO CLUE that he is really describing HIMSELF

    anybody wanna doubt my 67 Senate Seats dream now ???

    they got Mr Magoo for a fucking candidate

    and miss prissy lies a lot to prop up magoo

    Has ANYBODY ever seen a bigger joke of a campaign ???

    I’m barely old enough to remember McGovern’s campaign, and it was NOTHING like this

    magoo is gonna end up like sideshow bob, wandering around in a field of rakes

  34. Dismayed says:

    McGovern! Ha.

    If the press was even half doing their job the wheels would be off McCain’s cart already. Joke is right.

    McCain wanted to be president more than he wanted a soul. Now Rove’s fucked him TWICE.