(Updated) Obama Campaign Counters McCain's Dishonest Tirade in Albuquerque Today; Audience Member Calls Obama a "Terrorist"

Update: Read this and watch their video clip. McCain asks, "Who is the real Barack Obama?" At least one member of the Albuquerque crowd yells out "terrorist." You can also hear it on Peter St. Cyr's audio of the speech, at about the 13 minute mark. In fact, if you listen to the audio, the crowd often sounds more like a mob than an audience, at least to my ears.

We also have Palin in Florida today. TPM says: "And later we have Sarah Palin with the same mob racket, getting members of the crowd to yell out "kill him", though it's not clear whether the call for murder was for Bill Ayers or Barack Obama. It didn't seem to matter. These are dangerous and sick people, McCain and Palin. Whatever it takes. Stop at nothing."

Where will we end up with McCain and Palin egging on the nuts in America, consciously or not, to ugly namecalling and violent threats? After all, according to the McCain campaign, they've just begun their move to the darkest of the dark sides of campaigning. It makes my hair stand up on end to think about it.
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Click for video of Cindy McCain's intro and John McCain's remarks before a couple hundred people at the UNM Sub in Albuquerque this afternoon (although the quality is poor). McCain's angry tirade against Obama, attempting to blame him for the financial crisis we're in today, begins at about 14 minutes. The quote cited below begins about a minute later. The entire appearance runs about 26 minutes. Short and nasty.

The newest version of John McCain is shamelessly hawking lies that he knows are lies. What else does he have left? Everybody knows that McCain has dedicated his career to deregulation of the kind that has put American and global finances into a deadly spin. His "economic plan" consists of more tax cuts for the rich and big corporations, coupled with threatened cuts to vital programs like Medicare and Medicaid at a time when seniors and our poorest citizens can expect to be hit even harder by economic instability and injustices. It's clear that McCain will depend almost entirely on vicious and dishonest attacks on Obama's character and ethics from here on out. The Obama campaign, however, is ready to call McCain out in no uncertain terms when he resorts to distortions, exaggerations and plain old lies.

Obama Campaign Statement
The Obama campaign issued the following response to Senator McCain’s fact-challenged attack in Albuquerque today:

“On a day when the markets are plunging and the credit crisis is putting millions of jobs at risk, the one truly angry candidate in this race kept up his strategy of ‘turning the page’ on the economy by unleashing another frustrated tirade against Barack Obama. And if John McCain is wondering why he’s lost his credibility, he should look no further than the out-of-context quote he took from a 2007 speech in which Barack Obama warned of the subprime crisis we’re now facing. Since then, John McCain has called for less regulation no fewer than 20 times, proving that he hasn’t learned any lessons from the last banking scandal he was involved in and would give us more of the same failed economic policies as President,” said Obama campaign spokesman Tommy Vietor.

What McCain Said Today
Here are some of the dishonest accusations John McCain made in his remarks today in Albuquerque:

“Senator Obama was silent on the regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and his Democratic allies in Congress opposed every effort to rein them in. As recently as September of last year he said that subprime loans had been, quote, “a good idea.” Well, Senator Obama, that “good idea” has now plunged this country into the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. To hear him talk now, you’d think he’d always opposed the dangerous practices at these institutions. But there is absolutely nothing in his record to suggest he did.

"He was surely familiar with the people who were creating this problem. The executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have advised him, and he has taken their money for his campaign. He has received more money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac than any other senator in history, with the exception of the chairman of the committee overseeing them. Did he ever talk to the executives at Fannie and Freddie about these reckless loans? Did he ever discuss with them the stronger oversight I proposed? If Senator Obama is such a champion of financial regulation, why didn’t he support these regulations that could have prevented this crisis in the first place? He won’t tell you, but you deserve an answer.”

What Obama Really Said
Compare McCain's desperate detortion of Obama's statement with the real Obama quote in its full context:

“And we cannot help but see some reflections of these practices when we look at the subprime mortgage fiasco today. Subprime lending started off as a good idea – helping Americans buy homes who couldn't previously afford to. Financial institutions created new financial instruments that could securitize these loans, slice them into finer and finer risk categories and spread them out among investors around the country and around the world. In theory, this should have allowed mortgage lending to be less risky and more diversified.

"But as certain lenders and brokers began to see how much money could be made, they began to lower their standards. Some appraisers began inflating their estimates to get the deals done. Some borrowers started claiming income they didn't have just to qualify for the loans, and some were engaging in irresponsible speculation. But many borrowers were tricked into glossing over the fine print. And ratings agencies began rating bundles of different kinds of these loans as low-risk even though they were very high-risk. Most everyone knew that some of these deals were just too good to be true, but all that money flowing in made it tempting to look the other way and ignore the unscrupulous practice of some bad actors.” [NASDAQ Speech, 9/17/07]

McCain and the Fannie & Freddie Lobbyists
According to Senate lobbying records, a total of 26 McCain advisors and fundraisers have been registered lobbyists for Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Seven of them are still registered, and another four terminated their registration in late September as the subprime scandal worsened.

SIXTEEN FANNIE MAE LOBBYISTS (TWO CURRENTLY LOBBYING)
Wayne L Berman, National Finance Co-Chair*
Aquiles Suarez, Economic Advisor
John Green, Capitol Hill Liaison
Dan Crippen, Health Care Policy Adviser
AB Culvahouse, VP Selection
Kirk Blalock, Young Professionals for McCain National Chair (Terminated 9/22/08)
Kate Hull, Young Professionals for McCain Fundraiser (Terminated 9/22/08)
Aleix Jarvis, Bundler (Terminated 9/22/08)
Kirsten Chadwick, Bundler (Terminated 9/22/08)
Richard Hohlt, Bundler*
Tom Loeffler, Bundler, Former General Chairman, National Finance Chair
Nicholas Calio, Bundler
Alberto Cardenes, Bundler
Michael Kennedy, Bundler
Peter Madigan, Bundler
Alison McSlarrow, Bundler

*currently lobbying (as of 7/31/08, no termination filed as of 10/6/08)

10 FREDDIE MAC LOBBYISTS (FIVE CURRENTLY LOBBYING)
Charlie Black, Senior advisor, Bundler
Bill Timmons Sr., Senior advisor for transition*
Carlos Bonilla, Former Economic Advisor*
Mark Buse, Senate Chief of Staff
David Crane, Senior Policy Adviser
Al D'Amato, Bundler*
Melissa Edwards, Young Professionals for McCain Fundraiser*
Susan Molinari, Women for McCain Steering Committee*
Juleanna Glover Weiss, Bundler
Don Sundquist, Tennessee Co-Chair

*currently lobbying (as of 7/31/08, no termination filed as of 10/6/08)

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