Huck-Again

Here's a real nice analysis of McCain's "refined" mortgage position. Over at TPM, of course, you won't find analysis like this at Time.com.

So I'm trying to make sense of McCain's "refined" plan. Two weeks ago, he wondered aloud how "4 million mortgages [could] cause this much trouble for us all," and suggested that if those borrowers just took fewer vacations and managed their budgets more effectively, they wouldn't be in trouble. Today, he promised to help "every deserving American family or homeowner." So how many American families are deserving? McCain's top economic policy adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, places the number between 200,000 and 400,000 households; just those families "who really need help."

Great. So to be clear, McCain thinks that millions of Americans are going to lose their homes, and all but a few hundred thousand are just getting what they deserve. Specifically, he's prepared to step forward and help only those who:

-Took out a subprime loan after 2005

-Can prove they were "creditworthy" at the time

-Are unable to pay that subprime loan

-But could pay a 30-year fixed rate loan

There's more at the link.

Huckabee was refreshing, and did a good deal to help the face of right wing Christianity (even though he was a bit loony about some things). It really did seem he was honing his speaking credentials the last month or so. good line that, at the end. True.

Mr. Scherer,

We know that you have been very busy writing about the very important Huckabee primary campaign, but I would like to know when you are going to ask candidate McCain the questions we submitted to you on this blog, particularly the question about how much longer he intends to continue the war in Iraq.

Jon Soltz explains how the Bush-McCain "shorten the troops deployment" shell game really works. Few so-called journalists have bothered to do the math.

Here's the problem with President Bush's announced reduction in troop deployment times from 15 to 12 months: it's a PR stunt.

Why? Because, according to the AP, this won't apply to troops currently in the field, but those deploying in August. Now, I may be no expert in the president's "fuzzy math," but my calculations tell me that 12 months from August, 2008 is August, 2009.

There's no President Bush at that point.

So this is a promise he can throw out there, and never has to keep. What it is, though, is a lifeline to Senator McCain. It makes it look like we're easing the burden on troops before the election. It's an illusion, allowing Senator McCain to try to make the case that conditions on the ground are so good that we can ease the strain on the military now. That talking point will come in handy when Senators Obama or Clinton try to raise the breaking of our military. It's also a little mirage of sugar, to help the medicine go down. Since the president announced he's stopping troop redeployments, his faux promise to reduce deployment times is an attempt to make the news sound not so bad.

Meanwhile, McCain opposes the troop "Dwell Time" amendment proposed by Webb,
repeatedly voted against better health care for veterans , and opposes the Post-911 Veterans Educational Assistance Act sponsored by Webb and Chuck Hagel.

Why does John McCain hate our troops?

Mr Huckabee lost for me when he went on National TV with Mr. (used car salesman) Copeland even while the shyster is under indictment. Slime is running of this man and he doesn't run??? A serious error in judgement/character because not all conservatives believe the moon landing was fake and Copeland (and the Seed Faith Prosperity crowd) are real. It meant that his advisors were sleeping on the job or he wouldn't listen to them. Did he actually accept money from Copeland? Come on Mr Huckabee, even McCain wouldn't do that. I hope you write something in your book that restores hope in the Conservative community that you really do have wisdom and integrity - like, "I don't know what I was thinking when I pretended to actually affirm Copeland to the American people. I accepted his money because I was desperate--please forgive me--I have returned it." Thats a good start.

Huckabee: "I kind of like to think of my campaign not as we lost," he says, "but as the game ended before we finished playing.”

That's a rather sunny perspective. I'd like him more if it weren't for the fact that he's taken the wrong position on just about everything.

[Huckabee sez] Christian conservatives should move beyond their worries about winning and losing, and just vote for their favorite candidate.

Well, couldn't Christian conservatives do that anyway? I seem to remember a lot of bloviating over how the GOP was fielding too many socially liberal candidates, and how the Christian Right was gonna take their ball, go home, and field their own candidate.