Barack Obama spoke this afternoon regarding the vote:

I'm glad to see we finally got this dealt with. Two things are important now, number one that the administration uses the authority that its been given wisely, so we have to make sure Secretary Paulson and others are structuring the purchase of these--the purchase of these troubled assets in a way that protects taxpayers. That's very important.

The second thing we have to do, is we've got to make sure that homeowners are benefited. Now the treasurer has authority to work with the modification of mortgages to prevent foreclosure. He's supposed to come up with plans to do that. I want those plans on tap quick so that we start getting some relief to homeowners out in neighborhoods.

And the final thing is understanding even if this rescue package works exactly as it should, it's only the beginning, it's not the end. Because we still have 150,000 new people who lost their jobs this month, 750,000 since the beginning of this year. We still have a healthcare system that's broken, we're still overly reliant on oil from the Middle East and so we've still got these structural problems; the fundamentals of the economy aren't sound and we're going to have to do a lot of work moving forward.

So if we can stop the bleeding with this package, implement it effectively, and then move forward to deal with the broader problems on Main Street, then hopefully we can get our economy back on track.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/

Tough times are coming, but Obama seems to understand what we need.

John McCain is rapidly becoming a laughingstock in America.  Well deserved.

Barack Obama rips him a new one today, with style.

"There's only one candidate who's called himself "fundamentally a deregulator" when deregulation is part of the problem. My opponent actually wrote in the current issue of a health care magazine -- the current issue, quote, "Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation." So let me get this straight -- he wants to run health care like they've been running Wall Street. Well, senator, I know some folks on Main Street who aren't going to think that's a good idea. "

"There's only one candidate whose campaign is being run by seven of Washington's most powerful lobbyists. And folks, it isn't me. I don't take a dime from Washington lobbyists and special interests. They do not run my campaign. They will not run my White House. And they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I'm president of the United States. So when John McCain says that lobbyists 'won't even get past the front gate' at his White House, my question is -- who's going to stop them? Those seven lobbyists? His campaign manager? The economic adviser, who got a $40 million golden parachute when she was fired as a CEO? Or maybe the 26 advisers and fundraisers who lobbied for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? I mean, give me a break. The same day my opponent attacked me for being associated with a Fannie Mae guy I've talked to for maybe five minutes in my entire life -- the same day he did that -- the head of the lobbying shop at Fannie Mae turned around and said wait a minute -- 'when I see photographs of Senator McCain's staff, it looks to me like the team of lobbyists who used to report to me.'

Folks, you can't make this stuff up."

Obama, quoted on Ben Smith's blog

Here's the video of this statement and more!

Finally someone says it.  If you can die for your country out of patriotism, maybe paying taxes is part of the deal.

Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden said Thursday that paying more in taxes is the patriotic thing to do for wealthier Americans. The Republican campaign for president calls the tax increases their Democratic opponents propose "painful" instead of patriotic.

snip

"We want to take money and put it back in the pocket of middle-class people," Biden said in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America."

Noting that wealthier Americans would indeed pay more, Biden said: "It's time to be patriotic ... time to jump in, time to be part of the deal, time to help get America out of the rut."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26771716/

For too long, many wealthy people have selfishly asked working folks to die for America, but refused to do their part.  No more.

Obama Campaign: McCain "Would Rather Lose His Integrity Than Lose An Election"

Now we are seeing real fight out of the Obama campaign.  Obama was tough today and this really kicks McCain ass.  McCain lacks integrity.  Spread it around.  Unfit for High Office.

Here's the full response from Obama spokesperson Hari Sevugan:

Today on "The View," John McCain defended his campaign's latest ad campaign, which has been debunked repeatedly as both false and sleazy. In running the sleaziest campaign since South Carolina in 2000 and standing by completely debunked lies on national television, it's clear that John McCain would rather lose his integrity than lose an election.

TPM

Unified, we will defeat John McCain and put a Democrat back in the White House.  Listen to Bill:

Former President Bill Clinton predicted Barack Obama will "win" this fall's election and "will win pretty handily."

The two men chatted with reporters in a photo-op at Clinton's Harlem office before sitting down for a private lunch.

Clinton is scheduled to campaign for Obama in Florida later this month.

snip

Clinton said he'd "agreed to do a substantial number of things, whatever I'm asked to do."

Obama smiled at Clinton's prediction that he would take the White House: "There you go, you can take it from the President of the United States. He knows a little something about politics."

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/200 8/09/11/bill-clinton-predicts-big-obama- win/

I like Bill's confidence.  He's an asset to our Party.

Now will the PUMAs just shut up!

I think folks here will like this story, since many Clinton supporters were at MyDD during the primaries and so many of them have become strong supporters of Barack Obama now:

At a Capitol Hill news conference today, Hillary Clinton defended Obama's "lipstick on a pig" comment, accusing McCain of using the controversy to distract from substantive issues in the campaign.

"Barack has made this clear," she said responding to a question about the lipstick remark, which Republicans have condemned as a "disgraceful" and "sexist" attack on Palin. "It was no way meant as an affront."  

During the press conference, which addressed equal pay for women, Clinton added that "Republicans need to lift up the dialogue" and blamed McCain's campaign for trying to "divert attention away from challenges facing Americans."

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2 008/09/10/1375540.aspx

Kicking serious McCain ass.  Obama's plenty tough enough and we're seeing his steel:

"Spare me the phony outrage. Spare me the phony talk about change," Obama said at the start of an education event in Virginia. "We have real problems in this country right now. The American people are looking to us for answers, not distractions, not diversions, not manipulations. They want real answers to the real problems we are facing.

"I don't care what they say about me. But I love this country too much to let them take over another election with lies and phony outrage and swift boat politics," he also said. "Enough is enough."

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/200 8/09/10/happening-now-obama-says-enough- is-enough/

I just wanted to share it here.  Spread it around.  Tell people.  This time, there will be no swift boatings.

Calling a lie a lie.  McCain lacks any honor and people will see it soon.

In Flint Michigan, Obama calls out Palin for the phony she is.

"Well, how about Gov. Palin? She's you know, an up and comer from Alaska. She - they're starting to run an ad now saying she opposed the bridge to nowhere. Well now, let's get the facts clear here. When she was mayor, she hired a Washington lobbyist to get earmarks  - pork barrel spending - all the things that John McCain says is bad, she lobbied to get! And got a whole lot of it. When it came to the bridge to nowhere, she was for it until everybody started raising a fuss about it and she started running for governor and then suddenly she was against it!

"You remember that? For it before you were against it? I mean you can't just make stuff up. You can't just recreate yourself. You can't just reinvent yourself. The American people aren't stupid."

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/arch ives/2008/09/obama_upconverts_his_musing s_o.php

I hope he keeps it up on both McCain and Palin.  Both are more of the same.  Phony "change agents."