Sarah Palin, accompanied by the First Dude and the Old White-haired Dude.
Apparently there must be some new polling data out that indicates Iowa is officially In Play for the presidential election. I haven’t seen it, but the McCain campaign scheduled a brief stop in Cedar Rapids today, and that’s something they don’t do for Illinois or Massachusetts.
The crowd size was estimated at 6,000 by newspapers, but a shuttle bus driver claims the buses transported 8,000 people to the event. The candidates thoughtfully held up their arrival until everyone was on site.
Governor Sarah introduced Senator McCain. It was mostly a rehash of previous Sarah-isms we have all heard before, except for her confusing Grand Rapids (where they were yesterday) with Cedar Rapids and the obligatory pandering to the natives – oh, it’s beautiful here in Iowa; we’re so happy to be here; hey, how about those floods, huh? She did take one hard, well-deserved shot at Sen. Biden for his stupid comments on how it’s patriotic to pay taxes. To quote one of the ubiquitous campaign buttons being sold onsite, “You go, girl!”
When it was McCain’s turn, he blasted Obama and the Democrat congress over the Fannie Mae-Freddie Mac debacle. Yuval Levin has a transcript of those remarks which is consistent with what I heard.
Senator Obama talks a tough game on the financial markets but the facts tell a different story. He took more money from Fannie and Freddie than any Senator but the Democratic chairman of the committee that regulates them. He put Fannie Mae's CEO who helped create this disaster in charge of finding his Vice President. Fannie's former General Counsel is a senior advisor to his campaign. Whose side do you think he is on? When I pushed legislation to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Senator Obama was silent. He didn't lift a hand to avert this crisis. While the leaders of Fannie and Freddie were lining the pockets of his campaign, they were sowing the seeds of the financial crisis we see today and enriching themselves with millions of dollars in payments. That's not change, that's what's broken in Washington.
This forceful attack is overdue, because the Democrats, who own the causes of the mortgage meltdown, have been trying to blame it all on the Bush administration. The campaign must counter the perception that the administration is at fault for the housing/banking/mortgage crisis. Unfortunately, McCain, in his undying spirit of fair play then continued to say that if he were currently president, he would fire Bush’s SEC head, Christopher Cox. This remark is, of course, what the media focused on.
All-in-all, it was a worthwhile, well-organized event. I only regret that Megyn Kelly wasn't in attendance and covering it for Fox News.
Because of some bureaucratic snafu involving my press credentials, my view of the event was less than ideal.
McCain at the podium, Sarah to his right (naturally) and that is NOT Chelsea Clinton between them.
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