RACHEL MADDOW, HOST: Senator, you criticize the Bush administration frequently. But, you almost never criticize the Republican Party itself. Other Democrats --
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Much to your chagrin.
MADDOW: Well, yes, actually. I mean, other Democrats, you will hear them talk about the GOP as the party that's been wrong on all the big stuff. Creating Social Security, civil rights, the War in Iraq. But, you don't really do that. Do you think there is a stark difference between the parties?
OBAMA: Well, I do think there's a difference between the parties, but here's my belief. That I'm talking to voters. And I think they're a lot of Republican voters out there, self-identified, who actually think that what the Bush administration has done, has been damaging to the country.
And, what I'm interested in, is how do we build a working majority for change? And if I start off with the premise that it's only self-identified Democrats who I'm speaking to, then I'm not going to get to where we need to go. If I can describe it as not a blanket indictment of the Republican Party, but instead describe it as the Republican Party having been kidnapped by a incompetent, highly ideological subset of the Republican Party, then that means I can still reach out to a whole bunch of Republican moderates who I think are hungry for change, as well.
MADDOW: Now, they do that to you the same way. When they talk -- when John McCain calls you a socialist --
OBAMA: Right.
MADDOW: This redistribute the wealth idea. He goe -- he calls you soft on national security.
OBAMA: Yes.
MADDOW: That's not just an anti-Barack Obama script.
OBAMA: No.
MADDOW: That is -- he's reading from an anti-Democrat, and specifically an anti-liberal stance.
OBAMA: Absolutely.
MADDOW: And so, you have the opportunity to say John McCain, George Bush, you're wrong. You also have the opportunity to say, conservatism has been bad for America. But, you haven't gone there either.
This speech was given Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Read the complete transcript.
Well Missouri, it is just five days until election day, that time for choosing. Our nation we're gonna go one of two ways and our country right now of course we're facing tough times. Tough economic times especially now more than ever we need someone tough as president, we need a leader with experience and courage and good judgement and truthfulness.
We need someone with a bold and free and fair plan of action to take this country in a new direction and soon that time for choosing, it will be here, and the choice could not be clearer. Only John McCain has the wisdom and he has the experience to get our economy back on the right track, because he has a pro-growth, pro-private sector plan to put your government back on your side. It is of the people, by the people, for the people, it is your government.
As John McCain and I are protecting every one of your constitutional rights we will implement an economic plan that will also help our families keep their homes by cleaning up the corruption and the greed that bought us the housing crisis to start with.
We're gonna help our retirees keep their savings and their investments. These are our esteemed elders in this nation who have built up our families and our communities and then they trusted other people to manage their savings for them and because of that corruption and greed, they're forced now to worry about their investments, that's not right, thats not fair, it won't happen on our watch, that need to be scared for our elders.
We're gonna make sure that they're secure and our economic plan too. It will help all of us afford good health care and its gonna help our students afford to pay college, thats for our students and our plan includes confronting the $10 trillion debt that the federal government has run up, $10 trillion that we are in debt and we're expected to pass that on to our children and have them pay that off for us. Again that's not right, that's not fair, that won't happen on our watch.
John and I will impose a spending freeze to cover all but the most vital functions of government and we will balance the federal budget by the end of our first term.
Our plan is pretty simple. We're gonna lower your income taxes. And we'll double the child tax deduction for every family. We're gonna cut the capital gains tax. And did you know the U.S. business tax is the second highest is the entire world? It is no wonder that companies are moving overseas to do business because of taxes, it's cheaper for them to do business over there. No we will cut that tax, we'll keep American businesses in America.
And you can trust John McCain and me to keep our promises because we're the only candidates in this race with track records of reform. I've done it up in the state of Alaska by confronting the good ole boy network and cleaning up corruption and greed there, vetoing wasteful spending. John McCain. he's known in the U.S. Senate not just as the patriot but as the maverick — he's taken on the wasteful spending and the abuse.
Obama appeared on Jon Stewart's 'Daily Show' program. Read the complete transcript.
Jon Stewart: William Jefferson Clinton and you in Florida. Now, I know Florida, many of my people go there to retire. You might want to hold the rally early. They don't like to miss their shows at night or the early-bird special at the diner. So, whatever you can....
Barack Obama: No comment on that, Jon. I'm trying to win Florida.
Jon Stewart: What a wise man. I thought that at this point, you would be doing sort of a four corners offense, playing kind of a delay game, but you really are going at it. Tell me about this half-hour special that aired earlier tonight. What is this?
Barack Obama: Well, this is the Obama infomercial. I'll tell you a quick story. We're buying time on a lot of the stations. I was describing this to Michelle and my daughters, and Malia who is ten, she said "Hold up a second. Are you saying my programs are going to be interrupted?" I said no we didn't buy on Disney. She was relieved, but for everybody else who wants to watch, they're going to have a chance to take a look at not just sort of a pitch for me but really what we try to do is tell a story about what's happening in families all across America. We've got four families that we feature. All of them have great hopes, but all of them are struggling too. We want to talk about what the next four years would mean for them.
Jon Stewart: Will it annoy us? Or will we like it? Afterwards, will we think, did he just sell me a Shamwow? What the hell just happened? Or will we feel comforted and, you know....
Barack Obama: I hope what people will come away with, I hope they'll say to themselves you know what? This election is really important. These families that have been featured remind me of either myself or people I that know. I hope they'll have a better sense of exactly what I want to do as president. That's all you can do. At this stage, everything that needs to be said has probably been heard by a lot of voters. What you want to do is remind them one more time. Here's what I'm going to do, not oversell, let people make up their minds. That's how democracy works.
Jon Stewart: So much of this has been about fear of you. An elitist, a celebrity, a Muslim terrorist sympathizer. A Socialist, a Marxist, a witch. That's right. They've been calling you a witch. They're saying if you do win, is that a mandate for Socialism in this country? Has any of this fear stuff, do you think it's stuff with the electorate? Are you finding that on the trail?
Barack Obama: You know, it just hasn't. I mean, I think, there's a certain segment of hard-core Sean Hannity fans that probably wouldn't want to go have a beer with me, there's no doubt about that. But I think for the average voter, they're saying to themselves, what's all this stuff about? I'm trying to figure out whether I can hang on to my house or who is going to help me get a job or what about my health care, my premiums have doubled over the last couple of years. So I don't think that they're paying too much attention to this stuff. And the whole Socialism argument that doesn't fly too well. The evidence of this seems pretty thin. I said today that I think they found proof that when I was in kindergarten I shared some toys with my friends. That's clearly a sign that of subversive activity now, I can tell you, Jon, that being on your program I think is further evidence of these tendencies.
BARTIROMO: We are in a financial crisis, clearly. We are expecting further layoffs and further banks to go belly-up. Why should the American people believe and feel that the two of you have your hands on the wheel and can take us out of this?
Sen. McCAIN: Well, because we have a plan of action to get America's economy going again, Maria, and it has to do with a wide range of prescriptions. But one of them is to keep people in their homes. Look, it was the housing crisis that started this, OK? Fannie and Freddie, this--was the catalyst that blew this whole thing up. And frankly, the administration is not doing what I think they should do, and that's go in and buy out these bad mortgages, give people mortgages they can afford, stabilize home values and start them back up again. They did that during the depression, it was called the Home Owners' Loan Corporation. We got to keep taxes low, we got to cut spending, we got to find alternative fuels, including offshore drilling and nuclear power. And we have to have a positive agenda for job creation. But I'd like to start with keeping people in their homes.
BARTIROMO: So, over the short term your plan is to keep people in their homes and buy those mortgages.
Sen. McCAIN: Create...
BARTIROMO: Over the longer term?
Sen. McCAIN: Over the longer term, as happened in the, by the way, during the Great Depression, was that over time money came into the Treasury. Obviously we have to stabilize our financial institutions, we have to unfreeze credit. How do you do all that? You create jobs in America. And we can do that in a broad variety of ways, and one of them is to stop this $700 billion transfer to countries that don't like us very much. Now, I know the price of oil is down temporarily, and that's reflective of a lot of conditions in the world. But we still have to free ourselves of our dependence on foreign oil, because over time it's still a finite resource.
BARTIROMO: Governor Palin, what about that? Now oil's around $60 a share--a barrel. Is it still an important issue to become energy independent? And how do you do it?
Gov. PALIN: Now is our opportunity to seize this and to be able to invest in the domestic solutions that are here now for that offshore drilling that is safe and responsible, for the nuclear that we need to tap into and the alternative sources. And yeah, drilling for the sources that we know are here and flowing that natural gas in the pipelines that we're building up there in Alaska, also. Now is the opportunity that we have, and we better seize it.
We cannot lull ourselves into this false sense of security just because the price of a barrel of oil today is 64 bucks, it's about half of what it had been I think even when we were speaking last, Maria. But no, now's our opportunity. The domestic solutions that are there, we tap into them, we become less and less beholden then on foreign sources of energy, and we circulate, as he says, these hundreds of billions of dollars a year in our own country, creating jobs for America.
Gov. Sarah Palin was interviewed by Elizabeth Vargas:
ELIZABETH VARGAS: If it doesn't go your way on Tuesday ... 2012?
GOV SARAH PALIN: I'm just ... thinkin' that it's gonna go our way on Tuesday, November 4. I truly believe that the wisdom of ... of the people will be revealed on that day. As they enter that voting booth, they will understand the stark contrast between the two tickets. ...
VARGAS: But the point being that you haven't been so bruised by some of the double standard, the sexism on the campaign trail, to say, "I've had it. I'm going back to Alaska."
PALIN: Absolutely not. I think that, if I were to give up and wave a white flag of surrender against some of the political shots that we've taken, that ... that would ... bring this whole ... I'm not doin' this for naught.
VARGAS:You seemed to imply last night in a speech that Sen. Obama, if given the chance, would rewrite the Constitution to allow the courts to confiscate private property. Is that what you meant to say?
PALIN: No. Asking the question, what do his comments, from back there in 2001, candid comments that are caught on tape, what do they suggest in, in terms of his idea for future Supreme Court justices, and perhaps for ... he being able to reach some of the goals that it seems that he has, in terms of redistributing other people's wealth, hard-earned money, according to his priorities. But, no, not ... not an explicit allegation like that. No.
VARGAS: He did ... 'cause I did read that interview. He didn't advocate using the courts. He actually was quoted as saying he thought the courts were not a good way to redistribute any kind of socioeconomic ...
PALIN: Well, I think that people can ... can read the comments and hear the comments that he made, because again, the, the refreshing thing about that tape being revealed ... from 2001... it's candidness there. It's not ... it didn't seem to be his typical scripted, kinda ... rhetorical message read off a TelePrompter. There it was, where he talked about, though, his desire, it sounded like, for redistributing wealth.
But ... even more telling when that, of course, was the candor that he showed in his conversation that he had with Joe the Plumber, where he outright said, in plain language, that, that ideal there, that he has about ... he calls it the spreading of the wealth. As I talked about in my speech, Joe Biden calling higher taxes patriotic. But to a lot of people, including Joe, Joe the Plumber, they said that that suggested socialism, and now isn't the time to experiment with that. So it's very important that American voters have all the information that they can, based on somebody's record and candid comments, so that they ... we can figure out, where would that candidate try to take the nation?
MCCAIN: I don't think it's "worried." I think, obviously, I know we're still the underdog. We're now 2 or 3 or 4 points down. And we've got six days to go to make that up. But it's not a matter of worry; it's just, you know, you and I have been together long enough, you know I love the underdog status. I just want to leave that status at the time the polls close.
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
KING: ... be favored.
All right. Sen. Obama had a 30-minute ad buy tonight. It ran right before we went on the air. Does that make it hard for you, the amount of money being spent against you?
MCCAIN: Well, let me tell what's ...
KING: Frankly?
MCCAIN: Let me -- frankly, what's disturbing about it is that he signed a piece of paper back when he was a long shot candidate. And he signed it, said I won't -- I will take public financing for the presidential campaign if John McCain will. I mean, it's a living document.
He didn't tell the American people the truth. And then twice he looked into the camera when he was in debate with Sen. Clinton and said, "I'll sit down and negotiate with John McCain before I decide on public financing."
Well, he didn't tell the American people the truth. He never had any -- I'm still waiting for the call. So -- and what has happened now is that there are hundreds of millions of dollars that are undocumented credit cards. And we don't know where they came from; we don't know who contributed it. Video Watch McCain talk about public financing »
And all my career, I've been trying to increase transparency, accountability, and bring courage (phonetic) to the flow of money. You tell me the next time now a presidential candidate will take public financing when Sen. Obama has shown you can raise millions of dollars.
KING: (INAUDIBLE)
MCCAIN: And so we don't know who those donors are. Their response will be, oh, well, they're just small donors. We don't know that. We don't know that, because they're undocumented.
KING: All right.
(CROSSTALK)
MCCAIN: We document every penny ...
(CROSSTALK)
KING: If it wasn't a change of mind, what are you suspicious of?
MCCAIN: What am I suspicious ...
KING: You make it sound like you're suspicious of something.
MCCAIN: Well, whenever you have hundreds of millions of dollars undocumented in campaign contributions, these are the "small contributions," of course it opens itself up to question, because the one thing we need in financing of campaigns and contributions is transparency.
Sen. Obama has not told the American people the truth. So therefore he now is able to buy these half-hour infomercials and, frankly, is going to try to convince the American people through his rhetoric what his record shows that he's not.
KING: You told me some time ago, like back in February, that what you wanted this race to be was clean. You wanted the race solely based on issues. What happened?
MCCAIN: Well, the first thing that happened is that I asked Sen. Obama urgently and repeatedly to come and do town hall meetings with me the way Jack Kennedy and Barry Goldwater had agreed to do before the tragedy of Dallas intervened.
When you're on the stage with someone, and you're -- every few days, and you're having to talk to the American people directly, that changes the tenor of an entire campaign. You know that, you've seen it, and I've seen it.
So he refused. So he refused to do that. Now, the fact is that Sen. Obama now has paid more for negative advertising against me than any presidential campaign in history, in history.
KING: And you haven't done that?
MCCAIN: Of course we have run ads that point out his record and also point out his associations. And I still think, you know, we're watching now, a major newspaper has a tape that apparently has Mr. William Ayers in it. I don't know if it does or not. That's the allegation.
But that newspaper and their parent, the Tribune Company, and the Obama campaign refuse to release that. Shouldn't the American people know about that? At least they should have full information.
We cannot spend the next four years as we have spent much of the last eight: hoping for our luck to change at home and abroad. We have to act. We need a new direction, and we have to fight for it.
I've been fighting for this country since I was seventeen years old, and I have the scars to prove it. If I'm elected President, I will fight to shake up Washington and take America in a new direction from my first day in office until my last. I'm not afraid of the fight, I'm ready for it.
I have a plan to hold the line on taxes and cut them to make America more competitive and create jobs here at home. We're going to double the child deduction for working families. We will cut the capital gains tax. And we will cut business taxes to help create jobs, and keep American businesses in America. Raising taxes makes a bad economy much worse. Keeping taxes low creates jobs, keeps money in your hands and strengthens our economy.
If I'm elected President, I won't spend nearly a trillion dollars more of your money. Senator Obama will. And he can't do that without raising your taxes or digging us further into debt. I'm going to make government live on a budget just like you do.
I will freeze government spending on all but the most important programs like defense, veterans care, Social Security and health care until we scrub every single government program and get rid of the ones that aren't working for the American people. And I will veto every single pork barrel bill Congresses passes.
I'm not going to spend $750 billion dollars of your money just bailing out the Wall Street bankers and brokers who got us into this mess. I'm going to make sure we take care of the working people who were devastated by the excesses of Wall Street and Washington.
I have a plan to fix our housing market, so that your home value doesn't go down when your neighbor defaults, and so that people in danger of defaulting have a path to pay off their loan.
If I'm elected President, we're going to stop spending $700 billion to buy oil from countries that don't like us very much. Senator Obama will argue to delay drilling for more oil and gas and against building new nuclear power plants in America. If I am president, we will start new drilling now. We will invest in all energy alternatives -- nuclear, wind, solar, and tide. We will encourage the manufacture of hybrid, flex fuel and electric automobiles. We will invest in clean coal technology. We will lower the cost of energy within months, and we will create millions of new jobs.
We've learned more about Senator Obama's real goals for our country over the last two weeks than we learned over the past two years, and that only because Joe the plumber asked him a question in Ohio. That's when Senator Obama revealed he wants to quote "spread the wealth around."
After decades of broken politics in Washington, eight years of failed policies from George Bush, and twenty-one months of a campaign that has taken us from the rocky coast of Maine to the sunshine of California, we are one week away from change in America.
In one week, you can turn the page on policies that have put the greed and irresponsibility of Wall Street before the hard work and sacrifice of folks on Main Street.
In one week, you can choose policies that invest in our middle-class, create new jobs, and grow this economy from the bottom-up so that everyone has a chance to succeed; from the CEO to the secretary and the janitor; from the factory owner to the men and women who work on its floor.
In one week, you can put an end to the politics that would divide a nation just to win an election; that tries to pit region against region, city against town, Republican against Democrat; that asks us to fear at a time when we need hope.
In one week, at this defining moment in history, you can give this country the change we need.
We began this journey in the depths of winter nearly two years ago, on the steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois. Back then, we didn't have much money or many endorsements. We weren't given much of a chance by the polls or the pundits, and we knew how steep our climb would be.
But I also knew this. I knew that the size of our challenges had outgrown the smallness of our politics. I believed that Democrats and Republicans and Americans of every political stripe were hungry for new ideas, new leadership, and a new kind of politics - one that favors common sense over ideology; one that focuses on those values and ideals we hold in common as Americans.
Most of all, I believed in your ability to make change happen. I knew that the American people were a decent, generous people who are willing to work hard and sacrifice for future generations. And I was convinced that when we come together, our voices are more powerful than the most entrenched lobbyists, or the most vicious political attacks, or the full force of a status quo in Washington that wants to keep things just the way they are.
Twenty-one months later, my faith in the American people has been vindicated. That's how we've come so far and so close - because of you. That's how we'll change this country - with your help. And that's why we can't afford to slow down, sit back, or let up for one day, one minute, or one second in this last week. Not now. Not when so much is at stake.
HANNITY: It is amazing how "Joe the Plumber" — you know, everywhere I go — and I saw a sign here today, "I'm Sally the Homemaker," I'm somebody the Bartender. And I hold up signs whenever I go, "I'm Sean the Loudmouth Talk Show Host."
J. MCCAIN: You know, it's amazing. This "Joe the Plumber" event has really been a catalyst. It really has.
You know we look back on political campaigns. "I paid for this microphone, Mr. Breen." Ed Muskie crying outside The Union Leader, or whatever it was. You know, there are moments when something happens and clearly Senator Obama going to "Joe the Plumber's" driveway and him getting an answer that clearly he didn't like. And by the way, the way that they attacked him? Please.
HANNITY: They've gone after him pretty hard, they've mocked him on the campaign trail. There's been apparently issues of investigating his background.
J. MCCAIN: Oh yes.
HANNITY: And I thought Governor Palin had it bad at one point when they sent a mini army up to Alaska to investigate her.
Well, here's...
J. MCCAIN: And, of course, if anybody in the media, much less "Joe the Plumber," asks a tough question, then they're boycotted, they pull their ads.
HANNITY: I want to get to that, because Senator Obama said it's a tragedy "... that redistribution of wealth was not pursued by the Supreme Court."
J. MCCAIN: That's what's scary. You know, a lot of people believe that there's going to be three vacancies on the United States Supreme Court. And some of the thoughts and writings and statements by Senator Obama about how it's the job of the judiciary to be "redistributed?"
But I think — fast forward after just a short time ago. Senator Obama opposed Justices Roberts and Alito. And he said on ideological grounds. And Sean, a true confession. I voted for Justices Breyer and Ginsburg. Not because I agreed with their philosophy, but because they were qualified to serve.
HANNITY: Even though you...
J. MCCAIN: Even though I had strong disagreements with their ideology. Now Senator Obama wanted to filibuster Roberts and Alito and oppose them because of their quote, "conservative views."
Look, are they qualified? Of course Roberts and Alito are. And so I think, frankly, this is really revealing to Americans who understand the importance of Supreme Court justices.
HANNITY: That's obviously a big issue in the campaign. There may be two, or as you point out, as many as three vacancies on the court.
Let me ask you a couple of simple questions about this redistribution of wealth of "Senator Redistribution."
Is it socialism?
J. MCCAIN: Certainly it's part of the socialist creed, philosophy, to share the wealth. Now if Senator Obama's a "socialist" is something that I'll let those theoreticians decide.
But the fact is that it's a far-left liberal view that you need to take money from one group of Americans and give it to another, to take people who have built up through their labor and their hard work and their dedication to the free enterprise system and take it away from them.
Now, of course we have an obligation to take care of citizens in our society who can't care for themselves. That's why we have those programs, those safety net programs. But you know, the safety net programs, a lot of Americans pay in to Social Security, they pay in to a number of those programs.
So the point is, yes, a society and government takes care of citizens who need our help. That's what America is all about. But nobody that I know of who framed our Constitution had any thoughts that we would take money from one group of Americans and give it to another.
After decades of broken politics in Washington, eight years of failed policies from George Bush and twenty-one months of a campaign that has taken us from the rocky coast of Maine to the sunshine of California and everywhere in between, we are one week away from changing America. (Cheers, applause.)
In one week, you can turn the page on policies that have put greed and irresponsibility of Wall Street before the hard work and sacrifice of folks right here in Canton, folks right on Main Street. (Cheers, applause.)
In one week, you can choose. You can choose policies that invest in our middle-class and create new jobs and grow this economy from the bottom-up, so that everyone has a chance to succeed, from the CEO to the secretary and the janitor, from the factory owner to the men and women on the factory floor. In one week. (Cheers, applause.)
In one week, you can put an end to the politics that would divide a nation, just to win an election; that tries to pit region against region and city against town, Republican against Democrat; that asks us to fear at a time when we need hope. In one week, at this defining moment in history, you can give this country the change we need. You can do that. (Cheers, applause.)
You know, we began this journey in the depths of winter, nearly two years ago, on the steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois, the place where Abraham Lincoln served for so many years.
You know, back then, we didn't have much money and we didn't have many endorsements. We weren't given much of a chance by the polls or the pundits. And we knew how steep our climb would be.
But I also knew this. I knew that the size of our challenges had outgrown the smallness of our politics. I believed that Democrats and Republicans and Americans of every political stripe were hungry for new ideas and new leadership and a new kind of politics, one that favors common sense over ideology, one that focuses on those values and ideals we hold in common as Americans. (Cheers, applause.)
Most of all, I believed in you. I believed in your ability to make change happen. I knew that the American people were a decent, generous people who are willing to work hard and sacrifice for future generations. (Cheers, applause.)
And I was absolutely convinced that when we come together, our voices are more powerful than the most entrenched lobbyists or the most vicious political attacks -- (cheers) -- or the full force of a status quo in Washington that wants to keep things just the way they are. (Cheers, applause.)
And Canton, 21 months later, my faith in the American people has been vindicated. That's how we've come so far, how we've come so close -- because of you. That's how we'll change this country -- with your help. That's why we cannot afford to slow down or sit back. We cannot let up for one day, or one minute, or one second in this last week. (Cheers, applause.) Not now, not when there's so much is at stake. One week. (Cheers, applause.)
We are in the middle of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. I don't have to tell you, Ohio; 760,000 workers have lost their jobs so far this year. Businesses and families can't get credit. Home values are falling. Pensions are disappearing. Wages are lower than they've been in a decade, at a time when the cost of everything from health care to college have never been higher. It's getting harder and harder to make the mortgage, or fill up your gas tank, or even keep the electricity on at the end of the month.
Obama spoke before an enormous crowd in Denver,Colorado. Read the complete transcript.
Colorado, in just 9 days, you'll have the chance to elect your next President. And you'll have the chance to bring the change we need to Washington. That's the good news. But we're going to have to work, and struggle, and fight for every single one of those 9 days to move our country in a new direction. We cannot let up. And we won't.
Because one thing we know is that change never comes without a fight. In the final days of campaigns, the say-anything, do-anything politics too often takes over. We've seen it before. And we're seeing it again today. The ugly phone calls. The misleading mail and TV ads. The careless, outrageous comments. All aimed at keeping us from working together, all aimed at stopping change.
Well, this isn't what we need right now. The American people don't want to hear politicians attack each other – you want to hear about how we're going to attack the challenges facing middle class families each and every day. So what we need now is honest leadership and real change, and that's why I'm running for President of the United States.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for America. The economic crisis we face is the worst since the Great Depression. Businesses large and small are finding it impossible to get loans, which means they can't buy new equipment, or hire new workers, or even make payroll for the workers they have.
We've lost more than 750,000 jobs this year. Wages are lower than they've been in a decade, at a time when the cost of health care and college have never been higher. It's getting harder and harder to make the mortgage, or fill up your gas tank, or even keep the electricity on at the end of the month. At this rate, the question isn't just “are you better off than you were four years ago?”, it's “are you better off than you were four weeks ago?”
So what we need right now is a real debate about how to fix our economy and help middle class families. But that's not what we're getting from the other side. A couple of weeks ago, my opponent's campaign said that “if we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose”, so they said they'd be focusing on attacking me instead.
And that's one campaign promise they've actually kept. Senator McCain has been throwing everything he's got at us, hoping something will stick. He's even called me a socialist for suggesting that we focus on tax cuts, not for corporations and the wealthy, but for the middle class.
The other day, he took it to a whole new level. He said that I was like George W. Bush. You can't make this stuff up, folks. In what may be the strangest twist of all, Senator McCain said that I would somehow continue the Bush economic policies – and that he, John McCain, would change them.
But then, just this morning, Senator McCain said that he and President Bush – “share a common philosophy.” That's right, Colorado. I guess that was John McCain finally giving us a little straight talk, and owning up to the fact that he and George Bush actually have a whole lot in common.
Appearing on the program with George Stephanopoulos were SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, R-S.C., REP. RAHM EMANUEL, D-ILL., and JACK WELCH, FORMER CEO, GE. Read the complete transcript.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Heading into this final full week of the presidential campaign, Barack Obama is holding a steady lead. Our latest ABC News tracking poll shows him with a 9-point advantage over John McCain . One big reason -- fewer Americans now call themselves Republicans. Four years ago, the parties were even -- 37 percent of likely voters were Democrats; 37 Republicans. Today, Democrats are still at 37 percent, but Republicans have dropped to 29, the biggest gap in a generation.
With that, let me bring in our debaters this morning, two of the candidates’ closest friends and advisers. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. He’s actually in Iowa with John McCain today. And joining us in the studio, Congressman Rahm Emanuel . Welcome to you both.
Senator Graham, let me begin with you. As you saw in that poll there, the GOP brand has really taken a beating. How can you get them back in this final week without turning off moderates and independents?
GRAHAM: Well, I think the independent voter will decide the election, and Senator Obama doesn’t show much independence when it comes to saying no to the Democratic leadership since he’s been in Congress. His budgets increase spending, they increase taxes, and all Americans -- Republicans, Democrats and independents -- generally don’t like the idea of having taxes increased on anyone in a weak economy or making Washington larger.
So we have to make our case to the independent voter that John McCain is truly an independent, stood up to his own party, will keep your taxes low, and rein Washington spending in, and I think that’s a winning message for us. It’s not time to raise taxes or increase spending.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Congressman Emanuel, he raises the issue of taxes. Senator McCain and Governor Palin are also raising the prospect of having Democrats in control of the entire government. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, R-ARIZ.: We can’t have Obama, Pelosi, Reid running Washington and running our country.
GOV. SARAH PALIN, R-ALASKA: If big government spenders control the House and the Senate, and heaven forbid, the White House too, they will be unchecked.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHANOPOULOS: Independents in our poll do say they would prefer to have Republicans in control of Congress and a divided government.
EMANUEL: First of all, this is a party that for six years run up the largest national debt, $4 trillion, under a Republican watch. When you had a Democratic president, we balanced the budget. The records are clear.
Second, there is a point here, and I think it’s a very, very important point, which is, in 2004, when Republicans won the White House, the House and the Senate, they went off and tried to prove their ideology by trying to privatize Social Security, and thank God Democrats stopped them. Second, they ran off on a tangent on Terry Schiavo, which the nation rejected.
The warning is to make sure you stay to your knitting and focus on the challenges facing this country and the middle-class families. Reforming energy to make sure you have independence and alternatives. Reforming health care to make sure you have cost control and expanded coverage. Reforming taxes so it’s simple and fair. Reforming regulatory oversight for the financial sector to make sure you have transparency and accountability.
If the Congress is known as the reform Congress, which I think the 111th will be known for, then we will have done our policy job and our political job. And the main problem, and why the country has rejected the Republicans and basically less people are identifying themselves in your poll as Republicans, George, is because the Republican Party has basically ran up a huge, $4 trillion nation debt; they have seen jobs be shredded, and we will be -- what the Republican record will be known for is an endless occupation and a jobless economy.
Campaign surrogates for Obama and McCain appeared on FTN with Bob Schieffer. Also appearing representing the 2 presidential candidates, Governor Tim Pawlenty and Governor Ed Rendell. Read the complete transcript.
SCHIEFFER: Well, when you talk about a stimulus package, are you talking about some sort of massive public works program like President Roosevelt put into effect during the Great Depression?
Or are you talking about something like we’ve seen recently where you just give people a check, a government check?
RUBIN; Bob, I would say it’s neither of the two, quite the way you described it. I think what we need to do is to have a very large program of -- and people have been talking -- some of the numbers around are $150 billion, perhaps more than that. And it should consist of -- and Senator Obama has talked a lot about this. In fact, he started talking about it a few months ago, and strongly advocated it, and I think rightly.
And it could consist of help for cities and states that are now running into difficulties, so they could continue with their programs.
It could have infrastructure in it, as long as the infrastructure is ready to go right now. Because these have to be programs that give you a very large return, in terms of economic demand relative to the cost, and also that go into effect very quickly.
But you could do all of that -- and it needs to be done in a very short period of time, in order to stimulate economic demand in a time of a weakening economy.
As I said a moment ago, it’s a measure that Senator Obama has been calling for, for a long time. And I think that you can combine that with the other kinds of measures I have just mentioned, and then an effective use of the remainder, which is the predominant part of that very large program that was put in place a little bit ago, $700 billion.
And I think you have an enormous aggregate of public policy. In addition, continued cooperation around the world is imperative.
[...]SCHIEFFER: All right. Well, Mr. Rubin, we want to thank you for joining us this morning.
We’re going to turn now to Douglas Holtz-Eakin, the McCain campaign senior policy adviser.
Let me just start where Mr. Rubin left off. Do you think it is going to be necessary to bail out, give more money to the auto industry?
HOLTZ-EAKIN: I think the top priority, the one that Senator McCain has endorsed, is to take the $25 billion that the Congress has already put out there for loans to build facilities for next- generation automobiles, the kinds of autos that will not only keep Detroit running but which will keep us from having to import so much oil, expose us to the dangers of international oil markets. That money needs to get out the door, and the top priority should be to get it out quickly, not take 18 months, which seems to be the current plan.
SCHIEFFER: What about Mr. Rubin’s idea that what we need is a big stimulus package, $150 billion? Where would McCain come down on that?
HOLTZ-EAKIN: I think if you step back, the real big difference in this crisis situation is sort of where do you place your faith? Do you place it in the institutions that have failed us, which quite frankly are in Washington and on Wall Street, or do you put the money in the places where we know we can get effective results? And John McCain has not advocated sticking the money into Wall Street banks and the like.
Let’s put the money into the housing market. That’s where this problem started. Let’s get people in mortgages they can afford. Let’s get the bad mortgages off the books, so there’s cash on those books and banks can make loans. And let’s take care of the small businesses.
A remarkable fact is that in this bad economy -- and let us stipulate that it is a very bad situation -- small businesses have created 331,000 jobs this year. Don’t raise taxes on them. Don’t make their lives harder. And, you know, let’s take care of the institutions, the small businesses, the home owners, that have been successful in America. And that’s the McCain strategy. SCHIEFFER: What about this idea, though, of a stimulus? Giving people a government check, some sort of a rebate? Or some sort of a public works project?
Tim Kaine, Democratic Governor of Virginia appeared FNS with Chris Wallace. Read the complete transcript. Also the usual appearance by Karl Rove.
WALLACE: Governor Kaine, Obama's running mate, Joe Biden, made a remarkable statement last Sunday. Let's listen to it.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
BIDEN: We're about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here. If you don't remember anything else I said, watch, we're going to have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
WALLACE: Governor, here is his own running mate saying, "Elect Obama and expect an international crisis."
KAINE: Well, listen. If you ran that clip a little bit longer, what you would hear Senator Biden say is, "This is a guy who's got steel in his spine and he's up to the challenge."
I think the comment was pretty much what most Americans, frankly, understand, which is the world is going to throw a lot of challenges at whoever the next president is.
With two wars, significant challenges in energy and food prices, and economic challenge here at home, there are going to be major tests on inauguration day. I think this will be the most challenging inauguration day since FDR was inaugurated in March of 1933.
The issue, then, is if we know the next president will face challenges, let's make sure we put the right person in. And I go back to...
WALLACE: But, Governor...
KAINE: ... what General Powell said last week. You've got to pick somebody with very, very steady and sober judgment who has good people around him and can negotiate through very difficult times...
WALLACE: But, Governor, respectfully...
KAINE: ... and I think Senator Obama has demonstrated he is.
WALLACE: Governor, I know — I know that that's been the Obama camp spin — "Oh, well, he was saying any president — any new president will be tested." But that isn't what Biden said.
I mean, if you listen to it — and you're quite right, he did say that Obama has a spine of steel, but he also said, "Here's a 47-year- old guy and they're going to want to —" and I've got the quote, "that if you don't remember anything else I said, we're going to have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy," not the new president, this guy.
KAINE: Well, and that — you know, and that is, Chris, what all Americans are wrestling with as they make their choices for president. They want to have somebody who's got the right judgment to steer our economy back in a positive direction and deal with these international challenges.
And again, as General Powell said last week, on both the steadiness in dealing with these economic challenges and the capacity, really, to be a great leader on the world stage — I think Senator Obama has demonstrated to the American people that he's ready to take on that mantle at a very difficult time.
Even the hardcore Republican Rove admits McCain is in trouble.
ROVE: Yeah. And from Thursday — last Thursday was the most recent map before this one, and from Thursday there were 46 individual state polls in less than 48 hours, and they moved Indiana from being toss-up into the Obama column, giving him his largest lead thus far this campaign.
In order to — in order for McCain to win, he's got a very steep hill to climb. He's got to win all of the toss-up states, 64 electoral votes, all the yellow-shaded states on the map.
Then he needs to strip away Ohio and Indiana with 31 electoral votes to get him to 252. And then he needs to either win Colorado and Virginia, which gets him to 274, or win one of them plus Pennsylvania, which would get him to 282 or 286. It's a steep uphill climb.
MR. BROKAW: Senator, in the last of the presidential debates moderated by Bob Schieffer, you drew greater distinction between yourself and George Bush. You said, "I am not George Bush." And then this past week in The Washington Times, a newspaper in Washington, this was the account, "Senator John McCain blasted President Bush for building a mountain of debt for future generations, failing to pay for expanding Medicare, and abusing executive powers, leveling his strongest criticism to date of the administration whose unpopularity may be dragging the Republican Party to the brink of a massive electoral defeat.
"`We just let things get completely out of hand,' he said of his own party's rule in the last eight years." But then we have an account of you on MEET THE PRESS going back to June 2005.
SEN. McCAIN: Yes.
MR. BROKAW: And this is what you had to say about your relationship with President Bush at that time.
(Videotape, June 19, 2005):
SEN. McCAIN: The fact is that I'm different, but the fact is that I have agreed with President Bush far more than I have disagreed. And on the transcendent issues, the most important issues of our day, I have been totally in agreement and support of President Bush. So I strongly disagree with any assertion that I've been more at odds with the president of the United States than I have been in agreement with.
(End videotape)
(Videotape, March 5, 2008):
SEN. McCAIN: Well, I'm very honored and humbled to have the opportunity to receive the endorsement of the president of the United States, a man who I have great admiration, respect and affection. I intend to have as much possible campaigning events and--together as--in keeping with the president's heavy schedule, and I look forward to that opportunity.
(End videotape)
MR. BROKAW: Senator McCain, both in tone and language, you are very close with President Bush in those appearances. The Congressional Quarterly did a review of your votes, 92 percent of the time you voted with President Bush. So it's a little hard for the public to separate you from this administration, isn't it?
SEN. McCAIN: Well, it may be the way you describe it. And, by the way, the last interview that I did with The Washington Times, of course I've been repeating for the last eight years that the spending was out of control. That's why I voted against these projects--these pork barrel spending. I was the harshest critic of the failed strategy in Iraq and pointed it out in hearing after hearing and fought against it. I've supported action to address climate change, from--since 2000 and said we've got to do something about it. There were sharp disagreements there. There were a number of disagreements on general overall philosophy. I am a Republican. I respect the president of the United States. Of course we let spending get completely out of control, and I've been talking about it for a long, long period of time.
Now, I know how it is on this show. You show various segments and comments that we make thousands of, and I understand that. But the fact is I am not George Bush. The fact is that I was not popular within my own party. The fact is that when I said that we were failing in Iraq and we were going to lose, I was criticized by Republicans. The fact is when I did campaign finance reform with Russ Feingold, I was opposed by my own party and my own president. So do we share a common philosophy of the Republican Party? Of course. But I've, I've stood up against my party, not just President Bush, but others; and I've got the scars to prove it, including taking up, with Ted Kennedy, immigration reform, knowing full well that that was going to hurt my chances in the primaries. So I could go down a long list of issues with you.
Do I respect President Bush? Of course I respect him. But I pointed out we were on the wrong track in a whole lot of ways, including a $10 trillion deficit, including saying we got to rein in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and, and propose legislation to try to fix it before that triggered the housing collapse, including today when I'm saying they should be going out and buying up these mortgages and giving people mortgages that they can afford rather than bailing out the banks.
Saturday Night Live continues it's parody of the presidential election. This week SNL parodies Obama's purhased 30 minute network time. Read excerpt below. Read the transcript of more of the show.
FRED ARMISEN AS SEN. BARACK OBAMA -- "Good evening, my fellow Americans. I am Barack Obama and this is my wife Michelle. This coming Wednesday, our campaign will run a special thirty-minute address on all four major networks.
MAYA RUDOLPH AS MICHELLE OBAMA - "This airtime was initially purchased so that we could speak to you one last time about the issues." ARMISEN AS OBAMA - "However, with poll numbers putting us so far ahead - we decided now's the time to play it safe.
RUDOLPH - "Instead of a conventional address, we're going to carefully manage our lead and well, shake things up. .
(THE LIGHTS COME UP ON STAGE. THERE IS A LARGE SILVER "O" ON THE FLOOR OF THE STAGE)
ARMISEN AS OBAMA - "With the 'Barack Obama Variety Half-Hour!' It's time to have some fun.
RUDOLPH AS MICHELLE OBAMA - "Because we got a lead in the polls and we built it up."
ARMISEN AS OBAMA - "We built it up."
RUDOLPH AS MICHELLE OBAMA - "We built it up."
ARMISEN/RUDOLPH (TO THE TUNE OF "SOLID" BY ASHFORD & SIMPSON) "AND NOW IT'S SOLID, SOLID AS BARACK, THAT'S WHAT THIS LEAD IS, THAT'S WHAT WE GOT,GOT, GOT, GOT, GOT"
ARMISEN AS OBAMA - "All your favorites from the campaign will be stopping by for songs and skits. Including House Democrats, Barney Frank, Nancy Pelosi, and Rahm Emmanuel.
KRISTEN WIIG AS PELOSI (TO THE TUNE OF: C.S.N.Y.'s "OUR HOUSE"):
"OUR HOUSE, IS A VERY, VERY FINE HOUSE, WHEN THE REPUBLICANS WERE IN CHARGE"
ANDY SAMBERG AS EMMANUEL/BOBBY MOYNIHAN AS FRANK: "LIFE USED TO BE SO HARD"
WIIG AS PELOSI: "NOW EVERYTHING IS EASY, 'CAUSE OF YOU"
ARMISEN AS OBAMA And of course, a party is never complete without Bill Clinton.
DARRELL HAMMOND AS CLINTON: (SINGING TO THE TUNE OF SIMPLE MINDS' "DON'T YOU FORGET ABOUT ME")
"DON'T YOU FORGET ABOUT ME, DON'T, DON'T, DON'T, DON'T"
ARMISEN AS OBAMA - It's been a long campaign, so let's have some good old-fashioned fun with Senator Joe Biden.
SUDEIKIS AS BIDEN - "Thanks for inviting me to dinner, Barack."
ARMISEN AS OBAMA - "So, Joe, I'm gonna ask, why did you say that if I was elected a foreign power would test me with an international crisis? Hey, what are you eating?"
SUDEIKIS AS BIDEN - "Oh this? (HOLDS UP A RUBBER FOOT) It's my foot...in my mouth!"
(THEY LAUGH LONG AND HARD)
ARMISEN AS OBAMA - "You'll even see Reverend Jeremiah Wright and University of Illinois at Chicago, Professor Bill Ayers."
(TO THE TUNE OF: "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley)
KENAN THOMPSON AS REV. WRIGHT (with BILL HADER as AYERS on keyboards):
WHITE DEVILS BE CRAZY! WHITE DEVILS BE CRAZY!
RUDOLPH AS MICHELLE OBAMA - "And some serious moments like Barack meeting the spirit of John F. Kennedy."
JON HAMM AS THE SPIRIT OF JFK - "Barack Obama. Over the years there have been many pretenders in the Democratic Party but you truly are the heir to my legacy." HAMMOND AS CLINTON - "Guys, I'm standing right here."
ARMISEN AS OBAMA - "Bill Clinton, everybody!"
RUDOLPH AS OBAMA - "So join us this Wednesday for the 'Barack Obama Variety Half Hour.' I promise it will be...
This is part 3 of the interviews done by NBC's Brian Williams of John McCain and Sarah Palin. The final segment (shown Friday) is an interview done with Palin about her medical records, press coverage of her, and her future plans.
Read part two of the interview done by John McCain and Sarah Palin with NBC's Brian Williams. Read the full transcript. See the video here.
WILLIAMS: Are we changing--it's been said that to gives it a vaguely post-9/11 hint, using that word that we don't normally associate with domestic crimes. Are we changing the definition? Are the people who set fire to American cities during the '60s terrorists in--under this definition? Is an abortion clinic bomber a terrorist under this definition, Governor?
Gov. PALIN: There's no question that Bill Ayers, via his own admittance, was one who sought to destroy our US capital and our Pentagon. That is a domestic terrorist. There's no question there. Now, others who would want to engage in harming innocent Americans or facilities that it would be unacceptable to--I don't know if you're going to use the word terrorist there, but it's unacceptable, and it would not be condoned, of course, on our watch. But I don't know--if what you're asking is if I regret referring to Bill Ayers as an unrepentant domestic terrorist, I don't regret characterizing him as that.
WILLIAMS: No, I'm just asking what other categories you would put in there, abortion clinic bombers, protesters in cities where fires were started, Molotov cocktails were thrown, people died?
Gov. PALIN: I would put in that category of Bill Ayers anyone else who would seek to campaign, to destroy our United States capital and our Pentagon and would seek to destroy innocent Americans.
WILLIAMS: Senator McCain, the head of your campaign...
Senator JOHN McCAIN: Let me--let just mention one thing in addition to that. It's not the unrepentant terrorist who stayed on the run from and said, as short time ago as 9/11, that they wished they'd have bombed more.
Gov. PALIN: More.
Sen. McCAIN: His wife was on the top 10 FBI most wanted list. It's the relationship with Mr. Ayers which Senator Obama has not been forthcoming. That's what Senator Clinton said in their debates. That's what I say.
WILLIAMS: Are you going to keep your promise not to involve Reverend Wright in the campaign?
Sen. McCAIN: Look, I have not involved Reverend Wright, and people can make up their minds as, again, I say about Mr. Ayers, is the full extent of the relationship with Senator Obama is not known. And Senator Obama has not been forthcoming. He has not told the complete truth to the American people, nor did he tell the truth to the American people when he said he would take public financing and signed a piece of paper if I would, back when he was a long shot candidate.
Gov. PALIN: And also, it is not mean spirited. It is not negative campaigning to ask someone about their record. And Barack Obama does have a record of association with Bill Ayers. I don't think of that as off base. In fact, Barack Obama challenged you to bring up Bill Ayers in the debate.
Sen. McCAIN: Yeah, he asked me to. He asked me to.
Gov. PALIN: Yeah, yeah.
WILLIAMS: Governor, what is an elite? Who is a member of the elite?
Gov. PALIN: Oh, I guess just people who think that they're better than anyone else. And John McCain and I are so committed to serving every American, hard working, middle-class Americans who are so desiring of this economy getting put back on the right track, and winning these wars, and America starting to reach her potential. And that is opportunity and hope provided everyone equally. So anyone who thinks that they are, I guess, better than anyone else, that's my definition of elitism.
Will Ferrell returns to Saturday Night Live (Weekend Update) playing George W. Bush. In this skit he endorses John McCain (Darrell Hammond) and Sarah Palin (Tina Fey). Read the transcript below.
WILL FERRELL AS PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH - "Hello, my fellow Americans. I have chosen to schedule this impromptu address at night because quite frankly every time I speak during the day, the Stock Market goes in the crapper. So, sorry, Asian markets. You take the hit on this one. I come to you tonight in the midst of a very important election between two very qualified candidates: the hot lady and the Tiger Woods guy. Both candidates are heavily patriotized and display much characterization. And yes, I did have three Xanax and a Silver Bullet about a half-hour ago. I'm out of here in a few months, so screw it. But before I leave I wanted to help Sarah Palin and John McCain by giving them what every candidate wants most: a prime-time heavily publicized network endorsement from George W. Bush. Hey, don't pinch yourself John, you are awake!"
FERRELL AS BUSH (CONT'D) -- "Now I tried to do this several months ago but somehow it kept getting pushed to a written press release or a shouted sentence as I walked to the helicopter. I began to suspect that they didn't want my endorsement to be too public. But now with the country on a big upswing and my numbers on the rise, I thought it was time to give a proper, large scale 'much love' to McCain and Palin..."
(WILL FORTE, as an AIDE enters and whispers in BUSH's ear)
FERRELL AS BUSH (CONT'D) - "What? Really? Why didn't you tell me Jeff? I've just been told by my trusted aide Jeff, that the country is actually in a horrible downward spiral and that my approval numbers are lower than ever. That one's on me. Four months ago, I declared the Oval Office a bummer-free zone. So... You know what, let's bring on Senator McCain and Governor Palin."
(TINA FEY as GOVERNOR SARAH PALIN enters smiling and waving and sits next to BUSH on the front the desk)
TINA FEY AS GOVERNOR SARAH PALIN - "So nice to meet you, Mr. President. I've seen you on TV."
FERRELL AS BUSH - "Where's McRage?"
FEY AS PALIN - "You know, John McCain and I have been so busy travelin' around this great country of ours talkin' about change and energy independence and William Ayers, and doin' a little shoppin', but unfortunately Senator McCain, upon hearing you wanted to give him a super public endorsement, cannot be found. He was last seen travelin' on foot through the Adirondacks. But my husband and two of his drinkin' buddies are in pursuit on snowmachines.
FERRELL AS BUSH - "Well, We'll smoke him out. George Bush always finds his man save for one huge exception."
FEY AS PALIN - "We are gonna get 'er done."
FERRELL AS BUSH - "My God you are folksy."
FEY AS PALIN - "Why thank you Mr. President. I like to think I'm one part practiced folksy , one part sassy and a little dash of high school bitchy."
FERRELL AS BUSH - "For a little while I was trying to be folksy but after a bit, it just came off douchey. All right, let me get into my endorsement for you as Vice President. As you know America, the office of Vice President is the most important office in the land. The Vice President decides when we go to war, how we tax the citizens and how we interpret the Constitution. The President can do nothing without checking with the Vice President. That is why Sarah Palin..."
FEY AS PALIN - "Actually, Mr. President, I don't want to go all Katie Couric on you, but I think it's actually the other way around. I think the Vice President reports to the President."
FERRELL AS BUSH - "Really? That's not what Dick Cheney told me when he sat me down on the first day."
(DARRELL HAMMOND as SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN is brought in, struggling with JASON SUDEIKIS as TODD PALIN in a snowsuit.)
SUDEIKIS AS TODD PALIN - "We out-mavericked the maverick!"
HAMMOND AS MCCAIN - "Good evening, my friends. Mr. President, always a pleasure."
FERRELL AS BUSH - "Good to see you, John. Hey let's get a photo of this; it'll really help your campaign out. Now let me do this: I, George W. Bush, endorse John McCain and Sarah Palin with all my heart..."
(MCCAIN tries to drift out of frame but is pulled back by BUSH) FERRELL AS BUSH (cont'd) - "John was there for me ninety percent of the time over the last eight years. When you think of John McCain, think of me, George W. Bush. Think of this face. When you're in the voting booth, before you vote - picture this face right here. A vote for John McCain is a vote for George W. Bush. (to MCCAIN) You're welcome. So, I want to be there you, John for the next eight years."
FEY AS PALIN -The next sixteen years!
FERRELL AS BUSH - (to an off-camera photographer) "Let's get a safety. I think I blinked on that last shot. Thumbs up, everybody. But most of all I support them because...Live from New York...It's Saturday Night!!!!
Read the complete transcript here. Excerpts and video below.
WILLIAMS: Before we begin airing the conversation, this moment first from late in our conversation that will make news tonight about the growing requests these days for Sarah Palin to release her medical records.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS (on camera): Did I hear you just agree to release your medical records?
PALIN: Ah, the medical records. So be it, if that will allow some curiosity seekers, perhaps, to have one more thing that they can either check the box off that they can find something to criticize, perhaps, or find something to rest them assured over, fine.
I’m healthy, I’m happy, had five kids. That’s going to be in the medical records. Never been seriously ill or hurt. You’ll see that in the medical records if they’re released.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: That came as a bit of a surprise to the McCain-Palin campaign. Now, the question is timing of the release.
Here now the first part of our conversation with the GOP ticket here in Ohio today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIAMS (on camera): Senator, I’ll begin with your observation on the tarmac. You came in today, there’s not one but two planes with your name on the side. You immediately started reminiscing about the depths of New Hampshire. It was you and your garment bag coming off a commercial flight.
But here you are, you’re down, you’re down in money.
MCCAIN: Yep.
WILLIAMS: How do you stay up?
MCCAIN: Down in money, down in the polls. We got ‘em just where we want ‘em.
WILLIAMS: What do you mean by that?
MCCAIN: I mean, that’s when we do best, really, Brian. I’ve always done best when we’re running some -- a little bit behind and got to catch up. And that somehow I’ve been very blessed. We seem to catch fire, and lately we have seen, in the last several days, a week, we’ve seen ever since the debate, we’ve seen some uptick, and we got about 3 or 4 points to go, and we can win this thing.
WILLIAMS: Did this campaign get out of your control? And here’s what I mean. A lot of people who know you well saw you take that microphone from that woman in Wisconsin and for the first time in a long time they said, There, that’s John McCain .
MCCAIN: Brian, they either haven’t been paying attention, or don’t want to. I -- in my speech at the convention, I spoke of my admiration for Senator Obama, the fact that he had motivated so many people. I have said continuously of my respect for him.
But that doesn’t change my view that there are stark differences. And when I’m president, there’s not going to be an international crisis that he can -- that Senator Biden can guarantee. I’m not going to raise people’s taxes in a bad economy.
Look, we’ve got very big differences. But I’ve always been respectful of Senator Obama. And he is now spending more money than any campaign in American history on negative ads against me. But that’s fine. American people are paying attention.
WILLIAMS: You mention Senator Biden’s comment the other day about a new president and a test of the new president’s mettle. One of your very closest friends in the Senate, Joe Lieberman, said on “Face the Nation,” quote, “Our enemies will test the new president early.”
And it has happened throughout modern history.
MCCAIN: Well, look, I’ve been tested. They know me, they know me very well. I’ve been tested. Senator Biden said it. What if Sarah or I had said it? Oh, my God, it would have been terrible, imagine. His own running mate said it’s because he’s young and new and untested. That’s why Senator Biden said, “Mark my words,” “Mark my words,” is what he said, that there’s going to be an international crisis. And then he compared it to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
My friend, I was in the Cuban Missile Crisis. I was on the aircraft carrier “Enterprise” in the air wing. We were close to nuclear war. I wouldn’t predict that for me -- I mean, that’s remarkable. When a vice presidential candidate predicts, because a young, untested president is going to face an international crisis like the Cuban Missile Crisis? Unbelievable.
McCain was interviewed by Wolf Blitzer on CNN. Read the complete transcript.
BLITZER: Let's talk about Issue No. 1, as we call it, the economy. Colin Powell was pretty biting in his criticism. He said you were a little unsure of how to deal with the economic crisis. You seem to have, he said, a different approach. He sensed you didn't have a complete grasp of the economic crisis the American people are going through right now. I wonder if you'd like to respond to Secretary Powell.
MCCAIN: Except to say that I'm happy to have the endorsement and support and belief of five former secretaries of state, Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, Jim Baker, Larry Eagleburger and Gen. Al Haig, and over 200 retired military generals and admirals that have supported my campaign.
I respect Gen. Powell, but I respectfully disagree. I especially disagree when he said the comments that he made about Gov. [Sarah] Palin, the most popular governor in America, a governor who knows energy issues, $40 billion pipeline reformer, took on the governor of her own party. And I hope that sometime Gen. Powell will take time out of his busy schedule to meet with her. I know she'd be pleased to meet with him.
BLITZER: But on the economic issues, his criticism was that you were going back and forth on some of the specific issues, and he didn't like that. He thought that Sen. Obama had a consistency in his approach.
MCCAIN: Well, all I can do is laugh. We've been very consistent about cutting spending, cutting taxes and the fundamentals of our economic message.
Sen. Obama's been all over the place, including wanting to "raise taxes on only the rich," 95 percent -- a tax cut for 95 percent of Americans, when 40 percent of them pay no federal income taxes as it is. You know, whatever it is he's changed with -- look at the positions that he held on tax increases when he was first running in the primary, and look at them now. They're vastly different.
And the fundamental difference -- and maybe Secretary Powell agrees with him; I don't know -- but to spread the wealth around is certainly not something that I would ever do, that I would ever do.
BLITZER: Do you agree with Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, who said this week -- he said that it's now a good time for a second economic stimulus package, seeming to join hands with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Is it a good time to do that, to come up with another $150 billion stimulus package?
MCCAIN: I would be glad to look at anything that could be helpful to our economy. I respect Ben Bernanke. I'm sick and tired, and the American people are sick and tired of the pork barrel spending. Why don't we cancel the $18 billion in pork barrel projects that we put in last year at a minimum and use some of that money to help stimulate the economy as well? Instead of bridges to nowhere and projectors and planetariums such as Sen. Obama asked for -- he asked for nearly $1 billion in pork barrel projects. Why don't we ask him to make sure that money that was given to pork barrel projects back to helping American families? And then I think that Americans would be more likely to support such a thing.
Approval rating of Congress at 9 percent. No wonder. We've got a $10 trillion debt to our kids, $500 billion to China. We don't want to continue that spending practices, and Americans are sick and tired of it.
Read the complete transcript of the Chris Matthews show ('Hardball') in where Pat Buchanan tries to defend Sarah Palin's absurd statement on the role of the Vice President vis a vis the Senate. They also discuss the repercussions of Bachman's controversial statement questioning the patriotism of Barack Obama.
MATTHEWS: Pat, you`re laughing. And, if it was anybody else, you would be jumping on them like a vulture.
PAT BUCHANAN, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Come on. She`s talking to second- and third-graders.
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: She`s talking like a second-grader.
(LAUGHTER)
BUCHANAN: Chris...
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: What did -- what did -- what did she mean? What did she mean?
BUCHANAN: What is this hostility to this woman?
MATTHEWS: No, what did she mean? Don`t get into the personal stuff here, Pat.
BUCHANAN: Well, I`m not.
(LAUGHTER)
MATTHEWS: What did she mean? She`s up for the vice president of the United States.
BUCHANAN: She probably -- my guess is, she meant that she`s going to work with the Republican caucus to try to change policy, kids, and make the country better. Clearly, Reid is going to run the Senate. He may have 60 votes. She ain`t going to be able to do it.
MATTHEWS: No, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute.
BUCHANAN: She made a mistake.
MATTHEWS: The vice president of the United States is the legislative leader of the Senate?
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: Don`t you have to be a senator?
BUCHANAN: Look, she`s the president of the Senate.
MATTHEWS: No, but she`s not a senator.
BUCHANAN: No, she`s the president of the Senate.
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: If you`re not a senator, you`re not a member of the Senate.
BUCHANAN: You`re the president of the Senate.
MATTHEWS: What`s her role? What`s her role?
BUCHANAN: The president of the Senate.
MATTHEWS: Presides.
BUCHANAN: You haven`t read the Constitution.
MATTHEWS: Presides over the Constitution -- over the Senate.
BUCHANAN: Right.
MATTHEWS: That`s the only role, has no role, except to break ties.
BUCHANAN: Well, no, look, she`s the president of the Senate of the United States.
MATTHEWS: We`re not getting anywhere, Pat.
BUCHANAN: Well, you know, I`m saying...
MATTHEWS: You`re saying she has a legislative role?
BUCHANAN: I`m saying she`s the president of the Senate.
MATTHEWS: Does she have any legislative role?
(LAUGHTER)
BUCHANAN: Not unless she can get the Republicans and Democrats to work with her.
MATTHEWS: When in history has a vice president been given a legislative authority over the majority or the minority or any senator in the United States Senate?
BUCHANAN: Chris, she`s talking to second-graders.
MATTHEWS: OK.
Let me tell you why this is a serious question here. Because, when she was talking to Katie Couric and answering questions, she talked in a language I have never heard about some flexibility within the Constitution, Mark, about some new authority for the vice president, which has never been understood before.
Now, maybe this derives from the sense that the people around Dick Cheney have about the role of the vice president, but I have never heard anybody say the vice president has legislative authority of any kind or any consequence. It`s extraordinary for her to teach people -- she`s got a teaching role. She`s telling those kids something that`s wrong. She`s not talking down to them. She`s giving them wrong information.
The vice president of the United States has two roles, to succeed the president, if that`s a necessity, and to preside over the Senate and break ties. And that`s it, under the Constitution.
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: To argue that it has a legislative authority within the grasps of the vice president is unconstitutional. Am I right or wrong?
Keith Olbermann, on 'Countdown,' gives a 'special comment' blasting Sarah Palin's incredible assertion that the Vice President is in charge of the Senate. Read the show's complete transcript.
Good point. So tonight, as promised, a Campaign Comment on the continuing adventures of Governor Sarah Palin in the big leagues or "Are You Smarter Than A Third Grader.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Finally governor, we`ve been trying to engage some local grade schoolers for the last few elections. We do a feature called `questions from the third grade.` Brandon Garcia wants to know, "What does the Vice President do?"
PALIN: That`s something that Piper would ask me, as a second grader, also. That`s a great question, Brandon, and a Vice President has a really great job, because not only are they there to support the President agenda, they`re like a team member, the teammate to that President. But also, they`re in charge of the United States Senate. So if they want to, they can really get in there with the Senators and make a lot of good policy changes that will make life better for Brandon and his family and his classroom. And it`s a great job and I look forward to having that job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OLBERMANN: Oh! I`m so sorry, Governor. The correct answer can be found in the Constitution of the United States.
Article One, Section Three: "The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided." So, the Vice President is not in charge of Jack, Governor, let alone in charge of the Senate. And you are not smarter than a third-grader.
On the one level, it is hilarious and entertaining that the Republican nominee cannot correctly answer the question "What Does The Vice President Do?" I mean, that first reference to the Vice President comes not 600 words into the Constitution. And the other meaty references are pretty simple to remember.
Article Two, Section One: "In case of the removal of the President from Office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said Office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President."
There`s also the 20th Amendment: you`re done on January 20th, and the 25th Amendment: if the President`s incapacitated, you`re the acting Pres.
It`s so simple, really, one could memorize those four points pretty easily. It wouldn`t take long.
Brandon Garcia could do it in the third grade, probably. So, on the one level, this is pretty damn silly. The Sarah Palin material, as Tina Fey might be able to say, just writes itself. As it does, it makes stupid mistakes, but it still writes itself.
Except there are two very serious aspects to this. Governor, do you really think you`d be "in charge of the United States Senate?" Do you really want to suggest that you think if you "want to" you "can really get in there with the Senators and make a lot of good policy changes?"
We`re just wrapping up eight years of a Vice President who had no clue what his damned job consisted of, couldn`t even correctly find his governmental branch with both hands. The last thing anybody in this country wants, Republican or Democrat, is another buccaneer in there, making it up as they go along, and, in your case, presuming you can stride in to the Senate and change policy if you want to!
Besides which, Governor, exactly how on Earth could you not have the correct answer by now? It`s not like this is the first time you`ve been asked about the Vice Presidency and gone all Miss South Carolina on us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KUDLOW, CNBC ANCHOR: Is this police-flap state investigation going to disqualify you from becoming Senator McCain`s vice presidential candidate?
PALIN: As for that VP talk all the time, I`ll tell you, I still can`t answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day? I`m used to being very productive and working real hard in an administration. We want to make sure that that VP slot would be a fruitful type of position, especially for Alaskans and for the things that we`re trying to accomplish up here for the rest of the U.S., before I can even start addressing that question.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OLBERMANN: That was on the 31st of July on cNBC, Governor. Even giving you the biggest benefit of the doubt, that your later claim that that was just a lame attempt at a joke, you couldn`t come up with the correct job description on the second try? What am I saying? The third try!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GWEN IFILL, PBS ANCHOR: Governor, you said in July that someone would have to explain to you exactly what it is the vice president does every day.
PALIN: In my comment there, it was a lame attempt at a joke and yours was a lame attempt at a joke, too, I guess, because nobody got it. Of course we know what a vice president does. And that`s not only to preside over the Senate, and will take that position very seriously also. I`m thankful that the Constitution would allow a bit more authority given to the vice president, also, if that vice president so chose to exert it in working with the Senate, and making sure that we are supportive of the president`s policies, and making sure too that our president understands what our strengths are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OLBERMANN: No! No, Governor, the Constitution does not allow "a bit more authority" "if the vice president so chose to exert it in working with the Senate." You would not be some kind of Senatorial hall monitor. You would not be a Veto, or a Censor, or a Balance.
And even if you think you would somehow obtain those powers from somebody, don`t pretend the Constitution will give them to you!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PALIN: Thankfully, our founders were wise enough to say, we have this position and it`s Constitutional. Vice presidents will be able to be -- not only the position flexible, but it`s going to be sort of those other duties as assigned by the president. It`s a simple thing. I don`t think that was a gaff at all in stating what the truth is. And that is we`ve got flexibility in the position. The president will be directing in a lot of respects what the vice president does. The vice president, of course, is not a member -- or a part of the Legislative Branch, except to oversee the Senate. That alone provides a tremendous amount of flexibility and authority if that vice president so chose to use it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OLBERMANN: You`re wrong! The word flexibility appears nowhere near the Constitution. You`ve memorized everything else, Governor. You couldn`t memorize the job description in three months? Four tries? I mean, I`d like my President and Vice President to have memorized the Constitution, and to abide by it. Or at least, I`d like them to know more about the Constitution than I do, or than Brandon Garcia does in the third grade. Maybe I`m raising the bar too high, but at least wait until you achieve office before trying to seize power extra-Constitutionally!
"The founders," governor, were not George Bush and Dick Cheney! Give me something to work with here, Governor, or go home! And please don`t forget to take your lovely parting gifts with you, including the home version of the vice president game.
That`s COUNTDOWN for this the 2,001st day since the declaration of independence -- declaration of mission accomplished -- might as well have been the declaration of independence in Iraq. I`m Keith Olbermann, good night and good luck.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: What is your role going to be as vice president?
PALIN: Well, we have talked a lot about that, John McCain and I have, about the missions that I will get to embark on if we are so blessed to be hired by the American people to work for them.
It's going to be government reform, because that is what I have been able to do as a mayor and as a governor. You take on the special interests and the self-dealings. Yes, you ruffle feathers and you have the scars to prove it afterwards, but you have to take that on to give the American people that faith back in their own government. This is their government, and we have got to put it back on their side.
So government reform and energy independence, can't wait to work on that. That's been my forte as the governor of an energy-producing state and as a former chair of the energy regulator entity up there in Alaska. So, look forward to that. And that's a matter of national security and -- and our economic prosperity opportunities.
That, though, too, the other mission that John and I are anxious for me to lead on is helping our families who have children with special needs, ushering in that spirit to Washington, D.C., where we say, we're going to give every child a chance, and -- and a good educational opportunity will be provided. That's going to be a matter, too, of prioritizing the federal dollars that are already there, and making sure that every child is given opportunity.
GRIFFIN: Governor, you have been mocked in the press. The press has been pretty hard on you. The Democrats have been pretty hard on you, but also some conservatives have been pretty hard on you as well.
"The National Review" had a story saying that, you know, "I can't tell if Sarah Palin is incompetent, stupid, unqualified, corrupt, or all of the above."
PALIN: Who wrote that one?
GRIFFIN: That -- that was in "The National Review." I don't have the author.
PALIN: Who wrote it? I would like to talk to that person.
(CROSSTALK)
GRIFFIN: But they were talking about the fact that your experience as governor is not getting out. Do you feel trapped in this campaign, that your message is not getting out? And, if so, who do you blame?
PALIN: No, I am getting my message right now out, through you, with you, Drew, to the American people who are watching CNN. And I appreciate this opportunity.
No, you know that I am, obviously, an outsider of the Washington elite and of the conventional, I think, media targets or media characters that have been a part of this for years. And I think that is final -- that it's good for the American electorate to understand, they have a choice here in our ticket of having the experience and the reputation that comes with John McCain as being the patriot and the maverick in the Senate. You have that. And you combine it with a team member who is new and fresh, with new ideas, new vision, new energy that needs to be infused into Washington, D.C., with that commitment to clean it up in D.C., put government on the side of the people, and fight hard for Americans.
You have that, that combination. And I think that some in the media, maybe in "The National Review," they don't know what to make of that. They are like, geez, she is -- you know, where did she come from? Surely, you know, it should be our job, I think they assume, is to pick and be negative and find things to mock.
And that is just, I guess, part of the political game, I guess. But we are very, very committed and focused and moving forward between now and November 4, getting that message out to the American people that our plan to get this economy back on the right track and to win the wars, put government on the side of the people, it is the right thing to do.
And I think we have the right message, despite a mocking that comes our way.
GRIFFIN: Governor, our time is very short. And I must ask you just two questions. One is on the Trooper Wooten. If there is one thing that has followed you negatively...
PALIN: Tasergate, right, right.
GRIFFIN: You call it Tasergate.
PALIN: We sure do.
GRIFFIN: Troopergate, whatever. The Branchflower report said you were perfectly in your right to fire Monegan...
PALIN: Right. Right.
GRIFFIN: ... but also found out that you violated the ethics.
Was it a mistake to allow your husband to use your office to try to pressure the Troopers to fire Mr. Wooten?
PALIN: Not at all, because, A, the -- the trooper who had Tasered his kid and had made death threats against my family and said he was going to bring the governor down and all that, my husband did exactly, I think, what any sensible, reasonable father, husband would do who was concerned about their family's safety. He...
GRIFFIN: But was it a mistake to allow him to use the governor's office to that extent?
PALIN: Not when you look at other governor's track records when they have their spouse, as, for instance, Governor Murkowski had his spouse as his top adviser. And she was in meetings. She was in the office -- so, kind of a double standard here.
But what Todd did was what any reasonable husband and father would do. He followed the instruction of the Department of Public Safety's own personal security detail, that is our personal protection. They asked, Todd, you have a problem with this state trooper. He is a threat. You need to take that to the commissioner of the Department of Public Safety.
Todd did exactly that. And then, of course, he got clobbered for it now in the media, because there's a misunderstanding of what he has done. Our Department of Law in Alaska has right there on its Web site -- it says, if you have a problem with an Alaska State Trooper, the paragraph says, you go to the commissioner of Department of Public Safety and you share that concern with him.
That is what Todd did. So, no, I don't think that it was an abuse of power of my office at all. And I was very thankful that that report cleared me of any illegal dealings or anything else. I replaced the commissioner because he was not doing the job that I expect of my cabinet members -- that is, you serve the Alaskan population up there -- and, of course, he's a cabinet member who was assigned to do that -- to the best of the team's ability.
And you have a lot of energy. You fulfill the vision that we have laid out for you. And he was not doing that. And that is why he was replaced.
Because one thing we know is that change never comes without a fight. In the final days of campaigns, the say-anything, do-anything politics too often takes over. We've seen it before. And we're seeing it again today. The ugly phone calls. The misleading mail and TV ads. The careless, outrageous comments. All aimed at keeping us from working together, all aimed at stopping change.
It's getting so bad that even Senator McCain's running mate denounced his tactics last night. As you know, you really have to work hard to violate Governor Palin's standards on negative campaigning.
But we're not going to be distracted. We're not going to be diverted. Not this time. Not this year. Our challenges are too great for a politics that's so small.
Now, more than ever, this campaign has to be about the problems facing the American people - because this is a moment of great uncertainty for America. The economic crisis we face is the worst since the Great Depression. Businesses large and small are finding it impossible to get loans, which means they can't buy new equipment, or hire new workers, or even make payroll for the workers they have.
115,000 workers lost their jobs in Florida this year, more than any other state in this country. Wages are lower than they've been in a decade, at a time when the cost of health care and college have never been higher. It's getting harder and harder to make the mortgage, or fill up your gas tank, or even keep the electricity on at the end of the month. At this rate, the question isn't just "are you better off than you were four years ago?", it's "are you better off than you were four weeks ago?"
So I know these are difficult times. I know folks are worried. But I believe that we can steer ourselves out of this crisis because I believe in this country. Because I believe in you. I believe in the American people.
We are the United States of America. We are a nation that's faced down war and depression; great challenges and great threats. And at each and every moment, we have risen to meet these challenges - not as Democrats, not as Republicans, but as Americans. With resolve. With confidence. With that fundamental belief that here in America, our destiny is not written for us, but by us. That's who we are, and that's the country we need to be right now.
But Florida, I know this. It will take a new direction. It will take new leadership in Washington. It will take a real change in the policies and politics of the last eight years. And that's what this election is all about.
Now, my opponent has made his choice. Senator McCain's campaign actually said a couple of weeks ago that they were going to launch a series of attacks on my character because, they said, "if we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose." And that's a promise John McCain has kept. He's been on the attack. That's what you do when you are out of ideas, out of touch, and running out of time. Well, I can take a few more weeks of John McCain's attacks, but the American people can't take four more years of the same failed policies and the same failed politics. That's why I'm running for President of the United States.
We have tried it John McCain's way. We have tried it George Bush's way. It hasn't worked. It's time for something new. It is time to turn the page on eight years of economic policies that put Wall Street before Main Street but ended up hurting both. We need policies that grow our economy from the bottom-up, so that every American, everywhere, has the chance to get ahead. Not just the person who owns the factory, but the men and women who work on its floor. Because if we've learned anything from this economic crisis, it's that we're all connected; we're all in this together; and we will rise or fall as one nation - as one people.
