His policy options--headknocking or commissions.

i just loved his idea last night of creating a commission to solve our entitlement programs. like you said, that's not leadership. that's avoiding the issue. a true leader has solutions to propose, and is serious about trying to work through those solutions with other peoples' imput.

but not the maverick!

orange

Yeah, well, the current meltdown is going to cut into all that rhetoric about Social Security being "broken" that my generation (GenX) has been sold for years. We've been told forever that SS was broken and the only way to solve it was to let us take our money and invest it ourselves.

I just saw my 403b tank in ways that 10 years ago I never would have thought possible. And I'm not even a risky investor. I haven't seen the numbers yet, but my state pension system (from my years of government service here in Ohio) probably isn't doing all that well either, since their main investments are in the market and real estate. The idea of having some kind of safety net that exists independent of market fluctuations and bubbles is sounding really, really good right now.

Not only does this demonstrate a lack of leadership, it also hightlights McCain's total lack of understanding when it comes to the historical/political/religious stresses plaguing the whole region.

One of the things I would do if I were President would be to sit the Shiites and the Sunnis down and say, 'Stop the bullsh*t,'"

I don't know much about Muslims and Islam, however I do know that McCain for sure would be sitting down with the Supreme Ayatollah of Iran, the King of Saudi Arabia; sectarian violence did not originate in Iraq and will not be quelled by bullying Allah's representatives on earth.

What a moron.

Sit down at a table with liberal democrats? The guy won't even shake hands with Barack Obama.

Somebody open a window, this guy's hypocrisy stinks.

Funny... John McCain supposedly 'suspended' his campaign, and went to the table where the bailout was being worked on by the Congressional leaders and the White House.

From most accounts, Senator Obama was the most active person there, trying to get everyone to work together. McCain? He was silent and brooding, and would barely even respond even when asked a direct question.

Who's the leader here?

This is totally off topic but,

Did anyone else breath a HUGE sigh of relief when McCain also didn't answer the "what's one thing you don't know" question like Obama didn't?

They could've made political hay with that if McCain came up with something real humble...you'd have every idiot in the land screeching "Obama is so arrogant, he couldn't even think of ONE thing he didn't know!!"

Honestly, I think McCain would've *won* the debate had he answered the question. But he didn't...

Thanks Champ!

I'm glad McCain wants to ensure the survival of Social Security. The problem is, I am not entirely sure I believe him.

There are plenty of plans floating around, like the Diamond-Orsag plan, that would put the system on a sound financial footing with simple benefit cuts and tax increases. There are also plenty of Democrats would love to take one or two percent of additional payroll taxes and let people invest it. In fact, I'd suspect that if you brought a package that did those things before the Congress tomorrow, it would pass with overwhelming Democratic support.

The problems are that there's no immediate need to fix Social Security (Medicare is a different story) and that the people who seem to want to fix it the most are people who never liked the program and who are hell bent on a particular set of solutions. In other words, they want to "fix" the program by dismantling it.

Shhh... that's his secret plan to capture Osama too, just invite him to sit at a table and then grab him.

Genius!

"I've got a commission! I've got a table! He'll raise your taxes!"

Actually, McShame has a slogan for everything, and a solution for nothing.

I loved his pronouncement last night that Social Security and Medicare will be slashed under a McShame administration. Take from the old who have given so much to the American economy during their lives, take from the sick and the poor who rely on Social Security to survive. Typical repig.

I also fully endorse his reliance on 'clean' nuke-U=liar energy. As long as all that 'clean' nuclear waste is stored in HIS backyard. I'll even let him pick which of his 12 backyards to store it in.

"I've got a commission! I've got a table! He'll raise your taxes!"

Actually, McShame has a slogan for everything, and a solution for nothing.

I loved his pronouncement last night that Social Security and Medicare will be slashed under a McShame administration. Take from the old who have given so much to the American economy during their lives, take from the sick and the poor who rely on Social Security to survive. Typical repig.

I also fully endorse his reliance on 'clean' nuke-U=liar energy. As long as all that 'clean' nuclear waste is stored in HIS backyard. I'll even let him pick which of his 12 backyards to store it in.

It is just his various kitchen tables. They seem to work for he and Cindy and he has some to spare.

It's a good thing McCain owns so many tables, what with all the sitting down and not-accomplishing-s**t we're gonna do if he's elected Preznit.

Join John McCain and his wife Cindy at the upcoming Headbangers Ball!

There are three (count'em three) advantages of "appointing a commission" to resolve whatever problem might arise:

1. You don't actually have to come up with any specific policy proposals (as you noted)
2. You have effectively deflected responsibility for solving the problem onto the commission members
3. By the time the commission reports its findings, everyone has gotten used to the problem and doesn't really care what the commission thinks should be done (a late Friday news dump can also help make the report into a yawner)

So, the McCain strategy of "appointing a commission" is actually quite brilliant: the problem is off his desk and nothing ever gets done to fix it, so none of his cronies who caused the problem will ever get their noses bent out of joint.

You won't find me defending McCain very often, but I've got to on this one. We *do* need some legitimate bipartisan discussion on many of these issues. Get people in a room and talk it out. Like it or not, this is what Obama suggests doing with some of our adversaries.

Also, would you guys drop the talking point about him refusing to shake hands with Obama? It's false! He shook hands with him right after the debate, and then later on McCain tapped his shoulder so that Obama and Cindy could shake hands. Obama put his hand out for John, probably thinking he had gone all senile because they had just shook hands a minute before. John directed him to Cindy.

Turn on your TV, Joe Biden is laying it down!

it's nice to think well-intentioned people can sit down in a room and resolve complex problems through discussion and negotiation.

...but since the Republicans welshed on their side of the '80s Social Security restructurig (raising taxes to cover any shortfall), we must rule them out as "well-intentioned people."

I know the "lokcbox" was poorly understood, but the fact of the matter is Reagan raised taxes on the working class (FISA) to build the surplus, and George W. Bush gave that away to the rich in the form of tax cuts. Income redistribution -- upward.

Of course McCain can handle all these things at once! He has at least ten kitchen tables in his ten houses, around which people can meet and talk. That's where Obama falls short. He only has one kitchen table in his one house.

'Stop the Bullshit' headknocking is a direct connection to the Bush Regime......

In 'The War Within' Woodward cites a discussion Gen Fallon had with Bush about Iran...

'What's the strategy? Fallon

"They're assholes" Bush

'Nuff said.

the "cut the bullshit" quote coupled with his inability to distinguish between the two sects of Islam until traitor Joe whispered in his ear would have doomed anyone else running for president.

McCain's going to solve the problems of the middle east but he couldn't tell you the difference between mecca, karbala, and the dome of the rock.

It's been a revelation watching this guy the last year or so without the filter of the msm's love affair with the "straight talk express". He's not a bright man and thinks the problems of the world can be solved by throwing a shit fit and taking a nap.

His whole campaign has become a national joke.

From Palin as his "soulmate" right up through the "That one" comment.

The "that one" comment underlines that the right wing and conservatives really fail to understand the radical transformation in popular conciousness especially as it pertains to the internet. Within 30 minutes of McCain's utterance it's become not only the newest rallying cry of empowerment but clear signal that Mccain is a complete joke.

"You won't find me defending McCain very often, but I've got to on this one. We *do* need some legitimate bipartisan discussion on many of these issues. Get people in a room and talk it out. Like it or not, this is what Obama suggests doing with some of our adversaries."

I agree. However, there's a difference between the issue of "talking it out" in regards to foreign policy and domestic policy. In terms of foreign policy, doing some talking is an actual policy statement. But, with domestic policy, it is just a way of avoiding talking about any actual policy ideas. For example, by now I think it's safe to say that McCain should be able to concretely state what the problem is with SS/Medicare (he can't, other than vague, scary-sounding sound-bites) and lay out his actual policy ideas on how you resolve any possible future shortfalls (he won't).

Complex problems can be resolved, he believes, through force of will.

'Force of will' has a familiar Twentieth Century framing of the righteousness of power. Complex problems can be reduced to dead and writhing bodies with enough bombs.

Committees doing resolution by consensus is how it gets done in Congress and the Senate. In Iraq, not so much. In the Senate there is tradition for compromise. Tribes take a dimmer view of such situations and unlike in the Senate, (unless you live in Texas) AK 47's aren't resting near one's arm. McAce want's to sit the Iraqis down and tell them to cut the bull shit of 2000 years of distrust so he can raise the victory flag he never won in Viet Nam. It's why he hasn't got the sub set of skills to run a country, much less glean a compromise from Tribes that own long, long standing mistrust and hate for each other. He couldn't even get members of his own party to vote on a bill to save his own country. He's dreaming...

Yglesias called this one back in 2006...the "Green Lantern Theory of Geopolitics."

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2006/07/10/the_green_lantern_theory_of_ge/

Works in domestic policy too, it appears..

"...he believes Social Security is facing long-term challenges, fine. He should explain, then, what he'd like to do about it -- beyond promising to talk to other policy makers about what they'd like to do about it."
---

Yeah sure, That Old One is going to start being specific about how to manage problems, how to navigate complex issues, how he's going to govern (whether similar or different than GWB), or about any of his vague policies. He'll start doing that in the last 27 days of the election.

McCain, from hiding Palin from the press to his lack of specifics/clarity, is not going to offer Americans the choice he is providing, he can't.

If he were to communicate exactly what it is he wants to do, he would get 22% of the vote. And you know what 22% that is.

John McCain is campaigning hard for the position of high school football coach.

What Sen. McCain keeps going back to is an approach to legislating, one that not only works but works much better than any other.

Legislating is nearly impossible to do in public, though attempting this is attractive to people like newspaper columnists and bloggers who value the freedom to comment on the process without having any desire to actually engage in it. The approach McCain advocates is actually how the last major legislation to address a financial problem in the Social Security system was enacted; it is also how he has achieved most of his own successes in the Senate. On a much smaller scale, Obama has used the same approach.

A fair criticism of it is that not all problems are legislative. In foreign affairs, especially, what is usually required is not to get everyone to agree with one another, but to get specific governments to agree with ours. Of course, in wartime the test is one of command, and the objective is to prevail; seeking consensus is irrelevant.

That's a significant reservation, but only someone who had never been engaged in a legislative process would dismiss an endorsement of it.

So, McCain's all about sitting people down at tables---but in this danger game of his---a most dangerous game of musical chairs---he fails to mention that there are no chairs. Everyone is left standing---and just as in the children's game, standing means losing.

There are no winners in a McCain presidency---only losers, not-so-losers, and worse-than-losers.

All I can see is John McCain sitting down at an empty table and yelling at the other empty chairs. This guy has lost his mind!

Egomania indeed. Ok, so we have a millenia of suspicion and conflict, but John McCain will ride in on his white horse and tell Sunni and Shia to "knock off the bullshit." Sorry John, to them it isn't bullshit. This isn't "head-knocking style of governance," this is the delusional style of governance.

I shouldn't be surprised, but I have always been stunned at Republican lack of appreciation for diversity. I mean some of these people aren't stupid and just a little appreciation of the way that people are different from each other would save them a world of headache.

I thought John McCain's solution to everything was Less Earmarks? Now you got me confused.

Even listening to that live, I thought it was a pretty schizophrenic answer. We know what the problems are and we know the fixes are, so we need to get together and talk about them? Are the fixes multiple choice? If 'we' know what the 'fixes' are, why not just implement them? Or at least advocate implementing them.

I guess I'm agreeing with Steve here. Talk about what happens at the table, please.

Hey, Bush has a magic wand.

McCain has a magic table.

Wow, McCain thinks sitting across a table will solve all of our domestic problems, but apparently it's misguided and naive when Obama says that we need to do that with not only our allies but our enemies as well.

"We *do* need some legitimate bipartisan discussion on many of these issues. Get people in a room and talk it out."

On which issues ? On Social Security, there simply isn't a problem for the foreseeable future: we already fixed it by raising the taxes and socking away the surplus in T-bills. Yeah, the demographics mean we're going to cash those bills to pay SS to the boomers, but that's precisely what they're for.

On healthcare, we do need some restructuring to slow down the rise in healthcare costs. But Republicans don't have anything to contribute to the discussion: their position is that people are getting *too much* health insurance. And that's just goddam crazy.

On energy independence, "drill baby drill" just doesn't make any sense. We need heavy investment in the electricity grid, solar, and wind. And Democrats consistently vote for that, and Republicans always mindlessly oppose it, because they're in hock to oil and coal interests.

On the budget deficit, Republicans consistently support spending money on dumb useless things (the Iraq war) *and* giving huge tax cuts.

When one side is sane, and the other side is batshit crazy, sitting down round the table doesn't help.

Following up on what Ben just said, I think this post misses half of the equation. When McCain says he'll solve something, he proposes sitting down at a table. But when he criticizes Obama's promise to try diplomacy, it's still all about the table. He criticizes Obama for wanting to sit down at a table (or across the table) from evil people. If there is the good magic of the positive table -- sit down at the table and everything is solved! -- there's the equally powerful bad magic of the negative table, at which sitting down at a table with evil people magically gives them power.

All very strange.

There was one thing Sen. McCain said last night that struck me as being a very important part of his psyche, which was something about fighting the bad guys all of his life. McCain served about 5 1/2 years as a POW, but in his mind that struggle has lasted a lifetime. Since his release he has lived a very affluent and celebrated life, but the experience of being a prisoner of war is always at the forefront of his thinking, behavior and planning for the future, which is how he will govern as president. McCain has become King Rat.

Steve, you just don't get John McCain.
Now, if I could only get you and him to sit down at a table...

"The moral of the story is, if you've got a problem, John McCain has a table."

Remember this? "There were five years when John McCain didn't have a kitchen table!"

Actually, he did -- it was at home, with his long-suffering wife, whom he quickly divorced once he returned from captivity.

Ed

"[P]eople that are patriotic Americans need to sit down together and work this out."

what candidates for national office need to do in order to be credible is talk about what they'd do at that table.

You are asking WAY too much of an Underpants Gnome.
K.I.S.S.

1) Sit opposing sides down at a table
2) ?????
3) Peace in Iraq / Social Security solvency / PROFIT!

Why do you insist on more?
As Jack Nicholson said in his movie about governance during a crisis, 2 out of 3 ain't bad!

Does anyone else find it ironic that McCain's solution is always to "sit down and talk," but then he blasts Obama for wanting to solve foreign policy problems by sitting down and talking with (gasp) foreign leaders?

The "head-knocking style of governance" isn't leadership; it's egomania.

It's infantile.
.

Reminds me of Perot... he had no actual policy proposals, his whole schtick was that he'd find "smart people" to "get under the hood" and fix it

John provides the table. Everyone else provides the effort. Meanwhile, he takes a nap.