Okay, we were told that there was no money to provide healthcare to poor kids, properly take of our soldiers who had their minds and bodies shattered in Iraq, fix our crumbling schools, repair our national infrastructure or rebuild New Orleans. But, now George Bush is requesting $700 billion to bail out the financial services industry that he, Dick Cheney, John McCain and the rest of the “of the rich, by the rich and for the rich” Republican Party has destroyed?

Struggling to stave off financial catastrophe, the Bush administration on Friday laid out a radical bailout plan with a jawdropping price tag _ a takeover of a half-trillion dollars or more in worthless mortgages and other bad debt held by tottering institutions.

And, now John McCain, who is still in some economic Never-Neverland thinking the “fundamentals of our economy are strong,” wants our healthcare system to be more like the banking system.

Seriously?

I am no economist. I don’t even play one on TV, but I do know that we cannot survive four more years of the Bush/Cheney/McCain brigade wrecking even more havoc on the national economy to benefit their “drill here, drill now” overlords. We need a serious change in Washington and that change won’t come from someone who has been in Congress for nearly three decades and has only now discovered the word “change.”

How can any American committed to rebuilding our country and taking back our government consider voting for John McCain after eight long years in which the GOP has taken our country from a budget surplus to the largest deficit in our nation’s history and the brink of economic meltdown?

UPDATE: It’s hard to keep up with the lies. Additions are below the fold. Jeebus H. Christ, from the man who needs his wife to surf the Internets, this breathtaking boast from a spokesbot:

Move over, Al Gore. You may lay claim to the Internet, but John McCain helped create the BlackBerry. At least that’s the contention of a top McCain policy adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin.

Waving his BlackBerry personal digital assistant and citing McCain’s work as a senator, he told reporters Tuesday, “You’re looking at the miracle that John McCain helped create.” McCain has acknowledged that he doesn’t know how to use a computer and can’t send e-mail, one of the BlackBerry’s prime functions.

Paging Al Gore…Ari Melber at the Washington Independent:

Within the hour, [Obama] chief spokesperson Bill Burton released a statement putting the falsehood in context: “If John McCain hadn’t said that ‘the fundamentals of our economy are strong’ on the day of one of our nation’s worst financial crises, the claim that he invented the BlackBerry would have been the most preposterous thing said all week.” Now let’s briefly correct this latest McCain campaign whopper.

McCain did not “help create” the “miracle” of the BlackBerry — he does not even know how to use email or a computer. The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee was not even pivotal: the BlackBerry was invented by a Canadian company, Research In Motion. So this claim is false and absurd, obviously, and it may seem like a distraction from the current debate over the candidates’ economic agendas.

And the damage control begins:

According to a McCain campaign pool report, senior aide Matt McDonald said that McCain “laughed” when he was told about Holtz-Eakin’s comment. “He would not claim to be the inventor of anything, much less the BlackBerry. This was obviously a boneheaded joke by a staffer,” McDonald said.

There’s already a Facebook group up, Thank You John McCain for inventing the BlackBerry!

The latest collection of lies, from the Obama fact checkers:

MCCAIN MYTH: I NEVER SAID I DIDN’T WANT TO HELP PEOPLE WHO WEREN’T ABLE TO PAY THEIR MORTGAGES.

ANCHOR: And out on the campaign trail, one of the things that links the problems on Wall Street and on Main Street, are of course mortgage obligations. Now you’ve said in the past, you didn’t want to do too much to help out people who weren’t able to pay their mortgages. Are you thinking about rethinking that now with the problems that we’re seeing?

JSM: Actually, I’ve never said that. [ABC, "Good Morning America," 9/16/08]

FACT: MCCAIN SAID, “IT IS NOT THE DUTY OF GOVERNMENT TO BAIL OUT AND REWARD THOSE WHO ACT IRRESPONSIBLY.”

Amid Housing Crisis, McCain Argued Against Government Relief, Blamed Homeowners Who He Said Acted “Irresponsibly.” On March 25, 2008, John McCain delivered a speech on the housing crisis. According to the New York Times, “McCain appeared to be trying to confront questions about his dexterity in dealing with the economy, a subject that he has admitted is not his strongest suit.” During the speech, McCain said, “I have always been committed to the principle that it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers.” The New York Times reported, “Mr. McCain argued this week against a vigorous federal intervention to address the crisis, saying Washington should not bail out banks and homeowners who in his view had knowingly taken on risky mortgages.” [New York Times, 3/26/08; McCain Housing Speech, 3/25/08, emphasis added; New York Times, 3/28/08]

McCain Blamed Homeowners. According to the New York Times, “But in a departure from Democrats, who have focused on the lending industry’s role in the crisis, Mr. McCain suggested that some homeowners had also engaged in dangerous practices, including borrowing too much in hopes that a rising market would cover their mortgages. [New York Times, 3/26/08]

McCain Rejected “Activist Approaches” To Mortgage Crisis, Placed Blame On Homeowners. The Los Angeles Times reported, “John McCain said Tuesday that he understood Americans’ anger about the mortgage foreclosure crisis and was open to ideas for addressing the problem, but he rejected the sort of activist approaches proposed by his Democratic rivals for the presidency. … McCain – who has been trying to shore up his economic credentials – placed some of the blame on homeowners themselves, while also scolding ‘complacent’ lenders.” [Los Angeles Times, 3/26/08]

MCCAIN MYTH: MCCAIN WILL FIGHT FOR AMERICAN WORKERS BETRAYED BY GREED & CORRUPTION

JSM: I know that the American worker is the strongest, the best, the most productive and most innovative. They’ve been betrayed by a casino on Wall Street of greedy corrupt excess, corruption and excess that has damaged them and their futures. And we’re going to fix it. [ABC, "Good Morning America," 9/16/08]

FACT: MCCAIN HAS NOT BEEN ON THE SIDE OF WORKING FAMILIES

McCain’s Plan To Cut Taxes Leaves Out 101 Million Middle Class Households. “McCain’s plan is tilted toward corporations and the most affluent, neglects middle-class Americans and lacks immediate solutions, Obama’s advisers said today in a conference call with reporters held to unveil a report critical of the Arizona senator’s proposals. … McCain’s plan to cut taxes for the middle class by increasing the dependent exemption leaves out 101 million households without children, according to Obama’s report. His plan gives tax cuts to the nation’s wealthiest 2 percent and to large corporations, the report said.” [Bloomberg, 7/6/08]

McCain Has Voted At Least 19 Times Against Increasing The Minimum Wage. Since arriving in the U.S. Senate in 1987, McCain has voted against increasing the minimum wage at least 19 times. [2007 Senate Vote #23, 126; 2006 Senate Vote #179; 2005 Senate Votes #26, 257; 2000 Senate Vote #76; 1999 Senate Votes #94, 239; 1998 Senate Vote #278; 1996 Senate Votes #58, 184, 186; 1995 Senate Votes #344, 519; 1989 Senate Votes #29, 39, 68, 1988 Senate Votes #335, 336]

McCain Was The Only Senator To Skip A Key Economic Stimulus Vote That Would Have Made 20 Million Seniors and 250,000 Disabled Veterans Eligible For Rebate Checks. At a decision that “appeared to come last minute” on the tarmac in Washington, Senator McCain was the only Senator to skip a difficult Senate vote in February “on whether to make 20 million seniors and 250,000 disabled veterans eligible for rebate checks as part of a proposed economic stimulus package.” The Associated Press noted that the measure failed by only one vote, as Senator Reid changed his position at the last moment in a parliamentary move, and McCain was the only Senator absent. “The Arizona senator’s decision to miss the vote appeared to come at the last minute, after his plane had landed at Dulles International Airport outside Washington just before the proceedings opened on the Senate floor.” [Associated Press, 2/7/08]

McCain Repeatedly Voted Against Repealing Tax Breaks That Encourage American Corporations To Ship Jobs Overseas. In 1995, 2004, and 2005, John McCain voted against repealing the deferral clause in the U.S. tax code that has provided an incentive for American companies to locate production facilities outside of the United States. Under the current tax code, U.S. companies are required to pay a 35 percent tax on any income earned inside the United States. However, under the deferral clause, U.S. corporations can defer paying taxes on any active income earned by a foreign subsidiary until it is repatriated to the United States. And as USA Today has noted, these transfers “often don’t happen for years. General Electric, for example, has $62 billion in ‘undistributed earnings’ parked offshore, according to recent Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Drug giant Pfizer boasts $60 billion. ExxonMobil has $56 billion.” [USA Today, 3/20/08; Senate Vote #63, 3/17/05; Senate Vote #83, 5/5/04; Senate Vote #517, 10/26/95]

“If there be no bread, let them eat cake” — Marie Antoinette.

The historical portrait of Marie Antoinette is one of legendary excess and disconnection to the common man. When confronted with a starving populace, myth has it that she blithely responded with the line above- not understanding that perhaps working class people did not have the luxuries in life she had come to know and depend on.

It seems history always has a way of repeating itself. John McCain, once seen as a maverick and an “everyman”, has continually been exposed for what he truly is- completely out of touch with the needs and realities of the American people. Not only does he not grasp the hard times that most Americans are going through, he surrounds himself with advisors and staff that do nothing to educate him to the issues facing the American people.

McCain’s standard response to people in times of trouble has become a simple: “let them eat cake.”

Of course, the most obvious examples of McCain’s elitist attitude have come in his recent statements on wealth- both his own and that of others. Whether it is not knowing how many homes he owns (it’s a least 7), flying around on his private jet, or touring poor regions in $520 Ferragamo shoes, McCain seems to have no idea how truly wealthy he is.

This leads to his more damning statements about the wealth (or lack thereof) of others. From his statement that “rich is making at least $5 million a year” to his continued statements that the American economy is “strong and robust,” his lack of understanding about the harsh fiscal realities of most Americans is astounding. One of his top financial adviser even said that we are in a “mental recession” and “Americans are just being whiners” about the tough economy.

Sounds suspiciously like “let them eat cake” to me…

Yet it’s not just on fiscal issues that McCain Antoinette can’t relate to Americans and is out of touch. This is simply a continuation of his “let them eat cake” attitude on important cultural issues towards anyone different than him.

When asked about the huge issue of the thousands of children in foster homes, for example, and his view on same-sex couples adopting, McCain once again showed his elitist views by saying foster children should have “the values that two parents, the traditional family represents. With thousands of kids in foster care, McCain would rather preserve his antiquated views than help children find loving homes.

Need a family? Let them eat cake.

McCain has also refused to listen to the people when it comes to issues of the military. He supports sending more and more troops around the world, stretching the military to the breaking point, yet also supports not allowing openly gay and lesbian service members to serve. He is a staunch supporter of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, getting rid of thousands of qualified men and women needed to keep our country safe, even though the vast majority of military leaders would like to see DADT repealed.

Need more troops? Let them eat cake.

Although McCain says he supports “family values”, he seems unable or unwilling to see how families can look different from his own. McCain Antoinette has consistently looked past the need of same sex couples to have relationship recognition and protection. McCain voted for the “Defense of Marriage Act”, which prohibits same-sex couples from receiving federal rights and benefits in any state. He campaigned for a ban on same-sex relationship recognition in his home state of Arizona – even appearing in a campaign television ad. For someone who purports to support “strong families”, he has continually speaks out against families that don’t fit into his narrow view of how they should look.

Need a stronger, safer family? Let them eat cake.

And much like the Antoinette of old, McCain has refused to surround himself with anything other than “yes” men. He sits by as advisors run his campaign and political kingdom, coming out only to offer tidbits of elitist talk to the masses that only magnify his disconnect to the common American.

McCain Antoinette continues to show his true views- he is above the everyday American. From wealth he can’t even keep track of to not seeing the struggles that people face every day, McCain’s plan to help Americans has become crystal clear:

Let them eat cake.