DOESN'T ANYONE READ THEIR GEORGE LAKOFF?:

McCain mortgage plan would bail out homeowners: The plan, unveiled at his debate with Barack Obama, has an estimated price tag of $300 billion. (Bob Drogin and Maura Reynolds, 10/08/08, Los Angeles Times)

As Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, watched from a nearby stool, McCain promised to buy failing mortgages directly from homeowners and mortgage providers and replace them with government-backed fixed-rate mortgages. "Is it expensive?" McCain asked. "Yes. But we all know, my friends, until we stabilize home values in America, we're never going to start turning around and creating jobs and fixing the economy." [...] Bill Burton, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, said the idea was not a new one and noted that the Illinois senator had raised it. On Oct. 1, in a news release, Obama said he intended to "encourage Treasury to study the option of buying individual mortgages like we did successfully in the 1930s." McCain has based his presidential bid in part on frequent calls for cuts in government spending and regulation. His housing bailout proposal was a surprise in a debate that could prove a crucial pivot as the race enters its final month.

Could Maverick have framed this any more ineptly? Most people watching would barely even have noticed it was new. How about starting by making a nod to Senator Obama, "who's proposed looking at this," making the proposal and ending by saying you want t introduce it to the Senate as the McCain/Obama bill on Wednesday? "No, wait, pardon me. The Obama/McCain bill..." Posted by Orrin Judd at October 8, 2008 4:57 PM