GOP Consultant on Bailout Politics and McCain

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


I asked Republican political consultant Marty Youssefiani what he thinks of the politics of the House GOP ploy to blow up at the last minute the bailout deal worked out between the Republican White House and Congressional leadership. Youssefiani responded:

Well, there should be no surprise that politics is in the mix here, but at the core there are legitimate philosophical diffrences. Don’t forget, laissez fair is cooked before our eyes. At the end though we will have a deal otherwise the country will tank, take down the global market and with it directly heighten the prospects of flash conflicts worldwide.

The big issue here is a failure in communication with the public: Main Street simply does not fully grasp what this crisis means and how quickly it will be affected if Wall Street is not bailed out.

As for McCain, it’s no secret that economics was not what he learned on the “flight deck,” but can he get creative and turn the issue in his favor? My sense is that this mess puts the election away, unless he leads in shaping a creative alternative plan that includes immediate direct aid to Main Street. One way he can get on the offense is to throw some of this funny money to the people (i.e. stimulus checks, one-time retroactive tax credits per household, and government mortgage guarantees, etc.). Can’t bail out the fat cats without throwing something to the people! It would be popular, change the narrative and provide evidence his “suspension”/ 24-hour Washington stop was more than bad theater.

I’d [advise McCain to] use the stage at Old Miss tonight to pitch the offense. With 90 million Main Streeters watching, show what it means to shake things up!

In case you hadn’t already predicted that McCain will play the populist looking out for the interests of Main Street, now you’ve been warned.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate