An old expression goes, "You can not be convicted by something you never said." I guess Mr Udall learned that lesson the hard way. Good job by Schaffer.

Who's to blame for the biggest financial catastrophe of our time? There are plenty of culprits, but one candidate for lead perp is former Sen. Phil Gramm. Eight years ago, as part of a decades-long anti-regulatory crusade, Gramm pulled a sly legislative maneuver that greased the way to the multibillion-dollar subprime meltdown. Yet has Gramm been banished from the corridors of power? Reviled as the villain who bankrupted Middle America? Hardly. Now a well-paid executive at a Swiss bank, Gramm cochairs Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign and advises the Republican candidate on economic matters. He's been mentioned as a possible Treasury secretary should McCain win. That's right: A guy who helped screw up the global financial system could end up in charge of US economic policy. Talk about a market failure.

Gramm's long been a handmaiden to Big Finance. In the 1990s, as chairman of the Senate banking committee, he routinely turned down Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Arthur Levitt's requests for more money to police Wall Street; during this period, the sec's workload shot up 80 percent, but its staff grew only 20 percent. Gramm also opposed an sec rule that would have prohibited accounting firms from getting too close to the companies they audited—at one point, according to Levitt's memoir, he warned the sec chairman that if the commission adopted the rule, its funding would be cut. And in 1999, Gramm pushed through a historic banking deregulation bill that decimated Depression-era firewalls between commercial banks, investment banks, insurance companies, and securities firms—setting off a wave of merger mania.

But Gramm's most cunning coup on behalf of his friends in the financial services industry—friends who gave him millions over his 24-year congressional career—came on December 15, 2000. It was an especially tense time in Washington. Only two days earlier, the Supreme Court had issued its decision on Bush v. Gore. President Bill Clinton and the Republican-controlled Congress were locked in a budget showdown. It was the perfect moment for a wily senator to game the system. As Congress and the White House were hurriedly hammering out a $384-billion omnibus spending bill, Gramm slipped in a 262-page measure called the Commodity Futures Modernization Act. Written with the help of financial industry lobbyists and cosponsored by Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), the chairman of the agriculture committee, the measure had been considered dead—even by Gramm. Few lawmakers had either the opportunity or inclination to read the version of the bill Gramm inserted. "Nobody in either chamber had any knowledge of what was going on or what was in it," says a congressional aide familiar with the bill's history.

It's not exactly like Gramm hid his handiwork—far from it. The balding and bespectacled Texan strode onto the Senate floor to hail the act's inclusion into the must-pass budget package. But only an expert, or a lobbyist, could have followed what Gramm was saying. The act, he declared, would ensure that neither the sec nor the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (cftc) got into the business of regulating newfangled financial products called swaps—and would thus "protect financial institutions from overregulation" and "position our financial services industries to be world leaders into the new century."

Obama’s Trip Around The World - The Simple Version

Two (2) reasons John McCain’s opponent has decided to take a trip around the world:

1. Free media coverage

2. A crash course in foreign affairs

- The free media to its disgrace IS working.

- With regards to John McCain’s opponent’s understanding and experience of foreign affairs, it remains where it has always been - NONE.

Many are in denial of the dire and critical threats upon our nation in one of the most dangerous era’s since its beginnings. John McCain understands this. John McCain understood how important it was to change strategies in Iraq stressing the surge which has worked.

The people of our nation must understand these threats and face them, not be in denial and follow someone as a leader who is also in denial. Our nation’s people MUST understand how dangerous the proliferation of nuclear, bio, and chemical weapons are when they fall in the wrong hands of nations who wish to destroy the United States of America.

John McCain has always said that he would put the safety of our beloved nation as a priority even if it costs him this election. Translation: John McCain loves this nation more then himself.

To the media: Please stop this circus of coverage of a candidate simply because of his race or ethnicity. Whether someone is black, white, green, or pink, if he/she is capable and able to be a strong leader is what this is all about. But for the liberal media to shove lies and propaganda down the throats of Americans is nothing but wrong. You the media in the end will have to explain the responsibilities of your actions if a man is elected president who attended an Anti-American institution (church if you will) with extremely close associations to its leaders and members; and this is unforgivable.

You can not erase this twenty (20) year association of Anti-America rhetoric, and then wipe the slate clean simply because this gentlemen broke ties for political reasons. The people of our nation already have little trust in our political system. To continue the excessive coverage and support of an individual with close ties to Anti-American beliefs will only allow Americans to trust the media even less.

Your actions go beyond party lines, your actions question your honor and love of our beloved nation.

Mark Udall shows what an embarrassment to Colorado he is.