Suzanne_Marques's Blog

The $700 billion dollar bailout is a bitter pill to swallow... but the buckwheat pancakes at The Pantry sure are delicious!  Ok, cheesy, but a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down....

Back to the bailout!  Among the early risers enjoying a cup of coffee at The Pantry downtown, there was plenty of discussion about the President's prime time speech.  As the sun rose and hours ticked by, fewer and fewer people had even bothered to tune in.

Of course, there are always those who don't care.  But for a few people, it was a conscious choice.  They change the channel when President Bush is speaking because they are so frustrated with him.  When I pressed them further, most people admitted they were concerned about the economy, but fed up.  One diner said there are seemingly two choices: we can bailout companies and people whose greed got out of control and a government that didn't step in to tame the problem... and the other choice, head into recession with job losses, shuttered businesses, evaporating retirement accounts and a plummeting stock market.

The President said let's not play the blame game and move ahead and do something.  Obama and McCain are joining him to discuss a solution.   What do you think? 

Some lawmakers have said they don't like the President's plan, but don't know of a better solution.  It's fine and dandy to disagree, but if you disagree, what do you think should be done?

What do you think of the debates being cancelled?  I won't weigh in on when they should happen, but it would be interesting to hear both candidates' views on what should be done about the bailout, since one of them will soon be running the country. 

That would be a debate I could sink my teeth into... in addition to a second helping of Pantry pancakes.

Arizona senator John McCain is in the Southland. It's his first visit since securing the Republican nomination.

With all of the attention that Senators Clinton & Obama have been getting, I was surprised to discover the latest Gallup poll shows McCain in the lead. Maybe it's because Democrats' votes are split, there are several ways of breaking it down, but he just hasn't been in the news as much, so he's been kind of flying under the radar. (It's raining McCain! Have you seen that video yet? Once is enough, ha)

Senator McCain will be making a big push to promote his public image in just a few days. It's called the Service For America Tour. He'll be traveling to Virginia, where he went to high school and then to Florida where he trained as a Navy pilot.

Ok, enough of that, Let's get to the good stuff. The controversial stuff! The Iraq war.

I'm sure just reading that brings up a flurry of emotions one way or another. , Maybe both ways, which can be more frustrating at times.

Warning: another poll here. Don't shoot the messenger! Gallup found that regarding the war, American voters view McCain as the candidate most capable of handling the situation in Iraq.

54 to 40 percent over both Obama & Clinton! What do you think?