I just listened to the Diane Rehm show. The subject was the financial reform bill. The AEI expert kept repeating the same talking point over and over — the bill is bad because the Democrats want to set up a $50 billion dollar fund paid for by the big financial institutions. This is bad because it will enshrine “Too Big to Fail” in the law and in the minds of those who deal with those banks.
Thus the Republicans are opposed to financial reform on principle alone: they want to prevent the evil Democrats from ever bailing out Big Banks again. It’s the GOP that stands on the side of the little guy, see? They don’t oppose reform because they are in the pocket of financial industry lobbyists! Heaven forbid! They are the principled ones here. It’s the Dems who want to screw the country and the little guy by helping the Big Bad Banks.
How soon these Republicans and their conservative disinformation machine want you to forget The Resolution Trust Company created up by Bush Sr. in 1989 to resolve the S & L crisis.
More recently, how quickly they want you to forget Hank Paulson and George Bush and the complete lack of oversight over TARP program that those GOP stalwarts created to bail out the banks that were “too big to fail.”
How quickly they want you to forget Paulson’s behind closed doors threats to Congress that if they didn’t pass the TARP legislation in precisely the manner the Bush administration demanded “that within 24 hours, the entire political structure of the United States would collapse.”
As readers know, several Congressional members have alluded to a private meeting with Paulson and Bernanke in which vague economic Armageddon was threatened if Congress did not immediately hand Hank $700 billion, with no oversight. As the political debate raged over the next 15 days, several members expressed a sense of shock over the severity of the secret warnings, while refusing to divulge the details to a concerned public. Representative Sherman of California later accidentally revealed that members were warned that Martial Law would follow if the $700 bailout plan were not approved quickly. Days later it was confirmed that the warning was delivered by Treasury Secretary Paulson.
Now these same Republican obstructionists of financial reform want to claim that the bailouts were all the fault of the Democrats, and that its the Democrats who want to bail out the big banks rather than help all the average Americans and small businesses. They want you to believe that their opposition to financial reform is to protect the public, rather than serve the needs of the financial industry who desperately wants to avoid a return to the laws and regulations governing the behavior of large financial institutions that resemble in any fashion the ones FDR and the New Deal put in place after the Great Depression.
Hypocrisy has a new acronym: G-O-P*
* That’s a lie. It’s an old acronym for hypocrisy, actually.
I think you hit on a hidden logic in this illogic. By being mindlessly absurd in their objections, they do still further the perception that they are fighting the Democrats’ bailouts.
I’ve been thinking lately the GOP principle that’s been getting the traction of late has been “It it’s good for Business, it’s good for the Country”
Bullshit, true, but I’ve not yet seen a post to convince me another theory fits better than this. Far too much, even in the MSM of late, shows the GOP almost mindlessly coming to the defense of Corporations over teh safety and well-being of their voting constituencies.
Dunno which is worse, though—this behaviour or that of some of the constituents, in blindly absolving the ‘sin’. despite their being measurably hurt by the action—an action I would consider insane at the least…
I have a feeling what the REAL objection to the bailout fund is: The Wall Street firms don’t want to pay for their OWN bailouts, or (horrors) towards some other firm’s bailout. That’s THEIR Hard-Earned Profits — how DARE anyone suggest that they should bail themselves out when the market mysteriously “goes bad” on them? Isn’t that what taxes are for?
Argh.
.
Too much Fromm on your mind when you misspelled reform in title?
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
thanks. I didn’t even notice that. I fixed it for Steve.
Martial law threat? what was that about?
and re: opposing financial reform? do they really not understand the consequences of opposing fixing usa economic problems, or do they really not care?
they ARE doing it on Principle – their principle of NEVER BEING FOR THE LITTLE GUY.
This is who they are. This is what they do.
Please show me an instance of the GOP fighting for the’ little guy’.
REASONABLE people have to come to the realization that the Republicans control virtually all of the media outlets. This is why the Republicans believe that they can turn any LIE that they utter into the truth, simply because of the power of their PROPAGANDA MACHINE. Bill Clinton became the first politician to publish the mechanism of the Republican PROPAGANDA MACHINE, namely the MSM ECHO chamber effect for their message (no matter how insane) serves to magnify their propaganda. The Republicans KNOW that the Democrats have virtually no means to get their message out to the nation. Hence the Republican strategy has been to block all meaningful legislation in congress, while relying on their PROPAGANDA MACHINE to get their message out to the nation.
The Republicans are following in lockstep the footsteps of Paul Joseph Goebbels, The Reich Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda under the Chancellor of Germany, Adolph Hitler. Goebbels under Hitler perfected the “Big Lie” technique of propaganda, which is based on the principle that a lie, if audacious enough and REPEATED enough times, will believed by the masses. The Republican control over the MSM has lasted long enough for them to perfect the tuning of the AUDACIOUS content of their propaganda “Talking Points” to deliver the most effective propaganda message to the nations “Echo Chamber”.
Democrats are confused and disorganized as exactly how to deal with the presence of this PROPAGANDA MACHINE in the national political process, so they clasp their hands in prayer thereby demonstrating blind faith that the American public will not fall victim to the Republican Big Lie. The election of Barack Obama was a huge relief for the Democrats and in their mind reaffirmed their faith in the American public. But alas, the Republican PROPAGANDA MACHINE, as demonstrated by the HCR debate, reasserted itself with even more vigor, with Obama functioning as the lightening rod for its attacks.
The Democrat strategy of using verifiable FACTS in their campaign to capture the hearts and minds of “reasonable” Americans, while ignoring the Republican PROPAGANDA MACHINE unrestricted access to the nations airwaves, is like a boxer entering a championship fight with one arm tied behind his back.
Former President Bill Clinton’s spotlight on the Republican propaganda methodology should convince the Democratic Party that it must address this problem if they want to remain a viable political party in America. One last point to underscore the political reality of the effectiveness of the Republican PROPAGANDA MACHINE may be seen in the following analysis. The Republicans suffered two sequential defeats from the Democrats. The first was the loss of the Congress, while the second was the loss of the Presidency. It took the Republican PROPAGANDA MACHINE about five months to finally craft a message that would be productive for them. The message actually spilled out of the HCR Town Hall meetings around the country. The Libertarian mantra of “big government is the root of all problems” somehow became reformulated in the mouths of the Tea/Pee party members when mixed with their litany of complaints against the government. The net result was the new Republican PROPAGANDA MESSAGE which declares “America cannot trust the government (in Washington)”. Note, as the PROPAGANDA MACHINE delivers the message the phrase “in Washington” is a silent euphemism which is generally left out of the Republican propaganda message “you can’t trust the government.” This message coupled with the Republican lockstep opposition to every attempt of the Democrats to govern is providing a position message to the American public that infers that “We Republicans are with you. We don’t trust the Democrat’s GOVERNMENT either, that is why we say NO and solidly oppose them. This we do specifically in your interest.” This position articulated by Republican members of congress acting in concert with their powerful 24/7 PROPAGANDA MACHINE will be the campaign strategy and message for the Republican Party for the 2010 Congressional elections.
Democrats what is your strategy?