After the Obama administration announced yesterday that they would replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill with Harriet Tubman, I did a quick survey of right-wing sites to see their reaction. I was pleasantly surprised by what I found, which was mostly bloggers posting the news without commentary. I even found a supportive voice at the National Review (and I see more positive voices there today). I like to see people who aren’t known for it act well-behaved and show moral leadership. It’s nice.
It’s especially gratifying because I know this is a big fat hanging curveball. People don’t like change, and they’re particularly funny about our currency which is why we have so much difficulty getting rid of the obsolete penny. The Republican base is furious about “political correctness,” and abolishing a white president from the $20 and putting a former slave and famous abolitionist and suffragette on the bill is not something that will go down smoothly for a lot of people. How easy would it be to cater to and stoke their anger?
Unfortunately, Fox News host, Greta Van Susteren couldn’t resist the bait. She took to the air to accuse the Obama administration of being “stupid for no reason,” and creating an “unnecessary fight” by “gratuitously stir[ring] up conflict in the nation.”
“That is so awful, and yes, dumb,” she said.
Her solution was to create a new $25 bill just for Tubman, and that way everyone would have been happy.
But, of course, if you’re mad about having a black woman in your wallet, it doesn’t matter if she’s on the twenty or the twenty-five dollar note, does it?
So, Greta has earned my “No Leadership” award for the day.
She catered to the worst instincts of her audience to score cheap adoration from bigots.
Even the notoriously racist National Review didn’t go that route.
She might have been hoping for L. Ron Hubbard.
Yes, people don’t like change. In fact, I was thinking after reading Greta Van Susteren’s response that a good working definition for “political correctness” might be “change conservatives are uncomfortable with.”
I also googled to see when Andrew Jackson first appeared on the $20. According to wikipedia, Jackson replaced Grover Cleveland on the $20 in 1928 for reasons that apparently weren’t disclosed at the time(?) In any case, wikipedia doesn’t seem to know the reason.
Maybe Greta should take up the fight to return Cleveland to the twenty.
Google a bit further.
The first Federal Reserve notes were issued in 1914.
Jackson was on the $10 and Cleveland was on the $20. My guess enough “why Cleveland?” that he was dropped in 1928, Jackson was promoted to the $20 and Hamilton replaced Jackson on the $10.
Thanks. Your guess is as good as any other.
Apparently the Botox got into her brain.
Oh, man, Prince is dead.
Maybe he can go on the $35 bill.
Purple currency would be much more attractive.
Even Rush Limbaugh didn’t take the bait this morning. He said some parts of Andrew Jackson’s bio are not admirable, and that the Left would love to sucker the conservative movement into making this Tubman thing a controversy.
Rushbo is quite a bit out to sea these days, what with his (literally) dying audience, the financial collapse of his radio employer, and his difficulty in deciding which GOP POTUS candidate to propagandize for. It’s amusing.
After the commercial break, he returned to more comfortable ground, ripping on transsexuals in his misinformed way. So he’s not completely disoriented.
Probably another reason for anger is that it’s one less bill for St. Ronnie to grace anytime soon.
But, The Donald took the bait. Said to put Harriet on the $2 bill. That was rightwing PC for….go sit at the back of the bus. The real question is how many times between now and election day will The Donald go for the bait?
Puts her in contention for the dumbest idea of the year.
Are there enough compartments in a cash register drawer to accommodate an additional denomination? That’s one of the reasons the $2 was and is so unpopular. Have to take care of the business. It doesn’t appear Greta has ever worked retail sales, but I haven’t seen her resume.
Wait follow the Greta on this one;
We need a $25, and a $39 so when I have to have $64 two bills will cover it. Of course for the $39 only Jack Benny would work, google it if you don’t understand
Also we need 13 cent piece, so I won’t have to carry a dime and three pennies in my pocket any more when I need 13 cents. Ronnie Ray-gun can have that one the the repugs can then STFU about him being on our money.
Of course we need a $13 bill, why you ask, so her friend the Wasilla Hill Billy can have a piece of money fitten’ to her.
Then we need a rainbow colored $73 so if I only need $73 and not $74 I can carry it in one bill. Why rainbow colored you ask, I say why not. Harvey Milk could be on it.
The of course we need a bazillion dollar bill, cause we might need it to pay off all the debt run up by cutting taxes and running wars off the record, and bailing out the big banks. Put Grover on it, cause he’s as responsible as anybody on that one. Actually both Grovers, the Sesame Street one and the obnoxious one, they both are about connected to reality equally.
Come on Greta has some great ideas, almost as great as her Wasilla hill billy friend does sometimes.