www.nationalview.org and Note From a Madman brought to you by
for your Information Technology needs
owned and operated by Noah "The Madman" Greenberg
This Is What Democracy Looks Like
www.NationalView.org's Note From a Madman
September 29, 2008
A Victory for the House GOP - a Defeat for
Everybody Else
They call themselves "Fiscal Conservatives", but I call them "Political
Opportunists. These are the same guys and gals that scream for less regulation,
less government oversight and more tax breaks for their "base of the haves and
have mores".
They are the House Republicans.
Last Thursday there was an agreement, or so it seemed. House Democrats and just
about the entire Senate were in agreement that something needed to be done about
the crisis caused by greed run-amok and the hands-off philosophy put into play
by the Bush administration and these very same House members quickly.
Then John McCain came back to DC and everything changed. In place of the
agreement was doubt and suspicion. The plan put forth by hank Paulson, the
Secretary of the Treasury, was unacceptable to those in both Houses of Congress
as it stood. It was, however, a good beginning as a bargaining point, and in no
time at all an agreement was reached.
The John McCain, hoping to make headlines - any headlines at all - rode in on
his off-white horse and did his best Alexander Haig impersonation saying "I'm in
charge here. Let the real negotiations begin!" McCain met with House Republicans
and the plan was put on hold.
Today, as I write this, the House of Representative, weary of a political
fallout if all, or at least a sizeable majority, didn't vote for the proposal,
is defeating the proposal and politics is the reason. With as many as 90 percent
of the nation drinking the "do-nothing" kool-aid drink that the House GOP
members are ladling out, the rest of the House must feel as if they have no
other choice but to put the brakes on this deal.
And the fault falls directly on the shoulders of those same House GOP members
and John McCain who would rather see nothing done in the name of politics than
something done in the name of the public good.
As I write this, House Minority Leader John Boehner is blaming "partisanship"
for the fallout. The truth is that the House Republicans took the pulse of the
nation and saw a campaign issue they could exploit.
As I write this the market, where you and I keep out retirement accounts, is
bleeding money. Rather than doing the right thing, the House Republicans have
put a wedge into the issue of saving the economy decrying that same
"partisanship" which they use whenever they don't get their way.
"The congress have failed to act - and we are not in that majority which failed
to act,"
-John Boehner from the impromptu press conference after the defeat
Many Democrats crossed the line and voted against the wishes of their party
leaders. The GOP members who stood in front of the cameras in victory (as if
defeating our economy is a victory) blamed the Democrats for voting the way they
did.
Damned if you do. Damned if you don't.
"Forget the partisan stuff," are the cries from the minority peanut gallery
attempting to fool us all that they are not practicing partisan politics.
"It's really their majority,"
-Rep. Roy Blunt, the Minority Whip
And as the GOP play their non-political politics game, the market crashes even
further. Even in the face of their own President's disapproval, the man they
voted with in lockstep for these past seven-plus years, they decided to stand in
the way of what just about everyone says is necessary.
The funny thing is that the House Republicans put forth ideas which didn't
include restricting CEO's from profiting on their bad decisions; they wanted
more tax cuts for the rich; and they want even less oversight and regulation to
fix a crisis which was caused by a lack of both.
Boehner blamed Speaker Pelosi even though she got more than two-thirds of her members to agree to the bill while he (Boehner) got just over thirty percent of his roll to agree with him. Senator John McCain, the originating nay-sayer of the bill immediately blamed Senator Barack Obama.
It doesn't take a genius to figure out the root cause of the defeat.
It's an interesting game the House minority leaders are playing. They're looking to blame the Democrats for not fixing the economic crisis which they (the Republicans) caused. And if it works, they (the Republicans) get to keep the system which put us in this fix in the first place.
Either
way, ti's the only issue they will run on in some thirty-something days.
The House minority's victory is our defeat; Our retirement accounts and our
future are at stake. Perhaps if they (the House Republicans) didn't have their
taxpayer-paid health care and pension accounts they might have looked at things
a little bit differently.
-Noah Greenberg
Send your comments to: NationalView@aol.com
-Noah Greenberg