I saw a blog in which the blogger said that liberals who hate Rush Limbaugh should try listening to him. That is a punishment that is easily defined as cruel if not unusual. I have had someone inflict Mr. Limbaugh’s program on me. It quickly became apparent that any resemblance between what he was saying any factual statement was rare and purely coincidental. That is why they call him an entertainer rather than an analyst or reporter. The problem is that he is not even entertaining. The writers of All In The Family were smart enough to realize that their bigoted character, Archie Bunker, needed a foil in order to be funny, and Archie Bunker displayed a lot more humanity than Mr. Limbaugh does. Mr. Limbaugh will not permit anyone to introduce a foil on his show. As a result, the mentally challenged actually take him seriously. The fact that there are people who do take him seriously is the only funny thing about him, and even that ranks right down there with very poor April fool’s jokes.
Glen Beck and Michele Bachmann have an excuse; they are both insane. Mr. Limbaugh, on the other hand, is either stupid or so cynically greedy that he is purposely exploiting the mentally challenged. Unfortunately, the Republican Party has copied a page of Rush Limbaugh’s playbook. We saw it in their opposition to health care reform, and we are seeing it in their opposition to the bill that will impose regulations on Wall Street and the banks. In both cases the Republican strategy is the same. You simply spew a stream of lies that are repeated so often that the lies define the issue. This tactic was somewhat successful in regard to health care reform. But, as I said before, those lies will eventually bite the Republicans. Even fools can only be duped in the same way a certain number of times before they realize they are being had. In the case of the regulation of our financial institutions the bite is likely to come sooner rather than later, and at a time that is most damaging to the Republican Party. The opposition party usually picks up seats in the Senate and the House during mid-term elections. This is particularly true if the voters are angry. The voters are angry, but the Republicans are ignoring one of the major causes of that anger.
A member of a Republican Party stink tank correctly pointed out that people are angry about the so called bailouts. Mitch McConnell immediately went into his bailout song and dance. “This bill will lead to bailouts, bailouts, bailouts!” he sang. This is a blatant lie. The fact that his contention is untrue makes it dangerous to allow a debate that would reveal the falsehood. Fortunately for the voters, he is doing this while hearings are being conducted about the unethical behavior of Goldman Sachs. So far the testimony in that hearing has been devastating. A representative from Goldman Sachs, Daniel Sparks, was absolutely grilled when Senator Levin read an email sent to Mr. Sparks by another employee of the firm. In the email this other employee called Timberwolf a “shitty deal” and asked how many shares of Timberwolf had been sold. The testimony that followed revealed that Goldman Sachs was aggressively selling this toxic waste to its unsuspecting clients while selling short. What this means is that Goldman Sachs was betting against the very stock it was recommending to people who were naïve enough to believe that Goldman Sachs had some ethics.
The combination of this unethical behavior and Republican Party’s refusal to debate a bill that would impose regulations on companies like Goldman Sachs is red meat the Democratic candidates in the upcoming elections can feed to the masses. “Why won’t the Republicans allow an open debate on this important issue? Are they afraid that open debates will reveal that they are representing the very companies who nearly caused an economic disaster? Are they afraid that honest, open debates will actually reveal that the regulations will prevent future bailouts? Ask my opponent if he’ll vote to allow those debates and if he’ll vote for the final bill resulting from those debates!”
As you can see, the Republicans have a tiger by the tail. The Democrats are forcing them to cast daily votes on whether to allow such a debate. Their obstruction will not play well with the voters if it continues into November when the elections take place. The alternative is also dangerous for the Republicans. If the Democrats have learned their lesson from the health issues, they will put forth a bill with tight but reasonable regulations, and they will not let the Republicans water it down. They will let the Republicans filibuster, and they will run against the filibuster. “The Republicans say they hate the bailouts yet here they are refusing to allow a vote on a bill that would force the people who received those bailouts to act responsibly enough to prevent another situation like the one that caused the bailouts!” It is not just the Republicans who can scream about bailouts. The Republicans will bring out their great bogyman, socialism, but I do not think this will help them. The Democrats can always point out that the regulations resulting from the great depression were far more restrictive than any contained in the bills being proposed, and for fifty years we had the most stable and prosperous economy the world has ever seen. It was only after those regulations were repealed that we ran into trouble!
The one thing I can guarantee is that the testimony in the Goldman Sachs hearings will make the need for regulations clear to anyone who is paying even the slightest attention. Furthermore, it is very likely that other banks and investment firms will also face such hearings. It should not take long for the lazy slugs in the mainstream media to jump on this sensational story with both feet. What our financial institutions did because of a lack of regulation was so outrageous that even the idiots running the Fox disinformation factory might feel compelled to report it. You might even think they will get some of the facts right, if you still believe in miracles.
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