Dear Congress: Put the gun down now
Ok, it’s back to the beastly bailout business at hand and there is no time to waste. Crap Sandwich 2.0 is coming back to the House — and the MSM is heralding flip-floppers who are being bought off with Lord knows what.
My syndicated column this week tears into Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson’s Panic Mob and their hostage-taking tactics. You need to light up the switchboards. Every call makes a difference Let me quote Sen. Bob Bennett:
“I think the determinative factor in the House of Representatives will be the phone calls.”
Phone numbers are here. Tell Congress: Hold the line and drop the gun!
***
Dear Congress: Put the gun down now
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2008
Will 2008 be the year of the Chicken Little Congress? Or can the House of Representatives show the panic-driven Senate what it really means to be a deliberative body?
On Sept. 19, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson put a gun to America’s head: Pass his $700 billion bailout of the banking industry and give him unfettered new powers to buy up an ocean of privately-held toxic assets or all hell would break loose. Treasury officials warned that the market would lose a third of its value if not passed immediately.
“We could see falls of 3,000 or 4,000 points on the Dow,” a Republican official heaved. “We may not have another day,” Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid hyperventilated. “We can’t afford to do nothing,” echoed all the other Democrat Henny Pennys and Republican Goosey Looseys in Paulson’s sway. It’s a “crap sandwich,” House GOP leader John Boehner sighed, but the costs of inaction would be worse.
On Sept. 29, the House refused to bite. The Dow dropped nearly 7 percent – a “record fall” in points (778), but nowhere near the apocalyptic levels predicted by Paulson’s fear-mongers. Half that drop occurred before the bailout rejection. The skies, however gray, did not fall. The world did not end. The dire predictions of Paulson and company did not come to pass. The next day, stocks (their barometer, mind you, not necessarily mine) rebounded. We’re about where we were in 2006. Stock market Armageddon? I think not.
Paulson’s monumental misjudgment is no surprise to those who have paid attention to him over the last year. This is the man who proclaimed the subprime crisis “largely contained” in April 2007; “near the bottom” in May 2007; and “largely contained” again in August 2007. This is the man who pledged that he had “no interest in bailing out lenders or property speculators” in October 2007 and couldn’t “think of any situation where the backdrop of the global economy was as healthy as it is today.”
This is the man who patted himself on the back for refusing to “put taxpayer money on the line” to rescue Lehman Brothers on Sept. 15 – and then turned around the next day and engineered the $85 billion taxpayer-funded bailout of AIG. This is the man who vowed he had “no plans to insert money” into Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac –and then turned around and committed $200 billion in capital and credit lines to those corrupt, bloated, crumbling institutions.
This is the man who declared “the worst is likely to be behind us” in May 2008 – and then got down on his knees in front of Nancy Pelosi to pass a Mother of All Bailouts plan whose dollar figure was plucked from thin air. (“It’s not based on any particular data point,” a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com. “We just wanted to choose a really large number.”)
This is a man, in other words, whose crap sandwich should be taken with a huge grain of salt.
On Oct. 1, at the behest of Paulson, the Senate scurried to put Mother of All Bailouts 2.0 on the table. All but 25 members swallowed. The “world’s greatest deliberative body” had no time to hold hearings, consider alternatives, or study the history of similar failed bailouts around the world. The Do Something Now Or Else mob did, however, have time to quadruple the volume of pages and stuff the urgent, emergency package with business-as-usual earmarks, goodies, and sweeteners.
John McCain and Barack Obama both cited credit squeeze scare stories to rationalize the rush. McCain decried: “When small businesses and big businesses like Sonic [Drive-In burger] franchisees can’t borrow…It hurts the entire community.” The rest of the story? Sonic clarified “that during the past year GE Capital provided less than 10% of the lending to its franchisees…in fact, many franchisees maintain access to other diversified sources of financing. Furthermore, Sonic has not received any notification from GE Capital, either directly or indirectly, that it will stop financing new loans to Sonic franchisees.”
Lost in all the End is Nigh frenzy were dozens of local and regional headlines across the country reporting that in fact, the end is not nigh: “Wall Street Credit Crisis Rings Hollow on Main Street;” “No credit freeze on Kern’s Main Street;” “Community banks aren’t yet feeling pinch of Wall Street meltdown;” “Farmers still able to get banks’ loans;” “Small town Main Street doing better than Wall Street.”
Instead, the New York Times obsessed about the drop in auto loan approvals over the last year – from 83 percent in 2007 down to 63 percent. Catastrophe? No. If lenders are finally realizing they shouldn’t give money to bad risks, why is that a bad thing?
Getting credit is not a constitutional right.
Preserving home ownership should not be a government imperative to be pursued at all costs.
The House faces a choice: Put the gun down and give our economic problems the time they deserve to get fixed – or fork over untold billions to a thoroughly debunked Foxy Loxy and his den of wolves.
***
On Wednesday, Politico listed 12 members who might switch their vote from No to Yes: Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.), Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.), Rep. John B. Shadegg (R-Ariz.), Rep. Steven C. LaTourette (R-Ohio), Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.), Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.), Rep. Hilda L. Solis (D-Calif.), Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.), Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.), Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.). House e-mail is not reliable. Make phone calls or send faxes. Call 202-224-3121 for the U.S. House of Representatives switchboard operator. Phone numbers for specific members are listed here.
Updates: Delahunt now says he will oppose the bill. LaTourette will try to strip pork projects from the bill. Frelinghuysen says he is “encouraged by many of the improvements made” in the Senate. Reps. Ramstad and Berkeley are both voting yes. So is Shadegg.
Here are some others reported to be undecided:
Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, D-N.H. (link)
Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Montana (link)
Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky. (link)
Rep. Mike Michaud, D-Maine (link)
Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M. (link)
Rep. Paul Hodes, D-N.H. (link)
Rep. John Tanner, D-Tenn. (link)
Rep. Lincoln Davis, D-Tenn. (link)
Reps. Raul Grijalva, Ed Pastor and Harry Mitchell, all Democrats from Arizona (link)
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz. (link)
Rep. John Tierney, D.-Mass (link)
Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah (link)
Reps. Neil Abercombie and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii (link)
Rep. Jim Gerlach, R-Penn. (link)
Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Penn. (link)
Rep. Patrick Tiberi, R-Ohio (link)
Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-New Jersey (link)
Rep. Cathy McMorris, R-Wash. (link)
Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn. (link)
Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash (link)
Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn. (link)
Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash. (link)
Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn. (link)
***
Liveblogging the House floor debate here.
See what others have said
Note from Michelle: This section is for comments from michellemalkin.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that I agree with or endorse any particular comment just because I let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with my terms of use may lose his or her posting privilege.
Trackbacks
- We’re HAPPY as Hell! « Mark Epstein
- Dear Congress: Put the gun down now — The 2008 Elections
- Congress to “Seal the Bailout Deal” | The TIW Blog
- Get Ready to be Robbed | The Daily Conservative
- Call Rob Bishop on Bailout NOW! « Utah Rattler
- Webloggin » How to Tell When Democrat Leaders Lie: They Open Their Mouths
- Michelle Malkin » Liveblogging Crap Sandwich 2.0: The House bailout debate
- How Chicken Little Is Making the Sky Fall (Updated 9/30/08; 10/1/08; 10/3/08) | Counting Sheep
- Dear Congress: Put the gun down now « Thoughts Of A Conservative Christian
- We have forgotten. « Scatterin’ O’ the Thoughts
- Bailout Passes The House 263-171…Now, they tell us it’s not enough… | Right Voices
- Welcome to the USSA, Comrade « Mark Epstein
- Mike's Noise
- Das Finanzrettungspaket als Beispiel für die US-Gesetzgebung « USA Erklärt
- Michelle Malkin » Wasn’t the bailout supposed to calm the financial markets?
- Michelle Malkin » Choking on Crap Sandwich 2.0: Bush says “We don’t want to rush” (!!!!)
- Michelle Malkin » How ACORN got a piece of the bailout pie
- Michelle Malkin » The Chicken Littles lecture us not be Chicken Littles
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Categories: Subprime crisis
Doug Ross @ Journal
» Democrats shocked -- SHOCKED -- that Republicans won't eat the juicy, tender crap sandwich they cooked up all on their own
Green Room
» Miss Me Yet? Bush Billboard Mystery SolvedMudville Gazette
» New Standards in JournalismJustOneMinute
» He Played It Left Hand, But Took It Too FarEd Driscoll
» The Night Chicago DiedMudville Gazette
» In this case I'm pro-abortion
Is Hank Paulson related to Hugo Chavez?
Why can’t our leaders see or correctly represent this bailout for what it really is, nothing short of subsidy nationalization of our financial system.
We’re being forced to trade tough economics for a new form of government less free than before.
Great Article Michelle. I think we are toast on this one–even the two conservative Texas senators (Hutchison and Cornyn) voted for the “C**P Sandwich” bailout. My representative–Sylvestre Reyes–a former Border Patrol chief who is in favor of Shamnesty–is bulletproof in El Paso, and is retiring anyway–he’ll vote for the sandwich on his way out. A 1/3 drop in the stock market and the housing values looks better than the bailout to me.
This bailout seems bad–but $700 billion pales in comparison to what will happen when the O’Bummer wins in November. The destruction of our economy, the weakening of our military, the Shamnesty for the undocumented immigrants (aka ILLEGAL ALIENS), the socialization of America will make this bill look like the good old days–a minor speed bump in comparison to a train wreck.
I hope I’m wrong on the election results–but it looks like 2006 in spades (bridge term–not racist) to me–deja vu all over again. We will wish for Jimmy Carter again after Obama and the Marxists get done with us–he will look like a great conservative then–dementia and all.
Maybe the “SarahCuda” will get her chance (Reagan II?) after the country has HAD ENOUGH YET? with the Dimocrats who brought on this economic failure. She looked pretty tough in last night’s debate against Biden.
John Bibb
The bottom line is that neither body of congress has done the job for which they were put in to office. There are specific individuals that have either ignorantly, or maliciously aided and abetted the fleecing of American taxpayers. For what purpose? Personal enrichment or political power, which ultimately ends in personal financial enrichment.
For these same individuals to now claim they are trying to help the American taxpayers is laughable. Listen to what the Democrat leaders are saying. Pelosi is doing a crybaby act for busniesses. The very same businesses she and her party have targeted for tax increases, and have demonized repeatedly as leeches on society. Now, she’s worried about their “future.” Gimme a break!
The only future these Democrats are worried about, is the future of the tax base for which they will continue to rob. We do need to act now. Act now, and vote these criminal enablers out of office. They are incapable of enacting any kind of reform without lining their own pockets, or putting something in a bill that will insure their progression towards total socialism. I smell an angry revolt coming…
The similarities of our current crop of dregs representing us and our Founding Fathers are slim to none.I don’t see how you could think that I even came close to equating the two.Why can’t we clean house and get rid of K street and all the lobbyists? The instructions are all in our constitution,which seems to be perverted from its true meaning more and more.
On a local basis I agree with you wholeheartedly as the pol has to answer to his constituents.He/She knows that they know where his office is,see him at the store etc. and there will always be immediate consequences for his actions How many “conservative” pols have you seen go to DC and morph into a “Beltway Boy” beholden to the lobbyists and the good graces of his fellow “Club Members” Why can’t we hold their feet to the fire once they get to Washington? As a nation we should all vote for term limits as with all the wisdom that our Founding Fathers had they couldn’t have ever imagined in their wildest dreams that somebody would have the desire to become a career politician.
It just passed.
We can hold their feet to the fire it is call the ballot box. If they become part of the problem get rid of them.
I did what I could I called and called,I hope not to to no avail.
I didn’t.
The bill passes, President Bush signs it and the Dow Jones industrials are ending down 157 points at the 10,325 level after being up more than 300 while the House vote was under way.
Why? Would any of us put money into a savings account know the bank doesn’t have to pay it back at full value if at all? God Help America, Please?
—
America First
America Alone
America Come Home
MARs: Middle American Radical