Giving in to Geithner: The B.O. Republicans bow down Updated: Final vote – 60-34; Dems against: Harkin, Byrd, Feingold, plus Sanders
Scroll down for updates…4:21pm Eastern Senate floor liveblogging…Hatch sings Geithner’s praises…Final vote 60-34
Woo-hoo! You’re in. Let’s go shoot some hoops.
The Barack Obama Republicans are Bending Over again.
For weeks, we’ve watched capitulationsist GOP Senators rationalize away Treasury Secretary nominee Tim Geithner’s tax, legal, and bailout failout troubles. Sen. Orrin Hatch insists he’s “very competent.” Sen. Lindsay Graham lectured us not to be “small” about it. Five B.O. Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee supported Geithner, five opposed him.
The final vote is set tonight. And the outcome is preordained (or, as Spike Lee puts it, pre-deortained): Geithner will sail through with token opposition.
The only open question is whether Sen. Hatch will chime in with a paean to Geithner’s manhood before casting his yes vote.
Behold the Party of Supplication. Bad on me for underestimating their fecklessness.
***
Update 4:21pm Eastern. Oh, crikey. Sen. Hatch just finished his floor statement. He did everything but praise Geithner’s manhood. Lauded his “impressive education and intelligence.” Lambasted conservative critics for obstructing the nomination and scolded them for not appreciating that Obama put in a “non-ideological” nominee. Banged the Chicken Little drum. And argued that Geithner’s mistakes made him even more uniquely qualified to handle the job.
What did I tell ya? Screw up, move up. It’s the Washington way.
Update 4:30pm Eastern. Sen. Chambliss will oppose. So will Sen. Inhofe. who objects not only to tax debacle, but also Geithner’s bailout failout record. “Given [Geithner's] support for ad hoc bailouts — even stronger than Hank Paulson’s, I cannot support this nomination.”
Update 5:30pm Eastern: GOP Sen. Susan Collins says no.
Update: 60-34.
Timothy Geithner won confirmation as U.S. Treasury secretary on Monday as the U.S. Senate set aside misgivings about his past income tax problems in light of his experience battling the financial crisis.
Geithner, 47, was expected to be sworn in quickly to help lead President Barack Obama’s efforts to stabilize a worsening economy. The Senate approved his nomination on a 60-34 vote.
With the U.S. economy in full-blown crisis, Geithner’s experience in dealing with the past year’s rapid-fire rescues of key financial firms trumped the taint from his late payment of $34,000 in self-employment taxes when he worked at the International Monetary Fund earlier this decade.
The new Treasury chief is expected to soon unveil reforms to the United States’ $700 billion financial bailout program to provide more support for housing and credit markets, and possibly a new effort to absorb troubled assets from banks.
“I would rather have a battle hardened veteran at the helm who knows the shoals and whirlpools than a neophyte who has to wade into these churning waters for the first time,” Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah said during debate on the nomination.
Waiting for the roll call vote. Some of the Dems who opposed Geithner:
Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia and Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. Independent Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont, who caucuses with the Democrats, also voted against confirmation.
Update 7:10pm Eastern. I’ve posted the roll call vote in a new post with a breakdown of the 10 B.O. Republicans who supported Geithner.
See what others have said
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Trackbacks
- Fiscal Suicide: Mac is Back? « JoHNBRoDiGaNDoTCoM
- Mitch McConnell Mails It In For Senate Republicans « The Forum
- The Political Class
- The BO Republicans | The Political Class
- BizzyBlog » The Invisible Sherrod Brown’s Geithner Vote
- Jeremiah Films
- A Common Honest Mistake: –Give Me A Break « Pronk Palisades
- Most powerful Republican in New York state politics has been federally indicted with a variety of corruption charges. « Goodtimepolitics
- Geithner Vote Expected Monday | Right Resolve
- Hot Air » Blog Archive » Susan Collins: I can’t vote for a tax cheat for Treasury secretary
- Susan Collins can’t vote for a Tax Cheat for Treasury Secretary « POLITISITE: Politics from the RIGHT Side of the WEB
- Susan Collins can’t vote for a Tax Cheat for Treasury Secretary « Iron Mill News Service
- Screw up, move up. It’s the Washington way | Right Voices
- RiNO’s are NOT the Enemy « JoHNBRoDiGaNDoTCoM
- We Now Have A Tax Cheat In Charge Of America’s Treasury | Democrat=Socialist
- “No one respects a whore.” « Mark Epstein
- Geithner’s Rap Sheet « FactReal
- List of Republicans Who Voted for the Tax Evader | The American Pundit
- Tax cheat Timothy Geithner now in control of your taxes! | Fire Andrea Mitchell!
- Change: Tax Evader Becomes Chief Tax Collector « The Chronicles Of Two Rogue Jews
- Change: Tax Evader Becomes Chief Tax Collector | BigBook.eu
- Tax Evader, Tim “Turbo-Tax” Geithner Sworn In As Treasury Secretary…
- This ain’t Hell, but you can see it from here » Blog Archive » Dems’ double standard
- Agreeing with Feingold twice since the inauguration « Musings of a Thoughtful Conservative
- Patterico’s Pontifications » Senate Confirms Geithner
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This vote really shows just how totally corrupt our representatives really are. The Audacity of Corruption.
They aren’t even pretending to be decent any more. This is soooo in our faces it’s mind boggling.
I am convinced Congress no longer sees themselves as our representatives but rather as our rulers. I expect they wouldn’t use that term but they clearly see themselves as our betters leading us to a “bright and shining future” in spite of our wishes.
There has already been a revolution in America. They government has overthrown the Constitution.
Forever after known as the Tax Cheat Ten
Cheese! The inmates are running the asylum.
Senator Cornyn, TX, has lost any vote from me for reelection. He is just a Democratic rubber stamp.
I used to be a Republican. Now I don’t know what party I like. Bush pretty much created this horror of a financial crisis by allowing the Republican Congress to spend like no tomorrow. As to the new Sectretary. He is as good as any one else. If any of you had your tax returns reviewed, they would be wrong. Yet this guy could not figure it out even with the help of his CPA. That is not unusual and I have been there. One thing I would like to see is to come to a site like this and not see so much gripping. Come up with a solution. After all, you people are the ones who caused significant problems in the re-election of the conservatives due to your insistance on religion being in politics. Thanks.
Lost: GOP Leader
Call 1-800-conservative if found.
Last seen in 2004.
Well, one place to start would have been not confirming a treasury secretary who doesn’t pay his taxes.
No he didn’t. The spending has nothing to do with the current problems. But, if you believe it does, then you should really have a problem with the Obama administration, as they are increasing spending by a trillion dollars within the first two years.
Then maybe we should put you in charge of Treasury. If, as a self-employed person, you don’t know you’re responsible for self-employment taxes, you aren’t qualified to head Treasury, and that CPA should lose his accreditation.
The reality is he got caught trying to game the system, and his CPA is covering for him. But don’t worry, he’s brilliant, and he and Obama are going to save us all. The dynamic duo rides again!!!
Gutless
Old
Pigs
That ship has sailed, my good son. The sellout is complete, and Ronald Reagan is weeping in Heaven.
Dave, you just have most of your facts wrong.
I too used to be a Republican but I am not any longer. This mess was created in the housing markets due to the CRA which was passed by Carter and expanded on by Clinton. Bush made no real effort to fix the problem he saw and that is his fault. But, he didn’t cause the problem But he did fail to try and fix it.
The new SecTreas didn’t make a mistake on his taxes. He deliberately didn’t pay taxes for 4 years after signing a form that acknowledged he understood he was responsible for those taxes and receiving and cashing four checks from the IMF to reimburse him for the taxes he deliberately didn’t pay! If you made this mistake you would NOT be SecTreas.
Bush was no conservative and many of us regret our votes for him. But, Obama’s plans are not the answer. If you believe overspending was the problem then how can you believe Obama’s overspending will fix the problem? It doesn’t make sense.
And religion comes up relatively infrequently here so I am not sure what hat you pulled that comment out of. All the nation’s problems are NOT due to conservative Christians regardless of what you read at DailyKos or the Obama campaign site.
If putting tax cheats in charge of the IRS is change…well…Keep the change President Hussein!
If this guy is the best thispoor sick country can find to fix this fiasco, then we are in deep crapola and it’s time to panic and run to the hills.
I heard about a special “Geithner Exemption” on the new Form 1040 this year. You check the box and then deduct any amount of taxes you don’t want to pay. And you get a cushy government job, too!
Such a deal…
“Paying taxes is patriotic.”
–Joe Biden, 2008
“Paying taxes is for saps!”
–Tim Geithner, 2009
Not paying taxes is patriotic dissent.
This just makes you sick to your stomach.
On January 26th, 2009 at 9:19 pm, havok said:
Ah, the CHANGE Obama wants is the socialist reorganization of society…
Who is “Inspired” to “Bring an Empire to its Knees”?
“Establishing a Soviet America”
Obama is for “hope and change”. Whatever he wants, he gets. He can do no wrong. This is turning into quite an unusual cabinet…full of questionable characters and rookies.
I have an announcement. Today I am withdrawing from the Republican Party. That they can not stand up to this weasel failure kiniving cheat is beyond belief.
And Cornyn, you can forget about ever being re-elected. Too bad we have to wait 6 years to oust you with an honest conservative. Shame shame shame on you for embarrassing the great state of TX like that.
The fact that Wall Street likes Geitner is THE reason to not support him. The tax thing is practically moot in that context.
Russ Feingold ROCKS!
Pelosi is an idiot.