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Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Stampeded by Fear,
Scammed by Lies:
Why the Bailout Failed
by
Walter Brasch
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Walter Brasch is professor
of journalism at Bloomsburg University and president of the
Pennsylvania Press Club. He is the author of the critically-acclaimed
‘Unacceptable’: The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina (January
2006) and Sinking the Ship of State: The Presidency of George W. Bush
(November 2007), both available through amazon.com, borders.com, and
other bookstores.
You may contact Brasch at
brasch@bloomu.edu
or through his website at:
www.walterbrasch.com.
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The Republican leaders of the House of
Representatives grabbed a half dozen bags of sincerity, looked
directly into every TV camera they could find, and lied.
The House had just defeated, 228–205, a
bipartisan $700 billion bailout bill. But it was the Democrats who
were the subject of vicious rhetoric.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
"poisoned our conference," screeched Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), the
Republican minority leader. He said the House would have voted for the
bill "had it not been for the partisan speech the Speaker gave on the
floor of the House." Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) specifically said that
Pelosi's speech changed the minds of about a dozen Republicans who
voted against the bill. Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), waving a copy of
Pelosi's speech, screamed out, "Here is the reason I believe why this
vote failed!" The speech, he said, "frankly struck the tone of
partisanship that frankly was inappropriate in this discussion."
Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a senior advisor to Sen. John McCain, was equally
blunt—and equally wrong. The bailout failed, he said, because "Barack
Obama and the Democrats put politics ahead of country."
But it wasn't the Democrats who brought
about the bill's defeat. The Democrats voted 140–95 for the bill; the
Republicans voted 133–65 against the bill. Sens. Barack Obama and John
McCain reluctantly supported the bill. Nevertheless, the viciously
partisan Republican leadership, eager to paint anything Democratic as
vicious partisanship, couldn't even get a majority of their own
members to agree to the bailout, one that now had added protections
for the taxpayer.
What infuriated the Republican leaders
was Pelosi's accurate portrayal of the Bush–Cheney Administration's
economic policies as "built on recklessness, on an anything-goes
mentality, with no regulation, no supervision and no disciple in the
system." While driving America into the deepest deficit in its
history, the Administration had usurped its own campaign lies that
breathlessly panted the fear that the enemies of American consumers
are "tax-and-spend liberals," as if it was one word.
There are several reasons why this
version of the bailout failed. Every member of the House is facing
re-election in less than six weeks, and their constituents are angry.
They're angry at the government's lack of oversight and regulation,
supported and encouraged by Bush and McCain, that helped bring about
the crisis. They're angry at the failing mega-mammoth financial
institutions that sacrificed the middle class to a horde of unbridled
greed and incompetence. They're angry at corporate executives who make
millions while their companies are failing, and then get multi-million
dollar "golden parachutes" that let them float into retirement, while
the average taxpayer's 401(k), with only a few thousand dollars may
now be worth only half what it once was. They're angry at "house
flippers," aided by easy-to-get mortgages and some unscrupulous real
estate brokers, who made minor fortunes and helped raise housing
prices to the point where middle-class families could no longer afford
to own a home in an economy that was being held up by toothpicks.
But, most of all, consumers and members
of Congress are furious at President Bush, Vice-President Cheney, and
their Neocon gaggle who no longer have credibility. For seven years,
the Bush–Cheney Administration has used fear as a bargaining weapon.
Six weeks after 9/11, the U.S. had the
PATRIOT Act, a 342-page law, which few members of Congress read before
voting for it, that pretending to stop terrorists essentially stripped
much of our constitutional protections. And the people and their
elected leaders agreed to it.
Using the tactics of fear, the
Bush–Cheney Administration lied to the people, almost abandoned the
hunt for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, and invaded Iraq, which had
no connection to 9/11. And the people and their elected leaders agreed
to it.
For the morally bankrupt Bush Corp.,
dissent is unpatriotic, un-American, and maybe even treasonous.
"You're either with us or against us," President Bush told Americans.
Because the people didn't want to be seen as opposed to America, they
and their leaders agreed to being bullied. "Support the troops," Bush
told Americans, but meant "Support me and my policies." And Americans
didn't want to be seen as not supporting America's soldiers, even if
the Bush–Cheney Administration, didn't give the troops pay raises,
adequate body armor or medical care.
The Bush–Cheney Administration said they
were "compassionate conservatives." But, Katrina put an end to that
lie.
This is an Administration that believes
the environment is important only if it doesn't interfere with private
business. For years, Bush said he believed global warming doesn't
exist, and if it does it wasn't caused by mankind. Only under the
crushing weight of scientific evidence did Bush reluctantly have to
modify his beliefs.
Almost eight years of incompetence and
lies, with the President's credibility lower than that of Three-Card
Monty dealers in New York City, led Americans to finally realize they
have been scammed. Bush had cried out "fear" once too often.
But, it wasn't the PATRIOT Act, the Iraq
War, or the destruction of the environment that brought about the
people's anger. It was their self-interest. In Bush's Wild West
economy, Americans have seen inflation, increased unemployment,
foreclosures, and bankruptcies; they have seen their retirement plans
dwindle in the vapors of economic chaos. The vote against the bailout
was simply political reality by members of Congress who no longer were
about to be stampeded by fear, scammed by lies, and whose own
self-interest is to be re-elected.
[Dr.
Brasch, an award-winning syndicated columnist, is professor of
journalism at Bloomsburg University and president of the Pennsylvania
Press Club. His latest book is Sinking the Ship of State: The
Presidency of George W. Bush (November 2007), available through amazon.com and other bookstores. You may contact Brasch at
brasch@bloomu.edu or through his website at:
www.walterbrasch.com.]
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