AIG Outrage

Santelli on AIG bonus rage: "You know, $165 million is like worrying about 16.5 cents, while $165 maybe necessitates a little more outrage"

We're not worry about the $165 million, Rick. This is a matter of simple principle: it's morally repugnant to reward failure. And it's outrageous to do so at the public's expense. The fact that AIG is contractually obligated to pay the bonuses even in the event of NATIONALIZATION (and yes, selling 80% of your company to the Fed constitutes nationalization whether you call it that or not) goes to show just how totally fucked was the system that allowed them to leverage their assets 34 to 1.

If I were CEO of AIG, I wouldn't pay the bonuses despite my obligation to do so. The aggrieved employees would have to sue to get their money. And the media orgy that would arise from that situation (bankrupt insurance executives demanding their golden parachutes while unemployment hits double digits) would pretty much prevent any real action.

Elizabeth Warren: Front and Center!

Thank Gawd this woman is in a position of power:


I haven't felt so reassured and confident in awhile.

Michael Steele: de facto leader of the GOP

Rush Limbaugh is big and fat, but he is not an idiot. Earlier this week Michael Steele, playing into Rahm Emanuel's pitch of Rush as the new head of the GOP, declared the man a simple "entertainer."


Naturally, De Jure Leader Steele turned around the next day and apologized to Defacto Leader Rush.

Steele was right to criticize Rush's bombast, but for the wrong reasons. Rush will do whatever he thinks will best brighten the spotlight he's dragged behind him for the past 20 years. He'd claim he's defending "conservatism," but the reality is that he's pandering for the biggest share of the radio audience.

From the NY Times Sunday Magazine cover story on Rush from last summer, the most revealing of quotes into his personality (emphasis mine):

Limbaugh can afford to live the way he wants. When we met he was on the verge of signing a new eight-year contract with his syndicator, Premiere Radio Networks. He estimated that it would bring in about $38 million a year. To sweeten the deal, he said he was also getting a nine-figure signing bonus. (A representative from Premiere would not confirm the deal.) “Do you know what bought me all this?” he asked, waving his hand in the general direction of his prosperity. “Not my political ideas. Conservatism didn’t buy this house. First and foremost I’m a businessman. My first goal is to attract the largest possible audience so I can charge confiscatory ad rates. I happen to have great entertainment skills, but that enables me to sell airtime.”

So Rush doesn't give a shit about the GOP or conservatism. It's just an act to get the most ignorant neocon wannabes (well, maybe not the MOST ignorant -- they listen to Michael Savage) to tune in everyday and listen to ads. Listening to the EIB network, it's almost impossible to tell the difference between content and commercial as Rush directly pitches half the shit anyway. And it all seems to be made in Missouri.

Jonathan Krohn: Conservative Wunderkind

I'm sure you've seen HuffPo's coverage of the 13 year-old "wunderkind" at CPAC, Jonathan Krohn. He's a homeschooled, Banjo-playing Baptist from Georgia (life continues to be the greatest parody of itself) who thinks conservatism isn't about issues but principles, namely:

1. Respect for the Constitution
2. Respect for life
3. Limited government
4. Personal responsibility

He's allegedly written a book that elaborates this position, but I can't imagine it going anywhere meaningful with principles like that. It's the regular mix of Religious Right code for:

1. Originalism
2. Opposition to abortion & assisted suicide rights (I personally love this juxtaposition)
3. Tax cuts (especially without cuts in spending), privatized Social Security & Medicare. No cuts on defense spending, though.
   
4. It's your fault (and not the government's job to do anything about the fact) that you

• have HIV
• can't afford health care
• are poor
• are homeless
• are hurt on the job
• are a drug addict
• chose to be gay

But the fact that someone is telling this boy to go on stage and sing (he really does sing) about how Republicanism is just the policy "shell" to the "meat" of conservative "principles" goes to show how totally fucking lost the Republican Party is right now.

There is at last a consensus in America that Big Government is, in fact, the answer to some questions (like health care, building roads, maybe not running schools, but definitely helicoptering you off your roof after a hurricane) and that when those opposed to Big Government are in power, those vital services are neglected. Yet the Republican governor of Louisiana went on national television to criticize the stimulus bill and specifically cited $145 million for volcano monitoring as "government waste."

For starters, that's $145,000,000 or .0002% of the $749,000,000,000 stimulus bill. Secondly, volcanoes are really real and they really do erupt, really. So knowing when they are going to erupt is pretty important so people aren't there when it happens. But most importantly, the fact that the $145 million will mostly be used to fund geological research by universities (and thus pay salaries and tuition for countless professors, grad students, doctoral candidates, post docs, research assistants, etc.) is either totally lost on the GOP or totally ignored.

But what of these principles specifically? The first seems straight forward enough: respect the Constitution. So this is a principle of Conservatism, the opposite of Liberalism. Of course a principle of Liberalism cannot also be a principle of Conservatism, so liberals must not respect the Constitution!

And that is precisely the type of reasoning the GOP has relied upon for the last 30 years -- We are this good thing, so They must be the opposite. You oppose tax cuts for the wealthy? Then you want to punish success! You oppose invading Iraq? Then you don't support the troops!

But as long as the GOP clings to the Religious Right for its base, it will continue to alienate the likes of me for some time to come. I might have voted for Bush in 2004, but that was only because Sen. Kerry is such a douchebag. Plus the tax cuts saved me a shitload.