Patterico's Pontifications

9/16/2008

Democratic Cognitive Dissonance

Filed under: 2008 Election,Economics — DRJ @ 10:09 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

From the AP:

John McCain “blamed Wall Street’s financial turmoil on unchecked corporate greed” and apparently called for a high-level commission to study the economic crisis.

Barack Obama dismissed McCain’s call for a high-level commission to study the economic crisis as “passing the buck.”

Meanwhile, the Politico reports that:

Nancy Pelosi has ordered “a broad, swift investigation of Wall Street and will demand testimony from Bush administration officials and captains of finance” in hearings to take place over the next few weeks.

Senator Obama and Majority Leader Pelosi seem out-of-sync. Are Congressional hearings good and high-level commission hearings bad? Or could it be that Democratic investigations are good and Republican studies are bad?

And based on Barack Obama’s statement, is Speaker Pelosi “passing the buck” by holding hearings … or will Obama be “passing the buck” if he supports Pelosi’s hearings?

In any event, Pelosi’s Congressional hearings apparently will not investigate Democrats because Pelosi has already declared that Democrats bear no responsibility regarding the current economic matters on Wall Street.

Zero, zip, zilch, nada.

— DRJ

18 Responses to “Democratic Cognitive Dissonance”

  1. Pelosi’s Congressional hearings apparently will not investigate Democrats because Pelosi has already declared that Democrats bear no responsibility

    Make that “Democrats can bear no accountability, lest they end up indicted.”

    It’s not a pass. It’s more like an intentional lateral – to the other team.

    Apogee (366e8b) — 9/16/2008 @ 10:25 pm

  2. Also, in this evening’s performance, the part of “the most ethical congress in history” will be instead played by a substitution known as the Democrats.

    Apogee (366e8b) — 9/16/2008 @ 10:27 pm

  3. Between Barney Frank’s long-time cover-up of the mess at Fan/Fred, Chuck Schumer’s instigation of a run on a bank, and now the tax and rent-control antics of Charlie Rangel; this Dem Congress will set a standard that will be very difficult for subsequent Congress’ to match or exceed.

    I wonder how interested Henry Waxman is in investigating Gorelick and Raines and the other “usual suspects” from the Clinton Admin?

    Another Drew (1b62fd) — 9/16/2008 @ 10:50 pm

  4. I’m confused by McCain’s statement. Are markets not supposed to be driven by self-interest?

    Josh (86f13d) — 9/16/2008 @ 11:00 pm

  5. Obama doesn’t want a high-level commission to hold hearings because it will thrust into the spotlight how much these companies have been contributing to his campaigns.

    Icy Truth (d50358) — 9/16/2008 @ 11:08 pm

  6. I’ve been expecting the Gorelick Commission to be appointed to get to the bottom of this.

    “.. shocked, shocked to discover that there is GAMBLING going on here.”

    Kevin Murphy (0b2493) — 9/16/2008 @ 11:47 pm

  7. No joke:

    It is not a rule in congress that if you write a letter to Pelosi, you MUST address her as “Dear Leader.”

    Sure seems like this financial situation was brought on partly by Fannie Mae (the democrats), and a lot of stupid decisions by lenders at large (not a crime and they should just go out of business), and Greenspan leaving interest rates los for ages and ages while people screwed up the housing market and the life was sucked out of a great economy.

    Downturns are GOOD FOR US. This is not an extremely bad downturn. It’s miles better than 1987, which of course led to a huge boom a few years later.

    The dems want to pass a bunch of laws… they should just limit congress’s connection to the industry’s bastards like Fannie Mae, and everything will be AOK.

    Juan (4cdfb7) — 9/17/2008 @ 12:10 am

  8. It so happens that McCain wanted a commission to oversee Fannie and Freddie in 2005.

    Godzilla (5ba674) — 9/17/2008 @ 12:26 am

  9. ”These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of financial crisis,” said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ”The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.”

    Representative Melvin L. Watt, Democrat of North Carolina, agreed.

    ”I don’t see much other than a shell game going on here, moving something from one agency to another and in the process weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing,” Mr. Watt said.

    But still Barack blames Bush for the slack oversight. The audacity!

    xerocky (cf0c5e) — 9/17/2008 @ 3:36 am

  10. #7
    People who have just retired may not see this as such a good thing as you noted. As for the severity I would recommend reading this article. No need to panic but lots of good reasons to be concerned.

    voiceofreason2 (0ac0d6) — 9/17/2008 @ 4:00 am

  11. We have been able to buy a couple of foreclosures at great deals. In a few years, maybe this downturn will turn out to be an opportunity for us.

    JD (41e64f) — 9/17/2008 @ 5:19 am

  12. If you want cognitive dissonance, one need go no further than to note that at the final link, Pelosi blames deregulation that she voted for.

    Karl (1b4668) — 9/17/2008 @ 6:56 am

  13. Related flashback to May:

    AIG shareholders gathered for the big insurer’s annual meeting in New York on Wednesday, and the mood wasn’t cheery. After a three-year experiment in Eliot Spitzer-imposed management that has cost them billions, more than a few shareholders were pining for the days of former CEO Hank Greenberg…

    A careful and lengthy look at the evidence available so far suggests… that the AIG case, like so many others that Mr. Spitzer brought, was an example of prosecutorial excess. Instead of uncovering some great fraud by a titan of industry, its main result has been to damage the company, and harm innocent managers and shareholders.

    Name that party!

    Karl (1b4668) — 9/17/2008 @ 7:22 am

  14. The kind of cognitive dissonance that Karl has pointed out above should be visibly painful.

    JD (41e64f) — 9/17/2008 @ 7:25 am

  15. This is the scariest thing I’ve seen so far:

    http://www.theobamafile.com/ObamaLatest.htm

    Capitalism has failed, the solution: me

    Genny (a7a9b9) — 9/17/2008 @ 7:52 am

  16. “Capitalism has failed, the solution: me”.
    Comment by Genny — 9/17/2008 @ 7:52 am

    I would imagine that this current zeitgeist is different, only by degree, to the public economic uncertainties in the Germany of the early 1930’s. Fear tends to let the rats enter by the front door and they are usually well dressed and well spoken.

    C. Norris (142350) — 9/17/2008 @ 8:55 am

  17. #16 Yah C. Norris, but who are the rats? Or an even more depressing question, are any of them NOT rats?

    In any election when times are bad and incumbents are all being accused of corruption or incompetence, any ambitious pol would, of course, run on a “change” or “reform” ticket.

    EdWood (c2268a) — 9/17/2008 @ 10:34 am

  18. Any time there is a two-term president leaving office, running on a “change” ticket makes sense. If the Dems had produced a better candidate in ’88 they probably would have stalled Bill Clinton’s political ambitions.

    Icy Truth (7e1f91) — 9/17/2008 @ 10:52 am


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