[Note: This column is coauthored by Buckley Carlson]
In Washington’s high-stakes poker game of power politics, Democrats have pocket deuces but tell Republicans they have a royal flush. Poker is all about bluffing, bragging and unfounded self-confidence. And the rules that govern politics are not much different. So good for Democrats. However, what is annoying is that Republicans are willing to fold even though they have a full house and high aces. It’s pathetic. And at this particular table – where the minimum stake is the future of the American free market system – this is unacceptable.
Watching and listening to the debate over Obama’s so-called “financial reform” bill, one could be forgiven for the impression that Republicans are the “party of Wall Street,” awash in cash from corrupt bankers, desperately trying to thwart justice, and eager to craft a reform bill that meets Wall’s specific wish list. Street. How do we know? Well, Democrats have been making this case all week. Just like they did with Policy on Wednesday:
“The bipartisan approach of Republican leaders means bringing Wall Street to the table, bringing Wall Street banks to the table and allowing them to help write the legislation,” the senator said. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).”
This is reminiscent of Eliot Spitzer blackmailing a prostitute, Nancy Pelosi calling someone else crazy, or Bill Clinton attributing “political” motives to an electoral opponent. But the Democrats’ narrative on Wall Street – about the corrupt influence of cash and which party wallows in the gutter the most – is just as ridiculous and just as grossly dishonest. And make no mistake, this is the ONLY narrative on this topic currently. And yet Republicans are too timid, too disorganized or just too pathetic to raise even the smallest flag of protest. How is this possible?
“For more than a week, we have been advising Republican senators to request a special counsel to investigate the already documented connections between President Obama, Wall Street financiers and congressional Democrats who loudly pretended to go after ‘big business’.”
A quick examination of FEC documents shows that Obama was the recipient of almost a million dollars from Goldman Sachs – Obama’s biggest corporate payer, an entity under investigation by his own SEC, the same people who were dragged to the Hill this week in a televised humiliation – AND that most of the money from Wall Street lands on Democrat campaign accounts. Quite shocking revelations for all to witness, yet Republicans remain mute.
Democrats have been publicly attacking the free enterprise system for years. And now they finally have the votes, political reach, and compliant press they need to create legislation that takes control of certain companies and allows them to choose who succeeds based solely on their history of donating to Democrats. It is a current spoils system, designed by shameless and hypocritical legislators, to guarantee the approval of America’s first socialist president.
We often hear the term “crony capitalism.” It’s a hackneyed and trite phrase used mostly by those who are too slothful or too inquisitive to observe what’s really going on in the Wall Street debate. Today we consider this term dead. The process we are currently witnessing cannot be called anything other than “crony fascism.”
He is so Machiavellian and so strategically brilliant that under other circumstances we could not aid but be impressed by him; Democrats are blackmailing Republicans for corrupting Democrats themselves own. And Republicans are too stupid, too puny, or too insecure to cry and seize this issue and hit Democrats over the head with it.
Republicans in power may refuse to admit it, but we won’t: Democrats are adopting this populist issue of Wall Street “reform” just for show… and they continue to extort substantial mountains of money from substantial business. It’s like it’s a pro wrestling match where everything about the match is imitation, but the payoff is real. Too real.
Yet the solution is plain: call for a special prosecutor to investigate Obama’s ties to Goldman Sachs and Wall Street; taxpayer subsidies and those who benefited from them; and corruption at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – for which, for example, Republican Barney Frank was never held accountable and for which Democrats were directly responsible. When Democrats object, that will inevitably happen This problem.
This tour would not only allow Republicans to take away Democrats’ advantage, but it would also set the stage for a productive, nationwide lecture Down Democrats over the corrupt nexus of substantial business and substantial government – it would also have the benefit of actually doing good for the country. Imagine a Republican victory and an American victory!
The night before Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid forced Republicans to capitulate on “reforms,” he took a break from attacking the GOP as the party of substantial business so he could fly to New York and prostrate himself in front of the same wall. , which he spent a week looking through and begging for some cash. After replenishing his re-election campaign coffers, he returned to Washington. And as Policy reports: “Reid took his criticism a step further on Wednesday, calling Republicans ‘anti-American’ for blocking the Wall Street reform bill.” And in response, how did Republicans defend themselves? They timidly agreed to debate the bill, as if they had something to hide!
Make no mistake, the “Reform Bill” lays the foundations for a fresh era of “crony fascism.” It gives the Democrats – along with their leftist friends, the Wall Street Trojan horses – the power to destroy the free enterprise system they have almost managed to destroy through their relentless meddling in Fannie and Freddie over the past decade.
And to those conspiracy theorists who will protest that “Republicans are in on this too; both sides are conspiring against America and taking turns running the country” – let’s just say this: Republicans are too stupid and too incompetent to conspire with a Man of Good Humor to even get an ice cream sandwich. High stakes poker is far beyond their reach.
