The Discerning Texan

With relish, Thomas More thus sketches Richard's character: He was close and secret, a deep dissembler, lowly of countenance, arrogant of heart, outwardly companionable where he inwardly hated, not hesitating to kiss whom he thought to kill.
--King Richard III

Behold the vain man, and observe the arrogant; he clotheth himself in rich attire, he walketh in the public street, he casteth round his eyes, and courteth observation. He tosseth up his head, and overlooketh the poor; he treateth his inferiors with insolence, his superiors in return look down on his pride and folly with laughter.
--Akhnaton


You know, you just can't make this stuff up: they are so shocked, shocked!! (except for one thing: these hypocrites created the whole enchilada...) I cannot remember when I have seen so much feigned outrage and mass hysteria.

Given the opportunity to turn a contractual legal obligation into a populist strawman--which seems to be designed specifically to inflame the "proletariat" into breaking out the guillotines--the flames have now jumped the "barrier" and threaten the very Democrat Party that created this tidal wave. Things have gotten so out of hand with the "unintended consequences" of the (colossally stupid) AIG bailout, that the firestorm now threatens to engulf not just the House and Senate, but may also take down the (tax cheat) Treasury Secretary, dramatically deepen the public's waning confidence in the Obama Presidency, and will make it much, much more difficult to get any more Pelosi/Obama spending monstrosities past a wary public. Not bad for four days work.

Not that it is any big surprise that Chris Dodd has lied his ass off yet again; Dodd has made a career of lies, deception and corruption. Neither is it headline material that--given even the tiniest opening for bloviation and ridiculous hyperbole--Barney Frank will take that bait every time:



Allah comments:

What makes this especially galling, of course, is not only Frank’s own culpability in the financial crisis — which he’s now going to “fix,” you’ll be glad to know — but the imperiousness he displays here and in his statements about asserting the feds’ “ownership rights” over AIG. What a wretch.

And so now what? Storm the Bastille? Bills of Attainder? Extort any executive who makes more than the minimum wage? Hell, what's next: Mob Rule? Public hangings? Or...maybe we will just send the Brownshirts door to door so we will know who to round up later. Or (more aptly), the Red Guards. Yeah, that's the ticket. Barack's own personal STASI. Change you can believe in.

But wait...they knew about it all along. And Geithner was the architect. No matter...it is just. so. damned. UNFAIR, don't you know.

Rarely have I witnessed one 96 hour period where one political party has inflicted so much damage upon itself as the Democrats have done since Sunday. It is a real shame that many Republicans also seem to be more interested in the populist angle themselves than to stand on principle and call out the hypocrisy of their opposition--i.e. the fact that they should have just let AIG go bankrupt; it is doubtful a bankruptcy judge would have paid out all those millions. But if they had done that someone might have scared up all those huge donations that these crooks have been taking from AIG for years (via Pat Dollard):

Obama Received a $101,332 Bonus from AIG

Senator Barack Obama received a $101,332 bonus from American International Group in the form of political contributions according to Opensecrets.org. The two biggest Congressional recipients of bonuses from the A.I.G. are - Senators Chris Dodd and Senator Barack Obama.

The A.I.G. Financial Products affiliate of A.I.G. gave out $136,928, the most of any AIG affiliate, in the 2008 cycle. I would note that A.I.G.’s financial products division is the unit that wrote trillions of dollars’ worth of credit-default swaps and “misjudged” the risk.

The Washington Post reports a “mob effect” at A.I.G financial products division:

“A tidal wave of public outrage over bonus payments swamped American International Group yesterday. Hired guards stood watch outside the suburban Connecticut offices of AIG Financial Products, the division whose exotic derivatives brought the insurance giant to the brink of collapse last year. Inside, death threats and angry letters flooded e-mail inboxes. Irate callers lit up the phone lines. Senior managers submitted their resignations. Some employees didn’t show up at all.”

With the anger and rage that is being exhibited against A.I.G., perhaps the bonuses Obama received from A.I.G. explain Obama’s A.I.G crocodile tears.

Now that the Wall street Journal has revealed that A.I.G. paid bonuses of $1 million or more to 73 employees, it’s time to ask if recipients of A.I.G. “bonuses,” including President Obama, will give what now ought to be taxpayer money back?

And all that some so-called "Republicans" can do is feign the very same "outrage"?

What a bunch of gutless wonders.

We are in trouble folks; if we cannot find our principles and stand by them in unity, we could very quickly descend into an abyss the likes of which we could never have dreamed. This isn't about populism; it is about remembering who we have always been--and then to prevent the Democrats from erasing that memory. They are trying mightily to do just that.

Our time is running out. We had better get our act together fast or it will all be gone.

Thank God Mark Levin's book is coming out soon.