Will Congress fall for it AGAIN?
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The trillion-plus bailout demanded by George W. Bush and his Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulson, has a very familiar ring to it.
In a word: Iraq.
Once again we're being told that a situation is super-duper URGENT.
Once again we're being told by Bush and company that if we don't do exactly what they want, with no exceptions, and do it NOW, then WE are responsible for the horrible fate that the U.S.A. will reap.
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Yes, WE will be to blame if we don't immediately give George W. Bush broad, sweeping powers that go way beyond the Constitution says a President should have.
WE the people -- not George W. Bush, who has been in power for eight years and gotten just about everything he ever wanted in terms of legislation, especially when it comes to financial matters -- will bear the blame if we don't trust the very same man who got us into Iraq on lies, and the very same man who got us into this financial disaster to begin with.
The Bushies are yelling FIRE in a crowded theater again, trying to cause a panic, and insisting that the only people who know how to throw a bucket of water on the flames are themselves. So give them everything they want, without conditions, or you will die.
It's blackmail, just like before. And it's blackmail based on lies.... just like before.
Will Congress fall for it again? Despite Nancy Pelosi's rhetoric on the situation, I don't trust the Beltway Democrats to do the right thing. They're easily played, and / or complicit too much of the time.
Their initial reaction to the meeting with Paulson et al. last week was depressingly familiar: the big Daddy Republican called them into a meeting and painted a picture of the apocalypse, and Democrats came out of the meeting telling everyone how "serious" big Daddy Republican seemed! Oh my god, we MUST do what he says!!
Jesus, it's like being forced to watch the same crappy soap opera again.
IF this was a dire emergency, then a patriotic President would demand that those he has the most influence over must sacrifice first: and those people are the super-rich who have benefitted from his eight years in office, while the rest of us spiralled downward.
IF this was a dire emergency, then Bush, Paulson, and the rest of the Republicans would be working day and night to ensure that there was a way to pass this with true bipartisan support, and be quick to concede points just to stop the emergency -- which was, after all, of their own making.
But no, we're getting the same bullshit again. The same hysterical playacting we saw in 2002 and 2003 regarding Iraq. And it seems like the Democrats are either playacting their token resistance part -- which they'll eventually drop, of course. Because it's SO IMPORTANT.
And everyone in the Beltway will agree that the Bushies were telling the truth when they screamed:
"We need it NOW, and we need it EXACTLY THIS WAY. And all power and discretion must be OURS!!""
This is robbery, pure and simple. It's blackmail.
And it's deeply un-American.
All patriots must give this shameless attempt to mug average Americans the loudest HELL NO ever heard in Washington D.C.