• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

We still have time to mess this up!

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

… among the most cringeworthy communications in the history of the alphabet!

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Mobile Menu

  • Winnable House Races
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Balloon Juice 2023 Pet Calendar (coming soon)
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • War in Ukraine
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • 2021-22 Fundraising!
You are here: Home / And Speaking of Crooked

And Speaking of Crooked

by John Cole|  March 12, 200911:05 pm| 27 Comments

This post is in: Assholes, Democratic Stupidity

FacebookTweetEmail

Way to go, Maxine:

Top federal regulators say they were taken aback when they learned that a California congresswoman who helped set up a meeting with bankers last year had family financial ties to a bank whose chief executive asked them for up to $50 million in special bailout funds.

Representative Maxine Waters, Democrat of California, requested the September meeting on behalf of executives at One- United, one of the nation’s largest black-owned banks. Ms. Waters’s husband, Sidney Williams, had served on the bank’s board until early last year and has owned at least $250,000 of its stock.

What the hell is wrong with these people?

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « London blogging (to the faraway towns)
Next Post: Creeping Galtism, Part II »

Reader Interactions

27Comments

  1. 1.

    DougJ

    March 12, 2009 at 11:10 pm

    They are there to represent the interests of the wealthy.

  2. 2.

    dmsilev

    March 12, 2009 at 11:22 pm

    Speaking of financial stupidity, Jon Stewart is currently about one pointed question away from making Jim Cramer cry on national television. "Don’t mess with The Daily Show" should go on the list of classic blunders, right after "Never go up against a Sicilian when *death* is on the line.".

    -dms

  3. 3.

    Comrade Stuck

    March 12, 2009 at 11:27 pm

    It happens to all of them after a period of time in office. The only saving grace for dems is the fact for republicans the period of time usually takes only a few hours after being sworn in, and somebody shows them where the lobbyists are. Dems maybe a year or two.

    And after 30 years in office, for some a "Monument to Me" is justified.

  4. 4.

    Ninerdave

    March 12, 2009 at 11:30 pm

    @dmsilev:

    I will give Cramer credit for having the balls to go on TDS.

  5. 5.

    TenguPhule

    March 12, 2009 at 11:44 pm

    I will give Cramer credit for having the balls to go on TDS.

    Well after TDS finishes slicing them off and sticking them in his mouth, credit of them is all he’s going to have to remember them.

  6. 6.

    Comrade Darkness

    March 12, 2009 at 11:48 pm

    It’s embarrassing how clumsy dems are a being crooked.

    It’s like watching the republicans try to have normal, straight sex.

  7. 7.

    The Moar You Know

    March 12, 2009 at 11:56 pm

    I’m not sure what’s involved, process-wise, but both her and Murtha need to go. Immediately.

    There’s no excuse for that kind of behavior whether you are playing for my team or the other guys.

  8. 8.

    bootlegger

    March 12, 2009 at 11:58 pm

    So maybe I’m being obtuse, but what did she do other than "set up a meeting"? If this is one of the nation’s largest black-owned banks, and its from her state, what’s wrong with her setting up the meetings for some of the bailout dough? Seriously, is she suppose to do nothing because her husband has a financial stake? How many congresscritters have stock in Citi or BofA? I know they’re all crooked as hell, but the events described here don’t even raise a rash on me any more.

  9. 9.

    Shygetz

    March 12, 2009 at 11:58 pm

    At the risk of repeating myself, I’ll say it again.

    Guillotine. It’s high-throughput peasant justice, and the oligarchs have forgotten history.

  10. 10.

    Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse

    March 13, 2009 at 12:00 am

    So I’m not the only one thinking Cramer was on the edge of tears. Jee-sus.

    We have a few minutes left of the show up here. I still don’t know why we got Colbert first.

  11. 11.

    Church Lady

    March 13, 2009 at 12:05 am

    @bootlegger – It’s too involved to summarize here in any type of succinct fashion, so instead read the two reports on it in today’s NYT, or the one in the Wall Street Journal, or even on Politico.

    As of her last financial disclosure, she and her husband had a very large vested interest (250K-500K in stock) in this bank not going under and making sure they got TARP funds to help make sure it wouldn’t happen.

    She might have been serving a constituant’s interest, but she was also serving her own, in a very large way.

  12. 12.

    burnspbesq

    March 13, 2009 at 12:08 am

    @bootlegger:

    I wouldn’t accuse you of being obtuse, but you may be a bit behind on developments in white-collar criminal law. In recent years, DOJ has advanced a theory that when instrumentalities of interstate commerce are used to deprive the public of the honest services of public officials, that’s wire fraud. The theory of the case against Waters would be that by using the phone or email to arrange the meeting without disclosing right up front that she had an economic interest in the applicant (in making that statement, I am assuming that her hubby’s stock in the bank in question is community property), she made it impossible for the people giving out the money to properly assess the merits of the application.

    If that seems to you to be a big stretch, I won’t argue with you. Honest services fraud is, in my view, something that AUSAs can use to get indictments when they really don’t have anything. It is extraordinarily susceptible to abuse by prosecutors with a political axe to grind (just ask that poor junior college professor down in Alabama who got dragged out of the shower by armed FBI agents).

  13. 13.

    burnspbesq

    March 13, 2009 at 12:17 am

    OT:

    Syracuse and UConn are going to a third overtime.

  14. 14.

    bootlegger

    March 13, 2009 at 12:26 am

    @burnspbesq: Ok, and like I said I see the unethical behavior and frankly wish political access wasn’t related to money, but "setting up a meeting" between a constituent and a regulator would seem to be no big deal. But if she did the crime, then bring on the time (or the guillotine).

  15. 15.

    burnspbesq

    March 13, 2009 at 12:37 am

    Make that a fourth overtime.

  16. 16.

    Et Tu Brutus?

    March 13, 2009 at 1:32 am

    "Meet the new boss- same as the old boss"
    The Who

  17. 17.

    Singularity

    March 13, 2009 at 2:39 am

    Yeah, gotta say that if Waters was shoring up her own economic position, rather than protecting the interests of her constituents, she has to go. On the other hand, gonna need some proof first.

  18. 18.

    Aimai

    March 13, 2009 at 7:28 am

    I too think she should go but it’s a bit much to act as though the bank reqesting tarp funds was at all out of line when we know from the getbgo that all of paulson and geithners decisions directly benefitted Goldman sachs their former employer– and we didn’t bat an eye at cheneys "annuity" from kbr for eight years.

    Aimai

  19. 19.

    DrDave

    March 13, 2009 at 8:18 am

    What the hell is wrong with these people?

    Our system of elected government, where the vast majority of incumbents get to sit safe in their gerrymandered districts, creates a sense of entitlement.

    It is just that simple.

    Term limiting Congressmen and Senators would go a long way toward fixing the system.

    And good luck with that.

  20. 20.

    timb

    March 13, 2009 at 8:26 am

    We should forget Charlie Rangel in that list of corrupt Dems. Murtha, Rangel and now Maxine should have a death match with Pence, Cantor, and Steve King.

    We can shoot whomever emerges unscathed

  21. 21.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    March 13, 2009 at 8:59 am

    Maxine Waters troubles and questionable behavior have been well documented by Melanie Sloan at CREW for several years now. Both the House and Senate are rife with members using their good offices as an ATM for family members. Waters case is just another headline to sell papers. This is just the latest because it has to do with TARP. Suddenly Congress and corporate America is in the headlines for being crooks. Well knock me over with a feather.
    @DrDave:

    Term limiting Congressmen and Senators would go a long way toward fixing the system.
    And good luck with that.

    It will be about as successful as trying to make a living playing the lottery. (At least you know the lottery is fair in a statistical sense.)

  22. 22.

    Hyperion

    March 13, 2009 at 12:05 pm

    Term limiting…

    is BS. Look at Mayor Bloomberg. There WERE term limits and they just overturned them.

  23. 23.

    DrDave

    March 13, 2009 at 1:36 pm

    @Hyperion:

    is BS. Look at Mayor Bloomberg. There WERE term limits and they just overturned them.

    Bloomberg’s situation is unique in that he works for free, lives in his own home and is in it for the benefit of the city. Who he is uniquely positions him for the office he holds during a time of fiscal crisis. Further, the city did not eliminate term limits, they extended them from two terms to three.

  24. 24.

    The Populist

    March 13, 2009 at 2:24 pm

    I come here and tear the GOP a new one everyday. I will always rip a dem when they fuck up and Waters fucked up.

    Waters should answer for this and leave office if it is proven she had a hand in this mess.

    Same applies to Charlie Rangel. The Dems HAVE to show America they will not tolerate this.

  25. 25.

    The Populist

    March 13, 2009 at 2:26 pm

    is BS. Look at Mayor Bloomberg. There WERE term limits and they just overturned them.

    So? He’s 100 times a better mayor than Giuliani the Corrupt.

    BTW – you accused me of not giving you a link in another post when I clearly did. I don’t respect people who try to paint others with bull to win an argument, Hyperion. What you did is disingenuous.

  26. 26.

    The Populist

    March 13, 2009 at 2:28 pm

    We should forget Charlie Rangel in that list of corrupt Dems. Murtha, Rangel and now Maxine should have a death match with Pence, Cantor, and Steve King.

    I’m with you. Murtha doesn’t bother me as much because it’s not the level that Rangel and Waters’ corruption seems to be.

    Just my opinion.

  27. 27.

    passerby

    March 13, 2009 at 8:42 pm

    Ruh roh.

    wrong thread

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

Recent Comments

  • JAFD on Acts of Kindness: What’s Life Without Whimsy (Sep 23, 2023 @ 4:11am)
  • yellowdog on Friday Night Wind-Down Open Thread – David ‘BoBo’ Brooks Edition (Sep 23, 2023 @ 4:05am)
  • Ken_L on Acts of Kindness: What’s Life Without Whimsy (Sep 23, 2023 @ 3:58am)
  • ColoradoGuy on Friday Night Wind-Down Open Thread – David ‘BoBo’ Brooks Edition (Sep 23, 2023 @ 3:48am)
  • JAFD on Friday Night Wind-Down Open Thread – David ‘BoBo’ Brooks Edition (Sep 23, 2023 @ 3:29am)

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
We All Need A Little Kindness
What Has Biden Done for You Lately?

Balloon Juice Meetups!

All Meetups
Talk of Meetups – Meetup Planning

Fundraising 2023-24

Wis*Dems Supreme Court + SD-8

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)

Twitter / Spoutible

Balloon Juice (Spoutible)
WaterGirl (Spoutible)
TaMara (Spoutible)
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
TaMara
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
ActualCitizensUnited

Join the Fight!

Join the Fight Signup Form
All Join the Fight Posts

Balloon Juice for Ukraine

Donate

Cole & Friends Learn Español

Introductory Post
Cole & Friends Learn Español

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!