This really sums it up, doesn’t it:
A key House committee on Thursday passed legislation reining in the multitrillion-dollar market for financial derivatives.
The House Financial Services Committee passed the bill on a 43-26 vote, with only one Republican, Rep. Walter Jones (N.C.), siding with all Democrats.
The bill is the first in a series of measures the Obama administration and congressional allies are pushing to remake the financial system. House leaders are eyeing votes in November, while it may take more time for the Senate to consider legislation.
Exactly what would have to happen before Republicans would agree to regulation of a sector of the economy that could bring down the house? The financial crash of 2008 was not enough?
I’m struggling to figure out how these guys think. And Walter Jones doesn’t really count as a Republican vote, really, since he has spoken out against the Iraq war. That basically means he is a pinko commie like Michael Moore.
Comrade Kevin
They don’t think. They’re Republicans.
beltane
Didn’t Freedom Fries Jones begin his career as a Democrat? If not, he may end his career as one.
geg6
Just another pinhole in that bubble they were calling the Big Republican 2010 Mo last week, isn’t it?
dmsilev
You have to recalibrate your expectations. This is the party, after all, which voted 3:1 *against* the “allow victims of rape their day in court” act.
-dms
Punchy
But….but….but….there’s a kid in a balloon, so there’s that. According to FoxCNNBCBS, that’s all that matters right now.
Col. Klink
In his prime Walter Jones used to be one hell of a left tackle.
Rick Taylor
I occasionally worry that the corporate influence of so much of the Democratic party will spark a genuine conservative populist uprising. But it looks like the Republican party is steadfast in refusing to take advantage of the opportunity.
First you have to understand, it was regulation that got us into our current mess, innocent bankers forced to make reckless loans to too many poor black people is what brought the world economy to its knees.
No I don’t understand it either, but that seems to be how they view things.
beltane
So much for the GOP riding into power on a wave of populist outrage at Wall Street.
tamied
They’d Schiavo the NFL
mikkel
Too bad they didn’t succeed. Sometimes it’s really hard to figure out whether to cheer on Democrats that have been completely captured by Wall Street but (ostensibly) think it’s for the best, or Republicans who just vote reactively against everything but occasionally on accident they are against something bad.
arguingwithsignposts
They all lose their jobs and have their houses repossessed and go through marital discord and high levels of stress and bankruptcy.
In short, nothing that’s going to happen to any of these rich bastards.
Lennox
Walter Jones has been my representative several times (as in, I’ve lived in his district on more than one occasion, and despite the fact that I disagree with him on a whole host of issues, he pretty much has my vote anytime I can vote for him.
liberal
@Lennox:
Yeah, that “Freedom Fries” thing was idiotic, but his subsequent behavior shows that he loves America. Unlike a lot of other folks.
gopher2b
Obama should start to employ “reverse psychology.”
liberal
I thought the measure was already weakened quite severely, so I don’t see how this is really that big a deal.
IndieTarheel
He’s one hell of a lot better than the idiot I’m saddled with.
smiley
@Punchy:
Pretty scary looking on TV.
liberal
@mikkel:
This I pretty much agree with.
Incidentally, the link is to nakedcapitalism, which is IMHO one of the best places covering The Great Theft.
Napoleon
@beltane:
I think his dad was in the house as a Dem. I don’t think he was ever elected as one.
Scott Rock
@Punchy: Don’t forget the New York Times. The kid’s name is “Falcon Heene” and his dad’s a storm chaser. Meanwhile, County government debates shooting Falcon down.
This is the luckiest 6 year old on the planet.
par4
They think like 5th graders,act like it too and yet they’re treated like a viable political party. What Up?
Shawn in ShowMe
Right about now, I think they’d be all in on regulating the NFL.
General Winfield Stuck
The same way an Amoeba in a petri dish thinks. You poke it one way, it goes the other, and so on. Nuthin’s up in the attic but stale slogans and Palin Starbursts searching for a way out.
josephdietrich
Obama should start to employ “reverse psychology.”
This is genius. These dumb bastards would fall for it easily.
superluminar
But is he also fat?
Zifnab
Nothing. Any event is merely an opportunity for more deregulation. If the market is up, deregulation will make it soar higher. If the market is down, deregulation will allow the market to recover.
Deregulation, like tax cuts, is one of those cure-alls. The Republicans aren’t interested in finding that magic balance between too much regulation and too little, they just want to scrap all of it.
Laws are for little people.
Common Sense
The balloon landed with no Falcon on board. No one knows where the kid is at.
Shawn in ShowMe
No, but don’t be surprised if you see a (D) next to his name on the Fox News update.
General Winfield Stuck
When you consider the right wing considers every peso in America as property of the rich, this philosophy begins to make sense.
Steve
What kind of committee has 69 members?!?
You Don't Say
The Party of No is an apt moniker.
They are anti-government government employees. They do not believe in federal government. They will vote no to anything and everything because it involves the gov’t.
Roger Moore
That sector of the economy would have to stop giving them large stacks of money. SATSQ.
tamied
@tamied: Sorry, this was meant for another thread.
Uloborus
Honestly, I don’t think this has anything to do with America or deregulation or any principle at all. If the Dems want it, the Repubs will vote against it. Period. That’s their entire current platform.
Punchy
@smiley: It would be scary, too, if there was actually a child inside. Which there wasnt.
General Winfield Stuck
@General Winfield Stuck:
And all the stray pesos not in their immediate possession are only tokens loaned out to play the Plutocrat Jukebox.
EnderWiggin
Ok I think I have a business model that will really work, and o offer it up for free to John so he can finnally make the big bucks he deserves for running this blog as he so richly deserves.
1) Buy up the used shoes of C-Level executives of big financial services firms
2) Clean them up. Affix them to an altar.
3) Sell them via blog ads on Redstate, Malkin and the like
The readers of these sites will pay big money for these. Just imagine every day, before heading off to there regular middle class or lower middle class jobs, or even the small businesses they run, they can get on thier knees and actually luck the boots of the corporate masters they so obviously worship.
We are gonna get rich. I bet the profits might even offset 90% of Tunch’s food bill.
Stooleo
Hell even Greenspan now thinks that some of the big banks need to be broken up.
WyldPiratd
Walter Jones is my rep. He ran in ’92 as a Dem, got beat in the primary,switched to the Rethugs and won in ’94.
He’s one of the few Rethugs that openly say the Bush admin conned the nation to go to war.
My biggest complaint about he is a serious God-botherer. He’ll never get my vote for that reason alone.
Minionero
Keep the government out of the law-making business!
matoko_chan
They are fighting for their survival.
Demographic doom is staring them in the face, and they are locked out of the demographics they need to become electorally relevent going into the 21st century.
Because of their ideological enslavement he GOP can only front WEC or mormon candidates that are electoral poison for the demographics they need– minorities, youth, and the college educated.
College-educated people dont vote for anti-intellectual creationists.
Minorities dont vote for racists.
Youth doesn’t vote for the uncool and clueless.
No matter how hard the GOP tries to assert they aren’t ALL racists, they NEVER disown the racists.
Daniel Larison and RS McCain are both members of the League of the South.
BombIranForChrist
They’re going to boycott the NFL?
*SNORT*
Good luck with that, assholes. While you’re at it, why don’t you boycott beer and meat.
BombIranForChrist
Oops, apologies, wrong post. Drunk.
Beauzeaux
It’s crap like this that makes statements like “Conservatism rebels against the concentration of power and wealth…” so laughable.
Fulcanelli
Unionization of labor in that sector, and a lot of financial support going into the coffers of Democratic electoral candidates.
See, that wasn’t so hard, John.
Rick Taylor
I’m serious about that previous post by the way. When I posted on a conservative board, arguing we needed regulation because left to themselves the banks had brought the economy to its knees, they argued as though it were obvious that the economic collapse was due to the government compelling banks to loan money to the poor. I don’t see how it’s possible for anyone with a grain of common sense to arrive at this conclusion; trillions of dollars of wealth evaporated overnight; there’d have to be Trump-style skyscrapers in every poor neighborhood if that were the case. But it seems to be the common wisdom among conservatives. I suppose they need a narrative to explain recent events that doesn’t threaten their near-religious veneration of free market capitalism.
geg6
OT…but really?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/15/interracial-couple-denied_n_322784.html
Anne Laurie
@Common Sense:
I hope the parents are grilling the older kids. The only situations scarier than a six-year-old boy can get into are the situations two or three boys can invent between them.
Rick Taylor
Didn’t you write for Red State at one point? Seems to me you should be explaining how these guys think to us. Did you lose all touch with your prior world view after becoming disillusioned? Or did you never equate conservatism with the view “the market is the answer to everything” in the first place, and just never realized others on the right did? Not meaning to be snarkish, just genuinely curious.
kay
@Rick Taylor:
I don’t get it either. If they can’t capitalize on what by all rights should be populist RAGE, they’re hopeless.
Huckabee is sort of a half-assed populist and they were terrified of him.
He’s all we’re going to get? Mr. Flat Tax Wal Mart? I demand stronger rhetoric!
slag
@geg6: I’m so damn tired of seeing racists, sexists, and homophobes claiming to be all about protecting the children. Honestly, not only would they never ever have children, they’d be handing out birth control to their entire social group.
jibeaux
@geg6:
Wow. I love the line, “I try to treat everyone equally.” Everyone who is not tryin’ to be marryin’ somebody God did not intend for them to marry. You see, God put the separate races on separate continents for a reason….*
* This is a pretty accurate “shorter” version of the trial court’s decision that eventually led to Loving v. Virginia.
Leelee for Obama
@geg6: Obviously, because Louisiana has some of their basis in law from, oh noes, France!, the Loving decision has not the power of precedent?????
OMFG-I swear, I’m giving up!
jibeaux
Whoa, inadvertent formatting. I will have to try that again sometime when I have something really important to say.
freelancer
@BombIranForChrist:
lol, +what?
Johnny B
I don’t endorse everything that Walter Jones’ says or every position he takes, but I appreciate his consistent willingness to vote based on his core convictions (conservative as they are), rather than based on the current screaming trend eminating from Fox News or Teabagger protests. I’m sure he’s on the receiving end of a lot of hate mail and threats everytime he doesn’t endorse the latest version of lunacy on the right.
SiubhanDuinne
@Lennox: Walter Jones is a pretty good guy. If I have to live in a GOP-represented district, I’d rather have him than the one I actually do have (John Linder-GA).
My favourite thing about Walter Jones is the name of his district director: Millie Lilley. That just charms me.
mantis
On a related note, some amusing “coverage” of breaking news from the crazy internment lady:
Hmm, I wonder what her motivation for posting on that particular story could be. Anything that can be remotely perceived as bad for Obama is good, even if it’s the (possible) tragic death of a child.
Child missing? Meh. Story preempts Obama on the news. Time to celebrate!
mantis
Bah. The blockquote should have continued until the “Hmm” graf.
SiubhanDuinne
@slag: Just read the HuffPo piece and looked at a few of the comments. This is my favourite (in the gosh-I-wish-I’d-said-that category):
SiubhanDuinne
@SiubhanDuinne:
Okay, the blockquote was supposed to start with “He came to the conclusion” and continue through “president, right?” I am baffled, stymied, perplexed, confused and befuddled about how these tags work.
Leelee for Obama
@SiubhanDuinne:
Barack Obama is only President in our world. In the Judges world, Nov. 4, 2008 was great news for John McCain.
SiubhanDuinne
@Leelee for Obama:
You’re right. I was forgetting. Still at work and haven’t started drinking yet.
Sly
And I thank my sweet and fluffy Lord that they aren’t and won’t. It would be as if the Comte d’Artois lead the peasants as they stormed the Bastille, with a golden pitchfork in one hand and a diamond torch in the other.
Thus proving how irrevocably lame this country has become.
Chuck Butcher
I give a rat’s ass how these guys think, I care about beating them like a cheap drum. As long as I can take their words and policies and whack them about the head and shoulders with them while presenting cogent arguments for my side I’m happy.
I am not happy when I find myself apologizing for my side. Never forget, never forgive, never give an inch.
Nick
It is amazing all right. I was reading Perlstein’s ‘Nixonland’ last night (great book) and came across the note that in 1972, the Equal Rights Amendment passed both the House and Senate with overwhelming bipartisan majorities (the state ratifications were the roadblock). Can you even imagine getting near such passage today?