The Weekly Standard’s Matt Continetti takes some time off from his full-time job of propping up Palin to demonstrate he’s no one-hit wonder and that he has the capacity to be willfully ignorant about any number of things:
The great mystery to me is why Republicans are passing up the chance to argue that this bill doesn’t go far enough. Why not embrace the Brown-Kaufman amendment to break up the banks, in order to show that the GOP stands against all massive agglomerations of power, whether in Washington or on Wall Street? The Republicans could raise Cain about the ratings agencies, who gave good scores to bad mortgages but whose oligopoly is not addressed in the Dodd bill. And they might ask why the Democrats want to end Too Big to Fail for the banks, but not for Fannie, Freddie, and GM.
It’s a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma:
As a financial reform bill starts to take shape in Washington, two key lawmakers came to New York City last week to explain what it means for Wall Street, and how financial executives might help prevent some of its least market-friendly aspects from becoming law by electing more Republicans, FOX Business Network has learned.
About 25 Wall Street executives, many of them hedge fund managers, sat down for a private meeting Thursday afternoon with two of the most powerful Republican lawmakers in Congress: Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and John Cornyn, the senior senator from Texas who runs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, one of the primary fundraising arms of the Republican Party.
I just can’t figure it out myself, either. Why aren’t the Republicans “one-upping” the Democrats?
Rick Massimo
It’s almost as if the populist rhetoric of the past year has been nothing but a sham to cover up for a party that’s really dedicated to oligarchy!
But they said that wasn’t true! So it can’t be!
r€nato
Continetti was on Real Time and he actually seemed like that rarest of breeds, a Reasonable Conservative.
Until he started talking about Palin. Then the facade collapsed.
The Main Gauche of Mild Reason
I think it’s more banal (and/or venal?) than that. Despite the generic ballot advantage for the Republicans, they’re still extremely hamstrung for funds for the midterms–most Democrats are vastly outraising their candidates. So, even if this is unpopular, it’s their best bet at rectifying this imbalance.
r€nato
I’m going to assume it’s silly to ask if the WS execs brought their big, fat checkbooks with them to that meeting.
asiangrrlMN
The Republicans don’t really want to regulate Wall Street, that’s why. Shit. It’s not rocket science, people.
Mark S.
I kinda doubt that. I bet most people who their news from Rush and Fox probably think our financial system is just fine. What screwed everything up was Carter making all these big banks give out loans to minorities.
Deregulation is the answer. And tax cuts. Also.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
A dead Goose lays no Golden Egg. Ohmmmmmmmmmmm!
And for some odd reason the Russian Roulette scene in Deer Hunter popped into my head. It was just a movie though.
ajr22
@r€nato: No he sounded like an idiot the entire time. He made this argument if i remember correctly, and was laughed at on Real Time to. Yes when Palin was brought up he did start sounding like an even bigger idiot.
colby
This is Continetti’s whole schtick, “Obama and the Dems aren’t as progressive as they COULD be…so vote for Republicans, for some reason?”
slag
I bet Continetti still wonders whether or not the refrigerator light stays on after he closes the door. Who can blame him? Some intellectual arenas are best left to the majesty of wonder.
Brian J
As bad as the Democrats are at sucking up to corporations, the Republicans are even worse. It’s been clear for some time, and the fact that Contetti is, as John Cole proves, ignorant of this is extremely sad. Or he’s just a moron.
r€nato
@ajr22: *shrug* look, I think he’s always a dick too, but at least up until the subject of Palin was broached, he didn’t exactly march in lockstep with the right-wing party line. He started off by criticizing the “papers, please” law in AZ.
Ash Can
Is Matt Continetti on drugs? If he isn’t, he should be.
Maude
Because the Dems would put the stronger regulations into the bill and then would the Repubs be? They’d either have to vote for or against.
They have lost the art of bluffing. They don’t seem to have anything else.
MattF
Maybe Continetti really is just a poor sap who sees starbursts. And believes Republican propaganda. Not impossible, it’s a strange world.
EvolutionaryDesign
@slag: Miracles , yo!
Keith G
From Matt Continetti mind to my email in box today(from my Repug brother):
Good golly shit travels fast.
Gregory
@The Main Gauche of Mild Reason: even if this is unpopular, it’s their best bet at rectifying this imbalance.
And of course the Republicans on the Supreme Court just gave corporations the green light to
offer unlimited bribesspend unlimited amounts of campaign money under the fiction that they’re “persona” with rights equal to flesh-and-blood American citizens.Feh.
MikeBoyScout
Why aren’t the Republicans “one-upping” the Democrats? he asks ironically.
Because when given the chance to stand on principle and reap electoral benefits or stand with the ca$h, a 21st century Republican will always sell
youall of us down the river for the money.epistemic cloture indeed.
slag
@Keith G: Rebuttal to that one courtesy of Media Matters. Not that it really matters, of course, but we all pretend it matters so that we can continue to pretend that Republicans care about reality.
rootless-e
On the other hand nyceve has a recommended post up at Big Orange in which she reveals that the health insurance companies plan to – wait for it – raise rates and blame HCR. This shocking and surprising development is sure to bring down the Rahmbama administration.
Sophist
Well, this pretty much tells you everything you need to know about Matt’s connection with reality.
Grumpy Code Monkey
Okay, I know KBH is largely a non-entity (as her recent campaign for governor aptly demonstrated), but she is the senior senator from TX, not Cornyn.
Keith G
@slag: Thanks for the link
The Populist
He played that card all through his appearance on Maher’s show.
Whenever Palin came up, his face got animated. When Grayson made a crack (or his attempt at humor) Continetti looked disgusted.
It was classic.
Sly
A) That’s a liberal position. Liberals aren’t in favor of “big government” because they like “massive agglomerations of power”. They’re in favor of it as a publicly-accountable check on massive agglomerations of private power. Duh.
B) The people who pay the GOP’s bills are universally in favor of massive agglomerations of private power. File the result under Sinclair, Upton.
SATSQ.
Batocchio
Does Continetti believe his own bullshit? Perhaps more importantly, does he think everyone else believes his bullshit?
mistersnrub
Continetti is Kristol’s little pet and a typical Straussian. Noble Lies, bitches.