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You are here: Home / Economics / Free Markets Solve Everything / If You Thought Empathy Was Bad…

If You Thought Empathy Was Bad…

by John Cole|  September 16, 20106:10 pm| 111 Comments

This post is in: Free Markets Solve Everything, Republican Stupidity, Assholes

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Clown:

A top Republican on financial issues said Thursday he was concerned that Elizabeth Warren would use a position in a new consumer protection agency to promote “social justice.”

Gregg, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee and a senior member of the Banking Committee, expressed dismay at President Obama’s decision to tap Warren as a key “adviser” to help set up the new Consumer Financial Protection Agency established in the Wall Street reform bill.

“My concern is that she would use the agency for the purpose of promoting social justice,” Gregg said on ABC’s “Top Line” webcast. The agency, Gregg said, should promote improving access to credit, as well as other financial services.

Oh, no! Not social justice! God forbid the CFPA protect consumers!

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Reader Interactions

111Comments

  1. 1.

    beltane

    September 16, 2010 at 6:12 pm

    Come to think of it, that should be the teabaggers’ refrain. “No injustice, no peace” sounds about right.

  2. 2.

    Triassic Sands

    September 16, 2010 at 6:13 pm

    Social justice? Those words don’t appear anywhere in the US Constitution. Certainly promoting the general welfare has nothing to do with social justice, because, as we all know, promoting the general welfare means enabling the rich to get richer. It’s really that simple.

    Social justice? Communism!

  3. 3.

    FlipYrWhig

    September 16, 2010 at 6:14 pm

    It’s kind of like “social justice” is superseding “class warfare” or something.

  4. 4.

    beltane

    September 16, 2010 at 6:15 pm

    Sadism and sociopathic behavior are the new forms of Christian love.

  5. 5.

    TooManyJens

    September 16, 2010 at 6:16 pm

    The agency, Gregg said, should promote improving access to credit, as well as other financial services.

    And the Consumer Product Safety Commission should promote improving access to toys painted with lead.

  6. 6.

    slag

    September 16, 2010 at 6:16 pm

    Down with social justice, world peace, and kittens (especially kittens snuggling in piles, riding roombas, or sleeping stretched out on their backs)! I hate those things!

  7. 7.

    Sad_Dem

    September 16, 2010 at 6:16 pm

    Someday, maybe soon, maybe in the distant future, banks and other financial institutions will be able to club and beat people on the street, take their wallets, and then ask, “How would you rate your customer satisfaction with OmniBank today?” Dare to dream.

  8. 8.

    El Cid

    September 16, 2010 at 6:17 pm

    Real justice is when you let the invisible hand slap the economy to shit.

  9. 9.

    John S.

    September 16, 2010 at 6:17 pm

    Still hard to believe that Obama nominated this enormous prick to be Secretary of Commerce.

  10. 10.

    jeffreyw

    September 16, 2010 at 6:17 pm

    It’s amazing how often they forget that the code talk they are so fond of using has an actual, face value meaning. Next fucking thing they’ll be for “liberty and justice for all” even though any fool can see that there just isn’t enough of either to go around and that those things must be rationed by the market.

  11. 11.

    Tom Hilton

    September 16, 2010 at 6:18 pm

    All GOP arguments start out on a slippery slope and inevitably (and quickly) end up sliding down to the extreme and dishonest bottom. What began, in this case, as criticism of the way liberals were using the phrase ‘social justice’ has become an all-out attack on the concept itself.

  12. 12.

    Lee Hartmann

    September 16, 2010 at 6:18 pm

    John, you don’t understand: “social justice” = “socialism” = communism.
    See how easy that was?

  13. 13.

    Zifnab

    September 16, 2010 at 6:18 pm

    “Justice? We don’t need no stinking justice!”, said the law and order Republicans.

  14. 14.

    jeffreyw

    September 16, 2010 at 6:20 pm

    This will make you feel better, perhaps.

  15. 15.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 16, 2010 at 6:21 pm

    It’s not like Warren is proposing that the banksters be exposed to sunlight, which would cause these vampires to be turned to ash, is it?

    Because that would be so cool.

  16. 16.

    Zifnab

    September 16, 2010 at 6:21 pm

    @John S.: Ray LaHood and Robert Gates are nominally Republicans, and they’ve been some of Obama’s best cabinet picks. Certainly miles ahead of Little Timmeh Geitner and Tom “Brietbart Says You’re Fired” Vilsack.

  17. 17.

    Tom Hilton

    September 16, 2010 at 6:21 pm

    Similarly, you hardly ever hear about trickle-down economics from Republicans because the whole point of it is at least the pretense that some of that money winds up enriching lower-income people; now they don’t even bother with the pretense–they just say the wealthy (‘producers’) should get everything and the poor and middle class are lazy talentless bums.

  18. 18.

    DougJ

    September 16, 2010 at 6:22 pm

    @FlipYrWhig:

    I’ll shut up about this but “social fucking justice” and “class fucking warfare”…you can see why Republicans don’t like these things.

  19. 19.

    eric

    September 16, 2010 at 6:22 pm

    New GOP: love neither your neighbor nor your self.

  20. 20.

    DougJ

    September 16, 2010 at 6:23 pm

    @Zifnab:

    I agree. But if only he’d made Dean head of HHS.

  21. 21.

    Jay B.

    September 16, 2010 at 6:24 pm

    If we only had a man of that kind of deep commitment in our Administration right now. Maybe Obama can ask him to serve again.

  22. 22.

    arguingwithsignposts

    September 16, 2010 at 6:27 pm

    I have three words for Gregg:

    Suck. On. This.

  23. 23.

    Mnemosyne

    September 16, 2010 at 6:30 pm

    @DougJ:

    Oh, come on, you had to love Kathleen Sebilius instructing Chuck Todd on the hygenic way to sneeze and threatening to bring Elmo out to help him.

    (Actually, I really did love it, but apparently other people found it schoolmarmish. I say, what’s wrong with being schoolmarmish when it comes to public health?)

  24. 24.

    Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle

    September 16, 2010 at 6:33 pm

    @Triassic Sands: Tom Paine would like to have a word with Judd Gregg.

  25. 25.

    valdivia

    September 16, 2010 at 6:33 pm

    @DougJ:

    I so love that this is your new way of measuring these things! BTW, I think class fucking warfare sort of works but what do I know right? I am not a white dude.

  26. 26.

    EL

    September 16, 2010 at 6:33 pm

    Kos has quotes from the times that Gregg praised social justice

  27. 27.

    Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle

    September 16, 2010 at 6:35 pm

    @Mnemosyne: But McMegan tells us that Sebelius is an even dictator because she dares stand up to the health insurance companies.

  28. 28.

    WereBear

    September 16, 2010 at 6:39 pm

    I’m catching the rank stench of Ayn Rand on the wind here…

    I’m into the 1950’s now in my copy of the recent biography, Goddess of the Marketplace, and it’s wonderful; well written, deeply researched, and even sympathetic.

    But there is no question Rand was emotionally disturbed, and, I know now, a meth monster!

  29. 29.

    Ash Can

    September 16, 2010 at 6:41 pm

    The right wing is like a senile dementia patient, retreating further and further into its own world and drifting further and further away from reality.

  30. 30.

    debbie

    September 16, 2010 at 6:42 pm

    I’m not sure if he originated the term as a smear for those he hates, but just about every third word out of Glenn Beck’s mouth is “social justice.”

  31. 31.

    Ruckus

    September 16, 2010 at 6:44 pm

    @valdivia:
    I am an old white dude and I think class fucking warfare works fine.

  32. 32.

    Cat Lady

    September 16, 2010 at 6:44 pm

    @debbie:

    social justice = reparations. It’s all about the blackety black.

  33. 33.

    valdivia

    September 16, 2010 at 6:45 pm

    and now we have Sulli telling GG that the Tea Party is authentic. Shoot. Me. Now.

  34. 34.

    Windy City

    September 16, 2010 at 6:46 pm

    This is further evidence that Obama was right in appointing Warren to the agency, because she would never survive the Senate confirmation process. We would be treated to weeks of the “social justice” dog whistle, and Democrats like Dodd talking her down on the Sunday news shows. Then, after her nomination process is drawn out, stalled and both she and Obama are bloodied, Warren will withdraw her name amidst a flurry of progressive catcalls than Obama “sold us out.” We’ve been down this road before. Republicans have been tremendously successful in forcing scenarios that require the president to abandon his initial plans to avoid gridlock and hoping that the progressives take shots at him in the process.

  35. 35.

    arguingwithsignposts

    September 16, 2010 at 6:46 pm

    Totally OT, but somebody is WRONG ON THE INTERNET!

    I remain outraged by the HHS letter, but the two aren’t connected, and I apologize for assuming they were.

  36. 36.

    valdivia

    September 16, 2010 at 6:50 pm

    @Ruckus:

    yay! so it’s official now Class Fucking Warfare. It’s what’s for dinner.

  37. 37.

    Corner Stone

    September 16, 2010 at 6:51 pm

    @John S.:

    Still hard to believe that Obama nominated this enormous prick to be Secretary of Commerce.

    No one has really been able to explain the 11 dimensions this nomination satisfied.

  38. 38.

    Zifnab

    September 16, 2010 at 6:52 pm

    @DougJ: I haven’t had a problem yet with Katherine Sebilius. I do have the occasional screaming nightmare of HHS Director Tom Daschle.

    But Dean’s a loudmouth and a rabble rouser. He isn’t meant for a job like head of HHS. They should have kept him on as head of the DNC. Dean’s the type of guy who would have carpet bombed Alaska and Delaware with cash, and who would have kept off of Arkansas so that Halter could win the primary.

    He’s the kind of guy you want filling the seat of every Sunday Morning show, blowing his horn in the face of the nice polite douchebag Republican who is calmly suggesting we scrap Medicare or default on Social Security so we can pay for more tax cuts. I miss Dean, but I don’t regret seeing him left out of HHS.

  39. 39.

    WaterGirl

    September 16, 2010 at 6:53 pm

    John, your last sentence gets even better when you use the whole name:

    God forbid the Consumer Financial Protection Agency protect consumers!

  40. 40.

    Corner Stone

    September 16, 2010 at 6:54 pm

    It’s just like calling SocSec an “entitlement”.
    They fucking hate entitlements. Social justice is equal to undeserving people getting something off their hard work.

  41. 41.

    silentbeep

    September 16, 2010 at 6:54 pm

    “…should promote improving access to credit, as well as other financial services.”

    Couldn’t this be argued as a form of social justice? For example, historically, minorities have been economically disadvantaged. Many people historically have not had access to sound financial services, such as the poor, etc.If we make “improving access” to financial services for all Americans a priority, which includes those that have been historically economically disadvantaged. that actually is a form of social justice. Not the only form, and not the most robust form, but still…

    I don’t think Gregg knows what he’s talking about.

  42. 42.

    Bruce (formerly Steve S.)

    September 16, 2010 at 6:54 pm

    The agency, Gregg said, should promote improving access to credit,

    Now that’s a great idea. This new agency should make it easier to get a mortgage. And since hardly anybody gets a credit card in America maybe they can improve access to that as well. Thank god somebody has his eye on the ball.

  43. 43.

    Ed Marshall

    September 16, 2010 at 6:55 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    The idea was to poach a Senate seat in New Hampshire. If he did a shitty job and ran his mouth and got fired afterwords that would have been icing on the cake. Not that I like that asshole, but it was perfectly good political theory.

  44. 44.

    Corner Stone

    September 16, 2010 at 6:57 pm

    @Zifnab:

    and who would have kept off of Arkansas so that Halter could win the primary.

    Speaking of which, goodbye Blanche.

  45. 45.

    DougJ

    September 16, 2010 at 6:57 pm

    @Zifnab:

    I honestly have a (Jimmy McNulty) it takes whore to catch a whore attitude towards Daschle. I think with him on-board, health care might have gone more smoothly. I don’t think we’d have a better bill (I just don’t think Lieberman ever would have budged on public option), but I think the passage would have taken less time.

  46. 46.

    arguingwithsignposts

    September 16, 2010 at 6:57 pm

    I’m sorry, but this is just too fun, i have to quote the rest of the WRONGNESS ON THE INTERNET. McMegan eating major crow because she connected an unsubstantiated rumor to something she was pissed about (via Susan of Texas)

    I shouldn’t have linked the HCSC situation to Sebelius’ letter, which I’ve been meaning to write about for days; I took the words “gag order” to mean something they didn’t, for which I apologize.
    __
    I remain outraged by the HHS letter, but the two aren’t connected, and I apologize for assuming they were.

    McMoran.

  47. 47.

    Steve

    September 16, 2010 at 6:57 pm

    I question whether even the Mighty Wurlitzer has the power to make “social justice” into a bad word. Too many Americans have been hearing about the importance of social justice in their churches for their entire lives. You can’t just switch that off… but maybe I’m wrong!

  48. 48.

    Corner Stone

    September 16, 2010 at 6:59 pm

    @Ed Marshall:

    Not that I like that asshole, but it was perfectly good political theory.

    Hmmm, poach in NH all the while giving this asshole supreme standing as a legit critic?
    I like your enthusiasm but still doesn’t seem plausible.

  49. 49.

    DougJ

    September 16, 2010 at 6:59 pm

    @Ruckus:

    I don’t think it works. But you know what really works? Ayn Fucking Rand. It works disturbingly well.

  50. 50.

    cat48

    September 16, 2010 at 7:00 pm

    @DougJ:

    I love Sebelius. She’s generated a lot of headlines lately (quietly)…….my favorite:

    Sebelius To Health Insurers: Stop Lying About Your Rate Increases

  51. 51.

    FlipYrWhig

    September 16, 2010 at 7:01 pm

    You know, it just occurred to me… there was a time when the right used to like to disparage “social engineering.” I wonder if Gregg is playing around with that idea too: i.e., he thinks Warren would want to manipulate how people interact with the markets rather than just letting them do so caveat emptor-style.

  52. 52.

    AhabTRuler

    September 16, 2010 at 7:01 pm

    @WereBear:

    Rand was emotionally disturbed, and, I know now, a meth monster!

    You know who else was emotionally disturbed and used amphetamines?

  53. 53.

    Allan

    September 16, 2010 at 7:02 pm

    @Ash Can: This reminds me of the tale Tim Wise told in “White Like Me” about watching his mom decline in her old age. Eventually all the language she had left was the N word.

  54. 54.

    Corner Stone

    September 16, 2010 at 7:03 pm

    @AhabTRuler:

    You know who else was emotionally disturbed and used amphetamines?

    Bill Clinton?

  55. 55.

    Gina

    September 16, 2010 at 7:03 pm

    @Steve: Well, as I’ve learned from my Becktard dad, those churches aren’t real Christian ones, so no harm, no foul.

  56. 56.

    DougJ

    September 16, 2010 at 7:03 pm

    @cat48:

    I like her too. I was kidding about Dean. He drives me nuts.

  57. 57.

    FlipYrWhig

    September 16, 2010 at 7:05 pm

    @DougJ:

    I think with [Daschle] on-board, health care might have gone more smoothly. I don’t think we’d have a better bill (I just don’t think Lieberman ever would have budged on public option), but I think the passage would have taken less time.

    I have a similar feeling… I wonder if Daschle’s involvement would have made it easier to decide when to tell Reid to finally pull the plug on that endless Baucus-Grassley-Enzi Senate Finance Committee minuet, for example.

  58. 58.

    geg6

    September 16, 2010 at 7:07 pm

    @Cat Lady:

    This. It’s all about the blackety, blackety, black. The next thing will be that social justice = reparations. That’s ALWAYS the progression. Always.

  59. 59.

    Napoleon

    September 16, 2010 at 7:07 pm

    @John S.:

    Across the board his selections have been terrible. Ford was better with his choices (and that is with Cheney and Rumsfeld of the late 70s). The best that can be said is they at least appear honest.

  60. 60.

    Mnemosyne

    September 16, 2010 at 7:09 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    No one has really been able to explain the 11 dimensions this nomination satisfied.

    He’s a Republican senator from a blue state with a Democratic governor who would appoint Judd’s replacement. Duh.

    That’s not 11th dimensional chess. It’s barely Battleship.

  61. 61.

    gocart mozart

    September 16, 2010 at 7:10 pm

    @DougJ:
    It is well known that Dean and Rahm do not like each other much, a clash of egos, so that may have been a big factor also.

  62. 62.

    arguingwithsignposts

    September 16, 2010 at 7:11 pm

    @Napoleon:

    Across the board his selections have been terrible. Ford was better with his choices (and that is with Cheney and Rumsfeld of the late 70s). The best that can be said is they at least appear honest.

    REALLY? Are you fucking kidding me?

  63. 63.

    Kryptik

    September 16, 2010 at 7:12 pm

    I still find myself appalled and confused at how successfully demonized ‘Empathy’ and ‘Social Justice’ have managed to become, just within the goddamn year.

  64. 64.

    libarbarian

    September 16, 2010 at 7:12 pm

    I question whether even the Mighty Wurlitzer has the power to make “social justice” into a bad word.

    I used to see it as such. *shakes head*

  65. 65.

    Omnes Omnibus

    September 16, 2010 at 7:15 pm

    @AhabTRuler: Johnny Ramone?

  66. 66.

    gocart mozart

    September 16, 2010 at 7:15 pm

    @Steve:
    You know who was big on social justice and a community organiser to boot? Hint: He was known to hang around with an alleged prostitute.

  67. 67.

    arguingwithsignposts

    September 16, 2010 at 7:18 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    Kurt Cobain?

  68. 68.

    Omnes Omnibus

    September 16, 2010 at 7:19 pm

    @gocart mozart: I am going to go with Joey or Dee Dee here.

  69. 69.

    AhabTRuler

    September 16, 2010 at 7:20 pm

    @gocart mozart: Oh, that one’s easy! It’s Hitler!

    Nah, I’m lying, it was Peron, right?

  70. 70.

    Comrade Mary

    September 16, 2010 at 7:20 pm

    @slag:

    Down with social justice, world peace, and kittens (especially kittens snuggling in piles, riding roombas, or sleeping stretched out on their backs)! I hate those things!

    YOU LIE! and I refudiate you! And I refudiate you again!

  71. 71.

    Ash Can

    September 16, 2010 at 7:21 pm

    @Allan: All snark aside, it’s disturbing in a way. Their communication is increasingly dogwhistles, tweets, jingoism, talking points, and other tribalisms, and I find it increasingly difficult to figure out just wtf they’re saying.

  72. 72.

    Corner Stone

    September 16, 2010 at 7:21 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Yeah. That turned out really long game.

  73. 73.

    JGabriel

    September 16, 2010 at 7:22 pm

    A top Republican on financial issues said Thursday he was concerned that Elizabeth Warren would use a position in a new consumer protection agency to promote “social justice.”

    Sometimes it just gets really hard to mock evil anymore.

    .

  74. 74.

    Martin

    September 16, 2010 at 7:24 pm

    Shorter Gregg:

    ZOMG! Warren will make is harder for my bank friends to fuck teh negros! There goes the profit margin!

    As the whitest man alive, I think Eddie Murphy was a lot closer to truth than he realized when he did this skit.

  75. 75.

    arguingwithsignposts

    September 16, 2010 at 7:26 pm

    @AhabTRuler:
    Sid Vicious!

    (or was that heroin?)

  76. 76.

    Mnemosyne

    September 16, 2010 at 7:27 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    You said you didn’t understand the rationale. That was the rationale. Gregg never took the job, so the point was moot anyway.

    But I know how you love to speculate about things that might happen and then got all worked up about how horrible it might have been to have Gregg as Secretary of Commerce, so I realize that you’ve already half-convinced yourself that he actually was the Secretary of Commerce for Obama and it was just as horrible as you imagined it would be.

  77. 77.

    Comrade Darkness

    September 16, 2010 at 7:29 pm

    It’s the American way to get f*cked over by corporations. You Liebruls are just commies thinking people have more rights than companies!

  78. 78.

    Martin

    September 16, 2010 at 7:30 pm

    @arguingwithsignposts: Yes, really. Go ahead, ask him to point to the spot where Rahm touched him.

  79. 79.

    Corner Stone

    September 16, 2010 at 7:32 pm

    @Mnemosyne: No dumass, nomming Huntsman for Ambassador was a good rationale.
    Nominating an obvious asshole like Gregg? Giving him the soapbox in one of the most important platforms?
    Hmmm.
    You can O’Donnell away all you like. How did it actually work out?
    For some one who I keep getting told is a master of the long game.

  80. 80.

    Cacti

    September 16, 2010 at 7:36 pm

    Gregg is from the “apologize to BP” wing of the Republican Party.

  81. 81.

    Mnemosyne

    September 16, 2010 at 7:37 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    Giving him the soapbox in one of the most important platforms?

    Name the current Secretary of Commerce right now — no Googling.

    Yep, that’s some important platform there.

  82. 82.

    arguingwithsignposts

    September 16, 2010 at 7:40 pm

    Re: Appointments. Steven Chu seems to have been a good call.

  83. 83.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 16, 2010 at 7:41 pm

    You know, people who inherited millions are the last ones who should complain about “entitlements”.

  84. 84.

    Omnes Omnibus

    September 16, 2010 at 7:42 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Count Orlok? Wait, that’s the ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee.

  85. 85.

    arguingwithsignposts

    September 16, 2010 at 7:44 pm

    Now that I think about it, getting Gregg out of the Senate would have been a win. Getting any of those douchebags out of the Senate would have been a win. Maybe Obama could create a whole lot of new useless cabinet positions to appoint them to.

  86. 86.

    General Stuck

    September 16, 2010 at 7:46 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Yep, that’s some important platform there.

    I think he’s the poor schlub that takes his platform down to the docks and waves to the Chinese cargo ships bringing our flip flops, and plastic paradise. I don’t believe a name is required.

  87. 87.

    Corner Stone

    September 16, 2010 at 7:58 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Am I the only one who couldn’t turn the TV on for weeks without seeing this chump pontificate?
    I’d never heard of Gregg before the failed nom. Then they turned to him for insight into the Obama admin for just about every situation. Why do I even know who he is now?
    Guess it’s just me.

  88. 88.

    Omnes Omnibus

    September 16, 2010 at 8:03 pm

    @Corner Stone: It’s just you.

  89. 89.

    Corner Stone

    September 16, 2010 at 8:04 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: DAMMIT!

  90. 90.

    General Stuck

    September 16, 2010 at 8:05 pm

    The only damage Gregg could have done as Commerce Sec, was sabotage the coming Census that is normally administered through the Commerce dept. But Obama was going to move it to the WH, to keep the wingers grubby hands off of it, and that is why Gregg pulled out. Otherwise, the job was useless, and Gregg, as a sitting cabinet member would have been stifled and no doubt given copies of The Onion for staying in the loop. Gregg was smart enough to see he was being locked in the attic, while Obama poached his senate seat.

  91. 91.

    D-Chance.

    September 16, 2010 at 8:07 pm

    Wow, Cole found a non-Chris Dodd criticism of Warren! Double points because it’s a Republican!!

  92. 92.

    Rabble Arouser

    September 16, 2010 at 8:07 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Ooh, ooh! I know this one. Gary Locke, former governor of my home state of Washington. No googles required.

  93. 93.

    Napoleon

    September 16, 2010 at 8:07 pm

    @arguingwithsignposts:
    No, and actually its the single biggest deficiency of his.

  94. 94.

    Mnemosyne

    September 16, 2010 at 8:08 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    It’s just you. He couldn’t even parlay his 15 minutes of fame into better committee assignments in the Senate. He’s the Kato Kaelin of the Republicans.

  95. 95.

    Mnemosyne

    September 16, 2010 at 8:13 pm

    @Napoleon:

    My city is getting several million dollars to upgrade our bikeways thanks to grants from Ray LaHood, so there’s one. Also, Sebelius is doing her job of monitoring the health insurance companies for shenanigans and Solis is enforcing labor laws. Hillary Clinton got the Israelis and Palestinians back to the table for peace talks. Gates is on track to cut $100 billion from the Defense budget in the next 5 years.

    Geithner sucks, but I don’t think his suckitude outweighs the entire rest of the Cabinet, which is doing good work under the radar.

  96. 96.

    Triassic Sands

    September 16, 2010 at 8:15 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    I can name the current Commerce Secretary because he’s just as worthless in his current position as he was when he occupied the governor’s office in Washington State.

    It’s not that Locke is terrible…it’s more that he’s pretty much nothing. As governor he made sure he didn’t do anything that would bring the slightest challenge his way. I’ve always viewed the Commerce job as little more than a cheerleader for American business — a job Locke is probably qualified to handle.

  97. 97.

    arguingwithsignposts

    September 16, 2010 at 8:21 pm

    @Napoleon:
    I had no idea Rahm touched you that hard. Seriously, dude(ette?), I can think of several deficiencies bigger than cabinet positions.

    And here’s Ford:
    Secretary of State
    Henry A. Kissinger (1974-77)
    Secretary of the Treasury
    William E. Simon (1974-77)
    Secretary of Defense
    James R. Schlesinger (1974-75)
    Donald H. Rumsfeld (1975-77)
    Attorney General
    William B. Saxbe (1974-75)
    Edward H. Levi (1975-77)
    Secretary of the Interior
    Rogers C. B. Morton (1974-75)
    Stanley K. Hathaway (1975)
    Thomas S. Kleppe (1975-77)
    Secretary of Agriculture
    Earl L. Butz (1974-76)
    John A. Knebel (1976-77)
    Secretary of Commerce
    Frederick B. Dent (1974-75)
    Rogers C. B. Morton (1975)
    Elliot L. Richardson (1976-77)
    Secretary of Labor
    Peter J. Brennan (1974-75)
    John T. Dunlop (1975-76)
    W. J. Usery, Jr. (1976-77)
    Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare
    Caspar W. Weinberger (1974-75)
    F. David Mathews (1975-77)
    Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
    James T. Lynn (1974-75)
    Carla Anderson Hills (1975-77)
    Secretary of Transportation
    Claude S. Brinegar (1974-75)
    William T. Coleman, Jr. (1975-77)

    Henry Fucking Kissinger, for pete’s sake.

  98. 98.

    Paula

    September 16, 2010 at 8:23 pm

    Ha, I got Locke sans Googling, too. I iz smartz. : )

    Srsly, if you saw Gregg on TV for more than his 15 min, it’s because he was a fucking Republican who may have given up a Senate seat, and who later wanted to shoot his mouth off about Obama and got extra attention because he was “thisclose to getting a job” from the guy. Locke is a party standard bearer from the Pacific NW (?) who’s always owed by the national Democratic party for … being loyal and unruffling. Guess who generates more attention?

  99. 99.

    arguingwithsignposts

    September 16, 2010 at 8:24 pm

    And here’s Obama so far (definitely some disappointments, but some solid people too):

    Secretary of State
    Hillary Clinton (2009- )
    Secretary of the Treasury
    Timothy Geithner (2009- )
    Secretary of Defense
    Robert M. Gates (2009- )
    Attorney General
    Eric Holder (2009-)
    Secretary of the Interior
    Ken Salazar (2009- )
    Secretary of Agriculture
    Tom Vilsack (2009- )
    Secretary of Commerce
    Gary Locke (2009- )
    Secretary of Labor
    Hilda Solis (2009- )
    Secretary of Health and Human Services
    Kathleen Sebelius (2009- )
    Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
    Shaun Donovan (2009- )
    Secretary of Transportation
    Ray LaHood (2009- )
    Secretary of Energy
    Steven Chu (2009- )
    Secretary of Education
    Arne Duncan (2009- )
    Secretary of Veterans Affairs
    Eric K. Shinseki (2009- )
    Secretary of Homeland Security
    Janet Napolitano (2009- )

  100. 100.

    Mnemosyne

    September 16, 2010 at 8:32 pm

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    Geithner, Salazar and Vilsack all suck. Some people would probably argue that Duncan sucks since he’s trying to keep No Child Left Behind going.

    Not sure what Napoleon’s beef is with anyone else.

  101. 101.

    Anne Laurie

    September 16, 2010 at 8:54 pm

    Judd Gregg was in some senses the template for Scott Brown’s Excellent Massachusetts Adventure — he’s a clean-cut articulate “businessman” who’s made a very nice living for himself and his kinfolk by loudly talking Right and quietly acting centrist. I’ve actually been curious to see how publicly Scott was going to denounce & refudiate Warren, because like a certain other teabagger heartthrob, he’s dumb as a little dog but has a considerable political cunning for knowing when to yap and when to STFU. So far, I’m not finding anything…

  102. 102.

    Midnight Marauder

    September 16, 2010 at 9:10 pm

    @Ruckus:

    I am an old white dude and I think class fucking warfare works fine.

    Clearly, you are not a real old white dude.

  103. 103.

    charles pierce

    September 16, 2010 at 9:40 pm

    At the risk of engaging the wrath of the whatever high above the thing, the attempt to nominate Judd Gregg was a singular bit of dumbassery that accomplished nothing.

  104. 104.

    And Another Thing...

    September 16, 2010 at 10:02 pm

    @Zifnab: Amen. Tim Kaine is terrible, he’s been effing invisible.

  105. 105.

    db

    September 16, 2010 at 10:15 pm

    Gregg is a dipshit.

    And I call him that with the explicit visual representation in mind. A dipstick is a long metal rod you dip in oil. A dipshit is a stupid, fucking rod you dip in shit.

    Again, Gregg is a dipshit.

  106. 106.

    And Another Thing...

    September 16, 2010 at 10:19 pm

    @Corner Stone: I have a recollection that during Bush’s negotiations over TARP (before the election) that one of the southern Senators who was the senior R on the committee just up and quit and walked out. OIRC Gregg stepped up became the R spokesman and played a significant role in getting it done. My take is that he’s taken so much heat over that and accepting a nomination to the cabinet that he’s been loudly overcompensating.

    Edit – it was Richard Shelby of Alabama

  107. 107.

    Mike G

    September 16, 2010 at 10:33 pm

    The agency, Gregg said, should promote improving access to credit, as well as other financial services.

    We’re currently suffering through the results of the Repigs’ “improving access to mortgages” over the past years. Because the only legit purpose of teabag government is facilitating profits for well-connected cronies.

    Republicans moan and Republican bitch
    Our rich are too poor
    And our poor are too rich

  108. 108.

    FlipYrWhig

    September 16, 2010 at 10:59 pm

    Anyone who thinks that Jud Greg Judd Gregg Juddd Greggg is a high-profile, paid-attention-to critic of the Obama administration must be watching and reading a whole different set of news sources than I am. I only know who he is because my in-laws are in New Hampshire. He’s in that Lamar Alexander/John Cornyn tier, where you recognize the name but can only summon up a face after concentrating for a while. I think he’s only slightly more visible than Mike Crapo and Thad Cochran, whose names I know but whose faces I’m sure I don’t.

  109. 109.

    debbie

    September 17, 2010 at 8:38 am

    @ FlipYrWhig:

    He may be a legend in his own mind, but Gregg got a whole lot of attention when Obama offered him a cabinent position, which he accepted and then refused.

  110. 110.

    DougL

    September 17, 2010 at 12:40 pm

    Remember all those subprime loans that everybody, with 20/20 hindsight, knew that the borrowers were stupid for getting involved with, even though the full consequences of which were often misrepresented or outright lied about? What was the whole rationale for those?

    Oh, yeah… improving access to credit for those who would not otherwise qualify for traditional loans.

  111. 111.

    John Bird

    September 20, 2010 at 7:20 am

    That’s a Glenn Beck Term. You know, one of those things that has a meaning, and then has a Real Meaning, You Know What I’m Talking About.

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