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SEQUESTER: The Horror!
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SOTU Preview: Human Props, Budget Fights, and Wedge Issues
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Weekend Political Wrap-Up, Paul Ryan Edition
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Esquire Blogger Sees Paul Ryan, Shreds His Safety Net
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The Spectacle Blog
Daniel Larison catches Mitt Romney trying to have it both ways on the $700 billion bank bailout: Romney says he was for Henry Paulson’s good TARP but he’s against Tim Geithner’s bad TARP. Conveniently, this allows Romney to position himself as effectively anti-TARP under Obama while he was a supporter under Bush.
Larison correctly argues, “One can either recognize that the original TARP was always potentially an opaque slush fund to be used for whatever purpose the executive branch wanted, and it was therefore an outrageous measure that ought to have been defeated, or one can accept the abuses of the TARP that inevitably followed from the absurd way it was designed.” He continues, “Supporters of a policy or piece of legislation do not get to receive credit for the supposed benefits and avoid blame for the negative consequences.”
Well, if the policy or legislation in question is either Romneycare or TARP, apparently you do.
View all comments (32) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by W. James Antle, III
http://spectator.org/blog/2010/03/04/mitt-romney-channels-john-kerr
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Nathan Wilson| 3.4.10 @ 12:38PM
Good post. I come down in favor of TARP, but it looks to me like Romney is trying to have it both ways. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure 99.9% of Americans, myself included, are not very well-versed on this issue. Clearly, action was needed, and clearly TARP was opaque and clumsy. As I said, I basically think Paulson, Bernanke, etc. acquited themselves quite well after the crisis took hold. But, perhaps there were better alternatives. The Spectator has a writer that seems to have a keen interest in economics and finance. Mr. Lawler is well-advised to post a primer ...
Cris Worth| 3.4.10 @ 12:39PM
He's flipped on TARP, he's flipped on tax cuts, he's flipped on gun control, he's flipped on immigration, he's flipped on abortion, he's flipped on non-heterosexual issues and Sky Blu flipped him. A perfect 10.0 on flips.
Nathan Wilson| 3.4.10 @ 12:52PM
Well done Chris!
Cris Worth| 3.4.10 @ 1:05PM
Mass. pols Romney, Brown & Kerry are poltical flippers but Ted wasn't except he did flip his car into a pond on one occassion.
Pingback| 3.4.10 @ 1:01PM
Bad Credits – RBC could soon shed cash pile – Financial Post « Bad Credits links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Michael NY| 3.4.10 @ 1:05PM
I really don't get how this is a "flip"
He always said it was needed for stabilization. Personally, as a business executive myself, I agree with this assessment. The program, however, has been abused over the past year. It has served its purpose and it now being used to pay for meaningless things. It was good in the beginning, but it has served its purpose.
How is this position of Romney so hard for anyone to understand?
wwwexler| 3.4.10 @ 1:16PM
Romney's had so many 'positions' it's difficult to figure out which one you're talking about.
Weather-vane man.
Cris Worth| 3.4.10 @ 1:45PM
In December 2008 the majority of Americans were against and Congress voted no to a $14 billion auto bailout. In response lameduck W. Bush "tapped" Paulson's good TARP for $13.4 billion and bailed out GM & Chrysler anyway. I would call that TARP abuse and a perfect example of a Romney flip.
Bob| 3.4.10 @ 2:19PM
Virtually all politicians flip on issues. Palin flipped on the bridge to nowhere and her promise to serve the citizens in Alaska, McCain has flipped on so many things I no longer have the fingers and toes to count them, Obama has flipped on many of his promises. Palin would have flipped on a lot more if she weren't an idiot. Now she's a stand-up comedian on Leno -- wait -- she's always been a stand-up comedian.
The typical rule for politicians to get elected is to run to the base in the primaries and then to the center in the general. Reagan did this. Bush did this. Clinton did this. BushII did this. and Obama did this.
Romney has been a successful businessman and politician. You don't do this without compromise. Is it something I like? No. But is it necessary when the left is bordering on socialism and the right is bordering on religious extremism and lies? You betcha....
wwwexler| 3.4.10 @ 2:35PM
Romney's a RINO; weakness defines him and all RINOs.
It's deceit not compromise--RINOs can't be trusted.
Bob| 3.4.10 @ 3:05PM
Yeah, Romney's a RINO -- so am I. But we both understand fiscal conservatism and have run businesses successfully. What does the country need right now -- someone who is anti-abortion or someone who understands economics and is a successful executive? I would claim that most social conservatives aren't really fiscal conservatives -- they don't even understand economics (i.e., GDP, job creation, etc.).
wwwexler| 3.4.10 @ 3:47PM
Like I said, "It's deceit not compromise--RINOs can't be trusted." Read it S.L.O.W.L.Y. this time and maybe you'll understand.
Bob| 3.4.10 @ 5:52PM
Most RINO's are less deceitful than AmSpec bloggers who just don't look at facts. You call them RINO's because they search for the truth. You just look in the Bible for all of your answers and don't look at charts, data, and facts.
SoCon| 3.4.10 @ 6:36PM
Truth Seeker? Really? You're kidding right?
All your phony Globaloney Warming charts and graphs didn't help you make your case, Bob; you're just as much of a deceitful ignoramus as Al "The Bore" Gore.
BTW, why don't you post on Globaloney Warming threads anymore? Chicken.
Lindsey| 3.5.10 @ 8:57AM
Bob: Jesus is the truth. Look deeply, my friend, and you will know the truth and the truth shall set you free!
John Browning| 3.4.10 @ 3:50PM
Right on Bob. I own a smallish business too, and abortion is not an issue that jumps to the top of my list. Plaintiffs' attorneys on the other hand ...
ZerObama| 3.4.10 @ 4:16PM
Yeah, who cares about an innocent baby's life when there's MONEY to be made!
That's the American way, right? You RINOs have a heart made of green! (GREED)
Red Phillips | 3.4.10 @ 5:06PM
See my comment from yesterday on the SPLC thread regarding Bob's tendency to inject his anti-religious right bias into every thread. Bob you're obsessed. Is it really that shocking that some of us still care about 1 million + dead babies per year even when there are economic issues that also need to be addressed?
And contrary to your statement, the most socially conservative congressmen also tend to be the most fiscally conservative. This is a fact that anyone remotely familiar with national politics would know intuitively, and it has also been backed up empirically. See the post on the National Journal ratings from 26 Feb. While the ratings are somewhat flawed, they get that general trend correct.
Bob| 3.4.10 @ 5:50PM
Like I've said before Red, I see no place for religion to take over a political party because it clouds the secular issues like fiscal conservatism.
wwwexler| 3.4.10 @ 6:25PM
I see no reason for your religion of atheism to take over the Republican party. Your propensity to nihilism precludes any reason at all.
You believe in nothing and that is what you are: Nothing.
Lindsey| 3.5.10 @ 8:49AM
Bob: Thomas Jefferson said that a moral populace is necessary four our type of government. I suggest that you start examining your beliefs a little more deeply and you will discover something very important. Everything we do in our lives should be based on morals! Money does not make the world go 'round like many people think. A great country has great morals and not necessarily lots of money. Search your heart and you'll come up with the right answer!
Cris Worth| 3.4.10 @ 6:27PM
Your message is rather cryptic...is Romney pro-abortion or is he pro-life? He says he's pro-life but he governed pro-abortion. Romney's political baby RomneyCare provided abortion on demand. RomneyCare also drove up medicaid costs in Mass. adding to the national debt and putting more pressure on taxpayers, hardly fiscal conservatism. Business skills, no doubt, against pornography so he says but he profits from it - against abortion so he says but he profits from embryonic stem cell research. Will the real Willard Milton Romney please stand up!
Cris Worth| 3.4.10 @ 5:32PM
Successful politician? Teddy the car flipper beat him in '94 and in 08 Romney was the GOP front runner, spent $98 million, couldn't hide is flippers and ended up with nothing - some politician. Bill's an usually good liar - Willard's a bad one.
Cris Worth| 3.4.10 @ 5:47PM
Palin the funny comedienne ran up the score on Romney the unfunny flipper in the ratings beating him by 2.1 million. Paul beats Romney – Palin beats Romney. No surprise here please go right ahead and bob for some apples.
kingsmill| 3.4.10 @ 3:00PM
Mittster has no compass that keeps him on a principled track. He will shift with the wind to suit whomever he happens to be talking to.
Watch Mitt on YouTube debate the abortion issue with Massachusetts Democratic candidate for Governor, Shannon O'Brien. He will say anything to suit the political climate.
iamse7en| 3.4.10 @ 4:40PM
This sounds like Palin's position as well.
wwwexler| 3.4.10 @ 6:27PM
Palin's not a political weather-vane like Mitt.
Mitt's just another RINO opportunist.
Lindsey| 3.5.10 @ 8:39AM
Romney is an idiot. Anyone who voted for the original bailout was fooled or is an idiot. Some people now realize their mistake (John McCain) and some are like Romney- an idiot!
Missy| 3.5.10 @ 5:01PM
McCain's a RINO idiot, too.