I like this precedent
As bad a precedent as the AIG bill is, there is one positive. Congress has established the principle that $165 million is not too inconsequential a sum as to require strict budget hawkishness. I can’t wait to apply that standard during the next earmark fight.
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March 21st, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Do not fool yourself. The only precedent established here is that Congress will try anything, no matter how silly or unfair, if the poll numbers (after inflammatory media commentary) suggest strong public approval. Without the media outcry and poll numbers, even the most egregious earmarks will get the same treatment as before.
March 21st, 2009 at 10:32 pm
It’s a good theory, but it has a problem. To the left, there is no such thing a precedent. To be a lefty is to live in a purely tactical world where nothing that happened before ever mattered.
For example, for 8 years, dissent was the highest form of patriotism, and “he isn’t my President” was cool. Not any more. To want Obama to fail is treason.
March 22nd, 2009 at 4:24 am
Bob,
I like the precedent too, except we know it’s not. It’s a stunt, a “mantra du jour” for the Democrats to bash big business, esp Wall Street. Obama’s going for the jugular, to whip his legions into a hysteria of feeling that they “deserve” to be able to determine the “fair” pay levels of Wall Street professionals. This is probably a life-long dream of Obama’s since his years hanging around with “Marxist profs” (his words from DFMF) at Oxy in L.A. and Columbia in NYC. He also attended many socialist rallies in NYC, he wrote in his book, at “Cooper Union” or some such locale. We have elevated a dangerous person, indeed, to lead our country off the cliff!
March 22nd, 2009 at 5:27 am
[…] “As bad a precedent as the AIG bill is, there is one positive. Congress has established the principle that $165 million is not too inconsequential a sum as to require strict budget hawkishness. I can’t wait to apply that standard during the next earmark fight.” - Bob Krumm […]
March 23rd, 2009 at 7:58 am
[…] Bob Krumm makes a good point about the AIG bill of attainder: As bad a precedent as the AIG bill is, there is […]