The one main benefit to the financial reform effort so far is that it helps further do away with the false paradigms of "left" or "right" and "Democrat" or "Republican" - fewer and fewer people are falling for those lies anymore. Try to get an ideological conservative to explain why Republicans love spending and so eagerly give welfare to banks. Try to get your local liberal to explain why it was a good idea to make backroom deals with abhorrent corporations and drill, baby, drill. Heck, even try to get a Tea Partier to explain choosing bailout-loverSarah Palin to keynote their convention, especially when that movement once had at least some pre-astroturf roots in protesting government giveaways.
What we have now is a group of politicians with shifting alliances on a case-by-case basis to thespecial interests who fund them. And currently, the most damaging one to our nation is the rise of the Bankster Party. Thankfully, we can now better identify its members.
Anyone who voted for the Kaufman-Brown SAFE amendment deserves to be considered a member of the "People's Party", at least for today. And while I may not agree, I am also OK with someone voting no on Kaufman-Brown if they voted no on the bailout in the first place. That at least shows a consistent ideology and we wouldn't need to break up the banks into smaller parts if our leaders had the will to let them fail.
But there is a special place for those who have the audacity to do something as incredibly un-American as voting to provide unencumbered welfare for rich bankers and then subsequently do absolutely nothing to fix the problem. And that special place (for now) is in what we should call from this point forward the "Bankster Party". Allow me to present to you its current members:
BANKSTER PARTY Daniel Akaka (B-HI) Lamar Alexander (B-TN) Max Baucus (B-MT) Evan Bayh (B-IN) Michael F. Bennet (B-CO) Christopher S. Bond (B-MO) Richard Burr (B-NC) Thomas R. Carper (B-DE) Saxby Chambliss (B-GA) Susan M. Collins (B-ME) Kent Conrad (B-ND) Bob Corker (B-TN) John Cornyn (B-TX) Christopher J. Dodd (B-CT) Dianne Feinstein (B-CA) Lindsey Graham (B-SC) Chuck Grassley (B-IA) Judd Gregg (B-NH) Orrin G. Hatch (B-UT) Kay Bailey Hutchinson (B-TX) Daniel K. Inouye (B-HI) Johnny Isakson (B-GA) John F. Kerry (B-MA) Amy Klobuchar (B-MN) Herb Kohl (B-WI) Jon Kyl (B-AZ) Frank R. Lautenberg (B-NJ) Joseph Lieberman (B-CT) John McCain (B-AZ) Claire McCaskill (B-MO) Mitch McConnell (B-KY) Robert Menendez (B-NJ) Lisa Murkowski (B-AK) Bill Nelson (B-FL) Jack Reed (B-RI) Charles Schumer (B-NY) Olympia Snowe (B-ME) John Thune (B-SD) Mark Udall (B-CO) George Voinovich (B-OH) Mark Warner (B-VA)
PEOPLE'S PARTY Mark Begich (P-AK) Jeff Bingaman (P-NM) Barbara Boxer (P-CA) Sherrod Brown (P-OH) Roland Burris (P-IL) Maria Cantwell (P-WA) Bejamin Cardin (P-MD) Robert Casey Jr. (P-PA) Tom Coburn (P-OK) Byron Dorgan (P-ND) Richard Durbin (P-IL) John Ensign (P-NV) Russell Feingold (P-WI) Al Franken (P-MN) Tom Harkin (P-IA) Edward Kaufman (P-DE) Patrick Leahy (P-VT) Carl Levin (P-MI) Blanche Lincoln (P-AR) Jeff Merkley (P-OR) Barbara Mikulski (P-MD) Patty Murray (P-WA) Mark Pryor (P-AR) Harry Reid (P-NV) John D. Rockefeller IV (P-WV) Bernard Sanders (P-VT) Richard Shelby (P-AL) Arlen Specter (P-PA) Debbie Stabenow (P-MI) Tom Udall (P-NM) Jim Webb (P-VA) Sheldon Whitehouse (P-RI) Ron Wyden (P-OR)
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