The Senate passes the Financial Reform Bill.
The banks must be relieved. If the bill had been delayed any further, it would have gotten tougher.
It was a Pizarro world bill in a good way.
Unfortunately, I don’t see it getting any tougher in conference.
The Stamford Advocate quotes him as saying, “I wore the uniform in Vietnam,” which sounds particularly damning, though there is not video or audio tape at this time.
Seriously, the primary is in a few weeks, Connecticut Dems, time to switch horses.
It’s more than just a misstatement or two, because saying things like this:
“I wore the uniform in Vietnam and many came back to all kinds of disrespect. Whatever we think of war, we owe the men and women of the armed forces our unconditional support.”
Appears to be at the core of his public personae. It’s his version of, “A noun, a verb, and 911.” Every 3rd word out of his mouth is something like this, or like the largely apocryphal spitting stories, and as such this makes him seriously damaged goods.
If he does not lose the primary, he just got the state party endorsement, he will very likely lose the general.
H/t The Plum Line.
Cantwell of Washington and Feingold of Wisconsin continued to vote against cloture, but Republicans Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, and as well as Scott Brown of Massachusetts, who voted against cloture yesterday, voted for cloture, and with Harry Reid switching his vote, it means that the debate has been ended on the bill, and it can proceed to a vote.
It’s better than the status quo, but still crappy, which is what Barack Obama would call “post partisan,” I guess.
No, not Blumenthal, he fessed up in the back-handed way that pols do.
I mean Sue Lowden, who is a Republican running for US Senate against Harry Reid in Nevada.
First, she suggests that people should barter chickens for medical care, and does not have the good sense to say she meant, “Bargain,” and now she is denying that she ever said this.
The problem is that she has been caught on video repeatedly making just such a statement, so let’s roll tape, specifically the inestimable Rachel Maddow.
The first rule is that when you are in a hole, stop digging.
The former anchor woman turned politico brings to mind the immortal Don Henley lyric, “We got the bubble-headed-bleach-blond who Comes on at five, She can tell you ’bout the plane crash with a gleam In her eye.”
In any case, she may be Harry Reid’s electoral salvation.
*Virtual Kewpie doll for whoever picks the reference for the caption.
The McMahon Campaign’s Statement, since scrubbed, that they were the source of the story
And neither did I when I commented the Times story on Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal’s statement that he had served in Vietnam, when he actually went through multiple deferments and a stint in the reserves to stay out of the war.
It appears that the paper, and me indirectly, swallowed a piece of opposition research from a political opponent without further checking the story.
Well, the New York Times posted a short clip of his speech where he clearly said that he served in Vietnam.
What they didn’t post was the whole speech, where he leads off with a statement that makes it clear that he is claiming that he simply served during that era, not making a claim of serving in the ‘Nam.
Hell, even Fox News’ Neil Cavuto says that the New York Times did a hack job:
Blumenthal didn’t. As far as I can tell, he quite often made a point of saying he didn’t do the heavy lifting in service, just that he appreciated his Marine Reserves service and really appreciated those who did far more in service. He almost always explained the difference, and almost always cited his gratitude.
What’s more, see the pic, with Republican Senate Linda McMahon’s campaign claiming that the Times swallowed their research lock, stock, and barrel, which falls under the, “What the f%$# were they thinking when they admitted that?” category.
Also, people are not talking with the Connecticut press, and it appears that Blumenthal was generally (an important modifier) clear about his status.
I still think that Blumenthal is dead meat because of this, and that the Dems should nominate someone else (who?) on primary day, though, hopefully, so is Linda McMahon, because they fingered themselves over this, and this is an opening for her Republican primary opponent, Rob Simmons, particularly since there are also credible allegations that she warned a drug (steroid) dealing doctor about a federal investigation.
This will be a crazy race.
The vote was 57-42 against cloture, with Democrats Maria Cantwell of Washington and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin voting against cloture,* and Republicans Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both of Maine, voted for cloture, with Specter not yet back in the Senate.
Cantwell and Feingold are right here: They have been refused a vote on a number of important amendments and other issues, most notably:
It’s nice that some progressives have shown that they are willing to show teeth.
With Republicans coming to realize just how loathed Wall Street is, and realizing that Blanche Lincoln’s reelection driven decision to get rough on the banks has triggered a dynamic which makes the bill more extreme as time goes on, as opposed to the usual process of bills getting emasculated in the Senate.
Every day that goes by, it gets for any Republican and corporatist Democrat who is standing for reelection this year finds it harder and harder do do Wall Street’s bidding.
I think that after a few more days of delay, they’ll end up finding a way to break up the big banks.
*Harry Reid voted against cloture too, but that is so he can offer a motion to reconsider, allowing for revote.
If Blanche Lincoln had won the primary outright last night, then her proposal to require that banks separate themselves from their swap desks would be dead, and the bullet would have been Chris Dodd’s proposal, which was to defer implementation for a year for a ‘study’, and then let Timothy “Eddie Haskell as Wall Street’s Bitch” Giethner decide whether it was necessary.
We all know what Geithner would do.
But Lincoln is going to a runoff, and her opponent, Bill Halter, is already saying that this is exactly what she planned, that she would make the proposal, but would let it die once it was politically convenient.
So, Chris Dodd has decided not to introduce the “kill the regulation” amendment.
My guess is that he got a frantic call from Lincoln this morning, begging him to wait until after the June 8 runoff, and so the dynamics of the Congressional incumbency protection racket dictates that he pull the amendment off the table ……… At least until June 9.
It’s official, Joe Sestak has defeated Arlen Specter for the Democratic nomination for Senate in Pennsylvania.
Rather refreshingly, Specter is staying relatively classy:
Specter also said he called Sestak to congratulate him and tell him he thinks it’s vital to keep the seat in the Democratic Party.
I don’t expect him to aggressively stump for Sestak, first, he’s an 80 year-old cancer survivor, and second, he lost in large part because of his unpopularity, but I expect a joint press conference in the next few days.
And in the Democratic primary for Senate in Kentucky, Conway beats Mongiardo in a close one, so the good Dem beats the faux (anti-abortion, etc.) Dem.
In the special election in PA-12 to replace Murtha, Mark Critz defeated Tim Burns, which means that the Dems hold on to the seat, but Critz is the a seriously right wing Dem, rather far to the right of Murtha, who he worked for as a staffer.
On the other hand, both Congressional campaign committees dumped a lot of money on this, so it’s a good sign that Critz won, and that it was not particularly close.
It’s still to soon for Arkansas, but right now, it looks like it will be headed to a runoff, because neither Blanche Lincoln nor Bill Halter will get 50% of the vote.
As it stands right now it’s Bill Halter with 42.65%, Blanche Lincoln 43.26%, and DC Morrison with 14.09%, with 53% reporting, which means that Halter or Lincoln would need to get somewhere around 58% of the remaining votes to avoid a runoff, which is not going to happen.
The only question now is who will finish in 1st place.
(on edit)
There will therefore be a runoff on June 8.
They are calling the Republican Senate primary for Rand Paul, the son of tea-party godfather Ron Paul:
Political novice Rand Paul rode support from tea party activists to victory in Kentucky’s Republican Senate primary Tuesday night, delivering a jolt to the GOP establishment and providing fresh evidence of widespread voter discontent in a turbulent midterm election season.
Paul had 59 percent of the vote — with returns counted from 29 percent of the precincts — to 37 percent for Secretary of State Trey Grayson, who had been recruited to run by the state’s dominant Republican, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Make no mistake about it: This is a major loss for McConnell and the Republican machine in Kentucky.
This may make the seat more winnable for the Dems, though it is still a long shot, because the Republican establishment, led by McConnell, is not going to pull the lever for Paul, and might even pull the lever for a Dem.
And, at least in the preliminary numbers, it looks like the Dem won’t be a blue dog type, as, at the time that I am typing this, “Attorney General Jack Conway led Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo, 49 percent to 39 percent.”
Conway is pro choice, pro-union, etc.
I think that this improves the Dems’ chances here, because people will vote for a real Democrat, Conway, ahead of a fake blue dog, Mongiardo.
Again, this may be a reaction to the party machine, which backed Mongiardo.
Between the rain, it’s raining in Maryland too, and a dispirited Democratic base, there is not a meaningful contest on the Repulbican side, primary day turnout is very low.
Bad for Specter. He has always drawn significant support from the minority community, particularly the AA community, and if this is a a low turn out day, it is highly unlikely that Specter can pull this out.
Happy dance.
Representative Mark Souder (R-IN) will resign after it was revealed that he had an affair with one of his staffers, one Tracy Jackson:
Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN), a champion of abstinence education and traditional family values, will resign effective Friday after an affair with a female staffer in his district office, he announced today.
He said in a statement that he “sinned against God, my wife and my family by having a mutual relationship with a part-time member of my staff.” …
(emphasis mine)
If this video does not appear on The Daily Show‘s moment of Zen, I will send a strongly worded letter of complaint Comedy entral about this.
Blanche Lincoln went to vote today, but she was turned away because she had already requested an absentee ballot:
Sen. Blanche Lincoln suffered what might be one of the all-time greatest campaign staff fails this morning. According to her campaign staff, Lincoln was initially turned away when she tried to vote at her home her polling place this morning after elections officials discovered she had already requested an absentee ballot be sent to her Virginia home. Poll workers told Lincoln their records showed she had already voted.
So, her photo-op turned into a clusterf%$#.
Sounds typical for Ms. Lincoln.
OK, I was a bit of a fan of Dodd, so I was upset, Geithner and Obama hung him out to dry over his doing their bidding on AIG bonuses.
At least the person selected by the powers that be to replace him, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, had a lock on the seat in the general, because the Nutmeg State is very blue.
Well, not any more. It appears that the Blumenthal, who has repeatedly used his service in Vietnam to justify his support for military tribunals and a continued military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, has been lying about serving in Vietnam:
At a ceremony honoring veterans and senior citizens who sent presents to soldiers overseas, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut rose and spoke of an earlier time in his life.
“We have learned something important since the days that I served in Vietnam,” Mr. Blumenthal said to the group gathered in Norwalk in March 2008. “And you exemplify it. Whatever we think about the war, whatever we call it — Afghanistan or Iraq — we owe our military men and women unconditional support.”
There was one problem: Mr. Blumenthal, a Democrat now running for the United States Senate, never served in Vietnam. He obtained at least five military deferments from 1965 to 1970 and took repeated steps that enabled him to avoid going to war, according to records.
……
In 1970, with his last deferment in jeopardy, he landed a coveted spot in the Marine Reserve, which virtually guaranteed that he would not be sent to Vietnam. He joined a unit in Washington that conducted drills and other exercises and focused on local projects, like fixing a campground and organizing a Toys for Tots drive.
……
But what is striking about Mr. Blumenthal’s record is the contrast between the many steps he took that allowed him to avoid Vietnam, and the misleading way he often speaks about that period of his life now, especially when he is speaking at veterans’ ceremonies or other patriotic events.
I’m with the Swing State Project’s take on this, “The Dem statewide convention is this weekend. Conceivably delegates could nominate someone other than Blumenthal. If someone else wants to get on the primary ballot via petition, they need to file 7,500 signatures by June 8th (PDF).”
I think that it is probably too late to get the convention to nominate someone else, but there are 3 weeks to get the signatures, though I would make sure to get at least 12,000 because the PTB who selected Blumenthal in the first place will challenge them.
What I do know is that there are hundreds of hours of Blumenthal lying on video and audio tape, and whoever runs against him will play it over, and over, and over again.
He is dead meat.
I’m beginning to think that serving as attorney general or DA should be taken as a strike against those serving higher office.
And the lines cross
I understand why the White House supported Arlen Specter in the Democratic primaries, it was a reward for his switching parties, and provided an inducement to other potential Republicans who might consider switching, like uh……… uh……… uh………
OK, there is not another potential switcher, but it all seemed so wonderfully hopey–changey post partisan.
Well, largely on the basis of the fact that Arlen Specter is really all about Arlen Specter, and the fact that Joe Sestak is pointing it out to people (see vid), Arlen Specter is now lagging in the polls, and as the incumbent with good name recognition.
The rule of thumb that the undecideds nearly always break for the challenger by something like 2:1, so I reiterate my statement that Arlen Specter is toast.
So, the White House loses one here, and they are doing something really stupid, which is to walk back their support of Specter now that it is likely that he is going to lose the election:
If this is true, it’s significant: CBS chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer is now saying that he has it on good authority that the White House is privately bracing for Arlen Specter to lose tomorrow.
………
I’ve also learned that Veep Joe Biden will not be doing any campaign events for Specter in the final stretch, though it’s not immediately clear how significant this is. Last week, Biden said he’d be doing events for Specter “as needed.”
But a Biden aide confirms for me that no campaign events are scheduled, even though Biden will be in Pennsylvania tonight speaking at his daughter’s graduation. Biden has done radio interviews on Specter’s behalf.
This recognizes a problem with the Obama administration, and for the Clinton and Carter administrations before them: An unwillingness to continue fighting when victory seems unlikely.
I can understand some talking points flowing out about, “an anti-incumbency mood,” and suchlike, but the idea that when faced with less than a 50:50 change of success, the choice is to fold like overcooked Brussels sprouts has negative consequences.
It convinces allies that you don’t have their back, and it convinces opponents that they can take a temporary advantage, and use it to kill a proposal early in the process.
I never thought that they should support Specter, or for that matter Lincoln, but sawing off the branch won’t endear other Democrats with the concept of going out on a limb for Obama.
As some of you are aware, the bulk of hedge fund managers’ income is taxed at the capital gains rate of 15%, rather than the 35% on amounts in the 6+ figure range that mere mortals pay.
Basically, they get a slice of the increase in price of their assets, even though they never put a dime of their own money in. It’s called “Carried Interest.”
Well, it appears that both Max Baucus (DINO-MT), who slowed down healthcare refiorm waiting for non-existent republicans to come on board, and Barack Obama’s Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Peter Orzag, have decided that it would be a good think to put a stake through the heart of this loophole in the interest of deficit reduction.
The money quote is this:
Hedge fund managers make hundreds of millions of dollars (and often billions) annually. Does anyone really think they will suddenly slam on the brakes if they have to pay the same tax rate as the janitors who clean their offices?
This makes this both good policy and good politics………For the win.
Josh Marshall has a Pennsylvania reader whose life-long Republican neighbor has changed his affiliation to Democratic so that he can vote against Specter in the primary.
Apparently, he feels the need not to miss the chance to vote against Arlen one last time.
Specifically, Tom Harkin is proposing a an amendment to the finance reform bill to limit ATM fees to 50¢.
I approve of the idea, particularly because it’s an in-your-face to the free market worshippers, but I’m not sure if it is a good idea for the finance reform bill.
As to the Al Franken book in question, it was the book Why Not Me?
Hw wrote his (fictitious) successful quest for the presidency using populist anger over ATM fees.
Byron Dorgan, who has not only been a strong advocate for financial reform, but predicted 15 years ago the clusterf%$# that would occur from Robert Rubin’s vision of finance, has proposed an amendment to the finance reform that would ban Naked (i.e. an insurance policy in which you bet on your neighbor‘s house burning down) Credit Default Swaps.
It appears now that the Senate leadership will not allow this amendment to be voted on, so the distinguished gentleman from North Dakota is threatening a filibuster:
In the Senate Democratic Caucus meeting today, Dorgan and other progressive senators pressed the leadership to allow their amendments to strengthen the bill to come to a vote. According to Dorgan, the leadership relented and said his amendment would be one of the ones to come to a vote.
But tonight, as Brian Beutler reports, when the list of amendments to be voted on was released, Dorgan’s was not among them. A frustrated Dorgan approached Dodd and Majority Leader Harry Reid on the floor this evening and told them he would filibuster financial reform if his amendment doesn’t get a vote. “I understand everybody thinks their amendment’s important, but the question of the unbelievable speculation in credit default swaps that have no insurable interest — if we can’t vote on something like that, given what we’ve seen in recent years, then it’s not really financial reform,” Dorgan told us.
I keep quoting the same article, which notes that specuilative insurance was recognized as a very bad thing 3264 years ago:
In 1746, Parliament passed the Marine Insurance Act, requiring anyone seeking to collect on an insurance contract to have an interest in the continued existence of the insured property. Thus was born the insured-interest doctrine. The indemnity doctrine, which precludes a buyer from insuring property for more than it’s worth, soon followed. The point of these rules is to limit insurance contracts to trading existing risks and not to create new risks by giving buyers of insurance incentive to destroy property. The doctrines have been part of insurance law in both England and the United States (which in 1746 were colonies under English common law) ever since.
But the masters of the universe who nearly killed us all insist that they know better.
Well, they don’t and they should not be listened to, because their interest is purely in their creating ways for them to make money, and if they crash the financial system every 20 years, well, they’ve got theirs.
The reason that Dorgan is not getting his vote is because the reform is so transparently the right thing to do: Just ask the average voter if their neighbor, the creepy one who seems to have strange visitors, should be able to take out insurance on that average voter’s house, so that the creep gets paid when the voter’s house gets burnt down mysteriously.
They won’t allow the vote because the bankers do not want it, and because if it comes up for a vote, they will have to pass it, because it is so transparently the right thing to do.
It’s enough to make me root for the “medicine for chickens” lady to beat Harry Reid in his reelection bid.
Remember when I said that Blanche Lincoln’s ambitious proposal to regulate banks was intended to fail?
I said that it was just a reelection ploy in a tight primary election.
Well, the US Senate is proving me right:
But they [Senate leadership, the Obama administration, etc.] may have gotten themselves stuck with it–at least for now. With their assent, the plan was authored by Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), who designed it to guard her left flank against a somewhat formidable primary challenge, and has been boasting of it on populist grounds for weeks. And that according to Republican and Democratic Senate sources, has led Democrats to quietly agree to postpone any changes they decide to make to her proposal until After this Tuesday’s election has passed, to avoid embarrassing her in front of voters.
(emphasis original)
Lincoln pushed it out of committee knowing that it would be shredded by the Senate leadership.
She just wanted someone else to be the villain, preferably on Wednesday, May 19, or a few days after that.
The latest poll has Sestak beating Arlen Specter by 9 points, 49%-40%.
the MOE is 4.9% with a 95% confidence.
Barring a herculean turnout from the minority community, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter as well as other African American pols are working hard for him, he is toast.