[Note: This column is coauthored by Buckley Carlson]
In the high-stakes poker game of Washington, D.C., power-politics, Democrats are holding a pair of deuces but telling Republicans they’ve got a royal flush. Poker is all about bluff and bluster and unfounded confidence. And the rules governing politics aren’t much different. So, good for the Democrats. What’s upsetting, though, is that the Republicans are ready to fold, despite holding a full house, aces high. It’s pathetic. And at this particular table – where the minimum bet is the future of America’s free market system – it’s unacceptable.
Watching and listening to the debate over Obama’s so called “financial reform” bill, one could be excused the impression that Republicans are “the party of Wall Street,” flush with corrupt banker cash, desperate to stymie justice, and eager to craft a reform bill that conforms to Wall Street’s specific wish list. How do we know? Well, Democrats have been making the case all week. As they did to the Politico on Wednesday:
“’Bipartisanship for Republican leaders means bringing Wall Street to the table, bring Wall Street banks into the room, and let them help you write the legislation,’ said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).”
This is akin to Eliot Spitzer blackmailing a prostitute, Nancy Pelosi calling someone else a lunatic, or Bill Clinton ascribing “political” motives to an electoral opponent. But the Democrat narrative on Wall Street – the corrupting influence of cash, and which party wallows most in the trough – is just as ludicrous, and just as blatantly dishonest. And make no mistake, it is the ONLY narrative on the subject, currently. And yet, Republicans are too timid, too disorganized or just too plain pathetic to raise even the smallest flag of protest. How can it be?
For more than a week now, we’ve been advising Republican Senators that they must demand a special prosecutor investigate the already documented connection between President Obama, Wall Street Financiers and the Congressional Democrats who have been loudly posturing that they are going after “big business.”