Democrats and Republicans Chant, “Ay Oh, Tim Has Got To Go”
Posted in AIG, Barack Obama, Chris Dodd, Congress, Maxine Waters, Tim Geithner on March 20th, 2009 by John H – Be the first to commentI recently questioned how long the government would continue trying to throw AIG under the bus for this whole bonusgate mess. Apparently just long enough for the politicians’ instinct for self-preservation to kicks in.
It’s basic human nature. If you can call politicians human. In the end it doesn’t matter if they are Republican, Democrat, or Independent — no one wants this stink on them and have to face the very mob they helped gin up. But there appears to be a sort of honor among these thieves and rather than give up one of their own they will offer up a bigger “prize.”
Just a few days ago as the public eye shifted in his direction, Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) “confessed” the Obama administration pressured him to clear the way for the AIG bonuses.
According to FoxNews:
Dodd, a five-term senator, was already facing a tough re-election contest in 2010. He says the Obama administration insisted he modify his proposal to rein in bonuses at companies getting billions of dollars in financial bailouts so that it would only apply to payments agreed to in the future — thus clearing the way for the AIG payouts.
It was that or have his executive pay limits dropped altogether from the $787 billion stimulus measure that passed last month, Dodd says.
He agreed to the changes “in order to preserve the amendment,” Dodd told reporters Thursday. “They sought it; I didn’t. They asked for the changes … and so we agreed to those changes.”
On the Joe and Mika Radio Show, Maxine Waters (D-Cali.) fighting for her own survival threw Dodd a lifeline and questioned Obama’s understanding of the facts including the part the Treasury played in the AIG bonuses.
Even Republicans are supporting Dodd’s confession in order to lend legitimacy to their call for the resignation of Treasury Secretary Tim “Turbo Tax” Geithner.
Florida Republican Rep. Connie Mack called for Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to lose his job Wednesday, becoming the first Capitol Hill lawmaker to call for his ouster over AIG’s using tens of millions of taxpayer dollars for executive bonuses.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., later joined in the call Wednesday.
Mack told FOX News that Geithner should resign or the administration should fire him.
“The American people certainly don’t see any competence in him. And I think he’s got a lot of questions to answer,” he said.
Mack said in a written statement released earlier in the day that President Obama should nominate a new treasury secretary with “the experience and leadership skills America deserves.”
“Quite simply, the Timothy Geithner experience has been a disaster. The Treasury Department is in disarray. Taxpayer dollars are being wasted,” he said.
Honor among thieves indeed.