I Could Not Agree Less

It is one of my pet peeves of Dylan Ratigan that he ends so many of his interviews with the phrase "I couldn't agree more"; he could be talking to a far left liberal like Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) or a far right conservative like Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and he ends up buying the shit they're selling (no offense, Alan!).

This comes to mind because I was watching the Thursday (6/10/10) DR show and Mr. Ratigan posed this question to Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) (often referred to as the #3 Republican in the House (behind John Boehner and Eric Cantor)):

DR: "Is there a political opportunity for conservatives or Republicans... to call out the Democrats as you just did (my note: he actually had done no such thing) and push to actually address Too Big To Fail, to actually force capital requirements as Susan Collins, a Republican, has done?"

I mean, does Ratigan have any idea what he says on his own show? It was Ratigan who was strongly advocating for the Brown-Kaufman Amendment in the senate bill because it truly addressed TBTF. He should be very well aware that three of 41 Republicans voted for that amendment! How are they going to credibly "call out" Democrats when they have no interest in legitimately addressing the issue?

Moreover, it was also Ratigan himself who has long called out Republicans for a talking a good game (such as Mike Pence's oft-repeated talking point "Freedom to succeed must include the freedom to fail") while not actually being willing to follow through when a crisis hits. Keep in mind, it was the Reagan administration that bailed out Continental Illinois in 1984, it was George H.W. Bush administration who bailed out the savings and loans in 1989, and the George W. Bush administration bailed out the airline industry in 2001 and, obviously, passed TARP in 2008.

So without passing judgment on the wisdom of any those financial rescues, it is clear that bailouts, rescues, emergency loans, by whatever name you wish to call them, are a bipartisan tactic.

A former president once (in)famously said:

"Fool me once shame on... shame on you... fool me can't get fooled again." -- George W. Bush

I guess what I am saying is that if you believe Mike Pence and the other Republicans and their Frank Luntz approved rhetoric, you're a fool. Sorry, Dylan... it had to be said.