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In Financial Crisis, Pelosi Chose Politics Over Statesmanship, Killing Bailout
Tweet Share on Facebook September 30, 2008 Comment (74)My colleague Rob Schlesinger takes exception to my earlier post criticizing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's speech ahead of yesterday's bailout vote. Against expectations, the vote failed, and the California Democrat's unnecessary partisanship appears to have played a role in that. Rob chides late-switching Republicans for sacrificing the nation's interest to playground retaliation for Pelosi's remarks.
As I noted, a good many House members on both the right and the left had already noted their opposition to the bill prior to Pelosi's speech. Even with those "no" votes, the bill was ready to pass. One way or another, the speaker—whose job is to lead the House—managed to tip the balance the other way.
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Nancy Pelosi's Financial Crisis Bailout Partisan Train Wreck
Tweet Share on Facebook September 29, 2008 Comment (92)So the $700 billion bailout is off the table for now, as 95 Democrats and 135 Republicans in the House surprised everyone and defied what looked like a fait accompli. The bill wasn't a perfect beast, and plenty of lawmakers on the right and left had signaled their substantive opposition before the vote. Still, its passage seemed manageable. So what happened? A lot of fingers are pointing at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose prevote speech was a galling display of partisan taunts rather than serious urgency.
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Mexico, Colombia, and Why Afghanistan Should Follow Their Lead Dealing With Drugs
Tweet Share on Facebook September 25, 2008 Comment (3)Yesterday, a New York jury convicted a major Afghan drug lord on two counts of heroin distribution. Nearly six years after the invasion of Afghanistan, the verdicts against Bashir Noorzai represent the first high-level convictions of an Afghan opium lord. And while the case is an individual success, it is also a reminder of how ineffective U.S. counternarcotics policy is in Afghanistan.
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Barney Frank 'Fesses Up on Financial Crisis
Tweet Share on Facebook September 23, 2008 Comment (80)Over the past few weeks I've been skeptical of claims by Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, that he's been a consistent and leading voice for reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government-sponsored home-lending giants whose fall is the immediate cause of the current financial turmoil. The Massachusetts Democrat and I went at it here and here and here. Now, finally, Frank acknowledges that he dismissed ample warnings about Fannie and Freddie shenanigans five years ago.
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Sorry, Charlie—Rangel Makes More Excuses for His Failure to Pay Taxes
Tweet Share on Facebook September 15, 2008 Comment (66)The list of excuses offered by Rep. Charles Rangel for failing to pay taxes on at least $75,000 in rental income from his luxury beachfront villa in the Caribbean grows longer. Now the Associated Press takes the Harlem Democrat, who is chairman of the powerful tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, to task for inaccuracies in his personal financial disclosures to Congress.
There's nothing new that's overly juicy—although the sloppy form-filling only reinforces the perception that Rangel is a financial scofflaw. But his excuse is priceless: "While over the years I delegated to my staff the completion of my annual House financial disclosure statements, I had the ultimate responsibility."
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Responding Frank-ly—I Fire Back on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
Tweet Share on Facebook September 12, 2008 Comment (11)Earlier today, Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the Financial Services Committee, asked to respond to my Wednesday post concerning his revisionist take on his own efforts to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored home-loan behemoths that recently went belly-up. After reading through his response, I see no reason to revise my earlier remarks. Indeed, the Massachusetts Democrat's comments only reinforce my view that he has played fast and loose with history.
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Speaking Frank-ly—Barney Frank Fires Back on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
Tweet Share on Facebook September 12, 2008 Comment (36)In the wake of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debacle, I took to task Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the chairman of the Financial Services Committee, for his fanciful memory of efforts to reform the housing-mortgage giants. I felt that Frank's recent remarks wrongly assessed blame and aggrandized, if not contradicted, his own response when red flags were raised about the siblings' financial health several years ago.
Frank took exception to my characterizations and asked to be allowed to respond. Here is my original post, and below is Frank's rebuttal:
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The Post’s Cooked Poll and Obama’s Tax Class Warfare
Tweet Share on Facebook September 11, 2008 Comment (36)The Washington Post carries a bizarre piece today about the seeming disconnect between Barack Obama's tax plan and voters' perception of it. The crux of it is that, according to a new Washington Post-ABC poll, 51 percent of potential voters believe their taxes would rise under Obama, while just 33 percent said the same of John McCain.
This prompts a lengthy defense of Obama's tax plan, full of imbalances and outright whoppers. For instance, the article notes that Obama "is fighting the widespread perception that he would jack up tax rates upon taking office." It's hardly a widespread perception—Obama himself has said over and over that he would raise taxes on the top 5 percent of earners. So is it any wonder that a candidate who has pledged to raise taxes on one group stokes fears that he'll also raise others? The larger mystery is why a candidate who has pledged to unequivocally cut taxes (McCain) is still regarded with suspicion by a third of voters.
Nevertheless, the reporters write, the poll results "are likely to be particularly frustrating for Obama, who has failed not only to break through on taxes but also to capitalize on McCain's perceived weakness on the economy, the central issue of the campaign."
But the Post's poll results don't demonstrate McCain's "perceived weakness the economy."
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Charlie Rangel Owns Up (Sort of)
Tweet Share on Facebook September 11, 2008 Comment (24)Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and the nation's top tax-writer, held a press conference yesterday to deflate a burgeoning scandal concerning his failure to pay taxes on $75,000 in rental income from a Caribbean beach villa he owns.
When the story first broke, Rangel claimed he didn't know what "income" meant and that his wife, Alma, handled the family's investments and tax returns. Yesterday, he cast the blame even wider: It was the resort management's "failure to provide timely and regular statements," he said, and "the cultural and language barrier" of the Dominican Republic, where his luxury condo is located.
But more interesting is the degree to which Rangel relied upon superlawyer Lanny Davis over the last week to explain the basics of the tax system the chairman oversees.
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Barney Frank's Fannie and Freddie Muddle
Tweet Share on Facebook September 10, 2008 Comment (82)Now that crisis management has taken root and Fannie and Freddie have been placed in conservatorship, a number of commentators have remarked that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's actions bear a striking resemblance to what his predecessor proposed five years ago. Whether the two mortgage giants deserve a future will be a pitched battle, but for now, Democratic Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the Financial Services Committee chairman, has issued a press release with a fanciful take on history.
