Reply #29: He forgot to list JOE BIDEN as part of "The Money Party." [View All]

[in_cog_ni_to]

Money Party Leaders

Sen. Chuck Schumer and Reps. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) and Steny Hoyer (D-MD): All three of these men, now in leadership positions, have made very little effort to conceal that they answer to Big Money interests. Schumer, for instance, recently trumpeted a new report calling for post-Enron corporate reforms to be gutted. Emanuel was the architect of NAFTA who used the prospect of his being in the majority on the Ways and Means Committee to suck corporate cash out of Wall Street. Hoyer bragged on his website about starting his own K Street Project, and, as I documented in Hostile Takeover, one of his top legislative staffers serves simultaneously as an official for his corporate fundraising operation -- 'nuff said.

Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA): Tauscher has been one of the most aggressive spokespeople for the Money Party, using her position to undercut major Democratic efforts to address core economic issues from a middle-class perspective. As an example, it was Tauscher who ran to newspapers desperately trying to let K Street know that she would be working to undermine Democrats' efforts to reform our trade policy. More recently, she told the New York Times that Democrats would be engaging in a "kabuki dance" with their own base voters -- implying that there would be moves for show, but that pay-to-play business as usual in Washington will continue in the new Congress.

Sen. Joe Lieberman (CfL-CT): Lieberman's reelection campaign (which I worked against) was funded by a massive infusion of K Street and Republican cash, and he will -- as usual -- be using his position to shill for the special interests who have so openly relied on him. If ever there was a lobbyist in Senator's clothing, Lieberman is it.

Any Lawmaker Who Signed This Letter: Any lawmaker who signed this famous letter begging then-Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) to immediately pass the credit card industry-written bankruptcy bill is most likely a committed member of the Money Party. There may, of course, be some exceptions as some lawmakers on the list may have realized the error of their ways. But anyone who still believes in this letter and the bankruptcy bill it advocated for is very deeply committed to the Money Party because the bill was arguably the most brazen tool of middle class economic persecution that ever came through the Republican Congress. Yes, some bills were perhaps more far reaching, but most of those were at least packaged as an effort to help regular people, even if they weren't. By contrast, the bankruptcy bill made absolutely no real effort to pretend it was anything other than a weapon to hurt regular citizens. And therefore, anyone Democrat who signed a letter to a Republican Speaker of the House asking that he pass this bill was making a statement not just on this bill, but on their entire philosophy and loyalty on every economic issue.<snip>

http://www.alternet.org/stories/45066