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Sunday, March 15, 2009

Hey, Dana Perino, Stop Harshing My Sugar Buzz!


Since I've been watching what I eat and losing weight, I've become very protective of the moments when I do sit down to enjoy a sugary snack. This morning, I made the mistake of watching former Bush White House Press Secretary Dana Perino on C-SPAN's Washington Journal while merrily dipping donuts in hot chocolate. Perino was holding forth on the topics of the day: foreclosures, bailouts, helping individual homeowners and AIG's new gabillion dollar bonus plan for its executives. In between bites, I was snorting derisively and making odd noises about fairness and nonsense.

During this discussion, Perino made two contrasting statements that not only left me shaking my head, but also made me laugh a little because they so beautifully summed up and illustrated the current Republican way of approaching economics.

When asked about the bill that would help individual homeowners readjust their mortgages so they could stay in their homes instead of being foreclosed upon, Perino defended the idea of fairness. With a statement that was pretty much along the lines of "Well, what if you've been someone who's played by the rules, put twenty percent down, bought within your means and paid your bills on time and now you're being asked to subsidize your neighbor who did everything wrong and got into trouble. That doesn't seem fair......"

It's an argument we've heard before. The bottom line is that this fix isn't going to be fair. And what's more, if you're in a community with lots of foreclosures, it doesn't matter how straight up and fiscally perfect you've been. Your property values are going to suffer, your community is affected by a decrease in property tax receipts and who wants to live around a bunch of empty houses, anyway?

But back to Perino's point - it's about being fair. The fix has to be fair in order for Republicans to get on board with it and for it to be right.

Hmmmmmm. Next comments made by Perino? They involved the bonuses being planned for AIG executives. AIG has received $170 billion in taxpayer funds so far.

According to Perino, this is necessary because if AIG doesn't pay those executive bonuses, then those executives won't be inclined to help the company get out of its mess.

So, according to Perino, I should go into the office tomorrow and tell my boss J that unless I get a twenty-five million dollar bonus, I won't be so inclined to do my job and help our industry out of the mess it's in?

Dang, if I'd only known all those years ago that that's all it took.......

But I hope you get my point. Perino's statements illustrate one of the many things wrong with the way Republicans think. According to their current doctrine, it's fine to hand unspeakable amounts of taxpayer cash (with no accountability) to a very small number of people because you fear they won't do what you've hired them to do if you don't reward them for failure and thievery.

Well, I tell you, People of the Internets, I've looked and looked, but I don't see the fairness in that. Not even one tiny little bit.

So it's wrong to ask taxpayers to help their neighbors, family and friends keep a roof over their heads by adjusting what were, in may cases, unregulated, hokey scam mortgages, in turn helping out the whole community and benefiting the many, and not just the fabulously wealthy few.

The Republicans are pretty clear and consistent on this.....
Lots of help for the few = good
Some help for all = unfair

I'd heard enough. I asked MathMan to hand me the remote and we switched to some music. We're going through the foreclosure process right now and we know what it's like to try to work with a lender who is more interested in playing games than actually reaching some kind of reasonable solution that will keep you in your home and still get them the lion's share of the money you owe them.

Now I remember why I've pretty much forsaken political television. It makes my donut eating experience less pleasing..........

45 comments:

  1. She is her own brand of stupid isn't she... lol Why would anyone put her up for a job as a pundit is beyond me. Her kind of stupid is why I don't watch much of the political Sunday morning shit either.. As you said.. it is a good way to ruin what little bit of sugar high I can find...lol

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  2. I thought of you in bed this morning.....as I was watching the same thing.
    she was something else wasn't she?

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  3. I think "playing by the rules" is really just Republican code for "brown people who had the gall to want to own their homes." They're using their favorite scapegoat, and conveniently forgetting the fact that Bush's push for an "ownership society" and the Republican's own distaste for oversight and regulation let the banking industry get away with the shenanigans that helped get us into this mess.

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  4. There is not enough profanity in the world to describe how I feel about those motherfucking, cocksucking, shit-in-their-own-shoes assholes at AIG being so handsomely rewarded for their gross incompetence. You'd think they would be embarrassed! Oh, wait...they will probably blame Obama for making the money available for their bonuses and they are just being reluctantly supportive of his misdirected policies.

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  5. Holeeee Shit..Perino is a real piece of work..or rather a fine Repube talking point deliverer. Ack!

    We can't have anyone ruin your sugar buzz...they don't happen often anymore do they?

    Did I tell you the cats stole the key to the Treadmill? I have torn the entire house apart and can't find it...bastards! Treadmill won't run without it in place.

    I have gained back 6 lbs...I am quite depressed about it...sick in fact. :(

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  6. I'm just amazed that they keep repeating the ridiculous idea that executives just can't be expected to do their jobs without huge bonuses. Really? With nearly 9% unemployment? I'm sure there are many many bright and ambitious business school graduates who will take those jobs for mere hundreds of thousands, and will probably be no less competent than the executives they replace.

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  7. I'm going to give Perino a few points for having enough brain cells to not dis Obama. Someone called in to say Obama was being a hypocrite for saying one thing while campaigning and doing another now that he's in office, and Perino kind of chided the caller for not understanding that it happens with every candidate because once you're in office you have to deal with realities you didn't know existed while the campaign was going on.

    I noticed she was trying real hard to stay on message about Bush's legacy (that AIDS program in Africa) and seemed to get a tad annoyed when callers wanted to ask about stuff happening in this country now.

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  8. Okay...now you've done it. I have to go buy doughnuts.

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  9. The thing that gets me is when they say that they have to give the huge bonuses so they'll stay around. Where in the hell are they going to go and if they could find a better job, let them!!

    As for helping people, they (Repukes) only believe in helping those that don't need it and punishing those that do need help because if they are dumb enough to be poor, they deserve to be punished. Besides, it's no fun kicking someone unless they are already down!!

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  10. Thanks to the Bush watch for 8 years... I'm inclined to not get a bonus this year, wages have been froze, and I'll be lucky if we don't decide to trim our salaries back to the level they were when Bush took over.

    Heck it's not all their fault, but they shoulder a lot of the dumb market laise faire policies that got us here.

    Dave

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  11. Stick with donuts and ditch MSM. MMMMM....donuts.

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  12. I will have to agree with Madam Z. My profanity vocabulary, while vast and unfathomably deep in nature, cannot do justice to the excrement being propagated on a daily basis by the GOP and their fearless leader, Mr. Limberger Cheese and all those who follow.

    I spit on them.

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  13. Enjoy the doughnuts and ignore the rest!

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  14. Republican shills on TV and radio have been hitting those points for a while now, even pre-Obama. They try and get the average Joe or Jane to focus on the notion of spendthrift mortgagees, and totally gloss over the fact that the biggest part of this mess is due not to individual homeowners defaulting--rather it's due to the widespread speculation and trading in mortgages that was engaged in by the assholes getting those bonuses.

    And remember, those aren't donuts--they're power rings.

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  15. Being the liberal I am, help those who needs help, the common folk. We are all in this together.

    Pass me a donut, please.

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  16. All I can think of is the comparison between the center of the doughnut - the doughnut hole and Ms. Dana's political veiws: there is nothing there.

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  17. I've said it before and I'll say it again: move up here to Canada! True, we currently have a weasel as a Prime Minister, but not for long. And you would love our Tim Horton's donuts and maple syrup season is just beginning. I mean think of it: springtime in Canada with maple syrup and pancakes and Neil Young music and Joni Mitchell music in the air. Your heart will feel light. You will skip along the honeysuckle path as if every day was a holiday.

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  18. Dana Perino is a simpering imbecile. I read a headline on AOL that said she tried to credit that clueless horse's ass Bush with the recent uptick in the market.
    Whaaaat?
    I think Perino might be the love child of Rush Limbaugh and Kay Bailey Hutchison.
    Whenever I see her on TV, my remote jumps into my hand and forces my thumb onto the change-it button.
    As long as I have an ass, Perino has a place to kiss.

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  19. The AIG assholes would work for circus peanuts if it came to it as they would never be able to find another job now.

    Nobody with any morals would touch them.

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  20. 1) AIG's executives need huge benefits to do their fucking job, but unions are destroying the country because companies can't fire someone for goofing off (bullshit).
    2) If AIG does not give the executives bonuses, where in the fuck are they going to go? I want the name of this mythical solvent financial firm that is going to hire away all the geniuses at AIG who let it become a 40 cent stock.
    They either think we are stupid or non-threatening. I'm guessing the later. That can be cured.

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  21. This is class warfare and she is on the side of the rich, so of course she is going to defend what should not be defended. What gets me is that the media has completely turned their back on us--we the people and they are only too happy to spoon feed us this shit. And what is worse, so many people shallow it.

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  22. This is class warfare and she is on the side of the rich, so of course she is going to defend what should not be defended. What gets me is that the media has completely turned their backs on us--we the people, and they are only too happy to spoon feed us this shit. And what is worse, so many people shallow it.

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  23. fucking dial up bullshit-delete that first comment there for me please!

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  24. politics and religion do my head in big time- but chocolate donuts i can relate too.......
    thank you for the lovely comment on my blog, it made my day xxx

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  25. Do not share your fucking donuts with those overpaid asshats from AIG. They don't want to help you, so screw them.

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  26. Dana Perino is so full of it I'll bet she has brown eyes. How does she explain the 6 mil laid off workers? Or how her boss and his predicessor screwed up the economic system in the US of A

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  27. Oh that would make me eat too-in anger! What liars these people are! yes you're right-profits for the few is good and sharing is not good for these buffoons!

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  28. The same is happening in the UK, just different names, different banks. One of the reasons UHugh and I are in a mess is because of his bank fooking up. Meanwhile, they're still going to get their bonuses. It puts me off my food too:(

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  29. Isn't it a least refreshing to know that all that donut lard is going straight to her fat ass?

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  30. Wait … did you talk about something..? You lost me at ‘dipping donuts in hot chocolate”

    Really though… I am really tired of the “blame” game… especially when it is focused on the wrong people.

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  31. It really is galling. Your company fucks everyone, then uses our tax money to reward your top fuckers. Although I just heard Obama is trying to block this.

    And it is kind of hard to stay outraged and think of donuts at the same time.

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  32. Having scrolled through the humorous and profane (and genuinely pissed off) comments, I can only say that I agree wholeheartedly. The Republican logic of fair and just reward is most illogical.

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  33. Making me wonder yet again how working people can somehow believe that the GOP has their best interest at heart. Perhaps that attitude will be changing sooner than later.

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  34. Personally, if not paying their bonuses will make the current gang of idiots go away, that sounds like a double win.

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  35. I think the Re-probes have gone to The Palin School Of Re-Inventing History.

    If it doesn't jive with the rosey picture you're force-feeding to the general public; make something up.

    Repeat it enough, they're bound to buy it.

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  36. "According to their {Republicans} current doctrine, it's fine to hand unspeakable amounts of taxpayer cash (with no accountability) to a very small number of people...So it's wrong to ask taxpayers to help ...out the whole community and benefiting the many, and not just the fabulously wealthy few."

    I suppose the converse is true then....Democrats support giving taxpayer money to anyone who got in trouble with their mortgages, regardless if they were at fault or acting in greed (no accountability), but employees at a company, who are now working to try and stabilize the financial situation of that company specifically, and the our financial system in general, regardless of whether their individual actions or those of the department they work in had anything to do with the mess the company is in, should be denied (promised) bonuses for the work they are doing?

    And please, for the record, i believe those entitled to these bonuses should refuse them, because it's the right thing to do

    I would have more sympathy if something was being asked of homeowners who are being bailed out, rather than just here's your cash...how about in return for a revised mortgage, the homeowners agree to an re-assessment of their home value some agreed upon time down the line, and they are taxed accordingly on the gain they've experienced on the home as a result of the reduced mortgage they accepted. Also, if they sell the home within a number of years after accepting the revised mortgage, any capital gains they experience would be refunded to the taxpayers.

    "The Republicans are pretty clear and consistent on this.....
    Lots of help for the few = good
    Some help for all = unfair"

    Sorry, way too simplistic...I would say that Republicans support helping those who are truly in need, through no fault of their own...the whole concept of "risk" has been turned on its head by the policies of the Democrats. You try not only to minimize risk, but remove any consequences for making a bad decision. I'm sorry it's harsh, it's rotten, it's not fair, but life is not fair, and it is not the government's role to try and make it so.

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  37. Great post, Lisa, and i agree. It's all about who the fairness is to.

    To Jonah's point, nothing is ever that simplistic, but certainly most of the time this is the way Republicans think, at least those who are yakking on TV. I find them so hypocritical.

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  38. Mauigirl,
    Republicans so hypocritical? You mean like this:

    "While the Senate was constructing the $787 billion stimulus last month, [Sen. Chris] Dodd added an executive-compensation restriction to the bill. That amendment provides an “exception for contractually obligated bonuses agreed on before Feb. 11, 2009” -- which exempts the very AIG bonuses Dodd and others are now seeking to tax.

    The amendment made it into the final version of the bill, and is law.

    Separately, Sen. Dodd was AIG’s largest single recipient of campaign donations during the 2008 election cycle with $103,100, according to opensecrets.org."

    From Fox Business News

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  39. Jonah - Welcome back. I've all but given up on making political statements, but then I'd miss you!

    The issue I have with your statement about Republicans wanting to help those who've been hurt through "no fault of their own" is that it's a ruse because most Republicans don't ever think that anyone is a victim "through not fault of their own," unless, of course, they themselves are the victim. Same with their hatred of lawyers, for example. They hate them until they need one to sue somebody.

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  40. Please.
    Republicans have lost all moral highground and especially any fiscal credibility.
    Quoting Fox Business News further diminishes both flaws.
    And so overwhelming is their typical sense of entitlement, they think they still deserve our courteous attention when they invade our blogs with their fingers wagging and jaws jabbering.
    Trotting out Chris Dodd, when compared to George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, John McCain, Sarah Palin, Michael Steele, Rush Limbaugh, ad naseam, is weaker than weak.
    Republicans should shut the fuck up, sit the fuck down and develop some humility.
    After what they did to America over the last 8 years, hearing one opine now is like watching a child molestor trying to give the victim a fucking ice cream cone afterwards.

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  41. Lisa,
    I should do a better job of posting on your non-poilitical postings myself...I thoroughly enjoy them...frankly, too often I agree with what you're writing about (ususally can empathize completely) which makes a reply that says "hey me too!" just too boring for me...more fun to respond to these posts I suppose.

    Trust me, Republicans are not the the hard-hearted,every man for themself type we get protrayed as. I have no problem with people receiving unemployment when they lose their jobs, of receiving public assistance when times are tough, medical insurance, etc. But those cannot be substitutes for doing it on your own--the old "a hand up, not a hand out"...what's wrong with expecting some accountability and responsibility on the recipients of public benefits' part?

    It's the difference however of turning to government as a first resort rather than last. Of being allowed to live your life on your own two feet, realizing that you'll make mistakes, and soemtimes you have to live with them. One of the worst things George W. Bush ever said (I know most folks who read this blog can list hundreds more egregious items), but one that reflects this mindset was "when people are hurting, government has to act". No it doesn't. We've gotten so far away from the community we live in helping each other out...whether it be religious groups or civic associations, or just being good neighbors. Why on earth do we as a society seem to believe that these 535 clowns in Wash. D.C. know better what to do with our money than us? Why do we turn to the part of government most removed from our immediate community for assistance?

    I don't buy the argument that if government doesn't do it, then no one will. Instead we've been taught we don't need to do anything, govt. will take care of it for you.

    Look, I know of where I speak. Every day of my working life is filled with people asking what can my government give me. And when they see people who pay no income tax getting tax refunds, they don't ask why those people get it...they ask why can't I get one too. When they see people who took bad mortgage deals (for whatever reason) getting new mortgages at far more favorable rates, they say "what about me?".

    Oh and we don't hate all lawyers either...just the ones who think the Constitution is alive ;)

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  42. Karen Zipdrive,
    So if it's on fox news it's not true? Really?

    I "trotted" out Dodd, in response to a previous commenter stating that Republicans were hypocrites.

    I do not expect "couteous attention". I simply ask for the same respectful treatment I believe I extend towards others. I'm sorry you feel differently.

    I particularly enjoy having been compared to a child molester...now that's classy.
    Too bad I've lost the moral highground.

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  43. Ahh, such smug condescension. One more reason these arrogant, know-it-all Republicans have been tossed aside like last year's rotting garbage.
    Your boys are in the ditch, pal.
    Get over it.
    And quit trying to sound like David Frum. You lack the grammatical skills and it casts further aspersions on your Fox News talking points.

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  44. It's not condescension nor arrogance, simply responding to comments from others.

    Also not trying to sound like David Frum, nor do I watch Fox news on any regular basis--only when there is some breaking story--and even then I switch between Fox, CNN, and MSNBC. I actually watch no regular news programs, either network or cable. The only thing I do watch as much as possible would be Redeye on Fox, which is so beyond regular news, it can't even be classified as such.

    And speaking of MSNBC, one show I do occasionally check in on is Rachel Maddow. Quite an interesting interview with Sen. Ron Wyden last night. It seems he had an amendment to the stimulus that passed the Senate, which he said would have prevented the bonuses from being paid. However, it was removed in the Conference Committee. Too bad Rachel didn't ask him who removed it...maybe because it was only Democrats who were involved in the Conference Committee?

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  45. Oh wow-is this THE Jonah!!??? Jonah Goldberg?! Of "Liberal Fascism" fame!? I guess the book thing isn't working out too well. If your book is done with "lolcats" than one might see why though. Jonah, are some kinda fellow, man. No one gets your book-I mean, it's satire, for pete's sake-like the Onion. If people would just lighten up, and see that it is HUMOR and TONGUE IN CHEEK, then the book might sell. Might.

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