Financial Reform

As always I'm happy to put up links, letters to the editor, or any other items you think voters should read or think about.

 

From the inbox:

Normally, nothing is likely to put voters to sleep faster than talking about financial reform. "Nothing to do with me...zzzzz." (Wrong, of course, as the Great Recession proved.)

 

But the Republican leadership is expert at finding a way to lie about (and thereby seek political advantage in) even so seemingly abstract an issue, by calling anything to do with such reform a "Big Business Bailout" -- a lie, but that's never been an obstruction to Republicans seeking power:

 

"Sen. Corker Refutes Right-Wing Talking Point: The Resolution Fund Is ‘Anything But A Bailout.’" 4/19/2010
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/04/19/corker-mcconnell-bailout/

 

"Mitch McConnell Gets it Wrong." By Robert Reich, 4/19/2010
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/mitch-mcconnell-gets-it-w_b_543474.html

 

"Dems Dig For GOP Votes Ahead Of Key Financial Reform Vote." April 19, 2010
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/04/dems-dig-for-gop-votes-ahead-of-key-financial-reform-vote.php

 

"Democrats stand by $50B fund." 4/19/2010
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0410/36060.html

 

And here's a bit about the suit against Goldman Sachs:

"Would Financial Reform Have Stopped Goldman's Scheme?" 4/19/2010
http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=04&year=2010&base_name=would_financial_reform_have_st

 

Republicans on the S.E.C. voted against filing suit against Goldman Sachs:
"Party lines." By Mark Kleiman, April 19th, 2010
http://www.samefacts.com/2010/04/financial-crises/party-lines/

P.S.  In case you missed it in the "Sen. Corker..." article above, here's the link to the memo from Frank Luntz, the Republicans' adviser on the manipulation of voters through language: http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/languageoffinancialreform.pdf. The name of Luntz's outfit, The Word Doctors, is instructive in a literal sense (he does advise the use of particular words and phrases), but the motto makes the real point: "It's not what you say, it's what people hear." What's interesting is that, although anyone who pays attention to political news knows about the Luntz memos and hears the Republicans constantly using these manipulative words, the words still are just as effective with the general public, who are unaware that they're being manipulated (for reasons I've discussed before -- and will again).

Thanks for the heads up!  Keep them coming...

Posted via email from Jim Nichols for GA State House