In his weekly address President Obama explains the importance of Wall Street reform and finally gets around to saying what should've been said a long time ago -- Republicans lie.
The emphasis there is mine. He does a good job of tying the GOP to Wall Street with the line about "the people who profit from the status quo -– as well their allies in Washington."
If we've learned anything about Republicans over the past decade, it's that they're shameless liars. Just look at the healthcare non-debate; I'm having a hard time thinking of some objection they had that was based entirely in fact. Seriously, I'm stumped. It was all "death panels" and "government takeover" and freakin' Communism. Looking back, all I see are blatant lies.
Republicans have done a great job of getting "tax and spend liberals" into people's heads -- ironically, another lie. Maybe it's time for Democrats to get "lying Republicans" into people's heads the same way. It wouldn't be all that difficult, they do it constantly, so you wouldn't be hardpressed to find the example of the day.
So repeat after me: Senator Mitch McConnell is a Republican. Republicans lie. Therefore, Sen. McConnell is a liar.
That wasn't so hard, was it? And bonus, it's absolutely true.
(h/t Greg Sargent)
UPDATE: MSNBC's Rachel Maddow explains just why McConnell's a liar and where the lie comes from:
Republicans: the best political party money can buy.
Now, unsurprisingly, these reforms have not exactly been welcomed by the people who profit from the status quo – as well their allies in Washington. This is probably why the special interests have spent a lot of time and money lobbying to kill or weaken the bill. Just the other day, in fact, the Leader of the Senate Republicans and the Chair of the Republican Senate campaign committee met with two dozen top Wall Street executives to talk about how to block progress on this issue.
Lo and behold, when he returned to Washington, the Senate Republican Leader came out against the common-sense reforms we’ve proposed. In doing so, he made the cynical and deceptive assertion that reform would somehow enable future bailouts – when he knows that it would do just the opposite. Every day we don’t act, the same system that led to bailouts remains in place – with the exact same loopholes and the exact same liabilities. And if we don’t change what led to the crisis, we’ll doom ourselves to repeat it. That’s the truth. Opposing reform will leave taxpayers on the hook if a crisis like this ever happens again.
So my hope is that we can put this kind of politics aside. My hope is that Democrats and Republicans can find common ground and move forward together. But this is certain: one way or another, we will move forward. This issue is too important. The costs of inaction are too great. We will hold Wall Street accountable. We will protect and empower consumers in our financial system. That’s what reform is all about. That’s what we’re fighting for. And that’s exactly what we’re going to achieve.
The emphasis there is mine. He does a good job of tying the GOP to Wall Street with the line about "the people who profit from the status quo -– as well their allies in Washington."
If we've learned anything about Republicans over the past decade, it's that they're shameless liars. Just look at the healthcare non-debate; I'm having a hard time thinking of some objection they had that was based entirely in fact. Seriously, I'm stumped. It was all "death panels" and "government takeover" and freakin' Communism. Looking back, all I see are blatant lies.
Republicans have done a great job of getting "tax and spend liberals" into people's heads -- ironically, another lie. Maybe it's time for Democrats to get "lying Republicans" into people's heads the same way. It wouldn't be all that difficult, they do it constantly, so you wouldn't be hardpressed to find the example of the day.
So repeat after me: Senator Mitch McConnell is a Republican. Republicans lie. Therefore, Sen. McConnell is a liar.
That wasn't so hard, was it? And bonus, it's absolutely true.
(h/t Greg Sargent)
UPDATE: MSNBC's Rachel Maddow explains just why McConnell's a liar and where the lie comes from:
Republicans: the best political party money can buy.
