The classical illustration of chutzpah, of course, is the man who is convicted of murdering his parents, and then pleads for the court's mercy on the grounds that he is an orphan.
Well, surprise !!!, some Republicans are coming up with good seconds.
Michele Bachmann denounces Obama's stimulus spending and turns his "socialism" (aka Keynesian economic policies) into an applause line. Hyopocrisy? You betcha !! (Oh, no, it's the "other one" who uses that line).
Anyway, as she likes to say, she has "fought hard" to get stimulus funds from federal agencies for her district. In doing so, she has used the Keynesian rationale, saying that the projects would create jobs and boost the economy. At another time, she decries stimulus spending, saying it will ruin the economy and destroy jobs. Duh !!!
Cognitive dissonance, thy name is Bachmann.
But the ones who take top prize, and rival the orphan in court, are a couple of Georgia lawmakers. They obtained a million dollar plus bank loan to buy and improve a run-down motel in North Georgia, with loan payments leveraged against the expectation of improving and selling the property at a profit in time to pay off the debt.
It didn't work out. The motel still sits unused and deteriorating. They couldn't pay the bank, and the bank is now suing them for the debt. Their lawyer just entered this plea: It's really the bank's fault: it should never have loaned them the money in the first place, because it was obvious that they couldn't repay it. In other words, the bank made an insufficiently collateralized loan -- one of the perks for politicians with power. Just ask Governor Nathan Deal, who is a master at such deals.
I know Democrats do and say stupid things, too. But I do believe the current crop of Republicans win every time on ignorance, stupidity, greed, moral failings, and just plain chutzpah.
Ralph
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Another Yiddish expression
ReplyDelete"A nahr bleibt a nahr" - A fool remains a fool
Mike Wallace confronted Bachmann on TV this morning about railing against earmarks while pushing to get them. Her answer (translated): Earmarks are bad; but when I ask for money for some project in my district, it's not an earmark; it's freedom from big government. It's to create jobs.
ReplyDeleteThis could wind up in the White House, answering the phone at 3 am, pace Hillary?
Now wait a minute: I assume the politicians' loan was a formal contract, which means they signed it promising to pay.
ReplyDeleteIf their defense is that the bank shouldn't have lent them the money because they knew they couldn't pay -- doesn't that also mean that they, themselves, knew they couldn't pay. Did they not then falsify a legal document?
Isn't that a crime?