Thursday, January 29, 2009
Politics / Woods Our Contrarian Congressman Does It Again
Posted by Jeff Woods on Thu, Jan 29, 2009 at 8:19 AM
Here's Cooper's explanation for his vote:
"I love Obama, but I'm disappointed with Congress for its business-as-usual attitude. The bill is loaded with pork. Half of it had nothing to do with stimulus. Only 5 percent has to do with the infrastructure projects that most people in the public think is in the bill. It was the largest bill in American history, by far, and one of the most wasteful. It's likely it will only get worse when it goes to the Senate."
But as Gold points out, Cooper voted for the $700 billion financial bailout. Here's what he said then:
"As the crisis has worsened, stronger and stronger medicine seems to be necessary. Just two or three weeks ago, government ownership of private banks would have been almost unthinkable in this country. It hasn't happened since the Depression. But as I've said for weeks now, we need to do whatever it takes to get the economy back on track. I think Americans have always been practical people who are willing to do what's necessary to strengthen the economy, to keep jobs and incomes strong."
Gee, when you put the two quotes together like that, he does sound a little hypocritical, doesn't he? But I don't know why anyone is surprised by this. Cooper always has been more Republican than Democrat, and we're stuck with him.
Comments (9)
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Will someone please, please, run against Jim Cooper in the Democratic primary next year. He is the worst congressman Nasville has ever had. He wrecked the Clinton health care proposal which if passed, would be saving lives. Because he had a "better" plan. In other words, he wanted all the glory. He was a Bush enabler, helping him pass terrible legislation that only helped big business and the very rich, while the rest of us suffered. The biggest hippocrite in congress should be put out to pasture, where he can pass his time mumbling about stopping those "libruls" to himself, all he wants.
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I for one praise Cooper for voting against this ridiculous bill. I was furious with him after he voted for the first bill. Furious enough to vote against him. However, it seems he might have actually learned a lesson which is a rare sight in Washington. We've all seen that the first $700 billion was basically thrown down a bottomless pit, so why would we think this one is going to be any different? I'm going over to his site to thank him for his vote!
I respectfully disagree. His earlier statement called for stimulating the economy. His most recent statement accuses the "stimulus bill" on which he was asked to vote of being anything but. I don't see how you can describe this as hypocritical.
If the bill is loaded with worthless pork, why not say so?
In a district that racks up as high a percentage of Democratic votes as ours in Nashville does, why exactly are we supposed to be "stuck" with him? Stuck with the likes of Bredesen for governor, I can understand, by why for this Congressional District? Nether of them seems to be a Democrat for any reason they could name, since opportunism looks like the unmentionable reason.
I would trust Jim Cooper with my own personal finances, and I'm glad he called this bill out for doing what it wasn't supposed to do.
Joey, there is a big difference between the first bailout bill and the one that passed yesterday.
For one, the $700 billion package was for banks and had no strings attached. That was the one Jim Cooper voted for.
Obama's bill was for more, but was for actual infrastructure and job-creation projects that had accountability attached. That was the one Cooper voted against.
And to answer your question: "so why would we think this one is going to be any different?" The answer is simple. Obama supports it and Obama isn't a liar or a tool for corporate fascists like George Bush was.
There is no comparison in this situation. Cooper, nice of a guy as he is, stands on the side of Wall Street, not Main Street. And now more than ever, it's Main Street who needs the stimulus. While Cooper's vote shouldn't be surprising to people who follow his career, it's nonetheless a disgrace.
Interesting Cooper's web site praises Niall Ferguson, rightwing Hoover Institution historian. Check out Ferguson on youtube -
(1) Niall Ferguson: Don't Trust Democrats to Fix Economy
(2) Why America Needs McCain - Niall Ferguson
Ferguson was on BBC World Service this morning trashing Keynes, saying instead of spending now we should be saving!
These kids born into the lap of privilege, Bush, Clement, Cooper, seem to be so lazy and intellectually incurious.
morpheus,
Oh puh-leez! "Obama supports it and Obama isn't a liar or a tool for corporate fascists like George Bush was." I supported, contributed, campaigned, and voted for Obama, but I was still pissed that he voted for the first "stimulus" package. You know, the one signed by that corporate fascist George Bush.
These bills ARE the same because both of them were hastily conceived money grabs. You can throw money at this problem all day long, but in the end, it won't change a darn thing. We should be concentrating our time and resources right now to reforming our banking and monetary systems as well as our trade policies. Without fixing these issues, any money we throw at this will only make things worse in the long run.
