How Do You Fix A Problem If You Don't Recognize It Is A Problem? Ask James Inhofe

Courtesy of PhotoTune

Do you remember when someone asked Bush about the price of gas being up around $4 a gallon-- where it had been, at least in Los Angeles, for a couple months-- and he looked and sounded absolutely stunned? Many people understood at that moment that if Bush didn't even know that the price of gasoline, largely due to his own policies, was spiraling out of control, there was absolutely no chance he would be working on a solution. Many people just gave up on the Republicans at that moment and Bush's approval rating started their own downward spiral. Yes, overall, his approval rate is still 19% but notice that on his handling of the economy, only 17% of Americans approve of Bush-- and zero % of Americans think the economy is getting better. (I never saw a zero percent on any poll on anything anywhere... not even in a snakehandling "church" in Lynchburg.

Anyway, I hope you've already heard about James Inhofe, the single most reactionary extremist in the U.S. Senate. If you have heard of him it's probably because he has refused to recognize that Global Warming has anything to do with human activity and has used every ounce of strength he could muster to defeat alternative energy proposals in Congress-- at the same time taking more money from Big Oil, along with John Cornyn, than any non-presidential candidate in either house of Congress (over one million dollars; you think they've been buying influence?). But Global Warming isn't the only thing the stubborn Inhofe refuses to recognize-- that the economy is "not really a problem."

No one is that thick? Ahhh... so you don't really know James Inhofe. Listen to him on KTOK today:



Ironically, Inhofe's November opponent, state Senator Andrew Rice, is as excellent a candidate as Inhofe is abysmal. His campaign issued an instant rebuttal to Inhofe's bizarre denial of economic problems-- even Bush realizes there's a problem- this morning:

While other members of Oklahoma's congressional delegation are working to find solutions to our current economic crisis, Jim Inhofe has decided to pretend this problem he helped create doesn't exist. Inhofe said the following on KTOK talk radio Wednesday night: "I happened to be talking to the Oklahoma Community Bankers last Friday… and they agreed with me that this is not really a problem."

Inhofe's comments are startling and in stark contrast to what other prominent officials in his own party are saying. 
 
Senator Jim Inhofe: "This is not really a problem".
 
President George Bush: "Our entire economy is in danger".
 
Senator John McCain: "America this week faces an historic crisis in our financial system."
 
Senator Tom Coburn: "We've got to do what's right … and we should not leave here until this is solved."
 
Senator Andrew Rice, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, has called for a bipartisan solution to the economic crisis and said he would support a bailout plan that included the following three provisions to protect Oklahomans: meaningful oversight, protection for taxpayers and limits on executive compensation.
 
"I am outraged that Jim Inhofe, who helped get us in this mess in the first place, is now sitting on his hands," Rice said. 
 
"Unfortunately, Oklahomans will be sharing the cost of other people's mistakes on Wall Street because Jim Inhofe was asleep at the wheel while investment bankers operated without fear of oversight to put billions of dollars in assets at risk.
 
"Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress on Tuesday that no sector of the American economy will escape the effects of this financial crisis," Rice said. "Jim Inhofe has placed Oklahoma's economic good fortune at risk." 
 
Oklahomans wanting to understand how the current crisis began should start by looking at the record of Jim Inhofe, who has repeatedly fought oversight of Wall Street during his 22 years in Washington. 
 
Last week, the Washington Post reported that by eroding government oversight of Wall Street, the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 "helped pave the way for companies such as AIG and Lehman Brothers to become behemoths laden with bad loans and investments."  Those who have followed Jim Inhofe's 22 years in Washington will not be surprised that Inhofe voted for the bill, which eliminated regulations and controls on the financial industry that had been established after the Great Depression.
 
The 1999 Financial Services Modernization Act repealed the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933. The Glass-Steagall Act had been crafted in response to over-speculation from banks in the 1920s that contributed to 1929's stock market crash.

The entire Republican Party-- with not one single exception-- supported the repeal of Glass-Steagall, the handiwork of John McCain's chief economic advisor, Phil Gramm, and the single most important factor in the current Wall Street meltdown. Would Andrew Rice have voted to have repealed Glass-Steagall? Not a chance. As a member of the state Senate, Andrew has helped the state of Oklahoma weather these tough economic times better than almost any other state, but the forecast is by no means rosy and by no means does it merit representation in Washington that doesn't even see there's a problem.

Andrew is participating in this week's Blue America competition. A vote for him-- or for any of the candidates-- will result in a $5,000 check to their campaign from Blue America. Please vote at the link; you can leverage $1 or $20 into $5,000 for your favorite candidate. (Maybe Andrew supporters can slip in there while Texas and Oregon are slugging it out!)


UPDATE: MAY I RECOMMEND THAT SENATOR INHOFE READ THIS QUOTE FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON?

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency [think mortgages], first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs."

-Thomas Jefferson, Letter to the Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin