A Conservative Dissent On Corker
Posted on December 16, 2008 at 8:03 amTerry Frank is not joining those Republicans both in Tennessee and nationally hoisting Bob Corker on their shoulders for his work on the auto bailout:
But let’s be realistic. Because Senator Corker was negotiating for unions to make concessions, we’re all supposed to get thrills running up our legs? The reality is, he was still negotiating for a taxpayer surrender. You and I were still going to be on the hook for kabillions. And so are our kids. And grandkids. Bush is wrong. The Democrats are wrong. And though Corker took the opportunity to point out the problem of unions, he’s still wrong.
Senator Corker is emblematic of THE problem with the GOP. There is no consistency. No governing principles. They see government as the answer in some form or fashion, maybe with just a little more flavoring here or there and elephant instead of a donkey. And the American public sees it. Witness the ‘06 and ‘08 ass kicking.
He was for the financial bailout. Then he’s against the auto bailout. Do you know how damaging all of this has been for the Republican Party?
Senator Corker Cozying Up To An Auto Bailout
Posted on December 3, 2008 at 6:47 pmFrom the Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) says he spent recent days in New York speaking with various bankers and turnaround experts.
“There are a lot of people that believe that bankruptcy is the only way that they can change the terms of so many relationshps that they have in an effective way,” said Mr. Corker.
He added that some analysts have made a “very strong case” for consolidation between General Motors and Chrysler, who were in talks on a merger earlier this year. One option pitched by analysts would involve a merger of the companies followed by a pre-arranged bankruptcy for the new entity, with the government financing the process, Corker said.
“The key would be creating an entity that other people would actually wish to invest in down the road,” Mr. Corker said. “I’m not going to say that’s the only option out there. I think it’s the option that probably makes people feel most comfortable.”
SEE ALSO: Right At Home
The Gubernatorial Destabilization Act Of 2008
Posted on October 4, 2008 at 9:21 pmEvans Donnell assumes that Lincoln Davis’ no vote on the bailout means he running for Governor. Maybe. Then again, he’s a pretty populist conservative Democrat, always has been. He might have voted that way regardless of his intentions.
The vote that interests me the most among the Tennessee delegation was that of another possible Gubernatorial candidates, this one on the GOP side. Rep. Zach Wamp, while voting with the GOP and Davis against the bailout on Monday switched course Friday and voted with bipartisan elite consensus for the bailout.
Now, Wamp has said if Bill Frist does not run for Governor, he likely will. Likely puts it mildly. In many ways, Wamp already is running. Wamp, despite no serious opposition in his Congressional race, has been buying up billboards, some very much outside his district. Wamp is a candidate.
The question is: why break ranks with the populist conservatism amongst the grassroots of Tennessee if you intend to run for Governor? Why let Lincoln Davis and Marsha Blackburn get to your Right on what was a very visible, important vote?
Was it to curry favor with some of the high roller types that he may need to fund his campaign coffers? Or is it something different? Was Zach Wamp sending a message to the moderate Republican powers-that-be in Tennessee that he is not a bomb-thrower, that he can be counted on to compromise and make the hard choices needed to govern.
If Bill Frist does not run for Governor on the Republican side, Mayor Bill Haslam of Knoxville, like Zach Wamp, is another candidate looking hard at the race. Haslam is a man very much of the Lamar Alexander/Howard Baker school of almost non-ideological, pragmatic GOP governance.
In a way, the fact that in a Fristless Governor’s race Wamp’s chief rival would likely be Haslam makes Wamp’s vote even more intriguing. One might think that Wamp positioning himself in a potential race against Haslam would want to place himself as the conservative alternative to the Knoxville Mayor, even at the cost of painting himself a bombthrower.
This is exactly where Marsha Blackburn is positioned. While the congresswoman gave some indication she was on the fence, she ultimately elected to vote with the conservative grassroots and against the bailout. Blackburn is also talked up as a possible Gubernatorial candidate. If the question of who the “true conservative” would be in a Governor’s race that included Blackburn and Wamp, clearly, with this vote, Blackburn has further solidified her case.
But is the title of “true conservative” in a statewide GOP primary really something worth having? What Wamp might have been weighing in the politics of this vote was the history of statewide politics in Tennessee and his fellow class of 1994 revolutionaries’ role in it.
While there have been many Republican statewide victories in Tennessee, no one outside the moderate Howard Baker wing has ever been successful. Van Hilleary, in his run for Governor in 2002, and Ed Bryant, in his two runs for Senate, have been kept on the outside of higher elected office.
An ideological movement conservative candidate has rarely won a statewide GOP in this state. And when they do, like Van Hilleary, they lose.
This may be, in the end, what caused Wamp to eschew Blackburnism and vote the way successful statewide GOP politicians like Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander voted on one of the most crucial measures the Congress has taken up since the authorization of War in Iraq.
John Tanner Explains His Vote For The Bailout
Posted on October 3, 2008 at 1:07 pmFrom a press release:
“When the [Treasury] Secretary came over here with a bill, it was a bailout. It was public risk and private gain,” Tanner said in a speech on the House floor. “By the wisdom of the body here, we put Section 134 – the ‘recoupment’ clause – in, which now makes it private risk and public gain, which is the way it ought to be. It is now a situation where we’re not talking about bailing out Wall Street or the high-flyers. If, at the end of the day, there is a shortfall to the Treasury of the United States, then [the financial industry] will be assessed that shortfall, and the Treasury will be made whole.
“What the bill does now is it attempts to protect all Americans who have an IRA, a 401(k), or a part of a state or local pension plan.”
UPDATE: A constituent’s rebuke:
As a taxpaying, voting citizen of this great nation, you have failed me. Over the course of the past two weeks, you have chosen to divert more money from my child to benefit those who have worked off of my back to get to where they are today.
House Passes Bailout
Posted on at 12:34 pmBy a vote of 263-171.
A majority of GOPers again opposed the plan. Ninety one House Republicans voted for it, and 108 voted against, again casting doubt on McCain’s ability to rally members of his own party behind a measure that he suggested was necessary to rescue the Republic from doom.
Zach Wamp was the only TN member to change his vote from Monday. Everyone else stays put.
So Wamp and the Democrats in favor, Lincoln Davis and the Republicans in opposition.
Interesting that the two most likely (I’m not counting Blackburn, yet) Gubernatorial candidates in the delegation are the two bucking their party on this.
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Bailout Passes Senate
Posted on October 1, 2008 at 9:31 pmSenate votes 74-25 to approve the measure in a dramatic desk roll call vote. The infamous twenty-five are listed here. Tennessee’s Senators were not among the infamous. They voted yes.
Senator Lamar Alexander:
“The Senate’s action will allow the Treasury Secretary to begin cleaning up the wreck on the economic highway caused by bad mortgage loans,” Alexander said. “This should get economic traffic moving again and restore confidence so that Americans can get auto, student, mortgage, business, and farm credit loans at reasonable prices. Since the Secretary will be buying troubled mortgage assets and then selling them, the cost to taxpayers should be limited, and any profits will go to reduce the federal debt.”
Alexander also noted that the bill contains tax relief for Tennesseans: “Of special importance to our state, the legislation includes a two-year deduction of state and local sales taxes from federal income. The deduction will mean an average of $400 in tax relief for nearly 600,000 Tennesseans each year. While this bill extends the deduction for two years, we still need a permanent fix, and I will continue pushing for legislation to do just that. I hope the House of Representatives acts quickly to send this legislation to the President.”
Senator Bob Corker:
“As many Tennesseans will recall, I strongly opposed the $168 billion so-called economic stimulus package last spring and likened it to throwing cash in a mud puddle, but there’s a stark difference between that giveaway and this investment plan. Through this rescue plan, we will purchase assets that will hopefully produce gains, and 100 percent of any income made will go toward paying down the debt. If our resources are invested properly, the federal government will get all of its money back and taxpayers may even see a return on the investment.
“Americans are angry, and they should be. I share their anger. Wall Street, regulatory agencies, and policy makers in Washington failed America – and let’s face it, too many Americans borrowed money for houses they simply could not afford. The reckless way Wall Street has taken risks and made choices that have pushed our credit markets to a breaking point is reflective of the way Washington has run up the federal deficit and refused to control spending. I am hopeful that passage of this plan will be the beginning of a strong focus on cleaning up the mess in Washington and on Wall Street.”
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Give It Up For The Dog Pound
Posted on September 28, 2008 at 4:41 pmJon Wright is glad the Blue Dogs are looking out for us during this financial crisis:
The Blue Dogs are really good to have around on an issue like this, and I might even say they’re the ideal people to look to here for leadership — representatives of the conservative taxpayer who nonetheless recognize that doing nothing isn’t an option, and aren’t inflexibly bound by a rigid dogma that retards their ideas.
If only they weren’t so often god-awful on issues of war and human rights.
SEE ALSO: Newscoma
The Deal
Posted on at 3:08 pmA tentative deal on the bailout has been reached. Check out the PDF goodness of the accord here.
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How Much Will The Bailout Cost?
Posted on September 25, 2008 at 12:56 pmSenator Bob Corker gives us an idea:
No chattier a senator than Chuck Schumer tells reporters (including Politico’s Patrick O’Connor) that this biggest question will remain unanswered until today’s meeting between legislators and Treasury officials.
But Tennessee freshman Sen. Bob Corker dropped a small hint to reporters staking out this morning’s big meeting.
“The overall denomination, just in fairness, is…much in line with what the secretary brought forth,” Corker said, referring to Paulson’s original $700 billion proposal.
SEE ALSO: What are you lookin’ at Schumer?
McCain To Suspend Campaign
Posted on September 24, 2008 at 2:21 pmFrom the Hill:
Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Wednesday he is suspending his campaign, and he is asking Democratic rival Barack Obama to join him in trying to postpone Friday night’s debate so that both candidates and both parties can focus on a solution to the Wall Street crisis.
SEE ALSO: Full McCain remarks
UPDATE: Obama working on details with McCain.
INSTANT ANALYSIS:
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Corker Wants To Slow It Down And Do A Bit Of Brain Surgery
Posted on at 8:22 amThe state’s junior and senior Senators seem to have a bit of a difference of opinion on how to deal with the current financial crisis:
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., over breakfast with the four Tennessee newspaper reporters based in Washington, said the matter needs to be resolved with an up or down vote on Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s plan — with some amendments — by week’s end.
Alexander, the third-ranking Republican in the Senate and a candidate for re-election this year, pointed to the potential for the economy to be brought to “a complete halt,” with implications for retiree savings, student loans, home mortgages and unemployment that are “potentially traumatic.”
“There’s blame all around,” he said. “But this is not the week to lay blame; this is the week to fix the problem.”
But Corker, at a hearing of the banking committee on Tuesday, was in much less of a hurry.
“It’s absolutely reprehensible that in the biggest financial crisis in history, our timeline is to get out of here on Friday,” he said.
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Corker with the TV
Corker in the newspapers
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