In The Blogs

The Hypocritical Oath

| Thu Mar. 19, 2009 11:33 AM PDT

More than 200 representatives and senators in the 111th Congress have signed Americans for Tax Reform's Taxpayer Protection Pledge, a vow to oppose all tax increases. That put them in a sticky place when they voted Thursday on H.R. 1596, better known as the bill that levies a 90 percent tax on bonuses given out by bailed-out banks.

The bill passed the House overwhelmingly—328 to 93—so doesn't that mean a bunch of lawmakers violated their oaths to Grover Norquist's anti-tax group? Nope, not according to two press releases ATR sent out a few hours before the vote.

The first release notes ATR is "STRONGLY OPPOSED to...the Rangel-Pelosi bill to tax AIG bonuses in order to deflect blame from Secretary Geithner’s failed mismanagement of Treasury funds." But how could pledge-signers vote against the bill when popular ire toward AIG and other banks with taxpayer-subsidized bonuses is so high? Because, according to ATR's second press release, the bill is "illegal, unconstitutional" and "is not a tax bill so much as it is a politically-driven police action by the Congress. The Pledge is intended as a serious commitment by serious defenders of taxpayers."

In Washington, that's what we call spinning for the sake of political cover.

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Steve Aquino is a senior editorial fellow at Mother Jones's Washington bureau. For more of his stories, click here.

Comments

Republican Jedi Mind tricks

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu Mar. 19, 2009 12:59 PM PDT.

These aren't the droids you're looking for.

So if I understand this

Submitted by DaveD (not verified) on Fri Mar. 20, 2009 2:49 AM PDT.

So if I understand this correctly, their logic is that they aren't breaking their pledge if they vote for a bill that is "illegal, unconstitutional"? So what would you call voting for a bill that is "illegal, unconstitutional"? Anyone who would sign any pledge of that type shows that they have insufficient mental capacity. they are saying that they will behave in a certain manner regardless of the circumstances, or the merits of different behavior, or the faults of such behavior at any particular time. "Why should I waste energy thinking when I can blindly follow a prescribed maxim?"

Mismanagement

Submitted by Gary K on Fri Mar. 20, 2009 3:24 AM PDT.

"Secretary Geithner’s failed mismanagement of Treasury funds." I guess that's in contrast to Henry Paulson's SUCCESSFUL mismanagement of Treasury Funds.

ATR Mismanagement

Submitted by hi-torch on Sat Mar. 21, 2009 6:06 AM PDT.

tagged as:

solution

J. Dyer These are unusual times and I am a registered voter therefore one of the bosses of all the dudes and dudettes in DC and the approval of those bonuses to have been paid to those unconscionable people at AIG, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and BearSterns and LehmanBros, ALL OF THEM THAT TOOK BONUSES, deserve SPECIAL taxing treatment! Iwant ALL THEIR NAMES, which are in the several hundreds maybe thousands now, so we Americans can publicly ostracize them! Turn my back to them? No! I'd like to throw the food that turned rotted in the refrigerators in the vacated home of the families of FORECLOSURES! Give new work to some carpenters to build o'timey STOCKS to put these thousands in so we ALL can throw STUFF at these (Thank you , Hunter S. Thompson!) CORPORATE GREEDHEADS! They deserve special treatment! And I can only hope they get very special treatment!

EdantesYes, Yes let's have

Submitted by Edantes on Sat Mar. 21, 2009 9:15 AM PDT.

EdantesYes, Yes let's have the names with pictures so we know what they look like. My only concern is how do we keep them safe? I mean ostracism and public ridicule is one thing and much deserved but physical violence is another entirely different thing. Don't get me wrong I would love to see them hanging by their toes using piano wire in the public square except for three things. 1 The last thing we need is to make these jerks martyrs for the capitalist religion. 2. I want to take all the money and the stuff and make them live like the rest of us do. Not put them out of their misery.3. What happens to us, to me if I/We give in to that which calls for violent retribution?

Hypocritical Oath?

Submitted by Anonymous Bosh (not verified) on Mon Mar. 23, 2009 10:44 AM PDT.

The real Hypocritical Oath is the one elected Federal officals take, swearing to ...preserve, protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, both Foreign and Domestic..., just before they take their offices and become Domestic Enemies of the Constitution, as they violate it and ignore it's limitations on their power, and do so with impunity.

Taking the Wrong Names

Submitted by Anonymous Bosh (not verified) on Mon Mar. 23, 2009 11:14 AM PDT.

hi-torch says: ...those unconscionable people at AIG, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and BearSterns and LehmanBros, ALL OF THEM THAT TOOK BONUSES, deserve SPECIAL taxing treatment! I want ALL THEIR NAMES, which are in the several hundreds maybe thousands now, so we Americans can publicly ostracize them! Edantes agrees with him, with some reservations. I think we ought to take the names of all the Representatives of The People who passed funding bills that underwrote those bonuses for incompetent CEOs with Taxpayer money. They're the real perpetrators of the crime that's been committed here. They're the ones who ought to be singled out for "Special Treatment". Said treatment being impeachment and removal from office for "High Crimes and Misdemenaors" committed against the Citizens of America. Either they: A - Knowingly passed a bill that taxes the American Worker to pay bonuses to incompetent CEO's, or B - Didn't take the time to examine the impact of the bill that takes Hundreds of Billions of Taxpayer $s to bail out corporations, some of which owe their very existance to those same Lawmakers (ie: Freddie & Fanny). Either way, we're getting screwed by elected Federal officials, acting in either a criminal manner by robbing the taxpayer for the benefit of themselves and their high-roller pals, or by acting in an incompetent and irresponsible manner by not knowing what the hell they're really doing with their laws and bills. Democrats and Republicans will be found guilty in equal numbers, and it's obvious by now that you can't clean up this mess by replacing the looters-of-the-public who wear one color of tie, with looters-of-the-public wearing a tie of a different color. It's time we acknowledge this simple truth.

Anyone who would sign any

Submitted by Glisk (not verified) on Fri Sep. 18, 2009 9:48 AM PDT.

Anyone who would sign any pledge of that type shows that they have insufficient mental capacity. they are saying that they will behave in a certain manner regardless of the circumstances, or the merits of different behavior, or the faults of such behavior at any particular time. "Why should I waste energy thinking when I can blindly follow a prescribed maxim?"

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