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Will's Mendacious Defense Of Republicanism

By Big Tent Democrat

Matt Yglesias catches George Will blaming LBJ (for privatizing Fannie and Freddie in 1968(!!)) for the Wall Street credit crisis actually caused by the reckless, feckless, rampant Republicanism of the Bush years (the same philosophy McCain promises for the next 4 years.) I was struck by this bit of mendaciousness from Will:

The rising generation of thoughtful Republicans was represented on both sides of Monday's vote. Virginia's Eric Cantor, 45, and Wisconsin's Paul Ryan, 38, supported the legislation because they had helped to achieve substantial improvements in it, such as requiring financial institutions to help finance their bailout, giving the Treasury potentially valuable equity in firms revived by public funds . . .

(Emphasis supplied.) To put it bluntly, Will is lying. That was a Democratic initiative contained in the Dodd bill. The "thoughtful Republican idea" that Cantor wanted and got was the ludicrous government insurance plan that is simply a joke. No reasonable premium could be charged that would make sense or help in this crisis. The "thoughtful" Republicans OPPOSE the government equity plan and wanted the equity plan out. George Will is either ill informed or lying or both.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on October 01, 2008 (boomark / email).