Just finished watching the video of President Obama’s Q&A session at the GOP House Issues conference today. The President was brilliant. He called the GOP to account for for their campaign of misinformation about healthcare reform and the economic stimulus, but did it with respect and a sincere invitation to Republicans to work with him in the nation’s best interest. The President was articulate and knew his facts, including detailed knowledge of Republican counter proposals. He was warm and human in demeanor and gentle but firm in his criticisms, using self-deprecating humor effectively to put the room at ease. I have never seen a more brilliant performance by a President. Never.
You can hear Congressman Roskam pose his question at about 67:15.
Peter Roskam’s been doing his best to sow fear and doubt about President Obama’s handling of the economy. He is doing this in a cynical attempt to sell you more of the redistributive (poor to rich), deregulatory, trickle-down economic policy that brought the world to the brink of depression under President Bush. Don’t fall for it.
Here Rachel Maddow does a nice segment with economist James Galbraith of the University of Texas that cuts away the bullshit being dispensed by the GOP:
A powerful film by Big Noise Films, “White Power USA”. Learned about it from Jeremy Scahill on Twitter. The film makers write:
The inauguration of President Barack Obama was hailed as a turning point in US race relations. The country was said to be entering a new era of post-racial politics. But while crowds flocked to Washington to witness the swearing in, others were refusing to join the party. Racially motivated threats against Obama rose to new heights in the first months of his presidency, with the US seeing nine high-profile race killings in 2009. Meanwhile white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups claim their membership is growing and that visits to their websites are increasing. Is the racial undercurrent that has long structured US politics reasserting itself?
This is some scary fucking shit. I don’t for a minute believe that these nut cases reflect the ideas and values of the mainstream GOP. But I do think that there is ample reason for caution to that party for some of their rhetoric that fans these flames.
I originally published this on May 29th, 2009. In April 2009, Peter Roskam had voted against legislation, H.R. 1664, that would have limited bonus payments to executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Today, apparently sensing political opportunity, Roskam introduced legislation to do that which he voted against:
Today, Congressman Peter Roskam (R-Ill.), Deputy Whip and member of the Ways & Means Committee, introduced The Protecting Taxpayers From Excessive Compensation Act, calling for new pay accountability rules for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Roskam’s proposed legislation would prohibit any employee of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, while the entities are under conservatorship or receivership, from being compensated more than any member of our Armed Forces.
“With historic federal spending and debt on one end, and unprecedented taxpayer exposure to Fannie and Freddie on the other, now is the time to take a step toward restoring accountability and the public trust in the use of taxpayer funds,” Roskam wrote in a letter to Financial Services Chairman Frank and Ranking Member Bachus prior to the Committee’s Employment Compensation Hearing being held this Friday. “There are few government personnel that perform a more solemn and vital duty to our country than the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. So long as Fannie and Freddie are effectively owned by the government, there is no reason any of their employees should be compensated more than the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.”
Of course this time around, Roskam is making sure that the legislation won’t affect any of the big banks and investment houses that bankroll his campaigns and enable him to continue his project of making life better for big corporations. So sadly, this won’t help your 401K. Publicly traded companies will remain free as ever to spend your retirement money on bonuses and golden parchutes for their top executives.
Guess Peter Roskam thinks we are all pretty stupid.
Peter Roskam’s been going to a lot of trouble to publicize his media appearances lately on his House website. Of course they consist mostly of clips from Fox News, Don Wade & Roma, and Big John & Cisco. Roskam doesn’t like to talk to anyone who might ask him a serious question. He just wants a friendly outlet for his talking points – designed to keep his base in a lather about the Dems so that they won’t realize that he’s screwing them in Washington. But I appreciate the time he’s taken to organize this material so its easy for me to find.
This video was interesting and Roskam seems to be pretty proud of it. Its a clip from Fox News back in March around the time the House voted on H.R. 1586, the measure that would have imposed a 90% tax on bonuses received in 2009 by high-paid employees of companies that received TARP bailout money. Roskam voted with the majority of House members (including about half of the Republicans) to approve the measure. And then he went on Fox News to play the outraged populist while smearing Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and the Obama administration for a mess they inherited from President Bush. I don’t think the measure ever went anywhere – just died in the Senate after AIG’s Chairman urged his employees receiving more than $100,000 to return at least half.
So was this a new Roskam we were seeing? Concerned all of a sudden about the outrages committed by big corporations at the expense of the little people back home in his district? Not so much. This was just Roskam the politician taking advantage of the moment.
The Pay for Performance Act of 2009 prohibits the payment of “unreasonable or excessive” compensation, including bonuses that are not based on performance, by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the federal home loans banks, and firms that have received funds under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act. The Treasury Secretary must define “unreasonable or excessive” compensation and outline what constitutes an appropriate performance-based bonus using criteria including the stability of a financial institution, ability to repay taxpayer funds, and adherence to appropriate risk management requirements. The prohibition only applies while government payments to the firms are outstanding. Firms subject to the Pay for Performance Act must report their compensation practices to the Treasury Secretary. Finally, the legislation applies bonus prohibitions included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to all employment contracts.
When Roskam figured the folks at home were no longer paying attention, he dropped his faux outrage and voted against the measure. But you won’t see him promoting that fact on his website.
This was not the first time Roskam had stood up for outrageous executive pay. One of Roskam’s few floor speeches during his first term was to fight against a measure that would have given shareholders a voice in limiting the excessive pay of corporate executives. But I bet you’ll never see that video on his website.
That he uses his office to fight for unlimited executive pay is particularly sad given that Roskam has been an opponent of any efforts to raise the minimum wage for people who actually work for a living and voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act earlier this term.
Interestingly, we understand that Peter’s new Press Secretary,Daniel Conston, is an A.I.G. alum. He also worked on the failed campaigns of Fred Thompson and John McCain. Let’s hope this endeavor goes better. But what happened to Matt? Did we convert him?
If you are convinced as I am that Republican Congressman Peter Roskam should be replaced with someone who will respond to the needs and desires of the 6th District, then the time to take action begins today. Early voting opens today for the February 2nd Primary election. We have a terrific alternative to Roskam in Democrat Ben Lowe of Wheaton. Ben is running unopposed in the Democratic primary. Despite this, he needs your vote to get party leadership to sit up and take notice and strongly support his candidacy. So please vote and request a emocratic ballot. Early voting continues through January 28. If you are not yet registered to vote, it is not too late. Du Page County residents may register and vote at the offices of the Du Page County Election Commission through January 26th. For more information on early voting and late registration visit the Election Commission website at http://www.dupageelections.com.
