For years Democrat hypocrisy has bothered me, to put it mildly. Liberals are especially guilty of this audacious hypocrisy. To my consternation the MSM seems to not recognize any hypocrisy on the Democrat side, only on the Republican and even inaccurately defining actions as hypocritical. Barbra Streisand, one of the great political thinkers of our generation (NOT!), suggested that everyone should use a clothesline rather than a dryer to save energy. Of course her staff doesn't have to do what she says - she lives in Malibu. (Sidenote: Can you imagine Barbra Streisand actually hanging her own laundry?) Fair and balanced (NOT!) Walter Cronkite has championed the cause of energy conservation, but when windmills were proposed on Nantucket, Cronkite vigorously protested because he would see them from his property. I bet the rest of us wouldn't be able to get away with that. I know Republican lawmakers couldn't get away with it. The press would be all over them. Hollywood stars are chauffered around in limosines and drive big SUVs, but the rules don't really apply to them - they're special. Our lawmakers who make laws limiting our energy us are also driven around by chauffers in limosines or SUVs and fly on private jets. When Nancy Pelosi became Speaker of the House she demanded a much larger jet than what previous Speakers got because she needed to fly back and forth to her home in San Francisco so frequently and a 727 didn't have to stop and refuel halfway there. I guess what's good for the goose is not good for the gander.
Senators Chris Dodd of Conneticut and Kent Conrad of North Dakota are only the latest examples of hypocrisy. It turns out that they received interest rates that none of us, regardless of credit rating, would receive. And they received these rates from none other than the CEO of Countrywide, Angelo Mozilo. Dodd happens to be Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and is championing a $300 million bailout of the lending industry. Why is this newsworthy? Countrywide has been lobbying Democrats for this bill because they are nearly bankrupt and would benefit enormously from it. Talk about special favors. Again Republicans could never get away with the same thing. In fact there have been Republicans who have had to resign over similar acts. Rich Lowry at National Review Online has an excellent article about Dodd and Conrad. You can find it here.
I am sure this will not be the last hypocrisy of our lawmakers. Thank goodness for conservative talk radio and online sites.
No comments:
Post a Comment