April 14, 2010

McConnell's Talking Points on Wall Street Reform

Former Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan was famous for saying, "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." Unfortunately, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell doesn't believe this creed applies to him.

According to McConnell, somehow Senator Chris Dodd's Wall Street reform legislation is pro-bailout. "If you need to know one thing about this bill, it's that it would make it official government policy to bail out the biggest Wall Street banks," said McConnell.

As Steve Benen of the Washington Monthly wrote this week, "Remember, it doesn't have to make sense. It doesn't have to be true. It doesn't even have to be persuasive. It just has to be repeated, endorsed by conservative media, embraced by right wing activists whose ignorance is easily exploited, and folded into the 'debate' for the American mainstream."

Dodd rose to set the record straight on McConnell's claims today. "Suggesting somehow that there's a bailout provision in this bill -- nothing could be further from the truth," Dodd explained. "The bill, as drafted, ends bailouts. Nothing could be more clear in the legislation. And let me tell you how we do it...This bill imposes tougher standards on large, risky Wall Street firms. It eliminates the federal government's capacity to bail out financial companies and it requires that the financial firms write their own shut down plans an even pay for the liquidation process if it's needed."

McConnell has clearly not read Dodd's Wall Street reform bill and he's using talking points from a political strategist to kill this legislation. "It's a naked political strategy," said Dodd. "And if it succeeds, and this legislation does down, and another crisis sinks the American economy, then the next recession, and ll the damage that it will bring to the working families in this country, will have happened for the sake of that false talking point that Mr. Luntz has been proposing."

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