The Sunday Morning Talk Shows: A Review
I thought it might be fun to take a look at the Sunday Show's;
On FNS, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson was reassuring, but could not rule out that there might have to be more bailouts/seizures. He explained that we will "work through this," as we had with so many problems in the past.
Next on FNS, Chuck Schumer promised that the Dems would not "Christmas Tree" the bailout/seizure bill but that he did want to include mortgage relief. Jon Kyl told him that Congress had already passed mortgage relief.
On ABC's TW, when asked if this bailout/seizure we "socialism," Secretary Paulson responded: "This is big government interventionism. … It's necessary right now."
Next up, Chris Dodd demanded this and that while John Boehner said that it was time to put aside ideology and act like adults.
On MTP, moderator Tom Brokaw is trying, but he's often confused. Secretary Paulson had to explain to him that the difference between his proposed scheme and Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) is that the former was created to take over the debts of insolvent lending institutions, while this time, the government had prevented such failure.
Next on MTP, Mike Bloomberg backed Paulson as being the right guy in charge. Brokaw argued for a separate agency, like Roosevelt's RTC, to run this system and he asked Bloomberg to do it. He asked Bloomberg if he'd manipulate the rules to seek a third term, and Bloomberg quipped that he wanted to be host of Meet the Press.
On CBS' FTN, Paulson said that they are asking foreign governments to help in this crisis, as it is an international problem. Next, Senator Richard Shelby said that this crisis was caused by greed and a lack of regulations. We need more regulations. As Schieffer was leaving the segment, Barney Frank interrupted to say a "Sunday morning… Amen to Senator Shelby." Schieffer opined that it was worth the interruption just to hear him say this.
ON CNN's LE, it was Rob Portman for McCain and Gene Sperling for Obama. Sperling's talking point was that John McCain has always been for less regulation of the financial markets, and now even a "conservative Administration" (Bush's?) was forced to admit that it needed more rules and regulations. Portman countered that McCain had always favored "smarter, tougher regulations." Sperling argued that Obama had foresaw months ago that this crisis was coming, but McCain had only called for less regulation; Portman reminded that McCain foresaw this two years ago and proposed legislation which Obama rejected.
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