Harry Reid: "I had nothing to do with" bad economy

Harry Reid: "I had nothing to do with" bad economy

voices.washingtonpost.com

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, facing a tough re-election bid in one of the states hardest hit by the recession, said today that the economic downturn was not his fault.

Reid contended in today's interview that "it would take a real stretch" in order to think that he caused the country's economic problems.

"I don't have any hand in what took place during the Bush administration. I tried to rein that in," Reid said.

(visit the link for the full news article)

This is why folks hate politics and politicians. Did Harry Reid cause the economic meltdown? Of course he didn't. Did he facilitate it by failing to act as Senate Majority Leader? Of course he did. He was very willing to take spiff from banks and real estate lobbys during the run up in the housing boom. He was very willing to look the other way at the policys being used by Fannie and Freddie, something he had a clear oversight role in.

Reid is one of the most powerful men in the country and leads the majority party in the Senate. Clearly regulatory affairs were under his control via legislation. He was and is in a position to articulate common sense economic policy.

To take no accountability is such a failure of leadership and lack of guts it is incredible that he is in the position he is in.

Hopefully he loses in November. Regardless of the outcome of the election and who has control over the Senate, he should be out of the leadership role. The Democrats have far better leaders and this country needs a better leader in that role.

voices.washingtonpost.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

He didn't try to reign anything in. He was just as much a part of it as every other crook in DC at the time. The Democrats weren't doing anything but making side deals with the Republicans and enriching their elite masters. Harry, go pay the piper and I hope you get tar and feathered.


--airspoon

Harry voted for the bailouts which preserves the status of those that wrecked the economy.

This fact alone says that he has very much responsible for the bad economy as any other leader that supports the preservation of corruption.

The question he needs to answer is why was Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac not included in the new regulatory Bill. That speaks volumes to me.

We need to remember the blame is there on both sides of the aisle and right now they want us to forget that they have actually controlled Congress for four years and for the last two they could do anything they wish to do, as they have complete control.

This mess was a joint effort and Fannie and Freddie are the worst of the worst. Who controls them, why Congress does. Who fought tooth and nail against reigning them in, well that was our old friend Barney and I don't mean a purple dinosaur. He was also at the heart of forcing them to make the loans to people who could not pay and they know it.

Double post, sorry.

reply to post by dolphinfan


Read the article....

Is it considered an acceptable practice in journalism to paraphrase someone, quote the paraphrase, and then claim that someone said that?

This is the second time I've seen this in the last week from a major publisher.

delius

reply to post by dolphinfan

You can't blame Harry Reid in particular. You have to blame the entire United States Congress since Reagan for not reigning in the "too big to fail" Wall Street giants sufficiently. He didn't do it single-handedly, and couldn't if he tried.

Obama has recently introduced legislation to put more regulations on Wall Street, but the Republicans are fighting it tooth and nail.

If Harry Reid were to be replaced as Senate Majority Leader the chosen Republican would be even more guilty.

BTW: I'm a lefty but I believe the bail-outs were essential to saving the American -- and thus the world's --economies. Without them we would be suffering a depression of even greater magnitude than the one we're experiencing now.

While Harry Reid was BMOC (big man on campus) in Washington, the homeless population living underground in Las Vegas has grown to untenable proportions. This didn't happen overnight. But...we don't talk about these things. It could hurt the tourist trade. Education in Las Vegas is so bad that the entire governor's debate was about nothing but. But...we don't talk about these things. Angle (running against Reid) is not an option. Write in is our only chance. Let's decide on who to write in so someone willing to serve the people can win.