The Sordid Story of 19 Hypocrite Senators Who Trust Our Money With Bush, But Not Obama

The senators who gave bailout funds to Bush, but not Obama

Welcome back to the BuzzFlash GOP Hypocrite of the Week.

We here at BuzzFlash generally shy away from awarding the weekly hypocrite tiara to more than one person, but in this latest case it seems that groupthink was involved, so the group shall be called out accordingly.

In case you haven't noticed, we have an economic emergency on our hands. When Congress voted for the bailout package designed to address the crisis, they were approving a total of $700 billion to go to the treasury, but in pieces. The passage of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA) meant that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson would immediately get $250 billion to spend. Congress would then have to vote against the release of an extra $100 billion and $350 billion respectively, in order to keep the executive from having access to that money.

With the specter of financial collapse hanging over the country, most lawmakers voted for the package, however grudgingly.

Congressional and journalistic inquiries into how the money was allocated and spent reveal that taxpayer money was squandered on executive bonuses and acquiring stakes in other banks as far away as China. The secrecy surrounding the way the TARP had operated also displeased many lawmakers, and understandably so.

In order to have access to the remaining TARP money by the time he entered office, Obama asked then-President Bush to request from Congress a release of the remaining funds, which Bush did.

Obama's economic advisor Larry Summers wrote a letter to Congress promising they would do all those things that Bush's team failed to do. At the time, TalkingPointsMemo.com noted that the action items promised by Summers "read as a pointed indictment of the current administration, which failed to do any of them."

Still, these 19 senators who voted to give $250 billion to Paulson, former CEO of Goldman Sachs, didn't trust Obama with those same funds only weeks later. They voted for a joint resolution to deny Obama access to the money. It's almost as if they don't want the country's economy to improve now, because it'll make Obama look good.

It's one thing to be opposed to the bailout entirely. We understand that. But it's entirely another to vote for your party to have access to economic first aid and then deny it to the opposition, especially when the opposition is more willing to hear your demands than your own party was. 

Though the resolution was defeated, it's important to note that these 19 men and women chose politics over the nation's economy. They're trying to make us believe that they actually think that $350 billion would be safer in the hands of the worst American president in recent history and his former bank CEO cronies than it would be in the hands of Barack Obama, even though Obama pledged accountability for the U.S. Treasury, CEOs, and stockholders, while at the same time pledging money for homeowners and an unfreezing of loan money.

Below is a list of the 19 senators who voted for the EESA (and thus in favor of releasing funds to the Bush Administration to spend) and who also voted for the joint resolution to prevent the remaining $350 billion from being released to the incoming Obama Administration. Their names are hyperlinked to the contact page on their respective senatorial Web sites, in case you wanted to notify them personally that they have secured the honor of being one of BuzzFlash's GOP Hypocrites this week.

• Bob Bennett (R-UT)
• Kit Bond (R-MO)
• Richard Burr (R-NC) 
• Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) 
• Tom Coburn (R-OK) 
• Susan Collins (R-ME) 
• Bob Corker (R-TN) 
• John Cornyn (R-TX) 
• John Ensign (R-NV) 
• Lindsey Graham (R-SC) 
• Chuck Grassley (R-IA) 
• Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) 
• Johnny Isakson (R-GA) 
• Mel Martinez (R-FL) 
• John McCain (R-AZ) 
• Mitch McConnell (R-KY) 
• Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
• Arlen Specter (R-PA)
• John Thune (R-SD)

To be fair, there are Democrats who voted for the EESA in the first place and also voted in favor of denying the $350 billion to Obama. It could be argued that they -- Sens. Evan Bayh of Indiana, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas -- are hypocrites as well, but they don't quite qualify for the GOP Hypocrite of the Week until they pull a Lieberman. Fair enough? If you're less than satisfied with that answer, you can always click on their hyperlinked names and send them an e-mail to let them know how you feel.

Remember our motto: So many Republican hypocrites, so little time.

Catch up with you soon.

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This is the 12th GOP Hypocrite of the Week award for Sen. McCain, the third for Sen. Chambliss and the second for Sens. Cornyn, Hutchison, McConnell and Specter. For everyone else: Welcome to the club!