Fred Barnes Nominates Phil ‘Mental Recession’ Gramm To Be Car Czar
Fred Barnes Nominates Phil ‘Mental Recession’ Gramm To Be Car Czar
Last night on Special Report with Brit Hume, the Fox All-Star Panel discussed the possibility that a deal on the auto bailout would include the creation of a temporary oversight position in the executive branch dubbed the “Car Czar.” As Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) described it, the czar would be “charged with making sure the automakers retool.” According to the Los Angeles Times, the position would be given “far more authority than a bankruptcy judge would ever have.”
Noting that Obama will likely have to accept whomever Bush nominates, All-Star Panelist Fred Barnes called on President Bush to appoint right-wing darling Phil Gramm to the position:
BARNES: But the car czar, whether or not they will give the car czar that much power or not, I don’t know. I have a nominee: Phil Gramm!
HUME: One senses the Obama administration might not accept him.
BARNES: They have to.
Watch it:
While Barnes appeared to be at least half-joking, he inadvertently highlighted exactly why some progressives are so skeptical about the prospect of giving a Bush-appointed Car Czar nearly absolute authority to decide the fate of the Detroit automakers. While the current proposal apparently gives Bush the option of creating an entire oversight board, “[t]he widely held assumption is that Bush would appoint a single individual.”
As Ian Welsh explained:
The auto plan…gives the Auto Czar the absolute ability to decide if he or she likes the auto restructuring plan presented by the Big 3. If the Czar doesn’t, the loans can be immediately recalled. [...]
That person does not answer to Congress and is chosen by the current President: George W. Bush. As best I can tell, the next president will not be able to fire him, though Obama could ask for his resignation, I guess. I don’t think the Czar would have to give it, however.
As Jonathan Cohn notes, the plan — as currently written — appears to make the czar judge and jury of the bailout process. Cohn writes, the czar “would have the authority to decide how we should judge the automakers’ progress in restructuring–and then, as the effort proceeds, to make those judgments on his or her own.”
The Bush administration is still suggesting that the current plan may “fall short” of its goals, which Welsh interpreted as, Bush’s “way of saying ‘let’s make it even more explicit, just in case my auto Czar isn’t loyal to me once I’m gone.’”
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33 Responses to “Fred Barnes Nominates Phil ‘Mental Recession’ Gramm To Be Car Czar”
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Gramm to Big 3: WHINERS!
snark
December 9th, 2008 at 11:47 amApparently the spanking his reich-wing received on Nov 4th is still affecting his mental facilities.
December 9th, 2008 at 11:51 amFred Barnes Nominates Phil ‘Mental Recession’ Gramm To Be Car Czar»
- - Obama may embrace the Team of Rivals concept but I think he'll stay away fro the Team of Alpo.
December 9th, 2008 at 11:54 am#3 - - Umm, "from"
December 9th, 2008 at 11:55 amWhy would President Obama not be able to fire him? Is this job a lifetime appointment? When does the "term of office" end? When the appointee wants it to? How long after the final dollar is handed out will his authority remain? Forever? They need to think this through more thoroughly. George W. Bush is the last person we want appointing someone to a position from which they cannot be removed.
December 9th, 2008 at 11:56 amOf course UBS would advise the Big 3 on their restructuring. Jobs and investment would move offshore, legal or not.
Phil Gramm's knowledge of 19,000 illegal UBS offshore accounts is unclear. But I find it hard to believe a Vice Chair for U.S. Operations was clueless.
Raoul Weil = Lyndie England
December 9th, 2008 at 11:58 amPhil Gramm...PHIL FCUKING GRAMM....you have to be kidding me, Mr. Deregulation who caused most of this melt down in the first place, this is ridiculous.
Obama, please tell the cons to just phuck off, you will appoint who ever can REALLY do the job.
December 9th, 2008 at 12:02 pmHear hear, Buckie.
Phil Gramm?? Yikes. That's one of the worst ideas I've ever heard.
December 9th, 2008 at 12:07 pmThis makes me laugh...
December 9th, 2008 at 12:08 pmPresident in name only! By the time Obama steps into the Presidency his only power will be to oversee what policies Bush has put into effect. He'll be lucky if he still gets to choose which scool his children will attend.
December 9th, 2008 at 12:09 pmAfter watching how Paulson/Bernake have handled billions (trillions?) of dollars for the financial bailout, is Congress really going to allow another Bush crony to have "absolute authority" over the use of more tax-payer funds? Part of the reason the auto industry is in eminent danger is because there were no restrictions on how the bailout funds were used after they were received. Dividends and bonuses? Are they phucking kidding?
I am disgusted.
PEACE
December 9th, 2008 at 12:13 pmFred Barnes: Rightosaurus Wretch
Oh Yeah, Gramm behind the wheel as Car Czar? He already drove the American economy into the ditch, why not let him take the wheel again so he can drive all of us crazy, too?
Fred Barnes & Fox News: 2 bad ideas colliding at talk speed...
December 9th, 2008 at 12:15 pm"Last night on the Special Needs Report with Brit Hume, the Fox Washington Generals All-Star Panel discussed..."
December 9th, 2008 at 12:16 pmEarth to Fred:
December 9th, 2008 at 12:18 pm(1) Your side lost the election;
(2) Obama will come into office with enough public and political support to undo any "czar" appointments Chimpy makes;
(3) Enjoy Siberia. You're gonna be there awhile.
So would the "car czar" serve at the pleasure of the President or not? Firedoglake says no, but New Republic says yes. Which is it?
December 9th, 2008 at 12:21 pmOh I just remembered...isn't all this talk of bail-out and a 'car czar' a complete repudiation of self-correcting "free market" theory that Fred Barnes has championed all this time?
December 9th, 2008 at 12:25 pmbaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahahahaha
that's a fine representation of just how disconnected from reality the repuglicans are.
and we were "scared" of these idiots? if not for a completely stupid populace these people would be laughed out of existence.
if the past 8 years have taught us anything....it's that stupid people (in majority) are dangerous
December 9th, 2008 at 12:26 pmWhy so much attention and oversight to the auto industry loan when we have squandered billions with NO oversight to the big banks?
December 9th, 2008 at 12:32 pmJust asking.
Fred looks acts and probably smells like a buffoon
December 9th, 2008 at 12:45 pmIt is a good thing that Fred Barnes is totally irrelevant. Fred should limit himself to reciprocal hand jobs with Mort Kondrake.
December 9th, 2008 at 12:53 pmBarnes hasn't seen the ball since the kickoff. He's another fox clown who is NEVER accurate or right correct about anything. I can remember when he was on a Capitol Gang and he was nutsy then--now he is crazier than ever--he is just like his other crazy friend, Bil Kristol.
December 9th, 2008 at 1:01 pmUh, first Phil Gramm caused the Enron debacle with his Commodity Futures Modernization Act. Then he caused the current depression with his Financial Futures Modernization Act.
Now, the wingnuts want Gramm in charge of modernizing the US auto industry?
Our country can't survive any further modernization by Phil Gramm.
December 9th, 2008 at 1:07 pmEnough with all the last-minute right-wing appointments!!!!
Phil Gramm should be kept as far away as possible from any position of authority.
December 9th, 2008 at 1:12 pmUm, here's a fresh new idea Chimpy...how about hiring someone who is actually CAPABLE of doing the effing job??!!
December 9th, 2008 at 1:19 pmI've got an even better idea George...why don't you grab a coloring book, sit down and SHUT THE FCUK UP until January. Stay out of the way, accept the FACT that you havn't had a good idea your whole life and let the adults fix the mess that your failed policies have caused. Someone should confiscate the Presidential red pens before someone gets hurt! And as for the backseat driving Repiglicans on the Hill and on the tv...you are a major and serious part of the problem and by interjecting your selfish, infintile desires into legislation and/or obstructing and threatening filibusters to prove your (in your mind only) relevence, you cause further damage to this Nation so move aside STFU!
jpopphan Says:
"Phil Gramm should be kept as far away as possible from any position of authority."
I don't know if I'd go that far. Someone has to be in charge of mopping up the halls in each Federal Penitentiary. Phil looks like he's got a strong back.
December 9th, 2008 at 1:20 pmIf Shrub really wanted to have a smooth transition, he would float any appointment by Obama before making it.
Yeah, right - like that's gonna happen.
December 9th, 2008 at 1:23 pmSure I expect to see Barack Obama reach out his hand to Fred Barnes. Oh, wait, maybe that's a backhand swipe.
December 9th, 2008 at 1:37 pmSince Fred is with FAUX Noise, I doubt Obama will pay him much attention.
December 9th, 2008 at 1:58 pmPresident-Elect Obama can do what the hell he wants come Jan. 20, 2009. He will be the real President, not chimpy.
repugs and assheads are the only fools who believe that President-Elect Obama will be some sort of pseudo-President.
December 9th, 2008 at 3:04 pmWhy is chimpy making it an executive position? So he can used the lame excuse of executive privileged when the shid hits the fan?
I didn't know chimpy could add to the executive branch of government such a trite position. What's next The Czar Czar?
And the use of the word czar reminds me of Russian's war years. chimpy just can't give up the war thing. The creep.
December 9th, 2008 at 3:11 pm"Mental Recession" Graham is NOT his actual nickname.
It's really FORCLOSURE PHIL
December 9th, 2008 at 3:22 pmPhil Gramm is better off with the soundproof earmuffs on his head and running one of his fingers between his lips. That is how he handles serious situations after all.
December 9th, 2008 at 4:16 pmBush will demand the right to appoint someone who will have a four-year term. I think that Congress will have to agree. In January, the Democrats will attempt to pass a new law, changing the term of the current czar to expire on about January 21st. The Republicans will attempt to filibuster the change, unsucessfully, I think. Remember, Bush has the hammer. Without his signature, we have a good chance of ending up in a depression. The Democrats will bet that they can fix the stuff that Bush makes them do, and the Republicsns will bet that they can't. Be prepared to send threatening letters to Landrieu, Pryor, Lincoln, and Nelson.
December 9th, 2008 at 5:21 pm