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E.J. Dionne: Call the Tea Party crowd’s bluff ("...Obama is not really all that liberal..")
The Columbia Daily Tribune / The Washington Post ^ | January 17, 2010 | E.J. Dionne

Posted on 01/17/2010 5:42:58 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

If you held a contest to pick the worst thing a politician could be called at this moment, my nominee would be “Wall Street liberal.”

That label has everything. I personally despise the way the noble liberal idea has been devalued, but face it: Conservatives have had great success in discrediting liberalism, to the point that most liberals dare not call themselves by their own name.

And what institutions are held in lower esteem right now than those represented by the words “Wall Street”?

The left has always disliked Wall Street. Populists of all stripes have gone after financiers since the days of Andrew Jackson. And the right can cast Wall Streeters as the recipients of Washington’s largesse. Oh, yes, and they were the high-fliers who tanked the American economy.

Put “Wall Street” together with “liberal” and: bang! About the only more unpopular combination I can think of is high-cholesterol broccoli.

If you want to understand why President Barack Obama’s standing in the polls is not where it used to be — and also why the populist-sounding Tea Party movement has gained so much traction — consider that some significant part of the American voting population has come to see the administration as both too liberal and too tied to Wall Street.

Never mind that Obama is not really all that liberal (read any of the liberal bloggers if you doubt this), and never mind that Wall Street is fighting Obama on financial reform, particularly on his excellent proposal to create a financial consumer protection agency. The fact is that the Wall Street tag is sticking, and Obama was always going to battle the L-word.(continued)

(Excerpt) Read more at columbiatribune.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 111th; angrymob; bho44; dionne; economy; liberalfascism; marchondc; obama; taxes; teaparties; teapartyexpress; teapartyrebellion
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1 posted on 01/17/2010 5:43:03 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Didn’t E. J. Dionne used to be somebody on the Big Screen?


2 posted on 01/17/2010 5:44:21 PM PST by abb ("What ISN'T in the news is often more important than what IS." Ed Biersmith, 1942 -)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
hey EJ you ignorant slime ball--we aren't bluffing. You criminal f*ers are in our sights.
3 posted on 01/17/2010 5:45:13 PM PST by hinckley buzzard
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I usually just call him a fascist or marxist.


4 posted on 01/17/2010 5:45:28 PM PST by cripplecreek (Seniors, the new shovel ready project under socialized medicine.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Its is descriptive as "limousine liberal." Wall Street liberal connotes an elitist associated with fat cats remote from the concerns of working class Americans. The Democrats don't know dangerous the label is to them.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find only things evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelogus

5 posted on 01/17/2010 5:45:46 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

” And what institutions are held in lower esteem right now than those represented by the words “Wall Street”? “

Congress.


6 posted on 01/17/2010 5:47:49 PM PST by Humble Servant (see y'all in the Gulag.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Conservatives have had great success in discrediting liberalism

Wrong. Liberalism is self-discrediting.

7 posted on 01/17/2010 5:50:14 PM PST by freespirited (People talk about "too big to fail." Our government is too big to succeed. --Chris Chocola)
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To: Humble Servant
Congress is even less popular than big business. As for E.J Dionne's assertion Obama is not that liberal, what about his agenda? There's isn't anything in it that could be supported even by Republican moderates. That agenda is so bad even the Weak Sisters and John McCain voted "no."

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find only things evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelogus

8 posted on 01/17/2010 5:50:45 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Never mind that Obama is not really all that liberal (read any of the liberal bloggers if you doubt this), and never mind that Wall Street is fighting Obama on financial reform, particularly on his excellent proposal to create a financial consumer protection agency.

Someone should point out to Dionne that if national healthcare comes to be, he may lose coverage for whatever psychotropic drugs he takes to come up with such lurid fiction.
9 posted on 01/17/2010 5:50:59 PM PST by LostInBayport ("It's not the Kennedys' seat, and its not the Democrats' seat, it's the people's seat." -Scott Brown)
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To: abb
I thought he was some big eyed orphan kid in the news paper comics!
10 posted on 01/17/2010 5:51:30 PM PST by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
If you want to understand why President Barack Obama’s standing in the polls is not where it used to be — and also why the populist-sounding Tea Party movement has gained so much traction — consider that some significant part of the American voting population has come to see the administration as both too liberal and too tied to Wall Street.

Well this is just an example but ... COULD HE HAVE GOT IT MORE WRONG?.

The Tea Party movement may be upset with Obama's relationship with Wall Street but the facts are that it isn't any different then any other President. What has the American public upset is the Socialism/Communism/Fascism, the incredible spending, the attempted government takeover of health care, the support for the junk science called Climate Change to justify huge tax increases and .... well I could go on but you get the idea.

11 posted on 01/17/2010 5:52:41 PM PST by InterceptPoint
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To: abb

I may be wrong on this but I seem to remember that many years ago his daughter was murdered. Subsequently, I believe he covered the OJ trial. The rest you know, he is a flaming left-wing lib eral writing for, among others, WaPo.


12 posted on 01/17/2010 5:54:01 PM PST by MarkT
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To: InterceptPoint
Its the socialism, stupid! But Dionne and his fellow leftist commentariat will never get it.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find only things evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelogus

13 posted on 01/17/2010 5:54:44 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Obama is more on the fascist scale than on the liberal scale but either way it is tyranny and we disapprove as we are for liberty.


14 posted on 01/17/2010 5:54:57 PM PST by NeoCaveman (usually clean, often articulate, only a slight Cro-Magnon accent except when I want to have one)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Dionne is incoherent as usual. The financial sector was the victim of failed government mortgage programs. Barney Frank wanted banks to take greater risks so they did.

The Kenyan’s anti Wall Street rhetoric is standard class warfare. The Kenyan is a communist, not a liberal.

One thing Dione has right. The left is spooked by the Tea Party movement. Good.


15 posted on 01/17/2010 5:55:03 PM PST by y6162 (uish..)
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To: abb

“Didn’t E. J. Dionne used to be somebody on the Big Screen?”

E. J. Dionne is a liberal columnist who is so far to the left that he makes zero look not really all that liberal.


16 posted on 01/17/2010 5:55:12 PM PST by rwa265 (Christ my Cornerstone)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
If you held a contest to pick the worst thing a politician could be called at this moment, my nominee would be “Wall Street liberal.”

Fits Obama and Chris Dodd.

17 posted on 01/17/2010 5:56:01 PM PST by NeoCaveman (usually clean, often articulate, only a slight Cro-Magnon accent except when I want to have one)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“Conservatives have had great success in discrediting liberalism, to the point that most liberals dare not call themselves by their own name.”

EJ is wrong. Liberals have been their own worst enemy and Conservatives have been adept at pointing out their mistakes. Like Health Care. And Cap and Trade.

Second: If EJ thinks someone who hung out with Marxists in University and supports a radical agenda to reshape America isn’t liberal I can only assume he’s (EJ) somewhere to the immediate left or right of Lenin.


18 posted on 01/17/2010 5:57:08 PM PST by saganite (What happens to taglines? Is there a termination date?)
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To: Red_Devil 232
I thought he was some big eyed orphan kid in the news paper comics!

He is!

19 posted on 01/17/2010 5:59:55 PM PST by kcvl
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Not really all that liberal??

What planet is he on??

Wall Street Liberal= Facist.


20 posted on 01/17/2010 6:02:37 PM PST by GeronL (http://tyrannysentinel.blogspot.com)
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