Maybe it is the upbringing in Indonesia that taught Barack Obama the finer points of running a thugocracy. Or maybe it was from reading Saul Alinsky and growing up surrounded by communists, radicals, and domestic terrorists.
First you hire a bunch of tax cheats, then you confiscate a pile of tax payer dollars to bailout your preferred billionaires and screw shareholders of companies, then begin making demands on company products despite being outside what people will buy in the free market, and lastly turning to the bully pulpit and the press to beat the hell out of dissenters.
Michael Barone warned us the thugocracy was coming.
‘I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors,” Barack Obama told a crowd in Elko, Nev. “I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face.” Actually, Obama supporters are doing a lot more than getting into people’s faces. They seem determined to shut people up.
I just suspected the White House would maintain some level of plausible deniability instead of directly directing the bullying. Jake Tapper makes clear that is not the case.
A leading bankruptcy attorney [Thomas Lauria] representing hedge funds and money managers told ABC News Saturday that Steve Rattner, the leader of the Obama administration’s Auto Industry Task Force, threatened one of the firms, an investment bank, that if it continued to oppose the administration’s Chrysler bankruptcy plan, the White House would use the White House press corps to destroy its reputation.
The White House said the story was false.
Yes, yes, the White House denies the story. But while denying it, the White House was also proving the story true. Barack Obama took to the bully pulpit to heap scorn and derision on the the bankruptcy attorney’s hedge funds and money managers.
President Obama singled out Lauria’s clients for criticism when he announced the Chrysler plan on Thursday.
“While many stakeholders made sacrifices and worked constructively, I have to tell you some did not,” the president said. “In particular, a group of investment firms and hedge funds decided to hold out for the prospect of an unjustified taxpayer-funded bailout. They were hoping that everybody else would make sacrifices, and they would have to make none.”
Lauria said the president’s assertion that his clients weren’t willing to make any sacrifice is false. The clients were willing to take 50 cents on the dollar from Chrysler for their debt, he said.
A nationally respected bankruptcy attorney who, by the way, is also a huge donor to Democrats, say the White House told him the White House would destroy his clients in the press if they did not adhere to White House demands.
The White House denies that is true.
Then the President of the United States attacks Lauria’s clients in a press conference.
Who do you believe? The businessmen or the thugocracy?
Aaron Gardner
Steve Maley
KnightsofMalta
Heard Lauria's interview
Deskpilot (Diary) Saturday, May 2nd at 7:47PM EST (link)with WJR the other day. Of course the WH denies it, and then to be followed up by The One affirming it. All to typical of NOT ON MESSAGE, (not on board),
Obambis little whining means that someone is standing up to him and he can’t stand it.
Jake Tapper does the lheavy lifting for the ENTIRE WH press Corps by even hinting that this story does exist. Watch him really step into character and report the WHILE story.
Where in the Constitutiopn does the Presidnet gfet this authority to pound on America’s private businesses? Filing suit is the only way Lauria can get the “Checks and Blanaces” concept of the Constitution applied. Apparently Lauria’s client aren’t going to take this lying down. Good for them. Someone has to stand up to the Chief Thug of the United States!!!!
If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you can still read it in English, You’re Welcome
Deskpilot, AM(H)1 (AW), USN (Ret)
Join the RedState Strike Force
For A Lawyer
red4ever (Diary) Saturday, May 2nd at 7:54PM EST (link)Obama really doesn’t get it. Mr. Lauria’s ethical duty was to protect his client’s interests, not promote the President’s agenda. If Mr. Lauria had done otherwise, he could have faced discipline from the bar. But, don’t let a little thing like ethics and principles get in your way President Obama.
Anyone gets in my face about Obama, they are in for a big surprise.
The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.
Dante
I found it revealing that the
redneck_hippie (Diary) Saturday, May 2nd at 8:23PM EST (link)deputy press secretary, Bill Burton, said of the story that there is “no evidence.”
What does it matter there is “no evidence” if the story is true. Upon hearing the “no evidence” claim Jake Tapper and the forces of truth must be hearing the squeamish croaking of a weak defense. And, the witness to the story is evidence as someone said earlier. Mr. Lauria can soon expect to receive the remains of a large flounder by mail.
Legal contracts
snewb098 Saturday, May 2nd at 8:42PM EST (link)I used to buy corporate bonds and when a
company goes belly up the bond holders are first in line
to be repaid. Then the preferred stockholders, then the common.
The bondholders are mad because the other
two mentioned were taken care of already
by obama & unions. If they are
first in line, why should they succumb to Obama’s
rhetoric about them being “hedge funds” & “speculators”
They are mostly 401K investments via Oppenheimer etc.
Excellent point! How many average Americans got screwed in this deal?
smagar (Diary) Sunday, May 3rd at 3:39AM EST (link)I think that Sec Geithner and the new SEC head should tell us!
Hey, I’ve got a better idea….let’s find average people who invested in these bonds, and tell their story.
“Who will stand/On either hand/And guard this bridge with me?” (Macaulay)
This was my question too
cookcountyconservative (Diary) Sunday, May 3rd at 2:43PM EST (link)The President sneers “I do not stand with them”.
I want to know who Mr. Lauria’s clients are – how do they relate to my husband’s pension fund, my 401K, or our mutual and bond funds.
Does my President stand with me? Or do I have to be a UAW member for that luxury?
I was asked
jerry38 (Diary) Saturday, May 2nd at 8:45PM EST (link)the other day if I had heard the President’s speech and how he defended his pro-abortion stance. I said no – but that I had known for a long time the extreme anti-life position of Obama. No, I said, what really scares me today is that the President of the US is announcing bankruptcies of Corporations, brokering deals to turn companies over to their Unions, and vilifying those private citizens and organizations who don’t go along with his plan. Next he will pressure the bankruptcy Court to ignore the law and go along with his plan.
Pro-abortion, I knew about for a long time – this type of dictatorial thuggery and utter disregard for Constitutional limits on his power – I didnt forsee. The man has no limits and will do whatever he can get away with. Right now he can get away with just about anything.
“Justice is always naive and self-confident; believing that it will immediately win once recognized. That is the reason why the forces of Justice are so poorly organized. On the other hand, the Evil is cynic, sly and fantastically organized. It never ever has the illusion of the ability to stand on its own feet and to win in a fair competition. That is why it is ready to use any kind of means without hesitation. And of course it does – under the banners of the most noble ideas.”
–Vladimir Bukovsky
"use the White House press corps"
gonzo55 (Diary) Saturday, May 2nd at 8:50PM EST (link)Yeah, and the libs are still whining about how Fox was just a mouthpiece for the Bush administration. What a joke.
“Facts are stubborn things” — Ronald Wilson Reagan
They hate competition, don'cha know.
mikefisk (Diary) Saturday, May 2nd at 9:10PM EST (link)n/t
“Once within the maw of Leviathan, degree of digestion is irrelevant.” – Michael Fisk
9.25, -4.77
Bring It On
DavidSage (Diary) Saturday, May 2nd at 8:52PM EST (link)If I was a financial institution that had tens of millions of dollars (or hundreds of millions of dollars) in Chrysler bonds, I really wouldn’t be too intimidated by what Obama’s press corp could do to me. I would much rather have my money than praise from “The One.”
The big banks are completely under Obama’s thumb and have to go along with his offer, but the smaller operations that didn’t take TARP funds want what they’re owed, and rightly so.
I can’t wait to see how few people are going to line up and want to purchase bonds from UAW controlled companies (or any company with a large Union presence). After this fiasco, no investor is going to want to get near them.
How many Americans
DerKrieger (Diary) Saturday, May 2nd at 9:29PM EST (link)…are going to want to buy vehicles from Chrysler or GM? Not me. Not now. Not ever again. The irony is that the biggest purchasers of Big 3 vehicles are conservatives. Libs prefer foreign brands. (A generality yes but true). If we conservatives stop buying Chrysler and GM vehicles they are finished.
“In questions of power, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.” – Thomas Jefferson
“I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.” – James Madison
Whenever the legislators endeavor to take away and destroy the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power, they put themselves into a state of war with the people, who are thereupon absolved from any further obedience.” — John Locke, 1690
Unless they outlaw other car companies
civil truth (Diary) Saturday, May 2nd at 9:38PM EST (link)…or force them to unionize under the UAW. Then we won’t have any choice but to buy from Government Motors – and pretend we’ve got a choice because the old names are still around even if they’re really ghosts.
The greatest evil…is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice. Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or the offices of a thoroughly nasty business concern. -C.S. Lewis
http://www.gmsplace.com/
I think the plan goes something like this...
smagar (Diary) Sunday, May 3rd at 3:45AM EST (link)1) In the short run (e.g., the 2012 elections), the UAW keeps its members happy through infusions of taxpayer cash and US government purchases of GM products.
2) In the mid-term, the Obama Administration starts making it harder for any US automaker to produce big cars that consume elevated levels of gasoline. (I think Obama referred to this as “demand management.”) GM, meanwhile, retools to build Euro-style eco-friendly cars.
3) In the long run, Americans buy GM’s cars, because it’s too much of a hassle NOT to.
4) After Obama is reelected in 2012, who cares if the plan blows up after that?
“Who will stand/On either hand/And guard this bridge with me?” (Macaulay)
After this fiasco, no investor is going to want to get near them.
izoneguy (Diary) Saturday, May 2nd at 8:58PM EST (link)Will it matter? Obama will just fuel the inferno with your tax dollars. WHo is going to stop it? The UAW will feed a portion of it back over to Obama, Pelosi & Reid and will be able to stuff the airwaves with bogus TV spots about how what is going on is to “strengthen” the working families.
The point cannot be made often enough: Modern liberalism, as embodied in the Obama presidency, is the defender of the status quo. And the status quo is a road to economic ruin. Political forces cannot redistribute the wealth that the economic system does not produce.
Obama also said "I do not stand with them..."
conservativemusician Saturday, May 2nd at 9:03PM EST (link)In speaking about those greedy hedge fund managers who actually defied Obama in wanting to make a profit. He really is suprised that there are some who have chosen not to bow down at his feet. This guy really has a lot of stones…and yes, he is a thug that even Al Capone would probably fear.
I don’t think anyone has ever stood up to him or criticized him in his adult life…and we can see with each passing day that he does not suffer opposition very well. Where does this guy get off even making the Chrysler bankruptcy announcement anyway? I mean, isn’t this supposed to come from the Chrysler leadership (what’s left of it anyway)?
I think the big money people are wising up now and he is starting to get some criticism on CNBC now pretty much on a daily basis (especially from Kudlow). I truly hope that GM and Ford can stand firm against this thug and the rest of his goon squad at the White House as they continue their attempts to end capitalism as we know it.
No sympathy for Obama voters
DerKrieger (Diary) Saturday, May 2nd at 9:30PM EST (link)I only wish we didn’t all have to suffer.
“In questions of power, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.” – Thomas Jefferson
“I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.” – James Madison
Whenever the legislators endeavor to take away and destroy the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power, they put themselves into a state of war with the people, who are thereupon absolved from any further obedience.” — John Locke, 1690
not from Cramer
larryp Sunday, May 3rd at 1:02AM EST (link)I have been really disappointed in how Cramer seems to have flipped. Or his choke-chain has been yanked. really too bad,
Yep...Stewart put him in his place pretty definitively, didn't he?
smagar (Diary) Sunday, May 3rd at 3:47AM EST (link)I never much cared for Cramer, anyway—he struck me as a bully. Well, most bullies cave when they get punched.
“Who will stand/On either hand/And guard this bridge with me?” (Macaulay)
All "booyahs" aside...
conservativemusician Sunday, May 3rd at 9:26AM EST (link)He’s the last person I’d take financial advice from. Surprised Kudlow is sticking it out at CNBC. He’s a very sharp guy…and very conservative.
Pretty weak "thuggery"
Next93 (Diary) Saturday, May 2nd at 9:18PM EST (link)I lashed into one of my co-workers back in December for an offhanded (but fashionable) comment comparing the Bush administration to the thugs running the People’s Repubic of China. I told him to let me know when the secret police started rounding people up for making just that sort of statement, or when Bush and co decided to murder 10 million people for being politically unreliable.
I probably should have held my tongue, but I was just sick to death of that kind of imbecilic hyperbole that insulted both the American system and the victims of real opression.
No question, Obamah’s actions were childish, churlish, beneath contempt, and a disgrace on the office of the President. But he doesn’t hold a stitch to the real thugs of the world (yet). Basically, he threatened to call them names. Lets be honest, if this was Malaysia or even Chicago, Lauria would have dissapeared, or whould have been found murdered in a spectalarly brutal fashion as an example to others.
I’m certainly not supporting the Boy President’s remake of Mussolini-style facism, not by any means. But if we start using the term “thuggery”over something like this, what term will we use when he starts sending his union “organizers” to firebomb and kneecap dissenters?
Obama was The One in 2008.
He’ll be a BIGGER one in 2012.
{kowalski} On the other hand...
Next93 (Diary) Saturday, May 2nd at 9:26PM EST (link)What’s been done to put the banks under government control and keep them there DOES qualify as “thuggery”, as does sending film crews and busloads of hired protesters to the homes of the exec who took the AIG bonuses.
And lets not forget the “we’re the only thing between you and the pitchforks” comment.
Obama was The One in 2008.
He’ll be a BIGGER one in 2012.
Thuggery is a fundamentally a character trait, not an action
civil truth (Diary) Saturday, May 2nd at 9:30PM EST (link)Obama does thuggery because he is a thug by character.
The other truth is that thugs start small, and if they don’t get stopped then, they just get more and more thuggish.
The thugs running China and other dictatorships didn’t start with disappearances and internment camps overnight. they started small and didn’t get stopped. See how Chavez has taken years to reach his level of power, but he’s always acted like a thug from the beginning.
So it’s important to call Obama for what he is, because it’s important to stop him at this stage, before people start losing their freedom and their lives – and before a peacible resolution becomes impossible.
When you see a ballistic trajectory, you know that someone has fired a a missile at you. You call it missile attack and try to intercept in flight rather than waiting until it lands before you call it a missile attack.
Same here, we see the trajectory from the begining of his political career, at least.
The greatest evil…is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice. Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or the offices of a thoroughly nasty business concern. -C.S. Lewis
http://www.gmsplace.com/
He has his 'crew'
DerKrieger (Diary) Saturday, May 2nd at 9:35PM EST (link)Obama couldn’t be a thug and succeed on his own. Fortunately for him, unfortunate for the country, is that he has an entire crew of henchmen in his Administration and in Congress. Pelosi is equally thuggish at least and Rahm is certainly the enforcer.
“In questions of power, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.” – Thomas Jefferson
“I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.” – James Madison
Whenever the legislators endeavor to take away and destroy the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power, they put themselves into a state of war with the people, who are thereupon absolved from any further obedience.” — John Locke, 1690
Don't forget Hillary
izoneguy (Diary) Saturday, May 2nd at 9:46PM EST (link)Her “Thugness” – After all her own husband did call Obama and his team a bunch of thugs.
America seems to be back in the revival of all things thugness.
It is displayed in the attitudes, morals & music of Americas youth.
I have banned “thug” music from our house. Much to the dismay of my 13 year old thug.
The point cannot be made often enough: Modern liberalism, as embodied in the Obama presidency, is the defender of the status quo. And the status quo is a road to economic ruin. Political forces cannot redistribute the wealth that the economic system does not produce.
thugs-the first dirty dozen but we have 30 dirty dozen
bobojake (Diary) Saturday, May 2nd at 10:42PM EST (link)obama
chuckie schummer
teddy kennedy
harry reid
nancy peloski
muffa,
dodd,
rambo the vulgar
axlehead
baghdad bob
hilly clinton
john kerry
plan for a loud knock on the front door.nt
larryp Sunday, May 3rd at 1:06AM EST (link)Don't forget Axelrod.
smagar (Diary) Sunday, May 3rd at 3:48AM EST (link)He’s the nuts-and-bolts guy here
“Who will stand/On either hand/And guard this bridge with me?” (Macaulay)
Threats and intimidation...
kayfromcarroll Saturday, May 2nd at 9:48PM EST (link)…..That’s what they do.
I think “thuggery” is a highly appropriate term. How many days (not years) has it been so far? And to threaten them with the White House Press Corps? Aren’t they independent employees of privately run news organizations? (Just checking…)
The WH Press Corps?
LDahl752 (Diary) Saturday, May 2nd at 10:24PM EST (link)All we can do is hope there are others, besides Jake Tapper, who will begin asking some real questions. I doubt the people need to know, or care anymore, what surprised or enchanted him during the first 3 months.
Won’t it be interesting to see the WH reaction if some of those darling media people begin to turn on this administration? Can’t you just picture Helen Thomas getting irrated? No, that’s a show that would sell tickets!
Linda D, Henderson NV
Find those Dem Senators who were swept into formerly R seats in 2006
smagar (Diary) Saturday, May 2nd at 10:45PM EST (link)…and ask them what they think of Obama’s actions.
Off the top of my head, that’s Jim Webb (VA), Sherrod Brown (OH), Bob Casey Jr (PA), Claire McCaskill (MO) and Jon Tester (MT)
If they start signing on to Obama actions like this, or don’t stand up and oppose them, I think we can make the case that they own those actions.
Yes, those elections are a way off. But I have to think that these Dems have to be asking themselves how all Obama’s tricks will play with their states’ voters a few years down the road.
“Who will stand/On either hand/And guard this bridge with me?” (Macaulay)
We need to convey the message to Lauria etal
Rod_Patrick (Diary) Saturday, May 2nd at 11:00PM EST (link)that they are not alone on this fight.
They have the support of ordinary people like us.
They should not be cowered by the Thugocratic Government of Obama.
On shutting people up: Liberal teachers are now trying to shut FoxNews up. Here's an example.
Rod_Patrick (Diary) Saturday, May 2nd at 11:03PM EST (link)Of course the businessman
antisocial (Diary) Saturday, May 2nd at 11:32PM EST (link)The problem is really whether the POTUS and his Administration can make deals for or against a business? Deciding winners and losers. We thought that used to happen in Soviet Union. Now it happens here.
Scary….
btw… last I checked Soviet Union had vanished.
Obama Doctrine – Boot On The Throat
—————————–
What is to be done?
——————————
No. You can’t – Moe Lane
——————————
The Emperor has no clothes!!!
The Soviet Union is more like Voldemort
civil truth (Diary) Saturday, May 2nd at 11:37PM EST (link)…and right now it is reincorporating itself into a new body. And it’s got a host of horcruxes and Death Eaters who have kept the faith and are awaiting the USSR’s return.
The greatest evil…is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice. Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or the offices of a thoroughly nasty business concern. -C.S. Lewis
http://www.gmsplace.com/
It is true
smitch61 Saturday, May 2nd at 11:34PM EST (link)I am in Michigan and it is true, the creditors are being threatened by the president, our governor, and the UAW ….. things are a mess here guys, the media will not report it, but we have businesses closing left and right since the bankruptcy….. It is important to remember that these nasty creditors are in first lien position…. They deserve their money on behalf of their clients (contracts) since when does the executive branch tell the judicial branch how to conduct business? welcome to big big government.
That's not big government
antisocial (Diary) Saturday, May 2nd at 11:49PM EST (link)That is an example of a dictatorship. What if President said Banks have to sacrifice on mortgages and take just 29 cents on the dollar? Or if consumers stopped paying prompted by POTUS….
This should be the TOP and ONLY news.
Obama Doctrine – Boot On The Throat
—————————–
What is to be done?
——————————
No. You can’t – Moe Lane
——————————
The Emperor has no clothes!!!
It should be, but our MSM wants to give Obama a chance to "fix" capitalism
smagar (Diary) Sunday, May 3rd at 3:52AM EST (link)Hence, they’ll be sure to not damage him TOO much. And, to pursue this story to its logical conclusion would be to damage him TOO much.
Fortunately for us, the Fox Business Network exists now. Perhaps it can become the voice of endangered capitalism.
“Who will stand/On either hand/And guard this bridge with me?” (Macaulay)
Where are the lawsuits?
zeebeach Sunday, May 3rd at 6:46AM EST (link)I’m no lawyer, but I never thought what is happening here would ever happen here because citizens, corporations, etc. would go to the courts. The SCOTUS needs to hear some cases eventually, yet I haven’t heard of one legal action. What gives (honest question)?
Thugocracy = Communism
azletx Sunday, May 3rd at 3:49PM EST (link)Why not call it what it is really (lets not mince words) it is eas easy as 1 + 2 = 3
1. Democratic President, Congress, Bankruptcy Judges equals 1-part rule.
2. Forced government control upon capitalistic businesses equals socialism.
3. The total of (1) 1-party rule and (2) forced government socialism = COMMUNISM !!!!!!
Red State Strike Force
CarolT (Diary) Sunday, May 3rd at 10:54PM EST (link)I say this is time for the Red State Strike Force to come out and make us do something. Anything,
This admin sicken me more every day. I pray Obama gets impreached, this time out of the office of POTUS, he is not an honorable man. The libs were calling Dick Cheney Darth Vader, what are they calling the thugocracy? Not a thing, I’m sure. They don’t care, they are in power again.
I am strike force at home and work, let’s do something.
Small nit,
The_Gadfly (Diary) Monday, May 4th at 1:36PM EST (link)It arrived on January 20 (or on the second Tuesday in November of 2008 if you prefer) and anybody familiar with his true upbringing and role models foresaw and predicted this. What happened today is that it was REVEALED in a small portion of the professional mass news media.