Posted on 10/20/2011 4:36:57 AM PDT by tobyhill
TV star and wanna-be pol Alec Baldwin took some heat Wednesday for joining the anti-Wall Street protesters even though he is a television face of Capital One Bank.
Baldwin visited the Occupy Wall Street encampment at Zuccotti Park late Wednesday night, spending about two hours chatting with the protesters.
According to online videos, he spent much of it being hounded by Ron Paul fans who were annoyed he wouldn't agree the Federal Reserve should be "ended." They were also peeved he refused to endorse the Republican Texas congressman.
"I want your lips to support Ron Paul," Baldwin was told by a persistent young man who professed a complex theory about bankers assassinating John F. Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln.
Baldwin ended up defending the banking system to the crowd.
"I don't want the capital markets to be dismantled," he said. "I think capitalism is worthwhile, and capitalism demands the flow of money."
He said he thought the biggest problem is a toothless Securities and Exchange Commission, which is supposed to regulate the financial system.
"They don't do anything. They are totally in the pocket of the banks!" Baldwin said.
"The banks are going to do what the banks do. And you want the banks to do what banks do. But when the banks [act] like they are a hockey player that starts throwing their elbow in your eye socket, you want the SEC to throw the flag. The SEC never throws the flag."
The nuance of his position was lost on critics, who called him a hypocrite on Twitter because he shills for Capital One, the nation's eighth-largest bank.
Baldwin later tweeted: "I donated all of my fee from Capital One 2 arts charities. They have been gr8 partners in my support of the arts."
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
Ron Paul fans at OWS!!!!!
I love Ron Paul (domestic views) but his supporters are being taken for suckers by the OWS bunch. As long as their function is to just add to the crowd size they will be tolerated. If their message starts to gather steam and interfere with the Marxist rhetoric they will simply be pushed aside.
Ron Paul is the Patron Saint of Contrarians.
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