Posted on 07/09/2002 8:38:53 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
Says Fraudulent CEOs Should Lose All Compensation
Poor, poor Democrats. Small wonder they're in trouble.The zinging tour-de-force the President delivered on Wall Street Tuesday, beyond co-opting yet another issue from struggling Democrats, proves this Texan meant business when he vowed to go after business -- phony business, that is.
On corporate reform, Bush is now center stage.
Terry McAuliff must be flailing in pain.
Cleaning up the mess Clinton left behind is full time work, that much we've learn in the 17 months of this administration. Fixing the problems of Wall Street is part of the clean up.
But it's more than that.
To Bush, the 90s were reckless, a decade of impetuous irresponsibility, of unbridled license, a moral black hole for ethics, a contra bonos mores era run amok. In this crucible, corruption was 'in', integrity, 'out'.
But the tone was set at the top.
As the prince of sleaze, Clinton was the Zeitgeist of that era.
On many levels, the Clinton poison infected the culture, the ethos, the mores of the 90s. Things permissible -- indeed, rewarded -- while Clinton was "president", were unthinkable under Reagan.
Wall Street would not be immune. The harum-scarum emphasis on the bottom line, even to point of fraud -- consequences be damned -- was the Clinton Doctrine applied in the boardroom.
Lying, cheating, stealing, bilking, conning, duping, fleecing, thieving -- who gives a rip?!.
Just don't get caught.
That's the Clinton Doctrine.
Bush's speech was a watershed.
Message: The Clinton era is over. Washington -- there's a new Sheriff in town.
Here's a dirty little secret: To squeeze yet more mileage from corporate fraud politically, Democrats quietly hoped Bush's drive for reform would fall far short of criminal sanctions for wrongdoers.
Democrats still don't 'get it'. On Bush, they're clueless, utterly addled and befuddled.
To this President, the first MBA in the White House, the scandals on Wall Street are morally appalling.
As a respectable member of the business community himself, George W. Bush takes umbrage at the sleazeballs and scammers tarnishing the community as a whole in the eyes of the public. As a man of unquestioned integrity and docorum, Bush is bound and determined to bring these criminals to justice, to restore public confidence in corporate America, to bring probity, honesty, decency back to the boardroom.
To Bush, integrity isn't a handicap, it's the key to excellency in business. A fervent believer in free enterprise, he knows free markets can not long survive amid a crisis of confidence, a climate of investor cynicism.
Bush aims to end this crisis, and he will -- by putting corporate criminals in leg-irons, in orange jump suits. Under this administration, these scumbags are going to prison, and will stay in he pokey for a very, very long time, too.
Democrats, in contrast, see corporate sleaze as campaign fodder -- an issue to exploit politically.
For Bush, it's a moral issue -- a question of right and wrong.
Democrats could care less about corporate wrongdoing, per se.
Eh?
That's right. Oh, they posture and handwring endlessly over Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, Qwest and Global Crossing. But political advantage is what they're after -- capitalizing on what they wrongly perceive as vulnerabilities for Bush.
Rather than reaping political windfall, Democrats instead are in quite a pickle. By failing to act aggressively enough against corporate wrongdoing, Clinton allowed it to flourish. Indeed, by forestalling enforcement actions by his SEC, Clinton reaped the rewards -- campaign largess from corporate executives grateful to Clinton for keeping regulators off their backs.
Dittos the Reno "Justice" Department. On Clinton's watch, it was AWOL.
Small wonder Americans lay responsibility for the torrent of sleaze rocking Wall Street directly at Clinton's feet, much to the bitter chagrin of the media and Democrats who have feverishly sought to shield X42 from questions over his role as the book-cooking burgeoned while he was "president."
In the latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, 51% of Americans say Clinton is "at least partially responsible ... because of the climate he set in office with his moral failings."
Haunted by the ghost of Clinton past, Democrats and WorldCom share startling similiarities:
1) Both are battling to avoid bankrupticy; For Democrats, it's political bankruptcy; For WorldCom, it's financial bankruptcy.
2) Both are champions at cooking the books. Democrats, through cut outs, concealed millions of illegal campaign donations from abroad. WorldCom listed nearly $4 billion in expenses as capital outlays.
Neither of the two possess a modicum of ethics -- not a scrap of basic morality.Nor care that they don't.
And while Democrats and their media puppets have done their damndest to link the President with corporate sleaze -- indeed, they've smeared him as a crook and a criminal himself -- polls show their efforts have mostly boomeranged.
Despite politically motivated, coordinated Democrat/media slander, Americans overwhelmingly give President Bush the moral highground on this issue.
Week after week, month after month, this President has been libeled, maligned, denigrated, disparaged, vilified, impugned, defamed. He's been pummelled with every ugly name in the book.
The Bush-haters spared no effort to bring down the President.
Yet, all was for nought.
Indeed, their hateful vendetta conflicts with their goal of assassinating the President politically. While Democrats thought they saw a chance to tar Bush with the WorldCom brush, 64% of Americans believe "big business has too much influence on" Democrats in Congress, again according to Gallup. While the President gets similar numbers, the survey puts the lie to media claims that Democrats have a built-in political advantage to press.
Moreover, on questions of morals and ethics, this Presidents continues to garner exceptionally high marks.
On issue after issue, the Democrat disconnect is staggering.
Democrats desire a crippled President, even while the country is at war; Americans pray for Bush to stay strong.
Democrats would love to see a double-dip recession; Americans are optimistic on the future.
While Democrats try to undercut public morale, and undermine resolve, Americans overwhelmingly bond with the President; on matters of security, they trust him immensely.
Having failed to dent Bush's popularity, and with midterm elections looming ominously, Democrats are reduced to recycling inane "questions" over 12-year old stock deals at Harken Energy, where Bush was a director. For years, campaign opponents of the President have beaten the Harken drum, to no avail. The SEC investigated Bush ad nauseam, but found no evidence of impropriety.
But the haters aren't about to let niggling facts stand in their way. Senator Daschle, appearing on CBS's Face the Nation, continued to level vicious attacks, insinuating criminal wrongdoing on Bush's part.
Never mind that Linda Daschle, his wife, moved from airline lobbyist to acting administrator of the FAA, then left FAA to resume lobbying for the airlines. Her clients included some of the biggest government contractors of the airline industry.
Nuff said.
Yet, for all the sniping, all the slander, all the insults -- the fierce torrent of hate, bitter Democrats have zip, zero, nada to show for.
A whopping 76% approve of Bush's job performance, according to Gallup, and 65% are confident Bush will take corporate miscreats to the cleaners.
No more fuzzy ethics, no more fuzzy math. There is, indeed, a new Sheriff in town, O Democrats, and he's aiming to stay in your face.
So get over it.
Anyway, that's...
My two cents...
"JohnHuang2"
Thanks for that link
Gee now why would Clinton do this .. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
The anger I was expressing at the outrage at the corporate world without similar outrage being expressed at government malfeasance is not directed at President Bush.
I know that he has come in and given his cabinet members directives to cut the fraud, waste, and abuse in every cabinet agency. This is going on quietly, behind the scenes.
President Bush has taken a style that is relatively non-confrontative - BY CHOICE - as a determination to "change the tone" and to "unite the country". He will not betray that determination unless he has no other choice.
But there should be others out there - in the corporate world, IN THE MEDIA WORLD - MAYBE FOX IS THE ONLY OUTLET WITH THE GALL TO STATE IT - where the multeiplied billions of taxpayer funds unaccounted for can be discussed. And by some Free Enterprise non-profits.
And the "compensation" that goes to Congress people every year because they don't have the guts to vote for it and face voter wrath - so they set it up to get automatic salary increases.
These are subjects worthy of as much scrutiny as the current corporate scrutiny.
But as far as corporate scrutiny is concerned - thank you JH2 for your 2 cents. (you do need to be published, dear JH2 - more than just on FR).....JH2 has expressed beautifully what is going on with President Bush. He came into office demanding accountability of those in government and now he is demanding it of the private sector.
And truly the Clinton excesses and Clinton fraud years are over. New era here.
But as we move into this new era, as the Rats try to blame all our ills on free enterprise and capitalism - we know that the President understands and appreciates business interests and would like to promote those who are operating honestly and with integrity.....and hopefully this will eventually happen.
WorldCom handles many of this nation's critical networks better than any other company in the world could do. It has about 67,000 employees now - in every state and most foreign countries. If it becomes the "poster whipping boy" for the Dems - not only will those 67,000 suffer but also this country will suffer. The Current CEO has it right - he wants to clean out the trash and move forward - but the Demonrats will not be satisfied until WorldCom is destroyed. They see WorldCom's destruction as their chance to totally torpedo this economy into a depression. And to blame President Bush for it!
Those in charge should understand that if Worldcom goes under, so will much of this nation's and the world's infrastructure. There are honwar people working to see that it stays afloat and is turned around. I hope the enthusiam that the Dems are showing to "get Bush" over corporate wrongdoings and misdeeds will not be allowed to torpedo a critical company, and by doing so, to bring down the entire economy into the depression that the Demonrats seek - so they can blame THAT on Preisdent Bush!
What Clinton messes up, W cleans up!
miscreats should be: Miscreants.
nought should be: Naught
There are more typos, but those are the two most egregious. ;^)
The days of looking the other way are over.
Bull's-eye!
I hope to God, he inflicts those CLYMERS with boils!!
hehehe, I hope so, too!
I love your post. Give 'em hell!
Thank you for a dose of common sense, sorely needed.
Tommy: Welcome to the Camp,We're Not Gonna Take It, The Who, off the album Tommy.
I guess you all know why we're here.
My name is Tommy
And I became aware this year
If you want to follow me,
You've got to play pinball.
And put in your earplugs
Put on your eyeshades
You know where to put the caulk
Hey you getting drunk, so sorry!
I've got you sussed.
Hey you smoking Mother Nature!
This is a bust!
Hey hung up old Mr. Normal,
Don't try to gain my trust!
'Cause you ain't gonna follow me any of those ways
Although you think you must
Guests:
We're not gonna take it
We're not gonna take it
We're not gonna take it
We're not gonna take it
We're not gonna take it
Never did and never will
We're not gonna take it
Gonna break it, gonna shake it,
let's forget it better still
Tommy: Now you can't hear me,
your ears are truly sealed.
You can't speak either,
your mouth is filled.
You can't see nothing,
and pinball completes the scene.
Here comes Uncle Ernie to guide you to
Your very own machine.
Guests:
We're not gonna take it
We're not gonna take it
We're not gonna take it
We're not gonna take it
We're not gonna take it
Never did and never will
Don't want no religion
And as far as we can tell
We ain't gonna take you
Never did and never will
We're not gonna take you
We forsake you
Gonna rape you
Let's forget you better still.
Tommy:
See me.
Feel me.
Touch me.
Heal me.
Listening to you,
I get the music.
Gazing at you,
I get the heat.
Following you,
I climb the mountains.
I get excitement at your feet.
Right behind you,
I see the millions.
On you,
I see the glory.
From you,
I get opinions.
From you,
I get the story.
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