Alan Grayson: “President Obama…let these crooks off the hook”

[kpete]

Alan Grayson: “President Obama…let these crooks off the hook”

Episode #28 – Rep. Alan Grayson

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FULL TRANSCRIPT:
http://www.dylanratigan.com/2011/02/09/rep-alan-grayson-on-radio-free-dylan/

(Snippets)

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REP. GRAYSON: I think the greatest political barrier is the fact that the right wing keeps throwing up “leaders,” so called “leaders” to prove, I think they have to prove their manhood by invading and lording it those foreign people. And that was basically what was happening with George W Bush. He knew that he was AWOL from service for over a year, and he felt that he could somehow cover that up and make up for it by invading two other countries.

DYLAN: And what would you suggest is the best political tactic to fight a dynamic like the one you’ve just described, where you have a phenomenally insecure political faction that is looking to prove its relevance by murdering innocents far away from it, with other people’s money and gun and children?

REP. GRAYSON: I think just talking about the truth, I think that the truth shall set us free. If we keep pointing out the unbelievable harm, not just to the people whose company we occupy but also to us. The unbelievable harm that they suffer and we suffer, who knows, maybe later that will become unacceptable.

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DYLAN: Couple of last questions and then I will let you go. One thing that came out in the FCIC report and Bill Greider did a great job of highlighting this — was the explicit introduction of known to be fraudulent mortgages. They have been audited by Clayton Holdings which is one of the bigger auditing firms if not the biggest auditing firms of these documents. They were knowingly and knowingly insofar as they had been reviewed by Clayton Holdings, then installed inside of investments and sold to pension funds, et cetera et cetera, where then the banks would go out and buy insurance on that that obviously paid a lot of money when the government stepped in to bail out AIG who was one of the big insurers.

How is it that after the Great Depression, there were blue sky laws that said it is illegal to sell a worthless piece of paper as if it is stock in the company if its just Alan Grayson and Dylan Ratigan have gone downtown with a piece of paper with their names on it and they are selling it for money even though there is actually no business. We created laws to prevent people from doing that sort of thing. And yet we found here that mortgages that have been deemed by some official authority — an auditor in this case — as nonconforming, will not get paid back, noncompliant with illegal investment standards for you, American pension fund, for you American mortgage buyer, Fannie Freddie etcetera, and then the FCIC comes out, shows that these fraudulent mortgages were being packaged and sold by Goldman, Deutsche, Morgan, the list goes on and yet, we have yet to see a single meaningful fraud investigation. I mean these guys makes Bernie Madoff look like Romper Room.

REP. GRAYSON: Well that’s right, and what it comes down to is they have been protected by one thing and one thing only which is prosecutor discretion. There is no doubt in a situation like that that people committed crimes, but in order to prosecute them for that you need to have a prosecutor who is willing to do it. And that is something that seems to have eluded us in the past, I guess, three years now. I am not only blaming the Obama administration, if the Bush administration had its head on straight they would have prevented a lot of these things from happening to start with.

But the President Obama administration said at the beginning, we are going to look forward and not back and therefore in the process of making that decision basically let these crooks off the hook.

DYLAN: And what does that sort of decision make, I call Obama the “turn the page president” whether it is war crimes, banking crimes or anything else, is there a point where the decision not to prosecute blatant crimes that are destructive to society really starts to breach the public trust with the government just because the President doesn’t really want to deal with the mess?

REP. GRAYSON: It’s actually worst than that. The same people who were committing fraud and crimes at Bear Stearns, they are now committing fraud and crimes at Bank of America, at Goldman Sachs and other institutions, because it turns out that crime does pay. It turns out that if you steal a large amount of money that leads to the collapse of your institutions, there’s jobs for you somewhere else.

And the old saying is those who forget history is going to repeated; well those who don’t punish the wrongdoers are doomed to repeat it as well. And that is the real problem; the problem is not only that it offends your sense of justice or my sense of justice to see people who destroyed enormous amount of wealth, staggering amounts of wealth, 15% of our entire national net worth in 18 months. The people who did that — it annoys me and annoys you that these people get off the hook but worse than that it scares me and it probably scares you too because we know it can happen again.

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more:
http://www.dylanratigan.com/2011/02/09/rep-alan-grayson-on-radio-free-dylan/

[WillyT]

1. K & R !!!

:kick:

[tekisui]

2. knr.

[givemebackmycountry]

3. I can work with that.

Damn, I miss this dude.

[ProSense]

4. Why didn't Grayson team up with

Kucinich and Conyers and drag them before the Congress when he had a chance?

Look at all the bogus investigations House Republicans are pursuing.

[olegramps]

24. Damn good question!

[druidity33]

26. I believe he tried...

but he's not the head of a committee that can assign hearings (neither was Kooch). Conyers has stated in the past vague interest to pursue the Bush-era wrongdoers... but he's been belittled for so long, that his "stern letters" go nowhere.

:shrug:

[midnight]

5. K&R

[tavalon]

6. kicked and recced.

[Disintermedia8]

7. Lily Ledbetter n/t

[thanks_imjustlurking]

53. Yes, but what has that got to do with letting crooks off the hook? nt

[Disintermedia8]

54. sorry. it's a sad, sick joke n/t

[thanks_imjustlurking]

63. Ah, got it. Sometimes I'm irony-deprived. nt

[NorthCarolina]

8. K&R

[bertman]

9. REC and kick. nt

[The Wizard]

10. To prosecute crimes

the only way to look is back. Crimes don't happen in the future.

[tblue37]

11. They don't just let the crooks off the hook. They let them continue to get

obscenely wealthy by ripping people off.

[pacalo]

12. Grayson expressed it with words I've been feeling but too angry to pin down...

It is most certainly my sense of justice that has been offended by these crooks getting off the hook, & I've always said that if they weren't held accountable, this nation will never heal.

The teabaggers & their loud mouths, which were organized by billionnaires' interests, are shouting out manufactured rage while it is we -- the grassroots -- who truly get the severity of the true crimes committed against this country. The baggers were intended as a distraction from the real issues continuing to fester.

I've been sitting on the edge of my seat for 11 years every single day waiting for justice. I'm appalled that these crooks are still free. When impeachment was "taken off the table", my sense of justice was offended. When we finally had a Democratic president, my sense of justice was offended when he told us the past was the past & we should not look back, but forward.

[Enthusiast]

34. I'm with you.

I am so sick of this. This alone is solid ground enough for me to never cast another vote for Obama.

[MissDeeds]

41. I agree

Now we'll both get deleted.

:hi:

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. 
[link:www.democraticunderground.com/forums/rules.html|Click
here] to review the message board rules.

[slipslidingaway]

14. knr nt

[noise]

15. This thread is a distraction from the real enemy...

Wikileaks. Please focus.

[Enthusiast]

35. Oh, yes.

Look over there.

[defendandprotect]

16. K/R -- Love Grayson ... how about Sanders/Grayson -- 2012 ... Dem ticket !!

[Moral_Imagination]

17. Grayson and Ratigan

Dumb and Dumber...

[maddiemom]

19. grayson/ratigan

Mr. Grayson: please don''t ever go away and stop your voice being heard. Mr, Ratigan: many thanks for leaving the whimpy (if not the actual dark side) and being a real journalist.

[onpatrol98]

48. Warren/Ratigan

I like Warren/Ratigan...

[disillusioned73]

27. Way to contribute...

by your simple and yet ignorant reaction it is fair to say you approve of the above mentioned crimes. Dismiss the messenger if you wish, the message remains....

[Enthusiast]

37. Obama is OUT. nt

[Plucketeer]

55. Indubitably!

Bush-Cheney in '2012!!! (Jeb & Liz) :puke:

[Poboy]

18. recommend

[krkaufman]

62. Hey, excellent signature line...!

May have to update mine, as well.

[Lugnut]

20. K&R! n/t

[Norrin Radd]

21. kr

[Shining Jack]

22. K&R

[democracy1st]

23. K & R!

[NuclearDem]

25. Well, Grayson, you're one step closer to redeeming yourself for Talibandangate

[dotymed]

28. kpete

What do you think about having a peaceful, goal oriented revolution in America? Unfortunately, I can see no alternative in a country (and administration, though I am not calling for their ouster) that refuses to deal with the past and present of America and the ruin of it's largest majority?

[kpete]

29. everyone of us

needs to weigh this in their hearts,
but i agree, we must deal only with TRUTHS,
kpete

[glinda]

31. And must deal with Truths before we no longer can hear or see them.

[Beavker]

45. I'd love it, but Americans are too ignorant.

Egyptians are, I'd say, all on the same page, at least in their contempt for Mubarak. We still have waaay too many people that tolerate, and even unknowingly vote for these guys that are owned by Wall Street. If Americans said, "if you take Corporate Money, I don't care who you are or from which corporation, you will not be voted for." And if that happened, we'd take our country back. But that will never happen. The droolers will turn on Beck and Limbaugh and go vote for the guy that will take their money and give it to Wall Street.

I keep thinking time will work it out. Younger kids are more liberal all the time, eventually the Conservatives will die out. But I dont' know if that will happen, and it won't within my lifetime, or my kids'.

[DeSwiss]

50. The only "peaceful" revolt.....

...which is possible, is one where we are first "deconditioned" from our current existence so that we take the next step which is to cut off their supply of our money by "unplugging" from their system.

So if we are talking change through revolt, we're necessarily talking about deconditioning because the thing we fear already has a life deep in our own consciousness. Deconditioning from cultural ignorance is at the heart of any insurrectionary politics. Deconditioning also involves risk and suffering. But it is transformative, freeing the self from helplessness and fear. It unleashes the fifth freedom, the right to an autonomous consciousness. That makes deconditioning about as individual and personal act as is possible. Maybe the only genuine individual act.

Once unencumbered by self-induced and manufactured cultural ignorance, it becomes clear that politics worldwide is entirely about money, power and national mythology, with or without some degree of human rights. America still has all of the above to one degree or another. Yet for all practical purposes, such as advancing the freedom and the well being of its own people, the American republic has collapsed.

Of course, there is still money to be made by the already rich. So the million or so people who own the country and the government use their control to convince us that there is no collapse, just economic and political problems that need to be solved. Naturally, they are willing to do that for us. Consequently, the economy is discussed in political terms, because the government is the only body with the power to legislate, and therefore render the will of the owning class into law.

But politics and money are never going to fill what is essentially a public vacuum that is moral, philosophical and spiritual. (The latter was instantly recognized by fundamentalist Christians, disfigured by cultural ignorance, as they may be.) Not many ordinary Americans talk about this vacuum. The required spiritual and philosophical language has been successfully purged by newspeak, popular culture, a human regimentation process masquerading as a national educational system, and the ruthlessness of everyday competition, which leaves no time to contemplate anything.

http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2010/12/america-y-ur-peeps-b-so-dum.html">~Joe Bageant, "America Y UR Peeps B So Dum?"

- But they know that most people can't or won't do this. And thus they have no fear of us, even though we outnumber them and indeed could overwhelm them completely.

"You let one ant stand up to us, then they all might stand up! Those puny little ants outnumber us a hundred to one and if they ever figure that out there goes our way of life! It's not about food, it's about keeping those ants in line." ~Hopper, "A Bug's Life"

[snot]

30. K&R'd

Failure to prosecute = invitation to a free-for-all.

[glinda]

32. What the Dem Party needs are some very verbally strong people that will be a

presence and a counter to Teas and crazy Conservatives. For lack of a better word- bullies. Not lying ones but sort of like the old Union types, out front and verbal defending the people and explaining in simple terms what things mean.

[markpkessinger]

61. We have plenty of those -- the ignorati refuse to listen n/t

[Enthusiast]

33. K&R

This is grounds for impeachment. Obama and Holder are derelict in their duty. Of course all the players in the Bush Administration should be investigated and prosecuted. Like that will ever happen in this godforsaken country.

The SCOTUS and Bush did not steal that election with good intentions. We are living the results right now. How do you like it?

[cottonseed]

36. I don't want to be a jerk here. And I'll do some research of my own, but has...

Grayson done any concrete work in his position to do anything about bringing the Bush administration and those in the government responsible for these crimes to justice? And that includes many of our own Democratic Congresspersons that helped along the way.

[xxqqqzme]

38. He was in no position w/ any power.

He was only in office for one term 2009-2011.

more - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Grayson

[kctim]

43. You mean

like providing actual proof instead of his personal opinion?

Not that I know of.

And he no longer has a 'position,' he was NOT re-elected.

[OnyxCollie]

46. Before Grayson was elected

he was a lawyer going after fraudulent defense contractors like Custer Battles.

What has the Obama administration done? Besides giving Blackwater/Xe another fat contract?

[Mosaic]

39. What America had become

George Bush, the banality of evil, the corporate media, the brainwashed masses, and internet apologists and witewashers.

[Hubert Flottz]

40. "because we know it can happen again."

No, because it WILL happen again, only next time it will be worse.

[MissDeeds]

42. K&R

[Shagbark Hickory]

44. Countdown.... with Alan Grayson.

has a nice ring to it.

[emilyg]

47. K/R

[DeSwiss]

49. K&R

"The government is the potent omnipresent teacher. For good or ill it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. To declare that the end justifies the means -- to declare that the government may commit crimes -- would bring terrible retribution." ~Justice Louis Brandeis

[tpsbmam]

51. GREAT quote! n/t

[Rosa Luxemburg]

52. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld et al should have been put behind bars right away

[Major Hogwash]

56. They're not off the hook just yet. They could still be charged, but what would the result be?

A double-dip recession, a national bank, a new federal housing authority?

It's great pointing out what the problems are but it would be more helpful to come to the discussion with a solution in mind.
I like Alan, but if I were him, that's what I would do now, work on providing some solutions.

[Dragonfli]

58. They just convicted a murderer in my town because he broke the law

Should they reverse the decision because "what are the results?"
Justice is it's own result, also when you let murderers free because you fear the results you will see more murderers emboldened to kill because they know there will be no penalty.

I am from the rule of law school of thought, I gather you are more of an anarchist or perhaps just Machiavellian in your belief in results only?
please enlighten me as to why laws should be optional for some, or do you believe they should be optional for all?(a slightly less toxic but still horrible outlook)

[Major Hogwash]

60. He wasn't just talking about the war. He was also talking about the mortgage crisis.

I'm an anarchist, my ass!!

Just because we didn't get the results you want, everyone is against upholding the law!
Is that it?
Because those are the same kind of kneejerk answers we got to Pelosi taking impeachment off of the table in 2006.

That would have been great, impeach Bush, and wind up with PRESIDENT CHENEY!!
Then we would have been in a war with Iran before 2008 was over for sure!

[Dragonfli]

64. Rule of law is supposed to mean something, commit a crime at least get charged and face your accusor

You just don't seem to get that the law is not supposed to be optional, there is not supposed to be a class above the law especially for political reasons.
What I want is the rule of law, in both cases. If they are innocent that is what courts and juries are for.

I think you are unable to grasp that this is not the 1600's where a lord faces no legal repercussions.
We revolted for rule of law as much as we did for freedom.

The law is not a bargaining chip even for a good result, if it is then the whole system is a crock of shit and we should all be allowed to decide which laws we choose to observe or not according to whim.

You are no anarchist I agree but your thinking reminds me of a certain prince that I mentioned earlier.

Besides idiot Cheney would have been an accessory so can you tell me who would have been third in line?
I stand for rule of law, what exactly do you stand for and who exactly should be above it?

[defendandprotect]

57. k/r

[RedCloud]

59. And these crooks repay him by pissing all over him and he appoints them!

Somebody's got a golden shower fetish.

[upi402]

65. Grayson, Feingold, Kucinich next

They are cementing their grip. This isn't an accident, it's the damn media propaganda organ.