Sunday opinion. Today will be both historical and hysterical.
Frank Rich:
Far from being held liable for the chicanery and recklessness that would destroy their company and threaten their country’s economy, these executives benefited big time. In a study late last year, three Harvard Law School researchers examined public documents to assess whether one "standard narrative" of the crash was true — that "the meltdown of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers largely wiped out the wealth of their top executives." It turned out to be a fairy tale. "In contrast to what has been thus far largely assumed, the executives were richly rewarded for, not financially devastated by, their leadership of their banks during this decade," the Harvard Law team wrote. The top five executives at both Lehman and Bear collectively took home $2.4 billion in bonuses and equity sales — that’s nearly a quarter-billion dollars each — between 2000 and their 2008 demise.
Maureen Dowd:
Like that other troublemaking Bart (Simpson), Stupak, who wants to kill the health care bill because he thinks the language on abortion funding is not restrictive enough, should have to write on the blackboard a hundred times: "I will listen closely when the nuns tell me I am wrong. I will not be an obstinate lawmaker."
William Kristol: I'm still around, spouting more nonsense than ever. Today's drivel theme is that even if the health bill passes, it's not historic because Republicans don't like it.
Kathleen Parker:
Independents as a group outnumber either party, in other words. Yet, given the hyperpartisanship that began under George W. Bush -- and has accelerated during President Obama's first year, thanks in large part to the enabling mechanism of the Internet -- one would think that America were divided into hard left and hard right.
We're not. We're a vast middle, slightly right-of-center nation. How is it that so many feel so disenfranchised by so few?
Uh, Kathleen, the fading and fractious tea party movement is neither centrist nor important, except as a threat to Repubicans in primaries. It's great you called out Erik Erickson for the jerk that he is, but you're still missing the big picture. The center has moved sightly left since the Bush era, and if you can't bring yourself to call moderates "fiscally conservative, socially liberal", which is what they are, you still have issues to work out.
David Broder: If only Democrats would embrace Republicans like Clinton embraced Gingrich, the world would be a better place. You see, McConnell and Boehner are reasonable people, who are simply forced to be intransigent by those nasty Democrats.
Chris Cillizza: 5 myths about health reform.
- This could have been a bipartisan bill.
Very unlikely. Bipartisanship in politics is built on two pillars: trust and mutual benefit. And from the start it was apparent that both were in short supply in the 111th Congress.
Thank you for the reality check.