Make no mistake: Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow is solidly in Detroit’s pocket. Stabenow lobbied hard to slip the $25b bailout Department of Energy auto industry retooling loans into a congressional housekeeping bill. So why did The Debster vote against the Senate version of the $700b Wall Street bailout, a bill sufficiently beloved by Motown that GM CEO Rick Wagoner felt compelled to send his dealers a “lobby the bitches’ for this one” SOS? According to the Chicago Trib, her office released a three-paragraph statement Wednesday night that highlighted her “concerns.” “Hardworking families in Michigan are in crisis every single day and the bill passed by the Senate tonight does little to help them,” Stabenow’s statement said. The bill was “fundamentally the wrong approach to fixing our economy.” So what’s the right approach? * crickets chirping * So what’s the real reason for Stabenow’s vote against the bill? She knew her vote wouldn’t make a damn bit of difference– except to voters back home. As for her friends in Detroit… “Stabenow submitted a ‘colloquy’ into the Senate record after the vote with Senate Banking Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., making clear that the bailout provisions would apply to auto financing companies. ‘I want to commend Chairman Dodd for his leadership on this bill… the credit crisis is having a significant impact on the hardworking men and women at GM in Michigan and throughout the country who proudly build American-made cars and trucks; the men and women who sell and finance Chrysler vehicles; and the individuals who service Ford vehicles in dealerships throughout the country.'” God I hate politics.
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Fat and fatter…nice photo!
210delray :
Oh for Pete’s sake. With all that Stabenbow does for this country, you have to attack her weight?
communicated my distinct displeasure to Ms. Stabenow in re to Fed bailout and she stood ground. she had my back, I’ve got hers. go Deb.
It’s possible she voted for one bill and not the other because they are different in terms of their effect on the economy. The D3 are directly responsible for something on the order of 400K jobs, and indirectly another million and a half.
Then of course, there is the fact that the wall street bailout doesn’t really offer much help to homeowners, whereas the D3 bailout may save jobs.
Of course MI is heavily dependent on the auto industry, banking not so much. No Mich politician can really go against the auto industry and it’s employees. This is sometimes referred to as representing the constituents. Everyone loves their own Senators and House members for looking after their own state, and everyone hates it when Congress Critters from other states do the same.
It’s also pretty likely that another compromise bill will be hammered out and passed. I wouldn’t be surprised if Stabenow votes for it next time around – along with a lot of others who voted it down this time.
Adieu
Oh for Pete’s sake. With all that Stabenbow does for this country, you have to attack her weight?
Robert, I assume your comment about Stabenow’s accomplishments was sarcastic – that you meant that there’s plenty to criticize her for without getting personal about her appearance. Though it might be noted that the hooker her husband got arrested with is not nearly as bulky as the senator.
I live in Michigan, not Rhode Island, and Stabenow hasn’t accomplished a damn thing for Michigan residents. Michigan continues to be near the bottom of the list in terms of federal spending, with only a fraction of our federal tax dollars returning to the state. Her doctrinaire politics prevent her from doing anything but the same old stuff.
Stabenow does whatever the UAW and NEA tell her to do. She’s a nice lady but has been passed up the Democratic food chain and hasn’t had an original thought since she was first elected to the state legislature.
If you want to see the results of traditional liberal Democratic policies, come to Michigan. We’re doing just ducky here, aren’t we?
They passed term limits on state offices, so Gov. Engler had to leave office after being pretty successful, and term limited legislators are now scurrying around for other offices to run for. Andy Meisner can’t run for the state house again, so he’s going for Oakland county treasurer.
Anything to be able to suck at the public teat. Hell, with all the money going to Wall Street and the Big 2.8, maybe I should get mine. You can get food stamps if you’re making up to $42K.
Was the picture of Senator Stabenow and her husband taken before or after the incident with the hooker? They seem too happy in the picture. This created a controversy in the Detroit area since only the 20 year girl was charged and he got off scott free. Well, not exactly scott free. He may be a Democrat but he spends like a Republican. The police report stated that he paid $120 for a hummer. Perhaps it was all a misunderstanding and the $120 was actually part of a “stimulus” package Maybe Mercury can offer a special edition ‘Cougar’ in her honor since her husband is ten years younger than her.
Seriously, between her and Levin, Michigan must have the worst pair of senators in the country. Levin appears to be more concerned with international and military affairs and Stabenow simply has no gravitas. Michigan is further becoming a blue state as evidenced by McCain’s campaign deciding to pull out of Michigan. Combine a bad economy, poor Republican challengers, strong union backing, and Michigan is guaranteed continued Democratic dominance.
So Stabenow thought “Hardworking families in Michigan are in crisis every single day and the bill passed by the Senate tonight does little to help them”? What does she want–legislation to hand out buckets of coal to those families?
The real purpose of the bill was to keep the credit markets from shutting down. Since she says “the credit crisis is having a significant impact” on the auto industry, one suspects her “Nay” on the $700B was just to pander to her constituents, since the bill was sure to pass the Senate.
No matter what happens to the “Wall Street Bailout,” Michigan will still have to figure out how it can end the downward spiral it’s in. Or as they say, stop digging the hole.
@prince valiant: The police report stated that he paid $120 for a hummer.
An H2, or am H3? Honestly, I knew that the resale on those things wasn’t too hot, but this beats all… ;)
As far as I know the Congressional Black caucus voted against the bill in the house since they removed the pork for ACORN. The Senate bill that passed was full of pork. Just a disgrace and it shows why the economy is such a mess.
I think this whole “pork” thing has become a convenient punching bag. If you take Obama at his word, pork spending amounts to about $18 billion a year, not small potatoes, but a tiny drop in the bucket compared to overall spending.
Besides, what’s one man’s pork is another man’s beef. (That’s why one’s own congressional representatives are popular, as cited above.)
And is it so awful that former Congressman Bud Shuster secured some funds to have the “Bud Shuster By-Way” constructed around the town of Everett, PA? Or that Sen. Byrd of WV has gotten tons of money to build many “Robert Byrd Highways” in his home state?
As a Virginian traveling to PA, OH, and IN, these roads help me too, not just the locals. Sure, WV has good driving roads with a lot of twisties, but if you want to make time, the Robert Byrd highways fit the bill.
Only thing I’m old school on is that IMO infrastructure shouldn’t be named after people who are still alive.
Back to Stabenow and her weight, maybe she eats too much of the bacon she brings home!