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May 23, 2013
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 Alan Grayson Tells It Like It IsPosted on Jul 21, 2011
(Page 5) Peter Scheer: This is Truthdig Radio. I’m Peter Scheer, and I’m joined in the studio by Robert Scheer, my boss and life coach. Dad, welcome to Truthdig Radio. Robert Scheer: Yup. Peter Scheer: We were speaking at the top of the show; we had a little bit of technical difficulties getting Alan Grayson on the line, so we were interrupted. But we’d like to come back to the discussion of your column, which I feel like is a really good—and I know I obviously have a bias here. But I think you write a lot about the economy, the Clinton administration, the Obama administration, the various officials, Timothy Geithner, Elizabeth Warren, et cetera, et cetera. But this column in particular, I think, really captures sort of the basic wrong of the Obama administration. And it was about how Elizabeth Warren, who conceived of the idea of a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and fought for it and won it and was working to create it, was not allowed to run that—was not even nominated to run that organization for fear of not winning confirmation. And I just want to read what I think is really the money quote from your column. Quote, “Obama’s refusal to take the fight to Senate Republicans by nominating Warren should be taken as the vital measure of the man. This gutless decision comes after the president populated his administration with the very people who created the financial meltdown.” Take it away. Robert Scheer: Well you know, it’s crazy-making, really. First of all, the Republicans are worse than the Democrats; they don’t even want a consumer protection agency, they don’t even want a director. And the fellow, the former attorney general of Ohio, Richard … Advertisement Robert Scheer: Cordray, is not—he’s good; he’s a good guy, you know?—they’ll probably reject him as well. But Elizabeth Warren had become a symbol, just like Brooksley Born was in the Clinton administration, of being an incredibly informed person. These are two brilliant lawyers who really knew the stuff better than the old boys’ club of Greenspan and Geithner and Summers and all that; these are really sharp people, very well educated, leaders in their field, who had a moral conscience. And Brooksley Born warned Clinton, these derivatives are spiraling out of control; you’re servicing Wall Street; this is madness and we’re going to have a meltdown—and of course, we had a meltdown. And then Elizabeth Warren played that same role for Obama. Obama appointed all of these veterans of the Clinton administration and Wall Street, beginning with Lawrence Summers and Timothy Geithner and all that, to occupy the key positions. Gary Gensler, a former Goldman Sachs partner who has the key role now in the reregulation, who was the guy in the Clinton administration who defended radical deregulation. And yet one lone voice, Elizabeth Warren—brilliant, on the money, on the target, and she pushes for this consumer protection. And consumer protection, you see, is already defanged; it already has to report to the Treasury. It excludes—this is something that we were discussing earlier in the show, about usury and interest—there’s no limit on interest. You can charge a college kid 30, 40 percent interest on a student loan, on his credit card. There are not really any great teeth to this thing. The thing that was going to get something bigger was to have a public—a director that had some public presence, who sounded the alarm and said to the banks, hey, watch this cheating people with your fine print; give some protection, some transparency … Peter Scheer: Someone you can trust, as well. Robert Scheer: Yeah. We needed her there precisely because she was a thorn in their side. And what Obama did, he could have taken this fight—first of all, it’s amazing that you can appoint all these Wall Street sharks to key positions, and that’s not controversial in the Senate. Republicans and Democrats [said] oh yeah, yeah, we’ll sign off on that one, we’ll sign off on that one. You have this lone voice speaking for the average person, and that’s going to be controversial … Peter Scheer: And is that even a confirmation fight those politicians want? Do they want to be against the person who’s out to protect the consumer? Robert Scheer: Well, that’s why I think that Obama should have fought this good fight. And the problem with Obama—let’s cut to the chase here—is, you know, he turned down public financing when he ran. We all looked the other way, we—I put myself in a group that supported him. He then turned to Wall Street and had the biggest contributions from Wall Street. He needs them once again, yes. And so he plays the populist rhetoric, just like Bill Clinton did. But at the end of the day, Wall Street is getting the governance that they pay for. And that’s really what’s, sadly, at work here. Now, again, at the end of my column, once again—and people can say I’m naive—I’m holding out the hope that Obama will take the battle on, make sure this consumer agency at least has the attorney general from Ohio, who’s … Peter Scheer: You’re right, who’s not … yeah, who’s not a bad guy. Robert Scheer: … not a bad guy. But I say, this is not an auspicious beginning by throwing Elizabeth Warren off the boat. And you know, we have just got to face up to the fact. It’s just, again, I’d bring it back to that discussion of what Jesus would do, earlier in the show. I mean, the fact of the matter is there’s great suffering in this country. There’s 50 million Americans who have lost their homes, or are in imminent danger of losing their homes. We have an enormous number of people who are unemployed, way beyond the official statistics, and we have the banks that have been bailed out getting fatter and fatter, and more concentrated in power. And there’s no control over the $600 trillion market in derivatives, which is a time bomb that will explode in the future. And so you have this bizarre situation where we have a great pretense of democracy, and we have progressive-sounding Democrats taking on reactionary-sounding Republicans; but they all seem to want to do nothing to disturb the greed of Wall Street. Peter Scheer: Let me just ask you, because we’re running—you have about 30 seconds here. But I just wonder, you write again and again about Brooksley Born and Elizabeth Warren being treated unfairly; is it a coincidence that they’re women? Robert Scheer: No, it’s not. Both of these people—women—had to struggle against the male hierarchy in their colleges and in their professions; certainly in law, certainly doing business law. And … but, you know, one of the sad things is you can have a, come from a background of struggle, as both Clinton and Obama did, and then abandon the people you came from and succumb to a false notion of the meritocracy, which basically has serviced the elite. In the case of these two women—and I think being women helped, although with Hillary Clinton we haven’t seen a similar process—they have stuck to their guns; they are fighters, and they have a conscience. And it is really a shame that Elizabeth Warren has, as I say, been abandoned in the same way that Clinton abandoned Brooksley Born. Peter Scheer: Well, we’ll have to leave it there. For more, check out the column, “Sorry Elizabeth, Wall Street Said No,” by Robert Scheer on Truthdig.com. That’s it for this week’s edition of Truthdig Radio. Find us next Wednesday at 2 or anytime online at Truthdig.com. Thanks to our guests, Alan Grayson, Dwayne “Mr. Fish” Booth, the Rev. Madison Shockley, professor Greg Carey and, of course, Robert Scheer. Thanks to our board op Jee, engineer Stan Misraje and Alan Minsky. For Kasia Anderson and the Scheer brothers, thanks for listening.
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By ThomasG, July 26, 2011 at 10:32 pm Link to this comment
“Alan Grayson: Well, you know, by the end of President
Obama’s first administration, we’ll have twice as many troops in
Afghanistan as when it started. That’s not what people expected
or wanted, at least among his supporters; I’m not speaking about
the other folks. It’s farcical to say that the war in Iraq is somehow
over when we still have 50,000 troops there. The one ray of hope
is that the Iraqis are starting to put their foot down; they don’t
want to be an occupied country any longer, and they’ve told the
U.S. troops that they have to get out, and somehow or other we
feel like arguing with them about it. So the Iraqis have said all
troops have to be gone by the end of the year, and the Defense
Department and the State Department are both sort of trying to
weasel out of it. We’ll see what happens. We’re still paying the
bills; we spent $157 billion last year on the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan, at a time when unemployment was close to 10
percent. In Florida it’s, oh, it’s about 13 percent. We spend $500
for every single man, woman and child in America on the war in
Iraq. And that’s just the appropriated funds; the non-appropriated
funds are even more than that. They’re more than the
appropriated funds. Joe Stiglitz, who’s a Nobel Prize winner,
calculated the cost of the war in Iraq already at $4 trillion. That’s
$13,000 for every man, woman and child in America; and you
know, for my family of seven, that’s almost $100,000. I want my
money back.”
I do not reside in Florida, but in spite of that fact, I contribute to
Alan Grayson on a monthly basis.
I am a member of the Democratic Party that is a part of the
American Populace, NOT the American Middle Class, and I have
not, to date, seen any indication that the Democratic Party is at all
interested in supporting and representing the American Populace.
Alan Grayson is the closest I can come to supporting a
Report thisrepresentative of the American Populace; I, therefore, contribute
to Alan Grayson on a monthly basis in the hope that doing so will
lead in the direction of political representation for the American
Populace as a class and culture.
By Shenonymous, July 25, 2011 at 9:57 am Link to this comment
In the interview Alan Grayson said, “If I have a district that is
largely Democratic, I think even the sewer money is going to
realize the futility of wasting their money trying to knock me
out of a Democratic district. If there’s one thing that’s clear
at this point, it’s that Democrats like me, because they know
I support them. And if Democrats vote, then Democrats can win.”
I have a different opinion. He will run as a Democrat, thank God, and
Report thishe will win. It remains to be seen if he supports Barack Obama. In the
interview he also speaks about the Obama administration involvement
in the Middle East. Telling it like it is does not depend on whether or
not he supports Barack Obama.
By Michael Cavlan RN, July 25, 2011 at 9:27 am Link to this comment
Cynthia McKinney is running for Congress again. In her old district in Georgia.
She will NOT run s a Democrat. Thank God.
So, will Mr Grayson support his party’s president? Or support a movement to Impeach George W Obama?
If he did this as a public statement THEN I will believe that he is “telling it like it is.”
Report thisBy EmileZ, July 25, 2011 at 2:50 am Link to this comment
On the discussion of religion…
I feel at times, well pretty much always, as though “we” have to break the chains of slavery to the bible and other revered books. Why go through this farce of cherry picking, or if you do so be more honest about it, you might even argue a bit with it.
Imagine if thousands of years from now (as if we have thousands of years) people looked at only a select number of Chomsky’s speeches for guidance. Some might say Chomsky supported slavery because he at times discusses how the criminalization of blacks resulting in the frivilous arrest and subsequent sentence of forced labor often led to much worse treatment then what they had to endure under slaveowners because slaveowners had an interest in protecting their investment and would thus would be less inclined to work them to death in a very short period of time (in saying this Chomsky always cites Blackmon’s “Slavery By Another Name”).
Anyway, religion is A-OK with me. I have great admiration for the many deeply religious people who have devoted themselves to improving society like Aristide and Malcolm X and many many others (women included), it also can help to organize communities in this endeavor, but sometimes I want to just do away with all this citing of scripture and focus much MUCH MUCH more on what one may have gotten out of contemplating it and contemplating what is a good way to live and what is right. The Bible, the Koran, the Torah, the words of all the prophets of long ago will never mention GMO’s, monopolies, the military industrial complex, the IMF, multi-national corporations, the horrors of the meat industry, organic sustainable farming vs. the so-called “green revolution”, off-shore tax shelters, lobbyists, the privitization of public schools and correctional institutions etc., and on and on. At some point, I think it is the responsible thing to acknowledge this. You can still keep the traditions and such, but… well I don’t know, be more honest about how and why you are citing scripture if you feel the need to constantly do so (for everyone, not just trusted initiates).
I am not trying to accuse anyone in particular of being dishonest, I liked the interview.
I am not sure there is much time to quibble about it in any case.
Report thisBy dedacherry, July 24, 2011 at 11:58 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
I really appreciated having Grayson’s influence in Congress.
Report thisHe’s the only one there who would actually pull the republicans pants down and expose them for what they were about- fraudulent, teeny little minds.
By drbhelthi, July 24, 2011 at 7:58 am Link to this comment
Speaking of shoving something up a rectum, Barack Hussein Obama (Barry
Soetoro of Indonesia, born in Kenya) has been shoved up the U.S. Presidency.
While there are a few honorable members in the total U.S. Congress, similar
to Grayson, the leadership of both the Democrat and Republican parties are
responsible for this gross violation of the U.S. Constitution. The two
dozen or so WWII Nazis in cooperation with the Zionist-types who manage the
money of the world, the U.S. Federal Reserve in particular, prepared this
fraudulent puppet, and slid him into Chicago politics. They also set up the
fraudulent “swearing-in ceremony” which adds to the invalidity of his
occupancy of the U.S. Presidency.
The information at this link gives a brief background. For it to work, you
Report thismay need to copy the-entire-link into your browser. You will be pleased by the
information, if you exert the additional effort.
http://web.archive.org/web/20040627142700/eastandard.net
/headlines/news26060403.htm
By Leefeller, July 23, 2011 at 5:46 pm Link to this comment
People for people is something I can vote for. It would be useful to know other candidates like Alan Grayson real blue democrats and also to know who are the red Democrats.
The bull shit they pulled in Wisconsin, by sending Republicans to run as Democrats, needs to be shoved up the Republicans ass which will make their ass a very tight place to be indeed!
Well, Alan Grayson explains why the Tea Bags are as they are, I suppose they are being bought and paid for, like cheap blow up dolls. I have respect for hookers, for one thing you know what you are getting, hopefully not herpes like with the Republicans blow up dolls and their pimp sponsors.
We need a list of real Democrats and I would include liberal independents. Also a list of Blue dogs who need to go!
Some people find the polarization of the two parties hard to stomach, I find death in the same light, unless you know something I may not like it,.... but it polarization like death is going to happen anyway!
Report thisBy behopi, July 23, 2011 at 5:23 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Grayson is my hero, I have also contributed to his campaign, and written back to him, he is a honest fighter with Thatchers. There are not many like him, but hopefully he is just the beginning.
Report thisBy Rixar13, July 23, 2011 at 5:06 am Link to this comment
Thumbs up ^ Alan Grayson… I support you… smile
Report thisBy Rixar13, July 23, 2011 at 4:59 am Link to this comment
Thumbs up ^ Alan Grayson…. I support you… smile
Report thisBy eridonis, July 22, 2011 at 12:38 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
I hoped immediately after the last election that Alan Grayson would run again. And I thought that I didn’t know of anyone else who did, so that it was probably futile to wish this. I should have known that one of the most couragous advocates of the people during the heathcare reform fight would not be like others. Thank you for doing this, Congressman Grayson! I will support you too.
Let’s get our congress back from the crazies!
Report thisBy Mark A. Adams JD/MBA, July 22, 2011 at 11:38 am Link to this comment
Alan Grayson did a great job in Congress working for the best interests of the people. That is why the bad guys went after him with a negative ad campaign.
However, it looks like they also managed to get the voters who gave the Democratic candidate for Governor the win in his district to vote again Grayson and the other party line (do nothing) Democratic Congresswoman who shared Orange County, Florida as part of her district.
Here are the election results by county for Grayson’s district.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/58713670/Results-by-County-for-Congressional-District-8-SS
Here are the election results for the Governor’s race by county for Grayson’s district.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/58713611/Results-by-County-for-Governor-in-District-8-SS
Note that a large percentage of those who voted for the Democratic candidate for Governor then turned around and voted for a Republicon instead of Grayson. Of course, some apologists may attempt to explain this unusual flip flopping by claiming that it may be due to the fact that the governor’s race included all of the precincts in each county while Grayson’s race only included some due to gerrymandering. However, that could only be explained by claiming that Grayson held a Congressional district which was heavily skewed Republican, and if so, how did he win it in 2008?
Fortunately, I also have the results by precinct from Orange County which is the county which has the greatest impact on Grayson’s Congressional district 8. Check them out and note that in every precinct, large numbers of voters who voted for the Democratic candidate for Governor then turned around and voted for the Republicon instead of Grayson.
Here are the Orange County election results by precinct for Grayson’s race.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/58713493/Grayson-Race-Orange-County-by-Precinct-11-3
Here are the Orange County election results by precinct for the Governor’s race.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/58713408/Gov-Race-Orange-County-by-Precinct-11-3
Download them, print them out and see if you can come up with any explanation other than election theft.
By the way, I can also explain why he won in 2008 if anyone cares.
If you want to see more evidence of election theft and learn how the people in power get away with these crimes, see Why Does the Government Ignore Our Wishes? at http://ning.it/arAjdo and don’t miss my short speech at http://markadams.blip.tv/file/2636803/
If you take a look, you’ll learn why those in power and those who can improperly influence them get away with violating our rights, abusing their power, and committing horrible crimes. My article on torture includes a link to the U.S. Supreme Court case which explains how one of our stolen rights makes the difference between justice and injustice, between freedom and slavery.
Report thisBy Non-Compassionate Liberal, July 22, 2011 at 11:16 am Link to this comment
I’ve sent money to Alan Grayson’s campaign this year and two years ago. I probably will again. But I find it hard to believe that the VA wouldn’t cover the vet he’s talking about with the multiple organ failure (one organ was the vet’s liver). There were more details in Grayson’s emailings on this case. Anyway, I use the VA. If you need a liver transplant because of cirrhosis, the one thing they require is you stay sober 6 months. The VA is very liberal; I know guys who’ve been through this.
Report thisBy Shenonymous, July 22, 2011 at 6:29 am Link to this comment
Did Grayson say Democrats? Maybe the real liberal Deep Blue
Report thisDemocrats have a chance after all?
By Wounded and Dangerous, July 21, 2011 at 10:25 pm Link to this comment
Haven’t listened to the interview yet, but going to now. This Grayson is a class act and he will definitely be welcomed back into the political world. An honest man with good ideas, and a good Fed fighter to boot. He is rather like the twin sister of Dennis Kucinich, same personality, but a touch better looking if you know what I mean.
Report thisBy gerard, July 21, 2011 at 9:03 pm Link to this comment
Sounds like a really good person, especially for a Congressman. More power to him. Interesting statement: “I am stating what other Democrats are thinking but for one reason or another don’t feel they can say.” (Note: He is apparently not financially dependent on graft and therefore not for sale. Ergo: “Follow the money!”
Report thisBy the worm, July 21, 2011 at 6:31 pm Link to this comment
I will support Grayson.
Report this