Anti-TARP stance seems phony for Carnahan
Barb ShellySomehow the ultra-populist, anti-bailout stance doesn’t seem to fit with Robin Carnahan.
The likely Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate took a shot at her probable GOP opponent, U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt, at a fundraiser last week, calling him Mr. Bailout. Blunt voted for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, known as TARP.
According to this New York Times story, candidates all around the country are bashing incumbents for voting for TARP.
The measure is unpopular because Congress basically bailed out institutions and executives who didn’t play by the rules. But it’s widely credited with bringing banks from the brink and avoiding an economic meltdown. And the government is making money as banks repay their loans.
As the Times story notes of Carnahan:
She took the swipe at Mr. Blunt during her introduction of Mr. Obama at a fund-raiser, not mentioning that Mr. Obama also backed the plan when he was a senator and presidential candidate, as did her brother, Russ, a Democratic House member.
Robin Carnahan, the Missouri secretary of state, is a pragmatic, middle-of-the-road politician. Had she been in the Senate when the vote came up, maybe she would have joined the 25 senators who voted against TARP. But populist rebellion hasn’t been her style up until now, and to use it now looks to me like pandering. She’s be better off hammering Blunt for his ultra-cozy connections to Washington’s lobbyist establishment.
The Senate race in Missouri is showing ominous signs of falling into the pattern of the ugly Moran-Tiahrt race in Kansas, where the candidates are knocking themselves out telling voters what they’re against, and you have no idea what either of them stands for.
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