The Wrong Side Of History

As I pointed out on Tuesday, the wingnuts are happily lining up on the wrong side of this AIG issue. Now we see the Grand Kleegles of Galtism have weighed in, as Doug at Balloon Juice reveals.

This is kind of interesting, given the negative reaction from GOP Congressional leaders (from Greg Sargent via Sully):

Rush Limbaugh recently said: “I am all for the AIG bonuses” and attacked the Obama administration for trying to undo them. He also blasted Dem efforts to get the names of the AIG bonus recipients as “McCarthyism.”

Fox News followed suit, also comparing Dems to “Joe McCarthy.” And Sean Hannity has now derided efforts to tax the execs by saying: “In other words, we’re going to just steal their money.”

And here’s Glenn Beck:

They have a contract. You want to break a contract, then you file Chapter 11. You let the company fail. If the government can just break a contract, well, then how do you know you’re safe? It’s their contract with AIG that they would have to break first! They would have to break two contracts, the one they made with AIG that Christopher Dodd wrote and then they would have to break the contracts that AIG broke. They have to break two contracts. “Well, if I can’t trust the United States government and their contract, why should I trust their money. Why should I trust the treasury. Why should I trust the Fed. I know I can’t trust Washington and congress and the White House. I haven’t been able to trust them for years.” Why should you trust the contract that you have with your boss? Why should the unions be able to trust their contract?

Nice. In other words, El Rushbo, The Manatee, and Doom Bunker are all lining up behind AIG on this. The natural question to now ask is "When will the GOP do a complete 180 and vote against the House measure to tax bailout bonuses by 90%?"

Oh please, please, please let the GOP fold under the weight of Rush's ego on this and start backing AIG. PLEASE. You want to talk about the end of the GOP...

[UPDATE] Ask and ye shall receive!

Republican leaders today slammed a Democratic bill that would tax the now-infamous AIG bonuses out of existence, but it's not clear if Republicans are completely unified in their opposition.

House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) called the bill “nothing more than a sham” and an effort to cover up for “the damage that’s already out there.”

But Boehner was quick to point out that he's not pushing for party unity on this bill. The Republican Study Committee this morning sent out a notice encouraging conservatives to vote against the bill, but Boehner is not trying to enforce that message.

"We're not whipping," Boehner said. "Members will make their own decisions."

House GOP Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-Ind.), meanwhile, called the bill a “cynical attempt to divert attention from the truth: that Democrats in Congress and the administration approved legislation that made these payouts possible."

My lord, can the Republican Party really, really be this stupid?