The Grilling of Elizabeth Warren

[Thailandnotes]

A taste...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RET2Z...layer_embedded

The whole thing...

http://www.c-span.org/flvPop.aspx?sr...t=2.335&end=-1

[Munger]

Re: The Grilling of Elizabeth Warren

The banks have apparently given their puppets "fight" orders:

A House committee hearing on Tuesday about the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau disintegrated into heated accusations of lying, with the panel’s chairman accusing Elizabeth Warren of giving misleading testimony at a hearing in March and of making up facts about her agreement to testify this week.
Enlarge This Image

Representative Patrick T. McHenry, a North Carolina Republican who is chairman of a subcommittee of the House oversight committee, told Ms. Warren, who is directing the start of the consumer agency, that he believed she had misled Congress about her role in settlement talks between government authorities and mortgage servicing companies.

Ms. Warren denied Mr. McHenry’s accusation, saying that she clearly stated in March that she had provided advice to officials of the Treasury and Justice Departments about their investigations of fraud among mortgage-servicing companies and about their settlement discussions with the companies.

The argument was a rare collapse of the decorum that usually pervades discussions among even the most fervent opponents on Capitol Hill. It demonstrated the level of frustration some Republicans apparently have over the consumer agency, its leadership and its authority as established by the Dodd-Frank Act that followed the financial and mortgage crisis.

After an hour in which Ms. Warren repeatedly parried efforts by Mr. McHenry and other Republicans to pin her down with “yes or no” answers to questions about her March testimony — and about the bureau’s powers and responsibilities — Mr. McHenry abruptly moved for a temporarily recess so lawmakers could attend a floor vote.

Ms. Warren objected, saying that she had agreed to be present for only an hour and had no more time. Mr. McHenry disagreed and said that other subcommittee members still had questions for her.

A vigorous back and forth ensued.

“Congressman, you are causing problems,” Ms. Warren said. “We had an agreement.”

“You’re making this up,” Mr. McHenry replied, eliciting gasps from the audience. “This is not the case.”

As Mr. McHenry and Ms. Warren traded accusations, a senior Democrat, Representative Elijah Cummings of Maryland, tried to smooth things over. “Mr. Chairman,” he said, “I’m trying to be cordial here — you just accused the lady of lying. You need to clear this up with your staff.”

Mr. McHenry did not back down. After the meeting broke, he said in a statement: “I was shocked by Ms. Warren’s blatant sense of entitlement. She was apparently under the assumption that she could dictate a one-hour time limit for her testimony to Congress, and that we were there at her behest instead of the other way around. This is just further example of her disregard for Congressional oversight."

The hearing was intended to address how much supervision Congress should require for the agency. Republicans have introduced bills to eliminate some of the bureau’s independence; for example, the bureau is not subject to Congressional appropriations. A group of 44 Republican senators recently signed a letter saying they would not allow a director of the agency to be confirmed unless the Obama administration agreed to structural changes in the agency.

Faced with strong opposition to Ms. Warren, a Harvard professor, President Obama has not nominated her to lead the new bureau. In fact, officials in the Democratic Party are trying to pressure her to return to Massachusetts to run for the United States Senate in 2012.

While there were some questions about oversight, Ms. Warren apparently came to the hearing expecting a hostile reception on other topics. On Tuesday morning, hours before the afternoon hearing, Mr. McHenry said on CNBC that he believed she had lied to Congress.

“I question the veracity of her former testimony in relation to the reality that we now see,” he said, referring to documents indicating that the consumer bureau had advised the Iowa attorney general on the terms of a possible settlement between federal and state regulators and mortgage servicing companies.

Asked by the CNBC correspondent if that meant she had been lying when she said she was only an adviser, Mr. McHenry replied, “Sure.”

During the hearing, Mr. McHenry displayed the documents, which he said indicated that Ms. Warren’s involvement extended outside her designated role as an adviser to the president and the Treasury secretary to set up the new consumer bureau.

“You said you were providing advice to the Treasury secretary,” Mr. McHenry said. “Now it is apparent that you were providing advice to the attorney general of Iowa,” regarding lawsuits against mortgage servicers.

Ms. Warren said she provided advice to state and federal agencies at the direction of the Treasury secretary, adding that she had been open about her meetings and involvement in the talks. She said she had provided that information two months ago in response to a letter from House members and had heard nothing back since then.

Those exchanges led a Democrat on the subcommittee to apologize “for the rude and disrespectful behavior of the chair.” Representative John Yarmuth, a Kentucky Democrat, said to Ms. Warren that Mr. McHenry’s accusation “indicates to me that this hearing is all about you, because people are afraid of you and your ability to communicate in very clear terms the threats to our consumers.”

[mesyn191]

Re: The Grilling of Elizabeth Warren

Warren is a good woman but its pretty clear that she either will be stonewalled at every turn or discredited with at least some voters via the FIRE economy's media bullhorn. She is wasting her time trying to play an advisory role and would also be wasting her time running for the senate.

She needs to spend more time in front of the cameras publicly humiliating the people in charge for people to see and learn just how they're being screwed. That is what she is most effective at. Anything else is just a way to pigeonhole her.

[jneal3]

Re: The Grilling of Elizabeth Warren

McHenry appears to be of the congressional sociopath breed. The sooner someone catches him posing shirtless, the better.

[don]

Re: The Grilling of Elizabeth Warren

The banks have apparently given their puppets "fight" orders:

Sock Puppets

[jneal3]

Re: The Grilling of Elizabeth Warren

DeLay disciple/wannabe:

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/u...atrick_mchenry

"McHenry has been one of the most completely shameless of House Republicans since his arrival in Congress, in 2005, when he immediately and publicly endorsed Tom DeLay's brilliant plan to exempt himself from ethics rules as his connections to Jack Abramoff began to end his career. "


"After the College Republicans, and a failed state legislature race, McHenry moved on to truly insidious conservative astroturfing/push-polling/communications firm DCI, then worked for Rove, then took a political appointment in the Bush administration, then moved to the district he now represents, where he started a real estate company that did not actually buy or sell any real estate, so that he could run for Congress as "a small businessman." "

One of a breed. His will not end well.

[lektrode]

Re: The Grilling of Elizabeth Warren

Warren is a good woman but its pretty clear that she either will be stonewalled at every turn or discredited with at least some voters via the FIRE economy's media bullhorn. She is wasting her time trying to play an advisory role and would also be wasting her time running for the senate.

perhaps - as not all are equiped to be on the stage and some are more suited for behind-the-scene and providing the ammo for those more suited to launching at the opposition, as she most certainly is

She needs to spend more time in front of the cameras publicly humiliating the people in charge for people to see and learn just how they're being screwed. That is what she is most effective at. Anything else is just a way to pigeonhole her.

her video presentation on the sacking of the middle class is _very_ persuasive and its seems to me _irrefutable_ and thats whats got FIREmen and their enablers in congress all worked up - they cant obfuscate The Truth anymore

and why this quote is clearly the most relevant take-away and was the bottom line of the prev-posted account of the hearing

McHenry’s accusation “indicates to me that this hearing is all about you, because people are afraid of you and your ability to communicate in very clear terms the threats to our consumers.”

but i get a kick outa this: 'threats to our consumers'
that connotates 'ownership' and the political aristocracy really does believe they 'own' something, their elected office, at the very least - as they seem to think they're entititled to 'horsetrade' amongst themselves the 'spoils of earmarking'

go kick some butt lizbeth, We The People are depending on you!

[lektrode]

Re: The Grilling of Elizabeth Warren

.....One of a breed. His will not end well.

quite likely - tho we can only hope/wish that salon et al would dig up such damning evidence on the dems, but they - along with rest/most/all the lamestream media - always seem too busy bashing 'pubs - it would almost be funny, if it werent so one-sided

[thriftyandboringinohio]

Re: The Grilling of Elizabeth Warren

go kick some butt lizbeth, We The People are depending on you!

+1

[art]

Re: The Grilling of Elizabeth Warren

Awesome music video "Sheriff Warren" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W0vCgMRX0o

[Shakespear]

Re: The Grilling of Elizabeth Warren

Great video ("Sheriff Warren") !!!! Had a great laugh.

Mr. McHenry - smells like a psychopath, "What me causing problems, it is YOU Ms Warren"

[shiny!]

Re: The Grilling of Elizabeth Warren

perhaps - as not all are equiped to be on the stage and some are more suited for behind-the-scene and providing the ammo for those more suited to launching at the opposition, as she most certainly is



her video presentation on the sacking of the middle class is _very_ persuasive and its seems to me _irrefutable_ and thats whats got FIREmen and their enablers in congress all worked up - they cant obfuscate The Truth anymore

and why this quote is clearly the most relevant take-away and was the bottom line of the prev-posted account of the hearing

McHenry’s accusation “indicates to me that this hearing is all about you, because people are afraid of you and your ability to communicate in very clear terms the threats to our consumers.”

but i get a kick outa this: 'threats to our consumers'
that connotates 'ownership' and the political aristocracy really does believe they 'own' something, their elected office, at the very least - as they seem to think they're entititled to 'horsetrade' amongst themselves the 'spoils of earmarking'

go kick some butt lizbeth, We The People are depending on you!

Some time ago I started noticing that politicians had stopped referring to us as "citizens", calling us "consumers" instead. They no longer say "American citizens", they say "American consumers". Listen to their stump speaches as they promise the moon to "consumers". The very word brings to mind images of pigs at a trough.

The use of this word is not accidental, IMO. The politicians and media have worked hard to make Americans forget that we are citizens. They have pounded the word "consumer" at us so much that most people don't even realize the insult, as they lust for their next luxury purchase, or wait for their government cheque.

"Citizens" are ornery. We question authority. We demand respect from those who purportedly serve us.

"Consumers" are hungry. Needy. Dependent on someone giving them something to consume. Dependent on someone external to tell them what they are and how they should feel.

If the politicians can get the citizens to forget that we are, in fact CITIZENS, then they have an easier time herding us as "consumers" into the pens of government dependency. It's already happened.

What percentage of consumer pigs now eating at the trough of government assistance will actually pull away and tear up their cheques as a protest against excessive government spending?

The American Dream that everyone should own their own home (or feel like a failure if they didn't) was an insidious way to keep citizens passive. How many homeowners will go on strike, or march in protest, or break a bad law on principle if they know that jail or legal expenses could mean they lose their home?

[Shakespear]

Re: The Grilling of Elizabeth Warren

calling us "consumers" instead.

Very astute observation as words are VERY IMPORTANT !!!

[Master Shake]

Re: The Grilling of Elizabeth Warren

A recent C.H. Smith post somewhat related to your observation.

http://www.oftwominds.com/blogmay11/...sumer5-11.html

[lektrode]

Re: The Grilling of Elizabeth Warren

Awesome music video "Sheriff Warren" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W0vCgMRX0o

yeah! eye like it.

WE NEED MORE STUFF LIKE THIS, with which to publicize the problem that she has so thoroughly documented
something to catalyze a groundswell of support for people like miz warren who arent afraid to stand up and be HEARD.

even tho she is perhaps the only thing to come out of the current administration that i actually agree with, the case she makes is quite irrefutable and methinks the 'pubs mess with her at their own peril (sez the former NH resident and NOT 'bluehampsha' neither)