MORE ON MIKE

So, we're sitting there and Mike says to me, "Do you remember ol' Daniel?"
"Daniel who?'
"Daniel Patrick Moynahan of course."
"Sure. He was the smartest guy in Washington since jefferson."
"Remember what he said about the poor?"
"Not really."
"He said the only difference about the poor is that they had no money. I think he said that at some Congressional hearing"
"Then, he walked out didn't he?
"Yes he did! (laughing). He was right."

Mike loved Moynahan because he was just like him. Moynahan had the ability to take a complex subject and explain it with devastating logic in about two sentences. Just like Mike. I could see where he was going...

"Moynahan's solution to the poor was just to give them money! And he was right!"

I thought about that for a minute.

"You mean like cash for clunkers?"
"No,no, no. Just give them money! Don't give them money to buy things. Just give them money and have them decide what to do with it. Cash for clunkers, what does that do?
"It gets them a car that they otherwise wouldn't have."
"No it doesn't! It gets them three years of car payments that they can't afford! It's like buying a house with no down payment and no income! It's Never, Never, again! Just give them the damn money and get the hell out of the way!"

Which is why I like my friend Mike.

On other matters of great import, the battles over who does what to whom in the regulatory area appear to be getting strident if not more intense...that is if one can believe the obviously Shelia Bair-planted story in the WSJ today. Seems as though over the weekend Our Hero lit into the regulators then-assembled with a profanity laced diatribe as to how they had better get their act together, shape up and get with the program. Quel horror! Is this intended to make us believe that Our Hero is breaking under the strain? Shelia baby was portrayed as the one who attempted to sooth the searing rage of the Tres Sec with calm, well-spoken thoughts, at a point where he was flying a bit out of control. What a gal, 'cept anyone who has been around Our Hero knows that his ability to adapt the four-letter favorite to use as a noun, verb, adverb or conjunctive in varying tenses and has done so over the course of his career would not be amused or surprised. She's a Dubya appointment for heaven's sake; can't Rahm or some other button man in this administration off her? She is really becoming a bore.

Finally, The Leader is coming this way again...to Wakarusa In. of all places. Taking AF One. Pretty plane. Only costs a zillion dollars to get it up in the air. Now this was never intended to be a political blog, but I know Wakarusa In. Nice town, a bit down on its luck perhaps as it is right smack in the center of the RV industry but filled with good, God fearing Hoosiers...all 1500-2000 of them. Has a bit of a Meth industry but who doesn't these days. For what the hell The Leader is going to Wakarusa nobody can figure out including the good, God fearing Hoosiers in Wakarusa. He could have taken his G-5 in which he goes on dates to NYC with Michelle and landed in Elkhart and saved a half a zillion, but he's not going to do that. Gonna land in South Bend one county over and cause two counties that don't have two bucks to rub together to pay time and a half to every cop for 40 miles around. Change. Sounds like Never, Never to me.

Sorry. I promise not to do this again.