Democrats are Total Phonies on AIG Bonuses

The convergence of the Democrats and AIG is quite something and having ridden the populist tiger the Democrats now fear being eaten by it. Of course all of the things they are screaming about in public they agreed to or even protected in private. By the way, if you are that outraged maybe we should have read the stimulus bill before you voted on it and the President signed it.

President Obama was informed about the $165 million in bonuses due to employees of the American Insurance Group the day before they were paid out last week, the White House disclosed late Tuesday.

Obama has expressed outrage that the company, which has received about $170 billion in government bailout money, proceeded to pay out the bonuses. He said the idea of a company rescued with taxpayer money awarding bonuses runs counter to "our values."

WASHINGTON – Cue the outrage. For months, the Obama administration and members of Congress have known that insurance giant AIG was getting ready to pay huge bonuses while living off government bailouts. It wasn't until the money was flowing and news was trickling out to the public that official Washington rose up in anger and vowed to yank the money back.

Why the sudden furor, just weeks after Barack Obama's team paid out $30 billion in additional aid to the company? So far, the administration has been unable to match its actions to Obama's tough rhetoric on executive compensation. And Congress has been unable or unwilling to restrict bonuses for bailout recipients, despite some lawmakers' repeated efforts to do so.

From CNN:Echoing the sentiment of taxpayers, the president on Monday called the ailing insurance giant's plans to dole out $165 million in bonuses an "outrage" and said he would attempt to block the additional compensation.AIG, one of the big benefactors of the government bailout, is now nearly 80 percent owned by taxpayers.

Then there is this about Dodd:

Here's the Cliff's Notes version of what's going on:

Chris Dodd inserted a specific provision into the stimulus that says any pay limitations would not apply to contracts agreed to prior to February 11, 2009. AIG also happens to be Chris Dodd's biggest donor. And AIGFP is housed in Connecticut.

Now the clause covers all bonuses, not AIG in particular, so Dodd could argue that it was not "pay for play" with AIG. Of course that leaves him open to the charge that it was favor for the entire finance industry. Well, Pick Your Poison Senator. On a side note here is another time President Obama was "outraged"

Interesting how Obama cranks up the outrage meter when a political disaster threatens him.

If you say so Mr, President:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Obama said Wednesday that no one in his administration had been responsible for supervising ailing insurance giant AIG but that ultimately, the buck stops with him."Nobody here drafted those contracts; nobody here was responsible for supervising AIG and allowing themselves to put the economy at risk by some of the outrageous behavior that they were engaged in," he said outside the White House. "[But] we are responsible, though. The buck stops with me.

But you signed the bill that protected the bonuses. Now its the Treasury's job to fall on the sword:

(CNN) — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told CNN Thursday his department asked Sen. Chris Dodd to include a loophole in the stimulus bill that allowed bailed-out insurance giant American International Group to keep its bonuses.

In an interview with CNN's Ali Velshi, Geithner said the Treasury Department was particularly concerned the government would face lawsuits if bonus contracts were breached.