We Will Miss Ted Kaufman
This week the U.S. Senate went into recess until after the elections. It was the end of Ted Kaufman’s time in the U.S. Senate. The election in November is a special election and the winner will take over the Senate seat. Ted Kaufman turned out to be a great asset to the U.S. Senate and he will be missed. He was able to talk eloquently about the failures of our banking sytem and became a voice for people who have suffered from them. Senator Kaufman did an interview with the Huffington Post and reminded us of why we love him:
But, Kaufman said in an interview with the Huffington Post, there’s a paradox at work: If he’d been running for reelection, he wouldn’t have those rabid backers, because he never would have waged his campaign against the banks – not because he would have worried it would hurt him politically, but simply because he would have had to spend more than half his time raising money and organizing his campaign.
“It is a perfect Catch-22,” said Kaufman, explaining that his campaign against the banks “wouldn’t have existed, no, because I’m not on the banking committee. I would have stuck to my bidding on judiciary and foreign relations.”
And without the campaign against the banks, he wouldn’t have the supporters he now does. “I wouldn’t have this rabid” following, he said. “That’s the whole thing. It was a Catch-22. There’s no way I could have — my race, if I ran, would be totally, you know, standard, cookie-cutter campaign. I wouldn’t have had anything to show. I never would have been able to do any of the things that would really be the major things in my campaign, because the whole stuff I’d done on financial reform–we never would have been part of the debate.”
…
Kaufman said that the only way out of the paradox he experienced is to create a system of public financing for campaigns, but the Supreme Court is making that increasingly less attainable. “If I’m czar, not president of the United States of America, I’d institute public financing of campaigns. But that cat’s long out,” he said. “So I don’t know what the answer is. I don’t know what to say about the system. The system is so awful.”
Amen to that, Senator Kaufman. Ted Kaufman may be leaving the Senate but he isn’t leaving public service all together. He’s been tapped to take over the Bailout Oversight Committee, replacing Elizabeth Warren.
Sen. Ted Kaufman, the outgoing Delaware senator who battled to break up major banks the past year, will replace Elizabeth Warren as chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel, an aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told HuffPost.
Reid initially appointed Warren to run the panel, launching her as a national champion of the middle class. The committee oversees the federal government’s bailout of Wall Street.
The TARP program is actually ending soon but we’ll be shareholders in banks and AIG for many more years. It’s good to know that we have a champion like Ted Kaufman there to try to keep these banks honest.
Tags: Delaware, Ted Kaufman, U.S. Senate
Job well done, Senator Kaufman.
Please….when push came to shove he did performed just like Joe would have. he sided with the Banks…the banks that are raping millions of citizens and college students.
here
and
<a href="http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latest-news/senate-preserves-unlimited-card-rates" here
he even admitted to Simon Johnson the banks have him by the balls….
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/29/ted-kaufman-exit-intervie_n_743576.html"The only thing this FRAUD was good for was a speech. Which they all seem to be good at, but when push comes to shove, talk is all they are. </a)
Thank you for your service to Delaware and the nation Senator Kaufman.
Good riddance. He was nothing but a puppet for Joe B. Always was. Hopefully Ted’s departure will mark the beginning of the end of the Biden influence in the Senate. It’s been so long coming.
And the beginning of the Coons influence. Yes it has been long coming.
DV, I think Kaufman agrees with you. “The system is awful.” Kaufman’s point is that it is a losing battle as long as there is not public financing of campaigns. And he is right.
BTW, he was the one fighting for some real teeth in the financial “reform” law.
I went to DC to lobby for financial reform, and sat with Senator Kaufman and his staff in their offices. Ted has a real passion for this fight, and I am very pleased that he will have a continuing role in overseeing Wall Street oversight role.
Senator Kaufman, we will indeed miss you.
Coons couldn’t get elected dogcatcher. You wait until this pre-election ad campaign heats up. The C O’D people are going to strip the bark off the closet Marxist and make Barrack O’Bama his running mate.
Please leave real soon, you spoke about the banks but you fail to realize the failure of the Obama economic plan.
You support Obama care.
You are worth $7-8 million so another Mercedes Marxist.
No thanks.
Yes, Delbert we keep hearing about the great stuff O’Donnell is going to unleash on Coons any minute now. We’ve been hearing this for 3 weeks now. It must be that she needs to conserve her cash…oh wait.
Coons couldn’t get elected dogcatcher.
He’s already County Executive, and most likely, our next Senator.
Yes, he agrees with me. Way to admit you are a spineless shill for th Banks on your way out the door.
FU Loser.
all talk and no action this guy. The guy isn’t running for anything, is retiring, and will have a cush life thanks to this job he sat in for 2 years.
and what’s he do…
sides with the banks of De and the Student loaners.
Yes, we will miss him.
DL, you guys are mind numbing.
“make Barrack O’Bama his running mate.”
What a brilliant strategy in a state that gives Obama a 50% approval rating.
“DL, you guys are mind numbing”
So now Donviti is blaming you guys for his numb mind? Whatever happened to personal responsibility?
Yes, Delbert we keep hearing about the great stuff O’Donnell is going to unleash on Coons any minute now.
Withdraw now, Chris Coons, or we unleash more Rock Peters upon Delaware!
nyuck, nyuck
My guess is if he was a Republican, this post would have been different is what I should have said.
anon FTW!
Now you see the best that $2M can buy.
My guess is if he was an Republican, this post would have been different is what I should have said.
Yes, a Republican would not have fought to increase oversight on banks. You do know that Kaufman did vote yes on the student loan proposal, right? (He voted no on the stand-alone bill)
DV, we will give your critique all the thoughtful consideration that it deserves.
I think DV is wooing us in his unique way. 😉
DV: What TK sez in the quote above is absolutely true, and I’m pretty sure you’d agree with it: If he were running, he would have to take care of the banks, because that’s Delaware’s biggest employment sector. If he didn’t, he would be losing this election to a Republican who, if he or she wanted to be re-elected, would take care of the banks. Just like CO’D will, or she’ll be defeated next election, or Coons will, or he’ll be defeated in the next election. And TK is right — the only way out of this conundrum is public financing, which conservatives will fight to the death.
Geezer,
He did take care of the banks….did he not?
I know it’s true. He said it himself and I agree with him. Great, wooop deee dooo. He said it and then voted for the Credit Card Companies and for Sallie Mae.
I don’t get it. The guy had a chance to stand up to the interests of the banks, caves, blames the banks for ruining the system, says they have ruined the system, sided with them and he is martyr?
you guys are something else that’s for sure.
It’s nice to know that all you have to do to get on DL’s friends list is be a Democrat and make a great speech or two. So much for actual results and stuff.
The difference between TK and everyone else who has served in the Delaware delegation since the banking law passed is that he was willing to tell the truth about the situation. Forget how he voted — that wasn’t going to make any difference anyway. A symbolic vote against the banks might impress those who approve of futile gestures, but it’s not worth much.
Do you think the Republicans will follow through on their current populist rhetoric? Not on your life, or their offices. I’m not campaigning to put up a statue of the guy in Rockford Park. I’m just saying that, on those rare occasions when a politician tells the truth, it should be acknowledged.
I don’t care if you give it no thought. That’s the great thing about commenting over here, you rarely listen to opposing views or give them any thought at all. Especially when the criticism is served up to Democrats.
a score of 52 for being a progressive.
a score of 10 I guess DL is like the rest of the left…moved to the center…
Voted yes to extend Patriot Act
http://thatsmycongress.com/senate/senatorEdwardKaufmanDE111.html
Geezer,
Your point is exactly the reason why people vote for Christine O’donnell. As long as people think you are honest, they give you a pass.
Results be damned.
Or in COD’s case, history be damned.
Which, I guess is the same thing.
DV, I look at it this way, give a little, get a little. If an elected official accomplishes only your agenda then I’m screwed. I don’t like being screwed without a dinner and a kiss. Politics is simple, people are problematic.
“I don’t like being screwed without a dinner and a kiss.” How odd.
I never said I wasn’t a whore; I’ve only given part of my price list.
Senator Kaufman wrote:
Were he the tsar, there’d be no campaigns!
Geezer nails it again!
You nailed it again Geezer…which is exactly why people will vote for O’donnell. And she wont let you screw her at all even for a dinner.
don’t get me wrong I hear you by the way. IMO (which we know what that’s worth around here) When it came down to making a tough decision…
He didn’t. He voted yes to Extend the Patriot Act. Which as a liberal (a real one) I don’t like.
And as a citizen of the country he voted against what was right b/c it served a small percentage of very wealthy folks. Folks that got the country where it is today…
But he made a great speech all the while doing it. Or, to put it your way, he was a dick tease.
I liked Kaufman’s honesty. Said it like it is.
Too bad Ruth Ann didn’t appoint herself, I guess. At least she wasn’t a dick tease.
DV: I agree with you about the Patriot Act. But his patron Joe Biden would have done the same. And so would Christine O’Donnell.
I would like a real liberal in the office as much as anyone here would. It frustrates me that we can’t seem to get one. The best I can tell, the last liberal to win statewide election was Russell Peterson, who was a Republican. And that was before I got to Delaware, so I’m not sure how liberal he really was — I just know he stood up to the corporate interests on the Coastal Zone Act. Nobody since has stood up to corporate interests, with a few conspicuous exceptions like Karen Peterson and John Kowalko, neither of whom is going to get near a statewide office.
So anything I say is said against that backdrop. With that said, I applaud Ted Kaufman for at least telling the truth about the corporate brothel that is Congress.
I guess.
To me, it’s sort of like a drug cartel saying he hates drugs and the business, but what’s he gonna do? Go legit?
whatever. A speech aint worth shit to me. Now I guess he can go make a few hundred bucks talking at colleges how he was all talk and no action.
I’d love more progressives in office, unfortunately a lot of the country doesn’t agree with me. Given that fact, I’ll settle (yes, settle) for moving the football down the field – bit by bit – in the right (which means left!) direction. Guess I’m not a “real” liberal.
It’s a lot like that. One way or the other, people gotta feed their joneses, and if one guy doesn’t do it, the next one will.
Actually, he’s going to replace Elizabeth Warren, which is serving the public, not himself.
wow, how awesome, I guy that sided with the credit card companies all for jobs is going to replace E. Warren.
I’m doing back-flips.
I’d consider you a centrist Pandora these days…that’s left
I’d consider myself pragmatic, but I’m not that into labels. I lived through the Clinton Health care incident. The ball didn’t move – in fact the ball was removed from the field. That was 1992 – 1994. I want movement. I’m not ready to throw the baby out with the bath water, and for that I’m not a “real” liberal.
As far as the banks go… hell yeah, I’d love to see them punished. Then again, I don’t derive my livelihood from banking. That’s my luxury.
I lived through the Clinton Health care incident. The ball didn’t move – in fact the ball was removed from the field.
Clinton fought for his economic agenda and passed it with no Republican votes,and Al Gore breaking the tie. That was a first down that set up a pair of touchdowns – the balanced budget and full employment. Obama, however, let Congress leave town without a vote on taxes. Even today the White House is going on about how we can’t afford the tax cuts for the rich. But I think Obama is going to sign them.
If I have tax cuts for the rich, and no public option, my cup of Obama-love is officially empty.
I wasn’t bashing Clinton, anon. I loved Clinton. That said, if you thought the Clinton years were bad in terms of partisanship, they pale in comparison to today. That is one of the downsides of the 50 state strategy. We end up with a LOT of blue dogs.
Also, I never had Obama-love. Perhaps that’s why I’m not so disillusioned. What I don’t understand is why some people think decades of corporate control (and control of most paychecks) can be overturned in the blink of an eye. Geez, we give our sports teams more slack.
Fighting amongst ourselves (deciding who’s a “real” liberal/progressive) only helps the other side. But some people (not you) have decided that the way to teach Obama a lesson is to give Republicans control. That strikes me as crazy, but there’s not much I can do about it. Guess saying “I told you so” is what matters.
I think the outcome on taxes will be the same whether we keep Congress or not. If Obama wanted to pass his tax cuts it would have been done by now, which would also have given a lot of Dem candidates a shot in the arm.
What we are going through with taxes, we already went through with HCR – let it sit on the table for months, coddle turncoat Dems, consult Republicans to make sure they aren’t offended, wait until you have even fewer Dems in Congress, and only then make your move. It is Obama’s MO now.
she wont let you screw her at all even for a dinner.
She’ll have dinner with lobbyists and then royally screw you.
So much better. For a guy with such righteous indignation about policy makers, one would think you’d be displeased with that. Enjoy your theocracy, two face.
I saw the President speaking on TV to a group of young people…trying to rally them. He said the choice this fall was clear…and in many ways he is right. I just wish that his adminstration and the Democratic Congress had made it much more clear. They had the opportunity to do so…
I thought that this was “Delaware Liberal,” but apparently it is “Delaware Centrist.” That explains a lot. I wonder what the pragmatic centrist position is on secret presidential assassinations of American citizens?
And I thought it took an IQ over 98 to open a browser window, but look anonone, here you and I both are!
He was keeping the seat warm and no more.
If the left ever got organized, we’d never lose an election. I had thought that a democratic President could bring some organizational discipline, but it is back to the drawing board.
Any thoughts on how to organize the left a1? I’m honestly curious.
First, you elect Sarah Palin president…
Now that the funny response is out of the way…. Ya got anything?
I’m all ears…
Actually, I feel pretty hopeless at this point. Obama had the left organized, but he turned out to be incompetent and dishonest and now his presidency is teetering on failure from a progressive agenda point of view. Many Dems are afraid to speak out against him and they can’t defend him, so they stay quiet and discouraged.
We need a Tea Party equivalent on the left, but that is not in the interests of the corporatists, big media, or the police state, so it won’t happen. (Unlike the Teabaggerz who are advocating for the economic interests of the corporatists.)
I think that the police state has advanced to the point where surveillance methods and crowd control technology have made a populist revolution virtually impossible. Plus, we have seen how untrustworthy our elections are, and public financing is not happening anytime soon.
But I’ll still be out trying on November 2.
blah blah blickety blah. There’s plenty of space in the tea room for the woulda, shoulda, couldas. You don’t need organization; you don’t need a movement (but I advise one in the morning); you don’t even need a party. Walk away from your keyboards, thats the first step. Remember snail mail? Remember cursive? Of course you crackberries don’t. All it takes is YOUR voice. When it gets drowned out by the dollars you use your vote. Its hilarious to watch the huddle become the muddle. If worse comes to worse, slap a punk down. You have far less to fear from the police state than I, and I don’t sweat it. That’s fear mongering and we’ve been fed that crap far too long. OOooh, the boogie man! Straight up F the boogie man. To be honest, I don’t bat a lash because 3,000 got taken out. There’s 420 million more where they came from. Police state. Radiation vans. Shoe bloomers. Come out from beneath the blanky, baby. Its a wide wide world out here. Make it your own.
Jason,
the left needs to stop being pragmatic for starters.