60 Minutes' Hit On Boehner, Pelosi Falls Short

[sasha031]

WASHINGTON -- A "60 Minutes" investigation of stock trading by members of Congress singled out House Speaker John Boehner and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi as having personally profited from investments into companies whose interests were before Congress. The investigation makes a strong case that members of Congress have the ability to profit in the market from non-public information, but in the cases of Boehner and Pelosi the claims made by "60 Minutes" fall short under scrutiny. Honest graft, as "60 Minutes" calls it, is a serious problem in Washington, with a massive industry called "political intelligence" devoted to digging up inside regulatory and congressional information so traders and companies can take advantage of it.

But by swinging and missing at Boehner and Pelosi, "60 Minutes" undermined its case.
Similarly, the knock on Pelosi (D-Calif.) leaves out critical details. "60 Minutes" charges Pelosi with purchasing 5,000 shares of Visa stock as part of an exclusive initial public offering and implies that her financial connection to the credit card industry had something to do with the halting of credit card industry reform."Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband have participated in at least eight IPOs. One of those came in 2008, from Visa, just as a troublesome piece of legislation that would have hurt credit card companies began making its way through the House. Undisturbed by a potential conflict of interest, the Pelosis purchased 5,000 shares of Visa at the initial price of 44 dollars. Two days later it was trading at $64. The credit card legislation never made it to the floor of the House," CBS reports.But CBS leaves out that fact that the bill passed out of committee at the very end of the legislative session, as Congress was dealing with the Wall Street implosion and bailout, and that the chamber then adjourned until the election. More importantly, Democrats didn't have the votes for it in the Senate and the notion that President Bush would have signed it if they did is far-fetched.CBS goes on to report: "Congresswoman Pelosi pointed out that the tough credit card legislation eventually passed, but it was two years later and was initiated in the Senate."

Operatives on both sides of the aisle, meanwhile, pointed out to The Huffington Post that Majority Leader Cantor (R-Va.) had dodged the "60 Minutes" bullet. The segment did not mention Cantor, who made several trades in 2005 that have come under scrutiny.In March 2005, he bought stock in Merck and Encore Medical Corporation. In July, the GOP House passed medical liability reform, which Democrats at the time charged was a gift to Merck, which was under fire for its drug Vioxx, as well as other device makers.In March 2005, he bought stock in Merck and Encore Medical Corporation. In July, the GOP House passed medical liability reform, which Democrats at the time charged was a gift to Merck, which was under fire for its drug Vioxx, as well as other device makers.
CBS did not respond to requests for comment.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/14/60-minutes-pelosi-boehner_n_1091656.html

[MADem]

1. The essential point of Slaughter's legislation is STILL important, and has been for five years now.

Instead of fighting over sleeping in a tent in a park, this is a topic that OWS could easily sink their teeth into, and probably, with targeted demonstrations at legislators' home offices around the nation, get promises from all of 'em to pass the legislation.

Of course, then they'd try to water it down, but it would be a START.

Everyone in an OWS city where there is a Senator's or Congressman's office should think about picketing them with PASS THE STOCK ACT signs. Bet that would get coverage--particularly on CBS and their cable affiliate, CNN.

Ya want publicity? That's one way to get it. It's an economic parity issue, too--plain and easy to understand.

This HUFFPO piece with the whiny, negative headline sounds like they really want to sweep it under the rug. Waaah, you didn't hit hard enough at the Speaker/Former Speaker, so fuck you!! It sucked!! Never mind!!

Trifling, dumb ass, black-n-white muthas. The piece was a START--and not a bad one. I hate these "perfect is the enemy of the good" assholes. They're part of the problem. There's not much you can do when people DODGE you, save go back after them AGAIN and AGAIN until you get good answers. In the meantime, get that info out there--we've only been waiting for this legislation for, what--five or six frigging years?

:eyes:

[sasha031]

2. you are so right, would love to see the protesters take up the cause of Slaughters bill

what disturbed me most about 60 Minutes last night, was they were working with the Hoover Institute. Why not the Roosevelt Institute. and why not go after the heavy hitters of inside trading.

[MADem]

7. Even a stopped clock....!

Of course, the Hoover was probably disappointed that CBS didn't take Pelosi to church--that's plainly what they hoped. And CBS, to be fair, said they got the idea from those guys, but added their own work to it.

The reason they played with Hoover is because they were the ones who aggregated data on this "insider trading." They "wrote the book on it" as it were.

This is like that "What are fifty thousand lawyers at the bottom of the sea?" joke. (Answer--A good start). This effort IS a good start. It's about economic parity. It's about the One Percent. It's about corporate influence and congressional corruption. It's about Do As I Say, Not As I Do. We follow the rules; they don't HAVE TO.

It's a NATURAL cause for OWS.

Way more focused that whining about being able to pitch a tent in a public park, and deny that space to poor apartment dwelling families who just want to take the kids out to play for a few hours.

OWS needs to shift gears, or devolve into a bunch of angry thugs, mentally ill homeless people, anarchists and hangers-on, with no sense of purpose. If all their little General Assemblies can come up with lately is telling college kids to not go to classes right before the thanksgiving break, or spending thirty grand in donations so twenty of their elites can have an Egyptian vacation, they're just embarrassing themselves on a national scale.

They've garnered so MUCH goodwill, but they'll squander it in a hurry if they don't get off their asses and on the Social Justice mark. The STOCK ACT is a natural fit. That's just my opinion--I'll probably get "the usual suspects" weighing in on what a horrible person I am for caring about silly things like economic justice, social safety nets, and shit that everyday people need/care about instead of getting outraged about tents and poop in parks, but fuck 'em.

[TreasonousBastard]

6. Amazing, isn't it-- the most widely watched and respected news show in the country...

runs a piece on yet another way Congresscritters, regardless of party, are a bunch of crooks who care about us only after they take care of their own and it's still not good enough.

[MADem]

8. Huffpo's bread must be buttered by Capitol Hill! nt

[Enrique]

3. the main problem with the 60 minutes story; BREITBART ALERT

is that they dont do enough of this kind of story. The story of money in politics is the most important story out there. 60 Minutes and every other news program should be putting such stories out on a regular basis, looking at everything our elected leaders are doing.


EDIT: I take this back. What I said is my general attitude, but in the case of this story, the association with Breitbart makes it 100% GARBAGE.

(...)

Hammill also criticized CBS' use of one source for the report, conservative author and editor Peter Schweizer.

"It is very troubling that '60 Minutes' would base their reporting off of an already-discredited conservative author who has made a career of out attacking Democrats," Hammill said.

Schweizer is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and is the editor of Bigpeace.com, a website focused on national security founded by conservative activist Andrew Breitbart.

(...)

[MADem]

9. If OWS would start picketing Congressional "home" offices in every state,

with signs that say PASS THE STOCK ACT, there would be TONS of stories riffing on this, on every local and national news station from sea to shining sea.

[sasha031]

12. +1 k/r

:headbang:

[Autumn]

4. It just didn't go deep enough, but I was glad to see it.

I accidentally hit un rec instead of rec. I'm sorry I hate it when I do that.

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Bonhomme Richard]

5. When Boehner said he only spoke to his advisor......

once a year doesn't mean that his assistants didn't contact him.

[closeupready]

10. It was eye-opening watching Nancy evade Kroft's polite questions.

After a lifetime in DC, I'm sure it's second nature to her now, but I thought his questions were not only appropriate, but every other member of Congress should have to go on record in response to questions about conflicts of interest, such as what they pointed out last night.

[emilyg]

13. I never thought Pelosi

was different from all of them when it came to enlarging her fortune.

[closeupready]

14. You're more perceptive than me, then.

I know there was a prior scandal with her, something about fisheries or Guam or something, can't remember details ATM, but this is not the first time she has been held up to an unflattering light. Guess if a sucker is born every minute, I was duped. :(

[emilyg]

15. Not more perceptive - just

jaded.

[offmybrain]

16. Congress net worth skyrockets

http://governmentgonewild.org/thelist

They are raking in allot of money.They pass legislation that benefits them short term without thinking of future ramifications.Not sure how to fix the problem,maybe anyone that works for the legislative branch is banned(for life)from certain investment vehicles.Maybe include immediate family & staff. Term limits on Congress? Personal wealth restrictions on federal employees? Not sure what the solution is.