Populism on the Hudson…new class warfare in the age of corporate welfare…

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March 30, 2009

Evidence of the new class warfare in the age of corporate welfare. By David Freddoso Hyde Park, N.Y. —

“We understand there’s a lot of waste going on in Washington,” says New York Assemblyman Jim Tedisco (R.), addressing a group of 50 or 60 people who’d volunteered on a Saturday morning to help get out the vote in Tuesday’s special election. “They’ve taken our money and they’re going on a shopping spree.” That’s the sort of thing you expect to hear from a Republican politician. But Tedisco goes on: “Wall Street has done the same. We’re not only going to stand up to Washington and its waste, we’re going to stand up to Wall Street and its greed!” This is the sound of a Republican trying to ride the backlash against Wall Street all the way to Congress. It is obvious from every speech he gives, every ad he runs, every press release his campaign puts out. Tedisco never forgets to remind his audience that his opponent is a venture capitalist. His final tour of the district’s ten counties is called “Miles for the Middle Class.” (snip)

The Democratic candidate, Scott Murphy, is a wealthy and well-groomed capitalist who sat on corporate boards, approved bonuses for executives, and invested in India,…(snip)The Republican is a career politician, a state assemblyman, who talks about his time fighting the system in Albany on behalf of the little guy — most notably, fighting Eliot Spitzer over the issue of drivers’ licenses for illegal aliens. He speaks like a pit bull, firing up his crowds with populist invective against corporations. “We’re not going to rubber-stamp billions of dollars going out the door, with caveats in it that says a company like AIG can spend $165 million of our hard-earned money to give those bonuses to the same executives that destroyed this economy and your 401(k),” Tedisco shouts, to cheers from a friendly crowd far more fired-up than the one Murphy addressed. “I’m not going to settle for that. I’m going to stand up against that when I get out to Washington.” Tedisco excoriates not just AIG but also IBM, which employs thousand of workers in the Hudson region.(snip) New York has only three Republican congressmen today — out of 29. “I think there has been a history of disgruntlement among Republicans here,” said John Tkazyik, the Republican mayor of Poughkeepsie (just outside the 20th district), who made the 15-minute drive here to help rally Tedisco’s volunteers. “But the way things are going now, with all of this money being spent, people are worried. Republicans are very motivated, and they’re gearing up here.” (snip) If Tedisco wins, RNC Chairman Michael Steele — who has made this race a personal priority — will have eased early fears about his competence.(snip) If Murphy prevails, Democrats will claim it as a ratification of President Obama’s entire agenda — deficit spending, energy taxes, and all. (snip)