Over at The Corner, Kathryn Jean Lopez is feeling "bullish" about the prospects of CNBC's Larry Kudlow becoming America's Next Top Media Professional Turned Political Wannabe and challenging Christopher Dodd for his seat. According to Steve Moore, Kudlow has at least floated the idea with John Cornyn, who chairs the Senate Republican Campaign Committee.
But if Lopez is "bullish," her counterparts on the left side of the blogosphere seem upbeat about these possibilities as well. Nicole Belle of Crooks and Liars writes:
...this is a Republican challenger that I'm actually looking forward to, for no other reason than the amount of damage we can do to Kudlow's credibility simply by using his own words.
Indeed, beginning with Kudlow's recent appearance on CNBC's The Call, in which he seems unaware of what "government conservatorship" means:
Kudlow's remarks echo a February 18 statement by Boehner, who claimed of Obama's housing plan: "Why should we reward Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with $200 billion in taxpayer dollars without first reforming these housing entities that were at the heart of the economic meltdown?"
In a February 19 post about Boehner's remarks, Baker wrote:
The [Washington] Post might have asked House Minority Leader John A. Boehner that question when he complained about the Obama administration's plans to raise the amount of capital put into the mortgage giants from $200 billion to $400 billion. Since these companies are currently in government conservatorship, with the shareholders having lost almost all their ownership stake, and the executives replaced by the government, it is not clear who Mr. Boehner thinks is being inappropriately rewarded by this action.
Kudlow also is one of those who clings to the idea that the "subprime mortgage meltdown" began with the Community Reinvestment Act, as opposed to the machinations of Wall Street. And while opposing government intervention in the housing market, Kudlow was a big fan of bailing out investors, telling Bernie Sanders that government intervention in that regard is welcome "every 20 or 30 or 50 years." This led to Sanders quipping, "You've become a socialist overight...Your version of socialism is to bail out the rich."
Sanders added:
Larry, if I ask you that the government should intervene like every other industrialized country does and provide health care for all people, you'd say 'oh no!' And if I ask you to support government intervention so that we don't have the highest rate of childhood poverty in the world, you'd say 'oh no!' But when Wall Street screws up because of their greed, you say, 'oh yes, it's a great idea!'
None of which Kudlow denied: "You're quite right, Mr. Sanders. Do we want a government-run health care system? I say no."
Of course, my favorite is the incredibly true story of how Kudlow declared that, "Stock markets are the best barometer of the health, wealth and security of a nation, And today's stock market message is an unmistakable vote of confidence for [President Bush]." Naturally, I think this entire concept is completely out-to-lunch. But the special irony of the fact that the market went out and closed down 500 points that day is nevertheless a delicious one.
Crooks and Liars Belle raises one final point to consider:
Also...joy of all joys...since the conservative blogosphere went nuts and demanded that Chris Matthews be relieved of his NBC/MSNBC duties if he threw his hat in the ring in Pennsylvania, dare we hope that Larry Kudlow would be similarly removed from the airwaves?