December 17, 2008 - 8:40pm

OP/ED

Torricelli: 'This Christmas I pray for America'

Robert Torricelli, a Democrat, served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 1997, and in the U.S. Senate from 1997 to 2003.

It's hard to not be concerned these days. We've all witnessed frustration with our institutions before but I never remember anything of this scale.

Perhaps the events of the last few years are too much to grasp. Just consider the last few days. Wall Street executives fight for bonuses as their employees and investors face devastation. Senators from states without auto assembly plants fight government assistance. Auto executives demand assistance but fail for a month to deliver a rescue plan. Labor leaders refuse to concede a dollar of contract wages. The entire debate is worthy of a second rate high school.

A pillar of the investment community defrauds friends, charities and neighbors of billions. The Governor of Illinois appears to have put the US Senate on an auction block. The Republican Party responds with advertisements that gleefully attempt to damage the new President. President Bush makes every effort to push every problem into the new Administration.

Now every newscast begins with someone throwing a shoe at the President. No issue is too grave for the media to distort, confuse or simplify. The public responds with a rising tide of anger and ignorance (see comments to follow).

I blame no one. I blame everyone. America has been given every opportunity and missed every chance. Our energy problems have been known for decades. Excessive consumption and dismal savings have been endemic. Declining educational standards have been the talk of cocktail parties.

The fault is with no one in particular. A generation of leadership in every institution has let America down.

This Christmas I pray for America.

Robert Torricelli can be reached via email at torricelli@politicsnj.com.

Comments

Torch, will you please just

posted by MrSnitch

Torch, will you please just GO AWAY!!!!!!!!

12/18/08 1:11 am

Login or register to post comments
Email this page

Torch, We Pray You Go Away!

posted by JoeSchilp

Torch typifies the tax-and-spend liberals who have doomed our economy and now bemoan it. Having spent years studying economics, I can sum economics up in one sentence: The more money people have, the more they spend, and the better our economy does.

But liberals don't understand that. Even in these rough times, Corzine is taking more money away with his toll increases and David Patterson, who knows what the heck he's thinking with his 88 tax and fee increases.

Folks, liberals do not understand economics. And for Torch to "not blame anyone" and to "blame everyone" is a cop-out.

"I figure people drift toward liberalism at a young age, and I always hope that they change when they see how the world really is.”
- Johnny Ramone

12/18/08 6:50 am

Login or register to post comments
Email this page

FULL OF SCHLIP

posted by INDY

What else can I say, Joe? George Bush is a liberal Democrat???? You folks have been in power while the economywent down the tubes and you still won't face up to reality.

Just blame it all on taxes, moron. You don't think money raised in taxes goes back into the economy? Read a book, will you.

As for Torricelli he paid a price for his foolishness. Does that deny his right to blog? I don't think so. If you don't like it don't read it. Or at least make an intelligent response instead of this no-nothing BS.

12/18/08 7:32 am

Login or register to post comments
Email this page

NJ Prince of Corruption

posted by broy

The Torch showed them all how it was done before corruption was cool now he is again rewarded with a bully pulpit. Torch !!!!!! how about blaming over 60 years of Liberal Democrat Poverty Pimping, fostering the never ending cycle and culture of entitlement we have today ???

12/18/08 7:48 am

Login or register to post comments
Email this page

Angry namecalling liberal, typical

posted by JoeSchilp

In all honesty, after witnessing all of the corruption in this state these past 6 or 7 years, it's amazing that there are people out there who think that the government can do a better job of spending their hard-earned money. But hey, if you like paying $6 to go 15 miles on the Turnpike, or paying a tax on non-diet soda because you think David Paterson knows better than you what is good for you, that's your business.

And Indy, maybe you ought to do a little reading yourself. Government does not create jobs. it only redistributes our money to party donors after corruption and overpayment siphons away funds.

Finally, Bush is far too free spending for my tastes, and I'll cite a quick example. A month ago, The Big Three sought $25 billion in bailout money. After the threat of a GOP filibuster, the CEO's of Ford, Chrysler and GM had to come up with a plan for the use of that money. Upon introspection, Ford decided that they did not need a bailout after all and $10 billion was saved. If Bush and the Dem's had their way, $10 billion would have been wasted. But again, if you trust the government with your money more than you trust yourself, that's your problem.

"I figure people drift toward liberalism at a young age, and I always hope that they change when they see how the world really is.”
- Johnny Ramone

12/18/08 9:34 am

Login or register to post comments
Email this page

heheheheh

posted by factstater

After years of corruption and mismanagement of government by swine like this guy - and then he gets righteous in some idiotic blog. Used to think he was evil - but that's far too profound. He's just a two-bit con artist.

12/18/08 9:56 am

Login or register to post comments
Email this page

What price?

posted by the oc

What price has he paid? He is making more now than he ever did as a US Senator. He is free to provide classified information without fear of being investigated by the ethics committee - although that didn't stop him when he was in the House. He never had to go to prison like his buddy David Chang. What price? But for you Torch - Scumbag says what? All I want for Christmas is for Torch to go away for good. Go back to your "farm", run into a few more cars and blame it on a woman while you are dressed in you new Korean suits.

12/18/08 10:14 am

Login or register to post comments
Email this page

message versus messenger

posted by Mom in Law

Torricelli has the right message for us too consider but given his history, will anyone listen. He needs a makeover first.

12/18/08 11:50 am

Login or register to post comments
Email this page

Blame game

posted by eternaldemnation

??? huh

"I blame no one. I blame everyone."

Sheesh, Torch, when did we become such unforgiving people????

12/18/08 1:27 pm

Login or register to post comments
Email this page

Why does he post?

posted by Demsanddonts

Torricelli must be a glutten for punishment.

Nobody cares what he writes or says.

They just can't stand him.

Why does he continue to post?

It's really hysterical.

Vote Column "A" - All the way!

12/18/08 7:42 pm

Login or register to post comments
Email this page

From Senator to self pitying slug

posted by Dave

How sad. "I blame everyone."

12/18/08 11:09 pm

Login or register to post comments
Email this page

New Bloggers on this site

posted by eternaldemnation

In addition to Torch and Katz, here are some suggested new bloggers and topics they could cover:

Jim McGreevey: ethics and parenting

Sharpe James: real estate investment and credit counseling

Wayne Bryant: retirement planning

12/19/08 10:43 am

Login or register to post comments
Email this page

Dear God...

posted by aldomanuzio

Considering his credit rating with the Lord, Torch might better spend his days praying for his soul.

12/20/08 1:15 pm

Login or register to post comments
Email this page

Torch need to pray...

posted by NorthJerseyGuy

But, what he should pray for is that he be spared eternal damnation for his countless crimes. This is a guy who was spared proescution for high treason only because he was a friend of Bill Clinton.

And now he has the nerve to blame Bush for pushing problems onto Obama. I'm no fan of GWB, but he is actually trying to give Obama as soft a landing as possible. Once again, the Torch is dead wrong. Can we please get this idiot our of here? Perhaps he can join Jim McGrevvey in Theology school?

12/22/08 1:31 pm

Login or register to post comments
Email this page

Burn in hell

posted by Carlas Pimp

Burn in hell

12/22/08 5:39 pm

Login or register to post comments
Email this page

No one answer

posted by Michael Bellew

If the "fault" is at no one's doorstep in particular, then there's no blame to be laid either. I would say that we're seeing major shifts in expectations of living standards in the near and distant future. When public confidence in financial institutions takes the kind of body blows suffered in the last three months, as much as a generation is needed to restore it. Tighter oversight that began with Sarbanes-Oxley should only be just that, the beginning. I would challenge Mr Torricelli for casting aspersions on our various social and electoral issues by extension, however. No one solution will work, only intelligent choices.

12/27/08 12:10 pm

Login or register to post comments
Email this page

America

posted by greenwoodtea

Hi Bob,
Its a pleasure to see your name again and know you are still active. We could have used your leadership the past 8 years. There has been a terrrible void left in the Democratic congress while Pelosi and her supporters have accomplished little and have done nothing to stop the war or impeach the administration(president)while our Treasury has been wiped out and illegal wars rage in the tune of trillions of dollars and millions of refugees, wounded and killed.
The largest of the many crimes the present administration has committed is the money laundering of our Treasury..its been completly stripped clean. The only way to balance the budget going forward is to cut war spending from the present 1 trillion + back down to traditional levels (about $250billion). We can not afford to waste our resources in war while we need them in high speed rail, investment in 21st century jobs, companies and training, investment in bio and stem cell, investment in a single payer health care system.
There is so much to do..not one day can be wasted. Bob, hope all is well and your holidays are happy and healthy,
L Kaye.

01/02/09 7:27 pm

Login or register to post comments
Email this page

Why I miss the Torch in DC

posted by yellowdawgdem

It's insights like this that point out why NJ, and the country, was well served by Torricelli in Washington. He was always willing to take on a tough fight and bruise some egos if that was necessary. He sees the big picture (unlike some of the lunatics who comment on this site!). I was reminded of this when I read the following posting on DailyKos recently. I couldn't have said it better...

How Robert Torricelli Saved the American Economy

by Mark27 Sun Dec 21, 2008 at 02:10:04 PM PST

It seems virtually everybody on the left and right of the political spectrum has consolidated behind the premise that the American economy needs one giant surge of financial stimulus from the federal government to prevent our current painful recession from plunging into depression territory. Unlike most states, the federal government has the ability to incur the budget deficits necessary to finance the sort of stimulus package that everyone agrees we need heading into 2009. However, there were two extremely hard-fought efforts in the mid-to-late 1990s to impose a Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and in both instances, fell one vote short of the two-thirds Senate majority needed to overrule President Clinton's promised veto. Although there were vague emergency provisions in the amendment's language, it's my understanding that had the bill passed, we would not be able to pass any sort of deficit-financed stimulus package next year.

The highest-profile failure of the Balanced Budget Amendment came in 1995 when Oregon Republican Mark Hatfield was the 34th Senator to vote no on the amendment, leading to boisterous calls for his punishment by the Republican leadership of the time. The BBA's failure even pushed Colorado Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell to switch parties and become a Republican. But for all the headlines generated by the 1995 Balanced Budget Amendment near-miss, the Republicans controlling Congress put forth an equally strong effort in 1997 to pass the same legislation. This time, the deciding 34th vote was none other than disgraced New Jersey Senator Bob Torricelli, then in his first year in the Senate.

http://www.cnn.com/...

As cited in the article, Torricelli proposed flexibility to the BBA's language that allowed for deficit spending in times of war or economic hardship. Torricelli's motion was voted down, ensuring Torricelli's ultimate veto of the legislation. Had he voted yes and overruled Bill Clinton's veto, the legislation would have to gone to the states for ultimate ratification. I don't recall where the states stood on the legislation, but given that most of them are bound to balanced budget requirements, it seems likely that they would supported the amendment, particularly in those times when phony "fiscal belt-tightening" was in en vogue.

Now I consider myself pretty hawkish when it comes to the budget and see the mounting debt being handed down to the next generation as one of the country's most serious problems. And certainly the failure to enact the Balanced Budget Amendment allowed George W. Bush to lavish trillions of dollars of tax cuts to the wealthy on future generations' nickel in the past eight years. Nonetheless, the concept of a federal Balanced Budget Amendment is quintessential Hooverism 2.0. All one has to do is look at the desperate condition of nearly all of America's state governments, bound by balanced budget requirements and begging for billions of dollars in handouts from the federal government, to realize that Bob Torricelli was right and the bipartisan supermajorities in Congress who voted in favor of the BBA were wrong.

So if Barack Obama and the new Congress are looking for somebody to thank for the flexibility they have to prevent economic collapse in 2009, Bob Torricelli should be that person.

01/08/09 8:57 am

Login or register to post comments
Email this page

bob

posted by MurphyX

01/13/09 11:32 pm

Login or register to post comments
Email this page

Taxes are Good

posted by chumley

Indy is right, more taxes is what NJ needs. The tax dollars DO help the economy by first going into the pockets of the Trenton Socialist leaders. Then, they spend the money. Anyone who thinks that more or higher taxes is good, is part of the problem.

01/17/09 7:30 pm

Login or register to post comments
Email this page

What did you pray for last Christmas, a 50 foot sloop?

posted by endNJCorruption

If you really want open commentary on the economy and who is to blame, check this article:

http://thegrenade.wordpress.com/2009/01/05/2008-stewie-of-the-year-winner/

01/20/09 11:07 pm

Login or register to post comments
Email this page

Torricelli prays

posted by timschmitt

I was pretty sure that as a criminal liberal you didn't believe in God. Having read your "prayer" i'm sure you are. The prayer is really all about you. Typical of a narcisistic sociopath. It says volumes about NJ and NJ Democrats in particular that such a low down lying weasel as you could become such a big deal.

01/31/09 10:42 am