Political hypocrites feign surprised outrage at AIG bonuses

President Obama and members of Congress say they are shocked -- shocked! -- that AIG would dare use stimulus money to pay executive bonuses.

The problem is that Congress passed, and Obama signed, the law specifically authorizing this.

From But As For Me:

Thanks to our stimulus spending bill search engine and browser, we discovered that Obama granted AIG a free legal pass to give high bonuses because of the following stipulation in Obama’s stimulus bill he personally orchestrated and signed into law:

From page H1412 of the Final Stimulus Bill, “SEC. 111. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE:

“(iii) The prohibition required under clause (i) shall not be construed to prohibit any bonus payment required to be paid pursuant to a written employment contract executed on or before February 11, 2009, as such valid employment contracts are determined by the Secretary or the designee of the Secretary.”

This amendment provides an exception for contractually obligated bonuses agreed on before Feb. 11, 2009, which exempts the very AIG bonuses Obama is condemning every single chance he gets. The amendment is in the final version and is law.

Sen. Dodd was AIG’s largest single recipient of campaign donations during the 2008 election cycle with $103,100, according to opensecrets.org — According to the Wall Street Journal, Sen. Dodd placed this section into the final stimulus bill, making him responsible, along with Obama, for AIG receiving these bonuses.

As we saw earlier, the Democrats may be leading the torch-and-pitchfork mob, but some Republicans are tagging along as well.

No good will come of populist demagoguery like this. Shame on them all.