Richard Burr’s Bobbing and Weaving on Bank Runs
The North Carolina press is starting to deliver a little heat to Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) over his irresponsible comments that could have sparked dangerous bank runs. But instead of just admitting he messed up, Burr is spinning weird and nonsensical rationalizations. Here he tells WTVD from Raleigh that he was right to risk sparking bank runs but covers himself by saying that now is not a good time to panic:
Eyewitness News spoke with Burr Thursday, and he said the comment was misconstrued. He reacted to his Democratic critics and says he meant what he said 6 months ago, but times have changed. “That was done long ago. That part of the economic crisis is over. And it was I think helpful. I think to people who heard me speak to give them a firsthand understanding of my frame of mind in that early week,” he said.
Still unclear here is why it’s ever a good time for political leaders to be sparking runs on banks. But it’s nice that Senator Burr is acknowledging that we’ve brought some additional stability to the financial system. Under the circumstances, I wonder if he regrets his vote against a key element of the financial stabilization package?
Meanwhile, talking to WGHP Burr offered a somewhat different take and “said his point is every American should keep some cash on hand and not be totally dependent on ATMs and banks.” That bears no resemblance whatsoever to his original comment, “Tonight, I want you to go to the ATM machine, and I want you to draw out everything it will let you take . . . And I want you to tomorrow, and I want you to go Sunday.” You’d have to be pretty dumb to mistake those remarks for a pragmatic warning that you should keep some cash on hand in case of a blackout or something.
I’m not sure I understand why it’s so hard for Burr to just admit he made a mistake and try to move on. It’s a kind of unseemly arrogance.
26 Responses to “Richard Burr’s Bobbing and Weaving on Bank Runs”
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April 17th, 2009 at 11:10 am
It is hilarious that Matthew actually thinks that people own time machines and could transport themselves back in time to start a bank run.
It the left really so ignorant that they don’t understand that time machines don’t exist? And that, saying publicly today what he told his wife privately six months ago could possibly start a bank run unless people own time machines? What are they teaching at Harvad these days?
April 17th, 2009 at 11:13 am
The best part of this: Burr is so obscure, even in his home state, that he’s the Senator least likely to be able to start a panic even if he were to yell “fire!” in a crowded theater.
April 17th, 2009 at 11:15 am
While Matt huffs and puffs and boring policy, I’m going to wallow in crass politics.
This story isn’t about Burr’s recent words being tantamount to starting a bank run. He should probably just shut up now, because being charged with that isn’t much fun, either, but that’s not the story. The story here is Richard Burr calling his wife to scare the hell out of her about the country running out of money and sending her running out to hoard cash. Oh, and being wrong, because the catastrophe never happened. This is about the Senator who does that.
This is going to kill Burr, because this story fits in so well with the media narrative the Democrats have been telling about the Republicans. This goes to Burr’s character, the type of person he is. A Senator making this call and sending his wife out like that demonstrates precisely the erratic panic, the irresponsibility, and the I-got-mine attitude that has served the Republicans so well over the past couple of years. Plus, it’s got drama, so the press will eat it up.
Bye bye Burr.
April 17th, 2009 at 11:15 am
I demand an Yglesias post on the Pirate Bay verdict.
April 17th, 2009 at 11:22 am
Vitter and Spitzer must have feared a run on whores……
April 17th, 2009 at 11:22 am
Al, you, my friend, are sadly uninformed.
April 17th, 2009 at 11:33 am
I just don’t understand why you would go to an ATM if you thought your bank was going to go under. Why not go in and close your account? Of course if he only had a thousand dollars in the account, I guess you could clean it out in a few days via ATM, but panic via ATM seems weird.
I mean it is kind of like panicking that gas supplies will be running low, so you get a quarter tank a day so you will be stocked up when the crisis hits.
April 17th, 2009 at 11:36 am
some very big banks are HQ’d in NC. he needs to smooth this thing out as best he can.
April 17th, 2009 at 11:50 am
Under the circumstances, I wonder if he regrets his vote against a key element of the financial stabilization package?
This was for the second phase of funds in January. Where the circumstances on the ground were different than Sept.
and being wrong, because the catastrophe never happened.
Because TARP happened. Like a majority of House members, a super majority of Senators and both major party presidential candidates wanted to. Because lots o people including Brad Delong, was predicting a catastrophe when TARP didn’t pass the first time.
Meanwhile, talking to WGHP Burr offered a somewhat different take and “said his point is every American should keep some cash on hand and not be totally dependent on ATMs and banks.”
Which many people have been saying from the beginning, but others insist on taking facts out of context.
April 17th, 2009 at 11:55 am
Because TARP happened.
TARP didn’t happen; it was created, by United States Senators whose reaction was to solve the problem, not panic about it. One who lost his head, apparently.
Which many people have been saying from the beginning, but others insist on taking facts out of context.
That was obviously not the context of his original remarks.
April 17th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Here is the original context.
April 17th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Right. A statement about the global financial system that sent him into a panic, that has nothing to do with the general advisability of keeping cash on hand.
Precisely the context Matt described in the post:
April 17th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
I remember when Burr ran in 04 he sent out mailers saying he was a “Bush Republican”. I would bet a huge pile of cash he doesn’t claim that again in ‘10. I hope AG Roy Cooper decides to run against Burr. Then hopefully my state can get rid of this clown. It would also be nice to be rid of Virginia Foxx, douchenozzle McHenry, and Sue Myrick. It seems the people in their districts are just plain dumb. Though I hold out hope that McHenry can be beaten with a good dem canidate.
April 17th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Al, you, my friend, are sadly uninformed.
Well, you could hardly start a bank run with the number of people who could fit in the Tardis.
Look, Matthew ought to just admit that he made a mistake.
April 17th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
A key thing to keep in mind about Richard Burr, in my view, is that he’s really not very bright. Even by Republican political standards.
April 17th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
This, BTW, is a very good example of how the vast left-wing conspiracy works. You have some blogs (like this one) on the left-wing fringe make erroneous accusations, for example that people can go back in time to start a bank run.
Then you have the left wing media pick up on the blogs to push the story.
And then you have the mainstream media parrot the extremist and erroneous accusations.
April 17th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
This also looks like one of the stories that the White House and/or DCCC told blogs like this one, through the JournoList and all the other AstroTurf mechanisms out there, to push to get into the mainstream media.
It sure look likes a coordinated effort to push the story. After all, it couldn’t really be that all of these bloggers think that time travel is possible. But they seem to all put that aside for the sake of what the JournoList told them to do.
April 17th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Al,
Nobody said Burr was going to start a bank run last fall. You can keep babbling about time machines if you like, but it’s just adversing the fact that you can’t or won’t rebut what Matt keeps writing.
April 17th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
It sure look likes a coordinated effort to push the story.
And why would you say that, paid troll? Oh.
April 17th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Nobody said Burr was going to start a bank run last fall.
Of Matthew did. Didn’t you notice Matthew said that his statement about something that occurred 6 months ago “could have sparked dangerous bank runs.” I mean, obviously, that kind of statement couldn’t spark a bank run now, so Matthew must mean sparking a bank run 6 months ago, through the use of time machines.
April 17th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
Yes, and WDTV in Raleigh is part of the conspiracy. Im in yr base, killin yr d00dz!
Ah, this is where you’re confused. No, you are incorrect, the fear is that a United States Senator talking about the collapse of the banking system in April 2009 could have sparked bank runs in April 2009. Prominent figures like Senators should avoid that sort of loose talk under all circumstances. There is a long, sad history of solvent banks being wrecked by rumors and panics – though not, thank goodness, since the New Deal.
April 17th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
No, you are incorrect, the fear is that a United States Senator talking about the collapse of the banking system in April 2009 could have sparked bank runs in April 2009.
But, of course, he was not “talking about the collapse of the banking system in April 2009″. He was talking about events that occurred in September 2008. Nobody believes today that the banking system is going to collapse – that was only theoretically possible last fall.
April 17th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
I am shocked, shocked to find that arrogance runs rampant in the United States Senate.
April 17th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
Yes, he was. Didn’t you read the links? He was telling the story recently about the disgraceful behavior he engaged in last fall.
From the link in Matt’s original post on the subject:
Note the date: April 14, 2009. Which means that Burr was telling a crowd about this on April 13.
Nobody believes today that the banking system is going to collapse – that was only theoretically possible last fall. How’z about we keep it that way? By, for example, not having United States Senators telling scary stories about bank runs, or telling people that that is a smart way to behave when they hear bad news about the financial sector?
April 17th, 2009 at 11:28 pm
How long is that $900 going to last him anyway? Why not just ask his wife to go into the bank Saturday morning and take out $10,000?
April 19th, 2009 at 12:23 am
Matt finishes with:
Much as I appreciate the sentiment, this is false naïveté. Which option is a politician going to choose: admit he made a mistake and try to move on, or not admit he made a mistake, but “address the issue” and try to move on?
This kind of arrogance is typical of politics — unseemly or not. And Matt’s too realistic to act dismayed about it.