Republicans (heart) Goldman Sachs (and fraud)

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Bloomberg:

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission split 3-2 along party lines to approve an enforcement case against Goldman Sachs Group Inc., according to two people with knowledge of the vote.

SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro sided with Democrats Luis Aguilar and Elisse Walter to approve the case, said the people, who declined to be identified because the vote wasn't public. Republican commissioners Kathleen Casey and Troy Paredes voted against suing, the person said.

For the Republicans -- both these two in the Goldman Sachs case as well as the entirety of the Republican caucus in the Seante (that opposes Wall Street reform) -- this is pretty much defending the indefensible. It's defending fraud, and what that means is defending a laissez-faire system in which big players like Goldman, and indeed any player on the inside, can make massive sums of money by blatantly deceiving investors and capitalizing on the misfortune of others in a time of job losses and home foreclosures. 

You want a big campaign issue this year? Here it is. Democrats should be proud of health-care reform and of what they have done to stabilize the economy, but they should also hammer Republicans for being the party of Goldman Sachs and everything it represents.