I just finished watching the opening segment of Chris Matthews' show "Hardball", which was devoted to the AIG bonus fiasco. Matthews, a reporter of openly declared liberal views I often find myself agreeing with, had Republican and Democratic senators on with predictable partisan positions to debate the issue. Matthews used a metaphor I use in a thread below, about the public and congress going after AIG like the villagers in a Frankenstein movie, waving torches and pitchforks. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one struck by this image.

I'm proud of Chris, he agreed with the Republican, and praised him for his stand (although he did slam the 50% of Republicans who voted with the Democrats to tax the Bonus at 90%). According to Matthews, this is an ex post facto law, a bill of attainder, and unconstitutional, which was one of the reasons we fought a revolution in this country in 1776. It is a use of the tax law to punish someone for an action which was not illegal at the time the action was committed. The tax law is used because no court would allow this to stand.

I urge our liberal posters here to very carefully consider this issue, it would be a tragedy to fall on the wrong side of this because of an emotional response to a provocation, even a genuine one. I have a very bad feeling about this.