I find this definiton of scallywag to be the most appropriate:
- "A person who is known to be a treacherous lying son-of-a-bitch, and usually smells bad."
Story, quotes, and unbelievably hypocritical video are inside.
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Video: Scallywag Rep. Spencer Bachus says "End the bailouts"
The only problem for Bachus is that he voted 'yes' on TARP, the greatest and most obscene of all the bailouts. Fracking hypocrite.
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The top Republican on the House Financial Services Committee said he does not regret voting for the 2008 financial bailout, but that it was a political "near death experience."
Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) said the $700 billion bailout, known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), was necessary at the time, but that he and Republicans feel new Democratic financial regulatory legislation "institutionalizes" future bailouts.
"A lot of people who I respect said you have to act. So we did act," Bachus said in an interview taped for C-SPAN's "Newsmakers" program. "I don't know what would have happened if we hadn't. I imagine most economists said it needed to be done. I think most of those same economists say now if you continue to do this you'll create moral hazard by the bucket load."
Bachus said that in the fall of 2008 constituents urged him strongly to oppose the TARP legislation. He said he and other Republicans successfully added provisions that required banks to pay dividends and issue warrants to the federal government as part of the package. Bachus voted for the original bill setting up the TARP program.
"People in my district were saying 99 to one, you know, I'm opposed to this," Bachus said. "I voted for it because I felt like it was necessary. It was a near death experience. I can tell you it was a gift that keeps on giving."