Over the past few days, word has leaked into the media that three of the bad boys of the Wall Street collapse/bailout, Goldman Sachs, AIG, and Bank of America, were set to lavish hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses on its executives. Naturally, a bit of outrage has ensued, and sensing that maybe the titans of finance might be seeking friends in high places to protect them, Republicans are sticking out their tin cup to say, “Hey brother, you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours!”

Just about everyone with a basic knowledge of the financial industry knows that the main reasons for the recent Wall Street collapse can be directly tied to the repeal of certain regulatory devices, many of which were put in place after the Great Depression. President Obama is now seeking to re-institute many of these regulations that were rolled back during the Bush and Clinton administrations to prevent the same thing from happening again. Seems pretty common sensical, no? Well, not to any Republican politician looking to fatten his reelection campaign wallet!

Reports WSJ:

In discussions with Wall Street executives, Republicans are striving to make the case that they are banks’ best hope of preventing President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats from cracking down on Wall Street.

GOP strategists hope to benefit from the reaction to the White House’s populist rhetoric and proposals, which range from sharp critiques of bonuses to a tax on big Wall Street banks, caps on executive pay and curbs on business practices deemed too risky.

Seriously, are modern Republicans good for any-fucking-thing these days? Like, as much as this shouldn’t come as a surprise, it’s still hard for me to wrap my brain around the fact that these pricks are willing to fight for the continued de-regulation of the financial industry after everything that’s taken place in recent years, all for a few bucks in campaign donations. God does this country seems so fucked at times.