RNC Chief Steele considering pulling support from GOP Senators who voted for the Stimulus Bill.

Hmmm. Seems like being on Fox got the better of Chairman Steele. Now he’s backtracking.

See more at Foxnews.com.

In recent days we’ve been digging into accused fraudster Allen Stanford’s decade of political giving and what he got for it. A lot of our attention to date has focused on two 2001-2002 era bills that his lobbying appears to have played some role in stymying or killing. But now we’re looking at a 2007 bill sponsored by Sens. Levin, Coleman and Obama that would have cracked down on off-share banks like Stanford’s. The bill eventually died in the Finance Committee. Never even came up for a vote.

Now, there were a lot of organized interests who did not want this thing to happen. Many more than just Stanford. But given the scale of Stanford’s fraud we’re trying to get a handle on what role if any his lobbying may have played. We have a lot of DC readers, so if you have any pointers on what happened to Sen. Levin’s bill back in 2007, drop us a line.

Here’s what we’ve come up with so far.

Turns out Jim Cramer is pretty down on the idea of bank nationalization. “We must take the debate out of the hands of the dreamer academics, and into the hands of practical business people, no matter how much we despise them for getting us into this fix in the first place.”

In this video interview he says nationalizing Citi, BofA and Wells Fargo would be the “end of capitalism.”

Curious what others think. I’m not knowledgeable enough to evaluate what Cramer says about the collateral damage to insurance companies and the entire real economy. His history of the 1930s is completely whacked. But that’s out of his area of specialty. Alas, I suspect his macroeconomics may be no better.

Late Update: TPM Reader BM not feeling the love for Cramer: “If the voice of the opposition to ‘nationalization’ is Jim Cramer, than I think that works as a pro to go through with the absorption of the insolvent banks. The man is consistently wrong on everything. “Subprime, a bunch of hullabaloo!” -> “Market’s doing fine, don’t worry about it” -> “TAKE ALL OF YOUR MONEY OUT NOW”. Let alone the infatuation he had with Sears. I’ve actually made a point to do the opposite of whatever a screaming maniac says, and it has suited me well so far. TPM has been great info with the interviews of all the economists btw, thank you for picking up where tv outlets are failing.”

Latter Update: TPM Reader CG doesn’t see it either: “Cramer is an almost perfect contrarian indicator. He is virtually always wrong about everything. His lemming instinct to both lead and follow the herd off of a cliff is uncanny. With my clients, all I need say is, ‘Cramer said this is a good idea’ and they run for the exits. To me he has always been an idiot that is useful, but now I guess he is truly playing the Republican and Banking communities role as useful idiot. He truly is the Rush Limbaugh of investing – bellicose, without shame and always wrong. Here is a link if you are interested.”

Hooker-scandal

survivor David Vitter says Sen. Burris (D-IL) should resign.

“I honestly don’t know anybody who would compare these situations,” he told The Hill on Tuesday, comparing his pay for sex and diapers scandal with Burris’s failure to detail his dealings with Blago. “They are dramatically different.”

Former Sen. Norm Coleman spotted attending Senate GOP caucus luncheon today on the Hill.